A Bit Tippy, Russell?

RC putting the new 44 through its paces with co-designer Andrej Justin, Slovenian top sailors Dusan Puh and Tomaz Copi plus four Coutts crew members. They reportedly hit 21 in 24 kts of breeze. (Please not the following builder correction. We apologize for our earlier info, which was incorrect - Ed). The first four RC44s (all boats up to this date) were built at the Pauger Carbon facility near Budapest, Hungary. World Carbon, a Slovenian company had a project management role, production, assembly and fitting of the hulls is made at Pauger Carbon (rig, keel fin and trim tab built by Ri-Ba). The future production of RC44s will continue at Pauger Carbon as well.

01/31/06

Other Voices

The Ultimate Sailing Machine

Most of you know we love cars here, and subscribe to all the car mags. Outside of some F1/AC, there is little crossover between racing cars and boats. Autoweek is one of the best in the biz ( I had the chance to have a cocktail with Dutch Mandel, the Editor at A/W at the Indy 500, and one of the first things he asked me was "How can we make A/W better?" I thought that was amazing. Of course I answered, "Uh, add porn?" Anyway here is a little piece they did on BMW Oracle. Enjoy.

1/31/06

The Goose is Cooked

Word is that Big bad DC has sold his SC 70 Mongoose (thought to have sold in the mid $200k range). His swan song will be the very lightly attended SD to Puerto Vallarta race. There is little doubt that DC will be getting another boat to terrorize (cherry pick) the local Dago PHRF fleet - such as it is. His is a strange pursuit, to be sure, and the question of the day is what do you think he'll get next? A used TP 52 perhaps? A good IMS/IRC boat? Place your guesses and the winner, if there is one, will indeed win some SA swag.

1/31/06

Colors

Truly dedicated Anarchists and their home made Santana 23 SA logo kite. We love it!

01/31/06

One if by sea, two if by ship, three if by jumbo air carrier, four if by truck? Just doesn't quite have the same ring, does it? Here the VO 70 Brasil being trucked to Melbourne from Fremantle after dismasting during this leg. Somehow, we don't think this is quite what Volvo had in mind.

01/30/06

Das Boot

A shiny new DK 46 at the Duesseldorf Boat Show. A very interesting report from one of you stealth Anarchists can be found here. Good times. Bth the way, a 46 is winning Geelong Week, one of Oz’s biggest events, in a class with 40 boats in it including 2 custom RP 46’s and the canting keelers!

01/27/06

In addition to the heaps of criticism being leveled at the VOR organizers for their spotty coverage and poor PR work, it now seems they've gotten unnecessarily heavy handed with a website that had been acting as at least a partner of sorts with them.

As we understand it, BYMNews has been carrying some VOR pics on their site since last October, following the VOR's instructions not to make their high resolution pics available. Bym agreed, and did as they were asked. This month they were told to take down all VOR pics, hi res or otherwise, with virtually no explanation. They have done so and now find themselves completely shut out of the VOR media information.

There would appear to be some suspect politics at work, and we have a suspicion of a certain prick who might be involved in attempting to screw the Bym people for his own benefit. Regardless, it seems ridiculous that VOR would do anything like this and we are doing our best to get to the real story. Stay tuned.

01/27/06

Mean Tiller
Now here is a TP 52, the new Judel/Vrolijk designed TP 52 Mean Machine, that looks like it might be a bit hard to steer? Perhaps it is the angle of the photo, or things aren't quite finished - hope so! One thing is that it likely will not be is slow. It will be fun to watch the progress of this one as these guys are known for putting together excellent race programs.

01/27/06

Too Much

Ah yes, just a bit more fun with the Melges 32 class and the fact that their hastily prepared class rules created at Key West prohibited them from sailing in 25 knots of breeze. See further down this page for a different perspective...Thanks once again to ivo for his funny take on things.

01/26/05

Light Air, Big Air

Those damn college kids having fun at the University of Hawaii`i Rainbow Intersectional at Ke`ehi Lagoon. Why, oh why can't we turn back the clock? If we could, who wouldn't want to be there? Thanks to Sean Trew for the nice work.

01/25/06

VOR

Cap'n Cruiser?

We got this last night. Looks like our nickname Cap'n Cayard is taking! Good times. -Ed.

While returning home from a short cruise were overtaken in the South Channel (just inside Port Phillip Bay) around 35 miles from the VOR finish line at Williamstown (our home port), we were passed by this vessel, somewhat larger than our 37 feet, but also apparently cruising, judging by the sailplan. Turned out to be Capt'n Cayard and the "Black Pearl" 21 days out of Capetown and around 3 hours from the finish line.

Hope you can use the photos.

Regards,
Skip ' n Dale

01/24/06

Pardoned

Last time we checked, if you we're found guilty of breaking a rule, you got penalized. And the only remedy is to appeal. In the 2005 Transpac, the TP 52 Trader was penalized one hour for missing a check-in, taking them out of trophy contention. Trader appealed, won, and was handed back their pickle dishes for third in class and overall.

It turns out that 12 other boats also were penalized for the same violation, none of them appealed, but the Transpacific Yacht Club yesterday decided to reverse the penalties to all of them, as if they had never happened.

On the one hand it seems kind of cool, on the other hand, why have rules if they are not to be enforced? If it was a bad rule, it shouldn't have been there in the first place. Thoughts?

01/24/06

Sneaky Bastard

Here’s a pic for you from the VOR village yesterday. It’s a bit like a prison compound where the boats are in the slammer and you can’t get near them. The raised viewing walkway was still under construction even though there were three boats in the compound (2 ABNAmros and a Movistar) The pic of the ABN Amro boat was taken through a mesh fence after I snuck behind a security barrier while the security guard was taking a leak. Ha!

Sportscar

01/24/06

Rascals

Winning form brought to you by Mascalzone Latino and photographer Amory Ross. Nice work all.

01/23/06

Buy, Sell or Trade?

Nothing like presenting all options. Take a look at how the maxi Maximus is being presented for sale. Jeez, that love affair didn't last long, did it? Maybe losing the rig and the legal wrangling over the canting keel didn't help, or the arrival of Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats didn't help matters much?

01/23/06

Two, Two

ABN AMRO TWO finishing second in Melbourne, just four hours after their big brothers on AAONE. Both boats have sailed spectacularly and the only hope for anybody else is that,

1. Their boats stop breaking
2. The AA boats start breaking
3. Things change dramatically in the in port races.

Thanks to Andrea Francolini for the dramatic shot!

01/21/06

Donkey Punch

The punch to this Farr 40 was delivered when it fell off its cradle in Italy. The repair estimate? Try $94,000. Lo shit succede! Thanks to Randy at Waterline Systems for the shot.

01/20/06

Rushing

The new Farr designed TP 52 Rush looking good at Key West. Thanks to Anarchist Wash for the love.

01/20/06

Sideways

That big breeze rolling through Key West did more than wreak a little havoc on the water - at the Naval Academy it wasn't too good on the pavement either! Thanks to Anarchist Foredeckchick for the clicks.

01/18/06

Key West

Weak
Yesterday we commented on the apparent fragility of the Melges 32's at Key West, given that half the class failed to sail on Tuesday, then we see than none of them went out Wednesday. Then we got this:

January 18, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Due to winds exceeding the Melges 32 one-design class wind limits (25mph). The Melges 32 class races for Wednesday, January 18 were canceled.

Wow - that hot $120,000 32 footer can't race in 25 knots of wind? Really? What, they can't put up a No. 4, a small kite and go bouy racing in conditions that, while testing, are certainly not unreasonable? Sure, there are likely some concerns about racing the powered up M32 in some breeze, but to not even leave the dock while everyone else does, seems very weak.

01/19/06

VOR Breaking News

Breaking the Boys of Brasil

As if this particular version of the VOR wasn't fraught with enough drama, now add one more event, this one a bit unexpected. While sailing in 18 knots of breeze, Brasil 1 was dismasted. From the VOR site:

“The mast broke in three pieces after what seems to be a fitting failure at the lower end of the port V1 (vertical shroud). The turnbuckle eye broke horizontally across with half of the fitting remaining on the boat and half on the shroud. No other signs of failure have been found so far."

Just what the race needed. What's next?

01/18/06

Wave Bye-Bye

We'll be honest (as always) - we aren't big fans of the boys at Melges. They jerked us around regarding advertising, and then we intercepted an e-mail where they dissed us in regards to the Flying Tiger 10M, and when we called then on it, they didn't even bother to respond. Punks.

The Melges 32, while overpriced and apparently somewhat fragile (see Key West results), is pretty cool, though the 8 or so sold pale to the 60 something FT's sold. But we digress. Here the M32 New Wave, currently dominating the class, shows much better than the other boats on the starting line, who don't look very together at all. We guess 20 knots separates the men from the boys.....

Again, thanks to Anarchist Wash for the shot. Click here for his photo album from Tuesday's racing.

01/18/06

Splash

Killer B?
Here is the new Beneteau 34.7 and we gotta say it looks relatively fresh for what it is. We like the stern section, we like that the big wheel isn't pushed all the way in the back, we like the carbon rig, and we like the prod, if it is a bit short. Again, for what it is, what do you think? Thanks to Gérard Beauvais for the photo.

01/18/06

Peg Leg

The limping Pirates tied to the dock when they really shouldn't be. Anarchist Waldo scooped all with some great shots. Nice job brother!

Oh yeah, lest any of you forget just how insane racing these things actually is, check out this little vid,

01/17/06

J Daze

My old homeboy Deke Klatt is showing well so far at the J/24 Worlds in Australia, currently a point out of third, with a win in race three. A tall order to win the thing, but it would be a great story if he does. -Ed. (Update: Deke has slipped back to eigth as the boys from Brazil and Italy duke it out at the front).

01/17/06

Yo Ho Ho

Apparently the VOR website now thinks that making a funny headline of the disaster they are sponsoring is well, funny. It's okay when we do it, not quite sure it works for them. What's so funny, you ask? That Cap'n Cayard and Team Disney Wallet have, at least temporarily, pulled out of the VOR while they effect repairs to a broken keel ram. Imagine that.

01/16/06

Oh Yeah....

That's why they come to Key West! Here the Irish TP 52 Patches likely can't believe their eyes - what, no fog, 50 degree air or water temp??? The action starts Monday.Thanks to Anarchist Wash for the shot.

01/16/06

"I Thought You Dry Sailed ....."

Not now they don't. A bummer of a story that is the Kiwi 35 In Theory getting whacked hard by the Open 60 Ocean Planet in a completly chaotic situation at Key West. Apparently it was blowing like snot - 25-30 with huge chop and that slammed all the boats into the wall over there.A bunch of boats were getting beat up good against the wall and the 60 slammed into the Kiwi. Sadly, the 35 went down at the Truman Annex docks as a result of all the trauma. Bruce Schwab tells the story in our forum. Major bummer.

This shot from an Anarchist in KW.

01/14/06

VOR Breaking News

You Gotta be Kidding.....

No sooner do we post today's movistar report from Bouwe Bekking, then we get this from the VOR site....

“movistar has reported a fault with the port-hand hydraulic ram - one of the two rams that operates the canting keel system. The crew and the rest of the boat are fine, and they are maintaining optimal speeds as they near the coast of Australia and close in on the leaders of Leg 2. They are considering a stop in South West Australia to make an assessment of the damage and a quick repair before rejoining the race to the finish in Melbourne.”

01/14/06

Uhhh..
"Hey I really like the prebend you've put in the rig."
"Uh, you do?"
"Sure - a beautiful curve."
"Yeah, but..."
"Yeah but what?"
"Uh, its bent the wrong way!"
"&$@)(^#@!!!!!"

Check out the thread in the forum.

01/13/06

VOR

Youth Movement Again

The "kids" on ABN AMRO 2 just set yet another 24 hr distance record of 563 NM! This toping their day before record of 558. A truly fantastic effort in boats that obviously love the big breeze. Oh yeah, the ABN boats are 1-2 on this leg...

01/12/06

Pocket Rocket

Not much doubt about the power of these little dudes! This from the 12 foot skiff Interdominions taking place in Auckland NZ this week. Btw, the skipper of this boat is Dave Andrews, 70 years old. Woo-hoo!

01/11/06

Rules Rules Rules

Here is the latest UK-Halsey rules quiz. Enjoy.

The Situation:
Two Lasers, Red and Blue are approaching the leeward end of the finish line on starboard tack. The leeward finish line flag is located on the starboard side of the committee boat about 10 feet forward of the corner of ther transom.

Old School

Here's a nice photo from the just completed Australian Flying Dutchman Nationals. Thanks to John Ford for the shot.

01/10/06

Really Old School

I think in our five years of existence, we've never put up a pic of an old timer like this, but we liked this shot taken by Da-Woody just inside Pt. Loma here in Dago this last weekend.

01/10/06

YD 101

Drawn Up

We are happy to announce Tim Kernan from Kernan Yacht Design as our official Yacht Design 101 architect. His first article, Rule Beating 101 was very popular and we look forward to a continued and successful relationship. This is a great opportunity for y'all to get a better prespective into the world of design, and if you have design topics you'd like adressed, send them to The Ed. See Tim's banner on this page and welcome!

01/10/06

Pushin'

If this was NASCAR, you'd say this one's pushin' a bit! Naw, just your everyday SA readers out for a 30.8 NM jaunt around the Puget Sound. Thanks to photographer Sean Trew who has joined our new Dinghy Forum as an associate sponsor. Welcome.

01/09/06

New Class and Sponsorships Announced

Given the new if not awkward dynamics that this 2006 VOR has developed, a brand new racing division has been created for the remainder of the race. Sponsored by The Maersk Sealand Line, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, the new class called the Shipping Division, will award points, trophies and prize money to the team which arrives first having "sailed" the most miles on the deck of a freighter. "We think this makes perfect sense," said Joel Stern, a Maersk spokesman. "Given that these boats are very likely to break again, and perhaps often, we saw a marketing opportunity. The boats need to get there one way or another, and no matter how nontraditional being shipped from port to port may be, somebody has to be first, and we're happy to be a part of the celebration. In fact being first in the shipping division will have a new and unique cache. The possibilities for this in other venues are endless."

The early leader in the newly formed class is movistar. "Paul Cayard would have the lead, but he chose to fly his boat out from leg one," said Holland. "We're glad to see Ericsson join the group, though we are somewhat disappointed by Brasil's refusal to take part. However it is a Farr design, so rather sadly we expect them, sooner or later, to join our fleet."

Frequent Flyer Miles Added
Also realizing a potential advertising opportunity, United Airlines has added a frequent flyer bonus miles program for those sailors who are flying from port to port instead of sailing. "Why not maximize the reality that these sailors need to arrive at their destination somehow if not onboard their sailing craft?" said Raymond Little, a UAL spokesman. "United is pleased to not only offer this service, but to also now be an integral part of the Volvo Ocean Race."

The above is a parody.

01/09/06

On the (not quite golden) Pond

Your faithful Editor went racing yesterday - sailing his IOM R/C boat at the Mission Bay Model Boat Pond. It had been the better part of a year since I last raced, and I nearly forgot just how much fun that is! There were nineteen of these little bastards racing, and to say that it is tough racing is to be very accurate. There is a premium on starts, speed and handling - sound familiar? - in these things and it is really hard to be consistent. My decent three top six finishes were in addition to a DFL and another bad race. Whatever - it is just fun to get out there and be competitive - even if it is in a model boat. I know there a few of you naysayers, but don't knock it till you've tried it. You won't believe how cool they are...

01/09/06

Big Boy

No matter how hard core we are, there is still something graceful and alluring about big comfy cruisers - boats that can take you anywhere in the world. Oh yeah, and you don't have to worry about the canting keel breaking either! This bruiser is Naos, a 106 ft. Ron Holland design sporting new sails made by our friends at Lidgard.

01/06/06

VOR

Mr. Fix It
The boys from Brasil are shown here just arriving back to SA after dropping out of leg 2 of the VOR. Our man on the spot fills us in:

Brasil 1 arrived in Port Elizabeth this evening with some pretty serious looking delamination on the starboard side of the deck. The affected area is visible just above the forward end of the white label on the boat’s side,

Here a sample core being drilled out of the deck shortly after they arrived. It sounds like they are going to try and repair the boat here and sail her to Melbourne. Ericsson is on her way and should arrive sometime tomorrow. She is being shipped out on Sunday.

01/06/05

New Build
Only a Window....
Sure its only a window, but why the hell would this be your choice? Why go through the effort of designing and building an otherwise kind of interesting new 40' (S-40) and then throw these standard-issue opening ports in the house? There are about a hundred ways to do windows that look attractive, but this ain't one of them. Check it out - it has kind of a cool interior and is pretty cheap!

01/06/05

Trippin'

Just a little fun at Cap'n Cayard's expense. Thanks to Ivo for the funny.

01/05/05

Sneak Peek
Oh, its coming, all right. Under build and about as dialed in a project as you'll find. And you can have one of your very own! Tune in tomorrow to find out more....

01/05/06

Breaking News

Two Down

In what is becoming a nightmare Volvo Ocean Race for some, Both Ericsson and Brasil 1 have dropped out of leg 2 of the VOR. Ericsson pulled up lame late last night with what we believe is a a keel ram piston rod that appears to have broken. They are heading back to South Africa with their keel locked in centerline. Then early this morning Brasil 1 also dropped out, suffering what appears to be a failure of the hull structure in the area of the cockpit. They too are heading back to SA.

A very bad situation to be sure. Since both damaged boats are Farr designs, this now means that all four Farr boats have suffered serious structural damage in less than two complete legs. Not good.

01/04/06

"Peel This!"

The topic has come up in our Seahorse sponsored VOR forum about the new VO 70's and their use of hanked on jibs in lieu of foils. Here are some great sequence shots of this rather antiquated but apparently necessary practice taking place on ABN AMRO 2. Thanks once again to Thierry Martinez for the superb photography.

01/04/06

VOR

Not Taking You Forward?

Uh-oh, we notice Ericsson has fallen into last place making a reported 4.7 knots of speed, and heading the wrong way, while the fleet motors along at 11+. We've heard nothing as of yet but this doesn't look good and exactly what this fleet did not need heading into a frighteneing part of the world. Anybody?

01/04/06

Move On

The VOR boys (minus one girl) take off on leg two from Cape Town to Melbourne. There was lots of contact between most of the fleet at the first mark rounding, all of it starting with Cap'n Cayard having the biggest balls up - they hooked their keel around the mark. Can you imagine how pissy he must have been?

It promises to get much more exciting later on in the Southern Ocean. Here movistar takes an early lead which they are so far maintaining. And here is what movistar looked like a few hours later once the breeze was on. Read skipper Bouwe Bekking's pre leg 2 thoughts below on this page.

Thanks to Thierry Martinez for the front page pic.

01/02/06

Caption Contest

Big Wieners
Here are the winners from our most recent contest, which is brought to you by The Sailing Pro Shop, who really have supplied some great prizes - too good for the likes of this crtowd. Thanks to all of you who played along. You winners get in touch with The Ed, and if any of you wish, send in good photos for the next one.

3rd Place- BigUnit - "Nah, it's not canting. No fucking wonder! The engine's not running!" Prize - 1 Dryshirt, 1 Dryguard.

2nd Place- Lumpywater - "Lacking a rigging knife to commit Sepuku, the jib trimmer realized that perhaps the only out from Team Pegasus would be drowning." Prize - 3 Dryshirts (2 long, 1 short).

1st Place- Ibecrewin - " I think were draggin' something. Wait.. It looks like.. uh.. Two big fat egos."
Kahn: "Did you say Eggos?" Prize Magic Marine wheelie bag.

01/03/06

Its Good to be King

And not so bad to be his queen! We're just kidding, Mark. Here is Wild Oats owner Bob Oatley and skipper Mark Richards with their Hobart Booty. We swear this is the last were going to post on this race. Really. At least until some juicy bit of gossip comes our way...Thanks to Steb Fisher Photography for the shot.

01/02/06

Sell Job

SOLD IT AGAIN! MELGES 24 #119 This is the third boat I have sold, plus various equipment, on the SA classifieds. This site rocks! Happy New Year!!!

David Scruggs

01/02/06