up above it

Anyone that doubted the wisdom of taking an event like the VOR to China should take a look before opening their mouth. Today. Monday is a work day and although the event Village isn't 'push through' crowded, there are healthy queues at all the attractions and busy is a more than accurate description. And Sanya remains the local darling. Winch area damage does not seem to be too severe, btw. Shanghai Sailor.

ac worth? less

An Open Letter to America’s Cup Event Authority Chairman Richard Worth

The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention the concern that many of us share in the direction that you are taking the marketing aspects of the America’s Cup, and to offer suggestions for improvement.

I speak not as an individual; however I do have experience with ACEA as an individual through my association with Paul Henderson and Kevin Reed of Red Maple Racing, a life long association with the sport, and an experienced background in entertainment marketing, including sailing. Rather, I speak as someone who gets constantly asked by friends within the sailing community about what is up with the Cup. They want to place blame on Golden Gate YC for not reaching out to the sailing community and not telling the story of what’s up with the Cup. The blame is not GGYC’s, the blame is yours.

As much as you and the rest of the staff at ACEA might want to spin things, in addition to your failure to reach the sailing community, of those few people you have reached, you have alienated far too many, for no good reason. “Out with the Flintstones and in with the Facebook” was just the start. Many of us grew up with the Flintstones, and have a Facebook page. Announcing ACWS dates, but no venues, and then never fulfilling those dates, as recently as this January. Why have announced dates with no venues too often not materialized? Is it because you had completely unrealistic venue fee pricing expectations based your completely unrealistic and unsustainable event production budget? A checkered flag at the finish line? Seriously? In a day and age when “authentic” is a big buzz word, what is authentic about taking something that is a signature within motorsports and using it in sailing?

Obviously, the front page story in the San Francisco Chronicle Saturday morning said all that needed to be said about the overhype that ACEA has had about projected attendance figures for Cup events. Those of us in the game a year ago knew that ACEA was spouting utter nonsense with those attendance projections. No wonder the City is now giving ACEA very justifiable pushback.

But those are small problems in the scheme of things. Currently, Grant Dalton is screaming that the Cup is not any less expensive than in the past, and is in fact 20% more expensive. Grant is also citing the fact there are only three billionaires and his team currently entered in the 2013 America’s Cup. As a part of one of the teams who a year ago took a very hard look at entering the ACWS and the America’s Cup, I have a decent idea what the costs are, and while we can debate Grant’s statements, the bigger issue than costs is the abject lack of definable media expose for potential sponsors. A year ago ACEA had no real set schedule for ACWS events, and no real media schedule. During the last year, nothing much has changed, including your assumption that broadcasters are going to line up in a bidding war for TV rights. That is not going to happen, especially in the US. If you had signed major TV broadcast partners, you’d be talking about them. Instead, we got press releases about the chef in Cascais. If you had signed major broadcast partners, it is highly likely we’d have more than the current three challengers entered.

Many people think more teams aren’t announcing their entry into the ACWS or Cup because they can’t find sponsorship money. I don’t know about other teams, but I do know about Red Maple. A year ago the issue was not finding interested and willing sponsors, the issue was being able to assure those sponsors that ACEA, meaning YOU, would come through with ACWS venues and a major media schedule. Red Maple elected to not go forward because there was no evidence you were going to perform as would have been necessary to satisfy those sponsors. Those teams who did not go forward are probably relieved they did not. Those teams that are still in the game and are hanging on by their fingernails are still waiting with bated breath for the announcement of your ACWS venues and dates, and for the TV package to be announced.

Simply put, the teams who rely on sponsorship to make it to the starting line in 2013 will not be there unless you announce ACWS venues and dates and your TV distribution package within a couple of weeks. The sooner the better. It almost does not matter what the package is, it just matters that there is something concrete to point to. For the prospective teams to obtain sponsorship there MUST be a media schedule that is actually in place. The most bizarre part about all this is that you cited ESPN2 in the ACEA Media Footprint document which was circulated last year, yet you had not made a deal with ESPN. The single thing that you could do immediately to start to reverse the trend of negative publicity that is currently besieging the America’s Cup is to make a deal with ESPN, and announce it. YouTube is amusing and all, but ESPN brings to the table the credibility that you lack, and which the America’s Cup needs, right now. The group of people who are most likely to come to San Francisco in the greatest numbers for the Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup are people from the US, particularly those who are lifelong fans of the America’s Cup. Why you have essentially ignored the US market is beyond our comprehension.

Sure, there will be an America’s Cup in 2013 in San Francisco. But instead of a grand spectacle, it will be a whimper if no more than three challengers show up. Three challengers is a race, but it is not a regatta, and it is certainly not much of a show.

Right now, because of ACEA’s abject failings Golden Gate YC and the America’s Cup have a very serious credibility problem, largely because you as the Chairman of ACEA, the marketing arm for the Cup, completely over hyped and constantly under delivered on virtually every single thing you set out to do. So, the question is now: Are you just like ‘Captain Coward’ Francesco Schettino of the sunken Italian luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, seeking refuge in a life raft that is just another ACEA spin city press release? Or, are you man enough to step up to the helm in the storm that you have driven the America’s Cup into as a result of your poor tactics, do the right thing for the Cup and the sport, and finally make some media and venue deals that sponsors can rely on so that they can agree to support teams who want to enter the 2013 America’s Cup? - Peter Huston. Comment here.

on board

pissing down



This leg will be remembered as the ultimate test of patience and resilience, it's been just over a week since we left Wellington, two boats have turned around and headed back in the first big South Pacific blow whilst we pressed on with the full knowledge that it was not going to get
better any time soon. After a little break of lighter conditions when the wind switched from South Easterly to North Easterly, we are again beating our brains to mash in 30-35 knots of wind under triple reefed main and staysail.

Ahead of us Cessna Citation sailing at similar speeds to us, behind Phesheya Racing has encountered some very nasty cross seas and has been forced to heave-to, heaving to is a school book technique to basically stop the boat and wait for things to get better, it is surprisingly
comfortable and after all the slamming and banging all goes quiet and you can preserve boat and materials in conditions which may otherwise be too risky to sail in...

We are doing well on board and have adopted a 6 hours on and 6 hours off watch system, this allows to eat, trim, email, check the weather and perhaps watch a movie during your watch followed by a long rest in the bunk, you don't really get to sleep the entire time as the slamming and banging is so loud and uncomfortable that you just drift in an out a weird state of daydreaming. Outside it's so wet that I've even given up on going out for a piss, and when nature calls I piss in a bucket then chuck it into the cockpit through the companion way...

We have another 12 hours before any significant improvement, as usual we simply hope meanwhile everything holds together as we venture further and further away from any land, we are now 1700 miles directly south of Papeete in the French Polynesia. - Marco Nannini from the GOR.

02/06/12

anniversary bash

Last weekend saw a reported 9,000 to10,000 boats on Waitemata Harbour for Auckland Anniversary Day, but festivities ended on the bottom for the gorgeously restored 1939 Logan-designed K-Class yacht “Gypsy”. The sloop was sailing in the Anniversary Regatta when she was reportedly ‘run over’ by the Davidson 65 Antaeus, helmed by former Maximus owner Charles St. Clair Brown. Antaeus was under power, and St. Clair Brown told reporters that he “just literally didn’t see them” before slicing through the woody’s hull.

Gypsy owner John Pryor and his partner Jill Hetherington somehow escaped with their lives, St. Clair Brown helping with the rescue when he ‘dived in’ to the sinking boat and helped pull her aboard the bigger yacht. Jill will stay in the hospital with a chipped pelvis and assorted cuts and bruises. There’s plenty of info in the thread, and a video over here.

big pimpin'

40, continued



Fresh from the successes of the McConaghy Ker 40, Ker Design received multiple requests by owners for a high performance yacht in the 45 foot range. The result is the new Ker 46 built by McConaghy Boats, this design is a development of one of the most successful inshore/offshore designs since its launch in 2009 - the Ker 46 Tonnerre. Ker Design have used the data from Tonnerre, together with enhanced design software, to design a fast and affordable yacht, optimised across a wide range of conditions for successful IRC and ORCi racing. With Tonnerre as a starting point - further refined by Ker Design and constructed and finished by the meticulous McConaghy Boats, the fully carbon Ker 46 is priced at USD $659,000 for delivery mid 2012. A very competitive boat – without compromise at a very competitive price.

02/06/12

environment

a helping hand

I have surfed Sydney's north shore beach at Manly for fifteen years. After every session I made a point of looking for a bit of plastic on the beach to pick up and put in the garbage. It usually didn't take long. Pretty much after every surf I would pass recently discarded empty soft drinks bottles, so would pick a couple up and wonder why someone could be so brainless to visit a stunning location - then leave their trash.

Yesterday at a beach south of Sydney there was nothing left by tourists, but plenty of plastic washed up on the shore. It took me ten minutes to gather this, fitting most of it in the plastic tub and carrying it with one hand to the council garbage bin at the beach steps. I have lived next to the ocean all my life and it has pretty much made me the guy I am - so this is not a political statement, but a personal one. I plan to surf for at least another fifteen years - and for something that has given me so much, I figured the least I could do was to carry on - and give it a helping hand. - Blue Robinson.

02/06/12

heroes, just for one day

Normally, finishing 32 hours behind the winner would generate about this sort of look, but not when you're the home team! This is the welcome Team Sanya received in China after a Leg 3 part 2, that has not been without incident for the Chinese backed team with damage to a batten car and more seriously to the area around one of the primary winches.
 
Unclear what the damage is but rumour has it there is structural damage to the area of the side-deck plus some damage to the winch itself. An easy fix in Southhampton, Sydney or Annapolis but perhaps a bit more challenging in Sanya, China. - Shanghai Sailor.

02/05/12

splash zone

Wow, that's a perfectly timed shot! By Carlo Borlenghi, again from the Primo Cup, which had some huge waves, exposig everything!

on board

jennifer aniston rules

And Marco Nannini  explains why...

If this were a movie the last two days would have made for some nice drama on the high seas, imagine the context, a fleet of racing boats headed for Cape Horn, a South Pacific gale battering the fleet, huge waves crashing against the boat through the night, the constant noise of halyards hitting the mast, leech lines flapping, autopilot ram overloaded, water sloshing in the bilges, the smell of your own boots turning your stomach inside out, wet, cold, miserable...

The sat phone rings, no one has ever called us on the sat phone, you suspect it will not be Bart Simpson pulling one of his Moe's phone pranks, who is it then? Another competitor on the end of the blurred satellite line sounding emotional sums the reality of the situation "we are considering retiring". This is always tricky, the decision to sail or retire lies with the skipper(s) of the boat, you are divided between the desire to convince them to carry on racing and the thought that if they carry on and something happens you may have added unnecessary pressure on them to carry on... so i suggested what my grandmother always told me as a child, "go to sleep and decide tomorrow"...

A few hours later we receive an email from the race committee, two boats are heading north riding the gale, they have not yet retired but are heading for Auckland, one has suffered damage to boat and crew, the other fears the same fate and decided it is unsafe to carry on.

I only then realise it's for real, I stop watching the latest Jennifer Aniston film on the pc (a masterpiece of great acting and intense storyline that surely deserves my undivided attention) and wake up Hugo who emerges from under the sleeping bag stretching his arms "wassup dude?" he's clearly watched too many of the american college movies we have on the hard drive.

At that stage we were sailing under triple reefed main and staysail in 35-45 knots of wind occasionally gusting 50, we were consciously trying to keep warm and dry, fed and slept, and only went outside in the cockpit when strictly necessary. We discussed the situation but as we had no damage and we didn't feel the boat was in any specific immediate danger we decide to press on.

It is sad to see two boats doing a U turn, the fear of damage is always strong and i hope that we'll carry on sailing in safety with no surprises all the way to the finish line.

This storm is over, we are again under full mainsail and headsail heading for now in the right direction. Who knows what the future of the race will bring but i hope to find a movie to watch that does not require external drama to thicken the plot.

close...

A very close finish (9 hours separating 5 boats) ends up with Telefonica going 3 for 3 in the VOR, beating Groupama to the finish by what ended up being 2 hours. Photo from Groupmama earlier in the race thanks to Slam, and click here if you want to own some very slick Groupama gear for yourself!

...but no cigar

Leg 3, Day 12
4February 2012
Ken Read Skipper, PUMA Ocean Racing

I bet that almost every final leg blog from any Volvo boat starts with..."This has been a tough leg." Don't imagine any of you have ever heard a Volvo sailor saying, "This leg has been a breeze." None are. This was no exception. 

A quick recap from what seems so long ago. A light air beat/reach out of the Maldives. We did well with this portion of the leg showing as good speed as we have against the fleet. Night two, a bunch of squalls mixed it up and that is where Telefónica and CAMPER got to the north. Tele would never look back. I believe they lead on the water from that point on to Sanya. I know that your distance to the finish may say differently but the fact is, Telefónica sailed a flawless leg from that point on. Very impressive. 

We approached the Malacca Strait and we just snuck by CAMPER right at the northwest corner of Indonesia in a really fun battle in which Tele, CAMPER, Groupama and ourselves were within miles of each other. From there on, the Straits were the Straits. Dire straits at some times, and straight ahead in other times. A flukey bizarre place to be racing boats. The shipping traffic is always the main concern, but the amount of fishing and nets this time was far worse than I remember the last time I sailed through. As was the debris. Huge hunks of wood, plastic, trees, broken up canoes, refrigerators, you name it we either hit it or nearly hit it. During the day you are dodging and weaving through the mess. During the night you just pray. And clearly we didn't pray enough because we became a snarled fish ourselves with Tele and Groupama just hundreds of meters away. Well documented by now, our fishing net incident has been dissected on board the boat. Could it have been prevented? Don't see how. Handkerchief-size black flags to mark either end of a submerged net, at night or early am, doesn't quite cut it on the visibility scale of 1-10.   

But, we exited the Straits within shouting distance of the leaders Tele and Groupama and there began our long slog north to China. Via Vietnam. Never thought I would be saying that. And, here is where our race was clearly defined. 

On board the boat between Tom [Addis] and myself there has always been two ways of approaching this section of the race. Straight ahead and beating up the Vietnam coast to get out of the north to south flowing current, or approaching from the east and spending your "easting" early and getting around the good side of two large tidal eddies that are prominent in the South China Sea. Avoiding the current that runs down the Vietnam coast was the key. We clearly liked the east option. 

The second night out of the Straits we were headed on starboard tack and tacked to port thinking this may be the ticket to the east for the fleet. To be honest, the Vietnam option looked dubious. The weather routing projections at the time relied on short tacking the coast (maybe 30-50 tacks over a 200+ mile range) in what was looking to be quite a windy and rough northeast "surge."  The northeast surge is what they call a butt whooping around here – 30+ knots of breeze and steep waves. So, our choices were to short tack a lee shore to get out of the current, or take your port tack early on a great shift in the middle of the ocean and sail into the "surge" from the east? We took the easterly route, obviously.   

What is strange about this sport sometimes is that your fate is given to you, like it or not. Once we tacked to port we had a fantastic shift, and when we looked at the scheds for the next 15 hours we kept the left shift that nobody else ever really appeared to get. We had breeze in the 30's and everyone else was in the high 40's and 50's. In essence, we went where the wind gods took us and the others did the same thing. And, like Frank Cammas said in Leg 1 when they split from the fleet down the African coast...I was really surprised nobody else came the way we did. Clearly they saw something we didn't. It didn't work for us. 

Believe me, you never want to go on a flier. Our lives, on the water or not, are all about taking calculated risk. It is what Tom Addis and I do every minute of every day out here, manage risk against mother nature and the other competitors. We never thought we would be alone in our easterly option, yet once we committed we had to stay the course or give up a ton of mileage. It was lonely out there to the east, I must say. The old expression "Welcome to Cornersville, population 1" comes to mind. 

Also believe me, there were several times on our lonely little adventure that we thought we had nailed it. But it didn't happen. It’s that simple. I put up my hand. At the end of the day it is my call and it didn't work. So shake it off and get back into it. 

That we did. Very proud of this team; through the disappointment of the bad tactical call the team stayed focused and we managed to salvage only the loss of one boat in the overall scheme. We got back within sight of CAMPER and put away Abu Dhabi, but that wasn't good enough to get back on the podium.   

So are we disappointed with a fourth on this long and brutally hot leg? Absolutely. Are there good things to be taken out of it? Of course. And we will continue to get better with several changes hopefully for the better here in China. 

One way to keep everyone upbeat on this leg was a running commentary by Tom as to where we would be and what we would have left on the course if we were going the Qingdao as we did in the last race. Storms and a thousand or so miles of additional upwind sailing. Not to mention sub-freezing temperatures and snow. That always brought a smile to everyone's face. This leg as it stands is not in the record book as the most pleasurable by any stretch. Upwind sailing is not fun…period. But we do what we do, and we know it is in the brochure when we sign up. It's the same for everyone and I can say that the boat and the team have held up remarkably well. 

So we get back into it. Simply trying to improve. Both in speed and decision making. We have a long way to go and a lot of unknowns and points on the board to be had. Deal with adversity the only way we know how – head on.   

And on a final personal note, last time we were in China I was having a hard time typing my final blog because it was freezing below in the boat, the end of my right index finger was missing and I was all hopped up on pain killers. I have gone back and read those blogs by the way, and the pain killers clearly bring out a dark yet creative side to human beings when it comes to writing. Anyway, we had a 42-day leg to look forward to and the best part about Qingdao was the bowling alley at the hotel we stayed at. My point, life goes on and we will keep pressing to get back onto the podium ASAP. Lets start by turning this around at the In-Port Race in Sanya. Don't look too far ahead. Now, the expression "one step at a time" comes to mind.   

pretty primo

Carlo Borlenghi brings a beautiful view of the Primo Cup in Monaco for your viewing pleasure.

pretty kitty

Artemis Racing began two-boat training earlier this week in Valencia, following the acquisition of a second AC45 last month.

"We've only been sailing the two AC45s for four days, but we've learned a great deal.  Possibly more than in the three America's Cup World Series Regattas we've competed in.  There is a tremendous amount to learn about the wing and the sail set up in particular.  It is still early days and we have a mountain of work ahead, plus strong competition," said Terry Hutchinson, Skipper - Artemis Racing. Training continues on Monday for the Swedish team, Challenger of Record for the 34th America's Cup. - Sander van der Borch / Artemis Racing.

road rage

Sailing through traffic, Eric's wind powered car heeled hard to lee just in time to clear the grid.

Cartoonist Harry Martin sent in this beauty. Haven't we all pretty much thought about this, in one form or another?

on board

they're done

Campbell Field on Buckley Systems tells a bummer of a story from the GOR. And we hear that another Classe 40, Campagne de France, has also dropped out.

You would have seen by now the news that we are headed back to Auckland. A tough way to have a year of blood, sweat and tears collapse in front of you. Although cursing every minute of the last day or so of bashing and crashing upwind towards the ice gate, we had played it out pretty well we feel, had set ourselves up nicely and were as settled in as you could be in those conditions - a nice southerly position (not as far south as we would have liked but that is another discussion for another day), and very comfortable with where our nearest competitors were. I guess it was a small mercy to have the horrendous conditions entering Cook Straits at the end of Leg 2 so fresh in our memories as it took the edge off of and had us better prepared for the huge seas and 40+ knots were were facing.

We had a few failures as can be expected in these conditions - notably the 4mm thick stainless steel strap that connects our mainsheet block to the traveller car blowing up - quickly fixed with a lashing - but gives an idea of the shock loads we were putting through this tough old boat.

One huge wave, and the instant it started to happen I knew what had happened. We rolled into a crash tack then around into a crash gybe and another tack. Anyone watching from above would think we were taking a penalty turn. I was clinging on for dear life in the cockpit trying to simultaneously grab the tiller, disengage the highly confused pilot, hold on for dear life and figure out which way was up. All the while screaming in sheer rage at the situation. While I was venting my anger Ross was in agony in the cabin. On leg 2 he took a couple of tumbles that would have stretchered off any mere mortal, with a bruise on one hip that looked like someone had taken to him with a baseball bat. Coupled with a severe blow to the abdomen a few days later - was only acknowledged with a mere ‘that hurts a bit’ and ‘hope we have some more of those anti-inflammatories’. Tough old bugger my old man. Any other day I would have just said stubborn old bugger. So to see him in that much pain me ant we had an issue: facing the next 6000nm with one of us in agony and the loss of all wind instruments (if it was possible we would have repaired at sea) therefore effective pilot, seriously compromised our performance and safety.

So here we are, 1100nm from Auckland, riding the huge waves we previously spent 24 hours working so hard against in the other direction. They are just as big going this way so still having a few hairy rides at 19 kts with a triple reefed main and jib up.

All our friends, fans, family and supporters, thank you for your support and messages we have received. Will keep you posted on progress and the future as it unfolds.

-Campbell.

on board

they're not done?

Leg 3, Day 12
3 February 2012
Amory Ross, MCM, PUMA Ocean Racing

There’s only a day and a half of racing left out here and still plenty to gain. It’s yet another testament to the group of guys onboard that an unsuccessful and trying trek to the middle of the South China Sea hasn’t sunk the ship. With yesterday’s strenuous upwind misery and one more night of pounding-pain now behind us, we’ve reconnected with the fleet inshore and are short tacking the Vietnam coast before the final open-water dash to Sanya. 

Conditions onboard are still rough though, and we continue to slam into each successive wave with a shudder like that of you car through a big winter’s pothole; there is absolutely no give. We’re still in urgent need of sleep, too, but everyone’s resigned to the fact that it’ll have to wait until the hotel! 

Even in the low visibility, CAMPER occasionally pops into sight off the bow, and we know Abu Dhabi is lurking somewhere close behind our stern, so the strategy from here seems simple: don’t give up too much leverage and play each shift like it’s the last. The racecourse has become small enough that any gain is an important one – regardless of its size – and it promises to be a busy 36 hours of hard work fighting for every length of distance on the competition. Anything can happen… 

cat called

We tried our best to stump you, but Aussie Anarchist ‘Scarecrow’ quickly took care of this week’s What Is It competition, correctly identifying the hull molds of the new Kiwi-built Katipo 1000 SC. Originally designed (though eventually not ordered) as a Team Korea AC trainer, a handful of big boat Kiwi sailors liked it enough to order the boat themselves. The concept differs from the SL-33 ‘super beach cat’ and some of the other new designs by being more offshore-capable and less expensive. Also, the Bakewell-White design, Lloyd Stephenson build can ship with an optional (and possibly convertible) cabin top that you don’t see in this rendering. This configuration should allow the Katipo to sail some of the many coastal/passage/distance races down under, or closer to home, events like the Mills, Mackinac or several SoCal events become do-able. The builders aren’t quite sure how much she’ll cost, but figure no more than US$200k ready to sail, and possibly a little less.

Wanna find out more or see a few photos and renderings? Check out the thread, and let the boys who build it know you’re interested. They’re lurking… And Scarecrow – check out the thread and get in touch!

community

first to finnish

Some 177,000 boats are registered in the Volvo Ocean Race Game, but Anarchy still reigns supreme! Finnish SA’er “Micke” looks set to take the prize for winning Leg 3; an all-expenses-paid trip to Auckland for the start of Leg 5! Apparently, Micke had the final few miles well in hand when a bug screwed up the very top of the fleet, but administrators say they’re working on it, and we expect an announcement shortly.

Meanwhile, the incredible success of the VOR Game (Alexa says the VORG site has nearly the traffic of the VOR site) is more proof that an alliance with proven game builders, combined with meaningful prizes, can have some seriously positive effects on your race and its sponsors. It turns a tidy profit as well.

Nice work to all the Anarchist VORG racers, but especially to our Finnish friend. There’s a thread for both racers and the Cruising Anarchy WLYDO.

sportscar

Well, not exactly but you get the point. What's the story? Check it out.

reduce, reuse, race

Our long time friends at Sailors For The Sea continue their mission to ‘clean up sailing’, and their latest push is for racers to get rid of disposal water bottles for good. Southern California native and Melges 32 floater/crew glue Leslie Baehr sends in this report from Team INTAC at Key West. It’s great advice for the right cause – be sure to see how SFTS can help make your club or event greener at their site.

Few things trouble a boat’s Minister of the Interior as much as plastic water bottles. There is the inconvenient task of purchasing and transporting an entire isle of water bottle 24-pack cases. Then there is the daily burden of hauling just over 30 lbs of water out to your boat. There is also my personal favorite water bottle related activity: the between-race hunt for bottles carelessly thrown down below during races. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there is the issue of what to do with the water bottles when you are finished.

Everyday our 8-person Melges 32 team races, I pack four bottles per person. That is 32 bottles a day. With at least 50 racing days scheduled in a year, that is 1,600 water bottles. While we make every effort to recycle those bottles, often facilities are not available or the bottles end up mixed in with the rest of the boat’s trash.

As an alternative to this mess, our team followed suit with the Melges 20 fleet, which took the initiative to green the fleet’s liquids. We purchased a different color 21 oz stainless steel water bottle for each team member, placing them in a bottle caddy (~ $10) to keep them all together and keep them from becoming missiles down below. In general, it was easier to move around the plastic caddy and required less space than the large bag of disposable water bottles that it replaced.

Our process is to fill the bottles on the dock in the morning from either a large container or a dock hose fitted with a filter. Once racing, it is very easy to pass the caddy full of bottles up on deck and let everyone get their personally colored bottle. Some of the big guys get two and if any need to be refilled, we pass up the spare gallon jug and top them off. Though prepping the bottles for the day was a concern at first, it ended up taking less time and effort to fill eight empty bottles than packing the 30 lbs of water we would usually bring from our hotel. We found that one set of filled water bottles and one extra gallon jug was sufficient for the day. It is important to make sure that the gallon jug has either a secure top or is placed in such a way as to avoid rolling around. We chose the latter option and did not have a problem.

An individual reusable stainless steel water bottle can run from $15-$25. They are both environmentally and practically superior to other options as they are durable, safe and recyclable. Aluminum bottles are also an option, but may be non-recyclable and less safe depending on their lining. Reusable plastic water bottles are the cheapest option (around $8-$10 per bottle), but tend not to hold up as well in the heat and are less widely recyclable once you are through with them. In the end, it was faster, easier and more environmentally conscientious to use the bottles.

Save money, save the sea, and give your crew something special.

the last time i cared

The 1987 Fremantle America’s Cup really was a once-in-a-lifetime moment in American sailing history. Sailing was on the mouths of millions of Dennis Conner’s countrymen and everyone – sailor or landlubber – had pride in what we saw as a national achievement – the original Smackdown Downunder. The video above is AC media’s take on the 25th Anniversary – a nice tribute to DC and the grit of the Stars & Stripes team.

Unfortunately, the days of dozens of challengers and millions of proud, nationalistic American fans are long gone, perhaps never to return. ACRM is under increasing pressure to get at least another boat or two signed up before the June deadline for what is currently a 3-boat Louis Vuitton Cup. And pressure is mounting on organizers to somehow reconcile to San Francisco and event sponsors their wildly optimistic spectator estimates with the reality from the first three events, and to update the plans for future events to reflect this more realistic assessment. It’s not an easy time to be Iain Murray, that’s for sure.

It’s still possible for some of the fence-sitters to make it to the starting line in San Francisco on the day – we hear that Team Korea and Energy Team have both pulled in most of their estimated build budget for an AC72, though neither has nearly enough for the rest of the expenses. China is moving along nicely too, though they’re still well short and haven’t gotten the biggest piece covered at press time. At least they’re moving in the right direction, and they need to if they intend to make the start. If things aren’t humming along by June, they’re spectators.

While a 3-boat Challenger series will certainly make Russell Coutts look bad, and Larry like a gambler who got it wrong, the racing should still be something special to anyone who digs high speed yachting. Luna Rossa’s entry turns a bit of a joke into something dramatic – (we all know that ‘Italian’ is another word for ‘drama’), and in a move confirmed by an inside source yesterday, it will make the fashionable team almost as popular in Spain as it is in Italy.

Telefonica leaders Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez will don Prada gear on the Luna Rossa AC45 beginning in September, after the Spanish superstars finish trouncing the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. How that will impact the current lineup of Bruni/Sirena/Modena/Draper is yet to be discussed, but it will no doubt add a ton of juice from one of the hottest two-man crews in sailing to an Italian team that’s already coming out of the blocks with purpose.

big pimpin'

pick your poison

The South China Sea is notorious for wave and current interactions that generate rough and challenging conditions. Strong monsoon winds and monsoon currents combine to make sailing especially difficult in this region.

The shortest route to Sanya would take the teams straight up the coast of Vietnam. But with the strongest current in this part of the South China Sea flowing south down the coast, it becomes a no-go zone for boats heading north. The coastal flow down the eastern edge of Vietnam can reach speeds of up to 3kts in a wide band reaching as far out as 60 miles offshore. The persistent current is further enhanced in being driven by the northerly monsoon winds.

With the fleet beating north, coupled with 2-3kts of current against them, the boats will have little choice but to head further offshore to get out of the stronger flow to maintain best velocity to the course. The vital aspect for the fleet is velocity made good to course (VMC). Current against the fleet does more than reduce the speed over ground, it compounds the effect on VMC already reduced in going upwind. Strong current on the nose is to be avoided.

It’s likely the teams will find some northward current further offshore, but with this comes the spectre of a punishing sea state. With wind against current, waves become shorter and steeper making for a rougher ride and some slamming conditions onboard. Finally, on approach to Sanya, a tidal current sweeps across the south-eastern edge of Hainan Island from east to west and across the entrance to Sanya itself.

Tidetech’s ocean current data for the teams is obtained from satellite measurements of sea surface height, which oceanographers use to construct a global map of ocean surface heights. The strength and direction of the current can be calculated from this information, similar to the way a weather map of high and low pressure systems allows meteorologists to estimate wind.

Tidetech is a technical supplier to the Volvo Ocean Race providing teams with oceanographic data comprising ocean currents, sea surface temperatures and tidal data. Watch this video to learn more about the data being supplied to the Volvo Ocean Race by Tidetech

sweet marie

One hell of a nice shot of the 180' Marie by Tim Wright/kospictures.com from the Superyacht Challenge in Antigua.More here.

on board

hell, part 1

The latest from Marco Nannini in the GOR. Sometimes we like being at our desk...

The first few days of the race, once out of Cook Strait, have been relatively easy sailing, reaching then downwind in moderate seas clocking good mileage every poll, we were happy with our choice of heading further south at the beginning which paid very well as now we have a lead of over 70 miles over Phesheya, our direct peer with an identical boat (although I undertand they had an issue with a spinnaker). The leaderboard keeps getting now reshuffled, each with their own idea of how to best deal with what looks like up to a week of head winds.

When the front came through yesterday the wind went from north westerly (good) to south easterly (bad) and kept increasing, today we had anything from 30 to 45 knots of wind in a deteriorating sea state, the port pilot started to struggle until it would just steer an erratic course with several involutary tacks which allowed for some rather loud swearing from my part, from a distance you may well have thought we are sponsored by French Connection UK, or close anagram thereof.

We now switched to the starboard pilot, reset the all settings and we seem to be doing a little better although knowing we have endless miles ahead of this bashing is not exactly making us sing songs of joy, there will be no real respite for at least 48 hours when at least the wind is due to calm down a bit.

There's not much we can do and everyone has the same to deal with, so let's just grin and bear till things will hopefullly improve, all we wish for at the moment is to keep going and suffer no damage.

local knowledge

drop in

This is Santi, your Sailing Anarchy eye in Santander (Spain) reporting. I am writing to send you a video I have just uploaded from this past weekend. It features what I think are the coolest images from the downwind legs. Nice sailing conditions except for the temp, not too cold anyway (You just can't have it all all time). Too bad I lost the other gopro onboard wich I had at the tip of the bowsprit (I know, risky place... but, "No risk no glory"). It was due to chain of incidents. 1. the safe line for the cam loosened. 2 We dropped the kite in the water 3.The tack line skidded all the way over to the tip of the bow-sprit and looped around the cam. A kite full of water finished the job. I guess that when the day comes you just have to be ready to say
good-bye!

on board

hell, part 2

Leg 3, Day 11
2 February 2012
Amory Ross, MCM, PUMA Ocean Racing

These are punishing conditions out here. The upwind slamming, smashing, and thrashing we’re enduring is enough to make anyone hurt bad. It was almost impossible to get any sleep last night (I didn’t), it’s hot, humid, and extremely violent down below. The 20 knots we have right now are supposed to build, but that’s not the real problem; it’s the god-awful waves causing all the discomfort. They’re big, they’re steep, and they have no backs so we just fall off each one only to find the bottom in a severely sudden crash. 

You can see it in everyone’s faces – we’re ready to get to China. I don’t think anyone wants to spend another three days out here, but that’s what we have to do so it’s back to the business of yacht racing. 

We don’t yet know how much our easterly detour has cost us. What we do know is that it could have gone better. We got out there, right where we wanted to be, and the breeze died. Poor timing and unfortunate circumstances, but even with significantly less wind we still managed to hold bearing on the rest of the fleet. Makes you wonder what could have been… So we’ve now put that behind us and we’re trying to reconnect with the fleet as best we can. There are still some small gains to be made today as the rest of the guys have to tack up the coast of Vietnam, but it’s too early to see where we’ll fall in the mix. Then it’s a fairly straightforward drag-race north to Sanya…a place that can’t come soon enough! 

scotw

in it to win it

Deborah Deats-Wilusz just recently won the 2011 Fort Walton Yacht Club (FL) PHRF Fleet Championship, a year long series totaling the PHRF series races from January 2011-Decemebr 2011 on her Viper 640.

Deborah started sailing less than ten years ago starting out on a co-worker's Olson 34 cruiser/racer. Moving on towards crewing on J-22's in two different Rolex Women Keel Boat Championships (Houston and Rochester). Jumping into Trimarans, Catamarans, and Sportboats, and competing at National Championship regattas in all three types of boats. Deborah only just started helming after purchasing the Viper 640 in late 2010. You can find Deborah at Mardi Gras Race Week, Miami Bacardi Cup, and Charleston Race Week. - Anarchist Craig.

cast net

While the daily boatfeed videos coming from the Volvo Ocean Race fleet typically get progressively duller over the course of a leg, perhaps due to the editor/MCMs loss of mental connection to their audience after a while at sea. So we’re especially appreciative of the work that Puma AG’s in-house editing team is doing to keep our interest in the drama itself going. The racing is certainly good, but even on their best days, the Volvo media crews don’t quite have the slickness or edge that Puma’s “PUMACast” does. The organization of the 8 PUMAcast episodes leaves something to be desired, but you can check them all out by scrolling though the PUMA Ocean Racing video page here or download them on iTunes here.

This one is Episode 8, and it’s an informative and entertaining slice of life for anyone interested in how a boat gets put together for a race like this.

big pimpin'

wanna play ball?

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The boat was conceived in 2007 and now attracts some of the world’s leading business minds along with all well known top sailors. The Championship takes place in 6 spectacular sailing venues around the world proving real challenge for competing teams.

Take the opportunity to join one of most competitive classes on the international yacht racing circuit at an exceptional price. E-mail for more info.

stunt man

Alex Thomson gives us a little lesson in Sponsorship Fulfillment 101, with photos from Mark Lloyd and a few more in the thread. Here’s a ‘how they did it’ video.

on board

net-net

Leg 3, Day 10
1 February 2012
Ken Read, Skipper, PUMA Ocean Racing

Man are things changing out here. Must be very exciting to watch, and I imagine if you are a PUMA fan you are wondering what the heck is going on! Well before that, let’s step back a couple of days. 

A hundred miles or so from the end of the Straits – I know you have heard from Amory that we had a little situation…almost a huge situation. Let me explain. 

About a mile off the Malaysian shore with Groupama and Telefónica within half a mile of us, it was dawn and the sun was just rising. There were several shoals that Tom Addis was guiding us through and the wind was very light. In fact, the other two boats were pretty light inshore of us so we were easing offshore a touch in a puff.

Imagine this: your shoulder is shaken and you hear, "Wake up, I think we are aground," says an unidentified crew member.   

I flew out of bed to jump on deck to see the other two boats moving away from us and we are not moving. But there was no crash, no bang. Then Casey says, "I think we are in a fish trap!" This isn't good. 

Sure enough there is a small black flag barely visible about 100 yards to the left, and a fishing boat sits about 200 yards to the left of the flag. All were thinking there may be a net attached around the boat and the black flag. Well, once we rolled up the headsail that covers the entire right side of the boat, in the increasing sunlight we see another tiny black flag about a half mile to our right. The two black flags have a net that strings between the two and we are firmly caught…in really light air and barely maneuverable conditions. 

First things first: assess the situation, role up the headsail and try to back out. But, we are reaching when we run in to the net, so backing out is nearly impossible.   

Now comes the amusing part. Communication between an Australian from Adelaide and two Malaysian fishermen who are pretty pissed off that we are caught in their net. 

First they offer to throw a line, which we have to refuse as tempting as it was. No outside assistance allowed. Ryan Godfrey is now trying to get them to go to the end of the net at the black flag and do something with it...in fact none of us speak enough Malaysian/Australian to really understand what Ryan was talking about never mind what the Malaysians were saying in return. So, as you can imagine it really didn't get us very far. 

Next step, send the kid in the water. Rome Kirby gets his mask and jumps in to the unbelievably murky depths, only to figure out when his head actually hits the keel prior to him seeing the keel that the water visibility isn't very good. Get him out before some Malaysian sea snake gets him. And believe me, there was a chance because the Malaysian fishermen were shocked someone would be in the water. Even I could understand that communication between the two of them. 

Next plan. Try backing off again and use the staysail unfurled to help guide the boat better in reverse. In essence, about 45 minutes after we were caught into the net, we backed sideways along it and steered the boat with the headsail until we were pointing in the opposite direction. Casey heard some tearing sounds like the net was giving way, so we pulled open the big code 0 and probably finished off these poor guys’ net, pulling ourselves out and heading back where we came from.   

Finally, after 1 hour we rounded the far black flag (about a 1-foot by 1-foot flag on a 3-foot stick) and we were off. Chasing a pack of two that we could no longer see on the horizon. 

This was what the travel brochure told us to expect. Unlit fishing nets. We all talked about them. We saw a million of them. But as always, you see them during the day and somehow you pray at night. Due to an unfortunate number of circumstances, we found one pretty well. We'll send Ryan back to speak with the fishermen about fixing their net later. 

The comeback trail began immediately. We were pissed but at the same time relieved to be out. If it had been a well-built net, we would have been there for ages and quite frankly I don't know how we would have gotten out.   

From there it was off to the bottleneck in the Straits where about a million of the largest ships you have ever seen were waiting for us. More on that later.  Good fleet update vid here.

the main man

We told you a few weeks ago that Africa Diaspora Maritime fonder Charles Kithcart’s lawsuit against Golden Gate Yacht Club was something of a hail Mary legally, and that unless Kithcart could get the mainstream media to pick up the “hated rich white boy vs. underprivileged black youth” angle, he’d disappear pretty quickly.

Guess what? With GGYC’s Motion to Dismiss the suit not far from a judge’s ears, Kithcart and the ADM just hit the Carolina research triangle-based NewsObserver and the Bellingham Herald in Washington State with many of his talking points, and some things we haven’t heard until now. An excerpt:

If that isn't enough, the nonprofit African Diaspora Maritime Corp. wants to do it all while teaching about and promoting yacht racing - a notoriously white sport - to black youth as a catalyst to spur interest in technology, science and math, which all play huge roles in developing race yachts. The corporation wants to tie all of that to the long, but seldom-taught, history of black mariners.

Want to learn more about the strange case of Charles Kithcart? Check the thread, and keep an eye out – we expect things to get a lot louder.

what is it?

The last time we thought we had a tough one of these, you bastards guessed it in about three minutes. So we’re giving you one that isn’t even a boat yet. Got a clue what it is? Spill it.

triple t

John Casey tells us more about the Osprey foiling trimaran that we spotlighted on yesterday’s Front Page. Keep an eye on John’s site for the latest insider high performance multihull news.

The Osprey is a one-off foiling trimaran built by Falcon Marine for a customer that submitted the plans for construction. Sam Bradfield’s crew needed a test platform as part of the Harborwing project. Their original work was the Rave trifoiler. The production version of the Rave built by Windrider had some performance issues, because they ended up making it out of rotomolded plastic with metal foils, which made the Rave affordable but heavy. They made a large mainsail in the sailplan to compensate, but the platform ended up being off balance and, really, no fun in lighter wind. In an attempt to get better light wind performance, the designers went another direction.

They came to Falcon Marine with foil drawings and sketches and Falcon Marine went to work. They had a basic length and width and where they wanted the beams and gave profile drawings for the foils and Falcon Marine had them machined. The rest was working with the client’s liaison, Tom Hammond. Tom would describe what he was looking for and they got together to make it work.

What they ended up with is a 20′ wide x 18′ long trimaran with three ‘T’ foils, similar to a moth. The carbon foils on the fiberglass outer hulls, or amas, are controlled by what’s called a wand. Depending on the ride height, the wand controls the pitch of the trim tab on the back of the horizontal foil, which provides the amount of lift the foil creates. Falcon Marine built all of the wand gearing and linkage as well.

The T foil rudder is basically just for stabilization. The fiberglass rudder was the first foil built in the project. Since it’s all one piece (the horizontal foil isn’t glued on after the build) and Falcon Marine uses an infusion process, it was imperative to use fiberglass instead of carbon so the builder could see the infusion process taking place through the fiberglass matt. Before they dropped $1000.00 worth of carbon in the mold, they had to make sure the flow was right. Once they knew they had full infusion with resin, they then built the carbon foils with the same process, so both amas have carbon foils.

The Osprey is a sloop rig with a sprit for the jib and about 240 ft/sq of Randy Smyth-designed sail area. It weighs in at 475 lbs. The mast is one of the first carbon Marstrom-built Tornado catamaran masts from when they tested the carbon rig for the Olympics. The crossbeams are also carbon, so all of the high load structural parts are carbon, and the lower load areas are fiberglass. This keeps costs down while testing.

Looking at the video, the crew weight should be further forward once foiling to reduce overall drag. The incidence of the foil is too high with the crew weight back. That’s one thing they drilled into me when I sailed the Moth for the first and only time, “Get your weight forward!” They kept yelling at me. The hulls could probably lift quicker as well if the transoms are squared off to let the water release instead of sucking the transoms in like an old square rigger of the 1600s. It’s actually a simple, stable design in flat water. They can run the jib further in on the track and generally increase mainsheet tension as well. Yep, i’d have that thing boned in!
Here is a pic of it on the trailer:

I know, it looks like a mess, but it give you an idea of the profile view of the foils that are underwater in the video. On the left is the fiberglass rudder and on the right is a carbon foil. The hulls are on the right and on the left are the ‘D’ shaped crossbars. - JC

big pimpin'

soft landing

The staff at SA asked me to write a little introduction for Soft Deck and our products, but I figured I would spare you our canned press release and just say this: our nonskid products are soft, provide great traction even when wet, they are barefoot friendly, and super easy to install.

I think our products are great, but who wants to hear that from the owner of the company? Better to let fellow SA members tell you about their experience using our products. This is from Ross Moore owner of the J92 “H2 Blue” who races out of the Redondo Beach YC.

We went out on a Tuesday night beer can race and conditions got a little wild. Seas were 4 feet with an occasional 6 foot wave. The boat was overpowered with a 155% jib and we couldn’t change jibs as we had left all of our sails on the dock , thinking is was going to be lite. We took on a lot of water over the bow in the 13 knot winds and the crew got soaked. I have two guys on the fore deck and they told me later that the soft deck was the only reason they were able to stay on their feet. After the race and back at the slip I went up on the fore deck myself and bounced around on the wet soft deck there. I was very impressed on how much friction there was. This is a great safety addition to my boat.

If you are in Southern California you can find our products at Sailing Supply in San Diego, or SA readers in the US get free shipping when they enter promo code ANARCHY at checkout.

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