catbird seat

I had a hell of a seat yesterday for the VOR’s PortMiami In-Port Race, and as someone lucky enough to have been aboard Camper for the Alicante In-Port, I have to say that a spot on one of the three Umpire boats is even better than a spot on the raceboat.  The race itself was one of the most exciting I’ve seen in a long time, with a mix of just about everything.  Breeze on at the start faded to a light 8 knots by the finish, three different leaders and tons of position changes, penalties and just about every sail combo possible, and a photo finish that let the hometown boat get on the podium - by less than a boatlength.

To start with, a shout out to the locals here in Miami:  The VOR Village was still somewhat deserted, though at least there was some life before the rain hit in the afternoon.  Hotties in bikinis playing beach volleyball on a pile of sand brought in by organizers, free drinks, the Miami Heat cheerleaders – these last-second fixes all helped bring in (by an estimate I am completely pulling out of my ass) maybe 10 to 12,000 people throughout the day.  We’re talking a tiny fraction of any other stopover, but at least a few folks showed up.  And don’t forget that the VOR grabbed a regional cable network – Fox Sports Net – for the home audience that doesn’t know how to work computers.  Not an insignificant audience there.

More impressive was the spectator fleet, even with an ugly start to the morning.  I counted around 185 spectator boats, and these were not the alloy motor dinghies and little skiffs you see at so many other spots.  We’re talking dozens of big motoryachts and fishing boats as well as a decent pool of sailboats, including a few beach cats and even a Laser.  So if you read our exhortation the other day and showed up – thanks from us and from the VOR.  Make sure you come on Sunday as well, it’s definitely bikini weather…

We watched the presumably local team, with more Florida racing experience aboard PUMA (from back in the SORC and big one-design days) inexplicably go for the pin end start despite everyone knowing that a Southeasterly in South Florida means to get to the beach.  There was as much as three knots of currents to the East, while the shore got good shifts and current relief.  Ian Walker knew it, Groupama knew it, and Camper knew it even better. In fact, Camper would have led around the top mark had they not left their J2 jib on the dock…

Groupama sailed smart and conservatively, though Walker and ADOR was by far the crispest boat in the fleet.  The French pulled ahead on every leg until Walker jumped on the peel to the masthead zero a leg faster than anyone else, letting him tear across the short reach and then on the final upwind to pass Groupama for the win.

Despite a bad start and a horrible first leg, Puma clawed back bit by bit, inching up to 3rd place Camper with better shift calls on the final beat.  Puma was still behind when both Groupama and ADOR got on their air near the shortened finish, and Kenny went right while Camper got locked in just below the bulk of the spectator fleet.  Read came charging back in on starboard, and when Camper tacked just a boatlength from the finish, Read was rumbling.  He put the bow down, sailed through the stopped Kiwi boat’s lee, and took the final podium spot by half a boatlength.  Fascinating stuff indeed.

Sanderson and Team Sanya took fifth despite not having a masthead zero, but only because Iker and Xabi screwed up yet another in-port race – their 3rd unforced error leading to a DFL of the year.  This time, they forgot about the big N’ly flowing current at the reach-to-reach mark, and you could see Iker’s face go white as the mark rubbed along their starboard rail.  A 3rd place turned into a last place in seconds, and the leaderboard for the overall race has finally turned into a truly exciting thing.

Be sure to watch the Leg 7 start on the player above.  I’ll be calling the game aboard a Volvo executive VIP boat, and I’m looking for a hot young assistant…catch me in the race village on Sunday morning if you qualify…

05/20/12

atlantic cup onboard

beach boys

Dragon's East Coast Beach Tour

Yesterday the Jersey Shore, today the Hampton. The glamorous lifestyle of the Class 40. 

We had a decent start (4th off the line) in 9 knots of wind and at a near dead run with 3+ knots of current draining out of New York harbor. We blazed out, gybing cleanly maybe 10 times before reaching the Verrazano in first place. Chris kept his standing promise to his daughter and screamed for the echo off the bottom of the span. 10 minutes later, on the right side of the course, I screamed when the wind died and the fleet compressed into us , and in 4 cases past us by a bit.  The breeze filled in after about 5 minutes from left to right and in a near 180 degree shift. Down came kite, out went the solent and off we went. 

Conditions kept any one in the fleet from pulling the Poucher / Fetsch sneak out the south channel and we all went down the main channel. Solents were swapped out for Code 0's in light air of 5 to 9 knots. 

We laid exactly one tack on port and headed south. In took us to the beach around Asbury Park (where we could hear the concert from the boat) and the we got lifted right on to the mark. We also kept the code up the entire way until we were lifted enough 15 miles out from Barnegate to put up the code 5. One board, all the way. 

The rest of the fleet tacked multiple times and switched code to solent to code to spin to code. They also chased to lift down to the east, a crucial problem that left them with a slower angle when closing to the rounding mark. 

Halvard and Miranda sailed a near perfect leg and earned their top rank at the mark. We parlayed our inside position into rounding in second, with a pack of 10 boats converging like angry dogs. 

After rounding, it has been all up hill under the solent, full main, two tanks of water ballast in about 15 knots of wind. It has been a simple game of tacking when the favored board shifts, and we find ourselves 4 miles from the western most beach in the Hamptons.  Probably 2 tacks to get to Montauk, and then decisions about the tides and currents to figure out if it will be the west or east side of Block.  Time to get this tack in before we literally hit the beach.  - Mike Hennessey, Dragon. Photos from yesterday's start thanks to mstrsail. Hey, Emma looks like she needs a crew - pick me, pick me!

05/20/12

style points?

If they gave style points, Energy would gat some. But apparently they didn't need any....Photo thanks to Gilles Martin-Roget.

05/20/12

atlantic cup onboard

jersey boys

Joe Harris on GryphonSolo2 from the Atlantic Cup...

Welcome to Leg 2 of the Atlantic Cup from New York to Newport. We are a bit less than half way back up the course to Montauk after going south to a turning mark off Barnegate Inlet on the Jersey shore (hello Snookie). The race has been a bit up and down for us thus far, as we had a good start but then sailed into a hole just before the Verrazanno Narrows Bridge and got a bit behind the leading pack. We compounded that deficit by choosing to stay off the Jersey coast, while the guys who went in close made out like bandits and had a nice angle to the mark. We rounded the mark around 11 last night and set off to the East on port tack, as the wind was from the Northeast and our course was precisely Northeast to Montauk... right on the kisser as they say.

So we have been bashing along in 20 knots of wind with full water ballast but still a heel angle of about 30 degres and very lumpy seas, making it difficult to move around the boat. We hope to pull off another miraculous comeback like in leg 1 and will keep working our asses off until we get the gun off Fort Adams in Newport. I hope some of you are having a more relaxing Sunday morning having coffee and reading the Sunday times...; think of us in our wet foul weather gear getting bounced around out here and relish the heat and roof overhead. Sailing is good for making you appreciate the basic things in life. Track the fleet here.

05/20/12

who let the dog out?



We kid, but after a not so great VOR up to this point, it was awesome to see Abu Dhabi get the win today in Miami? How, you ask? A start like this didn't hurt. And Puma DFL here, did a hell of a job to nip Camper third. Telefonica, looking smart here, screwed the pooch badly, hitting a mark and ending up DFL. Thanks to Ian Roman/VOR for the great shots. See the Video replay of today's race here.

05/19/12

the flying burrito brothers

No not Artemis, but these weird hiking positions. Come on, just sit on the f-ing rail and try not to look like the Flying Wallendas....As for the racing, it got really tight today! Photos from Chris Cameron / ETNZ. Title inspiration here.

carbon cage match

A combination of an extremely tight Volvo Ocean Race scoreboard and some desperation from the back of the pack is bound to make things interesting when the Miami In-Port Race goes off today, with live coverage right here beginning at 12:40 PM Eastern time/9:40 California.  I’ll be on, of all places, an Umpire boat, so chances are I won’t be able to update live, but it ain’t like I’ll do better than the excellent surface and helo cameras from IMG production anyway, so be sure to check it out.  In contrast to the 30/25/20/etc. points of the offshore legs, the In-Port awards 6/5/4/etc. points for the intense, one-hour race, and even the dogs have a chance when boatspeed is only a little piece of the puzzle.  Check it out above, and check out the Leg 7 Thread for all the latest info.

what???

What - a participant in a major sporting event without logos plastered over every god damn inch? Oh, the humanity...

Photo from the AC 45's going at it today in Venice from Max Ranchi.

clean report - vor breaking

design space

It took far, far too many Grey Geese, a few too many lap dances, and a 5 AM return home last night, but I finally got this world exclusive story on the brand new design for the 2014 Volvo Ocean Race.  The sacrifices I make to get a story for you guys!

First, let me emphasize that the deal is NOT YET DONE.  No contracts have been signed, no designers have been hired, and no final decision has been made.  We’re actually at the tail end of a months-long process that has included a representative from each team, some very knowledgeable designers, and rules advisors that helped create the VO-70 and other major classes.  The Committee discussed possibilities with IMOCA and sought input from the creators of the MOD-70, and in just a couple of days, VOR boss Knut Frostad will go in front of Volvo’s Board of Directors, who are here in Miami for just this reason - to give them their options.  They will have ongoing discussions, with views to making the final call near the Lorient Stopover, and we’ll know quickly thereafter what the landscape will look like for the 2014-15 running of offshore racing’s biggest game.

Root Cause
I think it was two or three months ago when we first broke the story that VOR organizers and team bosses were discussing the possibility of a major change to the existing VO-70 for the next edition, largely to respond to the meager fleet size and economic realities of a tough sponsorship market.  Since that time, we’ve seen hull and bulkhead delaminations, rudder issues, more mast problems, and a decimated fleet in the Southern Ocean, all while Europe’s economy (and future prospects of major sponsorship) fell further into the toilet than anyone could have imagined.

All this increased the urgency of the move to a new design for 2014, and as of last night, there are four options under serious consideration, with one of them significantly favored by most of the folks inside the organization.

Choices, Choices
I pinned down Frostad late last night at the end of the huge awards banquet, and he confirmed pretty much everything I’ll lay out for you below.  I don’t think he was stoked that we got so much info, though to be fair, I was surprised how far the usually leaky group got without us hearing about it.

The first option is to freeze the current design as a one-design, and discussions have focused on Telefonica.  Juan K has even offered to provide the drawings for the boat and have helped the organizers come up with the numbers necessary to make a decision.  This move doesn’t address the overall cost of the build, though of course just moving to one-design cuts a bug chunk of the money out of the equation.  It also doesn’t address the speed and power of the current boats, and the necessity to constantly throttle back when conditions are sporty.  Given the need to present the next boat to sponsors as a relative bargain, this one probably isn’t in the cards.

The second, and equally unlikely option, is a move to a smaller, fixed keel race boat – essentially an updated Volvo 60.  We don’t have to tell you how quickly this would turn the VOR into a joke, but there are voices that think such a move is necessary, and who predict it would bring in a relative flood of the kind of amateur entries that have made of the vast majority of entries throughout the three plus decades of the VOR/Whitbread days.

The third option is perhaps the most exciting to me, and VOR officials and Committee members have had discussions with IMOCA to determine its feasibility.  We’ve reported IMOCA’s discussions of the move to a new one-design to replace the Open 60 development class, and economic and political developments in France have only increased the importance of some kind of change to the short and long term health of the most important of all solo racing yachts.  The IMOCA/VO 65 would also be a one-design, but it would compromise some features between the crewed and shorthand disciplines of both groups.  It could also be somewhat modular, where one could order a boat with one of two deck plans, rigs, or keels, allowing one platform to sail both IMOCA and Volvo events.  This could be extremely cool if the stars align, allowing more French to get into the Volvo than ever while opening up new options to Volvo teams on the off years.  But there’s one major problem with it:  Time.  IMOCA is the most French of all classes, a socialist democracy of an organization that’s owned and more importantly where all decisions are voted on by the 30+ owners of Open 60s.  Unlike the lean, centralized Volvo group, IMOCA moves at the pace of molasses, and we just don’t think there is time to iron out the details before Volvo AB needs to make a decision.

That takes us to the big one – the talk of the docks and the talk of the party.  This is what we expect Frostad to recommend most strongly to his Volvo overseers, and what we think we’ll see on the line in 2014.  We’ll call it the Volvo 65, though the size has been discussed as between 62 and 65 feet long.  It will be a canting-keel boat with more generous scantlings than the existing boats, and Farr will be the designer.  The boat will be constructed by a syndicate of builders, with much of the work done at Multiplast, with ultra-strict prohibitions against modifications.  Halyards, sheets, blocks, even electronics will be one-design, and perhaps most importantly, so will sails.  Two boat programs will probably be allowed.

Needless to say, there are some very unhappy voices on the docks.  Many of those who’ve grown up on the Volvo think it is a travesty, and will change the race from something ‘special’ to just another boat race.  In defense of the move to a strict one-design, the hundreds of millions of people that Volvo needs to reach to justify the expense of the race couldn’t tell you the difference between a Volvo 70 and a Class 40 – so long as they are painted different colors, they’ll know it’s a race.  But for the core spectators – the million or so ‘repeat fans’ that provide the majority of the clicks and all the VOR game players – there’s little doubt that a one-design takes a lot of the luster out of the Volvo, and doesn’t do a lot to preserve its history.  Then again, they used to race this thing on handicap,…

There are a lot of problems to be overcome with any of these choices, and even bigger ones involved in keeping the existing box.  We’ll get into that once the choice has been made.  Watch this space…

only one

Only one would emerge from this gaggle at the Finn Gold Cup - Ben Ainslie. He won 7 out of 9 races in very tough stuff to seal his sixth Gold Cup.....Thanks to Mark Lloyd for the awesome shots.

miami or bust

Despite plenty of valid criticisms, the folks behind the VOR ship have done a phenomenal job this edition of reaching the kind of huge in-person and media audiences they need to to make the race a commercial success.  They’ve overcome some serious obstacles by being mostly transparent and supporting the boats, and along with excellent content coming from the boats, they’ve embraced the modern realities of social media in a way no one in sailing yet has, and their fan base continues to grow at a serious clip.  They haven’t ignored more traditional media, either – for a great example of some awesome ink from a hugely popular business site, check out this FastBusiness story.  They’ve also benefitted from some major luck, resulting in the tightest scoreboard in the modern history of the race – never before have four boats been in position to win the race with just two short legs left to go.  And the live racing coverage started off strong and only got better, in marked contrast to the other big dog in live content – the AC – which continues to fade in quality every event.

But most impressive has been their stopover success.  Every port seems to exceed expectations, and literally millions of feet have stompled through the VOR villages all over the world.  The key to this has been good promotion, the right bells and whistles, and creating a real ‘destination’ for bored holidaygoers and sailing fans to hit.  It’s all been good, until now: The Miami stopover is a joke.

Actually, no one has used the word “joke” to me.  Team members and VOR insiders have privately used the words “debacle”, “travesty”, and “humiliating” to describe the pathetic turnout on the ground and in the welcoming flotilla, and the impossibility of getting anyone in the conventional national media to even show up; all this despite plenty of good coverage in the local papers, radio traffic, and local TV.  We’ll have a detailed analysis of just what went wrong after the weekend, but in the meantime, the VOR is sweetening the deal for anyone that can get to the race village this weekend.  That, of course, means free booze!  If you want to show the media that at least a few Americans care about this kind of thing, please turn up, either to the race village or out on the water.  It’s a hell of a spectacle, and the forecast is looking pretty sweet. Here’s the press release from our gorgeous blonde pal at the Miami PR company trying to jump start the race village:

MIAMI- May 16, 2012- The Downtown Miami Race Village will transform into an unbelievable BEACH PARTY event this weekend- this is not to be missed. The party in Downtown Miami will offer FREE drinks from 5-8pm, FREE admission all day, Beach Volleyball, LIVE Music and fun filled activities for everyone. The Downtown Miami Race Village, host port of Volvo Ocean Race, has created a beach volleyball court and “chill” beach area in the heart of Bicentennial Park providing attendees with an opportunity to win Volvo Ocean Race gear and a TRIP TO LISBON, PORTUGAL. In addition, guests can engage in Standup Paddleboarding, a 3D Cinema, a Volvo Open 70 simulator, children’s games and attractions including air balls, a bounce house, sand pits, a falcon display, grinding competition, and face painting.  Music includes LIVE performances at PUMA’s Social Truck by Cris Cab on Friday and Grammy Nominated artist Mr. Pauer on Saturday. Surprise DJ’s to be announced for the weekend BEACH PARTY.

Guests can also witness the Volvo Ocean Race fleet racing LIVE during the PORTMIAMI In-Port Race on our big screen on Saturday and have the opportunity to shake hands with the teams as they make their way through the village.

Celebrity guests participating in this weekend’s events include Gabrielle Union, Adriana de Moura, Cris Cab, Mr. Pauer and more.

Be sure to come down Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19 to be a part of the festivities!

For information on Volvo Ocean Race Miami or the Downtown Miami Race Village, please visit www.volvooceanracemiami.org or www.volvooceanrace.co

live streaming

There is so much racing going on right now it is crazy! Our friends at Tidetech sent this exclusive analysis of the tidal challenges facing the VOR fleet when they take off for leg 7...

The Gulf Stream will have a potentially profound tactical influence in leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race - multiple tactical analyses of the leg from Miami to Lisbon – using different GRIB weather models and many wind and current speed/direction variables –show that the Gulf Stream could dominate tactics for the first half of the leg.

Tidetech managing director Penny Haire explained Tidetech’s analysis of the tactical options for Leg 7 relating to current.

“The Volvo boats are incredibly sensitive to wind speed and are normally hunting pressure, but the dominant factor for the first 40-50 per cent of this leg will be current rather than pressure.

“The Gulf Stream flow ranges in speed from 2kts to 5kts from Miami up to at least the Grand Banks, Newfoundland. To stay in the current means a big detour north away from the direct route to Lisbon… just about every routing scenario we have tried shows that this must be done until at least 400nm northeast of Bermuda.

“Complicating the decisions is the extreme volatility of the Gulf Stream as it leaves Cape Hatteras. Large eddies form unpredictably – much like you’d see in a river – breaking off each edge. Getting it wrong could mean facing short-term adverse current, while a competitor may have positive current, resulting in a compound velocity differential.

“The tactics for this leg may not be about whether to be in the Gulf Stream or not, but when to leave it – that may be the point where the leg is decided.”

ABOUT THE GULF STREAM
The Gulf Stream is an intense, warm ocean current in the western North Atlantic Ocean. It moves north along the coast of Florida and then turns eastward off of North Carolina, flowing northeast across the Atlantic.

The Gulf Stream flows at a rate nearly 300 times faster than the typical flow of the Amazon River. The velocity of the current is fastest near the surface – the maximum speed is up to approximately 4.8kts; the average speed is around 3.5kts. The current slows to about 1kt as it widens to the north.

Transporting nearly four billion cubic feet of water per second, the Gulf Stream moves an amount of water that is greater than that carried by all of the world's rivers combined. It is powerful enough to be seen from space.

Beginning in the Caribbean and ending in the northern North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream is an extensive western boundary current (western boundary currents are found on the western side of all ocean basins). It plays an important role in the poleward transfer of heat and salt along with warming the European subcontinent. It is a result of the wind pattern acting on most of the North Atlantic Ocean – the combination of the easterly trade winds and the westerlies blowing at mid-latitudes cause the North Atlantic to rotate clockwise.

This basin-wide, clockwise flow is referred to as the subtropical gyre. Due to the Earth's rotation, the poleward flow in the western Atlantic is limited to a narrow current on the western boundary of the ocean basin. The Gulf Stream begins its turn east slightly north of Cape Hatteras. This point changes throughout the year – in the autumn it shifts north, while in the winter and early spring it shifts south. Significant changes in its speed, meandering, and structure can be seen through various time scales as it travels northeast.

The meandering of the Gulf Stream intensifies east of Cape Hatteras reaching a maximum around 65 degrees west. Meanders often pinch-off from the current to form rings and eddies. It has been observed that, on average, the current sheds 22 warm-core rings and 35 cold-core rings per year.

For the Volvo Ocean Race boats this is critical – getting it wrong could mean facing short-term adverse current, while a competitor may have positive current, resulting in a compound velocity differential.

Once the Gulf Stream reaches the Grand Banks its structure changes from a single meandering front to several branching fronts. One branch bends north along the continental slope, eventually turning east between 50 degrees and 52 degrees north. The other branch flows southeast towards the mid-Atlantic ridge. These are called the North Atlantic Current and the Azores Current respectively. The region of the Gulf Stream's branch point is highly dynamic and subject to rapid change.

CURRENTS PROVE INFLUENTIAL
During the race so far, currents have have had an influence in the straits of Gibraltar, off the south-east coast of Africa (the Aghulas Current), in the China Sea and most recently off the coast of Brazil (the Brazil Current). This video shows the variation of movement in the Gulf Stream for 7-15 May 2012 – .

the national socialism anarchy movement

An interesting response to our aussie cup story, lower on this mythical front page...

I have to say I was surprised at your article and its nationalistic tone about the appointment of  Grant Simmer to the Oracle team. Its the 21st century and amazingly the world has a thing called the internet This allows foreigners  to see what is happening even the USA. 

It also means many jobs are held by citizens of varied nationality all around the world. Some may  be indeed be Australians or NZrs and even some may be from the US of A.  This happens in Australia too, many Americans have held and currently hold senior positions in our  country. We don't call for their jobs to be only held by Australians.....

The whole tone of your article flies in the face of what the WWW brings ....openness transparency  and elimination of national borders.

You should be aware that talk like this is where National Socialism started and while I know its long  way from there right now its allowing this type of article to circulate unanswered that these things  are allowed to begin.

Love the site...mostly.

ac breaking

kid nap

In a world exclusive, San Fran photog Stacey Loula grabbed these shots of the first of the Red Bull Youth America's Cup AC45s.  That's the middle of San Francisco - Union Square - where tomorrow, the AC will announce the format of the 2013 event/series along with some special fireworks from the world's hippest manufacturer of energy drinks and adrenaline

rail meat, unplugged

We’ve been spoiled over the past year with Mike “Rail Meat” Hennessy’s lucid and detailed reports – many of them from the water – of racing aboard his Class 40 “Dragon.”  Notes from Joe Harris, race organizers, and mid-race interviews with Ryan Breymaier and Ben Poucher may have picked up some of the slack, we certainly missed Mike’s wit and transparency during leg 1 of the Atlantic Cup.  Now that he’s back on dry land, Mike explains, in his customarily excellent style.  Enjoy.  Photo of from onboard leg winner MARE thanks to MCM and Anarchist Ryan O’Grady, with more here.  Plenty more news in the thread.

Docked at 5 AM, slammed a couple of PBRs, home for a shower and in the office by 7:30; I think my decision making might be a bit suspect today.

First, my apologies for the radio silence over the past several days. My INMARSAT went down early on Saturday morning and while the Iridium provided a back up for verbal conversations, I had zero access to data. No weather files, no position reports, no Sailing Anarchy! Now I know what Ben and Tim on Icarus feel like in every race…

It was an odd situation for me. The role the weather plays in my own routing decisions cannot be underestimated. Knowing your competition and their own strengths and styles and ultimately, positions on the course, is a huge advantage. Finally, the random scribblings you guys tolerate on Sailing Anarchy often times give me the chance to organize my thoughts and analysis in a way that helps clear my head in the race. None of that was here for this race. Given the navigational choices we made, that was perhaps a lucky break. We were all alone and had no reference point to determine if those choices were paying dividends, which meant that all we could do was sail the boat as fast as we could and hope for the best.

Saturday’s start was off the Charleston Maritime Center, headed South down the city waterfront. The fleet was hard on the wind, and we had to deal with the wash from 14 other boats after our less-than-spectacular start. After getting past the Southern end of the peninsula, we passed a turning mark (Potts Shoal #4 on port) and all of us dug in further to the South to buy some room on our next tack to the East and the harbor exit.

It was here that 40 Degrees' mast broke. Even as we focused on making up for our start, the sound was like a gunshot. I could not afford more than a quick look, but what I saw was a stick broken above the first spreader, mast and sail over the side and the boat at a halt. The radio chatter pretty quickly confirmed that every one was safe, but it had to be a gutting experience for Peter and Hannah.

The fleet then had to beat out the harbor, dealing with three freighters and very restricted water. The investment in putting distance in to the south paid off as the first beat squeaked us past the thin water around Middle Ground and took us all the way down to Sullivan Island. Then a hitch up to the shores of Fort Sumpter and four quick tacks between two stone jetties that create a 400-yard wide channel extending 1+ mile or so out of Charleston to the ocean.

Clearing the end of the jetties, the fleet fell off to the North, hard on the wind and headed for Cape Hatteras. We put our plan into action at that point, which was a simple one. The forecast called for light air on Sunday, related to the high-pressure system that was moving over the east coast. Those kind of conditions play well to Dragon’s design, but we wanted to be able to use the Gulf Stream to our advantage, getting its 3+ knot push as well as the apparent wind it would create. So right from the start, we knew we wanted to get East.  Far East.

Easier said than done! To get there, we were hard pressed on starboard tack under the solent all of Friday night. Most of the fleet opted for a more direct route and footed off for some speed. To compound our challenge we were headed, sending us in towards shore and Wilmington. We eventually tacked out on Saturday morning, as did the rest of the fleet. We crossed tacks with several of the boats, and it was here that we could have taken the easier route and reattached ourselves to the fleet. We thought that would be too much of follow-the-leader, and still believed that we were going to be hit with soft air on Sunday and wanted to get to the stream. So hard on it we went, heading still East. Winds remained NE’lies of 10 to 15 knots in speed.

Thing is, once you decide to head to a Gulf Stream that’s 40 NM offshore, there is no going back. If you try to turn back half way out there, the fleet will have left you for dead. You cannot just half-heartedly try to get there – you have to own it. And own it we did! We practically put up a mailbox and planted petunias in the East. We went so far East, we began to study Russian.  In the history of warfare, nations that go that far East (see France and Germany) tend to get their asses handed to them. It was the kind of investment that involves putting your watch, car keys, 401(k) statement, and mortgage on top of the pile of chips -- and it was far from a good bet. On Saturday, when I called Mom with an early Mother’s Day call, she could not help herself:  She asked me what we were doing DFL. OK, she might have used slightly more polite terms, but she clearly thought her firstborn was displaying less than  stellar decision-making.

It wasn’t until Saturday night at 2000 hours that we began to feel good about our longshot bet. We quickly moved from a 0.5 knot adverse current to a positive push, and shortly thereafter, we hit the peak flow within 1.5 NM of where I’d plotted it. We felt like the class nerd who asked the most beautiful girl in school to the prom, and she said yes. With that bit of naviguessing complete, we climbed on a conveyor belt that sent us North - with wings.

Our ‘Saturday Night Special’ of sailing in 10 to 15 knots of breeze in light rollers, still under solent and hard on the wind, lasted well into Sunday evening. We rode the stream up past Cape Hatteras, where we made a conscious decision to exit to the west towards the New Jersey coast, thinking that the sea breezes might still be needed to get us the rest of the way home. Thing was – even after our exit, we were still getting a sizeable push. As a result, we ultimately chose to forego the coast and stay out there. The wind clocked and we flew the Code 5 for about 6 hours. Then it clocked more and we flew the A2 for the rest of the race. That unlikely hot date not only danced all night at prom – she went to the after party with us too.

Ultimately, I found out after the fact that the Gulf Stream vaulted us from DFL to a shot at 5th place. The 5 boats that we were competing with at the front of the pack had only been able to pick up the Stream as they approach Hatteras, but they all made the wise choice to continue riding the stream when they got to Hatteras, even if it meant heading Easterly for a while. On Dragon, however, we had no idea. By Saturday morning I’d lost the Inmarsat, and with it, any ability to download weather or position data. So while we knew that our Gulf Stream run had been fun and productive, we had no idea what it had done for us. What I did know was that it had to have helped, but otherwise we were flying blind.

Monday morning, well north of Hatteras but still in the Stream, we found ourselves about 5 miles behind what we could tell was another Class 40 but had no idea which one. We spent the day chasing what turned out to be SevenStar, with no luck. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us, Ecole was creeping up on the coast and closing in on us.

The entire drama for 5th place played out in the approach to New York harbor. By the way; what genius decided to name one of the bottom features outside New York harbor the “Fingers” and another feature directly to the east “The Glory Hole”?  I’ll wait for another time to share some of the cartographic wordplay we enjoyed with that one.

Ultimately, our situation with SevenStar hinged on the gybe into NYC. We played it very straight, simply sailing to the layline gybing in. In the meantime, SevenStar had preceded our gybe, just outfighting us into the finish line. Ecole, however, used their inside position to take a shorter run up past False Hook, pipping us as well. The sailing through NYC harbor was challenging though very rewarding. Dodging shipping traffic was made all the more “interesting” when we had to deal with a breeze that dropped to 4 knots and filled to 13 knots multiple times, all the while veering through 60 degrees of direction over and over. The distraction of sailing towards one of the worlds most iconic skylines, lit up at night, and passing under the skirts of the Statue of Liberty was something very special. The worst, however, was completely misjudging the finish and swooping for the Manhattan shore right at the Battery powered up in 12 knots under the kite. What could I possibly think would happen if I approached a Western shore with Easterly wind, where the shore had 300 foot cliffs?  Chalk that one up to sleep deprivation…I hope.  The small pack of spectators were treated to the sight of us drifting over the finish line, using the tide as a substitute for the limp spinnaker hanging from our masthead.

We ended up with seventh. While we fought for fifth, and frankly would have loved first, it is difficult to be too upset at a mid-pack finish in what is a fleet of very well-prepared boats and extremely talented sailors. Even more cool was the ultra-tight finish, and the wide distribution of design talent and age in the top ten finishing boats.

1. Mare – a 2011 Manuard design
2. Campagne – a 2011 Pogo S2 / Finot design
3. Bodacious Dream – a 2011 Farr design
4. Gryphon Solo 2 – a 2010 Lombard design
5. Eole – a 2010 Lombard design
6. Seven Star – a 2006 Pogo 1 / Finot design
7. Dragon – a 2008 Owen Clarke design
8. Transportation Coherence – a 2006 Nacira design
9. Icarus – a 2007 Rodger Martin design
10. Initiatives – a 2007 Simon Rogers design

After more than three days of racing, less than 4 hours separated first from tenth. In those three days of racing, positions changed almost constantly between the entire fleet including these top ten boats. Of the top ten, eight designers are represented and six years of design evolution are represented and yet the racing was tight and exciting across the fleet.

If there is another sailing class in the world that provides this kind of diversity, this kind of design longevity, and this kind of exciting racing all in one class…I can’t think of it.

If any of you are in North Cove in NYC or in Newport, please stop by. It is a friendly group with some really cool toys, and you are all welcome to check them out. I will be down in NYC around 5 pm on Tuesday for an hour or two to continue sorting the boat, and then again on Wednesday and Thursday nights for about the same time frame. Friday we are going to be there mid-day and doing the pro-am race in the afternoon. Check in at the Atlantic Cup site (and vote for Dragon!!), check out Dragon’s Facebook page here, and Tweeters, please follow along here.

PS - I would be remiss in not thanking Merf Owen. You could not ask for a better teammate. He works his ass off to make the boat go fast, and approaches any problems with the simple perspective of how to fix it. It was a rare pleasure to get the chance to sail with him again. .

doin' work

Anarchist Daniel gives us his view of work at Torresen Marine in Muskegon MI. And we don't mean the work of sailing this IMS thing around the race course!

ac dope

the aussie cup

Grant Simmer has been appointed to a new management role within Oracle Team USA.  Yes, that’s correct.  Yet another Aussie is being hired by Coutts, this time to run the sailing team for the USA based Defender club of the America’s Cup.

Why should America support Golden Gate YC in their defence of the America’s Cup when the entire team is made up of almost all non-American’s? Do they mean to tell us that of all the sailing talent in the US, there wasn't one Yank who is on par with the admittedly talented Simmer?  The joke is on anyone who bought the idea of Coutts' notion of job creation for San Francisco. Oh there are jobs, he just never told anyone they would all go to foreigners.... 

jc report

going back, then to the front

John Casey takes us deep into Florida...

Let's go back, way back, to the beginning of April 2012 for the Miami-Key Largo yacht race. The MKL is a 50-mile drag race starting just off Key Biscayne in Miami, finishing on the west side of Barnes Sound just racing in what is referred to as the 'inside.'

This year's installment is not quite like any I've ever been a part of. We arrived on Thursday to step the stick on the carbon Marstrom 20 and the jitters of the competitors were already starting to resonate. As I walked around the Miami Yacht Club I overheard conversations of, "this is going to be a crazy year." And, "Is that forecast for real?"

Yes, the forecast was for real.....30 knots in the morning building over the day with squalls. It pretty much spells disaster for the beach cat fleet if we're stuck in 40+ knot whiteouts with shoals on one side and mangroves on the other.

Since the race started at 8 AM on Saturday morning, we arrived at around 5:30 to get set up. Not many teams were in a hurry to get the rags up, and there were a lot of people milling about checking to see who was actually going to brave the monstrous conditions. On the way to the boat park Bret and I decided we were going to do our normal routine like it was any other day. Since this is basically Bret's home distance race and he'd never won it, it was mandatory that we give it a shot. Our unirig mainsail was the first to go up. As we went through our preparations, one by one other competitors came up wishing us luck and explaining why they weren't going to make the trip. I didn't blame them; it was a nasty day that will be ingrained in my memory until I have one no more.

We pushed off to sail under the bridges to the start with an hour to spare. As we sailed by Miami proper the light of the day bounced grey off the building windows and small puffs rumbled through the streets. When they hit our 'small' Landenberger sail in the quiver the boat leaped forward towards the start line beyond Biscayne Bay Bridge. Little did we know that is as far as some boats made it that day.

When we arrived to the start with 15 minutes to spare, it didn't look too bad out there. The gusts were around 20 and we could see them coming in from Key Biscayne. But what about that low light and dark streaked cloud on the southeast horizon reaching down like the trident of Neptune himself?

We were joined by plenty of more stable monohulls and trimarans, and about half the catamaran fleet, including the other yellow Marstrom 20. We have a competition! As the inevitability neared we decided to start well down on the west side of the line. It was a death reach to the first channel, with shallows on either side. The other Marstrom set up above us and we were off, us with a narrow lead. Right after the start a squall came through with a sprinkle of rain that felt like we were driving through a Love Bug storm with our heads out the window. We decided to take it easy and sit on the deck until the squall passed. "We have a long way to go." we said to each other. Mike Phillips on the other Marstrom had other ideas. When I looked over they were twin stringing absolutely flying. I couldn't see the yellow of their hulls, only spray, with his crew at the daggerboard and Mike just behind him. I looked over at Bret and he told me don't even think about trapping out because, "It's just a matter of time." It's hard to watch a boat go by and not do anything about it. In the end we made the right decision. Only a few minutes after the start they tomahawked so hard I think I heard the water cry. It was a nasty pitchpole that broke the carbon fiber mast right when it hit the water. I wasn't looking. Bret told me they flipped and when I looked over I saw the hulls already going inverted with the black curved daggerboards sticking up in the air. It immediately reminded us what could happen out there and we were just as capable of going down the mine as them.

The rain persisted and conditions worsened with squalls ripping across the fleet. I trimmed the main while Bret had the traveler and helm. The Marstrom 20 mainsheet has only so much throw until it's all the way out, not a lot actually and I was wishing I had more. Luckily the curved traveler track allows for quite a bit of throw for the traveler and we communicated to be sure I always had some throw if a big blaster rolled through. Many did. This 260 lb. catamaran is pretty hard to control in 35+ knots. We couldn't stop for fear of flipping over backwards so when we 'heaved too' we were still going around 15 knots.

While we were on the reach there was a Sprint 750 trimaran closing on us. When we were in the exposed part of the bay the waves were short period and large for the bay. Every time a big one rolled through I had to hike out to flatten the boat out, with the sail eased almost all the way out. In this section the trimaran rolled us. We couldn't take it. We did feel pretty slow and we were sure our leeward daggerboard was weeded. Soon after they rolled us they decided to drop the jib since their leeward hull was pretty pressed with the mainsail full out. While they dropped the jib I stretched down to the leeward board, pulled it up and put it back down. As soon as I did the boat shot forward with vivacious speed. Clamoring back up to the high side with the wind whistling in my ears and the waves pelting my body I sat just behind the windward board and watched us fly by the trimaran at 27 knots sustained on the GPS. This was the only time ever I've had the wind knocked out of me by a wave.

Not long after we couldn't see the trimaran or any other boat for that matter. Then another squall came. It was complete whiteout. We sat as calm as we could with the 20 foot boat leaping forward with each change in wind strength. It was too dark to see with my glasses on so I took them off. But the rain and spray was too much for my eyes so I put them back on. I did this more than once throughout the day. When the squall subsided I could look around finally. Land wasn't too far away in front of us which really wasn't what I wanted to see. That meant we could be on the wrong side of the channel. We found out we were. We did a bear away in 20 knots and I looked down to see a sandy brown color of water, unlike the green-blue of the channel. It was shallow! I jumped down and pulled the leeward board just before the rudders kicked up. It could have been disaster. After the bear away we were pointing west toward the finish and I could see the silhouette of trees on East Arsnicker Island in the distance.

What was more pleasant to see was a very delineated break in the clouds to the west. The end of the squall! I told Bret we didn't have far to go until we were out of the worst. We could see the rays of sun peeking through the other side. It was really flat so I got on the wire and we shot over the bows of the fleet in the far black distance.

Finally we saw the arc of Card Sound Bridge after we broke free of the clouds hold. We had finally outrun it. As we double trapped toward the bridge we looked behind us at the white cloud with a very dark bottom. It looked like a hand karate chopping the fleet behind us. After the bridge the wind came back up to well over 25 knots but we were used to it by then and flew to the finish on the west side of Card Sound. What a ride! We were just happy to be finished and in one piece. The M20 isn't really made to sail in conditions like that, so we were pretty happy to make it there first and safe.

Not everyone had as much luck as us, with sailors getting separated from boats and close to carnage. One A-Cat tumbled miles from the skipper through Midnight Pass, and we didn’t see him for hours after we finished. Luckily he made it home okay. There is also the video of a Hobie 16 flipping multiple times in the Multihull Forum.

finn fare

We like this on board video from Hein van Egmond sailing at Falmouth Bay before the Gold Cup, and Robert Deaves fills us in on the up to date Gold Cup racing below.

At the half way stage at the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Finn Gold Cup in Falmouth, UK, a familiar pattern is starting to emerge at the front of the fleet. Five time champion Ben Ainslie is leading the fleet by ten points with a scoreline that is pretty close to perfect. With four race wins already in the bag he looks to be heading for an unprecedented sixth world title.

The 2010 World Champion Ed Wright got the better of Ben Ainslie by just one point on the first day of the championship, but the Olympic champion held his nerve in the shifty conditions on day two to take a seven point lead. Two really tough races in a strong and very cold northerly wind was just what his rivals wanted to try and redress the balance, but Ainslie proved them wrong, winning both races by a substantial margin. It was perhaps his most impressive day's sailing in many years.

At this point the British domination seems complete with Wright in second and Andrew Mills in third. A lot of the favourites have had a bad start to the regatta picking up high scores and struggling in the shifty offshore winds.

The weather hasn't been particularly kind either, with temperatures rarely lifting over 10-12 degrees on a very cold Falmouth Bay. Never ending rain on the Monday just added to the misery. Tuesday was described as 'brutal' by many of the sailors. On Wednesday, the weather had a day off. It was slightly warmer, but the wind wasn't playing the game so the fleet was sent in with nothing more on the board.

So the opening series concludes Thursday with three races in what is forecast to be the windiest day so far and with the wind turning to the open sea, it could also be the roughest.Will Ainslie secure his sixth Finn crown? Follow the daily blog or catch up with the latest daily highlights video here.

commentary

change is not good?

Nevin Sayre is one of the most active and respected board and kite sailors in the sport. Check out his perspective. And to be fair, Nevin's got a vested interest in keeping the boards in for 2016. He runs bic sport USA which supplies the techno 293, the official junior windsurfer board and pipeline to the Olympic boards.

Dear U.S. Sailing,

Every class chosen for the Olympics has a pathway from young kid to Olympic champion. As yet, Kitesurf racing has no such pipeline. As an avid kitesurfer, windsurfer, sailor, U.S. Sailing member, and also someone who has been very involved in youth sailing development, I would like U.S. Sailing to explain their actions. The ISAF General Council voted 19-17 to overrule the recommendation of their own “experts” on the Events Committee, and include kitesurf course racing in the 2016 Olympic Games. This decision comes at the expense of windsurfing, which is easily one of the two most popular classes at the Games, and has a huge junior pipeline. ISAF’s own Events Committee and Windsurfing/kitesurfing Committee, which held an ISAF sponsored equipment evaluation, did not recommend kiteboarding over windsurfing for the 2016 Olympic Games. Why did U.S. Sailing place their 3 votes (more than any other country) in favor of kitesurf racing?

What is U.S. Sailing’s plan to safely include kitesurfing into Junior Sailing Programs, the Olympic Youth Development Team, Youth Worlds Team, the Junior Olympic events, and all the pathways that leads to the Olympics? There are over 110 reported kitesurfing deaths in the last 10 years. That should be compared with an excellent safety record in windsurfing’s 40 year history. I am personally very lucky not to be on the fatality list, and suffered a head wound with 150 stitches from kitesurfing. And I consider myself a decent kiter, and knowledgeable about the wind. There is no way I would allow my kids to kitesurf.

In a year when U.S. Sailing has expressed deep concern over the sudden uptick in tragic sailing deaths from Annapolis to San Francisco, what is U.S. Sailing’s safety plan here? Is U.S. Sailing aware that insurance companies, citing grave safety concerns, have refused to cover sailing programs which include kitesurfing?

Can you see kitesurfing at your junior program and/or sailing club?

Kitesurfing is evolving, and the very small percentage of kitesurfers who race, are clearly on the cutting edge. I welcome inclusion in the Olympics when the safety, equipment, logistics, and formats are ready. When instructional and competitive programs are developing young kitesurf racers, and safely channeling them toward their Olympic dreams, let's go. We are clearly not there yet for 2016 Olympic Games.

Meanwhile the ISAF vote itself is a sham. The President of the Royal Spanish Federation (RFEV) has issued a formal apology that their ISAF vote was wrongly placed for kitesurfing over windsurfing, and the RFEV supports the process to overturn the vote. The President of the Venezuelan Federation has informed ISAF that their Venezuelan countryman (who voted for kitesurfing) did not represent the judgement of their Federation. The Chairman of the Israeli Federation is quoted in Reuters: "The delegates were probably confused or didn't understand the motion fully because of language difficulties, or some may have been napping at the presentations and then cast their votes without realizing the implications." Whatever conditions enabled kitesurfing to prevail in the first round of balloting, there are compelling reasons for the issue to be put to a proper vote.

I’m concerned that USA also doesn’t understand the implications. Will U.S. Sailing please publicly explain why they cast their 3 votes against ISAF’s own Events Committee recommendation, and in favor of choosing kitesurfing over windsurfing for 2016?

Sincerely,
Nevin Sayre
U.S. Sailing member

PS- The attached photos are of myself two days after a kitesurfing accident. Does U.S. Sailing really want to endorse kitesurfing for the Olympics and youth development before the sport is ready?

super star?

Looks like exactly what the Star should look like, right? It is a pretty fascinating story from our friends Luca Brenta and B Boats. Check the video.

A pure tribute to one of the finest, if not the best ever designed keel boat only 100 years young. The Star. This is how we would like to introduce our latest design. A voyage to fully understand and make full benefit of available technologies, in order to mix the design criteria of a boat conceived more than 100 years whom has seen over the years the best sailors in history to challenge each other in the various racing venues all over the world.

Our challenge, in the third millennium has been to re-propose this concept in larger scale model, yet retaining one of the unique peculiarities of the star. The rig and the way the rig is managed.

The Star Class rig bends and pivots across a large range of angle. It bends backwards to make the mainsail flatter via use of the runners (no backstays…) while downwind the mast  pivots forward by 3 deg…..

We have designed a concept boat pushing the design in every detail of the boat. The boat is built in pre-preg carbon over a nomex core. Can not get any better than this. The keel is lifting and canting over 50 deg each side. There are 9 hydraulic piston on the boat managing the mainsheet, the vang, the mast step + 4 piston (2 each side) to manage the runners. One set is the long run for gibing set and one couple is for fine up-wind trimming. The last two piston propel the keel. The blade is very thin high aspect ratio built in 17-PH, machined. The bulb is, lead, is CNC machined as well. All this has been produced by Cariboni in italy.

The mast is specifically designed to meet as close as possible the bent shape of the star class mast. The spreaders pivots for and aft by 25 deg. while the mast step move backwards to accommodate the forward pivoting. It has been produce by King Spar (Valencia).

The rigging is made in Carbon by Carbo Force. The forestay and runners are in textile by Gottifredi Maffioli as well as all the running riggings. All the rigging is attached to the boat via loops and cable fittings opposed to metal fittings.

What else…We believe we have gone a long way down the road in order to implement a number of solutions and ideas to make a small boat a great project. Maybe she will not be the easiest boat to sail, but we have a great deal to learn yet and we strongly believe that most of these concepts could be used in future projects…particularly the rig to truly have a short handed crew considering that gennakers or spinnakers are not needed.

Stay tuned for further updates and better pictures and videos! For further info please contact

lorenzo@lucabrenta.com
www.lucabrenta.com

motivated

Looks good from here. Check it.

altlantic cup

addicted

When we last left off we were hootin and hollerin doing 18 knots in the gulf steam on Sunday. That day we reeled off easily 270 miles for an average of over 11 knots in 24 hours. We finally had to pry ourselves away from the conveyor belt to head northwest to NYC, but it was not easy. Monday was a good day with moderate southwesterly's making for smooth downwind sailing, although not near as fast. As we approached NY, we received a position report that we were in 2nd place, only 1.8 miles back from Campagne de France). However, the next report 3 hours later said Mare was in the lead, followed by Bodacious Dream and CdF with GS2 in 4th, so it was not clear to me what happened. Anyway we just focused on going fast and entered NY harbor at sunset and navigated through the 12 miles from Amrose light to the finish line off the Statue of Liberty. While it was good to not have drama, we missed the type of mano-a-mano gybing duel that Mare and CdF had up the Hudson River. We finished around 3:00 am outside North Cove Marina and were followed in by good friend and renowned marine photographer Billy Black, whose dedication to shorthanded sailing is legendary. Billy was there at 3:00 am as he always is, to welcome us in and get some great shots. Thank you, Billy. So, in retrospect and summary, we are relatively pleased with our 4th place showing in a very competitive fleet with a lot of good boats and skippers.

We wish we had started more aggressively and will try to do so in leg 2...; to get out of the blocks quicker. The boat looked only ok upwind and not so good in the super light stuff, but she is like a great skier on a Utah powder day carving turns and planing off at high speed going downwind with a big kite up. Really quite cool and addicting.

Next up - Saturday departure for leg 2 from NYC to Newport, which is home base for gs2. We hope to kick some serious French butt. And will be totally going for it in the 265 mile sprint up Long Island's South shore, past Block Island and into Narragansett Bay. Stay tuned and thanks for all the wonderful emails of support and urging to sail faster!! We appreciate it!

Cheers,
Joe Harris
GryphonSolo 2

hex rated

As good as the MCMs and teams have been with providing interesting and exciting video from the Volvo Ocean Race, there’s a gaping hole in their coverage:  Humor.  We’ve seen a few bits and pieces from most of the teams that make us laugh, but given how important funny movies are to mainstream interest, and how central laughter and joking around is to onboard life, it’s the one area we’ve been sorely disappointed in by the 2011-12 VOR media effort.  

Thankfully, the PUMAcast keeps delivering, and we’re pretty sure you’ll chuckle when you check out “Hex of the Hi-Five” above.  We also liked the latest PUMAcast ‘niblet’, a fun look at the crazy world of sailing superstitions called “No Pine Cones, No Ninja Weapons”.  It’s right here.

on the inside

Our friends at the Lauderdale Yacht Club Sailing Foundation alerted us to a great opportunity for both kids and adults to get the real inside info on PUMA, straight from Kenny Read and the crew. Come buy Mr. Clean a drink and see stuff that no one else in the world will.  It’s Wednesday – that’s tonight – so don’t screw around; RSVP right away for a show-and-tell you and your kids won’t forget.

Following 17 days racing up the Atlantic and through the Caribbean, the PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG crew won Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, sailing from Brazil to Miami onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro Volvo Open 70. While in South Florida, skipper Ken Read and members of the crew will spend an evening at the Lauderdale YC sharing stories and experiences from the first six legs of this year’s race.

Wednesday, May 16, will be PUMA night at LYC and all are welcome. Cocktails begin at 6:30 p.m., dinner served at 7:00 p.m. Witness incredible video, learn the heartbreaking story of dismasting on Leg 1, hear tales of the Southern Ocean, and join the crew in their pursuit of the podium. Presented by the LYC Sailing Foundation (LYCSF.org), the evening is targeting LYC’s youth sailors, who will have an opportunity to meet members of the PUMA crew – among the world’s top sailors.

Please RSVP to the LYC front desk. Children age 18 and under are $15, adults $30. The LYC Sailing Foundation was created to educate and assist sailing athletes ages 8 to 18 throughout South Florida.

the tick tock man

Big Ben showing the form - and the look - that has put him on top at the Finn Gold Cup. Awesome photos thanks to Mark Lloyd.

the win

fine filly

With an unprecedented international fleet of 15 Class 40s competing in The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing #115 Mare, skippered by Jörg Riechers and Ryan Breymaier, crossed the finish line first at 1:20:13 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 15, with an elapsed time of 78:55:13 to complete the 642 nautical mile first off-shore leg of the Atlantic Cup from Charleston, S.C. to New York Harbor. Video here. The race, the first carbon neutral sailing event in the United States, saw Germany’s Mare finish ahead of #101 Campagne de France (79:16:38), followed by two American boats in #Bodacious Dream (79:51:56) and Gryphon Solo 2(80:48:05), with France’s Eole Generation – GDZ Suez (81:50:45) rounding out the top five.

local knowledge

on the beach

My name is Ron van den Berg, I'm a Dutch Contender (NED 1263) dinghy sailor. I'm a member of the Sailing Club "Zeil Vereniging Noordwijk" ZVN. The sailing club is situated on the Northsea beach in Noordwijk aan Zee in the western  part of the Netherlands. We launch our boats directly from the beach and sail through the shorebreak. Most boats here are multihulls, but there are also monohulls. I'm not a regatta sailor, but my passion is to sail here, because of the element of the waves. I've edited my footage of season 2011 and have made the following movie. I hope you enjoy it!

no doubt

The National Sailing Hall of Fame will be selecting a class of 10 new inductees over the next several weeks.  No doubt there are many qualified sailors nominated.  Making the selection of just 10 sailors from the hundreds who deserve such an honor is not easy.  No doubt all 10 sailors that are inducted will be worthy.  One wonders why only 10 people will be allowed into the Hall this year.  It would seem in the early years it might make sense to induct 25 new members for the next few years simply because with more inductees there will be more interest in the Hall of Fame, and with that increased interest would come increased donations so the Hall could actually be built. You can read the  nomination process here.  Maybe we should lobby the Hall of Fame Board to increase the number of inductees each year.

It is hard to know exactly who has been nominated.  It is also unclear what sort of lobbying goes on to get a candidate into the Hall.   We all have favorites and no doubt many will be pushing for their favorites to get in.  The Ed and I happen to have one favorite, Carl Eichenlaub, who was nominated this year.  I know Carl has been nominated because several of Carl’s friends/Cadenza crew asked me to submit the nomination.

There are three categories for which a sailor can be nominated – accomplishment in sailing, technical, or service to the sport.  Carl qualifies in all three.  He won many regattas in a variety of dinghies, and sailed a series of “Cadenza’s” up and down the west coast.  Technically, he built many racing winning boats in classes like the Snipe, Lightning, Star and other one-design classes.  In big boats, his building of Doug Peterson’s “Ganbare” and what that did to the shape of IOR is legendary.  Plenty of other great IOR boats too – “Forte” and “Swiftsure” come to mind, along with a host of others.

But the thing Carl is probably most noted for is his work with the US Sailing Team as the shipwright from 1976-2004.  What many will remember of Carl is not all the help he gave US Sailors with their boats, which was often times significant, but it was the help he gave sailors from all countries during an Olympic of Pan Am regatta. Once his obligations to the US team were done for the day, Carl would help anyone who would ask.  US Sailing recognized Carl’s contribution to the sport in 2000 by giving him the Herrshoff Trophy, which is the highest honor in the organization.

While Carl has thousands of friends literally around the world, for those who never have had the chance to meet to listen to the Will Rogers of sailing, here is a nice  video of Carl talking about Snipes.  This Sports Illustrated article from 1965 with a quote from National Sailing Hall of Fame member Lowell North that just has to be read.  If you had ever been in Carl’s boatyard, you’ll instantly recognize what the author says about it, and smile knowing that somehow a winning boat came out of a place that was defined by its rather agricultural look.

Many of us think it would be great if Carl were inducted in the National Sailing Hall of Fame this year.  But if he doesn’t make it this year, he’ll make it one day soon.  In the mean time, add your stories of Carl here. - Peter Huston.

home stretch

Ben Poucher on Icarus Racing tells us his strategy for the final few miles of the Atlantic Cup as they head towards North Cove Marina in New York. Congrats toRyan Breymaier and Jorg Riechers for holding on to a tenuous lead all the way to the finish on MARE.

sailing science

A bit promotional, but for you tech geeks, this sounds interesting...

When a slick Volvo Open 70 like PUMA’s Mar Mostro, sporting a state-of-the-art Nortek Doppler Velocity Log (DVL), arrives in a city that several of the foremost ocean and atmospheric scientists  call home, an exciting and insightful discussion is bound to ensue. As the PUMA Ocean Racing  team charge ahead toward the finish line of Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race  2011-12 in Miami, scientists, engineers, and performance analysts are coordinating an effort on  knowledge sharing. The group has pulled together a panel discussion titled, “Science Meets  Offshore Sailing: How Ocean and Weather Forecasting Models Help Around-the-World Sailors.”  The forum will be open to the public and allow engineers, modelers, and sailors to compare notes  as teams prepare for a leg in which ocean currents will play a key role in their strategy.

Panel organizers include modelers at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and  Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS)  along with engineers at Nortek and PUMA’s Robert Hopkins, who has been assembling current  tracks collected by the Nortek DVL at the conclusion of each leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.  Hopkins sits in the rare position of comparing current models with PUMA’s own current  measurements taken using the Nortek DVL. He has been overlaying these tracks with ocean  current models, noticing both similarities and differences with this unique data set. To be held 9:30 AM, Thursday, May 17 Conrad Miami 1395 Brickell Avenue , Miami  More here.

what up, bub?

Javier Sanso, aka Bubi, of the EcoPowered Imoca 60 ACCIONA is clearly an Anarchist, which we of course absolutely dig.

the fastnet

A multinational fleet of Mini 6.50s set off in the sunshine from Plymouth for  a trip out to the Fastnet Rock and back in the Royal Western Yacht Club's  annual mini-Fastnet race. The sunshine didn't last and before long they were  heading into the grey wet stuff. Many of the crews are using the race as part  of their preparation for the Mini-Transat. The racing is pretty close with  less than 0.2 of a mile between the first two after 24hours. Tracking is  available here.

atlantic cup on board

morning commute

The morning position report found GryphonSolo2 in second place, trailing only the wiley crew on Campagne de France by a mere 1.8 miles. We now have the scent of blood in the air and are on full court press - Tristan has been baying at the moon - as any one of a handful of boats could win this race with 100 miles left to go. We are VMG running to the Big Apple, (going straight downwind as efficiently as possible) and gybing on wind shifts and the position of our competitors. A projected finish time in the wee hours of Tuesday morning is looking possible, which will be good so the paparazzi don't bother us too much as we step ashore (right). So for now, we have too much energy and not enough to do, so we will brood and plot and kibitz and re-hash the same issue 5 times and come to the same conclusion.

So that is the morning report from GS2 - here's hoping your morning commute went well and please send us positive vibrations via neurotransmitters or on VHF channel 27. 

Cheers
Joe Harris 

a show of forza

American sailors should be embarrassed that we can barely muster a few dozen boats to welcome in the leg-winning PUMA Volvo boat to Miami, especially when Italy puts literally hundreds of boats on the water for what are essentially practice races for this week’s Venice AC45 event.  The real fun begins on the 17th, and all the goss is in the Venice thread.  And a note to all you Miami boat owners:  Get your fucking rides out on the water for the VOR start next Sunday and show Florida and the media that we’re proud of our sailors too!  Thanks to Ellen Hoke for the shot of the Grand Canal in Venice.

the descendants

Every single modern high performance dinghy in the world owes its basic parameters to Kiwi-born Frank Bethwaite, who passed on last week at age 92, as does pretty much every asymmetric-equiped sportboat, and arguably even the high-performance planing yachts that dominate the pointy end of the sport.  His contribution to so many areas of our sport has been immeasurable, and to top it off he, was an incredibly humble and generous man. A meteorological pathfinder, groundbreaking sailing author, airline and air force pilot, as well as the father of two Olympian and multiple world champions, “Legend” doesn’t even begin to describe him. Our thoughts go out Frank’s substantial family and a huge group of friends and admirers,  and to the Kiwi and Aussie community that has lost a true giant in the history of performance sailing.

A more complete (if slightly outdated) bio of Frank is here,and share your thoughts in the thread.

the big screen

The world’s most highly regarded sports network’s sailing coverage has long been plagued by ESPN commentator Gary Jobson’s focus on the most boring types of racing possible, but this year they turned over a new leaf, sending a full production team down to St. Martin for the Heineken Regatta.  Here’s a 23-minute show on the best of the week, hosted by the delicious Jo Ankier and featuring lots from perennial Caribbean cheerleader Jaime Torres, as well as a pile of other anarchists, plenty of onboard action, and a great feature on the boat that launched S&S – Dorade.  Click the pic to see the show.

big pimpin'

i am the sig

The hot Sig 45 cruising cat was launched three years ago, but Hugo Le Breton has had a tough road getting the ultra-high performance to production.  It looks like he’s got the kinks ironed out, thanks in part to moving production to US builder Westerly Marine, and Sig 45 number 2 hit the water a couple of weeks ago to the satisfaction of her new US-based owner.  The VPLP-designed speedboat hit 25 knots in her first outing, and she’ll be playing in Puerto Vallarta for a couple of months before heading to San Fran for some fun in the big breeze.

“We now have a yard and tooling in the United States, ready to start on the next SIG45. We have noted a surge in interest over the last months, and expect to close a deal for the next SIG45 in the short-term. We are also working on new models of 60 and 80 feet in response to specific enquiries,” Hugo said.

How cool to see yet another hot design (from another long-time supporter of SA) coming out of a US yard.  Check ‘em out here.  And thanks to Top Gear for prompting the title.

cape crusaders

Ben Poucher and Tim Fetsch aboard Icarus Racing continue to hang with the newer boats at the front of the Atlantic Cup fleet as they pass by the Outer Banks.  That let Mr. Clean get a nice clear cell phone call off to Poucher for a short discussion on what they’ve faced and what lies ahead.  Check it.

on board

knocking on wood

Also from the Atlantic Cup, Joe Harris on GryphonSolo 2...

We have just rounded Cape Hatteras, under sunny skies and mellow southerly breeze of about 10-12 knots. Hatteras was our first goal and turning mark to head North to New York City, so it feels good to get around, although we not as far up in the fleet as we would like. All we can do is keep trying our best and hope that a little good luck flows our way. We are in the gulf stream, so we now have a 3 knot current boost to our speed, so we are travelling about 10 knots through the water and about 13 knots over the ground. I imagine most of the boats are in the same position, so the big question is how long to stay in the fast current of the gulf stream heading northeast before turning left and heading on a more northerly course to the entrance to NY harbor. It is a time-speed-distance equation and everyone has to estimate the trade-off of extra speed while headed slightly away from the mark versus heading straight at the mark at slightly slower speeds. While we do have routing software to help crunch these numbers, ours does not have the gulf stream current data, so it would like us to go straight up the Delaware and NJ coasts. Time will tell with over 300 miles left to go.

Meanwhile, all is well on the good ship GS2, with no breakages or malfunctions thus far, knock on plastic. We have noticed that our bow sprit is flexing a bit more than it should side -to-side, so we are not loading up the big reaching kites as much as we would like as we really do not want to blow up the sprit. It is a bit frustrating to be going downwind under solent jib instead of our A3 masthead gennaker, and I am about to go on deck to make the change and hopefully see the speedo jump. After being right next to 40 Degrees when her mast cracked and went over the side after the start, we are not anxious to see splintering carbon.

So, I will sign off for now and plan to be back online with more news later today. Track em here.

page 2