green heaven

I happened to be in the unique position to witness Hurricane Earl and its devastation. While producing a film on "Living in the Path" of hurricanes from a communities perspective, I received some perspective myself. Filming the on-coming storm from the south side of St John, USVI, i was witness to easily one of the most dramatic parts of the storm. The destruction of the boating community. - Franklin Tulloch. Thanks to RCHP for the title inspiration.

commentary

a dark cloud on yachting

Magnus Wheatley weighs in on Dan Meyers suing Sailing Anarchy from his rule69blog...

I don't like what I see happening over the pond with the writ against Sailing Anarchy by Dan Meyers. The mud slinging isn't pretty and the writ is, in my opinion, damaging for the sport as a whole. As everyone knows, I'm a fan of Sailing Anarchy and its Editor. I feel it offers a different slant to the mundane press release websites and even more mundane newspaper and magazine reporting. Nearly every sport has its bloggers and alternative websites - take a look at F1 and there's thousands of fascinating websites and blogs that are utterly scurrilous and way worse than anything I've ever seen published in sailing. Interestingly none of the billionaires that inhabit that world ever bother with injunctions or lawsuits as they have class and rise above the flurry of rumour, innuendo, smear and allegations. I urge Mr Meyers to do the same if he has the class.

There's an interesting situation happening in the British press with our Foreign Secretary William Hague being accused on the internet by a highly respected blogger of being "gay" with a 25 year old aide. Mr Hague is a married man and has issued a hugely detailed and totally unprecedented statement denying the allegations. Has he gone to court? No, he's got class and has simply cleared up the allegations via a statement. He's our freaking Foreign Secretary with all the law and advice of State behind him and he's just made the blogger look stupid and curried favour with the press. As I say, class.

Interestingly in Today Times newspaper in London, Frances Gibb has written a fascinating piece entitled "Law struggles to keep up with bloggers" and he argues:

…”Is the internet and its blogosphere killing our laws? When print or even broadcasting media ruled supreme, a lawyer’s writ had a powerful reach. The courts, too, could grant injunctions – binding on not just one newspaper but every media organisation. But now the law is struggling to keep pace as stories, or just rumour, surface on the internet, with a global reach in seconds.” Mark Stephens, a well known media lawyer with Finers Stephens Innocent makes the further point: “The internet is not a law free zone…but once material is out there, it is very difficult to put it back”.

Frances Gibb also says: “Rather than trying to make futile attempts to control the media, the law should defer to the “innate good sense of the crowd” – in other words, people will make up their own minds about allegations on the internet. “You can’t stop debate.”

So bringing this back to the Meyers/Sailing Anarchy writ, what is going to be achieved by a successful outcome either side? If Meyers is successful he shuts down or seriously damages an established website with a dedicated following thereby upsetting a huge number of "voices" who, believe me won't just disappear overnight. They'll jump to the next site and absolutely crucify Meyers for ever and a day. Personally I wouldn't want that outcome if I were Mr Meyers.

And if Sailing Anarchy wins, good God, Mr Meyers may as well go and take up another sport as the hounds of hell will be unleashed upon him and the sailing community will shun him forever and a day (if indeed they haven't done already).

Perhaps he doesn't care, but I suggest that he does as otherwise he wouldn't be bringing this writ to court but just be warned of one thing called The Streisand Effect. Look it up on Wikipedia on the consequences of trying to suppress the unsupressable - it's frightening.

Okay as a shot across the bows, we get your point Mr Meyers. Taking this any further and we step into a horrible Harry Potter-ish world where dark forces operate and be under no illusion as to just how connected the sailing world is...

I remember penning the blog about the potential for Mr Meyers and John Risley being courted as potential Alinghi investors/buyers. I used a reliable source who still claims this is true having been at the Key West Regatta back in February 2008. At the end I stated: "By bringing in Dan Meyer and/or John Risley we might finally get some sense back into the Cup and perhaps a little less ego."

That was supportive, in my view, but almost immediately I had a clothing sponsor of this website who was supplying the Numbers Team, email me saying: "Please remove my banner from your site as we just can't continue commercially." Perhaps that was the clothing makers decision but I suspect not...Anyhow, I'm a big boy and we moved on. Today we have no advertising and no commercial benefit of this blog site - sue me, it's my opinion!

Okay so back to Sailing Anarchy and a logical solution. The mud slinging is awful and the war needs to stop. Just like in the Middle East there needs to be dialogue because no-one is going to win. How about this, withdraw the writ and SA promises never to publish anything about Mr Meyers or his sailing campaigns ever again? Simple...

don't blink



Sailing photography ain't easy by a long shot - it takes years of experience, endless hours on the water, mastery of the tools of the trade (and how to use them in some of the least hospitable conditions possible), and the kind of eye that just doesn't miss much.  There are some great ones out there, but when you review thousands of photos each year, one stands out from the rest.

And while Studio Borlenghi now calls half a dozen top photogs its own, you can just tell when the master is behind the lens.  This shot from 'Il Maestro", Carlo Borlenghi, and check out a pile of similarly spectacular shots from today's big mistral conditions at the Porto Cervo Maxi Worlds. The biggest irony?  Borlenghi ain't a sailor. 

dumb and dumber

We've roasted the Abby Sunderland debacle to the point where there is really nothing left to say. Ill prepared, poorly planned, unqualified and pushed by an overbearing, bizarre father, her trip was destined to fail, which of course it did. But like the gift that keeps on giving, we ran across the story that little Abby is writing a book about her misadventures. What she has to say that hasn't already been said is beyond us, but we suspect there will be a fair bit of excuses with a defensive tone, as if the criticism directed at "Team Abby" hasn't been justified.

So what do you do when you have failed at your lone claim to fame, have taken heat for it, and wish to put it in a way that defies reality? You do what Sarah Palin did - hire a spin doctor to create a book of nonsense! Lynn Vincent who attempted to put lipstick on the pig when she "co-wrote" Going Rogue, is now going to try to paint Sunderland with a new brush.

Based on things that Vincent has said - she admires the Sunderland's parenting skills, that it was "refreshing" for them to let Abby go on her trip, etc., we already know what's coming - an amazing tale of a brave young girl, backed by by her supportive and nurturing parents, who battled the ocean and was unfairly victimized by waves of criticism, yet somehow, (with the blessing of jesus of course), emerged victorious. Cue applause and tears!

However, just like Going Rogue, a failed attempt to make one of the most vapid and idiotic figures in American politics into something that she isn't, Going Rogue Wave (our suggestion for the title) will be another load of bollocks. And despite the inevitable publicity tour that will accompany it, we predict this lame attempt at cashing in on her "fame" will be a bust, and deservedly so. But we never forget that only in America can failure be repackaged and sold as winning. Look no further than Caribou Barbie herself.

We don't mean to be too rough on the teenager, but Abby, your 15 minutes are up. Didn't your daddy tell you that yet?

no rest for the wicked

John Casey gets wicked...

There’s no rest for the wicked as Jeremie Lagarrigue, fresh from racing the Little America’s Cup in Newport, left last night (our time) with Yvon Bourgnon to traverse the Mediterranean on their custom 20-ft Hobie Fox Groupe Térresens on a never before tried beachcat record.  The 480 mile passage leaves Marseilles and scrapes the western shore of Sardinia before the home stretch to the ancient North African city of Carthage.

The overall coveted TransMed record is held by Banque Populaire V at 14 hr 20 min and 34 seconds. The multi-maximum G-Class trimaran wrested the record from Groupama 3, skippered by Franck Cammas, who raced with Lagarrigue to a first place tie at the 2008 F-18 Worlds. Lagarrigue also was onboard Hydroptere for the current record 500 m and nautical mile runs, and is one of only a few sailors in the world in the 50-Knot Club. He also won the treacherous Archipelago Raid in 2005 so he definitely knows how to go the distance on a beachcat (as well as fiberglass repair). This guy has a speed addiction.

Yvan Bourgnon also knows a couple things about speed, as he’s held the up to 60 foot 24-hour solo record since 2006 at 25.76 kts with his ORMA 60 Brossard. He also has an extreme sense of adventure which probably started as a youngster when he sailed around the world with his parents. He’s won the Mini-Transat and Mini-Fastnet, but his most recent win was in the Raid Emerald on his F18. I know about his extreme sense of adventure.  I always see him at the most exotic places. I first met him during the Raid Maroc, a 400 mile distance race on the coast of Morocco from the Med down the Atlantic side, which included a wicked Gibraltar passage.  The same year I saw him in St. Barts when we both competed in the distance race filled Catacup. He always shows great speed, placing high every time and always wears a huge smile.

Of course their widened, winged green Fox won’t keep an average speed of BPV at over 33 knots, but this is an entirely different record. There is hardly hiding from the quickly changing Mediterranean elements if something breaks, and it could be a long wait for help at the wrong time. Luckily they have a geolocator specialist, Sierra Echo, who provides one of the world’s top Personal Locator Beacons and a communication leader in Seamobile Europe, who will supply the sat phone link. You can also track them live using their MyGeolive link.  

I’ll tell you what, it gets nasty incredibly fast in the Med with high short chop, and crossing any large body of water on a beachcat is a more than risky venture. If all goes well, they should finish in less than 48 hours total. Whether they make it or not, they just created a new record called the Challenge Terrésens. Bougnon said they wanted to do it this time so more teams will give it a go. With the current rise in beachcat distance racing this could turn into a majorly sought after record. What is for sure, if it is breeze on there’s no rest for the wicked in the next couple days.

viddy

did the keel fall off?

We always thought cruise ships sucked, and now we know for sure....

On August 1, the Pacific Sun ran into a heavy storm 400 miles north of New Zealand, hitting 25-foot-tall waves and 50-knot winds. Its 1732 passengers weren't prepared to endure the madness that ensued. Absolutely crazy.

The video seems like a slapstick comedy until you see people smacking against columns and walls. However, they were lucky: After returning to Auckland from its eight-night trip to the Vanuatu islands, only 42 passengers were injured.
One of the passengers said: "It was like being in a disaster movie. There were screams and people crying as they looked for their lost children."

don gone

There's been an outpouring of support from the NE Anarchists over the loss of Don 'Donzo' Wilkinson in the Fisher's Island "Round The Island" race on Long Island Sound last weekend. You can read plenty of it in the thread here and contribute your own memory of Don, but Donzo's son Ben can better explain what happened, and what the community can do to best remember Don.

My dad passed away on Saturday September 4th, while sailing in a regatta on Long Island Sound - more specifically, Fishers Island Sound.

For years my dad sailed 50 footers around the world and he loved telling me about it and all the stories from him and his old friends. He owned an Eveyln 25.5 but for years he's sailed on a Farr 30 called One More Time with success in events such as Key West and Block Island Race Weeks.  On Saturday, he was trimming main on the F30 in 30 knots of wind (a standard KW day). When we went for a gybe, the main didn't come. My dad gave the main a tug and it came.  His head was about an inch too high, and the boom hit him in the top of the head.  It happened fast, and he passed away doing something he truly loved.

We're holding a memorial service at the Mystic Baptist Church  at 11 o'clock on Saturday, September 11th, with a reception to follow at the Ram Island Yacht Club. I'm inviting all of dad's old friends to join us in a celebration of life. If you do attend, flip flops and hawaiian shirts are preferred - that's what he would wear.  Blue blazers are OK too.  We will all miss my dad and if anybody that knew him could join us for one last goodbye to my dad, it would mean alot. My dad loved everybody (I think) and he was one of the best sailors I knew.  Thank you everybody for all your support now and the support to my dad over the years he was a great sailor, friend and dad.

-Ben Wilkinson

Please check this site for more info and directions to the memorial service site, and to find out how to donate in Donzo's name. 

a wally that's not a wally?

We received this email from a Wally sailor on the docks in Porto Cervo at the Maxi Worlds today.  It seems even the uber-rich aren't immune to the same handicap racing politics that owners of more pedestrian designs face when the status quo doesn't want to compete against something a little newer, in this case, an anarchy favorite Goetz-built Wally owned by the indomitable Irving Laidlaw.

The Wally 82 Highland Fling has been banned from sailing in the Wally class in Porto Cervo. The owners of the other Wally yachts present have not allowed Fling to race against them, as they believe the yacht to not be a Wally. This reeks of bad sportsmanship, as the vessel was inspected and passed the requirements for needing to comply with the Wally Class rule - but the other owners in the class have banded together to exclude her.

Do those who have recently built a Wally, and those who are currently building a Wally, have such short sight in their designs that they think will not be able to compete? Have they in reality spent money wastefully building larger versions of  their existing boats?

You make your mind up.  A shame, really, as had Fling competed today in the class, they'd have come in third place, even without the 8% penalty the other owners demanded at their Saturday night crucifixion of Highland Fling before ultimately excluding her.  Where do these people get their sportsmanship training: The Bertarelli School for Sailing Ethics? (Oh no, is Meyers going to sue us for that comment too? - Ed)

canada's coup

The Canada's Cup may not mean much to most of the world. it's a Grade 5 (do they even have grades that high?) match race in Farr 40s under the restrictive F40 Class Rules between teams that - and let's be honest here - aren't exactly America's Cup material.  So while the world could give a crap, the folks that grew up on or near the Great Lakes care more than the rest of the sailing community can fathom.

It's got an incredible history - a true challenge cup a hundred years old, with design as a major element, the Canada's Cup saw some great battles between Great Lakes clubs, with some of the most innovative thinking in racing coming to bear along with some incredibly talented sailors.  With freshwater clubs banned by the terms of the third AC deed, the CC was the top aspiration of thousands of midwest US and Canadian sailors and clubs.  And it still means a lot to all of them, as evidenced by our server meltdown when tens of thousands of you followed Bob Hughes' Macatawa Bay team's defeat of the Royal Canadians during our coverage of the 2007 Canada's Cup.

But there's trouble in them thar hills, and it came down the pike last week when Don Wilson's Chicago Match Race Center issued a press release announcing that they would be hosting Grant Hood (misstated as "Woods" in the Release) and the Port Credit Yacht Club for a Canada's Cup in Chicago this coming October.  No mention of Macatawa, except for a bit of boilerplate explaining that the Michigan Club might possible be hosting some racing in 2011.  No mention of the fact that neither PCYC nor CMRC had any claim to the Canada's Cup at all.

The text from the Press Release is here, though we're having trouble finding it on the CMRC website where it was the other day.  There's still a page for the Cup itself, but exactly what that means, we don't know yet. 

But here's what we do know:

-The Canada's Cup is owned by the RCYC in Toronto.  Whether the terms of its Deed are even valid is a real question.-Macatawa Bay dragged its feet on getting a 2010 event up and running, which was a condition of their agreement with the RCYC that allowed the 2007 event to happen.  We've been told that RCYC actually enabled the delay, but the details are not available just yet.  Macatawa had some valid excuses, but still, they were bound to an agreement that they didn't fulfill.-Hood and RCYC want a 2010 Canada's Cup to happen so badly that they've picked a pretty awful time of year to sail on Lake Michigan (much less to spectate) and with just six week's notice to the world, they've guaranteed that very few people will be paying attention. -Part of the arrangement to allow Wilson to defend a title that he has no claim to included consent from both Wilson and Hood to sail in Macatawa in 2011 for the Cup, the winner of the 2010 event as Defender.

With quite a bit of Great Lakes uproar building behind this quiet move to essentially strip the cup from its defender, it'll be interesting to see if the event goes off as planned.  While we understand the RCYC's desire to see a CC event happen, it seems to us that there must have been a better way to go about it, and that a mid-October Canada's Cup with these two parties racing might just do more harm than good to a title with a storied past and a lacklustre recent history, and a trophy that's worth fighting for - in the Great Lakes, at least.  Check in on the thread.

the look

Jim Richardson is walking away with the Farr 30 class at the CBYRA Annapolis Race Week. After 10 races he has posted nothing worse than a third, leaving Bodo von der Wense's Turbo Duck 25 points behind in second. It helps to have a bit of local knowledge aboard, especially when that local is Terry Hutchinson.  More photos from each of the classes here. Thanks to Dan Phelps!

clean report

final cut pro

Every time I'm ready to kick the Rev. Petey's ass for missing deadlines on video edits, he comes up with something that makes me remember just why we love his work so much.  This 11-minute highlight reel from the recent Little America's Cup is the latest and greatest example of a growing line of Petey's sick work editing up awesome high-octane sailing clips. He shows off what's so exciting about our sport and makes you laugh at the same time.  You may have seen some of it earlier in the month, but let it run and you'll see it's almost all new footage. 

Click on "HD", let it load, bring your non sailing friends to the screen, and enjoy.  We did.  And look for the complete guide to our Little AC coverage later this week.  The hard link is here (send it to your friends) and the non-HD version is here for the bandwidth-impaired.

tent city

Last week we shared a picture of a really, really, really great man's crappy tent on his PHRF machine en route to getting beat (see jabba whacked lower on this page). Here's what a real sunshade looks like, this on the J 105 Scimitar at the same regatta. Maybe he'll sue us over this one too.

big pimpin'

service with a smile

You all know that Sailing Anarchy is the best place to go for your dose of daily sailing reality and entertainment, but did you know that our Classified section is the best place to sell your racing boat?  Hundreds of happy sellers agree that no place gives your ad more exposure than our place, and the price is right too. We just received this note last week: "Thanks for the great site. I had my boat listed for months on the "free sites" but when I listed on SA, it sold within two weeks. You guys rock!"

When the anarchists noticed that the legendary Turbo Express 37 "Burden IV" was for sale in the classified, a former crew and current SA editorial staffer went down to Bayview to get a closer look on video, and he suggests you boat sellers do the same if you want to move your vessel quickly. Here's the tour of the all-conquering Burden given by lifelong crew Todd Jones, and don't forget to check the classified for your next Mini, sportboat, PHRF slayer, IRC weapon, or dinghy, and there's a free section for items worth less than a grand.

this one goes to eleven

Ed Wright proved that he's the best Finn sailor in the world in 'Frisco this past week, winning the Finn Gold Cup by a whopping 31 points over second place Rafael Trujillo. The large point win however was misleading as the two actually had a close battle for most of the regatta. Giles Scott and Zach Railey followed very close to grab third and fourth. And if you awe wondering about the title of this piece, well clicking here and here should pretty much explain it. Thanks again to Robert Deaves for the photos and doing such good work reporting on this event.

Phil Toth gives his report from the non pointy end of the fleet. His comments about athletes in this class are spot on.

Today started with a delay due to fog, when that finally cleared the wind had already built to 18-21 kts by the time the first gun went off. Giles Scott, Rafael Trujillo and Edward Wright were the top three in race one. By race two the Ebb had fully started to flow and, as if conditions are not tough enough already, the wind piped up to 27+kts. With the wind going against the current there were some GIANT waves and puffs coming down the course.

Quite a few times sailors could be seen out straight leg hiking only to have a wave crash over their bow and clear the top of their head, doing a full body slam to the hiking helmsman, effectively stopping the boat. Your mind sees it coming and wants to react to avoid this nasty wave but the body has nothing to respond with. After being battered and bruised like this for the past 5 days, physically you can’t do anything because there is nothing left in the tank. If ever anyone says that sailing is not a real athletic sport get them to race a Finn on the Olympic Berkeley Circle. The guys wearing heart rate monitors are finding that they are burning 2500-2800 calories per race…and we do two races per day. Anyone looking at the pointy end of this fleet will admit that Ed Wright, Rafael Trujillo, and Giles Scott are true athletes.

otwa

live to work

While much of the US rests for the Labor Day holiday today, Brad Van Liew and his Lazarus/Le Pingouin crew are working nonstop to prepare for a Monday morning departure from the US to France.  BVL and crew will leave their dock at Charleston's Seabreeze Marina around 1100 EST in the Open 60 "Le Pingouin", bound for the mid-October start of the Velux 5 Oceans Race, which, with an 8-boat fleet, seems to be shaping up pretty nicely compared to recent years.

Brad will be testing out some of his cool new media gadgets along the way, and we'll have reports and interviews from him throughout his long shakedown voyage, but we're starting it off right for him with a live streaming video broadcast of the team's final preparation and sendoff to sea.  Dockside we'll be speaking to his shore and sailing crew, representatives from sponsors Gill and OnDeck as well as the other folks that swing by to take a look.  Once on the water, we'll be with Brad's wife Meaghan and their two kids, and we'll get their view of the upcoming voyage and race as well.  Be sure to dig through Brad's site to learn more about why this race is going to be so much fun to follow, and watch our live coverage starting at 0900 EST right here.  Huge thanks to Dave Pritchard and Gill for their strong support of Brad's grassroots campaign, as well as to Richard Speer and OnDeck for their support, and for making our live coverage possible.  We'll be speaking to Speer about OnDeck's plans to open sailing centers across the USA over the coming few years along the lines of their already-successful Charleston program, and here's an interview with Pritchard about the sweet GILL gear that Brad and team will be wearing for their delivery, and for the race.

Remember: Whether you're brushing off a hangover or stuck in the office with all your friends are at the beach, you can kill a few hours watching a dream come true for a bunch of dedicated folks with a hell of a cool boat.  And you can watch it via the Justin.TV app for your Droid or iPhone too (hint: just search for 'onthewateranarchy' after you've installed it).  Why not?  Here's the link again.

Le Pingouin Crew for Charleston-La Rochelle:

Brad "Papa Bear" Van Liew
JC "The Dude" Caso
Brendan "Nitro" Fitzgerald
Tim "Counseler" Eble

painful reminders



This shot from Mett Lettrich and story in The Day are reminders of the dangers out there. And we particularly saddened by the loss of Donzo Wilkinson. Our thoughts fo out to all who knew Don.

minis

Mini sailor Scott Cavanough gives us something you don't see every day from a mini. We asked him if it was fast to sail like that and he said, "No not really, We just changed the rudders and we never had that much control before. It was really to see how far the boat can be pushed."

local knowledge

sandy beach

A few days ago a medium sized thunderstorm unleashed a microburst or small tornado into the boat storage area at the Scheveningen beach cat club, KZVS in Holland. The carnage included several crumpled masts, a broken spinnaker pole or two, and some overturned boats. Most spectacularly, one boat was lifted over a 10 meter dune and carried about 75 meters from the storage area. Thanks to anarchist Moondawg. Loads more pics here, courtesy of anarchist Alex.

sa worlds

a blind squirrel finds the blind squirrel sometimes

So as we were looking around to get a fun booze company involved in the nearly legendary Sailing Anarchy ISAF Regatta, through sheer luck (and a hot chick named Sunny) we found a perfect one - Blind Squirrel Rum. The brain-child of some crazy rum-swilling sailors, these guys have the right attitude, dig SA and most importantly, have some pretty nice tasting rum. Your Ed was over-served Blind Squirrel this weekend in fact. He's considering filing a lawsuit as his sterling reputation has been damaged by those rum-pushers!

Anyway, we are working to not only have Blind Squirrel rum-a-plenty at the regatta, but look for the Squirrel Girls to appear to make your yachting experience even more enjoyable...

crazy eights



A good look here, in more ways than one! Thanks to Joaquim Santos for this HDR photography from the 8 Meter NA's..

thriller

With eight races sailed at the Finn Gold Cup in San Francisco, Ed Wright from Great Britain and Rafa Trujillo from Spain have won six between them. If the others are not careful, this regatta could turn into a two horse race.

Trujillo (left) opened with a 1-2. Then Wright replied with a 1-1-1 to take the overall lead, while Trujillo slipped up with a 35th. Then a 1-2 for Trujillo on Thursday to Wright's 2-5 leaves Wright with a 10 point margin going into Friday's final fleet races before Saturday's double points non-discardable medal race.

Wright has been hunting for the Finn world title for several years. He commented on Thursday's races, “We had some really difficult conditions out there. Very, very gusty and shifty and going from 8-18 knots and all over the place. To come out with a second and fifth I am very happy. The only thing was Rafa had a better day with a 1,3. so gained points on me. Also Giles is still knocking them in. It's all on Friday. The fog rolled in and it seemed pretty cold in the city tonight so I am hoping we can finally get that 25 knots plus that San Francisco has been threatening to deliver for the last year.”

The defending champion Jonas Høgh Christensen, who hasn't sailed all year finally found the front on Thursday, but missed a race victory by two boatlengths as Daniel Birgmark from Sweden came blasting through on the final reach to beat the Dane on the line. Høgh Christensen inexplicably broke a finger in training and has been slightly hampered around the boat.

“Coming to San Francisco with the world title is tough. I have been out of the boat for a year and I've lost a lot in a year. I have gained a lot of weight but have lost a lot of technique. I was going all right the first day but the next few days I didn't had any luck and I have this broken finger.” He is currently in 15th overall and 23 points off the medal race, not an insurmountable margin in an 87 boat fleet.

Although he has no definite plans to return to full time sailing he said, “I still love sailing the Finn. It's a great boat and probably the best boat I have ever sailed. It's fun, it's hard, super technical, very tactical. You have to be a compete sailor to do well in the Finn that's why its the perfect boat for being an Olympic class. These guys here are the strongest in the world. They are big, strong guys. It's really athletic and I think it's one of the best boats ever.”

The closest sailor to upset Wright or Trujillo could be Giles Scott (pictured right), also from Great Britain (and one of four Brits in the top 10). He is 17 points behind Wright, but with Wright placing 18th in race one, it will only take one slip up for Scott to be right back in the running.

“My objective here is the same as most championships – I am going to try and win. At the moment I am kind of hanging on in there, so I hope to be in as good position going into the medal race.” All of the British team here have been putting in some very good results. Scott explained, “We all came out to San Francisco for about two weeks about a month ago so we did a lot of training here. Although back then it was a bit windier than it is now, so we all have our hiking legs now.”

Trujillo won the world title in 2007 and an Olympic silver medal in 2004. Wright won the Europeans in 2006 and may have won an Olympic medal in 2008, but for fellow countryman Ben Ainslie winning the British place. Trujillo has had an up and down season, while Wright has had an outstanding season. Which one is hungry enough to take the 2010 world title on Saturday?

Watch it live on www.finngoldcup.com. Story and photos thanks to Robert Deaves.

prep time



Folks in the Northeast haven't had to deal with a real hurricane in years, and while Earl may not score a real hit in the US, he'll play havoc with moored boats from North Carolina to Newfoundland.  Longtime Anarchist BJ Porter checked into the forums with some good questions about chaff protection for his big cruising boat, but it's a good time for all the NE Anarchists to check their own gear.  Read the thread to learn to do it properly, and check the Earl thread for the latest news from our mix of professional and armchair meteorologists.

protocolostomy

While the yachting press anxiously awaits the September 13th Valencia press conference announcing the new protocol for AC34, Magnus Wheatley looks into his crystal ball for his idea of what they'll hear.

Russ (In his broad Kiwi tones): "Weelcome everybody, todaaay weee'll annownce the prowgress made in what's been a bizzy evaluation tarm for BMW Oracle Racing but first a video..."
[Cue boring, rah rah tumping yankee-doodle video on "how we won it" followed by...]
Russ (in his most condescending Kiwi tones): "We're gonna race in 2014 in massive cats with fixed wings"
[Cue a slick Bruce Farr video design concept video (yawn)]
Russ: "Pretty exciting heh?"
[Cue stunned disbelief by the moronic Euro yachting journos who barely understand the term monohull, let alone what on earth Russ is going on about...followed by the most idiotic questions known to mankind in broken English from our continental cousins which surely have just been planted to wind Sir Russ up?]
Idiot Journo: "Meeester Coutts, do you think Valencia will be the venue?"
Russ: "Don't be fucking silly mate, I didn't get paid $55 million to not bring Larry's Cup back to SF."
Read the rest at the Rule 69 Blog.

yellow submarine

Brad Van Liew's Lazarus Project finally got some big air sailing in just days before his imminent departure for France and the start of the Velux 5 Oceans race.  We missed tonight's sold out going away party for Brad, but we're packing up the OTWA gear and running down to Charleston to see him off, likely on Sunday, and likely streamed live.  We're not sure how Brad managed to so perfectly prepare Le Pingouin for sea without a title sponsor, but you can still give some sorely needed financial help to the sole US entry in the race by visiting his "donate" page here.  And here's his latest report, with photo from Dustin Ryan/Wingman Media Group.

Yesterday was our first real sail following the complete refit of Le Pingouin. We took off from the marina at about 11:00am and headed out of Charleston Harbor. The weather was looking perfect for a true test of our complete new sail inventory. Farley with Quantum Sails was onboard, along with my crew, volunteers, and a computer specialist who continues to dial in the nav station equipment and offshore communications.

We had some real breeze once we were out of the harbor, but everything went as smoothly as I could hope for. We started with 3 reefs in the mainsail and the staysail, then 2 reefs in the mainsail and the solent, and worked our way up to the gennaker. Of course we have a punch list of things to do after this initial outing and some refining to do on the deck layout, but overall this baby can run!

On our way back into the harbor in the late afternoon we were blasting down the channel at 20 knots. We will continue to tweak and tune the boat on another sail today. Thanks to Dustin Ryan for enduring the rough weather to capture images and John Bowden for driving the chase boat!

ultimate line



There's simply nothing like a massive one-design starting line.  No splits, no color-coded fleets, no qualification rounds - just the pure mayhem of a huge prestart that somehow transforms itself in the final 30 seconds into a beautiful and orderly line.  This one of the Finn Gold Cup is from our friend Sergei Zavarin and Ultimate Yacht Shots, be sure to check his site out and look for a ton of interesting stuff from his SF-based lens over the next few weeks.

sa worlds

So our big ISAF sportboat bash is growing closer! We have 62 boats signed up so far, with a bundle more coming. From J/125's to Wetas, it is shaping up quite nicely. We'll have the NOR on line next week, SI's to follow. The main event is three days - Sept 24-26 and we are having a charity fun race Thursday afternoon, Sept 23 to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Camp Reach The Sky, whose long tradition of serving young cancer patients and their families is something that we are really happy to be a part of. More on that next week.

West Marine is the title sponsor, but we also have Ullman Sails, Open Sailing and now both Velocitek and Driscoll's Boatyard are onboard. We are going to have an amazing amount of giveaways, from a free haul out with a bottom paint job, to tons of the best sailing gear - Puma, Zhik, etc. Plus we'll great food and drink, have some good hotel deals for you as well - stay tuned for that info.

Oh, Nick Hayes from Saving Sailing will be speaking, comedian Russ T. Nailz will make you laugh and we'll have some killer local live music too. The racing will be the best in san Diego, we'll have live OTWA coverage, bitchin' new SA ISAF gear and.....Sign up!

stolen ice

Catamaran fever is running so hot right now that people are stealing fully rigged Inter 20s off the beaches!  Seriously, folks in the Southeast US should keep their eyes out for 'cbarmonde's' Ice Blue awl-gripped catamaran over the next few weeks - it was stolen from a private beach on Siesta Key near Sarasota, Florida just the other day.  If you have any info on someone trying to sell the uniquely colored cat in the picture without sails or daggerboards, please post it in the thread.

young guns

Still in college, US Virgin Island native stud Taylor Canfield and his crew of Matt Clark, Alden Reid, Tod Reynolds and Dave Shriner spent his summer kicking ass in the US match racing circuit's "Trifecta" of Grade 2 events; the Chicago Match Cup, Detroit Cup, and last weekend's Knickerbocker Cup.  Canfield grabbed a 4th, 3rd, and 6th at the three events, giving him and his team an automatic berth at the Congressional Cup in Long Beach next year.  Kudos to a cool kid with a bright future, and kudos to the organizers of the three events, each of which had some kind of live streaming video of their racing.  We hope to be part of it again next year as the US match racing scene continues to get fired up.  Full news is here, and the photo is from Meredith Block at the D-Cup.

that's ed

As in Ed Wright, as in kicking ass at the Finn Gold Cup. Thanks to Robert Deaves for the shot. Below is Phil Toth's day 3 report and his 2 report with pics by Paige Brooks..

 

Day 3 Preparation- Would-a, Could-a, Should-a…lesson learned!!! It is a well known fact that your performance in a regatta is a direct result of your preparation and pre planning well before the first start ever happens. When the top guys get to the regatta site months before hand to train and get used to the conditions for weeks at a time…take note! When those same guys go out sailing every day, working on boat speed and boat handling…take note! When the top guys are at home and in bed by 9:30 each evening and not out partying and drinking…take note! These are the guys that cross 300 yards ahead of you only 200 yards after the start and make you think “wow how did he get there…the lucky bastard”. It is not “luck!” There is at least one in every fleet, a guy that can always turn on the afterburners and dig his way out of a tight spot or a bad start. They have done their homework and are in top physical shape to be able to take advantage of a favorable shift or  a chance port tack the fleet when the situation arises.  If you think that you can beat these guys by showing up the day before the event, drinking till all hours each night during the regatta, sailing hung over, and not practicing your boat speed and handling for weeks or months before the event then your ego is going to take a big hit when you realize that you are not even on the same lap as the fast guys. Watch how the top guys in your fleet prepare before the event…they do it for good reason!

It was sun tanning weather today before the start of the third day of racing. With the high heat in the bay area, the thermal that drives the wind to a not un-common 20-30kts on most days was much weaker. The Finns were postponed ashore for an hour before drifting out to the start line for first race of the day, which began in 10 kts of breeze. Rafael Trujillo and Ed Wright both had a race win each today in much lighter conditions over all with a max of 15kts in the second race. Ed has now jumped from 3rd to 1st to be the 3rd race leader in as many days. The racing is still tight at the top with any of a half dozen sailors able to take the top spot….Results and Video plus the Kattak replay

Day 2 Race one started in very un-typical San Francisco conditions…light wind! The wind here only builds, I don’t think it ever gets lighter, just windier and windier, a vicious cycle that is determined to batter and bruise your body and ego.  The start of the first race today was hands down won by the young junior from Brazil, Jorge Zarif, when he port tacked the 87 boat fleet. Ed Wright legged out and won the race after the wind picked up ¾ of the way up the first beat, causing the O flag to be hoisted and the “open pumping rule” to be in effect for the remainder of the race.  

The wind had filled in to 20+ kts by the start of the second race today, and steadily built from there. Ed Wright was able to sail higher and faster than the rest of the fleet. Ed is a physical beast in the boat, he hikes the boat harder and flatter than the rest, and is rewarded by being able to sail higher and faster. Plenty of stars here, including this guy who was caching his nephew Matt.

how it went down, part 2

Ronnie Simpson completes the tale of losing the keel on the Jutson 30 Warrior's Wish...

With the Coast Guard aware of our situation, we felt a sense of relief that at least several people now knew where we were. Further adding to the sense of relief were hourly comms with the Guard, and the fact they were trying to track down some diesel for us.  I chatted then with the owner of the boat on the satphone, and what I thought would be a very awkward conversation turned out to be pretty straightforward, and we got back to getting our boat home.  Ed and I were pretty psyched that motorsailing with a jib gave us almost 5 knots over the ground, that we had slight seas, and very manageable breeze.  Our horrifying scenario was getting better, and the light at the end of an 800 mile tunnel was growing more distinct.

At our second or third hourly Coast Guard radio check, we were notified that a commercial vessel named “Horizon Hawk” had answered our call for diesel and that they would be inbound to our position. We maintained speed and course, notifying the Coast Guard every hour. Just 5 hours after our initial emergency transmission, “Horizon Hawk” was visible and closing rapidly. Once in VHF range, we communicated with them directly and notified the Coast Guard that the ship was in VHF and visible range of us. The “Hawk” explained to us how they wanted to conduct the operation and asked us exactly what we needed. We explained that we needed 50 gallons of diesel fuel and some motor oil. They informed us that they would make very large circles around us, dropping plastic jugs and jerry cans over the side, with poly-propylene line and orange markers on each one.

For the moment at least, Ed and I weren’t even that concerned with the keel. We became completely focused on our new mission; driving around the middle of the Pacific in a wounded little boat while a freight ship drops us diesel fuel. The ship made its first pass, dropping 3 jugs. Ed drove while I worked a boat hook off of the bow. Success! We picked up all 3 jugs, not requiring more than 2 attempts per jug. The next 3 didn’t go quite as well. We missed one and as it was drifting away, I just jumped in and swam to two jugs, bringing them back to the boat in one long struggle. We made yet another attempt at the third jug when semi-disaster struck. But before I get to that, there’s a few things you should know about poly-propylene line; first, the stuff floats. Secondly, it doesn’t hold a knot for shit. Having said that, the orange markers were becoming separated from most of the jugs, which is the reason I was having to go swimming for several of them. After Ed and I had more or less run over one of the jugs, the line became wrapped around the prop as I was grabbing the jug. Ed beat himself up over it a little bit, saying he should have avoided it, but given the circumstances, I’m surprised we only wrapped the prop once.

I had Ed shut off the motor so that I could cut the line out. Wow. It was wrapped up pretty badly. Not making matters easier was the width of the boat, combined with the extremely fast rate of drift, rolling motion and my favorite rigging knife being sacrificed to Neptune just a few days prior. After about 3 passes, I had the prop halfway cleared. Ed took the mask and fins and went in to finish the job. Success. After another 3 passes, he completely cleared the prop and we were back in business. The freight ship had patiently waited for us to clear the prop, although in the ordeal, two jugs had drifted very far away. They led us to the jugs via VHF and we eventually grabbed them. “Horizon Hawk” made one more circle, dropping 3 more jugs and we were on our way. The guys on the ship were absolute professionals in every sense of the word and I can’t say enough to thank them. In the end, we were 10 for 10, acquiring what we estimated to be 60-65 gallons of diesel and 5 gallons of Mobil 1 oil

Saying goodbye to the freight ship and thanking them, we were once again on our way to California. Ed and I briefly joked that we wished we were on the ship, but they were headed west, presumably to China. I’ve already done the whole “freight ship to China” thing before, and as fun as it was, I really wanted to get this boat back to Cali and it’s owner. Besides, we had already promised each other not to give up the ship unless it was our only option. Into a direct head wind and swell on the nose, we struggled to make 4 knots over ground. This was quite frustrating, and would be our slowest day after losing the keel.

With the security that a full cargo of diesel represented, we cancelled our hourly comms sched with the Coast Guard, though they asked us to notify them if we had any other problems - I can't say enough about them, and we owe a huge thanks to CG stations in Kodiak, AK, Point Reyes, CA and Alameda, CA for helping orchestrate our fuel drop.

With the Coast Guard offline, a new radio schedule found its way into our routine: Pac Cup roll call. We probably should have already been checking in with them, but hadn’t been. I received emails from the Hippy on “Horizon”, who stomped the fleet in this year’s race. He asked us how we were doing, and to come join them on frequency in the morning for a chat and at 2100 for official roll call. For the first few days, “Valis” from Sausalito led the roll call with “Nozomi” taking over duties after that.

Chatting with Pac Cup roll call was a happy time for Ed and I. It brought the morale up on the boat significantly, allowing us to chat with other yachts, hear advice, see who was near us, and know that we had several sailors out there monitoring our status. It reminded me of Singlehanded Transpac and took my mind off the constant worry of the boat capsizing. The Pac Cup guys were all great, so again, thank you to all who helped us out along the way.

Life on board during the ordeal was, let’s just say very difficult. Not necessarily physically difficult, but mentally so. A strict watch had to be adhered to, monitoring wind speed, angle of heel, the diesel engine, and the rest of the boat. Any sudden puffs of breeze, changes in sea state, or un-caught motor problems could spell disaster for us. Fortunately, I was with a sailor of Ed McCoy’s caliber and discipline. There is not a better person that I could have had on the boat in such a shitty situation. Working as a team, we overcame a number of challenges, while becoming better friends throughout.

The boat rolled excessively during that last week at sea, and there were no less than 3 full nights and 2 full days, that we really thought we were going to capsize. It was extremely an extremely stressful time, nursing this wounded boat back to port, just wondering when she was going to roll and potentially send us to a watery grave. And the closer we got to California, the colder and less inviting the water became. Hypothermia became a big concern if we had to abandon ship and get into the life raft. I slept in my foulies and PFD, with my hand on the ditch bag and the life raft lashed down in the cockpit. We each had rigging knives readily accessible to cut the life raft loose when the boat flipped. The stress and anxiety of the situation made me lose 10 pounds in one week.

But it never did flip. We had one of the best weather windows imaginable, and while we saw some big, rough seas, by the time the seas built, the wind died off, so nothing got too out of control.  But we were never under any illusions: This is about as humbling an experience as I've had - knowing that the sea could take us out any time it wanted with just a few hours of big wind and waves.  I certainly don't recommend it!

After 7 very long, difficult, and mentally exhausting days at sea, we managed to limp under the Golden Gate Bridge at 4 AM to a small flotilla of close friends. The boat’s owner, Don Gray, had flown into town to see us in. He was joined by Ladonna from Latitude 38 and her husband Rob. My employer and co-workers, Drew Harper and Garrett Greenhalgh greeted us on the Santa Cruz 50 “Yukon Jack”, delivering beer, tequila and Thai food. 3 more boats, all owned by Singlehanded Transpac vets, showed up to greet us and follow us to the boat yard in Richmond. After a very difficult and trying experience, it was truly special to be greeted by my friends and SHTP community in the Bay.

But above all, it was my friend Ed McCoy who I have to thank the most. The guy is an absolute trooper. He flew out to Hawaii on his own dime to help me bring the boat back to California. He always told me “if you make it there, I’ll help you bring it back.” He is a man of his word. And even after the keel fell off, the guy stayed rock solid and exhibited a lot of character and inner strength in dealing with the situation. Any way you cut it, losing a keel 760 miles offshore is a bad time, but with Ed it ended up being a good experience, and something I’m proud of. Without him, I honestly don’t know how this story would have ended.

The boat has since been hauled out and trailered back to North Carolina. The owner is going to put a new keel on her and hopefully campaign her in next year’s Bermuda 1-2 and with any luck will hit the starting line as my friend and competitor in the 2012 Singlehanded Transpac. As for me, I’m working on acquiring a Mini Transat and racing the 2012 SHTP and 2013 Mini Transat. I’ve got some exciting magazine stuff coming up, and I’m hoping to work on a book to help fund a Mini campaign. Thanks to all of you Anarchists out there for following my Singlehanded Transpac campaign from start to finish, and supporting Ed and I when we were in a very difficult situation. And of course a big thanks to Don Gray for allowing me the opportunity to race to Hawaii this summer. The experience I have gained was invaluable, and hopefully will lead to bigger and better things in the future. And oh yeah, sorry about the keel...

-Ronnie Simpson

[Keep posted on Ronnie's day-to-day musings on his site -Ed]

jabba whacked

Apparently a crew full of America's Cuppers couldn't get Dan "Jabba" Meyers around a track fast enough to beat the well-worn Nelson-Marek 70 Denali in their three-boat class during last weekend's NE PHRF Championship.  Given his reputation as a dickhead, and his goal of sending everyone's favorite sailing website into bankruptcy, it's amazing that anyone showed up to race against the douchebag at all. Congrats to Mike Demelio and Denali -  she's been an SA-crewed winner for years. We understand the thunderous applause given to Denali at the prize giving was a clear indication of just how popular Denali’s win over Meyers was (and just how unpopular Meyers is).

One of the Anarchists explained what he saw: "Once again, Meyers' paid crew took him looking for nice beachfront property in the Swampscott/Nahant area. If there's a hole in the breeze over there, Butterworth and crew will find it." Speaking of Butterworth, we can’t wait to tell you about an unexpected encounter we had with him. Stay tuned for the story that will tell you plenty about these two...

But most amazingly of all, the grotesquely obese financier couldn't even find a decent sunshade to hide his acres of flesh from ultraviolet damage, instead relying on a tattered old plastic tarp to prevent the flesh eating disease that we hope he soon contracts.  Perhaps if he spent less money on pros and lawyers... Thread's here.

guess who's back?

Our old friend, occasional rabble rousing contributor, and sailing's original 'hand grenade journalist' Magnus Wheatley has fired up the excellent Rule 69 Blog once again after a two year web sabbatical that coincidentally began right around the time that Jabba The Hutt (a/k/a Dan Meyers) tried to scare him out of business.  Fortunately, the UK-based Rule 69 Blog can now get back to the business of helping to call out bullshit where it rears its head, and keeping sailing honest.  He's already at it with this piece on some smelly politics at ISAF.  Welcome back, brother. We have lots to talk about....

light of youth

293 Italian kids started their Youth Championship yesterday under 20 knots of mistral in Marsala, Italy.  The regatta goes until the 7th in numerous classes, and we can expect some more beautiful work like this Opti shot from the Borleghi studio at the event site.  Credit Carlo Borlenghi/Luca Butto

killer kiss

Despite a fleet that included paid pros on the top 11 boats, the father/son/pro team of Michael and young Mitchell Kiss and Chris Rast smoked the fleet at the Holland, MI Melges 20 Nationals last weekend. With 5 bullets and 2 second places, Kiss's Bacio (Italian for 'kiss') didn't sail the last race, and beat the runner-up boat by 18 points.

The dominating win points out how much development the US fleet has ahead of it to stay competitive with the fast-growing European fleet - Bacio was 6th in the 39-boat Gold Cup in Lake Garda last month, while M24 vets Simon and Quentin Strauss and Nigel Young pulled a fourth in the 23-boat US Nationals after stepping on the boat for the first time just before the event.  The number of family teams and female competitors points out some nice trends too for the growing sporty fleet, and with Vipers, Opens, and the Melgi continuing to show growth across all events, it's a good one to see.

For a full report on the event, check out Rast's blog.  Joy Dunigan/Melges 20 Class photo and more here.

priceless...

Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a race boat.
Thousands to have the paint redone and the name changed.
Hundreds to race at a alcohol fueled party venue race weekend.
Getting your boat's name changed for free in the night. Priceless.

dear diary

Finn Gold Cup – Strong like bull, smart like tractor!!!

Why do I do this to myself, am I some sort of masochistic head case? Explain again why sailing in 25kts is fun. How am I supposed to enjoy myself when I have to straight leg hike an overpowered Olympic heavy weight Finn dingy (which will hence forth be known as “the torture rack”) for 1.8 miles into 2 kts of current and banging into chop that is actually square. Then once finally around the top mark I nearly had both my arms torn off as I had to furiously pump my way down wind making as much progress as a butterfly into a hurricane.  

Back up wind for the second lap and into the square chop and current again  for another relaxing 1.8miles….at the end of which I received a salt water enema care of  the San Francisco Bay during the reach into the finish. Not to mention the number of times I take my life in my hands each time I gybe this beast of a boat. If ever you want to see grown men cry, who are of the kind of stature that would cause you to walk the other way if you ran across them in a dark ally, then sit at the gybe mark during a windy race and watch the tears of sheer joy as they come out of the gybe in one piece, or the tears of utter despair as his $3500 carbon wing mast goes in the drink and comes up broken in two pieces.  

To get a Finn around the course is no small feat…it takes the strength of a body builder the  balance of a gymnast and the physical fitness of Lance Armstrong. Winning at this level is next to being super human. This boat rewards you when you put the effort in and smacks you down hard if you don’t… and it makes all the effort, pain and trouble worth your while when you come screaming in to the finish on a blinding fast reach grinning from ear to ear. The big winner on the first day of the Finn Gold Cup was Rafael Trujillo with a 2-1, and Ed Wright on day two with a 1-1. Results. - Phil Toth.

the win

George Szabo tells how the Star NA's were won...

Not your ordinary regatta preparation. If possible, I prefer to show up at a regatta  refreshed, with a tuned boat that I know is going well, a crew that I’ve raced and practiced with before, and have a few days at the regatta venue to get used to the conditions.

While that is a nice plan, heading to the Star North Americans this year, that was not the case. My crew and I had spent the previous two weeks in Weymouth, England racing at the ‘Skandia Sail for Gold’ regatta. I had two travel days between events, one to get home, and the other to do laundry, pack a Star, get a plumber to fix the backed up plumbing in my house (a fine welcome home) and drive from San Diego to Los Angeles. I was short on time and even shorter on sleep. My crew for the event would be someone I had never sailed with, Frithjof Kleen, from Germany. Frithjof had just won the regatta in Weymouth with another skipper, Peter O’leary. I figured Frithjof would be a good crew – I just had to hope that we’d get over our jet lag quickly.

The plan was to sail Mark Reynolds’ Folli (Mark was trying a P-star for the event), but that changed. While flying home, Larry Whipple was unable to go to the regatta at the last minute, and offered us to use his new P-Starboat for the regatta. A great offer, but a tough call because I had a proven Star ready to go. It had been winning local events, and all I had to do was pop the mast in, get the sails up, and go. The new P-star is an American built boat that has been winning regattas this year.  This particular boat had only sailed for 2 days, so the rig would still be stretching in, and probably not tuned optimally. Do I put my time and energy (both on short supply) tuning a new boat or go with the ready-to-race Folli? I brought Mark’s boat to the regatta just in case.  Our final decision was to take the opportunity to try the P-star.

Once we arrived it took us a day to rig, re-rig, measure in, and check the tuning. The following day, we got out on the water, tacked back and forth for an hour, looking up the mast, and adjusting shrouds to get the mast a similar shape side to side, and then we spent another hour tuning against other boats. I figured we were going well, but I was still concerned about the unknowns of racing a boat I’d never been in before. This being Frithjof’s first trip to California, he found time to go to Beverly Hills, Venice Beach, Muscle Beach, and a few other tourist spots.

Day 1 of racing - my crew was still a certifiable German tourist. All day long, his camera was tucked under his sleeve. He probably took over 50 photos - some of seals on the rocks while sailing out, some of the boats near us while hiking upwind, other photos of Los Angeles and also of the fleet, while standing on the run. Somehow we won both races that day, so the boat seemed to be fast enough.

For the 2nd day of racing, we started out with a 2nd in the first race. Between races, Frithjof was told that the“HOLLYWOOD“ sign can be seen from the water, so he spent most of his time looking downwind, towards Los Angeles, hoping to find it. Eventually he did get a photo of it, but he’s going to have to zoom in pretty close to find it in his picture. The start of the 2nd race didn’t go so well, and found us playing catch up. On the second beat of the 2nd race, we nearly ran over a Sunfish (the fish not the boat) sunning itself on the surface.

Day 3, we had another 1st and a 6th. We had to grind back to get 6th after a not so good start. Best entertainment of the day was Frithjof shouting “FINS!!!”, followed by his scrambling out of the mini hike and into the boat. Turns out, there was a channel of current running up the coast. Frithjof had spotted several dolphins crossing under the boat.  Then, the dolphins began swimming alongside the boat and playing under the bow. Frithjof was not impressed, and once the wildlife disappeared, it took some convincing to get him to go back over and hike again. Back on land, we were able to compare fin stories with others, and two teams swore they had sighted a small Great White Shark. It seemed plausible because beaches in San Diego, had recently been closed due to White Shark sightings. I wasn’t sure I’d have a crew that would hike the next day.

On the final day of the event, only Lars Grael could beat us. We had control after the start, ahead and to weather, and let Lars sail where he wanted on the beat, however we never allowed him to have bow out. We didn’t tack on him by the first mark, and both boats were mid-fleet – sailing our throw outs. On the run, he gained on us, went to the opposite gate, and was able to pass us. We stayed near him on the beat and were able to grind him down, and pass him toward the end of the beat. By this time, we had moved from the 20’s+ to top 8. We were not in a good position because we needed Lars out of the top ten. Considering he had passed us on the first run, and had the potential to do it again, we preferred him to be back a little further. We tacked on him a few times on the starboard tack layline, which kept us in front of Lars on the run. That was enough to give us the regatta win. More pics here, results here.

life of lia

time...

August 31st – Entry deadline for the ‘Barcelona World Race’

The end of the month has not arrived without warning. In fact, I have been hurtling day by day, towards the August 31st entry deadline for the ‘Barcelona World Race’ since I stepped off the rowing boat ‘Dream Maker’ on March 18th. ‘And?’ Someone emailed me this morning…

And so it turned out a few weeks ago that the entry fee is not as critical as you (and I) might have thought. Namely, that the race organizers need competitors and frankly what’s 21,400 Euros in the grand scheme of things when a one-year IMOCA 60 campaign starts at £750,000? The reality is that it’s the boat that makes the campaign a serious prospect and thereafter, you hope (and work like hell) to make everything else fall into place. Putting a non-refundable 21k on the table, without a boat to sail, isn’t going to get you anywhere.

‘So, do you have a boat?’ Ah, that frequently asked question which is usually followed quickly by ‘Do you have a co-skipper?’ And if not, ‘Can I come?’ Inevitably, with ‘Does that mean then, that it’s not happening?’ coming next!

With two well-known and accomplished Open 60 sailors onboard to advise and Alex’s Thomson’s AT Racing team kindly enabling me to show off the to-be-chartered boat, there is still time – but only just. The preparation period running up to the race will become squeezed as we head into September. Having acquired my Open 40 a mere 6 weeks before the start of the 2006 Route du Rhum and had to cram a refit and qualifier into that period, I know exactly what a last-minute campaign entails. Let’s just say that the Lia Ditton ‘Barcelona World Race’ campaign isn’t over yet and the reason is OBO, – the ‘Open Boat Orchestra.’

While we decided to postpone the official OBO ‘Meeting of the Musicians’ due to apparent summer holiday absence, there was an impromptu meeting of musicians that somehow didn’t get the message that the event at Sphere Studios was cancelled and had congregated in the local pub! While no musical advancements per se were made to the project that evening, I did go home and Google every one of the attendees out of curiosity of the caliber and type of musician that the project had somehow come to attract!

Thanks to a data file from the IMOCA 60 AORII (Jonny Malbon’s Open 60 ‘Artemis Ocean Racing II’) the following week, director of OBO Music, Mark Ty-Wharton and I were able to formulate a strategy for pairing data streams - NMEA sentences (the language standard of marine electronics) with MIDI functions (the language of music) in the first programming of the OBO Box, which will be sail-tested live on the AORII later this month. Filmmaker Richard Gooderick (http://www.gooderick.com/) will be onboard capturing the moment. If you missed the OBO proof of concept v-blog during the holidays, here it is again.

In the meantime my objective is to find investment for OBO Project Ltd and the OBO Box as a commercial product venture. If you can imagine a depth sounder that starts playing hardcore drum and bass when you’re getting into shallow water or a radar proximity alarm set to play Bach’s Suite for solo cello No. 1 in G major, when a boat is less than 5 miles away… you’ll understand the consumer interest in the OBO technology! In my research, I’ve also highlighted the following as other possible applications of the OBO Box:

1. Entertainment - Engaging young children and teenagers, in boating in a new and interesting way
2. Safety - Life boat drivers and race boat helms moving at pace could benefit from extra sensory, audio information
3. As a teaching aid - Students and teachers looking to learn about the dynamics of mechanics in motion
4. Custom alarm sounds - For short-handed sailors to the visually impaired.

While it took a surprisingly number of weeks to recover from the Atlantic Rowing Race earlier this year, a 6 week stint at the no-frills, Swiss-concept, ‘Keiser Training’ gym in North London has brought me happily back on form. I am expecting there to be some physical component to the selection trials for the Artemis Sailing Academy this month, so it’s probably just as well! Thirty-two of us have been selected with the aim, after four 3 day sessions of testing in groups of 8, to whittle that number down to a eight individuals. The number one objective of the Academy is to see British ‘race-winning’ capable campaigns competing in the solo, non-stop round the world Vendée Globe in 2016 and 2020.

Mark Tyndall, CEO, Artemis Investment Management:
“Having gone in at the top level of the single-handed racing world, it now seems prudent to go back to basics, roll up our sleeves and get started right away in helping British sailing talent on the road to future success. If we’re going to do it, we want to do it the right way and make sure we give the commitment required to put the foundations in place for the future which is why we’ve committed to a minimum of four years of support.”

Wish me luck!

And finally…
I have been nominated for the Suffolk Coastal District Council ‘Sports Personality of the Year’ award, which will be announced on September 19th. Winners automatically feed through to the countywide Suffolk Sports Awards, which lead on to the BBC East & Sport England Awards later in the year.

finally...

Australia's America's Cup legend John Bertrand finally won the elusive Etchells World championship trophy last week last week.  He has apparently been after a one-design world championship prize for 20 years. With Andrew Palfrey and Laser hot shot Tom Slingsby as ammunition he swept to victory off the feisty waters of Howth, north of Dublin.  Five bullets secured their victory in pretty fruity conditions near Dublin bay. The opening day's race went from 4 to 28 knots and saw three seasons in one leg. The champ was as gracious in his acceptance as the club was welcoming. Typical Irish craic. Thanks to Ingrid Abery, she has lots and lots of pics!

big pimpin'

wake up!

It’s about time! There have been several attempts to present the ISAF Official Racing Rules of Sailing on mobile phones – so far none have been compelling. But YOU-TACK! Pro has done it. The Racing Sailor’s Illustrated Guide adds life and clarity to an otherwise sleepy subject.

Each rule has clear explanations and illustrations. As an added feature, to see whether you really understand how the rules work on the water, they’ve provided 42 quizzes in 3D animations. Each quiz answer points to specific rules, so you’ll know which ones you need to review. YOU-TACK! Pro also offers a Scoreboard – you and your mates can see how many quizzes were answered correctly.

All the official ISAF rules from Part 1 to Part 7, plus appendices A to D, with all the signals, the international flags, and the ISAF definitions are included. The complete app, YOU-TACK! Pro, is $19.99. It’s informative, clarifying, entertaining, and worth the price! YOU-TACK! Pro is available on iPhones, iPods, and iPads. By September it will be on Android phones as well.

On top of that you can win an iPAD! But you have to sign up by Oct 31st. You can find out how on: www.you-tack.com

big pimpin'

sign up and save

From Ullman Sails, one of our great sponsors at the SA Worlds...

Sailing Anarchy has always been good to its sponsors and now it is time for the sponsors to return the favor.  Ullman Sails a long time sponsor of Sailing Anarchy and returning sponsor of the International Sportboat Anarchy Festival (ISAF) in San Diego is giving 15% off to registered boats of the ISAF for sails to be delivered before the event.  If you are planning on attending the ISAF and want new sails to kick some ass  contact Ullman Sails West Coast lofts to get it done.  Orders need to be in by August 30th.  Also Follow the news on Facebook before during and after the regatta.