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Sports Car


Your Ed got a ride on the 100' maxi Alfa Romeo today in Long Beach, CA for a Transpac practice. To say the boat was impressive would be quite an understatement. In this shot with the smallest kite up, we were cruising at a steady 18, keel canted and two tons of water ballast. Jesus, what a machine. Full report tomorrow. This great shot from Peter Drasnin - here's one that shows the whole kite. Funny, it looked big on the boat!

07/02/09

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ac dope

Zilla Madness

With less than a week left until the expected unveiling of both Alinghi's and at least some portion of BMW/Oracle's AC boats, the rumor, information, and disinformation about both boats is reaching fever pitch.  Already today, anarchists from all over the globe are reporting power winches, water ballast, hard sail and soft sail models, capsize-surviving durability, that recurring variable geometry, and that's just the reasonably credible stuff.  Got a crazy rumor to add to the mix?  Might as well start your own thread in AC Anarchy; it seems that is what everyone else is doing!

Unfortunately, we'll need to wait a bit longer to see who's right and who's crazy, despite Alinghi's (friendly) media (only) unveiling on July 3rd,  You see, those journalists have all signed confidentiality agreements embargoing their words for a few days after they see it; an old PR trick that gets the writers and their publications top billing around the world, since their stories are polished and ready to go while everyone else is scrambling.  Hopefully, after they wipe Bertarelli's money shot off their face and dust off their knees, they'll write something interesting and useful, though we wouldn't hold our breath.

As for BMW/Oracle, we'll get up close and personal with them soon enough.

07/02/09

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Trouble in Torbole


Italian Finn/Star veteran Silvio Santoni gets bitten by an errant gust on Lake Garda on Wednesday during a test sail of the D-One, caught by French photog Pierrick Contin. Contin and Meredith Block will both be contributing pictures from the Melges 24 Volvo Cup in Torbole, Italy.

07/02/09

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counterpoint

Never Never Land

A counterpoint to our Never Say Never piece, lower on this page, from anarchist Kantakerous Kate.

Despite endless proof to the contrary, there still remains a cadre of holdouts who seem unable to let go of their mantra that “sailing will never be a spectator sport.” 

That is how you started the “Never say Never” bullshit. What endless proof? Someone sends a photo of a few thousand Swedes watching the VOR and you decide it means sailing is a spectator sport. You didn’t notice all those Islands and peninsulas and lakes? Well, I’ve got news for you, they are the reason that EVERYONE has a boat in Sweden and, regardless of the VOR, would be out on the water on a sunny weekend, sunbathing off some island, or elk watching on a lake. Going by your logic, that must make sun bathing and elk watching spectator sports and I suppose I must concede that the “Show us your tits” brigade might see sunbathing that way.

What were the other things you mentioned? Oh yes, “the fabulously successful” iShares Cup. Well of course people are going to watch the iShares. Strolling along Amsterdam quays, or Hyeres seafront are usual weekend pastimes and, if something that looks part way to being exciting is happening on the water the strollers are going to stop and stare. You don’t have to know anything about sailing to figure that a passel of fast boats, careering around a short tight course, is a recipe for catastrophe, so they stay and wait for it. Do you think they’d stay if a bunch of cruising yachts were milling about in some incomprehensible regatta, where nobody who isn’t taking part has a clue who’s winning? As for the Vendée, those tens of thousands don’t go to Les Sables to watch sail racing, they go to cheer their heroes and France is the only country in the world where sailors get hero status.

Yeah, we know all about Virtual Spectator and how could we forget On the Water Anarchy when its hugely successful presenter keeps ramming down our throats how hugely successful it is, but do you seriously expect non-sailors to start tuning in to Clean’s every wind drowned, advertiser plugging word, whilst looking in awe at his shots of the Bonga Regatta, or whatever two bit event has let him career around their racecourse?

“Never mind Morning Light's flop in US theatres” you blithely say, because it doesn’t support your ridiculous notion that sailing is, or will ever be a spectator sport. You should have tried reading the reviews and you’d have seen that “dull”, “mighty dull”, “a yawn” and other expressions of boredom were the reasons it flopped. The New York Times summed it up by saying “Morning Light never finds a way to make us care who wins.” Of course it didn’t, because nobody among the masses gives a damn who wins any sail boat race, unless they happen to be French and the race is around the world.

You claim that “sailing is now on the minds of more of the public than ever before”. Who says? Did you walk around San Diego and Charleston and ask “Is sailing more on your mind than ever?” Of course not and the truth is there’s sod all evidence that Joe Public gives a damn about watching sail racing, nor ever will except for the America’s Cup and potential crash, or sink stuff.

Instead of spouting nonsense and insulting guys like Dennis Connor, get it into your heads that sailing is a participant sport and mostly downright boring to watch and figure some ways of getting more people on the water. On the other hand, you could take a leaf out of the French book and try figuring out how to turn American ocean sailors into heroes. Oh dear, I forgot you don’t have any.

Kantankerous Kate

07/02/09

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Not So Rapid


Despite what they said, we knew it looked unlikely that the new Antrim 49 Rapid Transit would be ready for Transpac, and sure enough it is not. Too bad as the thing looks like quite a weapon. Oh well, they have a full slate planned and for sure we'll get out on it for a full report. Btw, three rudders??

07/02/09

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race report

The Other CRW

While Charleston Race Week seems to get all the press, Cleveland Race Week is one of the last true race weeks in the US that this anarchist is aware of: it spans two weekends and weekly night racing for 9 days, and I think the fact that Lake Erie sailors have to pack a year’s worth of sailing into four months has something to do with the events long lasting success. And the Edgewater Yacht Club, on the shores of Lake Erie just west of downtown Cleveland, does a great job of catering to everything from Jet 14 dinghies to 36.7s and big PHRF cruisers.  
The first weekend gets things going with strictly One Design Racing, including the 24 boat J-22 Fleet won by Jim Barnash on Thunder Chicken, and the 21 boat T-10 Fleet won by the ever present Heidi Riddle on Nuts.  For Results go here

Through the week the PHRF action heats up, with Thursday kicking off the real series for the PHRF fleets and the Beneteau 36.7 fleet.  That is, the race was scheduled, but mother nature had other ideas; 40 knots from the wrong direction and a hellacious thunderstorm kept everyone at the dock.  The wind alone caused the normally quiet basin to rise about 3 feet, and two boats were reportedly hit by lightning.  Needless to say, everyone stayed at the dock eating gumbo and sausage, washed down by adult beverages.  Video here

Friday night started the last PHRF racing with a nice points-to-points “Where’s Waldo” deal.  You know, the crowded roundings, fast boats shoving slow ones out of the way, yelling, and general mayhem that is PHRF racing.  Great conditions rounded out the weekend with close racing and no shortage of breeze on Saturday and  Sunday (20 kts, building to 40 Sunday on our delivery back.)  The action was close in several fleets including a tiebreaker in PHRF A between two Melges 32s, with Robert Hesse’s 'Lake Effect' coming out on top, and the 36.7s mixing it up with 4 out of 7 boats getting a bullet.  Mark and Bill Cummings’s 'Big Electric Cat' wound up on top in the class by one point.  For more results from 10 classes go here.

Cleveland is one of those places you would never expect to have such an event.  What makes it interesting to me is that not a lot of boats from off Lake Erie attend; this is a truly local event, but it is so good that most every raceboat from within a couple hours away shows up. This makes it a pretty tight-knit group that has just as much fun off the water as they do on the water.  Evidence:  belly dancers on the first weekend, 10 bucks for the wristband for all week, the SA Group Grope headed up as always by anarchist Zar and the general mentality of the crowd … although some of the Cleveland sailors try like hell to take out the competition by getting other crews wasted and keeping them up to the wee hours, hoping they won’t be able to see straight in the morning.

Thanks to all the Anarchists that represented the near-150 boat turnout for CRW (the other one) this year, and the sponsors for making the event happen.
-Sailnclimb

07/02/09

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OTW

Back to Basics

There is clearly something very bizarre about Melges racing and Italy. As the rest of the world suffers, somehow the Italians continue to rack up record fleets at all major M24 events, while Melges Europe is selling Melges 20s and 32s literally faster than they can get them. We came to Torbole to see what the hell is going on; what is causing all this success for sportboat racing in southern Europe, and how can North Americans learn something about it?

The answers are coming and they're not necessarily what you might expect, and in the meantime, we figured our Anarchist friends might like to watch some M24 racing. So we decided to give a little OTW Anarchy a shot, but without all the support and budget that we've become used to. Nope, we're going back to basics:

No big sponsors (though Point Loma Outfitting's Patagonia technical shirts are heaven in this heat)
No special SA-TV viewer, no big money or big production
No big pro video camera
No staff of mark rounding spotters and scorers.
No high speed wireless on the water

Nope, just Mer and I on a little RIB, running back and forth between the course and the media office, but it should be worth it. There are an astonishing 70 boats here despite it not being a European, national or world championship; in fact, it's hardly a serious event at all, at least judged by the attitudes of the sailors here. Everyone is mellow and enjoying themselves, ready for some fun racing and very fun partying in one of the world's most beautiful places to sail.

We are going to do our best to send out some slightly delayed reporting, though our obstacles are huge and our delays may prove long. For North American readers, that's probably not that big a deal, since by 11 AM EST, you should be able to see some of the action here. And when I say "action," I mean it; if you've never been here, it's hard to understand just how much is going on in a 10 NM stretch of water.

Today I raced on Pocket Rocket, an older boat, for the little 20NM practice race against 15 other boats. On the 2 hour beat, we sailed near or through the following fleets: I-420 (minimum 100 boats), RS K6 (20+ boats), new 49er training for Worlds next week (2 different groups of 5+ boats), 6 lasers, 50 sailboards, and numerous random keelboats. To complicate matters while making them even more carbolicious, three new(ish) boats are sharing dock space with the M24s as part of Volvo's "Test Drive" program, which lets interested sailors take out the new Devoti D-One, the canting keel Linq CQ-6, and the Laser SB3.

Mer raced on Majica, and led all boats to the top mark, while we were DFL. Funnily enough, her team went from first to last in mere minutes and finished just behind us, while both teams had a great time on the water. And now that we've gotten a little taste of racing on Lake Garda, we're ready to watch the week unfold. Hopefully you'll join us for some of the ride.

07/02/09

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match game

Chance

Spectators came in droves for repechage day at the Swedish round of the World Match Racing Tour, lounging in swim suits on boats and on the rocks overlooking the race area as eight teams battled for two remaining quarter final spots. Just four of the seven flight repechage had been completed, by the end of the day, with Sebastien Col, Ian Williams, Johnie Berntsson and Peter Wibroe all ending with three wins. 

Danish sailor Peter Wibroe was delighted to be still in the hunt, as he’d received a late invite so had less preparation time than other teams. “I am satisfied with how we are going. We know the boats well and our boat handling and tactics have been good. We love being here having followed the event for many years from back home in Denmark. The venue is just perfect. Tomorrow will be a really tough day as 6 teams could still get through. It will probably be light in the morning when we race but we’re comfortable with light and shifty. It is all still to play for.”

Reining Swedish champion Mattias Rahm and current tour leader Adam Minoprio scored two wins apiece, whilst Bjorn Hansen and Francesco Bruni went away empty handed. Pic from Dan Ljungsvik and plenty more here.

07/02/09

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Never Say Never


Despite endless proof to the contrary, there still remains a cadre of holdouts who seem unable to let go of their mantra that “sailing will never be a spectator sport.”   Hell, even Hobie Alter and Dennis Conner told us as much during their Innerviews last year, but if you're not as old as these guys, you really don't have any excuse for this archaic thinking anymore. 

It's nearly impossible to ignore hundreds of thousands of people turning out for sailing events; like the fabulously successful iShares Cup, the Vendee Globe start, and the more and more near-to-shore events that seem to be popping up lately.  Or how about the millions of viewers around the world of the race trackers that are part of almost every major race now?  What about the hugely popular Volvo Ocean Race Game, Gucci spectating solutions like the MedCup's Virtual Spectator, post-race trackers like Kattack, and of course, near live (and soon to be fully live) video coverage from On-The-Water Anarchy?  Never mind Morning Light's flop in US theaters; the fact is that sailing is now on the minds of more of the public than ever before.  If you want some visual proof, start with this photo, taken by our friends at the Swedish Coast Guard during the Stockholm VOR in-port race.

There are 2808 spectator boats in that photo, with an average of about 15 living, breathing people on each one.  That means that more than 42,000 people came out to actually watch a pair of races off Sweden, a country whose national football arena can hold 36,000.  Numbers don't lie, and the future may be bright indeed - at least in Sweden!  If you've ever been curious about how one counts this many boats, here's your answer.  And if you wonder what 3000 boats looks like on radar, click here.

07/01/09

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Viva Osh Vegas

On Thursday 20 A Scows arrived in Oshkosh to battle it out for the 5th annual NCASA National Championships. Oshkosh hosted the first ever NCASA regatta and it was fun to go back to the “scene of the crime” so to speak and battle it out on 'big brown.'

The temps and the humidity were borderline unbearable as we rigged up in the parking lot, which more closely resembled a griddle than a lot. With the lake a few steps away, one might think a quick dip to cool off was in order.  However, the color and the consistency of the Lake Winnebago water is more than enough of a deterrent to keep most everyone in the hotbox. Lies were told, beers flowed and the 20 boats were rigged for battle. A few teams snuck out to grab a quick practice sail while the late afternoon sea breeze filled, which was good enough to bring the core temperature down to a decent level. After the journey out to the wild brown yonder the dinner spot for all the teams was almost unanimously the Roxy, the finest supper club in Oshkosh, where the famous question is asked by some of the oldest…err…I mean, most experienced waitresses in the world, ”Soup or Tomato Juice? “HUH?” was pretty much the reaction had by most. I opted for the cold cucumber soup since I couldn’t get my tomato juice in my preferred format, infused with copious amounts of vodka. The soup was good, but we did have one team member that bit the bullet and got the juice.  After watching Team Melvin hammer down 2 boots of beer we decided to get outta there before they included us in that age old tradition of swapping DNA with your team by way of sharing beer in a glass boot. Off to the hotel bar to tell more lies and catch up with old friends. Read on.

07/01/09

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Half Way There

Looks like we are getting some momentum for our Sailing Anarchy Sportboat regatta - 26 entries so far and we'd say that getting to our maximum of 50 entries may happen pretty quickly. We are also happy to announce Open Sailing Inc (dealers for the Open 6.50, Open 5.70 & Open 5.00) and Point Loma Outfitting have signed on as two of our premier sponsors. Needless to say, there will be Open boats and some great gear at the event...

The regatta is September 26 and 27 in San Diego and is going to be a good one - grab a sportboat and get your ass out here!

07/01/09

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vid

Runt


Ya gotta wonder how much of these sort of interviews a guy like him can take....

07/01/09

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race report

Bring It

From onboard the Class 40 Team Keysouce...

After the GP Petit Navire where we placed 7th, we double handed the Transmanche en Double placing a 5th, expectations were high for the fully crewed Record SNSM based out of St Nazaire.

Now St Nazaire isn’t the most attractive of destinations on the French West Coast but the French make such an effort with these events the whole place was buzzing and they’d set up a great race village around the main yacht basin with the Open 60’s, Class 40’s, multis and a handful of IRC boats on display. Lots of events happening over the Saturday and Sunday before the offshore started on the Sunday. One of the highlights had to be Mich Dejoyeaux match racing Bernard Stamm in the dock on little dinghies (see attached snap) – Le Proffeseur winning it in incredibly fluky wind conditions.

The course for the 40’s and the IRC boats was 230 miles, the 60’s had to race a longer course at 400 or so miles. The start on Sunday afternoon involved the whole fleet going into the lock watched by thousands of keen French sailing fans with all the boats being announced on the tannoy and getting great cheers from the fans. We were really buzzing and it’s just so different from racing in the UK – awesome.

As ever we had no decent French speakers on board so didn’t really have a clue when we were starting, in fact we put in a couple of ‘practise’ starts before actually working out the right start!
We started with the 60’s and the multihulls on a one sided beat, clear air was the order of the day so we started on the starboard end of the line and above all of the bigger boats- Stamm and Jourdren on Cheminees Pujoulat were the main guys to watch out for and they got absolute screwed over and rolled by the 60’s at the start – great for us, not so good for them.
Worked the first few miles really hard and by the time we were out of the main channel we were leading with Cheminees chasing hard - an amazing feeling for the whole team.
Our overall strategy was to hang right on the first half of the race as we were expecting a decent right hand shift – 20 marks of the course certainly kept us busy on nav. Tactically we were really keen to stay with the pack – this was only our third 40 event and we really don’t know enough about pace and how to sail these boats and reckoned that we’d learn most by keeping near everyone else.

So, surprised as we were about leading, we decided to just place a loose cover on Cheminees – he had the same strategy as us though so we kept hanging out on the right.
After over 5 hours at the front of the pack, and keeping Cheminees around a third of a mile behind us,  the third placed boat was well in the distance, maybe a couple of miles behind. We then sailed into our first hole as dusk fell, Cheminees saw this and sailed around us – also most of the rest of the fleet caught up while we were stuck in two tenths of fuck all – very annoying.
Finally got going again and reeled in a couple of the boats that had taken us and moved back up to 2nd overnight.

At the turning mark it was light and shite again, Cheminees probably half a mile in front and we were being closely followed by Ixus a Pogo – those things seem really slippery in the light.
Worked hard to keep them behind us and slowly crept forward also catching up on Cheminees. Then the next hole came which took us by surprise – all of sudden Cheminees was almost last and we were dog last- 50 degree unexpected shift gifted it to the back markers – second really annoying moment of the race.

Very tempting to take a flyer at this stage as we were pretty disgusted to have been doing so well and then getting shit out the back but we decide to man up, bank the loss and chase the fleet (Cheminees did the same). We were now light airs running and we don’t have a light airs VMG sail – our big runner is way too long in the luff and broad shouldered for this so we really suffered when the breeze was sub ten knots – used the zero for a whole and then the fractional blast runner flown from the mast head but really tough to keep up with the fleet.

Late in the afternoon on the Monday the breeze started to fill in a little more solid and we got our big runner up – still not the best sail but the best we had.  We carried on fighting to get back in touch – we were still hanging out toward the back of the fleet at this stage.
Throughout the night, determination and hard worked started to pay off as we picked off boats one by one – took our last boat at around three in the morning and then pushed on for the finish coming in third.

Although knackered after a tough race, the team was on a complete high with this placing - we’d have taken 3rd at the start if it was offered and particularly when we were last! Keysource is now in Les Sables and we’re off to meet her in France next week in preparation for the double handed race to the Azores – 24 boats competing and Soldini back in the fleet so there’s plenty to aim for. I’m racing the first leg with Mike ‘Senior’ West the owner and the second leg back with Ian ‘Bag’ Bartlett our boat captain. 1,250 mile each way so think it’s gonna be an awesome race.  Bring it on!

07/01/09

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Fidel, Hike!

Just over a year ago in the Regatta al Sol, racers from the Gulf Coast were getting scoped out by curious, high speed Cuban Navy patrolboats. For five days after leaving Pensacola, they had battled each other while divining the eddies of the massive 5 knot plus Loop Current pouring between Cuba and Isla Mujeres into the Gulf of Mexico. Steeled for the regatta’s endgame, they knew in their hot rum addled yanqui minds that Havana – that most exotic of the Gulf’s destinations – was now only a quick daysail away.

At that time, little did they know that a democrat named Obama would become President and start a movement towards dismantling a nonsensical Bush doctrine enacted in 2000. Bush had put real teeth into enforcement and jailing of sailboat racers and regatta organizers who only wanted to consume Havana Club Siete Anos a bit closer to the bottling source via several different races. Thusly the Gulf Coast’s Cuba racing traditions were run hard aground or pushed deep underground.

While yeah, Gulf Coast sailors are legendary in their appetites, but the whole idiocy of Bush sitting in the Oval Office and thinking that these sailors would smoke and booze their way into propping up a dictatorship is hilarious, albeit a badge of honor.

Now Havana beckons again. Exploratory race committees have already formed and the infamous stories are pouring out at the Gulf Coast YC bars – and the little Cuban bartender hots can finally rest assured that the inebriated promises of yanqui sailors returning to the city are for real.

- Troy Gilbert

07/01/09

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race report

Team Up

On June 27-28, Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club (CCYC) in Chicago, IL hosted the Windy City Team Race. Saturday allowed for some great team racing with low to medium breeze, and Sunday delivered exciting racing with steady big breeze. Local team Fair and Balanced with skippers Craig Thompson, JB Turney and Ned Turney won the event and earned a berth at the U.S. Team Racing Championship for the George R. Hinman Trophy after a best of 5 final against the second place Team Laser Performance with skippers Taylor Canfield, Matt Clark and Andrew Keane. Racing was very close in the top 4 teams leaving a tie for 3rd place awarded to CCYC teams Happy Factor with Martin Johnnson, Augi Hernandez, and Josh Henrich and The Montrose Saloon skippered by Ben Marden, Andy Graff and Hunter Ratliff. Vickie Matthews served as PRO and Betsy Altman as Chief Umpire.

Complete results and photos right here.

07/01/09

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Sail On

We just heard that Paul Yates, founder of the Merit 25, has passed away. Unfortunately we don't know much more than that, but are sorry to hear this news. The 25 was a very popular little boat, springing up in Southern California and fast right away. Often accused of being little more than a narrowed J/24, the 25 was a good boat and still wins races all over the country. There is a thread should you care to join in.

07/01/09

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SA Worlds

Go!

So we have 16 boats signed up so far for the First Annual Sailing Anarchy Sportboat World Championship of the World regatta to be held here in dago, September 26, 27. There is not a better place to sail than in San Diego's south bay, and we want to get as many signed up as soon as possible. Entries are limited to 50, so get on it!



http://www.corsairmarine.com/

http://www.sailinganarchy.com

http://www.mcconaghyboats.com/

http://www.isailfast.com/

http://www.velocitek.us/

http://www.FarrYachtSales.com

http://www.photoboat.com/

http://www.edsonmarine.com/

http://caribbeanracing.com/

http://www.forespar.com/

http://www.wichard-usa.com

http://www.quantumsails.com/

http://www.fastcomposites.ca/

http://landingschool.org/

http://www.lebreton-yachts.com/

http://www.rbsbattens.com/

http://www.sailinganarchy.com

http://www.sailingsportboats.com

http://www.j24class.org/usa/

http://www.hiptrader.com/

http://www.camet.com/

http://www.cstcomposites.com/

http://www.ullmansails.com/

http://www.dryshirt.com

http://www.archambault-boats.ca

http://www.lidgardsails.com/

http://www.syd-e.com

http://www.moxieyachts.com/

http://www.ecampus.com/merch_detail.asp?item=31648194