I wrote about the annual Stamford/Vineyard race a few weeks ago...the push to the Vineyard (and back) was notable this year for the stiff breeze thanks to Ernesto. A competitor and member of The Storm Trysail Club, Rich duMoulin, has detailed his experience, making several larger and well taken points on ocean racing in general. He covers watches, prep for a rough seaway, keeping the crew hydrated and other salient factors when offshore in a breeze...
We were on Maryland's Eastern Shore this past weekend...the below photo captures the Sunday light air start of the 2006 Naval Academy Race to Oxford...the fleet was heading back to Annapolis. Thanks to Tillerman here's a link to an account of the race from The Old Lady and the Sea.
If you've been following the recent HP debacle (they hired a security consultant to snoop through journalists phone records) then you may have heard mention of former HP board member, Tom Perkins (of the VC firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers). Tom owns one of the world's largest private sailing yachts, The Maltese Falcon - a 289-foot Perini Navi vessel sporting three 57-meter tall masts.
A friend passed me this link from CNET...great pictures of the big girl underway after she formally set sail this past July 14 from a port in Italy. From a high-tech perspective the masts are her most notable features. As per CNET blogger Michael Kanellos...
The masts rotate to maximize speed and make the boat more aerodynamically efficient. The rotating mast concept was first conceived in the 1960s by German hydraulics engineer Wilhelm Prolls, but only became feasible later on with the advent of new composites, such as carbon fiber.
Insensys, which specializes in sensors for wind turbines and fiber optic cables, embedded its technology into the masts to provide the crew with data on the structural forces and other strain placed on the mast to ensure that they are not pushed to the breaking point.
I like to feature new sailing bloggers...it's a small community with more than enough room for a diversity of voices. So when you have the chance please give a click over to "Messing About in Sailboats" authored by Adam Turinas. He's a fellow tri-stater located in New Jersey (move over Propercourse) and, though the blog is still in its infancy, he's thrown up several very interesting posts on his sailing exploits. Not to mention he has a wife who sails! Lucky bastard.
Welcome Adam!
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." by Kenneth Graham. --- There are lots of blogs and web sites dedicated to racing, the Americas Cup, Transatlantic sailing, Round the World and all that serious stuff. This blog is for the rest of us. It's about the joy of messing about in sailboats. My hope is that it will be more Latitudes and Attitudes than Sail Magazine. I read both but I love the former.
Many of you have seen this by now but given that the remaining J/Class yachts are the sailing equivalent of floating altars, I thought that I should mention Kozlowski's $167 million legal bill, and his attempt to make good on at least 13 m via the sale of Endeavor. When I wrote this post last summer I actually had no idea Dennis owned the craft, but now it's quite clear that despite what the man lacked in moral fiber he at least had a sense of nautical aesthetic...
Bluejeans heiress Elizabeth Meyer, president of Newport, Rhode Island-based J Class Management, discovered Endeavour rotting at dock in England in 1984. Meyer spent five years and $10 m to restore the yacht before selling it to the Tyco chief executive for $15 m.
The identity of the purchasing party has not been made public.
I've been treading water in "reportorial" mode for the last week or so of posts but in advance the weekend I thought I'd turn reflective. My so-called commute is a 20 minute drive across the CT/NY border down beautiful winding country roads. The local NPR station fades as I leave town so I usually have music from the ipod playing...this morning it was Ray LaMontagne's new album, Till the Sun Turns Black. When the weather is nice, as it was this morning, the sun roof is open and I thoroughly enjoy the drive...even though it culminates in a parking lot full of cars and the inevitable tread to the windowless office for nine hours of canned air and computer screen. Poor me.
Along the country road this morning there were the first tinges of color on some of the trees and though the days are still warm and at night the crickets sing, before long we'll feel the advancing chill of winter...which means, among other things, the end of the sailing season around here.
In my past life as a boat bum we'd be gearing up for the push down to Florida, a nice point from which to make the jump to the Carribean for the winter season. We'd make every effort to time departure on the heels of a low pressure which would mean a lumpy sea under clear skies and a stiff breeze...not the worst combination.
These days I have the country road commute to look forward too, the pleasure of arriving home after a day of work to my young children and wife and, of course, the weekends. Not to mention that this time of the year is hands down the most glorious season to sail Long Island Sound, should I be so fortunate. It will soon be time for raking leaves and lighting fires in the fireplace and apple cider.
Not the worst combination.
Clicking back down to the local level...this past weekend was the occasion of my favorite eastern seaboard race, the Stamford/Vineyard hosted by the SYC. Thanks to Ernesto the competitors had a stiff wind this year. In the late 90's I did the race a few times and just as often as not coasted through the Gut at 3:00 AM on the current and a prayer. Barring a hurricane, late August is not known to be the blowy season on the Sound. According to the re-cap on the club web site...the weather was the story of the weekend. Twenty six boats started Friday but all but three dropped out by noon Saturday, unable to continue in the easterly breezes. Steady winds of 30 knots were reported in the Sound Friday night with steep 6 to 8 foot seas from the east making the leg out to Buzzards Bay a rough one.
The Vineyard Race is the final race of three in the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy. The 238-mile course sails east out of Long Island Sound, past Block Island, R.I., to the light tower at Buzzard's Bay off Martha's Vineyard, and back.
Huh, what's that? Sounds like a new saltwater vacuum cleaner...
The race formerly known as the BOC Challenge - now called something else entirely - will begin October 22. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail non-stop around the planet (Moitessier abandoned the race) when he won the Sunday Times Golden Globe in 1969, will be at age 67 the oldest and most experienced competitor.
Departing 10/22 from the Port of Getxo in Bilbao, the first leg will be to Australia via the Doldrums, around the Cape of Good Hope, and across the Indian Ocean.
After a short stopover in Fremantle, the skippers face probably the toughest leg: around the legendary Cape Horn to USA’s eastern Seaboard. The skippers take a break in Norfolk, VA before the final sprint across the Atlantic back to the finish, in Bilbao in the spring of 2007.
Whatever they call it, it's one hell of an endurance push and well worth following. Stay tuned!
I rarely go off topic to this degree but I had the privilege to be courtside at Arthur Ashe stadium in Flushing Meadow, NY last night for the Agassi/Baghdatis men's singles tennis match and, though I could not stay through the fifth set because of the late hour, I have to say that it will forever be one of the highlights of my sports event-attending life. In most cases I'd prefer to be watching a sailing race...and while I can swing a racket, I'm much more proficient around the buoys. But the tenacity and sheer grit of this 36-year old champion athlete was amazing to witness.
In tennis years Agassi is an old man contends with a bad back along with the loss of speed and agility he enjoyed in youth. Nonetheless he turned back the clock and played a game of consumate skill against a 21 year old battering ram. He had a greater reservoir of experience to draw upon and a 20 year career chock full of triumphs. But his indomitable spirit took him to victory last night.
This spirit is the defining characteristic of a champion and be it offshore racing, tennis, mountain climbing or chess...it's hard to cross the finish line a winner without it.
Have a great holiday weekend. I hope you have the opportunity to get out on the water.
I'm heading to Flushing Meadow for courtside seats at the U.S. Open tonight...hopefully have the chance to see Agassi play. After 20 years he's "retiring" and this will be his last Open.
I don't think sailing has a U.S. Open event like golf and tennis do, per se. But check out this link to the first of two Olympic Test events, the Good Luck Beijing - 2006 Qingdao International Regatta. The regatta gives sailors the opportunity to test the conditions, venue and competition for the 2008 Olympic Games. The event is held from August 18-31, 2006, at the Qingdao International Marina in Qingdao, a coastal city located 430 miles east of Beijing, China.
The site is sponsored by U.S. Sailing, the national governing body of the sport here in the United States. Congrats to the US Sailing team - they wrapped with two gold medals and one bronze medal. Onward to victory in 2008!
Seems a strange topic for a new media "outlet", perhaps...but dead trees still garner the majority of readers and thus I'm wondering if anyone out there plays favorites... Betraying my simple tastes I turn to SAIL Magazine when I must (love their new format)...others in the pantheon include Practical Sailor, Sailing World, Cruising World, Ocean Navigator, Offshore, Yachting, Soundings, Wooden Boat. Living Aboard, Latitudes & Attitudes - not to mention regional rags like Latitude 38, Maine Boat and 48 Degrees North. Of the regional pubs Latitude 38 is my pick...though I'm biased having once lived in San Francisco.
I missed Seahorse
What else?
I like the focus on small boats vs. the $$ sleds. Read on...
Nick Nicholson, Practical Sailor Editor-at-Large, member of the Volvo Ocean Race Rule Management Group, and international racing navigator, has been selected to chair the next (46th) Bermuda Race, starting from Newport Rhode Island on June 20, 2008.
Nicholson served as vice-chairman for the record-breaking centennial race that saw 264 yachts at the start in Newport in June 2006. The appointment comes from Commodore Ned Rowland of the Cruising Club of America and Commodore Andrew Cox of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. The two clubs have been co-organizers of the Race since 1926.
In accepting the task of following in the wake of the centennial event, Nicholson knows he has his hands full to keep the numbers up and maintain a quality fleet.
"The greatness of the Newport Bermuda Race stems not from the glamour maxi boats that spend a fortune in order to be first over the line, but from the programs of Cal 40s, JBoats, Swans, Beneteau, and other small boats which form the majority of the fleet. They work hard at preparing their boats and sail the best they can, all knowing they have a shot at being the real winners," Nicholson commented.
"We will work hard to grow the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division, allowing professional racing programs to participate in their own division, with its own highly-respected trophy. This will protect and encourage the amateur St. David's Lighthouse Division, the cruiser/racer group that is the base of the Newport Bermuda fleet."
Many thanks to Ben Ellison for forwarding this terrific photo of the classic yacht Adix. What a beauty!
I'm in the SF Bay area for business - leaving for home later today. Yesterday I had a moment after meetings to stop and gaze out at the Bay from the Marina District, near the St. Francis Yacht Club. I was greeted by a sight (under the Golden Gate) that may be routine here...but isn't something widely practiced on Long Island Sound. It's called "kiteboarding" and it looks dangerously addictive, slightly hazardous to your health and quite capable of providing that adrenaline mainline serious adventure junkies crave.
Says wikipedia - kitesurfing, also known as kitesurfing and kiteboarding, and sometimes as flysurfing, involves using a power kite to pull a small surfboard, or wakeboard on water. Kitesurfing is an exhilarating and energetic sport. The current speed record over a 500 meter (1,640 ft) course is 77.4 kilometers per hour (41.79 knots) held by Olaf Marting.
42 fricking knots strapped to a board! Out of Olaf's way, mate.
Some terminology:
air time: the amount of time spent in the air while jumping. This can be remarkably long; the current record is probably Erik Eck's 39-second kitemare. Five to ten seconds is not unusual.
body dragging: being pulled through the water without standing on your board. This is an early step in the learning process, and is recommended before trying the board after flying a trainer kite.
chicken loop: a hard rubber loop attached to the middle line which has been fed through the control bar. It is used to attach the control bar to the harness so the kitesurfer can produce tension in the lines using their entire bodyweight instead of using purely arm strength.
