Dark n' Stormy

A Sydney 38 at Hamilton Island Race Week, doing what we all like to do - haul ass. This great shot is courtesy of SA friend Andrea Francolini.

08/31/2004

Big Pimpin'

True

We're not going to BS you - we feel both honored and lucky to have people like Mark Michaelsen and the Sailing Pro Shop as part of what we do here. Folks like this make it possible for us to exist, and wouldn't life suck without us aound? Of course it would. Do your part - Support 'em. - The Ed.

The Sailing Pro Shop was one of the first onboard with Sailing Anarchy as paid advertiser, and from Day #1 it's been a beneficial relationship. The people who visit this site seem to understand as well as anyone that when you patronize an SA advertiser you'll get a "special SA price" and help support a site and in particular a forum that is unmatched in getting news, information and entertaining gossip to the sailing world in a matter of just minutes after it occurs. We wish to thank those of you who already shop with us for your past patronage and invite those who have yet to give us a try to call TOLL FREE and find out why many of the most successful programs in the world depend on us to get them the latest gear at the best price -FAST.

We are looking forward to an excellent fall season and remind those of you who have affiliations to teams or yacht clubs that we offer special package pricing on everything we sell.

08/31/2004

Disabled Able

The Blind Leading the Seeing!

We just heard that a blind sailor Vince Morvillo, who has been almost totally blind since the age of 20, just won the 2004 Ensign Nationals held at Newport, RI.. We love this kind of stuff and want to give a shout out to Vince and his crew. Nice!!

08/31/2004

The Press

Homers

We like Latitude 38 (although Lat 38 writer Rob Moore hates us because we've actually dared to critique some of his cozy little saiing buddies. What a tool.), but man are they homers. By any measure, Paul Cayard's Olympics were a failure - he didn't medal and went out with a whimper. That didn't stop Lat from cheerleading though:

A noteworthy honorable mention, goes to the Bay Area's Paul Cayard, who, with crew Phil Trinter of Ohio, started the Star competition off with a win in the first race. Although Brazil's Torben Grael eventually amassed an unassailable lead and sat out the last race, the silver and bronze spots were up for grabs until the last race, and Cayard/Trinter were contenders. In the end, they ended up fifth.

08/31/04

Four on One

This is something new called SAIL-O-VATION. A close look shows four foils! Hope there's no kelp. Here's what is said of this new project:

The background is to create a new kind of cruising yacht using all new ideas, designs, materials and technologies which are available worldwide and bring it to reality and build it. One of the aims for example is a boat which can not only surf downwind also upwind. Next to it they want to give awards for innovative products on the sailing market.

The reason why I am forwarding this is the style of the hull, which looks really promising. Also the concept for the Tandem-X-Keel is cool. You have a canting keel which goes +/- 50 degrees and you have a second keel which can go +/- 25 degrees. The canting keel for the best righting moment and the second for the best resistance against drift when the boat is getting angled. Also there is a some distance between both keels when they are in middle position at low winds. The flow will not recognize the distance and the effective surface against drift will be kept large by a small amount of weight. Therefore most of the weight will be positioned as low as possible in the bulb. The design is not related to any kind of rule especially IMS.

This is really a interesting concept and the tank tests are finished and will be reported in the next magazine in September. They have already sourced a ship yard in Germany for building it.

08/30/04

Olympics

Rule #1

We all know what Rule #1 is, don't we? You know, the one that says that you cover the one guy you need to beat at the end of a regatta? As much as we thought the team of John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree did a phenomenal job to get an Olympic Silver medal in the Tornado Class, we were amazed to watch (one of the rare minutes) on TV as they failed to cover the eventual winners, Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher of Austria.

Nothing better than hindsight, in fact, we've never lost a race employing such vision, but jeez that seemed a major blunder, especially with so much at stake. Regardless, well done by all. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

*************

Faded

The US Team didn't fare so well in the Star Class with Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter fading badly at the end to finish fifth, well out of medal contention. In fact they finished DFL in the last race to end it all on a very sour note. The Canadian team of Ross MacDonald and Mile Wolfs sailed superbly to earn a Silver over the Frogs of- Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau in a very close fight. The full Olympic stories can be found here.

08/30/04

Holy Lord!

Fecamp 60ft trimaran Grand Prix, second event of the ORMA 60 ft trimaran 2004 championship, animated by the capsize of Gitana X. Photo thanks to G. Martin-Raget/Royale Production. 08/27/2004

Olympics

Gold Star

Leaving almost no doubt from the get-go, Brazilians Torben Grael and crew Marcelo Ferreira handily won the Gold medal in the Star class, this with a race to spare! The battle for the Silver and Bronze medals will be between Rohart and Rambeau (France) , MacDonald and Wolffs (Canadian), and Cayard and Trinter (USA). Great stuff.
Photo courtesy of Getty Images. More Olympic news can be found here.

08/27/2004

Pissed, Part 2

It turns out that one reason why the MaxZ Morning Glory is being sold so abruptly (see below), is not only because of a bad experience racing against an alleged overaggressive Pyewacket at Cork, the owner of MG is very unhappy with the current Owner/Driver "class" rules. Hasso drives MG, yet Robbie Haines does the critical steering for Pyewacket - not exactly a fair fight, is it? May be he should be pissed!

08/27/2004

Something New

Apparently thinking the aviation business might be more lucrative, it seems SD's Bruce Nelson has found a new line of work? Read his quotes.

08/27/2004

Bows Up!

Talk about a compromising position. This is the new and fast Antrim 40 Zephyr that we featured in a story below (Multi Sails). I believe we said it was making quite a splash - boy were we right. Here's What Paul van Dyke of Halsey Lidgard has to say about the incident:

Here is what happened at the Newport Unlimited. We overstood the finish a bit and had to heat up to make it. Puff hit and over we went. The boat was righted the next day and damage was fairly minimum. The boat will be sailing again soon.

The picture comes to us from Tom Bandioni and here's is his his comment:

My company, Ocean Response along with a strong team of experienced people upturned this vessel last Sunday. As you can see, the only damage was broken battens. I have owned two French Formula 40 Tri's and built a Newick 38. I have also retrieved several Multihulls for the owners who had to leave them offshore. It is the type of work I love to do, especially this one, on the day of my 51st Birthday!

08/26/04

Olympic Stars

Stone Unturned?

We know it's been incredibly tough and shifty (shitty?) sailing in Athens, but it has long been thought that the Star teams of Percy and Loof, as good as they are, were weak in the light stuff. Not everyone agrees with this of course, but the scores don't lie. We have heard people tell us that at numerous regattas those guys blew off practicing in light air because they thought it was a waste of time. Are they are paying the price now? All the Olympic news can be found here.

08/26/04

It's My Party, I'll Cry if I Want To

Apparently not having any fun at Cork Week means selling your brand new MaxZ 86. How weak is that?

FOR SALE: MORNING GLORY
2004 Reichel Pugh 86 is immediately available for sale. Built by McConaghy Boats, Morning Glory comes complete with extensive racing package. Canting keel maxZ86 class turbo sled is seriously priced to sell. Based in Palma, Spain.

08/26/04

Orange Jinx?

Probably not, especially with that 700 mile day under their belt, but the boat has had it's share of mishaps. However, they sure came close to breaking Steve Fossett's North Atlantic record but came up an agonizing 31 minutes short! That is cruel. Read it and weep.
Photo courtesy of Gilles Martin-Raget.

08/26/04

706/24

The big, brutish cat Orange set a big, brutish 24 hour speed record of 706.2 miles en-route on their effort to break the North Atlantic record from New York to The Lizard, Great Britain. Incroyable!
Photo courtesy of Gilles Martin-Raget. Read the whole story here.

08/25/04

More Stars

The Olympic Star racing isn't the only game in town (though it is the most prestigious). The Star North American Championship. The Cottage Park Yacht Club, in Winthrop Massachusetts, is playing host to competitors from seven countries for the Silver Star event this week: USA, Argentina, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, and the Ukraine. This years' fleet is arguably not as strong as previously, but nontheless John MacCausland and Brian Fatih are out in front so far. It is worth noting that SA regular Solo is in the top 5! Read the whole dilly-o right here.
Photo courtesy of Jan Walker.

08/25/04

Big Pimpin'

Bag Man. And Woman.

Edward Kriese and Ashley Perrin are the co-owners of Ocean Racing, the company that makes the cool SA duffel bags and all the SA embroidery, is now also our newest advertiser. These folks are great to work with, having done something like 500 pieces for us - all of it top quality and delivered on time. From duffels to hats to custom embroidery, these guys are it! Do your anarchistic part and get down with OR. Be sure to see their banner, top left on this page. As always, thanks!

08/25/04

Olympics

Cayard Creeps Back

Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter gave their shot at a medal a boost with a third in race six. Torben Grael of Brazil is so far dominating this class, but second through seventh is all close. This should be an great finish. All the Olympic news can be found here. Photo thanks to credit Peter Bentley/PPL.

08/25/04

A Different Spin

This is the new Rodger Martin 36' sportboat currently under construction at NEB. Plenty of interesting features, most notably a gybing carbon keel. Read all about it.

08/24/04

Good to Gold

Americans Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham kicked ass in the 470 Class at the Olympics to win a Gold medal. Well done boys! Photo by Daniel Forster.The full Olympic results can be found here.

08/23/04

Meanwhile....

Was anyone more impressive at the Olympics than this young Brit? Ben Ainslie overcame an early DSQ to do what he has made habit: dominate the Finn class, winning a Gold medal in the process. Isn't a mark of brilliance when you can make something hard look easy? Photo thanks to credit Peter Bentley/PPL.

08/23/04

Gear Queer

Basic Black

We just got our best hats ever here at SA. Black, with the much desired SA logo front and back. These are very nice and we highly recommend that you get one. Now.

08/23/04

Top Bird

The Snipe Class crowned a new national Champion: Ernest Rodriques and his crew Leandro Spina. Cali homeboy George Szabo and crew Brian Janney finished a close second. Ernest did a great job in all the races and was the most consistent sailor out on the water. Ernest is an interesting story, he started sailing Snipes a few years ago after he left Cuba. The Diaz family (Augie and the Old Man) got him into Snipe racing after he got here and were able to coach him - pretty well, we'd say. Full results can be found here.

08/23/04

Chicks Dig It

Well maybe these particular chicks aren't totally digging it, but the US Women's Yngling Team at least got a bullet in the first race today. They are 12th overall.

In the Finn Class, where Ben Ainslie furthered his Gold Medal chances with a 3rd today, there is some growing controversy. Polish sailor Mateusz Kusznierewicz claims that some coaches may be informing their sailors about over early situations and want the jury or ISAF to do something about it. Nothing like a little whining and finger pointing to stir things up. The full Olympic results can be found here. Today's photo courtesy of Peter Bentley and PPL.

08/19/04

505 Worlds

Tough at the Top

An all Cali battle is shaping beautifully at the 505 Worlds in Santa Cruz, CA. So Cal's Mike Martin/Jeff Nelson are tied with No Cal's Morgan Larson/Trevor Baylis (photo above) after 4 races, with Howie Hamlin/Peter Alarie 3rd. Pending protests could shake it up a bit. The full story can be found right here. Photo by Terry Drew.

08/19/04

Snipe Nationals

Tough Here Too

Tied for first is the order of the day at the Snipe Nationals with George Szabo and Ernest Rodriguez with 12 points each. Lurking just behind them is Augie Diaz and pack close behind. Good stuff and all the details are here.

08/19/04

Chairmen of the Board

Here are the Windsurfer Men looking to get off the line, and nobody is doing it better than Prezmyslaw Miarczynski from Poland with two bullets so far.

For the US side of things, the team of Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham is doing a great job in the 470 class, just a point out of the lead. On the girlie side, Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa had an even better day with two more bullets and a big lead in the Women's 470 class. Some light and fluky conditions were on tap today, making for tough going. Photo credit and thanks to Peter Bentley/PPL. The lastest Olympic results can be found here.

08/18/04

Why Not Two?

If one adheres to the premise that if one of anything is good, then two must be better, right? Uh, yeah...right. See for yourself.



08/18/04

The Funny Bone's Connected To The....

No, silly. It is actually the canting keel mechanism of the new R/P 66' Wild Oats 2 .It looks pretty nice......but, considering how many of these things have failed on Open type boats over the years, how long can it be 'till one of these breaks on one of the new "conventional" cants?

08/17/04

No Doubt

Here is Ben Ainslie winning his third straight race in the Finn Class at the Athens Olympic Regatta. The British sailor now leads the series overall, bouncing back from a bogus DSQ. There is nobody more impressive at the moment than this bloke. Photo credit and great thanks to Peter Bentley/PPL. The lastest Olymoic results can be found here.

08/17/04

Birds of a Feather

The Snipe Nationals are underway with 57 boats going at it this week in Ohio. Lee Sackett is out of the blocks quickly with two bullets in what looks to be a tough regatta. Check it out if you wish.

08/17/04

Let the Games Begin!

The Olympics are of course underway, and there are simply Too many boats, countries and sailors to discuss here, so we'll let you see what you want to see. Photo credit Peter Bentley/PPL.

08/16/04

California Love

The venerable 505 Class is currently holding its World Champs in Santa Cruz, and Cali homeboys Morgan Larson and crew Trevor Baylis are atop the leader board after 2 races. 102 boats make this about as big as they get. Check it out right here

08/16/04

More Cali

If racing a Sabot doesn't mean much to you, that probably means you've never done it. For thousands of kids (myself included) the Sabot was our launching pad into this sport, and the time spent racing those odd little ducks was priceless. The Junior Sabot Nationals were just held here in Mission Bay, and were won by Tyler Sinks, whose dad, Chuck was and still is a great Sabot sailor. With the his background and pedigree, look for Tyler to be something special in this sport someday.......

08/16/04

Molto Piacevole!

Just a couple more reasons to love the sport! Thanks very much to Yahoo Sports - click to read the details.

08/13/04

No es Bueno

We ran a story awhile back about your government going after some sailors who had put together the 2003 Conch Republic Cup race to Cuba and the legal actions being taken by the U.S. Justice Dept. against them. Of course we all know that the US Government is doing such a great job globally that they have nothing to worry about except for Really Important Issues like this. Not only is it a giant waste of time and money, but a most disturbing as an infringement on our freedoms. Check out the website to help the sailors.

08/13/04

Pelted

Skandia Cowes Week is in full swing and here's a nice shot of the Jo Richards designed very radical 36' Full Pelt. Quick on the water, but not showing too well at the corrected end of things, however. This great picture is from Rick Tomlinson.

08/12/04

All DC, All The Time

Props

Grant Dalton's recent harsh words about DC needing to get off his "fat arse" had many in the sailing world laughing their asses off - fat, skinny or otherwise. Here is a picture of the large One at the Etchells Worlds last week. He is, to be sure, no Slim Jim, but his fifth place overall in a very tough fleet only confirms that he is still one hell of a sailor even now as he closes in on his 62nd birthday next month. There is no way possible, even for an a-hole like me, not to give him his props.

Dis

For seemingly every story like the above, then comes one like this. We heard a rumor today that DC wants to be the Cortez Racing Association representative on the SD PHRF Board. Why in the hell would he do that? To get a better rating for his SC 70? To inflict his sizable influence on those too stupid or weak to fight it? Christ, it just astounds that he not only plays the PHRF game to the degree that he does, but then wants to fuck around with the politics, ratings and other horseshit associated with PHRF? Some of you will say he is just dedicated to the sport, we say he is obsessed to the point of near insanity!

C C and Water?

Here's a beauty. We are hearing from a good source that there may be some credence to a Conner and Coutts collaboration for the next AC!! Obviously, a whole bunch of things will have to happen just so, like Coutts winning the legal battle with Bertarelli to even sail at all in the '07 affair. But there is movement with these two giants putting together a united front. Now, that will be the highlight of the Cup or what?

Guest Ed

So I had a funny conversation with DC tonight. He asked me if I ever went on vacation, and that if I did, he wanted to be Guest Editor of Sailing Anarchy! his best quote to me (among a few) was that "It would take a lot of fucking work, but I could make you look good." God damn, that's funny. You know what? I might just take him up on it.

08/12/04

Mount Olympus

With the Opening Ceremony this Friday, we here at Sailing Anarchy are trying to get into the spirit of the Olympics. Our attention was recently drawn to the 2004 nudie calendar published by the British Olympic Sailing team as a fund-raiser. We were wondering if any any of our Brit friends might know if it has been a financial success?

An artistic success? Well that may be in the eye of the beholder. Speaking of beholding...

Check out this photo highly rated Star skipper and crew Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell as it appears in the calendar:-

And check out the photo after the contrast has been adjusted by SA's graphics department.

Now that's hands on!

08/11/04

Big Blu

Wow, talk about making your next model bigger. The folks at Blusail must have reckoned that maybe doing a 34' version of their Blusail 24 just wasn't enough. Here then is the Blusail 54! This 54 features everything from carbon hull, carbon rig, Harken hydraulic winches, hydraulic furler. Twin steering, retractable keel and in each stateroom, a Plasma TV. Go here for more info, and brush up on your Italian.

The boat is probably a bit under rigged for most of us (it is a racer/cruiser after all) but we sure like that cockpit!

08/11/04

Melges 24 Worlds

They are underway. Here are the early results. Be prepared to read the names of a bunch of furriners you don't know. Young American Sam Kahn is in decent shape at 9th overall so far.

08/11/04

It's Alive!

The Juan K designed, DK Yachts built 115' Maiden Hong Kong for Frank Pong has left the building. Only temporarily however as the yacht is not complete - it is going to Wave Master Langkawi to be completed and commissioned. Wave Master have all the facilities required to put on the keel etc, with things like a 500 ton travel lift to better complete the job. Plus DK likely couldn't wait to get rid of it!

An amazing thing, really, but there is something with this boat that just doesn't look right. We like the guys at DK, and hope it goes well for them, but you can bet all eyes will be watching this one!

08/10/04

Butt Ugly

Oh yeah, that's frigging ugly, no matter how it's sliced. If it is fast, then it only speaks how wrong a rule is that allows such a thing to be created. The IMS is all over but the crying, particularly on the news of so many former IMS players in the Med now ordering TP 52's. Halleujah! Photo Nico Martinez.

08/08/04

Fat Arse

Good Ol' DC was reportedly upset that TNZ recently received a rather sizable helping hand in their AC funding department from none other than Russell Coutts' best friend, Ernesto Bertarelli.

TNZ team leader Grant Dalton, upon hearing of Conner's whine had the following to say: "Maybe he should get off his fat arse and see if he can raise the money. "Maybe he shouldn't eat so many pies and get on with bloody working a little harder."

We knew we liked Dalton for a reason.

08/09/04

Flying

This is Craig Spec's Swan 45 Vim dominating the Swan 45 Class at NYYC Race Week, winning 7 of the 10 races. Vim used a full Quantum inventory which included all new Fusion M Jibs and a 4D mainsail supplied by DP. If you have to buy sails, you have to check out what Quantum can do for you.

08/09/04

Trading Places

This is the brand new Jim Donovan designed TP 52 Trader. The boat is fast and anyone who knows Jim expected exactly that. Jim is smart and talented and a good dude. If I was getting a custom boat, I'd most definitely have Jim design it. He's capable of doing world class work, and we expect that you'll here more from him and his work. Here's his report from Trader's first outing.

We lined up with Rosebud and Bright Star at Harbor Springs regatta on Sunday’s race. This was the first day we ever sheeted in a jib, tacked, hoisted a spinnaker or gybed. The crew had never stepped aboard a Transpac 52 before this weekend, and had limited experience with A-sail gybes. We thought we’d just go check in with the fleet and get some practice.

A few tacks into the race, we realized we were opening a lead on Rosebud, with excellent upwind speed and height. Bright Star, with a crowd of pros onboard, had the best start and opened a 3 to 4 boat length lead early.We were able to maintain that separation on the entire upwind leg, rounding 2nd. Our practice day had turned into a race! Our first mark rounding went as badly as expected, and Rosebud’s better boat handling allowed her to pass us right after the mark.

Finally our spinnaker was hoisted and TRADER started down the run following Bright Star and Rosebud. Within a few minutes we noticed our speed was much better than Rosebud, and we just sailed by them. In the light to medium conditions we were quickly gaining on Bright Star, and rounded the leeward mark within striking distance. A wind shift on the second beat turned the leg into a fetch to the top mark, and the placings did not change.

We managed to undo our race on the next few legs learning how to gybe, and splitting from the fleet on the third beat to find no wind on the right side, while we watched Rosebud and Bright Star take off in a building breeze to the left. None of this mattered to any of us. We had gone out for a practice sail and found that TRADER has incredible potential, especially considering all the unfinished details we know will make the yacht much faster.

08/05/04

Stamm Report

This from a reader......

Some precisions about Stamm.. After he capsized during the Transat due to the loss of his keel (almost the same problems earlier detected on Sill and Bonduelle) he was able to save the hull of his boat and unfortunately lost the unbroken mast and boom...

He knew that it was impossible to repair in time for the Vendée, so he found a solution with Pindar. He got an agreement to use for the Vendée the former Hexagon-G. Dalton and HSBC - Sanderson under the name Pindar-Poujoulat...- Armor-lux. What a name! But unfortunately during the transat back to France, the architects of the boat gave a warning to A. Pindar - the keel would have to be changed for a race as long as the Vendée.. As it takes around 12 weeks to build a new keel, it was almost impossible to prepare the boat and to do the qualification to be on time well prepared for the race... It's a great pity for Bernard who almost found a solution to take part.. but it seems that the architects are following a trend of while always designing smaller forgot a little about strength........

08/05/04

More Malice

There is some great intrigue to the With Malice story found below. It turns out that some litigation went against an individual who apparently decided to get revenge with the incredibly boneheaded move of sinking the lawyer's boat. There are some things you just don't fuck with, and a guy's boat is one of them. Especially when the boat belongs to a very sharp attorney. Police are investigating, and we'll certainly follow along with this one.

08/05/04

Fire up the Lawyers

It would be nice if it read Fire the Lawyers, but speaking of litigation, expect an impressive legal challenge from Russell Coutts in response to Ernesto Bertarelli's attempt to keep Coutts from sailing for another AC team during the next Cup. You'll recall there was legal clarification in 1996 regarding a designer's ability to move to a new team, and Coutts will no doubt claim that he is being restrained from earning a living, right to free trade, that sort of stuff. This one has the makings of a beauty, and we'll bet that when this is all said and done, Bertarelli comes out of this looking like a bit of a douche.

08/05/04

Stamm Down

In a major blow to everybody concerned, Bernard Stamm, winner in the 60' class in the last Around Alone, and a likely favorite to win the next Vendée Globe has withdrawn from the race. His Open 60 Cheminées Poujoulat-Armor Lux had a keel failure and flipped in the recent Transat, and the repairs are expected to take too long for him to make the race.

Sure seems like they could have expedited this process, given what was at stake. Perhaps there is concern about the boat's ultimate ability to perform, even with repairs effected?

08/05/04

With Malice?

This is a PC that belongs to a prominent lawyer who is often involved in the thick of intense legal sailing issues. As you can see, the boat is floating a bit low - sunk at the dock in fact by someone who stuffed a hose down below and turned it on. That is a scumbag move of the lowest order. More to come......

08/04/04

Out of the Blocks

We are stoked to hear that the initial reports of the new Jim Donovan designed TP 52 Trader are good. The boat seemed fast straight away, and all parties involved are very optimistic. The Carbon rig was built by SA advertiser Novis Composites, and it hit the minimum weight CG for the TP52 rule. We'll have a report on the rig from Novis' Dave Hulse, and a report on the boat soon.

08/04404

Big Pimpin'

In The Game

JCD Custom Race Parts is back with us (see their banner top right on this page), and here is an update on their involvedment in a successful Olympic project. Do your best to support our advertisers!

This past February at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Carol Cronin, Liz Filter and Nancy Haberland went on to win the 2004 Olympic bid in Women¹s Keelboat Sailing for the United States in Ynglings, and are now on their way to the Olympic Summer games in Athens, Greece. They've been using the JCD Universal and Tiller Extension leading up to the games, and will also be using some specially developed parts (classified!) to help their speed, too.

08/04/04

Expressed

This here is an Express 27 in Frisco that was run over by a trawler going 7 knots on auto pilot in the Oakland Estuary. The boat is split all the way to the keel athwartships. Ouch.

08/03/04

Not Right

As you can imagine, we get all kinds of stories sent to us, all much appreciated and most usually of some interest. The following one though, really got our attention and deserves some serious consideration. It is part of a report on the Victoria to Maui Race, and to our way of thinking very, very wrong. No way should the Dad have been told this news while in this situation. No way. I'm a Dad, and I can't imagine the personal horror of being stuck on a boat in the middle of the Pacific, dealing with that. Who in the hell thought this would be a good idea?

On a much more sober note, we were several days into the race when one of our crew was informed over the radio that his 21-year-old son had been killed in a tragic accident aboard a fishing boat in Alaska. Tough enough when you're on land, but imagine finding out when you are totally isolated aboard an offshore racing sailboat. All I can say is that **** gave all of us aboard a lesson in courage. He parked his tragedy somewhere inside, and remained one of the most cheerful and active members of the crew for the entire race. Major kudos to the race committee and US Customs for arranging ****'s quick passage back to Canada when we arrived in Maui.

08/03/04

The Normal

We ran an AC Dope story yesterday with the title Warm Leatherette asking that whoever knew what the reference meant first, would win an SA tee-shirt. We got an amazing amount of e-mail with a few of you spot-on. Warm Leatherette is a (dare I say) a classic new wave song from the late '70's by a one man band known as The Normal. One of my favs from back in the day, the lyrics seemed apprapo for the story. Good times.

08/03/04

3 Legged Horse

Here's the 98' Skandia Wild Thing sporting a new appendage - the daggerboard in front of the keel. Guess the notion of just a canting keel all by itself didn't quite do the job.
Photo courtesy of Andrea Francolini

08/02/04