The Volvo Ocean Race Begins!

According to National Geographic... formerly known as the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Volvo Ocean Race sends superfast sloops circling the globe—the hard way. Following the prevailing winds, the course is deliberately plotted through some of Earth’s most inhospitable environments. As a result competing boats can expect to face three-story swells, iceberg-strewn seas, and ship-swallowing squalls.

As much as I love to be offshore this sort of thing is a very good show from the sidelines. The 2005 - 2006 race has a spectacular web site. Leg One - from Vigo to Cape Town - begins tommorow...the start what always is - and I'm sure will continue to be - an absolutely gripping tale of round-the-world offshore racing drama. For those who want a masterful first hand account I recommend Gary Jobson's "Fighting Finish: The Volvo Ocean Race Round the World 2001–2002." Says a review in Southern Boating, January 2003, "Much less expensive, a lot safer, and wholly more practical than racing around the world yourself is reading, Fighting Finish: The Volvo Ocean Race Round the World 2001-2002. It brings all the excitement of this challenging event to your coffee table.

Dame Ellen MacArthur Wins!

Running for the airport after all day meetings. Here's a quick jump to Ward @ About.com on the ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year. Go Dame Ellen! Back in more detail tommorow.

Austin, TX

Had to fly to Austin on biz...back shortly. It's a long way from the ocean here.

He prefers icebergs, squalls and cold

Check out this piece on admitted “sailing mercenary” Barcelona native Guillermo Altadill, 43. According the article he was poached by Sweden's Ericsson team for the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race after he broke his leg in the spring and split from the Brazilian team. Says Altadill, “"I prefer the legs that go around Antarctica, areas that are more inhospitable. Icebergs, squalls, little visibility, cold... the crew depends only on itself, people can't come to look for you because the helicopters can't cover 1,500 nautical miles. The stage I like the most is the second one because you encounter the toughest conditions and experience counts more than anything. That's what this race was designed for." And this guy is 43! What a way to head off a midlife crisis…

Sailing Yacht Lady Lauren - that's some
freeboard, honey! 

For Rent: My Yacht. I'll Throw in the Jacuzzi.

Here are a couple new ones on me. Yachtspotter by way of Luxist. The first is billed as, "...a gateway on the internet for the amateurs of megayachts." Makes sense. The second, and more interesting is, "...an online magazine — obsessively covering luxury products." And for the dreamers Luxist notes that the yachtspotter forum recently dicussed the S/Y Lady Lauren which for (the low low price of) 70K can be yours for one week...still a sight cheaper than the stinkpot charters being hawked in this past Sunday's New York Times article - aptly titled "For Rent My Yact. I'll throw in the Jacuzzi."

Angel Covers

Received this email today and thought I'd pass it on...

Hello

My name is JoAnna Moskal and I'm writing on behalf of a small non-profit, Angel Covers that is holding an online auction next month which includes an picture of the Stars & Stripes - winner of the 1987 America's Cup (but you probably knew that!). It's autographed by Dennis Conner, the skipper.

I came across your blog and thought that you might be able to help spread the word about an online auction that Angel Covers is hosting starting November 7th. Angel Covers is an all-volunteer organization that works to help children in orphanages world-wide. They provide much-needed items, like vitamins, blankets, toys and clothing directly to orphanages in China, Russia, and parts of Africa. Volunteers work with orphanage directors to find out how to best support children and orphanage staff.

"Gifts from the World" is an annual auction of art and hand-crafted items that have been collected by volunteers over the past few months. The money raised will support education programs around the world.

Friday Pass

Back-to-back meetings today...look for a post this weekend. Have you heard the one about the Polish sailor who phoned home for a rescue?

Stuck

A "there but for the grace of God go I..." item in the British news. According to the BBC, firefighters rescued a 60-year-old man after he became stuck 40ft up a yacht mast. He had been carrying out maintenance on his boat when the pulley system jammed. I know, not earth shaking, but one of the funny details in the brief is...he waited two hours before calling for help on his cell. I'd liked to be privy to the conversation he was having, with himself, after the first 5 minutes.

"We'll I've bloody blown it now. Damn it's cold. Blast, this thing is jammed tighter than the queen's arse."

"Maybe you should call ol Bollyhocks in the pub to come 'elp ya."

"Shyte, I'll be the laughing stock. The boys an em'll razz me for a fortnight or more. Never live it down."

"Brrrrrrrrrr. Me Mum is warm by the peat fire watching telly. Call her. She'll have mercy."

"Nah. I'll wait it out. Maybe if I bounce a bit she'll come loose."

"Brrrrrr...."

...and so on ;-)

CPYC Frostbiting 11/07/04 - Westport, CT
(Photo by Candice Brooks) 

Dreaming of Frostbiting

Take a read through this very detailed and informative boat show review article from Cruising World discussing different types of sailboats - from multi hulled to classic, contemporary, etc – and their upsides, downsides and topsides. In comparing/contrasting I have to agree with the author that, ” …whichever boat was used and enjoyed more by its owner was the better one…” but like all sailors I have a preference. These days it’s embodied by the Dufour 365 but hey, it’s a dreamers prerogative to change his mind ;-) At the moment I'd be lucky to own a Laser (but I don't). Speaking of that...Laser frostbiting - a hallowed Westport, CT tradition - is starting up at CPYC. Here's a sailing activity that'll seperate men from boys...

Volvo Depp Hype

Here's recent news on the good ship Black Pearl. I'd like to see an actual photo of Johnny Depp at the helm. As most of you probably know by now, the Black Pearl is - for better or worse - the U.S. entry in the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race. Only four days to go till start. More on that later...

On Becoming a Man

The last few days have been the sort of picture perfect, late fall sailing weather in the northeast U.S. that finds a certain office worker nursing a deep hatred of email, forced air and pointless marketing meetings. In this vein I gladly point you to an article about a group of Tyler, Texas sailors who, by the virtue of being teenagers, exist in a world of lessened responsibility…thereby increasing their opportunity for adventure. So it is that they have constructed a Chinese Junk boat by hand and intend to sail it through the Gulf of Mexico (before hurricane season) in the spring of 2007. The project is courtesy of non-profit Foundation North Star…an organization with a supposed mission to “Make men of boys through hard work and adventure.” There’s that “adventure” word again. Funny, now that I’ve been made into a man (no credit due to Foundation North Star) I’ve plenty of hard work still…but the other comes more infrequently if at all. Enough bitching and moaning. Where can I find the blueprints for a Chinese Junk?

Volvo 70 Training Session on Team ABN Amro One
Photo by Jon Nash 

Skysails Redux

The British Independent Online has a story today that revisits the idea of spinnaker-type kites for freighters – pegging the interest to the rise in fuel costs. The idea, as promulgated by Hamburg-based firm Skysails, is to turn the ocean going freighter fleet into hybrid (part wind, part nasty old fossil fuel powered) vessels, thus cutting fuel costs by an estimated 50%. I’m more than willing to support anyone using wind power…using the breeze to stay in motion is my passion. But (again) I have to question if this rather faddish sounding solution is truly practical. According to the article the Skysails system is very simple. Kites between 750 and 5,000 square meters are launched from a ship, flying between 100m and 300m above sea level, where wind power can be twice as strong as that which propels conventional sails – and are operated with a computer autopilot and can be retracted by a winch during poor weather. I’m no maritime shipping expert but I do know that reliability and consistency are the markers of profit for such a business. As anyone who has been offshore depending on the wind understands, sailing is neither. Would the cost to outfit freighters with kites, the potential risks of equipment failure and other wind powered dangers and the need to train crew to do more than sip coffee and stare at the radar be outweighed by the benefits?

Salvaged

Interesting footnote to the tale of 20 year old Asher Woods – the sole crewmember rescued off the Northeast coast aboard the 41-foot ketch, Niobe. The crew of the lobster boat that rescued Asher (Amy Philbrick) has claimed salvage rights on the vessel and apparently is considering negotiating a sale with the widow of Asher’s father (who reportedly fell off the boat and is presumed drowned) and splitting the profits. Salvage law can be summed up as “if you find it, it’s yours” but there are, of course, many nuances to the ancient creed. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Thank You

Headed out to catch a plane back east...nothing to report right this moment save a Zephyr milestone. In seven months of writing this blog we've just surpassed 20,000 total page views. Thanks to everyone for contributing to this modest success. See you tomorrow ;-)

Online Resource for the Offshore Sailor

Very helpful info in this piece from Ocean Navigator on the care & feeding of rigging. Most of us recognize that rigging needs periodic tuning and in older or heavily used boats, sometimes a complete refit, but nothing will drive that point home more than having something go wrong with a spar under a blow. The expense and hassle of rigging makes it a prime choice to ignore - as the article points out, a quality cruising rig for a 40-foot vessel may well cost $20,000 to $25,000...but consider both your standing and running rigging to be akin to the struts on an airplane wing. You don't want to find something isn't well cared for at 30,000 feet. I've always enjoyed Ocean Navigator for their pragmatic look at some of the unsexy but necesssary aspects of sailboats but hadn't known that their content was online. The whole site is chock-a-block with good stuff.

Photo by George B. Brewster
NZL 20 power reaching from the Golden Gate
bridge in San Francisco, CA 

West Coast Clipper Ship Discovery

I'm out west in Northern Califonia on biz - so a weekend story in the San Francisco Chronicle caught my eye. New evidence has surfaced of 65 previously undocumented, West-Coast-built ships of sail, including a clipper ship that set world speed records...demonstrating that west coast shipbuilders played central role in the commercial sailing industry from 1859 to 1920...big news in maritime history circles where most of the Clipper Ship credit has been handed to builders in New York and Boston. According to the article, many historians assumed that the West Coast had no shipyards capable of building clipper ships. The thinking has been that frontier-style shipyards of early California and the Northwest produced one or two ships at the mouth of a river, using the wood available, before moving to the next location to build another ship or two.