First Blood

The first US GP 26 goes sailing! Designed and built by Brooks Dees, it is E-glass/epoxy over H-80 Divinycell using male molds. A tidy looking little dude, it is designed for lighter conditions, so it looks a bit different from the other chined reaching machines. Gee, a new boat without chines - refreshing! It is a nice looking boat and seems to be going right along in this video. We hope it is quick - love to see some new blood in the sport.

05/13/08

The Cynic

Starr 40

A semi-regular new new feature at here SA is The Cynic, an anarchist who prefers to remain anonymous and who, so far, seems to find nothing good in the sport. Good times!

Did you "anarchists" go and don your overpriced matching crew gear as you read the results of the relatively recent Farr 40 Worlds on your favorite sailing websites? We're you fantasizing that it was you there amongst the glitterati, collar upturned, coke spoon in pocket, and Rolex watch gleaming, rubbing shoulders with the rock stars that you were paying to rub shoulder's with? Oh goody! Then this is for you.

Speaking of cyber sailing, I have noted, with some small joy, that this site didn't seem to spend many words covering the event. Perhaps your esteemed Editor was too busy with his Chinese Junk to care? Or maybe it was carefully calculated indifference to the event? Very clever, Mr. Editor, if that was the case, but sadly it wouldn't appear that such actions will enamor you with The Beautiful People.

Ah yes, the event. Most call them Farr 40's, I prefer to call them Starr 40's, A class so littered with highly paid jigs, support members, sailors, sail makers and Rock Stars as to be somewhat ridiculous. Make that completely ridiculous. Could these wealthy owners back out of the slip without writing a check first? The answer is of course irrelevant, as that is not the name of the game. The name of the game is money.

And the racing, while close at the sharp end of the carefully manicured fleet, how is it possible that the same two boats almost always win? The wealthy Eye-talian (who quite tragically for him, is the lesser rich of the other Eye-talian) and though he is a poor sister in the America's Cup to the wealthier Eye-talian, he routinely beats the wealthier Eye-talian in the Starr 40's. And the wealthy Anglo whose boat seems to bark in name only is the other continuos winner. Please add a highly suspect protest, jury and decion to guarnatee the win of the wealthy (but not the wealthiest Eye-talian) during said recent World Championship.

Shall we talk about the boat, the Starr 40? Slow, outdated, build issues, sketchy rules enforcement all add up to the perfect rich guy race boat. One that offers the wealthy plenty of opportunity to spend more than the other wealthy guy, while being guided around a race course by his pricey tactician. Ah, but all that money guarantees nothing! Paying the nanny to have one's hand held (gently, gently) around the race course often returns nothing other than the ego stroke. Witness the legendary Paul Cayard on Warpath. Much spent, little accomplished.

The goal is not to bury the Cayard's of the world, they are simply following the money. After all, do you believe that their version of a good week of racing is one spent holding the rattler in front of the baby's face, making silly faces and cooing "Goo goo ga ga", hoping that they won't cry? I am quite certain that you already know the answer. Hoever, now dangle check for $5,000 at the end of the week, and the only thing you'll hear from the Pros is what great racing it is.

No, the goal here is to call out the Starr 40, a class has been one of the largest purveyors of the type of whoredom which runs rampant in the class. But it is an institutionalized system that allows not just the Starr 40 class, but so many others that are run by money, egos, greed and Rolex watches. As your Editor might say, "Good Times."

05/13/08

Turtled

Last week we shared the story of the Viper 830 that ripped it's keel off after hitting something going around 18 knots. The crew made it off, but they left the boat. The next day they found it and here they go through the process of getting it, righting it, and then righted. Showing the power of our community, one of our anarchists who happens to have a Viper mast 9to replace the one that broke) reached out to the owner - very cool!

05/13/08

The Biz

License to ill

For Sale:
Complete set of Mumm 30 tooling. Deck liners all have parts moulded, just need to mould hull and deck. To be sold with all spares stock, details on request. Purchaser would need to negotiate a license agreement with Stagg Yachts!

05/13/08

Local Knowledge

Not A Problem

After taking second place in the St Petersburg, Florida to Isla de Mujere, Mexico in the Regatta Del Sol al Sol, “Tampa Girl” blew up the traveler at 12:00 am on the first night of the 500 mile delivery back. No worries, a few modifications to the continuous main sheet system and they were back in business.

This rig got them through the remaining 3 days of 15-25 knot winds and 8 to 10 foot waves and yes, it was four days of heavy beating and only put in a reef for a short time on the first day. They even sailed the Thursday night beer can race with the rig 2 days later! They said "In retrospect, a good recovery always brings a smile in what should have been anarchy. Which rules."

05/13/08

The Planet

Good News?

Given that virtually every piece of environmental news is bad, we were pretty surprised to see this one.

U.S. Coastal Waters Less Toxic Than 20 Years Ago

SILVER SPRING, Maryland, May 12, 2008 (ENS) - U.S. environmental laws enacted in the 1970s are reducing overall contaminant levels in coastal waters of the United States, finds a 20 year study released today by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA. But the study shows continuing elevated levels of toxic metals and oils near urban and industrial areas of the coast. Read the full story.

05/13/08

Boat of the Week

$6,867.00

Maybe we're too cynical, too bitter, too skeptical. Maybe we shouldn't make fun of clunkers like this - POS's that wouldn't make it across the harbor, let alone across the ocean. Maybe we're just crushing someone's $6,867.00 dream? Consider it crushed then. Thanks to Ken for the submission.

05/13/08

AGX

‘‘This afternoon at 9 minutes and 13 seconds past two o'clock, the log clicked onto 30,000. It read 30,041 when I sighted British land once more - an hour ago, in the pink tinged dusk I saw Unst, northernmost of the Shetland Islands some 20 miles west - my first sighting of UK territory from the deck since the Cornish coast faded behind me in the mist on a drizzly November morning in 2005."

On October 28th 2005, Adrian Flanagan set sail aboard his 38 ft stainless steel sloop Barrabas to attempt the first ever single-handed, vertical circumnavigation westwards via Cape Horn and the Russian Arctic. Inspired at the age of 15 by Sir Francis Chichester’s epic voyage in 1966/67 on Gipsy Moth IV, Adrian knew that the challenges ahead would test the limits of his endurance. He became only the 14th solo yachtsman to successfully double Cape Horn westwards against wind and current, recorded the first nonstop UK to Hawaii (18,000 nm) and is the only yachtsman to have ever sailed Russia’s Arctic Coast along the Northern Sea Route single-handed. Read it.

05/13/08

AC Breaking

It Begins....Now!

Justice Cahn has just ruled that the countdown to the date of the next America’s Cup starts today. According to our calendars, that would be march 2009. Gentlemen, start your, uh, lawyers! Read the ruling.

05/12/08

Transat Halted!

Claiming that "no potential terrorists will be allowed into the sovereign waters of the United States," the 2008 Transat has been halted by the US government. Utilizing the much ballyhooed Department of Homeland Security's new Small Vessel Security Strategy, a US frigate, the USS Donald Rumsfeld (pictured above) shockingly fired warning shots across the bows of the fleet after the sailors originally refused to stop. All boats and skippers have been halted, taken to port with boats impounded and sailors held for questioning, respectively. We are waiting further word to our incredibly bogus story. We're kidding...

Actually, the 2,800 mile Artemis Transat solo "sprint" race across the Atlantic, from Sutton Harbor Plymouth England to Rowes Wharf, Boston USA is underway and going well. Potentially a fascinating race, this one bears watching. And we'll be sure to let you know if the boats get "halted" again...

Photo by Benoit Stichelbaut.

05/12/08

AC

Back to the Future

Everything has been said about the need to change the America's Cup with one main goal in mind: To leave the 19th century and make it into the 21st century.

One solution being considered is to remove the organization of the event by the winning Yacht Club and entrust it to an independent organizer, for an event scheduled every two or three years. This vision would give greater visibility to the event, which in turn would make it more attractive to sponsors. The permanent staff employed full-time would allow the America's Cup to be conducted as a great professional sporting show.

Does the above remind us of the current trophy holder, Ernesto Bertarelli’s vision?? - Well, not really!

Doing some researches on the subject, it is interesting to note that Ernesto Bertarelli has not been the first to envisage modernizing the America's Cup. He was not the first to ask a city to pay a fee, nor the first to consider "selling" the event to the highest bidder. He was not even the first to place the America's Cup’s organization in the capable hands of an independent management company. In fact Ernesto Bertarelli has not invented anything.

From 1990 to today
In October 1990, the America’s Cup Organizing Committee Vice-president’s (ACOC), Tom Ehman, requested $10 million to San Diego for hosting the 1992 Americas Cup. Of these $10 million, $1.27 million was related to benefits in kind such as offices, rents and other free services, and the remaining $8.73 million were paid in cash. ACOC retained the responsibility of TV rights, media relations, on water event management, sales of derivatives and Licensing Protection. Its subsidiary - America's Cup Services - offered San Diego’s businesses the opportunity to get financially involved in the competition.

Unfortunately, the San Diego Business Journal reported some financial difficulties in August 1991: "The poor financial health of the America's Cup Organizing Committee is very worrying". The SDB Journal confirmed the financial strife in July 1992 with the following statement: "The ACOC 180’s creditors could receive between 13% and 38% of their debt under the plan discussed recently."

Modernizing the Cup
In December 1999 the Metropolitan San Diego began to talk about restructuring the America Cup, in order to "leave the 19th century and make it into the 21st". According to America's Cup International director’s Tom Ehman, it was proposed to "separate the event’s organization from the winning Yacht Club and entrust an entity to organizing the America’s Cup every two or three years. "

Formula One Style
On 11 March 2002, grandprix.com pointed out that Formula 1 and the America's Cup have much in common. Not only the technological side but also by applying some F1 marketing ideas into the sailing world. Tom Ehman, who in the past was in charge of McLaren West’s sponsorship, was running a company called "Travel and More." The entertainment company’s role was to book airline tickets, obtains the best hotels and transports personalities to the 'Paddock Club'. For the 2003 America's Cup in Auckland, Tom Ehman followed the same concept by replacing the "Paddock Club" by the "Base Club" with the focus on giving a great time to the ‘super’ VIPs.

Two years cycle
As recently as January 2007, Tom Ehman, now spokesman and special advisor for BMW Oracle U.S team, said in an interview his preference to stage the America's Cup every two years instead of four. "Most of the 12 teams competing this year strongly favor a two-year cycle. This would reduce costs and provide a source of regular income. You get more interest and more excitement using a shorter cycle. Furthermore, it is economically a far better deal.” However it was somewhat surprising to hear the same Tom Ehman recently saying: “All of us are just astonished by what is taking place here. We don't understand what was wrong with what was done last time”

Similarities between Bertarelli and Ehman
Like Tom Ehman’s vision at the time, Ernesto Bertarelli began modernizing the America's Cup with 13 Acts hosted between 2004 and 2007. He founded America's Cup Management, an independent company in charge of organizing and managing the event in a professional and commercial approach. He erected "The Foredeck Club" in Valencia, a huge building welcoming the super VIPs in great style. In late 2007, America's Cup Management distributed a profit of nearly €70 million to the 32nd America's Cup’s competitors.
In October 2007, Ernesto Bertarelli shared his America's Cup’s vision with the New York Yacht Club. The primary focus being to reduce costs, his plan was to shorten the cycle to two year, increasing the event’s marketability and profitability. Finally, he envisages the America’s Cup’s future as a Formula 1 entertainment style show.

Some of these changes, implemented for the 32nd America’s Cup, cannot be considered other than a huge success. It seems clear that studying the similarities between Tom Ehman’s projects and Ernesto Bertarelli’s realizations, the current legal battle is incomprehensible and the America's Cup’s aficionado are entitled to wonder: Why both sides are so opposed today?

Sebastien Destremau

05/12/08

Race Report

The French 400

Our friend Lyn Hines is back with a new report and pics. Enjoy.

The rest of Europe is enjoying nice weather except for bay in Brest, France, where the 400 sportboats put in their first day of rainy weather sailing, in a 1-2 knot current and 7-10 knots of wind.

This is the annual running of the French Naval College Grand Prix, the brainchild of Alain Daoulas, former Open 7.50 sailor and sail designer. This regatta is different in that it is based in a true military installation with naval officers, cadets, scuba divers and helicopters everywhere.

This year brings competitors from Spain, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France to sail on a bay with ever changing tidal streams and variable weather. There are two courses; one with J-80s (40), Open 7.50 (5) Melges 24, and 4 Longtze Premiers (a new sportboat class). The second race area includes the Mach, 747 One Design, and Open 5.70 with some 39 boats.

The race committee was happy to get in 4 races today, but the look on most crews faces was like: “this isn't what it said in the brochure.....” or “our skipper lied to us....”.

Being one of the biggest gatherings of European sportboats, the leeward mark roundings were a little noisy, but it might have had more to due to the weather, trying to make soaked spinnakers fly, strong current and being soaked.

05/12/08

We're Screwed!

California tax proposals target beer-loving, pornography-watching yacht owners

Truly, this is the headline we've all been dreading, and unlike above, we're not kidding!

SACRAMENTO -- As state leaders hunt for politically palatable solutions to the swelling budget shortfall, some Democrats are proposing unorthodox ways to generate cash. Strip clubs, six-packs, grocery bags and iTunes downloads are all in their sights as alternatives to broad income or sales tax hikes. So are gas guzzlers and yachts. Read the story.

05/12/08

Blackhawk Down

The SA community is vocal and not shy about voicing criticism, and if there has been one photographer who has been received a lot of it, it has been BoatPix. Often ragged on for (among other things) flying too low over race courses, this story must be then considered highly ironic.

Helicopter Lands In Lake Travis
A small helicopter made an emergency landing in the waters of Lake Travis Saturday afternoon. No one was hurt. The helicopter had inflatable landing gear that allows it to land on water. A small helicopter made an emergency landing in the waters of Lake Travis Saturday afternoon. No one was hurt. The helicopter had inflatable landing gear and was built to land in the water, but something went wrong, and it ended up capsized. It was quickly brought to shore by emergency personnel. The occupants were extricated from the craft, which landed off Hudson Bend near 15 Waterfront Avenue. Of course, there is an SA thread.....

05/12/08

Team Speed

10 Boats left the protected waters of Key Largo's Blacwater Sound to kick off the first leg of the 2008 Tybee 500. Amongst those that that started were the duo of Trey Brown and Alan Stewart sailing as Team Velocity. Encountering moderate southwesterly breeze, the teams navigated the 70 mile leg and finished shortly after 3:00PM in third place hot on the heels of both Team Tybee and Marley's Orange and followed closely by Team Seacats and Team Cat Fever. Team Velocity overcame a broken tack line and a pitchpole to climb to the top of the fleet. The racing was tight due to the shutdown of the breeze that allowed some of the teams that had capsized earlier in the race to catch up.

This year's Tybee 500 is very talent laden and includes several Tybee and Worrell 1000 veterans. In this fleet where mere seconds separate the teams, any advantage is needed over the competition. Anything to aid in the comfort of the sailors is vital. Comfort equals endurance, and endurance equals increased concentration and less fatigue on the water. Team Velocity is kept in comfort with support from DryUV's line of excellent gear. The sailors wear a ProWick wicking layer under their lifejackets, and then covered by KoreDry rash guards.

For Team Velocity information, please visit their website at www.velocitysailing.com and thanks to Amy Turns for the photo.

08/12/08

Transats
The AG2R Figaro is drawing to an end, the Artemis Transat has just started. Does anyone care? The Figaro thing had the potential, since it’s pretty much sailors’ decisions that decide the result but, as the niity gritty was delivered in French it was a big yawn for us English speakers. The Artemis, being English run, has more potential for following it, but with many Vendee people out for boat trouble reasons it too has limited excitement potential. You can follow it on SA Sailing News. Pix here.

Setting out from Yokohama last Thursday at 5h55’45’’ UT, Gitana 13 is set to make the Chinese port of Dalian over the course of this Sunday. Lionel Lemonchois and his seven crew, who were positioned 125 miles from their goal at 1645 UT, will in this way establish a new reference time between Yokohama and Dalian, by covering 1,215 miles of the theoretical course in less than 4 days.

Match Race Germany
If match racing can’t hold your attention for the whole day, the entertainment on the shores of Lake Constance certainly could. The live band started in the big tent at lunchtime, and spectators enjoyed them well into the night. With over 15,000 people soaking up the atmosphere and sun in Langenargen, it was hard to tell who was actually there to watch the racing and who just wanted to enjoy the party on the shore. More about the racing here.

05/12/08

Big Pimpin'

Rock It

Our newest advertiser, RockBox, make something called the Advanced Mobile Performance Box. We're not smart enough to figure these things out, so here's what they have to say about it, and be sure to read all the way to the bottom for an anarchist deal.

First of all, the RockBox AMPD was designed by serious racers for serious racers. We’ve all been racing our entire lives and put the features in it that we use to win races! We might be a little biased, but with its graphic screen, remote control, and graphical user interface it’s the most advanced portable system available. Our goal is to build the best product, not cheapest.

A few of the features that set the RockBox AMPD apart from others are:

* Largest screen and digit size available
* Wireless remote control (control it from the rail or the helm!)
* Graphical user interface
* Our graphic LCD allows display of high resolution graphs
* Backlight for night or low light racing
* It easy to use!

The RockBox AMPD also has the largest number of function available, even some that you can’t get in a permanently installed system. The RockBox AMPD functions are:

· Big Digits
o Speed, VMG, and Heading shown with change indicating arrows

· DoubleVision
o Two functions shown at the same time, speed, VMG, and heading

· Graphs
o See speed, VMG, or heading on the top of the screen with a scrolling graph on the bottom showing either speed, VMG, or heading.

Plus· Count down timer, Starting line distance, Data logging. Setup menus to change preferences while in use.

Other notable features of the RockBox AMPD are that it has adjustable damping, magnetic variance setting to show degrees magnetic, data transfer and firmware upgrading PC software, and over 24 hours battery life on regular AA batteries.

Also, we’re already working on new functions. Everyone will be able to easily load these new functions into their RockBox AMPD as we release them.

Until June 1st, or we run out of inventory, we’d like to offer a discount to the SA community. Enter the coupon code SArocks during checkout at our online store and get $50 off the regular price!

05/12/08

Ain't Superstitious...

..but a black cat just crossed my path. The Monster cat sails. Thanks to George Bekris for the shot. Anarchists are talking about it in the forum...

05/11/08

Race Results

The Hunter and the Hunted

Ben Ainlslie won the European Finn Championship in Scarlino Maremma today, dominating in the medal race. He made up the 8 points that separated him from French Guillaume Florent who finished the race in 8th position, due to the aggressive hunting of the British champion in the prestart. Great photography by James Robinson Taylor

Ben Ainslie talked about the start of the race: “The wind came in very quickly and so did the start. From the get go my plan was to give Guillaume (Florent) a hard time in the pre-start as I needed to get a few points on him. We had a few incidences where I was on starboard and he on port, but the Jury decided to give me a penalty anyhow. At the end it worked out fine because it distracted him and I was able to start in the middle of the line with good speed.” Ainsle then spoke about the week in Maremma stating: “On the whole it was a great week, but with very shifty and changing conditions. It was good training for what the situation in Qingdao will be like.”

1 Ben Ainslie (GBR)
2 Ivan Gaspic (CRO)
3 Guillaume Florent (FRA)

05/1/08

Aye Candy

The BT Team Ellen fleet before The Transat start on Sunday 11 May. Team Ellen have 3 different boats. BT Open 60’ with Seb Josse –FRA (The Transat and Vendee Globe) , Xtreme 40’ with Nick Moloney-AUS (I Share cup) and BT F18’ with Ellen MacArthur-GBR (Archipelago Raid). Seb Josse will take part of The Transat (Plymouth-UK to Boston-USA) on Sunday. Words and pics thanks to Thierry Martinez.

05/10/08

Ten Hut!

The Judel/Vrolijk-designed Transpac 52 Platoon as it leaves Goetz for the Med. The project is "powered" by Team Germany, the country’s America’s Cup team. They have some g ood sponsors and we like the paint scheme. Thanks to Goetz Custom Boats (sponsor of our Ocean Racing Anarchy forum) for the shots.

05/10/08

E Ticket

The Esse 850's looking good at their Swiss Open Championships. According our friend Dave, "The guys had fun, winds from 10 to 17 knots throughout the whole four days, great racing, though obviously the level in the 20 boat fleet has nothing to do with classes such as Melges24 or the like...but nevertheless quite nice..." Here's the photo album.

05/09/08

AC

Another Win

From the GGYC PR machine:

The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) said today it is pleased the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court has today rejected a further effort by the defender to stay proceedings pending its upcoming appeal.

Last month, the defender unsuccessfully sought an interim stay, when it lodged an appeal against Justice Cahn's order declaring GGYC the Challenger of Record. A full panel of four justices of the Appellate court today again rejected this bid and confirmed the earlier court decision of Justice Andrias on April 15.

“We are very pleased with this outcome. Two courts have now both firmly rejected new SNG (Société Nautique de Genève)/Alinghi efforts to create more delay. We continue to expect to race in October 2008,” Tom Ehman GGYC’s spokesman said.

“We have renewed confidence that this match will not be delayed by SNG/Alinghi's appellate litigation and look forward to going racing.”
The appellate court also ordered that GGYC’s arguments to dismiss the appeal can be addressed by GGYC in its main appellate brief. That means the merits of GGYC’s motion to dismiss will be heard by the court on June 5th.

05/09/08

Post of the Week

Motivated

Nothing is more annoying than those motivational posters that grace the office walls of the stupid and the ignorant. They are so annoying, in fact, that there's now an entire business in satirizing them - the demotivational poster. Thanks to CJV, we now have a depository of sailing-specific and hilarious posters. Stop by the thread to check out the laughs, or to add your own. This is our favorite so far, thanks to Maine Mumm bowman Suider.

05/09/08

SA Feature

SA Tube

We have partnered up with Magnify a "community video platform" company to put together a video page for you anarchists (there is also a Video button in the main toolbar on this page). Hopefully this page will enable you to have a single place to view, gather, upload, and download videos. This is our first stab at this, and we'd like make sure that it works well. Magnify is happy to work with the community so be sure to let us know what you like and don't like. Thanks. Oh and yes there are advertising opportunities on the video page!

05/09/08

On Point

Letter to the IOC:

Jaques Rogge, President
International Olympic Committee
Château de Vidy
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland

Cc: Members of the International Olympic Committee
ISAF Council Members

7th May 2008

A PETITION CONCERNING THE 2012 SAILING REGATTA

Dear Mr. Rogge

We ask that IOC intervene to ensure that the 2012 Olympic Sailing Regatta include a Multihull Event so that it genuinely presents “the wide range and diversity of sailing” as claimed by ISAF’s President, Goran Petersson.

Multihulls represent a large branch of the sport, accounting for between a tenth and a third of global participation depending on the basis of calculation and have been part of the Regatta continuously since 1976.

However the Commission now requires that the Regatta be reduced from 11 to 10 Events. Last November ISAF chose to do this by eliminating the only Multihull Event, rather than any of the two Keelboat, two Windsurf or six Dinghy Events.

As explained in our Report, it appears that ISAF did so because multihulls are politically weakest, not least representative, least telegenic or least suitable for the Olympics. In the view of your former colleague and previous ISAF President, Paul Henderson, “The most interesting observation is to see how many MNA's are now saying that their delegates were instructed to vote in the best interest of their specific country winning medals - not in the best interest of our beloved sport. Surprise! Surprise! Holier than thou pontifications are quite hollow methinks.” Read on.

05/09/10

Sailor Chicks of the Week

This was our third year running the Mug Race in Bob’s F24 Mk1 “Wet Monkey”. We got soundly trounced the first year, and have won the last two now - that is first in Class as our lowly Tri can not compete with the big RC30 nor even the RC27’s. But winning overall all isn’t what this race is about. At least it wasn’t for about 160 boats this year. For some, it is about the challenges and rewards by doing a long distance race like this. For most....yeah, it’s the party!

This year, I also had a boat in the race, but I was not on it. Our SR25 “Ruckus” (Ex Putz for any of you who cares) was fielded with an all woman crew as a prelim for the coming WOW (Women On the Water) series. If you don’t begin knowing a boat after the long 8 plus hours of this race, you never will!

The racing course is split about in two by the Shands bridge with only 44 ish feet clearance so some years ago they split the race into two courses. The original South Course that starts in Palatka and the North Course for the “tall ships” that starts by the Buchman Bridge (Orange Park) and travels basically to the Shands bridge and back. Both courses are the exact same length at 38.6 miles, but are scored separately.

This years version brought what most considered unusual winds. The forecast was for 4 to 5 at the start, building to 7 to 8 for most of the day and then ending with about 10 plus in the late afternoon. All from the S SE. They were mostly right, except for the lack of any wind mid afternoon for many, but not all of us, that came back as the sea breeze from the NW. The race is really more of a pursuit with it’s reverse handicap start. The first boat started at 7:30 AM and boats continued across the start line until the last and the fastest at 10:30 AM. This year, all found some wind at the start. The girls on Ruckus started just 4 minutes ahead of us and, like most, they went for a safe boat end start. We opted for the pin end and were rewarded with more wind.

Rather than do a blow by blow, lets just say that it sure seemed like most everyone was having fun. The boats ranged from a sailing canoe, a windsurfer, a lee boarded heavy cruiser, every 21 to 28 foot sloop you can think of, Hobies galore, A Cats, Flying Scots, a few tri’s and the bigger RC cats. And even more cats, small monos; pretty much anything that has a sail is welcome.

As far as we are concerned, this was the best of our three mug races. Our goal was to win class and to beat all the monos over the line. Win class we did, the latter we did not., but we did have fun sparing with a few boats. At one time, we had a Tripp 26, Wyle Wabbit, Etchells and several other monos keeping pace with us. The Tripp 26 was well sailed, though not without it’s problems. A spinnaker on the loose requiring a trip up the mast, and a grounding or two. Wet Monkey was a touch faster most of the time, but covering more ground. The Tripp would gain, then lose depending on the wind. They finally managed to avoid a big hole we found for ourselves and we couldn’t quite catch them before the finish. The hole was actually the change of the wind as when the sea breeze kicked in, the direction was N NE.

The RC30 Dream On, which won, had passed us like we were standing still long before the Shands bridge, which means they must have appeared to be in Warp Speed to the monos around us. The RC27’s passed us in the same spot on the River they do every year. Our biggest concern was our larger sister, the F28R that we knew was coming up on us. They started 30 odd minutes behind and were actually still 5 ½ minutes behind us at the end. Unusual for the Mug race, several well sailed monos beat a bunch of the multi’s in.

As mentioned earlier, the Tripp 26 did very well and won it’s class (PHRF Spin A) they were followed by a S2 7.9, a Cal 9.2 and the Etchells. First mono hull over the line, however, was a Hunter 21.6. A boat sailed by “rock stars”, Don Stagg and Steve Pettengill to be precise. An interesting note is that by the only mark to be rounded for the entire race, there were several crab pots just waiting to attack. And attack they obviously did. By the time we rounded only one crab pot was left. And yes, we managed to miss it!

The couple of Rudder Club women on a Hobie 18 were the fastest women on the course, followed by their daughters on a Hobie 16. Oh, and the intrepid crew of Ruckus? They learned a lot. Like, do not let loose the spin halyard as deciding who goes up the mast takes some time as does actually retrieving the halyard. Asymmetricals really do not like DDW, IE, learn the angles. Gibing the Assy takes teamwork, and yes, it is easier when you have wind! It is fun passing lots of other boats. Ruckus can be very fast, but man, does she demand your respect! The backstay must be used and playing that traveler is hard work. To be honest, while the crew was disappointed by their result - 5th in the 5 boat Spin A class - I think they did great. It was really only the fourth time any of them sailed the boat. It was the first time all of them were on the boat together as a crew, one crew member (foredeck) was sick so they had “new” jobs, and they did it on what is actually a difficult b oat to learn, especially coming from larger, heavy displacement keel boats. If you look at their overall finish, they certainly have nothing to be embarrassed about. And, unfortunately, they learned that even if they did not have the right of way, but wanted it, all they had to do was bat their eyes, shrug and the “offending” boat moved out of their way. PHRF racers every where, look out! At least this technique won’t work on the WOW series!

So, that’s the Mug Race from our view. It is challenging as it throws pretty much every condition you can think of at you in the course of 38.6 miles. Patience and concentration is rewarded. Just want to have a good time, hey, that works too as anyone who finishes is a winner and the party will go on no matter what. The Rudder Club does a great job organizing and running what is really a complex event. The parties are great, the food hot and tasty and the beer has never run out. What more can you ask for! The results can be found at www.rudderclub.com as well as more pictures.

05/09/08

The Monster

Il Mostro, that's the name on the back of the Goetz built VOR 70 Puma, which gets officially launched this Monday in Boston. Laurie Fullerton will be covering the event for us, and thanks to anarchist mstrsail for the shot.

05/09/08

Big Pimpin'

Change is Good

Spring is a time of change, so we thought a change was in order. With increasing traffic to our website, due in large part to our SA advertising, DIMENSION-POLYANT recognized the need to upgrade our website to better provide information to you, the sailor. We've completely updated our website to fully integrate product information with applications so sailors can see exactly what they're getting when they order DIMENSION-POLYANT fabrics. Our entire product line is laid out with printable PDF's for both the sailor and sailmaker to study and save. Our newsletter, DP Forum, is also available in printable form to follow the progress of DIMENSION-POLYANT as a whole, including our industrial, surf and outdoor divisions, as well as getting insight into how the company runs.

Keep an eye on the site, over the next few months we'll have more information on our newest membrane string sail developments as we demo test sails built in our new pilot plant in Putnam, CT. Our newest laminate product will offer a new direction for any sailmaker to provide state of the art membranes to the sailing public.

05/09/08

Low Rider

Ben Ainslie showing some of his winning form during the 2008 Finn European Championships, where he is now first overall after bullets in race 5 and 6. Thanks to James Robinson Taylor for the shot.
UPDATE: The tables turn at the European Finn Championship.The result of the protest between the leader of the provisional scoreboard Ben Ainslie and Canadian Christopher Cook saw both sailors disqualified. The protest concerned two incidences in the pre-start phase of race 7. Ben Ainslie was disqualified when he established an overlap too close to allow Cook to respond. In a second incident the Canadian failed to keep clear of Ainslie who was to leeward. In a separate protest between SLO Gaspar Vincec and USA Zach Railey, the Slovenian was disqualified for an incident at the first mark. After 7 races French Guillaume Florent leads by 20 points followed by Ainslie at 32 and Cook at 34. Race 8 will get underway tomorrow and the Medal Race is scheduled for Saturday (double points).

05/08/08

Insight

We received this from one of our most active anarchists, and it is a revealing and very thorough report on the ISAF decision to eliminate the multihull class from the 2012 Olympics, put together by United Kingdom Catamaran Racing Association late last year.

ISAF Council Selection of Olympic Events 2012

Executive Summary

Intense controversy has been caused by the November 13 2007 decision at ISAF Council in Estoril to exclude any Multihull Class from the 2012 Olympics.
This report provides supporting evidence to a petition signed by 5600 people including former ISAF Sailors of the Year and Olympic Medallists requesting that the IOC include multihulls (www.ipetitions.com/petition/multihullinolympics/index.html).
It has been prepared to assist ISAF Councillors and members of the public in understanding better how such a widely unpopular decision could have been made and present facts that the authors hope will be taken into consideration for a re-examination of that decision. Read on.

05/08/08

Channel Island

Rocket Man
That's Bora Gulari, long time loyal Anarchist, former top-ranked US 49er crew, top Melges 24 skipper, and now only the second International Moth sailor in the entire world who's mastered foiling tacks on a consistent basis (guess who was the first). This session took place yesterday in 5-8 knots of breeze on the Detroit River.

Other Mothies looking for a top spot at what should be a carnival of an event at Worlds in Weymouth this July will be scared to see how far Bora has come, but anyone who starts training on the water only two days after the ice melts deserves to kick some ass! Bora is the USA's best hope for a good showing in the Moth class, which is one of our favorites. The USA team will also include George "Bear" Peet (ABN AMRO 2, RAMBLER), and Pete Becker (SA'er BECKS).

Bora still needs some help getting to England, so if you're interested in sponsoring SA's top hope, let us know. For more about Bora's Moth campaign, check out wetandreckless.blogspot.com.

05/08/08

Olympics

Sign Us Up!

We are very sorry that we doubted the Chinese and their hosting of the 2008 Olympics. With this latest piece of information, we can now clearly see that they have this event very together and most clearly have put the proper amount of emphasis on the right things to make these Olympics perhaps the greatest ever. This based on nothing other than this headline. Now, if only we were participating....

05/08/08

The End is Near

As most of you know, we like to monitor the power boat world, specifically the mega yacht end of things. A bizarre, gross, elite and fairly disturbing commentary on the consumptive abuse perpetrated by a segment of society that should be embarrassed by their behavior. This however takes it to a whole new level.

Ever heard of Shadow Yachts? No, well maybe you're better off if you never have and never will, but nonetheless, you simply have to get a load of this.....

05/08/08

The Biz

Gotta Be The Shoes...Maybe Not

Puma has obviously made a pretty substantial effort to get into the sailing game via their clothing line and their VOR sponsorship, yet it isn't paying off, at least not yet:

Puma’s worldwide branded sales, which include consolidated and license sales, rose currency neutral 0.5% for the first quarter. In reporting terms, branded sales reached € 741.2 million ($1.11 bn) versus € 762.1 million ($998.7 mm). Footwear sales were down by 4.6% to € 404.1 million ($605.2 mm). In the U.S. market, sales were down 14.2% to $ 134.1 million ($145.8 mm), affected by the continued moderate environment in the mall-based business. Orders for U.S. end-of-quarter declined 20.8%...

05/08/08

Ed, You Idiot

Yesterday we ran this picture with the caption, "Uh, I Don't Think So", and adding, why not just hire a diver? According to one of the crew members, here's why not:

Because a diver in this circumstance wouldn't be able to do what we had to do, and the only way to do this job in Antigua was on the way it was done. Keep your stupid comments for yourself. And what was the job, we asked?

Open Gori propeller in pieces, including opening the locking screws with heads that were destroyed by diver who tried to open it 2 days before. By the way - you can't release Gori locktite underwater, you need to heat it up first. Renting the diver for this job is the most stupid way to make it more difficult to open after lifting up from the water which is the only way. Don't judge book by it's cover.

But we like to judge books by their cover and we still wouldn't be under the boat like that.

05/08/08

Rubber Match

The Quebramar GP42 Cup gets their 2008 season underway at the Trofeo Pirelli, with 8 boats sailing and won by Desafío, the Spanish GP42 team - (the green boat). Max Ranchi sent this nice shot in for y'all.

05/07/08

Another Fish Story

The Wednesday night beercan race prior to Ensenada race in Marina Del Rey was gusting in the upper 20's. We rounded the windward mark and on the downwind leg launched the spin. All 5 of the crew were on the stern. We were comfortably surfing in the 18's came down on a wave it felt like we hit a sunfish or something and the keel started cavitating. Then all of a sudden we heard a big crashing sound and then everything was surreal and silent. The boat actually accelerated and stayed upright for a moment. One of the crew yelled that the keel broke off and we slowly started to roll over. It was pretty uneventful. One of the other Viper's came to get us and we were up on his boat in seconds - no one was hurt. I went to get the boat the next day, it was floating upside down with all the sails up.

I thought it would have washed up on shore but it only drifted about a mile south towards El Segundo. The rig had broken where the vang attaches. I was able to free the rig and a friend towed it back in while vessel assist helped me roll the boat back over and brought us back to the the launch ramp. I pumped the water from the boat and put it back on the trailer. Thanks to Mike George and friends for launching his RIB and helping out.

Chris Slagerman
Black Magic Viper 830

05/07/08

Changing Partners

Ger O' Rourke and his team (including a few Anarchists) have had great results with their Cookson 50 "Chieftain." The boat has changed hands, and now sites in Dun Laoghire, near Dublin, in her new livery. After buying a boat that was advertised for $850,000, you'd think that new owner Adrian Lee might've spent a bit more time and money on the new graphics for "Lee Overlap Partners," which couldn't possibly look any more plain. Regardless, we wish Lee and crew luck with their new, cool ride.

Even hotter off the rumor mill is that former O' Rourke may have moved up in a big way - to the former ABN AMRO 1. A lot of boat for the Chieftain crew, but they've got the skills to beat some ass in and around the Irish Sea.

05/07/08

Uh, I Don't Think So...

We don't know about you, but we wouldn't be in that raft! No way...Why not just hire a diver? Anarchist Kate sent this shot from Antigua Race Week.

05/07/08

Sailor of the Month

Our buds at Seahorse demand your participation in their Sailor of the Month contest. Anarchists always come up with the best candidates, So give it some thought and jump in and give us your vote. Thanks y'all!

05/07/08

69 Rules

The brand new New England Boatworks built - Custom IRC R/P 69 - Bella Mente, owned by Hap Fauth from Newport, RI. This beauty was launched Saturday and her first sail was today (5-5-08) and the first race is Block Island Race-May 23. Looks like some competition for Numbers... Thanks to Bob Sharkey from NEB for the shot.

05/06/08

Pongwacket

So who would be the one guy on the planet to buy a boat that virtually no one else would? Hint: he already owns one white elephant. And he just bought another.

Yep, that would be Frank Pong, owner of the 115' Juan K designed nightmare Maiden Hong Kong, and now the proud owner of the very bastardized (Juan K strikes again!) 90' plus Pyewacket. One look at Pyewacket says freak show - a boat that is now so odd looking - huge ugly wings, insanely tall rig, insanely deep keel and very fragile looking, that we're not sure what one would do with it. It will be interesting to see what Pong chooses to do. Maybe he can use it for parts for the Maiden...

05/06/08

Race Report

King Con

Gavin Brady (who we hope to have write for us on occasion) gives the tale of the tape as he wins his fourth Congressional Cup!

The Congressional cup is like running a marathon and then finishes with the 100 meter hurdles event. You first race two rounds which consist of 18 races over four days and then the semi finals and finals are the first team to win two races which are over in a little over one hour. By winning the rounds we were given the opportunity to pick who we would race and pick which side we could enter from. Picking the end was the easy one but who to race is never a nice choice. We picked Scott Dickson because Johnie Berntsson was sailing very fast and won all his races the last day of the rounds and Philippe Presti had just slipped into the top four and was looking dangerous with his second life in the event.

As always the semi finals with Scott was very close with lead changes and close boat on boat action. Scott and his team had being gearing up for this years event and it showed with his crew work and boat speed. It seemed like Scott was a bit faster upwind and we had speed on them downwind so this kept the boats close. We were able to close the deal with two wins and Johnie also won his semi final against Philippe with two wins. Going into the first race of the finals the call on our boat was to lead in and take the left. This sounds simple but we started to get the feeling that Johnie had the same plan and both boats ended up early at the pin end with Johnie rolling us with 20 seconds to go. Our only option was to push hard and the umpires penalized Johnie and his team for not keeping clear of us. Because this happened just before the start gun and had they had kept clear they would have been over the start line early the umpires gave them two penalties. This gave us the chance to jump out to an early lead and win the race.

The second race was in more wind and we found ourselves in a long dial up and running out of time to get free. With only 40 seconds to go before the start Johnie gave us just enough room to swing out bow inside them and get free to the right. I think we missed them by about 2 inches in the end. The boats never got more than two boat lengths apart which meant we had to defend hard on the runs with reach to reach gybes and close lee bow tacks upwind and held the lead to win this year's event. We represented the Moneypenny sailing team this year and sailed with members of the program that will sail on Jims Swartz new STP65. In fact Jim sailed with us in this year's event which was his first match racing event so maybe we will see a match racing event in the 65's in the future! Also sailing this year was Chris Larson, Rodney Daniel, John Ziskind and Sofuku Kazuhiko.

05/06/08

Good Numbers

13 IMOCA 60's and 11 Class40 boats competing in The Artemis Transat 2008
are now all berthed at Sutton Harbour, Plymouth. Should be a great race. Photo onEdition.

05/06/08

AC

BMW/VPLP

French ship designers Van Petegem Loriot Prevost are working with Oracle to design a new multihull boat for the US syndicate's America's Cup duel with Swiss champions Alinghi, Oracle said Monday.

"The French multihull community in general are leaders in these yachts and we are benefiting greatly," Oracle design coordinator Mike Drummond said in a statement, adding the French firm has designed yachts that break speed records. Read the story.

05/06/08

Big Pimpin'

Finally Here

We have waited patiently for these guys to arrive at SA, and today they have. We are quite happy to have Ullman Sails onboard with us as our most recent advertisers. Their product is good, they are active in nearly every class, and hell, even Ed bought some for his Ranger 29 a few years ago! Here's some info they'd like you to know:

Ullman Sails has launched a brand new website at www.ullmansails.com. The new design boasts clean graphics; homepage imagery from Ultimate Sailing's Sharon Green; and up-to-date comprehensive information on all Ullman Sails products and services. The group's 22 international sail lofts collaborated on the project, providing updated tuning guides and articles written by top designers and experienced sailmakers. A few highlights:

Loft Locator: A main link off the homepage - it's simple to find the location, contact details and website for the closest loft.
News and Headlines: Running your cursor over the blue icons on the homepage will link you straight to the most recent Ullman Sails headlines.
One Design Section: Each page is written and updated by the Ullman Sails expert in the class.
FiberPath: An easy, informative breakdown on the Ullman Sails string sail technology, how it works and how it compares.

For over 35 years, Ullman Sails has been devoted to helping our customers reach their sailing goals. The group is proudly unique, bringing together individual sail lofts from all over the world that specialize in serving their local markets. With a rich combination of skilled designers and master sailmakers, we together to ensure every Ullman Sails customer benefits from our international collaboration.

Ullman Sails was founded in 1968 by David Ullman, one of the world's greatest competitive sailors. A three-time World Champion in the 470 and the current Melges 24 World Champion, Dave is still an integral part of the Ullman Sails group. Serving as President of Ullman Sails International, he also directs the Ullman design team - a select group of sailors with equally impressive credentials, extensive experience, and sailmaking expertise. And all of them are accessible. Contact a local loft and see for yourself. In addition to a local sales rep, you could also be talking to the current three-time J/24 European Champion; an Olympic silver medalist in the Tornado class in 2004; or a seasoned offshore sailor who has competed in more Sydney to Hobart Races than you can count on two hands. Check it all out at www.ullmansails.com

05/06/08

Bad News

We sometimes look around for news in our sport, but man did today have a bunch of bummers...

Four pulled from Richardson Bay after sailboat sinks
An elderly couple killed in a horrific boat explosion
Mass evacuation from Baltic ship
Boat sinks as rescue goes awry
Seventeen killed in Brazil boat accident