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24 Nov 2009 08:22
11/24/09
Gotta love this from anarchist Peelman. Click on the pic to read the bullshit and then jump in the thread....funky
Our Sport Is StupidOver the weekend I caught on the tube a program on this years Bells Beach surfing competition, part of surfing pro world tour. At the end of it, I knew who the best competition surfers in the World were, I watched the heats unfold, saw the manouvers, understood the scoring system and saw the sort of training they put in. Basically, if I had known nothing about surfing prior to watching, I would have a solid appreciation for it afterward. Straight after was one of the rolex events at Portofino. If I knew nothing about sailing – I still wouldn’t, what I would have learnt was there were some blokes there with some old boats, Portofino is a nice place with a long affiliation with the sea and apparently they did some racing. I say apparently, because they didn’t show any. Lame!!
It made our sport look stupid. Then I thought, its not fair to blame the sport for a TV producers perspective, but then I started thinking about nearly every sailing program I had watched and compared it to the surfing package. Every program focuses on the biggest, the most expensive, the location and/or claimed the sailors competing were the best.
Then I got to thinking, who are the best sailors in our sport? Ask a bunch of yachties and the argument would go for days – America’s Cup, no Olympics, no this class…... Look at the surfing model. Regional competitions, qualifications series then the best are on the World Tour, no ambiguity, no doubt. Everyone knows who the best is now and who is the best ever. I doubt you would get anyone to agree to that with sailing.
Of course our sport is quite technical, equipment plays a major part in the result outcome and unfortunately sailors cannot meet on a level playing field, much like motor racing. And like us motor racing has the same problems. Who is the best driver, F1, Nascar, IRL, Touring cars….. yet they have one thing up on our sport, they have massive audiences and fan support. At least they are smart enough to host their racing in a place people can see it and keep it formats that are interesting, so they learn about it and become passionate about it.
Not sailing, no, no, no. We make our sport as inaccessible as possible to anyone who might have the slightest interest in it. You know every World Championship I have been to bar one (and even that one took us 20 minutes past a perfectly sailable location) has required over an hour to sail out to the course. In the past we would sail one big race and then do it again the next day and so on. Now, we sail multiple big races in a day, miles from support should anything go wrong.
There are several consequences of how we conduct our racing nowadays. We are spending ridiculous hours on the water, which means you cant race at your peak, because subconsciously your body conserves energy when your mind knows you are going to be on the water 10 hours a day, day after day for weeks at a time. Its expensive. Multiple races a long way from the launch spot mean if you want to win, you have to have a support boat and driver out there with a full set of spares and it means chance could decide the result. Look at the 505 Worlds this year, (by the way Holty if you are reading this, this rant is not directed at you your event or St Francis, it is aimed at the sport as whole) if Martin and Nelson had broken their mast in race one instead of race two, they would have two DNF’s on that two race day and would have lost the Worlds, even though clearly they were the best boat there. Also, its not fun. Spending all day every day on a boat can wear thin pretty quick. The vast majority of competitors at any major meet have no chance of winning and so are competing for the ancillary benefits. But if you haven’t got time for the fun stuff, why go?
But most importantly of all, very few people want to head miles out and sit on a boat all day and watch boats sail around if they are to be stuck out there all day, especially kids and newbie’s. So we aren’t dragging people into the sport.
Of course, most people will just blow this off as me just having a sook. Fair enough, but remember this, I love sailing, I have been doing it my whole life, the only reason I write at all is to encourage more youngsters into our sport and yet lately, when I think how I would rather spend my time, going for a sail is near the bottom of the list. I have lost the love and if someone who has known no other life can think that, I suspect I know why numbers in our sport are so consistently diminishing.
So what’s the point of this? I think its time for change! When I tested Luca Devoti’s D1 recently, I noticed that the class rules require the regatta’s to be fun events. I love it! Lets make the sport fun again. Keep it short, keep it close to spectators, bring back handicap racing so everyone can feel like a winner, (think handicap racing is lame – have a look at the Melbourne Cup). Host regatta’s in great locations and make sure people aren’t on the water longer than three hours.
We need to do something, anything, please! Jump in with your comments.Jfunk
11/24/09
Want A Maxi?
11/24/09
Doesn't everyone? Especially an unfinished one from 1991? Then step up, bitch! Thanks to anarchist Kai.race report
Paradise Found
Carrie Howe is having too much fun...
The joke was that the John and I were coming to a “Caribbean event” which means relaxed, slow schedule and more dancing than hard core sailing. The organizers mentioned probably 5 races for 4 days. What was not mentioned was that the average race took 4 hours and not because it was light. It didn’t really phase us while rigging at 8:30 am. Getting dressed, preparing, it felt like we were leaving for a short race but then right before launching you received the map of the island with a line showing the course, in between the island pain de sucre, beouf de boulogne, around mark 12 in front of la torte, (many more turns like this) and then round Ile de cocaine to starboard and then finish flying a hull towards the ships with the party ladies.
We all went out on a limb and decided to come to St. Barths and I can tell you it was a good decision. How spoiled are we?
I will go through a specific race for John Casey and I (race 4). There was a normal start line set up between a large catamaran and a pin. Up in the cove was a red buoy tucked up into the rocks. This leg was short and shifty but awarding for the boats who could transition well and find the pressure. It was a 4 or 5 tack beat and then round the top mark and set kites towards the opening between two large islands almost on a tight reach. The breeze turned right which meant that we would need to do many jibes to make it through the gate between the islands. From here we were sent on a long run and to be honest the zig zags after this I forget. The most important moments that I remember were deciding to go close to cliffs if there was breeze, jibing in shifts (way more than I could handle), and preparing for the next shift so setting up for the long haul.
John Casey has done an excellent job training me in the catamarans. I have been quite lucky learning this game. From John and my boyfriend Mischa, I have been able to join a whole new World. What a great world of people, competitive racing and a social atmosphere. Salsa dancing, fire party, and today . . . As I leave to derig my boat to go back to work. . . The rest of the group is having a final day sailing to the beautiful paradise island of Pinel for a lunch and natural pool party. I will be back on those planes . . .
What a sport!
11/24/09community
It BlowsFrom our friends with the Columbia Gorge Racing Association. SA has kicked down $500. See what you can do.
In case you haven’t heard already, CGRA’s beloved “race hut” out at the Cascade Locks Marine Park is now history. Strong winds hit the area early Sunday morning and the hut apparently experienced a Wizard of Oz moment, rising up off its floor and landing in a heap 30 ft away in the parking lot. The structure is a total loss, but we were lucky enough to save most of the contents thanks to the quick action of Scott Sullenger and other Cascade Locks locals who rushed to the rescue and retrieved most of our stuff before it blew down the river (Thanks Scott!). We also suffered some damage to the boatyard fence due to a flying I-14. You can see the photos and read all about it on the CGRA website.Needless to say, this increases our sense of urgency for getting a new clubhouse on the site. CGRA’s executive board will meet this week to discuss options and, hopefully, come up with a plan for replacing the clubhouse in time for our 2010 season opener in April. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, we’ve set up a PayPal account with link on the CGRA website so people who want to help out can contribute something to the new clubhouse construction fund. Please spread the word; we need all the help we can get! Jump in the discussion thread.11/24/09
viddy
Kiddie Porn
The Australian National Sabot Class commissioned this little vid, showing that even
shoeboxes can be sexy when presented right. Onya blokes.
11/24/09pimporama
All-American Black Friday
Yo, check it. Camet just released their 2010 Nantucket Sailing Shorts to dealers for the Holidays. These shorts mix a classic New England style with So-Cal feel. Made of lightweight nylon fabric that is water repellent for quick drying so your ass won’t get wet! Plus it has a UV rating of 40+ so you don’t burn that arse. On top of that it has the abrasion resistant seat pocket with optional padding. Bitchin' colors: Limestone and Slate Grey.So stop looking like a dirt bag and get them now before they run out at: Annapolis Performance, Groovy-uv Bermuda, Landfall Navigation, Line Honors, Point Loma Outfitting, Sailing Pro Shop, Sailing Supply, Sound Boatworks, Team One Newport. More dealer info can be found here.
Plus, they also have some new chick shorts…“The Martinique” - sexy…out soon!
11/24/09
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23 Nov 2009 15:31
Wing It
11/23/09
Thw wing gets busy, Courtesy of Fox 5.
The End
11/23/09Looking at all the images of the IACC boats in the LVT is a bit like watching a movie that you've already seen. Like bell bottoms or a mullet, the boats look outdated and kind of dopey. They can race these things all they want, but they are dinosaurs. Time to move on. James Robinson Taylor took these shots from the regatta which the Italians won.
saving sailing
Have You Asked The Kids?By Nicholas Hayes, Author of the new bestseller Saving Sailing
“Have you asked the kids?” snapped the sailboat dealer, when I suggested in a discussion panel that instead of racing in strictly delineated age groups, as we generally do now, we should race in multi-generational teams some of the time.
It’s a common question. The assumption, of course, is that kids don't want to race with the codgers and will summarily reject sailing if forced to. And if you poll sailing teens, the majority will probably say that they’d rather hang with other teens than with mom or dad. So it is a valid point, but it widely misses the mark. Worse, it’s the basis for the structure of most sailing development in the US today.
With due respect to my dealer friend, who I believe meant well; ask a stupid question, you’ll get a stupid answer.
It is true that we have more kids in more programs sailing at a higher skill level than ever in US history. (For facts and figures, watch this talk, at the October Sail America meeting in Annapolis. Footage courtesy Mr. Clean.)
The book Saving Sailing elaborates:
Sailing isn’t alone among American pastimes in the development of junior programming as a theoretical feeder for long-term interest. It does, however, deserve a special award for creating extreme isolation between adults and kids, when it has the least reason to do this. A sailboat might be among the best platforms on which generations can gather and learn from each other, but sailing hasn’t taken advantage of this tremendous, built-in opportunity. For example:
- In most sailing clubs today, the kids show up in the morning, and leave in the late afternoon, just about the time the adults are arriving.
- On most sailing boats underway with more than three people onboard, you’ll find nobody under the age of about 45 (in races, the adult age may be a bit lower).
- In most races, except those created specifically for kids, there are no kids.
Of course, the book also goes on to show how defection correlates to format: 95% of the kids in today’s sailing programs won’t sail after about 25.
Most every sailing club has a model team on a different tack. At the South Shore Yacht Club in Milwaukee, three generations of the Sabinash family campaign their J-35 Sabotage. Years ago, novices Ray and Joyce took up sailing with their school-aged sons and daughters. Now the same sons and daughters bring wives and kids from toddlers to teens. Note that nearly every sailing Sabinash after Ray and Joyce came through SSYC’s junior program to learn important skills. Now, on most Wednesday evenings in the summer, you can count fourteen to sixteen on the rail, if you include the babies in the laps of hiking moms. And Sabotage is a perennial winner; collecting major trophies continuously for decades in both one-design and handicap, and in both buoy and offshore competitions. I’ll never forget clawing a 6-mile lead through 150 miles of the 2001 Hook race, only to be passed on an inside lift that took “Sabo” over the horizon in the last 45 mile-long beat. They won overall. This year, they lost their rig with a third of the bay series left to sail, and still stayed on the podium, though the boat didn’t leave the dock in August or September.
But the Sabinash’s are not just race winners.
Sadly, three winters ago Ray passed away. When the news spread within the community, competitors and friends paused and bowed. The line outside of Ray’s visitation was a block long. Sailors from all over town and from distant clubs waited and wept together for four hours in the frigid Wisconsin winter, for the chance to recall their favorite racing stories, and to reminisce over four decades of sailing snapshots and fond memories.
The next spring, Joyce and her kids and grandkids did what they do: they went sailing together. When you ask a Sabinash if they “asked the kids,” you realize that they don’t understand the question. They don’t ask. They do.
Boy do they.
11/23/09
The End, II
11/23/09A port/starboard collision between Hull & Humber and Cork, Ireland at the strt of leg two of the Clipper Race. Thanks to onedition for the shots.
Personal Trainer
You have to hand it to Skandia Team GBR - when it comes to professionalism and delivering results, no Olympic program comes close. Last week the team announced an interesting program that will undoubtedly get them and team sponsor Skandia some more exposure - a short essay can win any UK based sports team the use of the entire Skandia Team GBR staff of specialist coaches, nutritionists, psychologists and fitness trainers for a day's worth of optimizing the winning essayists's team for victory at whatever it is they do. Winners will be picked from 100 word-essays on why Team GBR can help your team succeed, and you can apply at the Skandia site under the tab "Coaching" and then "competition."We asked Team GBR if this truly meant "any kind of team at all," and since they answered "yes" we thought we'd search for a team that would make real sense from a PR point of view. So we dropped a note to Hooters of Nottingham to see if their club football team was interested...
11/23/09
Hang Time
11/23/09
UK Kiteboarders Jake Scarce and Lewis Crathern pulled off a hell of a trick last weekend when they jumped over the Worthing Pier in 30-40 knots of breeze, with a BBC story on the duo to prove it isn't a hoax. That's some serious air, and a couple of pairs of massive balls. Thanks to English Pirate for the tip.
Beach Party11/23/09From our good friend, Olympian, and former SCOTW Carrie Howe:
This past weekend I raced on the Farr 40 'Flash Gordon' in Miami, and took the Sunday redeye straight after the last race to my somewhat new “residence” outside of Amsterdam. Two days of work (Monday I still had my bathing suit on from Sunday) and the METS boat show Tuesday for some important Magic Marine meetings, and here I am - again - in Miami at gate D45 three days later! Happily enough, I'm eating American food (boy I miss it), but I could certainly have skipped the London stopover from last night. Apologies to my British friends, but London should ALWAYS be avoided when flying overseas either direction. Why am I doing this? I’ve always had to explain to non-sailors how “I don’t mind the flying, I know I am a bit crazy...“ I have had a few escapades in my life connecting far away lands, taking on ridiculous journeys for work, sailing, and pleasure. A lot of people have seen me lately, but maybe only to hear where I came from and where I am going, and maybe to ask how they were.
Well this “escapade” will undoubtedly be worth it. I'm headed to the St. Barth CataCup, an event largely credited to the French Sailing Federation, who thought it would be great for some of the world's best cat racers to leap to the tiny island of St. Barths for an F18 race! Considering the difficulty of shipping 30+ boats to meet on a lavish and not easily accessible island, there's no way this event could ever have happened were it not for some creative thinking. The organizers created a "must-do" event for the invited teams. Free container shipping for our Wildcats, included food and hospitality, amazing housing on the beach, race entries, a car to cruise around in, and supposedly some of the most ridiculous restaurant and night clubs in the Caribbean. For 200 Euros.
In a few hours, in the same clothes as the METS on Tuesday, I will be on the final ferry to the beach.
Update 1: How Big Is St. Barths?
9 a.m: Meeting for around St. Barths race. 35 F-18s learned just how big - and it's about 4 1/2 hours through small rock islands flying a hull the entire time. The course allowed for plenty of up and down, double trap reaching and navigation without a GPS. We had to use visual navigation and a photocopied map which I taped on my mainsail. Several times the leaders (including us) were confused with the course direction (which island the next mark was near) . . so this allowed for plenty of lead changing.
The fleet is stacked with the top Belgians, French and Dutch, with our own boats. Our Hobie Wildcats, Nacra Infusions, and other F-18s are here along with us in this honeymoon paradise. Let me try to give you a visual...You know those beachfront night clubs in Miami or Puerto Vallarta? It's like that - music, dancing, food, drink - and a row of high-performance race boats with their sails still up sitting on the beach just inches from the club! I will try to give a visual. I’m now sitting in the beach club with the boats in front, music, sails still up - all just inches from us. The landing strip for max 16 passenger prop planes for the rich and famous ends on our beach and the passengers strip their clothes off and jump in the crystal clear water right off the plane, with white sand reflecting the green colors of the mountains and cliffs (maybe we have done the same thing as well). After the quick dip the social atmosphere kicks in, and topless is a way of life here - as is total chaos!
I am one of 4 girls sailing and I have been out of the cat for a few months so I had some interesting moments organizing my main sheet and handling the overpowered spots when reaching. Overall, I was happy with our performance today, finishing 5th. John Casey, is co-helming with me, and he might say today was not as good as we would have guessed. I was a piece of work today, a bit out of rhythm but there are still two more days. It didn’t help that my trapeze harness was giving me a major wedgie. I didn’t tighten enough. But . . It was impossible not to smile today, even during the most difficult moments. The course designed made for some tough legs, double trap reaching, kite up, with a cliff to leeward - that means no safe zone at all. The Belgian team with McDonalds as a sponsor on their sail nailed the navigation so he was able to edge out Mischa in 2nd. More tomorrow, after the party tonight. Time to put on my dancing shoes.
For some great non-sailing pics of St. Barths from the awesome Pierrick Contin, click here. For racing shots, try this gallery.
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22 Nov 2009 04:50
Gray Scale
11/22/09
Jürg Kaufmann gives you this beauty from the LVT. -
21 Nov 2009 09:46
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20 Nov 2009 15:55
Winging It
11/20/09
Another day of watching this thing do its thing. Coutesy of Fox 5. Have fun not getting anything done at work. And if you find yourself staring at a picture with no much going on, well join the club!
They Can Do it. We Can Help.
11/20/09I came out of a Montana's restaurant in Saint John, New Brunswick Canada on a cool November 16th night around 9pm only to find three sailors surfing around in a Home Depot parking lot. it was light but they must of been doing 6- 10 knots. Executing some really nice gybes. I am a life long sailor and it was interesting how they could sense the wind direction since there were no ripples on the pavement :-) You have to admire their dedication.
G-man...............ac dope
Different Venue, No More NonsenseI am writing to follow up the article here on SA "Different Venue, More Nonsense?", where I reported that RAK is out, but the outcome of a decision on the vital rules issues for a fair race seemed to be uncertain.
If not exactly a clean sweep, Golden Gate Yacht Club did in fact come out way ahead in a follow up decision by Justice Shirley on rules motions announced yesterday. Also coming out of ahead is the sport of Sailing and even the ISAF. As a bonus nothing really terrible happened to SNG that should prevent them, should they choose, to hold their head high and move forward with a race in February as neither sailing monster got caught with a rules oriented need for major modification ahead of the race. Of course getting A5 out of RAK is another matter altogether.
Following the SA AC thread you might think SNG got quote "bitched slapped", but a careful reading of the order that came down Tuesday could be fairly summarized as:
SNG: Is squarely the winner of the argument that they are responsible for organizing the races and properly reserved for itself the exclusive authority to set and modify rules for this race going forward as necessary and normal in our sport.
GGYC: Even on those motions GGYC technically lost (limiting the defenders ability to use rules only from their last annual regatta, etc.), GGYC won a clean sweep of those specific rules GGYC argued biased the rules in favor of SNG (including rudder in LWL, adding ballast after measurement, BOR90 must measure exactly 90 feet) plus more generally (i) the judge is holding ISAF & SNG to representations and adjustments (as part of back peddling they made from the past secret agreement) that previously prevented the America’s Cup ISAF jury from taking remedial actions such as modifying rules in the NOR and (ii) pointedly reminding SNG that the courts decisions are based on the challenging boat’s rights under the RRS to seek redress from the America’s Cup Jury for any prejudice resulting from such rules changes.
Also winners is ISAF & the sport of sailing in that the judge was clearly ruling in favor of the self policing aspects of our sport by both preventing SNG from circumventing them as well as not diminishing SNG’s rights either.
Aw, let me stop this win-win crap.
In plain language SNG's attempts to disqualify BOR90 and otherwise win the America’s cup before the race ever reached the water was completely undone as motion after motion was awarded firmly in GGYC’s favor. In those few instances GGYC wasn’t granted the relief they sought it was solely because SNG had already back peddled in oral or written arguments to save their hide, and even in these instances the judge memorialized reminders in the text of her court order for SNG (and ISAF) that would essentially constrain future actions of SNG.
It is not an exaggeration however that the sport of sailing is a winner here, as the judge specifically spells out those self policing aspects of our sport that should be in control from this point forward and/or be accelerated into action before the December 4th date she set to take action next if such self policing controls are not successful in getting this matter out of the court and onto the water.
If this succeeds, I am going to nominate judge Shirley Kornreich for SCOTW. She has rained a fair amount of anarchy onto SNG’s parade, and the sport will definitely be the better for it.
b393capt
11/20/09
Virgin Airways
Forwarded to us by our old friend Bret Van Munster, who builds some of the fastest carbon skiffs and dinghies on the planet.
After sailing more or less all my life and competing in several National Championships in the UK, I was really keen to have a go in the so called hardest and fastest boats in the world, the 18ft Skiffs. Thanks to Ronstan (a rather long story), Brett Van Munster and Paul Montague, I was able to realise my dream last week! Prior to the arriving and rigging up my expectations were high. With a good breeze hitting just over 20 knots at times on the flat of Lake Macquarie conditions couldn’t be any better – right at the top end of the No 1 rig. When we finally got out on the water after rigging (which seemed to take for ever), the upwind speed was incredible. Faster than most boats I've sailed downwind in a blow!.
One of the most surprising elements of getting sailing was the huge loads on all of the control lines, pulling on the Kicker (or Vang as you guys call it down here) was a real job just to get a half as much on as was needed. When the time came to tack, after reaching the other side of the lake in minutes, it didn’t seem to bad, making it through the tack with no drama, but it was quite obvious the regular 18 sailors, Brett on the Helm and Monty on the main, were doing all the hard work. Making it across the lake in really no time at all, three stringing and Dick McColloch from Ronstan sitting in on the wing, it was time to get back down wind, after the speed upwind the ride home was going to be ridiculously quick. First was the bear-away, apparently not the easiest move in an 18 in 20 knots. Once again though, no real problems with the bear-away, getting weight to the back and Brett doing the tricky part. When it was time to get the kite up we discovered Brett was a helm and not a rigger; the kite wasn’t so immaculately rigged, with some halyard round the Hounds related issues. The problem was soon remedied with a wick trip up round the bow from Dick, and it was all on for the down wind streak back down the lake.
The acceleration with the Spinnaker up is huge especially after pottering down wind two sailing, the skiff came to life. All the crew to the back, and hold on. Centreboard out of the water, Top Gun, Jet Fighter stuff – getting the occasional air from a few waves in front. Only thoughts at the time were just how fast the boat was going, it felt quick from out on the wire, but then gauging the speed against the land which was seemingly galloping towards us, combined with the fact that there was on wind apparent on the boat – we were travelling just about as fast as the wind, somewhere around 20 knots. After reaching the other side of the lake in half the time it had taken us to get up there we gybed, the kite dealt with by Monty as it turns out a bit of a kite gybing specialist. Down on the other gybe the story was much the same, remarkable speed in the especially when the gusts ripped through the lake. After we made it down the lake in around eight minutes (a 30-40 minute drive) there was a quick crew swap and time to go again. The second time round didn’t disappoint, although getting used to the speed of the boat, almost enough to concentrate on the sailing rather than just holding on.
All too quickly it was time to land and get the boat back on the beach. As with everything on the 18s, not easy. Firstly trying to get out without hitting a shroud, and then catching the boat so it kept head to wind. Soon enough the boat was on the rack and sails where down, panic over. It was then that I realised my legs and feet were covered in claret - I can see why it’s not a good idea to wear a shortie or go barefoot in an 18.
It only remains to thank all the guys that made this awesome appearance; Alistair Murray from Ronstan for getting it all organised, Dick McColloch also from Ronstan for his organisation, Brett Van Munster for skippering (or helming as we call it in England) and the time to take me out, and the same to Monty for taking the time to go sailing.
-James Salter
11/20/09
Workin' It
11/20/09BMWO was out ripping it up on SD Bay today, jibing and tacking all over the place - it was pretty wild to watch on the Fox 5 camera. We'll have it for you again Friday live on this page should they go out. Anarchist Nemesis took a bunch of good shots from some different angles. Enjoy.
Meat of the Matter
Few SA'ers have the ability to get to the heart of a subject like ocean racer 'Rail Meat', best known for his great reports from far offshore on his Class 40 'Dragon.' A recent Gear Anarchy inquiry from noob "climbon" about the kind of instruments to buy for a performance cruiser led to a comprehensive post from Rail that should answer almost anyone's questions on instrumentation - ever.If you do nothing but day sailing on local waters that are well known to you, you may need nothing at all. If you do local W/L handicap racing then maybe all you need is wind instruments. And if you plan on crossing oceans then maybe you need a wide range of stuff. What follows is a wide ranging over view of functions and some considerations you might want to think about. In the first part of the write up I tried to focus on options and issues without editorializing too much about my own opinions of specific manufacturers. The second part of the write up includes my own set up and some thoughts about choices between manufacturers. Keep in mind that I only know what I know... while I have used several manufacturers products and can have an informed opinion about their product, I have by no means used all the products out there and would be hard pressed to offer an opinion on some thing like, say, Tack Tick that I have never used.
Performance - Wind Instruments (speed and direction), boat speed & depth - These functions are sort of the table stakes for electronics. Valuable to racer or cruiser, this data keeps you safe, helps you do Dead Reckoning navigation, helps you understand what changes you might want to make to your sail plan, and helps understand how well you are sailing the boat. This range of functionality typically comes in an integrated set that includes anemometer, speedo (paddlewheel, electromagnetic or ultrasonic), depth gauge and display(s). It also involves a bus of some sort to transport the data between instruments. In more advanced systems that bus has processing power and can perform such functions as calculating true wind based on apparent wind and boat speed data. Several options have been listed here, including Raymarine, NKE, B&G, and Tack Tick. Furuno, Simrad, Northstar / Navico, and Garmin are also manufacturers. The two top end systems are clearly NKE and B&G, offering the sensors and buses that provide the highest quality data, at the fastest speeds, and with the greatest add-on functionality. Within each of those two manufacturers you have a couple of different price points and functionality points. Choosing between all of the different manufacturers and within a particular manufacturer's product lines is a choice that should be driven by what your needs are, the reputation of the manufacturer and what your budget is. Another consideration is being able to get the data out of the system to use on a PC based navigation software program, Performance software program or Chart plotter system. Typically this means the nav instruments need to be able to take the proprietary protocol they use on their bus and translate it to NMEA for output (or input).
Performance Software - Performance software typically means the ability to load your polar data into the software and then use data about your actual performance versus your theoretical polar performance to figure out if you are maximizing your speed. If you are day sailing or cruising you don't have much need for this functionality. If you are one design racing (where eyou have more direct means of judging your relative performance) or more casually racing, you don't have much need for this. But if you are doing hard core racing at the top end of your fleet these tools can be very valuable. Top end instrumentation such as NKE or B&G allow you to do this right inside of the instrument bus. You can also get software that runs on a PC that can perform even more advanced and powerful analysis. What you will find is that the top end navigation software programs such as Expedition or MaxSea bake such capabilities into their software but you can get stand alone programs such as SA advertiser "Sail Clever" that perform similar functions.
Navigation - GPS - GPS solutions for the boat typically mean an antenna that is then connected to a navigation solution such as a chart plotter or PC running navigation software. There are lots of available antennas, and typically you will see that most chart plotting solutions will sell an antenna with their chart plotter. You can also take a third party antenna such as an Airmar antenna and feed its data into your solution.
Compass - Most electronic instrumentation needs bearing data. Nav software uses it to help calculate drift, instruments use it to help calculate true wind data, and radar sets use it to properly orientate signal returns on a chart overlay. Most autopilot solutions will provide some form of a digital compass, typically flux gate in nature. Also, you can buy third party compasses from Airmar, Furuno and others.
Charting Capabilities - Three choices here. If you are day sailing, nothing beats having the skills to be able to do paper charting. Second choice is to buy a chart plotter solution, which can range from a small self-contained hand held unit like Garmin might sell, up to fixed mount chart plotter systems that integrate GPS data from a separate antenna along with AIS data, wind and boat speed data and even radar data into a monitor that displays and overlays all of that information. Garmin, North Star, Raymarine, Simrad, Si-Tex all offer solutions in this space. The third choice is to feed all of that data (GPS, compass bearing, AIS, etc.) into a PC and run soft ware on the PC that offers charting and performance functionality. Options with this solution include Expedition, MaxSea and Nobeltec. My comment for these choices is that I prefer PC based solutions. A chart plotter solution is essentially a PC and software program bundled together. When you debundle the solution and buy your own PC and your own software, you can typically get better processing power, have the ability and option to upgrade hardware over time, can choose the best of breed charting functionality and can also upgrade more easily over time, and you can take your entire solution with you off of the boat if you load it all on a lap top. Chart plotter solutions are more "plug and play" and thus easier to install, but I think that the incremental work to put in place a PC based solution is far better in the long run.
Deck Access - One note here. If you have a chart plotter of PC, the question is where do you mount all of this. Mounting it below allows you to keep it safe from the elements and allows you to check things when below. But how do you see the data and information when you are at the helm? You either have to mount a monitor or display in the cockpit, or if you have a PC based solution you can use a remote, handheld deck screen of some sort like a Panasonic Toughbook. Performance data and instrument data are typically able to be seen on deck on the instrument displays. But having some means to be able to see the navigation, radar and AIS data on the deck is very valuable in difficult situations. Read on.
11/20/09
clean report
Porn Shop
Mer and I stopped in a sex shop on the walk back to our Amsterdam hotel tonight after dinner, and after walking the aisles, we saw something that put us into huge fits of laughter - I've never seen anything like it before. Skip to the end of this article to find out what it is, or read on for our short report on the world's biggest boat gadget show...I bring up the wacky sex shop item because that's what so many boat shows are - good ideas filled with silly products that few people need or want. But not METS - the Amsterdam show is an intense three-day midweek trade show, and while it's open to the public, the company representatives are not there for that - they are there to work. The booths are expensive enough to keep out the wonder-glue and George Foreman grill touts, and what's left are smart people going through meeting after meeting to get their orders sorted out for the 2010 year.
Any illusion I had of seeing the entire show during it's three-day run were dashed shortly after arriving on Tuesday. The picture above explains why; that huge room absolutely full of vendor booths is just one of the ELEVEN halls that make up the show - with a big proportion of the exhibitors being sailing or dual-purpose businesses. And when you learn that a tiny little booth costs around 5,000 Euros, you begin to realize just how seriously they take the sport in Europe.
There's little point in doing a play-by-play of the show - there is simply more new sailing gear here than anywhere else on Earth and we never had a chance to see it all. There's foul weather gear from a dozen countries, and electronic gear from a dozen more. There are forward looking sonars, forward looking infrareds, in-cockpit and on-bridge touch screen displays that shame your living room TV. There are anchors, lines, sails, composites, gangways, fenders, winches, blocks and cleats. There are fabricators, builders, designers, marinas, marketeers, and the media. And not just a few - we found more than a few sizeable manufacturers that we'd simply never heard of before. If you want more concrete info on the products we missed, try the DAME Awards Jury Report or the complete list of new products at the METS right here. For what it's worth, my favorite racer gadget was the Formula One-derived data-logging performance gadget the Pi-Garda, from Cosworth Electronics - see the thead for our video with them.
The good news is that, despite the recession in full force in Europe, this year's METS show was the biggest in history with nearly 1200 exhibitors, and of the hundred or so guys we spoke to, the show was massively busy for abour 90% of them. People are spending money again, and while the get-rich-quick guys are long gone, the industry is once again optimistic and looking forward to being in the sailing business.
We did a pile of interviews with anyone we could find with something interesting and new, with everything from young blonde chicks to the guys who run Harken and Selden, and Mer took a ton of pics of the things that caught her artistic eye, and we hope you get a little taste of the show by checking out the entire thread. It's all right here.
And the sex toy I wrote about above was called a Glow-In-The-Dark Pussy Opener. For real.
11/20109big pimpin'
Wind To Win11/20/09
From the newest member of our advertising community.The Canaries Tourism office has started a world wide campaign to support and sponsor the Islas Canarias RC 44 sailing team on their Sea Dubai RC44 Gold Cup regatta.
Under the motto “Wind To Win”, the Islas Canarias RC44 sailing team invites the enthusiasts to support their favorite team and prove that they who have the best fans, have the best wind.
It’s a Virtual Regatta between fans that support their teams by blowing air directly from their lungs to the computer. The website were the regatta is (www.windto win.com) will translate this air into wind knots and make the boats move.
By playing on www.windtowin.com people will be able to win a trip with the Islas Canarias Sailing team to one of their international races.
While the Sea Dubai RC 44 Gold Cup is happening, the wind generated will activate some huge fans which are located in the port of Dubai, where a huge screen will show the support messages that fans will leave on the website. This way, the teams will be able to literally feel and see the support that their fans have sent directly from their homes. And fans will be able to feel that they are not only on the virtual world but also on the real regatta.
Dare to see if your lungs are still those of a 20 years old boy or if the snuff left you in retirement! I blew like a tornado!
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19 Nov 2009 22:22
Update: Sadly this mystery has been solved. We are sad to announce that indeed the rumors are true - according to multiple sources, Marian Martin passed away from a heart attack on the morning of November 18. According to cathy from BYM,"When Aldous took Marian her morning cup of tea he found her lying on her side with a book in her hand as if she had fallen asleep reading."
Not many things really bother us but this truly does. She was a huge supporter of SA and we enjoyed many e-mail (and a couple actual) conversations on a number of topics. She contributed untold amounts of news for us and of course most of you know her via the forums. Smart, fiesty, she was truly wonderful woman who leaves our world an emptier place and one whowe are going to miss immensely. Sail on, Marian. We'll have more tonight.
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19 Nov 2009 01:20
It's All In The Name...
11/19/09Something called a Vixen 22 on the hard at Lagos, Portugal. It has apparently been there for a while, but looks to be an interesting little dude and it certainly is well named. Wonder if they know about us? Thanks to Anarchist Peter.MysteryMost of you are familiar with Marian Martin, she of BYM News. Marian has been a steady contributor and supporter of SA for years, and those who read our AC Anarchy forum know of her strong AC opinions. In fact we traded e-mails with her just yesterday.
So it came as a shock when we were alerted to this story (which we translated to English) from the Italian sailing site FareVella (story is on the left index): Rome - Bereavement in the world of sailing anywhere. Died suddenly this morning, Marian Martin, editor and curator with the husband of the famous site of international news on sailing and boating BYM News. Those who attended the international regattas had definitely noticed, an old lady always at the computer in the press room, for a constantly updated website"We have spent the better part of the day trying to verify the story and have come up with nothing - neither confirmation nor denial and it has us absolutely mystified. We of course are hoping that it is false, but would like to ask anyone who knows anything to either post in this thread or drop us an e-mail
11/19/09innerview The Dean
it is hard not to be impressed with the job that Dean Barker has done over the last year or so and he continues on form in the LVT. Judy from Anarchy Challenge caught up with him in Nice for this audio innerview. Enjoy.
11/19/09local knowledge TassiesOkay, we give you all kinds of articles from all kinds of perspectives and we wouldn't have it any other way. We particularly enjoy hearing about boats and people that we otherwise would know little about. Here's a boat that, if nothing else is giving one hell of an effort for their big race and really, that is what it's all about.
Beneath the new racing stripes is a much greater force that has seen She’s the Culprit, an Inglis 39, fast shape up as one of Tasmania’s top yachts to watch in this year’s Sydney to Hobart. Tasmanian skipper and owner Todd Leary unveiled his modified 39-footer this week, which is set to be an average 1 knot quicker, setting a cracking pace for the record Tasmanian fleet.The deck has been extended and the sail area has increased by a massive 50 per cent, potentially cutting as much as 16 hours off the time She’s the Culprit set in the 628 nautical mile ocean race last year.
``We finished 52nd last year and we were the second Tassie boat across the line, but we'll be much more competitive this year,'' Leary said. ``We've sacrificed racing in the summer pennant series, we've sacrificed everything, to make sure we had her in peak racing condition for this year's race.''
For the past four months the crew of 10, who have 13 Sydney to Hobart races under their belts, have worked tirelessly to revamp the Inglis 39. She’s the Culprit not only boasts an extra 20 per cent sail area upwind and 37 per cent down wind, it also has a 1m extension to the spinnaker pole, three new sails and an additional 4ft of deck space.
“It’s more than just the paint job and racing stripes that will make the Culprit really competitive,’’ Leary said. “The changes we’ve made will make a huge difference to our speed, especially in the light breeze and down wind. “We’re a heavier boat so in the light wind we were slow, but now we’ve increased our sail area so we’ll fly through the light stuff, while keeping our strength in the heavy weather.’’
A shot-gun team of some of Tasmania’s best young sailors will also add to the She’s the Culprit’s arsenal. ``We definitely have a stronger crew this year, they're young, strong and experienced,'' Leary said. “Most of them are Farr 40 sailors, so they know how crucial every tactical manoeuvre, every tack and jibe and every sail change is. “But the real key is that we're all team players so the huge amount of knowledge everyone has will be invaluable tactically, we should be really strong.''
Preparation has also been vital, as Leary admitted last year's preparations were less than favourable, having only bought the boat four-months before lining up on Sydney Harbor on Boxing Day last year. Leary, 39, came to sailing late after retiring as Tasmania’s leading formula one power boat racer on the Australian circuit in 2006. “Last year everyone said I was the rookie in the Tasmanian sailing fleet, but I’ve clocked up quite a few sea miles now and have a lot more confidence than I did last year,’’ Leary said.
She’s the Culprit is one of nine Tasmanian yachts entered in this year’s Sydney to Hobart, the biggest contingent since the 50th anniversary race in 1994. While Tasmanian Sean Langman’s chartered maxi Maximus will be almost unbeatable, the competition between the remaining Tasmanian yachts is set to be heated. ``Dekadence, Auch, Archie and the Helsal yachts are all good competitors and will be hard to shake,'' Leary said. ``We tussled with Valheru last year so we know they're strong too. ``But they beat us by less than 10 hours so in the right conditions we could have them. ``Actually, if we have a good down hill run the Culprit will be very hard for any Tasmanian boat to beat.''
She’s the Culprit crew includes: Todd Leary, Rod Chamberlain, Grant Davis, George Peacock, Paul Nanscawen, Tim Cubit, Matt Cubit, Mark Jeffery, Daniel Followes and Stuart Wells.
The Tasmanian contingent in this year’s Sydney to Hobart also includes: Sally Rattle and Scott Brain's Archambault 35 Archie; David Bean’s Beneteau 44.7 Auch, David Creese’s DK46 Dekadence, Sean Langman’s maxi Maximus, Tony and Bob Fisher’s Adams/Barrett 20 Helsal III, Tony Fisher’s Dynamique 62 Helsal IV and Tony Lyall’s Elliott 43 Valheru.
11/19/09Weta Gain11/19/09From SA advertiser Weta The Weta fleets are growing; 14 new boats sold in the Western region this summer with new boats in Hawaii, Seattle, Idaho, San Diego, Dana Pt and San Francisco. SF continues to be the nucleus for the fleet, and they recently raced 9 boats at the StFYC Fall Dinghy in moderate breeze and flood. Dig it!
gear Technical Apparel Revolution Part 3 Way back in 2007 we began a series of articles that were aimed at helping the consumer make educated choices when selecting apparel for use in sailing and other water related sports. A lot has changed since then both in the economy and in the fabric and garment industries. In 2007, China built goods ruled the market and while there were still innovations coming out in fabric performance, the Far East was quick to try and knock off these technologies. Many of the leading apparel brands took their business out of China and brought it back to North America and Central America to get faster turnaround time and protect the technological advances they were continuing to make. Flash forward to 2009…The educated consumer looking for premium level performance from their technical apparel has learned a few things about some of the catch phrases being used to describe the various properties.
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Anti-Microbial: If you have owned a synthetic fiber (Man made) performance shirt that lacked a quality anti-microbial agent, you learned quickly how they become useless rags in a very short amount of time. When spending your hard earned money on performance apparel you should be looking for a “30 wash” anti microbial agent like Invason™ 110 or Microban™ Several of the price point wicking products on the market today list “Anti-microbial agent” but what they don’t tell you is that the agent they are using is good for “Up to six washes”. Six washes? I don’t care how cheap a shirt is, I want to wear it more than six times before its anti microbial capabilities literally go down the drain.
- Moisture Wicking: These days pretty much everything is “Moisture wicking”. I have even seen a tee shirt listed with “Moisture wicking” properties! Are they all the same though? The differences are somewhat complex but in short the answer is “No”, fabrics vary widely. There are vast differences in materials from a moisture wicking standpoint. There are wicking properties that are “applied” to the fabric after the looming process and then there are fabrics which are created from the start to be moisture wicking. The applied moisture wicking properties have limited life to their performance and like the cheap anti-microbial treatments should be avoided if you are looking to wear you garments more than ½ a season.
- UPF Protection: For outdoor use another critical rating is the UPF or sun protection efficiency of a garment. Fabrics are rated in UPF, lotions and applied solutions are rated in SPF. If the garment you are thinking about rates itself in “SPF”, put it back on the shelf, virtual or otherwise and continue looking for a UPF rated product. UPF 40 is pretty good, UPF 50+ is ideal and there are enough companies in the market today offering a wide range of comfortable fabrics rated the full UPF 50+ that you shouldn’t have to compromise. For areas that you do not cover up with apparel, be sure to apply an SPF 150 rated lotion that is rated for in the water use. Be extra careful applying this lotion around the eyes and corners of the mouth as several brands use alcohol as the bonding agent and a little bit of sweat can cause the lotion to enter the eyes or dry out the corners of your mouth.
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Raglan sleeves versus set in sleeves: I am not as young as I used to be and finding generously sized clothing has from time to time been challenging. A “set in” sleeve or “tee shirt” cut will give you a more generous amount of material around your mid section typically. On the other hand a “raglan” sleeve will provide a more athletic cut in the shoulder but not necessarily a “compression” fit.
Note on the description or hang tag whether or not the garment is listed as “loose” or “compression” fit. Next a list of materials will also give you an idea for whether or not the shirt will have memory and maintain its shape when damp or wet. 100% nylon materials will give you a much drier “feel” than polyesters and nylon is far more durable than polyester and lacks that “itchy’ feeling some shirts develop in an athletic environment over a short period of time.
Nylon or Polyester blended with Elastane will give the material better memory when the garment is challenged to stretch due to activity or fit. One of the more popular branded Elastane products is “Lycra™”. Rash guards are a good example of a polyester or nylon Elastane blended shirt and is likely to be a compression fit product.
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And now for something completely different…Arid Core Technology™ Fabrics
Just about everyone is familiar with Goretex™ and other breathable fabrics in jacket or heavy jacket weight material. While keeping heavy precipitation out it allows some sweat to migrate through its micro porous membranes and keeping you cooler and drier and drier than other non breathable material. But not everyone is aware that there are now tee shirt weight materials that perform the same function by repelling water from the outside yet remaining highly breathable and providing UPF 50+ sun protection. Garment decoration options
Gone are the days when silk screening limited your ability to create team or corporate branded apparel. New direct to garment digital printing and dye sublimation has transformed the available options and costs to virtually limitless boundaries. Four color process images can be transferred onto garments at a relatively low cost creating amazing looking gear and images that straddle seams and tie the whole uniform together. Dye sublimation also has the advantage of literally dying the fabric and not coating it with a plastic screen ink. This allows high performance fabrics to perform as they were intended and not trap sweat in making the garment hot and sticky.
Polyester materials dye sublimate better than nylons and for dye sublimation to work at all a high percentage of the material in the garment must be a synthetic material. Only light color fabrics with work with dye sublimation and if you use a color other than white, there will be a color shift to reflect the color of the substrate (fabric) but the effects can be very cool looking! Sublimating over the color red will give you a photo negative effect for example.
More on those pesky Microbes…What's a Microbe? (Courtesy of Microban) Microbes or microorganisms are living cells that are too small to be seen with the naked eye and must be viewed through a microscope. The naked eye is only able to detect the presence of microbes once they have multiplied to the hundreds of thousands. And under the right conditions, microbes can double in number every 15-20 minutes. Types of microorganisms include bacteria, algae and fungi or mold.
*Microban® anti microbial product protection is engineered to protect products from bacteria, mold and in some cases algae that can cause stains, odors and product deterioration. Microban protection is not designed to protect users from disease causing microorganisms.Bacteria Billions of years ago, bacteria were among the earliest forms of life on Earth. Today, bacteria are present in the soil, in the air, in water, on plants and even on animals and humans.
There’s no escaping the presence of bacteria and in fact, many of the bacteria we encounter are beneficial to the environment and even to the human body helping us to digest food for example. However, some bacteria can adversely affect the everyday products we use in our lives causing stains, odors and product deterioration.Fungus Early fossil records suggest that fungi have been on Earth for over 550 million years. And some experts estimate that today over 1.5 million fungus species exist. Common fungi include mushrooms, puffballs, truffles, yeasts and most mildews. Fungi are commonly referred to as mold and begin life as microscopic airborne spores that germinate on contact with the surface of a nonliving organic matter where moisture is present. Mold is then able to penetrate the organic material, secreting enzymes and absorbing water and the digested sugars and starches from the nutrient source.
Mold spores are present everywhere in our indoor and outdoor environment and many of the products found in our homes provide rich nutrient sources. The best defense is prevention: control moisture in your home including high humidity levels and look for products that resist the growth of mold.
Algae Simple, plantlike microorganisms, algae are often classified at the phylum level according to their color, i.e. green, red, golden-brown and brown. Algae vary in size from microscopic algae to the largest forms such as seaweeds. While they can vary in habitat, most algae are found in fresh water or seawater. Algae use the energy of sunlight through the process of photosynthesis to make their own food.
Algae produce more oxygen than all plants combined and play an invaluable role in our ecosystem. Humans have also found other uses for algae, as food for people and animals, as thickening agents in ice cream, in shampoos and even in some drugs. In some cases, they can however damage product surfaces for example your swimming pool filter, the hull of your boat, or the exterior of your home.
11/19/09
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18 Nov 2009 08:00
Is This The Best Sailing Video?If it isn't, it certainly sets some new standards. It's called Calibrate, a kiteboarding film by Andy Gordon, starring Aaron Hadlow and anyone making sailing videos should take note of the shots and effects. Comments.
11/18/09ac dope
Imitation Is FlatteryWe like to throw all opinions at you, no matter how wacky or insane. Enjoy.
Thank You Mr. Non-Sailing, Helmet Head, Desk Jockey, Girlie Boy, Litigator
By Someone Other Than Peter Piper, the Crazed Indian, or other Kool-Aid drinking BMWOrican
The sport of sailing has put on the global map like never before with the launching of the giant multihulls from BMWO and Alinghi. Without Mr. Helmet Head, Desk Jockey, Litigator’s drive – after continued failure after failure on the water – to buy, litigate, anything but actually race – this never would have happened.
Mr. Litigator, you have taken the sport to both lowest depths ever, and now ironically you are also completely responsible for taking it the highest level ever. These pieces of massive technology transcends sailing, and Ernesto will now have what you crave so much. You might still buy or litigate your way to holding an America’s Cup that you could never win on the water without twisting and turning the Deed to your advantage. But, unless you grow a set and display some passion for the sport you will let Ernesto beat you to the punch with something the world has never seen before. The world may not remember who wins the 33rd America’s Cup, but real sailors – real lovers of the sport are always going to forever remember Ernesto from day 1 taking – and keeping – the helm of his own boat while you hid under your desk, helmet on your head, calling for more lawyers, too scared and incompetent to skipper his own wonderful creation. Just as was said to the Queen, what a wuss. I have seen both these boats up close and watched them slice through the water. They are as amazing to any sailor as you are pathetic excuse of a sailor.
Mr. Litigator, you (finally) gave a CHR (or did you?), but you gave junior sailors something even bigger. Your actions gave everyone who loves to sail – everyone and anyone that can still draw breath and knows how to sail, who would look at these amazing boats and give up their first born to take the helm and have that experience – proof positive that money can’t buy class and it can’t buy passion for the sport. People around the world watched you hide behind your desk, girlie-boy brain bucket firmly in place and buy and litigate into the finals, excluding all others (something you have never been able to do on the water) and steal the defenders right to select the venue, to choose the rules, etc… You have successfully navigated the courts in ways you never could or will on the water.
Mr. Litigator, thanks so much for creating the path that will for Ernesto and the dedicated teams members and supporters of Alinghi capture the attention of the world and highlight the difference between a passionate helmet head, desk jockey, girlie boy litigator and the passion of a true sailor like Ernesto. Every great story needs a hero and a villain. The only question remains: how much longer are you willing to be the villain? What you want is simple, the same thing everyone wants: respect. But you can’t buy or litigate your way to that little man. Even for all the losing records on the water you have brought to the sport, it’s never too late to change. But to do so you must get out from under your desk and behind your lawyers and actually sail! Giving in to fear is not giving up. We don’t want to disrespect you, we want to like you, but you make that impossible. Look in the mirror, say “thank you” to yourself for building an amazing boat, throw off the helmet, grow a pair, and go skipper your own boat! Who knows, you might even win, but if you don’t, a last second display of passion and ability for sailing will go along way to repair your image and regain some respect. But for now, Thank You for the actions that led to the greatest pieces of sailing kit ever.
In closing, while you may need a brain bucket Mr. Non-Sailing, Helmet Head, Desk Jockey, Girlie Boy, Litigator, you certainly don’t need a cup; unless you find a way to grow a set and find the passion to go sail one of the two most amazing boats in the planet. - GMT.
11/18/09
Losing Momentum
11/18/09So this 72' named Momentum is on a reef off Waikiki. Here is the story. Is there anything else to the story? Photo Richard Ambo/The Honolulu Advertiser.
clean report
Tilting at Windmills
Our trip to Amsterdam for the Marine Equipment Trade Show, the world's largest show for boating products and accessories, was only slightly less impulsive than our trip to San Diego to watch the winged shitter last week. And our comfort suffered because of it. A stanky and overstuffed Delta transatlantic flight and a half a day of roaming around to find a place to lay our heads weren't a good start to the week, though we're finally (mostly) recovered. An old friend invited us to stay in his beautifully restored 17th century home in a fortified town closer to Rotterdam than Amsterdam, so it's been restful and comfortable. Though a bit bummed we're not in the middle of the Dam square, we do have a car and can easily get anywhere - and it would be hard to find a more beautiful spot than Brielle, with a canal on the front doorstep and a working windmill from the mid 1800s just around the corner. Yesterday I found myself balanced on the gunnals of my friend's classic diesel launch, pumping and bailing water from the sinking craft as I nursed a Grolsch beer and puffed on a cigarette as the sun slid behind the flat countryside. It was hard not to feel like a Dutchman.
So once again, serendipity has given us a great experience, and today we had a little reconnaissance mission at the METS show. It's run in a huge convention complex that can probably hold more than one show at a time, and you walk through an army of smokers as you approach the front door - as you'd expect with so many French and Italian industry workers. We barely hit half the show, and it took 3 hours of fast walking to get that far. The sheer volume of companies here is mind-boggling, especially compared to US shows; there is a "composites section" with not just a few top carbon specialists, but with dozens and dozens of companies making carbon-fiber components and products. Fittings, electronics, clothing, sail components and sails, engines, generators, all with ten times more of each than any show I've seen. I've seen more gorgeous carbon fittings of every possible purpose today than I've seen in a year - technical works of art with modern design and all sorts of looks. The booths are gorgeously turned out, and there are restaurants with every nationality's food on offer, corresponding to nearby international exhibitor groupings. Represented are Thai, Kiwi, Russian, Greek, Chinese, Turkish, Italian, Polish, Croatian, Spanish, and more than a dozen more, and the culinary offerings are perfect to gain weight on a short working holiday. Today we've got a few pics for you from our little town and the show, and an introductory video as well as a video with Magic Marine Marketing Manager Carrie Howe, a former SCOTW and one of our pals for a long time, a successful chick now off the water and still ripping it up at 20+ knots on it. Tomorrow we intend to do interviews until our batteries are all dead and our SD cards all full, because there is simply SO MUCH cool shit here that it's gonna take a lot of work. This show is the ultimate professional boat show. It makes you realize that, in Europe, this is a real business, a legitimate industry. So check back for more and let me know here if you have any specific stuff you want to see. Thursday we will be taking requests.
And finally, a word about this part of the Netherlands. A country with canals that cross nearly every inch of it, and where the canals are filled bow-to-stern with sailboats, fishing boats, and tenders of every possible size and shape, is a great place to be for a sailor or a waterman. Where sailing clubs are heavily subsidized by the government and where a family membership with boat storage a great venue is a few hundred bucks a year is someplace comfortable for racers to be. The land itself has become dominated by wind to even a greater extant than the Holland of old, with modern wind turbines towering over everything, evidence of the endless wind here and the willingness people have to use it for a cleaner-energy world. We'll be back tomorrow night. More in the thread.
Meredith Block Photos
11/18/09
Or Is This The Best Sailing Video?
"I've finished reading your book, and it occurred to me that the people from my youth that still sail don't do so because they live near water. We all have a common thread that supports the idea of your book - we all started sailing with our dads or another mentor. My dad taught me to sail early, and others saw value in me and brought me along - this really helped refine my racing skills. My best memories of sailing aren't of me racing by myself, but racing with others, being pulled out of school to "cruise" in a small craft advisory with my dad. The kids that don't sail anymore weren't directly involved in sailing with their parents." Read on.
11/18/09 -
17 Nov 2009 00:06
Night Light
11/17/09So we received some cool Melges 24 shots from photographer Matthew Cohen but this one really caught our eye. Did it catch yours?
SCOTW
G Bomb
The fireball that is Genny Tulloch did what has been virtually impossible for anyone to do to Anna Tunnicliffe since the Olympics ended - she beat her, and with the ink on Anna's ISAF award barely dry! Despite Tunnicliffe's perfect match racing record since the beginning of the year, and a nearly unbeaten record going into the finals of the US Women's Match Race Champs, Genny and her team of Chafee Emory, Elizabeth Hall, and Alana O'Reilly, beat Tunnicliffe's more experienced team soundly 3-1 to take the title in light air last weekend in St. Thomas. Genny is our Sailor Chick of the Week, shown here at last month's Melges 24 Worlds, and her victory in the Virgin Islands sends a message to Tunnicliffe that winning the right to be the first-ever US woman to match race for an Olympic medal ain't gonna be a walk in the park. Here's a report from White Wave on the pin boat:
"Tunnicliffe was down 2-1 and had a must win situation on her hands. The umps gave Tulloch a penalty in the prestart, which she carried til the end of the race....Tunnicliffe led around the last windward mark, jibed onto starboard, and in the light air heated it up a bit with Tulloch close astern. As the Wind backed on the run, Tulloch soaked to the mark a bit more and at the layline for the finish Tunnicliffe jibed herself onto port. Genny heated it up, still on starboard, and stating the obvious, "Starboard" she threw here flag right as Anna crash-gybed back to starboard. Anna got the penalty, negating Tulloch's own, and Genny gybed onto port and led to the favored pin end of the line. It was a classic ending to a great regatta - wow, these are some great sailors!"
11/17/09
Photo by Meredith Blockac dope
Blackbird Singing
Two days of sailing, two busted bits of wing, this time something in the structure of the bottom flap in wind less than Bertarelli's embarrassing 15-knot wind limit. Underbuilt, or a normal development regime for something so unique? Time will certainly tell, as will the vigor with which BMW/Oracle's litigation team fight the wind speed rule for the 33rd Cup. Learn more about the broken wing here.
11/17/09
Move Out
SA'er 'ravings' tells the 3 year story of buying, refitting, and getting a somewhat neglected Swede 55 from a figment of his imagination to his home port in the UK. More on the thread here, and a great Swede 55 thread with tons of pics over here.Three years ago, an old sailing friend came to me with a theory – Big old fibreglass boats are far cheaper in the USA than they are in the UK. A few days later after scooting about the internet, I had to concur.
Two years ago, I get a call: “There’s a Swede 55 on yachtworld for $70,000, needs work”
This is ideal, we are both keen amateur boatbuilders, plus he used to work for Ian Ridge, I used to help them out. Work on a boat is good for us, plus it's (then) $2 to £1. Two days later, we are on a flight to JFK. We have lined up five boats to look at varying in price & condition. We hire a car, and take a trip around Connecticut & New York.
The conditions are awful on November 6th 2007, gale force winds, driving rain and election fever on the car radio. We look at a Compass 47, a Sparkman & Stevens, A Hunter 48. They are ok, but….
Then we see the Swede. She is tatty, but beautiful, and has a new engine. My reaction is that she needs too much work, but my friend is adamant she is the boat to buy. We go to the brokers & make an offer, and they phone the owner, only to be told someone else has made a lower offer which he said yes to.
We wander off dejected to a local café, & get lunch. Then I get a brainwave. I ask my mate how much he can put on his debit card, he can put the full amount. We go back to the broker and offer the full amount, and now. It turns out the people who offered the money were late on their deposit. After a bit of a delay, the card is swiped & the boat is ours. The sun breaks through the clouds. We will sail her back next summer
Through the winter I work out the route, the logistics, we sort out the safety equipment, I just start reading up on bad weather techniques, launching para-anchors, buy a sewing machine & start making stuff, full time evening job.
My friend flies to New York in April, but there is far more to do than we imagined, and he wants to get it right. When my brother in law and I fly out in May 2008, it is obvious we are not sailing her back that year. My friend has done nothing but the boat for 8 weeks, but it was too much work. She is on a swinging mooring with the mast down. The floors are rotten, no cooker or fridge, the windows leak, the wiring is shocking(?). We have a long discussion, and agree, she spends another winter in the USA. Having decided what we are doing, we refit hatches, swap out floorboards, get arrested by the marine police for flying a red ensign and enjoy memorial day.
We finally get the mast up & install a full Raytheon suite in a day, works first time. Then the first sail from Oyster Bay to the Captain Islands, she is stunning to sail. On the way back we are hit by a 35 knot squall, but she’s fine. I go home after working on her for three weeks, and my friend continues to work alone.
Early this year we debate the crossing again. I suggest Dockwise or Sevenstar. When we do the maths, the lift option is a good one. We book the lift ship from Newport to Southampton UK, and arrange a skipper for the trip from Oyster Bay to Newport.
But then it isn’t Newport, its Baltimore, two weeks later. My friend is now in my spare room waiting for his fiancée to arrive & his house to complete. Two weeks ago we get the message:
“Lotus has loaded in Baltimore”
Now it’s a waiting game, two weeks and she will be back, but there’s a twist.
She is due in Thursday 12th November, so I take Friday off work. Wednesday 11th, we are told Friday 13th (?) mid-day. Friday is a stinker, driving rain, Force 8 gale. We get the release papers & wait. I get on the AIS website. Spuigracht is flying up the channel at 17 knots, then stops, turns south at 2 knots.
What is happening? After everything that has happened, what more are they going to hit us with?
The wind builds, and starts gusting mid-forties. Our boat is 15 miles from home, and heading away. Then next morning at 8-00am the liftmaster calls us to say he’s not sure when the ship will be in. 10-00am, the liftmaster informs us that the ship was unable to anchor, they were dragging. The Port of Southampton is closed. The wind builds to an average of 50+, and gusting 62. We sit in front of the AIS & watch. And watch. VHF announces Cowes Hi-Speed are “Giving up for a few hours”. We are told the ship will dock at 11-30pm. 11-30 arrives, she is south of St. Catherine’s Point.
By now, I am getting obsessive. I am glued to the AIS. At 2-15am Sunday morning, a pilot boat leaves dock head. Spuigracht is perfectly positioned as the most Northerly ship. She takes the pilot & hits 16.9 knots between Ventnor & Fawley. Finally the AIS registers her as “Docked” & I go to bed, just feeling “Finally, she’s here”.
The next morning we get to the lift ship. There is no wind, and the sun threatens to shine. Lotus doesn’t even have a drawer out of place & is perfectly dry. We are lifted, lowered into the water, turn the ignition, engine fire first time, sun shines & we thank the guys on the ship & swing South to Shamrock Quay.Two years, one week after the purchase, Lotus, the Swede 55 has finally come home.
That was yesterday, my friend moved into his new house with his fiancée today.
11/17/09
Needle FreaksOur pals Keith Brash and Matt Carkeek from BTS Broadcast have been doing a great job finding interesting things to shoot at a pretty uninteresting early-days Louis Vuitton Trophy event in chilly Nice. Here's a video called "Sail Loft."
11/17/09ocean racing breaking
Groupama OutAt around 1200 UT this Monday, a big cracking sound dashed the hopes of Franck Cammas and his nine crew in their bid to break Orange 2's round the world record from back in 2005 (50 d 16h 20'). A bulkhead attached to the aft beam simply gave up the ghost in the harsh conditions as the giant trimaran was sailing with her sails angled at 90° to the true wind in a powerful air flow and rough seas. The crew knew they had to go fast to stay in the right sector of the warm front, hot on their heels, in order to drop down towards the Cape of Good Hope with the Brazilian low. The resulting weakness then caused the windward float to fissure and, in light of the sizeable damage, the crew immediately stopped the boat and concluded that it would be necessary to abandon this round the world attempt.
"We'd spent the night sailing fast to stay ahead of the front and this morning Thomas Coville and Bruno Jeanjean were on deck when they heard a big `crack': there was a small fissure between the aft beam and the port float. Conditions were really bouncy: we came to a standstill with the wind right on our tail so as to be able to open the hatch and get down inside the float. Part of the section between the beam and the float level with the bulkhead had become detached. As such the structural integrity was reduced by at least half. It is impossible to envisage effecting repairs at sea due to the motion. At the moment we're still being shaken about: there was 35 knots of wind on the beam at the moment the incident occurred and just now, we've been caught up by the front so we've got 40 knots of breeze...
We've dumped the mainsail and Groupama 3 is running before the wind to avoid any harsh motion. We're going to draw up a route to avoid having too much wind and excessive waves. We're heading South to let the second low pass by us tonight and then we'll head off towards Cape Town tomorrow morning, Tuesday. We're continuing with the same watch system and I'm working with Stan to see what we can do next. The idea then is to get back to France as quickly as possible: the crew's up for that and if we can set off again before the end of January then it's still feasible to make a new attempt!" indicated Franck Cammas during a telephone link-up early this afternoon. Video here, discussion here.
11/16/09 -
16 Nov 2009 08:44
Home Boys
An update from the kooks behind the i550...We Kool-Aide Mongers at Watershed Sailboats have a new website and our webmeister will soon have a much “Kooler,” version of the i550sportboat.com up & running in the next week or so ... This year so far, two more Australian boats have launched and are currently sailing with another due to splash soon. Dozens more are in various stages of their own i550 builds down under. In the States and in Canada, there are currently about 18 or more in building, and one launched this past summer in North America. And there are at least three more very close to seeing the water here in the States.
Many of the European builds are going along quietly and we look forward to learning of the first and subsequent launches there. Korea has a group of enthusiasts, with one boat in construction with more to follow. Worldwide, there are now close to 250 sets of plans in 28 or more countries. All this activity has taken place virally in a bit more than two years. By our count more than 10 percent of the plan sets are in build stages. We don’t know what the statistics are for home built boat completion is, but the focus these builders have brought to the class is the essence of Anarchy. And remarkably, most of the growth of the i550 class can be directly linked back to those wild and crazy visionaries at Sailing Anarchy.
Our builders are an interesting group, willing to share knowledge and sources without reservation. Discussions on keels, masts, nylon cable ties versus copper wire for stitching plywood panels before gluing, bow sprit arrangements for fixed or articulated poles and on and on . . . everything is offered up freely. Check out the i550.org site for the forums, build blogs, the rules and most everything i550. The i550 is sort of a phenomenon, for the very reason that in this age of ready-made everything, it has found fertile ground within the sailing community and has grown faster than H1N1 is mutating. Is there any other boat, especially one that you have to build yourself, that has enjoyed this kind of mania in its early stages? And what makes the i550 so attractive that someone wold commit to a winter’s worth of evenings and weekends? Beyond low cost, the prime motivation is a way- cool, stinkin-fast ride.
11/16/09Innerview11/16/09Wheelin' To The Worlds
With his win at the International 2.4mR Open Worlds over a field of 39 entries where almost 1/4 of the fleet were past world, country and paralympic champions, John Ruf, has just proven "There are no Excuses". John as a paraplegic has to do everything with is hands. That means at mark roundings when others can use foot steering to keep the boat moving in the right direction while easing and launching, he must steer, ease and launch at the weather mark and just the opposite at the leeward mark, all at the same time with his hands. For all you beer drinking rail whales who site on your big boats and think you are doing it......I suggest you shift your paradigm. There are "No Excuses" anymore. Maybe USS should give the 2.4mR a try for the "Championship of Champions" and let Johnny beat up on a few more. Thanks to the Edison Sailing Center, Diversified Yacht Services and MB Sailing for a great event.- Dawg
Opening ceremonies at the Worlds 
L-R Peter Wilson, Flag Boy, Carl Horrocks,
Betsy Alison, John Ruf and Team Dog.SA:I think you are the first paraplegic to win the 2.4mR Open Worlds. What does this World Championship mean to you and the disable sailors around the world??
JR: I think you may be correct but there have been disabled sailors who have been the 2.4mR Open World Champions in the past, Nick Scandone (als) won in 2005 and Hieko Kroeger (forearm amputee) won in 2000. I love sailing in "open" events best. The 2.4 Metre should always be open to all. I'm very honored to be on the trophy with so many great sailors. I hope this regatta proves that the 2.4 Metre is a boat for all regardless of age, gender, or disability.
SA:After the Paralympics where you won the Bronze and you must have been flying high, what did you do knowing that the worlds were coming to the US to prepare for a home court advantage??
JR: I've been thinking about the Worlds all summer and though I only got to sail twice before heading to Ft. Myers I was reading and thinking about sailing all the time. Ft. Myers seems a bit like a foreign country compared to Pewaukee Lake. I hope the next time the Worlds make it to the US we will have as many boats as my first Worlds in Tonsberg Norway (98).
SA:Tell us about your view of the competition at the Worlds??
JR: The fleet of 44 boats was deep and filled with World Champions, National Champions, World Cup winners and Country Champions. Toss in a gold medallist and paralympic medallist as well and I knew this was going to be a very tough regatta. The Worlds always brings the best and they all want to win. I have only been to three Worlds and they are very exciting.
SA:The 2.4mR can be a wet and cold boat when the breeze comes up. THough in FLorida, I think cold is out. Did your being from and sailing in Wisconsin help prepare you for any of the wet / cold parts??
JR: I believe you have to get comfortable sailing in all conditions, especially the miserable ones, and Wisconsin can give you plenty of chances to do that. As you know sailing a 2.4 Metre is like being in the bathtub with the shower running. The three races on Thursday saw 10-20 knots of breeze so I was thankful for the gear to stay somewhat dry and warm. Ft. Myers had the same intense heat (?) as Qingdao so I was pouring a lot of water over my head to stay as cool as possible.
Rounding the weather mark in light airSA:Do you still have Gold on the mind for 2012?
JR: Many things have to fall into place and I hope they do because representing your country at the games is an incredible experience and I would feel very lucky to be able to do that again.
SA:Everyone knows you cannot get to the Olympics/Paralympics alone. Tell us about the involvement of the Bull and Bear Racing program and how much it helped??
JR: The Bull and Bear Racing Team is Henry Colie and without him, Carl Horrocks, Matt Goetting and Pat Koar I would not be able to sail a 2.4 Metre competitively. I'm so grateful for their help. They are truly the best at rigging and getting the boats ready to race fast. They have a work ethic that is hard to match and they know how to make every system work as efficiently as possible. There is a wonderful DVD all about disabled sailing that Bull and Bear made possible. Let me know if you want some copies
SA:The recent push for the 2.4mR class to go One Design failed and the fallout was to tighten up the App. K Paralympic measurement portion of the class rule. What do you think the class should do??
JR: I've always sailed in one design classes. I hope the class will be one design and the need for App. K will cease to be an issue. I realize this a simple answer to a not so simple problem.
SA:You also compete in Scows and Ice boating. Tell us more.
JR: Henry Colie was kind enough to let me drive one of his E-scows down in St. Pete and I would love to modify an E-scow again. I started steering E-scows in 1988 and believe it is one of the best boats to drive full stop. I sailed them competitively until a car accident that put me in a wheelchair and after getting out of the hospital I sailed again and snapped my femur in two. I will always be a scow sailor and I'm very partial to the E-scow because my great grandfather helped design it. He also built the first front steering ice boat and though my last sail on an ice ended with a trip to the hospital in an ambulance I will never turn down a ride. I'm keeping my eyes open for a great used Nite. With some luck I would like to do some land sailing this coming Easter.
SA:Johnny, you are not getting any younger. I think you are about my age and I am 52. How much longer will you compete?
AHH, life is good!JR: I know I look old but you still have a decade and a year on me. I sailed against my new friend Per Ahrbom 75 yrs (SWE 378 he finished 8th at the Worlds) and if I'm lucky enough to stay healthy as long as he has I will still be sailing in some fashion. (I must apologize to John, I really thought he was my age. jeez I feel old now.)
SA:Congrats John!!
JR: Thanks Dave. Hope to see you on the race course soon!
the biz
Coupling11/16/09A couple of weeks ago we showed you an interesting looking new Scandavian Cruiser (Odd Couple) and here's a little build update from the folks at Red Dragon/Paramount Yacht Building Co:
We're building the boat and must say the boat's been engineered to the 'enth degree.' First hull/deck will be laminated this week. Nis Peter-Lorentzen (the man behind the Scandanavian project) is a Dane with significant manufacturing experience in China. His family owned a shipyard in Denmark and he owns an impeccably-restored original 40-something Skerry. Well-organized, detailed, experienced, well-financed, and a passionate sailor. He's also adamant that boats won't be shipped until the design and execution are perfect. First boat should be sailing by the end of the month.race report
On PaceLikely the most in-depth race report we've ever gotten for a six-boat fleet (and we edited about 1000 words out), it is also from a class you most likely have never heard of: the Pacer 27. This is their nationals, from South Africa last month. We love this stuff....
This great value for money sports boat has been finding popularity with skippers over a wide range of venues both coastal and inland – mainly for it’s sparkling performance. The class association held the third nationals at the inland venue of the Vaal Dam near Johannesburg in late September as part of the annual Keel Boat Week which attracts around 50 entries. It is a mind numbing 18 hour trip towing a 27 footer – kudos to those that undertook the marathon journey.
Seriously close one design racing is what this event was all about. Despite the fairly small entry of six boats, those that were on the water enjoyed outstanding close quarters racing with many of the races seeing four Pacers finishing within seconds of each other. Ant Wentworth’s ‘Felix the Cat’ ended up as the overall winners, notwithstanding the top four boats all finishing on 10 points each for a four way tie. Second placed ‘Regent Express’ ended with an identical score line to ‘Felix the cat’ where the tie was broken on the better position in the final race – the very race where ‘Regent Express’ skippered by Trygve Roberts had a halyard break and sent them plummeting from a possible 1st place right down to last in the final race. They jury rigged a second halyard and fought back to finish 4th in the final race, but it was one point too little for the overall win. Finishing 3rd overall was Andrea Giovaninni on ‘Pacer 3’ fresh from a similar podium finish in the Lipton Cup.
What a pleasure to go sailing on absolutely flat water in fresh breeze in shorts and T Shirts. Conditions on the Vaal for the first two days suited the Pacers perfectly with fresh breezes and flat water which makes the Pacer 27 Sport a delight to sail. Two yachts in the gold and silver fleets were dismasted which says something of how strong the breeze was. None of the Pacers suffered any such maladies. Noticeable in this regatta was the number of boats sporting new sails from a range of sailmakers.
Fresh to strong winds on the Vaal Dam (18 to 32 knots) saw the Pacers ripping through the fleet downwind reaching speeds above 16 knots and providing some spectacular broaches for those seeking visual thrills. The only non Pacer that could keep up was the Farrier trimaran.
The weather was exceptionally good for the first two days, whereafter it faded completely not allowing any additional races for the entire weekend – a first in the last six years that DAC have had no racing during this annual event on any given day. No-one really complained as the first two days were simply fantastic for keelboat racing.
Amongst the crews were some very good sailors, many who have sailed at world championship level. On Felix the cat, a number of World Class Hobie sailors were to be seen including Blaine Dodds, William Edwards and Allan Lawrence who steered. Sailmakers from Hyde and North were dotted amongst the other Pacers. There was no question as to how tough the competition was going to be. It would be a tough event to win for sure.
With a moderate northerly forecast, the fleet set off for the middle of the dam on Heritage day (Sep 24th) to commence racing. The format was a simple windward/leeward course with an offset mark to port of the windward mark to help clear the fleet away from the usually congested weather mark. There were four separate starts for the Pacers, Gold, Silver and Cruising fleets each separated by a five minute gap. Race one got underway with an individual recall in the Pacer fleet with the errant party returning to restart correctly. The course was short with a middle of the course start/finish line to facilitate rapid race restarts with the Pacer and Gold fleet boats having to complete three laps with the smaller boats doing only two laps. Notwithstanding the short courses, it provided for a huge amount of action in the Pacer fleet, which would end up completing the downwind legs in only three minutes. This left many of the crews questioning their lack of fitness at the end of the first day’s racing. Going up the first beat it was Regent Express and Pacer 3 reaching the weather mark first. Just before the weather mark Pacer 3 caught ‘Felix the cat’ port/starboard. Felix tacked in front of Pacer 3 and a collision occurred with Pacer 3's bowsprit which was already extended. This incident would become an issue throughout the regatta and was only resolved after the main prize giving was completed. This was a pity, as the niggle between the two boats continued for the entire regatta. Neither boat retired nor did a penalty. Pacer 3 protested and hurriedly hoisted a red T-Shirt in place of a protest flag.
11/16/09
That evening the protest between Pacer 3 and Felix the cat was heard. During the validation procedure Felix the cat objected that Pacer 3’s protest flag had not been conventional (too big). On that basis the protest was disallowed (which raised many an eyebrow). Pacer 3 then withdrew their protest but they were very unhappy about the protest committee’s decision and thought it to not to be in the spirit of the sport. After discussing the incident and looking up the rules governing protest flags, no clear rule could be found as to whether there was any limitation on the size of a protest flag. The youngsters on Pacer 3 decided to request for the hearing to be re-opened the following day. We awoke to a steady northerly and a positive forecast for the day where the breeze would peak at a 32 knot gust. And who said there is no real wind on the Vaal?
After racing Pacer 3’s request to reopen the protest hearing was denied on the grounds that it had been withdrawn by them the previous day, so there was technically no protest to reopen. This made the youngsters very unhappy and the situation was starting to get uncomfortable. It was clear to most of the skippers and crews that the original protest hearing had been somewhat flawed and probably unfair.
That night the party animals were in full swing again as a discotheque belted out a mix of old favourites and modern hip hop, but oh man we were so bushed that sleep overwhelmed us by 10pm. The noise from the clubhouse woke us and most of the competitors camping there at 1.30am. A power outage would surely solve the problem? And so it was that the main power mysteriously tripped a short while later, which killed the party despite vigorous attempts at reviving it. The next night there was a big padlock on the power box. Say no more!
Saturday 26th:
The morning dawned in it’s usual pattern with a flock of rowdy Ibis “hah de dahing” in the trees above our tents at 0600. There was an air of anticipation as the fleet headed out towards Beacon Island which, with the dam at 94% capacity, was nothing more than a simple trig beacon sticking out the water in an unexpected place. The dam was nothing at all like the previous two days. The organisers must have known that this would be the case as each boat had been issued with a large volume water canon. After an hour’s wait for the non existent breeze to fill in, the crews soon got the water canons employed and a huge water fight ensued which included the bridge boat getting doused. Not to be outgunned, large capacity buckets were hauled on deck in lieu of heavy artillery.
Later that day Pacer 3 initiated their third attempt at re-opening their protest hearing against Felix the cat. The problem had been festering from day one and just wouldn’t go away. For the third time their appeal was declined by the local protest committee. By that stage Andrea and his team of young crew were feeling highly frustrated and the failed protest had become unpleasant for everyone in the Pacer class. It was probably also affecting their on the water performance. Andrea refused to give up as a matter of principle and continued to seek advice from senior officials and sailors. Once the appeal was declined for the third time, the only option left open was for a witnessing competitor to lodge a protest as no penalty turns were done and one of the boats would have to be disqualified. This was done on Sunday morning the 27th September by Unruly who had been a witness to the incident.
The following day was a repeat of the previous day with hot, breathless conditions on the Vaal. Some of the boats rafted up for a bit of socialising as the long wait for breeze continued, followed shortly by round two of the water canon wars. By noon race officer, Trevor Hulleman, called it off and sent the fleet back to moorings. The regatta was over and all competitors had one discard.
Whilst the boats were being hauled out in preparation for the long journey home, the protest lodged by Unruly against Felix the cat and Pacer 3, was heard. This time by a fresh protest committee consisting of some of the most experienced legal sailing brains in the region.
Prize giving commenced at 15h30 sharp as the audience were informed that the Pacer results could not be announced due to a protest being in session. By the end of the lengthy prize giving, the protest was still under way. The crowd dispersed leaving only the rest of the Pacer crews in attendance. This was not only a pity, but somewhat of an anti-climax and detracted from what should have been a pleasant moment for the winning teams. Eventually the result of the protest was announced, which was that Felix the cat was disqualified in Race 1. Up till that point they had been the clear regatta leaders, but now the results were expected to change the standings. As things turned out, the first four boats all ended on 10 points after a single discard. Closer than that, one could not get.
Felix the cat and Regent Express had a dead tie for 1st overall with both boats having a scoreline of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, but in such a tie the boat with the better result in the final race wins the tiebreaker. Felix the cat had a 3rd versus Regent Express’s 4th (where they broke their jib halyard). Pacer 3 took the 3rd spot. The next nationals is scheduled to be held offshore Cape Town. - Trygve Roberts.big pimpin'
Wing Things11/16/09The big boat with the big wing has definitely pumped interest in sailing, locally and worldwide. For some local action, Ullman Sails Newport Beach is proud to announce that Pete Melvin will be hosting the U/S fall/winter seminar #2 on Hard Wing Sail Technology Dec. 2, 2009 at the US Newport Beach loft at 6:30pm. RSVP now! 714-432-1860 or ullman@ullmansails.com.
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