Local Knowledge

French Connection
As you know the French are working with the Chinese on the Americas Cup. The French/Chinese group chartered 2 of the Tigers to do 4 days of match racing in order to train the Chinese crews. It was s a big affair here with TV coverage, news papers, etc. The Tigers were said to be a hit with all.

We are also happy to report that the FT folks have signed up for another year here at SA to sponsor their Flying Tiger forum. Now that the boats are being delivered, being sailed and bugs worked out, the forum will be a good place to keep the dialogue going. Thanks y'all.

11/30/06

Local Knowledge

Racing, Israeli Style

We of course love getting reports from all over the globe, and it is indeed just one element that sets us apart (ahead) of the herd. This short report comes, somewhat amazingly, from Israel. We'd love to hear from you and what's going on in your world. If you send in a Local Knowledge report with pics, you'll get one of our brand new Sailing Anarchy gear/tote bags. Just another way to say thanks for being a part of our community.

Today's Local Knowledge

I just finished my part as the commodore of the 2006 Israeli yacht championships. It was a great event, a totally different Israel from what you hear on the news. The event is an initiative of the Israeli sailing forum (non profit organization). Photo credit is Itamar Gurevitz.

Sincerely,

Altman Israel

11/28/06

Local Knowledge

A Wheel Is A Wheel..
We were onboard Neil Pryde's HI FI (Farr52) the other day sailing in Hong Kong Harbour carrying our special guest from F1 BMW Williams Team, Mark Webber. He stopped by HK while doing some PR program before heading to Shanghai GP this weekend.

After we got all the sails up and set properly, we gave him the wheels and it seems the F1 driver can handle the Farr 52 pretty well, no over steer or auto tack action! Good solid 13~15 knots and sunny weather (very rare in Hong Kong now per pollution form our great mother FXXXing country) Legend Jackie Stewart also here but he decided he is a bit too old to sail so he stayed on shore.

Great work on SA! All our china comrades are reading your site every morning with our china coffee in hand~

Please keep it up!

Chinaman onboard HiFi

09/29/06

Local Knowledge

Pintails
The Catalina 38 National Championship Regatta was held September 16 and 17 at Shoreline Yacht Club of Long Beach. Two boats, El Gato Grande from Marina del Rey and Macavity from Santa Barbara did not make it to the line because of last minute problems leaving a relatively small but highly competitive field of 5 boats. Three different boats won one of the 5 races of the regatta.
Saturday saw winds as high as 32 knots for most of the 3 races. Don Weimer's Bilbo Baggins was doing well in the second race when a 32 knot puff caused a bad roundup. Bilbo Baggins sustained damage to their rig, ending their regatta. At the end of the day, Joe Degenhardt's Lickety Split held a narrow one point lead over defending champion David Epstein's Super Star. Larry Maimberg's Hassle held a two point lead over Steve Orton's Santa Susana in the battle for third place.
Sunday's two races were held in lighter conditions of 8 to 16 knots. Clearly Steve Orton's Santa Susana from Oceanside was more at home in these conditions. They came back with a remarkable first and second for the day, clinching third place. Lickety Split won the 5th race and the championship, with Super Star second overall.

Dan Paracchini's race committee from Shoreline Yacht Club ran a flawless regatta. The combination of near perfect sailing conditions, excellent race committee work and a warm friendly reception from Shoreline Yacht Club led to a clubhouse full of happy sailors. Everyone involved vowed to be back next year.

09/27/06

Last Saturday, Tromsoe Yacht Club which is located almost 70` to the north of Norway, sailed their annually Würth Tromsoereagatta. Two races were carried out, with UREAD (Norwegian for Unafraid, fitting in this case) a Dufour 34 Performance, making a dramatic finish in race one. With the wind heating up on port tack under spinnaker, they were galloping towards the finishing line. I so happens that the line is position between a pier on one end and the Rica Icesea Hotel on the other end; right down town in Tromsoe! This called for a spectacular view for the bystanders and hotel guest enjoying their lunches. Ps: No crews were harmed during this photo session.

09/20/06

From August 24 to August 27 the ISAF Grade 3 2006 49er Canadian Championships were held on the waters just off Kingston, Canada (the site of the 1976 Olympic Games). This event was held in conjunction with the inaugural 29er XX event in North America.
Light airs foiled the regatta organizers on day one, forcing the 49er sailors to remain on shore all day under postponement.
Day two saw a medium breeze, allowing Canadian Sailing Team veterans Dan Cuningham and Rob Paterson to take a commanding lead in the series. The rookie team of Matt Dubreucq and Geoff Gales, fresh of the Aussie 18 circuit, held onto second place, while ISAF Youth Worlds competitor Billy Gooderham held on to a third place.

Day three gave way to another medium breeze from the Northeast, allowing regatta organizers to run five races. There was little change in the standings with the leaders holding onto their stranglehold of the fleet.

The fourth day of the series yielded a 20 knot southerly breeze that kept all sailors on their toes. Race leads changed quickly with capsizes and crashes in the wavy conditions. Second place Team Dubreucq/Gales gave it their best effort to dethrone the leaders, only five points ahead. However, it was too little too late and Cunningham/Paterson, fresh from the European 49er circuit, held on to claim victory at the 2006 49er Canadian Championships in Kingston, the site of next year’s Youth World Championships.

08/28/06

30 Feet of Super

Very Tasty, Chris Sligar and Diana, Phillip Grove, coming down from Manly in a summer North Easter

The last race of the Sydney Amateurs Sailing Club’s (SASC) 05/06 season was held in very wild conditions on Sydney Harbour when the only other boats out racing were the starters in the CYCA’s Sydney Gold Coast race. Some of those offshore racing yachts didn’t even make it to the heads. Read On

08/22/06

Local Knowledge
Turn on the Afterburner
With the same dismal wind forecast as the Santa Barbara - King Harbor race, we took a chance and went racing. Lo and behold we had wind last Saturday for AYC’s Wes Goleman race, an Anacapa to starboard race with a few marks and an oil rig included. We had 12-20 TWS all day, reaching legs, wind on the backside, sunshine, blue water, and lots of hull flying. It was a ‘Burner day. (Click on the button on the photo to see the sequence).

Leg 1 was a 2 mile beam reach, where we passed 30 of the monos that had started ahead of us. They waved, took photo’s and cheered us on.

Leg 2 was a close reach out to Anacapa where we passed the rest of the A fleet, depowering in the heavy 20+ knot puffs to keep one hull skimming.

Leg 3 was a weather leg up the backside, fluky, but with wind.
Leg 4 was another close reach, to oil rig Gail, flying all the way at 18-22.
Leg 5 was downwind to Channel Islands in 14-16 TWS.
Finish was in the harbor where we tried to slow to 5 knots, really.

We did the 34 mile course in 2.31:45 for a 13.6 knot course average. We probably averaged better than 16 over water, as the upwind and downwind legs required tacking. Lots of time just over 20 knots of boat speed. New course record and we won our little 2 boat class on handicap.

Pictures are courtesy of Garrett Baum on Deception, the lead mono being passed on leg 2. I do love sailing on days like these!

Bill Gibbs
Afterburner

08/17/06

Local Knowledge

Double Dutch
At the recently sailed Dutch Open and World Championships in the 5.5m Class in Medemblik/NED, the Swiss crew of Flavio Marazzi has taken home both titles, sailing their brand new boat "Ali-Baba" (SUI-219), as Alinghi's Jochen Schümann finished 2nd in the Worlds and 3rd in the Dutch Nationals, sailing the sistership SUI-220 "Artemis XIV", owned by Swiss-Sailing Vice President Roni Pieper. This crew was completed by Alinghi's Dutchman Pieter van Niewkerkhttp. Flavio Marazzi, known from the Star Class, had Etienne Huter in his crew. The two prepare their campaign for the Olympics in China and left Medemblik for Neustadt/GER, to sail the Star Europeans on their brand new Star, built by Wilke in the same yard as the 5.5m yachts.

The 2 new 5.5m yachts differ slightly in their rigging: Ali-Baba has upper shrouds that lead up to the mast top, as Artemis has her upper shrouds on tracks, adjustable to leeward, to control mast bend, a bit like on the Soling. The new boats look promising and we wait for confirmation of new orders.

With kind regards,
Stefan
SUI-SA

08/09/06

We placed 1st in our class and had the 3rd lowest monohull corrected time. We went boat-for-boat 40+ft rigs that owed us huge amounts of time and had a 10min head-start. We usually do 15min downwind legs so needless to say we were exhausted. Here's the video.

Special thanks to JoeTV for the great video (and doing bow) and Cather Marine in Colton's Point for the Sunday haul-out (no way I was sailing back). Also a special congrats to Ahoodori (multi-hull) for killing us all on corrected.

:blink
USA1336

08/08/06

Local Knowledge

Da Kine
After four days of yacht racing off Oahu completing seven races, Doug Taylor’s X35 Zamboni is first in the ORR fleet overall and wins the King Kamehameha Trophy. Gary Fanger’s 1D35 Sensation is second and Todd Wyrick’s Sydney 36 FINS takes third. In the PHRF fleet Gil Budar’s Farr 43 Gerontius wins first overall. Sensation is second and John Myrhe’s Farr 43 Flash Gordon Turbo is third.

The final day of racing took place off Waikiki with Sailed in 5 – 15 knots of wind and 1 - 2 foot seas. A perfect Waikiki day with 84 degree light trade winds and sunny sky.

Overall Results: Seven races completed. No throw out.

ORR Division 1: Sensation 1st, Flash Gordon Turbo 2nd, Kaimiloa 3rd, Flash Gordon 4th, Boomerang 5th, Two Guys on the Edge 6th.
ORR Division 2: Zamboni 1st, Fins 2nd, Gerontius 3rd.
PHRF Division 1: Sensation 1st, Flash Gordon 2nd, Kaimiloa 3rd, Two Guys on the Edge 4th, Boomerang 5th.
PHRF Division 2: Gerontius 1st, Tribute 2nd, Fins 3rd, Zamboni 4th.

The awards presentation was held at the Waikiki Yacht Club Sunday evening with 150 racers; family, friends and race committee enjoying pupu’s and refreshments.

This the 3rd year the Waikiki Offshores Series was run by the Waikiki Yacht Club and is open to all ocean-racing boats. The 2007 dates will be announced next week.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority, Samson Ropes, Harken, Sam Adams Beer, Full Power, Bacardi Rum and the Waikiki Yacht Club sponsor the Waikiki Offshore Series.

Look for a full report from Sensation on these pages....

Photo by Susan Novak.

07/31/06

Local Knowledge

Too Hot
The entire fleet at the Elk Lake Yacht Club, west of Bend Oregon, up at 5,000 feet in the Cascade Mountains, is being threatened by a forest fire.

The fire burning in very steep terrain on Elk Mountain, less than a mile from the marina, has cut off access to the moored boats, but favorable winds and cool night time temperatures are allowing fire fighters to begin containing the fire, which was about 100 acres in size at last report.

This is the second time since 1998 that a lightning sparked wildfire has threatened the docks and fleet of some 30 boats, the largest contingent of sail boats in this part of the state. The club has been in existence since the 1930s, and in the past has hosted the Geary 18 Nationals.

Aloha,
Ian Andrewes

07/18/06

Local Knowledge

No....Yes

Problem: How about a sailing organization, EBYRA (Eastchester Bay Yacht Racing Association) that registers 15-17 J/24's but will not have a one design division. 24's are always put in with some other boats. This year it may be a custom 21 ft with a 258 PHRF vs J24's at 174. Go figure.

Solution: We had our EBYRA board meeting last night to establish racing divisions, etc. Finally after 15 years of 15-17 J24's sailing PHRF with other boats mixed in, we are getting our own start! All this driven by the new 105's who want to sail OD and the Board couldn't in all conscience vote to have a 4 boat 105 division and leave the 24's sailing PHRF. The tie breaking vote came when a key member, who always voted PHRF, deferred his vote to his alternate, an OD sailor. All's well!

Our 24 fleet is growing and we expect to add 2-3 more boats next year. This should put us over 20. The 105's have a 4 boat fleet but there are at least 5 more less then 5 mi. away that we should be able to pull in. Hard to believe we have NY city skyline, great sailing conditions and we struggle for members.

05/19/06

Local Knowledge

Shorty
The Cape Cod Frosty Class Championships, will be April 29-30 in Portsmouth, NH. This would be the 22nd annual Championship, and more information can be found on the class website.

This class has stood the test of time, I've sailed one for 15 years after building my first boat at 14 in the basement on paper route money. Now I find myself designing boats! The class really brought and still brings boatbuilding and racing to the "anyman" circle.

The photos are of us sailing a couple weekends ago in 20-30 knots - scary in a 6'-4" boat that weighs 35 lbs! The Frosty is the smallest racing class sailboat there is!

Thanks so much!

Ross Weene
Rodger Martin Design

04/25/06

Moore is Better

Note: I've sailed many races on Moore's 24's and absolutely love the little bastards. They are simply one of the greatest boats ever produced. - Ed.

After 30 years the Moore 24 association has the addition of a Northwest fleet. With over 15% of the paid members living in the Northwest, it was overdue for creation. There is quite a bit of interest in the boats right now in the Northwest, hopefully the fleet is going to continue to grow and evolve. The Moore 24 Nationals are going to be held in Santa Cruz California this coming October. The fleet routinely has 20 to 30 boats in the Bay area and this being the 30th anniversary of the Moore 24, it should bring out a great fleet. Come join the fun of an inexpensive planing hulled boat!

04/18/06

If there's a better place for 505 sailing than Bermuda, it isn't better by much. With wind, warm turquoise water, and incredible vistas, not many venues come close to the tiny island nation for exhilarating sailing. Read On

04/14/05

This past weekend some of the country’s top keel boat team race teams assembled in Marblehead for the Jackson Cup. Some of the sports best were on hand like Dave Perry, Dave Dellenbaugh, Tim Wadlow just to name a few. There were eight total teams any of which could win any given race but the weekend ended with a happy ending…additionally Southern YC from New Orleans led by Commodore Corky Potts won the event! After the first two round robins Southern was 1st and there were three teams tied for 2nd. Larchmont went undefeated in the championship round but it wasn’t enough to pass the strong willed Southern team. Commodore Charles H Ritt III of Boston YC thanked Southern for traveling the furthest and someone from Southern piped in that they travel the furthest because this party at this event is the best. That too was won by the Potts led Southern team.

The Jackson Cup, named in honor of the late Past Commodore Dr. Robert F. Jackson, (1993-'94), is an annual invitational team race challenge by the Boston Yacht Club to other clubs and organizations.

John Charles Baxter

04/14/06

Q Ships

The Quantum Challenge, an annual 126nm trek down the east coast of New Zealand between the cities of Auckland and Tauranga commenced at 10am this morning NZST. The race is one of the most challenging on the circuit and going into New Zealand’s winter it can throw up tricky conditions, especially around the top of the Coromandel. This year, however, no more than 15 knots is forecast and the fleet started in very light breeze with around 10 knots building behind them as they left Auckland.
Read On

04/13/06

Really Old School

Ed,

Did you know that there is a link to SA on the home page of KSSS (the Royal Swedish Sailing Society) web site? KSSS is one of the older YCs in the world. They celebrated the 175 year anniversary last year (2005).

Cheers,
Anders

03/24/06

Frosty the "FAST" Sailor

Here's what some young sailors were doing in Newport, RI last weekend.

• Saturday Temperature: 24 degrees
• Windspeed: 20-34 knots
• Snow: 8"
• Windchill: About Zero

Summary: Not quite Acura Miami weather

19 Sailors between the ages of 9-15 gathered at Sail Newport in RI last weekend for their first FAST Sailing Team practice of the spring. It's meant to be warm in March, right? Read On

03/10/06

Red Sled

Last week we showed you a drawing (Chine On) of a new chined boat being built. Here is the report from the designer/builder/owner.

Sweden is a small country and sailing isn't that big here, but SA sure is! Since the pictures of my boat were published on SA, my mailbox has been full of people telling me “Hey I have seen your boat on SA,” therefore I felt that I must give you the story.

It began last summer when I sold my latest design Fompro. When I realized that I didn't have a boat for the summer of 2006, there was only one thing to do, draw a new one! The last boat was built in a female mould and this time I didn´t want to start building moulds so I started to look for options. A chine hull would be faster to build, cheaper and would still perform enough for us when cruising in Stockholm.

In September the drawings were complete and I started to build in a garage with the help of my girlfriend and four months of work later the boat is ready, the only problem is snow and ice!

Ulf Tjernberg

03/06/06

Ice, Ice Baby II

What do you do if you´re an ambitious sailmaker, and need to do some trials in the middle of the winter in Stockholm-Sweden. Call the icebreaker!

Sailmaker Peter Forslund of Gransegel, badly wanted to test some new designs for his brand new CB66.

The sailing conditions in this part of the world can be somewhat tricky this part of the year, especially if you want to go sailing, so what do you do?

Call your local icebreaker, offer him a bottle of something that will warm him up, and you soon reach free water.

Photos: Anne Forslund.

03/01/06

Snake Wake

Dear SA team, Thank you for your brilliant site. I read it every morning during breakfast (in the Netherlands) and it always puts a smile on my face. I'm part of a Dutch Mumm 30 team, and the following happened to us that may interest other sailors: We were sailing a regatta on the Med near Monaco when we had a very strange encounter with a some sort of eel species. Read On

02/24/06

Beat It On Down the Line

We’ve been through 29 races now with the SYD40 since buying her last September and I suppose we figured we had her sorted out to some extent. And then something like this happens…

We were enjoying stunning conditions two weekends ago in the 2nd Annual Horsburgh Challenge organized by the Singapore Armed Forces Yacht Club. This is a cool weekend event that combines a 60nm passage race from SAF YC’s new facilities on Singapore’s East Coast to a lighthouse roughly 25 nm due east of Singapore in the South China Sea and back in R1. R2 is a shorter 16nm race paralleling the east coast beaches on the Sunday afternoon to conclude the event. It’s a unique racing weekend that offers Singapore sailors the chance to get offshore without spending days to do it. Kinda our one-day-SYD-HOB. You can hear the groans all the way from Sydney Harbour… oh mate. Read on.

02/23/06

The Shaw
These are the line results from the first sport boat regatta in NZ for 06, and it was also the first regatta for the Animal Biscuits, a new Rob Shaw design and a comfortable win for them.

• 1st Animal Biscuits Shaw 25
• 2nd Helter Skelter Bieker 25
• 3rd Custard Truck Shaw 23
• Followed by the Shaw 650's Thompson 750's and the Magic 25's

02/15/06

Rebirth
As a result of this piece, there will be no VOR or AC articles today! - Ed.

Good Morning Editor!
I am a big fan of your irreverent and informative website - I check it out first thing every morning - and I am wondering whether I could send you something for you to consider posting. I realize that a lot of your front page space is reserved for articles on things like big yachts in the Sydney-Hobart, AC, VOR and new designs, and I fully understand that there is plenty of interest for such boats. However, you have started a dinghy forum (thank God!), which means that you also appreciate that there are many of us who have an interest in smaller craft... I sail a Laser and a Viper 640, the latter of which has gone through something of a revival recently. Consequently, on behalf of the Viper 640 Class Association, I have written a piece specifically for SailingAnarchy.com that looks at the class' history, developments and rebirth.

Best regards,
Nick Mockridge
Viper #38 "Hissy Fit"
Santa Barbara Sailing Club

02/07/06

Back On The Island

Interesting photo from Keehi Lagoon on your Small Air/Big Air shot of the U of H guys and the 747 (see below - Ed). I lived there fom 1969-1973 (military brat) sailing out of Hickam AFB's Pacific Yacht Club on a CAL 20 #992. 747's were brand new back then and it was impressive to see one of those big things coming over your head (along with the HUGE wing-tip vortices coming at you after it passed by, a guaranteed knockdown). Its not the same now as they built the 'reef' runway in the 70's, destroying the channel that led to Hickam Harbor and the main race course that was used at that time. Saw many great boats back then (Passage, Kialoa, Ondine on the hard with the skeg ripped-off) along with local greats like Cy Gillette, et al of that era.
Neat web site, keep-up the good work.

Bill Wingrove
Winter Haven, Fla.
Davis Island Yacht Club

01/26/06

Stand Up

We are fans of Steve Thompson and T Boats however, as he as always been straight with us and remains as true to the sport as anyone. Here is a nice little success story from one of his boats. Enjoy.

The T-870, Stand Aside owned by Bill Bollin from Toledo, OH showing good form here on the step and headed for class honors and second in fleet in the 2006 Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Race. The smallest monohull in the fleet, the boys from Toledo will definitely be back next year! I couldn't imagine better conditions for the boat; smooth seas, warm temps, and sailing in paradise. Its a neat race track from a navigation standpoint, really interesting and challenging. Owner Skipper Bill Bollin, son John, Ernie and Skip Dieball of Quantum Toledo, Steve King of Offshore Spars, John Nelson and Tom "Sr. Chief" Morgan, Navigator.

01/18/06

J Days

 I was able to watch the busy preparations and the Invitation race for the J/24 Worlds out of Sandringham YC today. A perfect sailing day for the Js saw them get away in around 16-18 knots and it was immediately apparent that the boat that won last weeks pre-worlds regatta (Aussie Champs) ”Bruschetta” from Brazil had speed to burn. They led closely around the course from a Japanese boat and a British boat until the last beat to the finish when they just seemed to put the pedal to the metal and romped away from the rest as the breeze increased to around 22 knots. It was notable that their boat seemed to pitch a lot less than the other Js and was remarkably steady in the notorious Port Phillip chop. “Bruschetta” is superbly prepared and expertly crewed and helmed and should be a hot favourite for the Worlds after today’s performance in what were typical Melbourne summer afternoon sea breeze conditions. The regatta-proper kicks off tomorrow with three races followed by two races a day until the end of the week. Weather forecasts for the next couple of days show similar conditions to today as it gradually heats up towards the end of the week. Photos of the Brazilian boat are attached. Keen students of J24 setups should like this one. In a brief discussion with another Anarchy Forum member, I was told that there is some bar talk about the Brazilian boat having been built light in the ends but it has been fully remeasured since the Aussies last week so I doubt there would be any substance to that.

SPORTSCAR

01/16/06