Updates Coming!

Sorry I have been away... New updates are coming... You'll definitely want to watch what's coming soon...

Updates include...

Harbor Springs Ugotta Regatta on the Melges 32...

Kick Off of the 3rd annual TC Film Festival...

Will Newport learn to Swim.???

Have I gotten over the trauma of the death of my reefs???

Stay Tuned...

Summer of Sinking.... Part II

Update to Summer of Sinking...

These exclusive photos show the salvage of the Beneteau 40.7 'Barracuda' lost on a delivery from the Chicago YC's Race to Mackinac...

My good friend Doug just happens to have a cottege only a stone's throw from these pics, and he even assisted the salvage crew by shutteling them between the keel location and boat...

Photo Credit... Wip....

So Damn Close....

Alright guys... Getting gripped again with Wanderlust!

Stuff like this looks dreamy! (You in , Sailracer???)

http://providence.craigslist.org/apa/380283271.html

Bayview Mac Yacht Race

We're hours away from the start of the 2nd Mac Race. Our 'good luck' goes out to our friends on the 'Equation' and the 'Pied Piper'

Enjoy tracking the progress.

http://www.byc.com/mack07/

Is this the summer of sinking...??

Barracuda (Beneteau 40.7) sinks during Mackinac return delivery

We are sad to report Barracuda suffered keel damage and sank on the Mackinac return delivery. The keel struck the bottom repeatedly during heavy seas in shallow waters before failing. After the keel was lost, water filled the hole and Barracuda sank within minutes. Three people were rescued, according to accounts from eyewitnesses, and no injuries or casualties have been reported.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to owner Steve Pelke and crew chief John Boyle, and all crew on board. We hope for the sound recovery of Barracuda.

Source: Sailing Anarchy forum thread

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=57688

Chicago Yacht Club

Currently the Chicago Yacht Club is getting a serious ass lashing for rules regarding a certain type of flares required for their Race to Mackinac... Lot's of boats being protested for not having a certain type of flare on board... Lots of unhappy, tired sailors on the island.

Enjoy the bitching in this thread...

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=57352

A Fine Year...

Not to do the Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac... Too little breeze and too much bobbing instead of sailing...

But congrats to a couple of boats that I really like who did well.

First of all... Congrats to a big hurt put on by my buddies on the Padawan2 (Beneteau 36.7). This is a great group of guys and they definitely crushed one of the most competitive fleets.

More congrats go out to our guys on the...

Windquest
Saturn
Surprise
Heartbreaker
Seagoon
Tyrant
Kokomo.

Damn, I am happy not to be out there! Many boats still have yet to finish!

http://chicagoyachtclub.org/racetomackinac/

Reef... R.I.P.

Today is a very sad day... I am so upset that I am having trouble focusing on the smallest of tasks... I can't smile... And the spring in my step--well it's gone! long gone.

Last night, my reef's died!

Every present day sailor knows how important a fine sandal is... I've had my present reef's for 3 years. We've been around the world together, multiple times, and they have never let me down.

I knew my reef's were in a grave situation, but I couldn't stomach the idea of a mercy kill (purchasing a new pair). Lately, they have smelled like death, and they were breaking down at a rapid rate.

No matter how much I prepared for this moment... I still feel devestated... I loved my reefs.

(Definitely open for donations of a new set if anyone reads this blog who works for that wonderful sandal company!! Size 10 us..)

Swiss...

Right now, the Swiss are looking mighty fine to me!

Sports Out Loud

America’s first-ever sports magazine aimed at a gay and lesbian audience, Sports Out Loud has launched.

Good luck to them!

(Let's hope that this magazine is actually geared towards sports!)

www.sportsoutloud.com

Finding the Lord...

Man, tonight I have just opened up a huge can of worms... Damn, Damn, damn, damn!

My inquisitive nature has put me back into a position where I now feel like I need to go into hiding, change my phone number, and drop back into nonexistence... Damn it... I called Jessica!

Ms. L is an interesting character. A once time heir to the Honeywell fortune, she had everything that anyone could ever want... I mean, this girl had some freight.

I met Jessica during my first break home from college. Everyone at my then home yacht club knew Jessica, and her cute vintage convertible--great 'cottage' on exclusive Round Lake, her sailboat, and more than anything... Her craziness.

Being young, I grew to like Jessica. The drama surrounding her was intriguing. Her life with money was fascinating. She wintered at her home in San Francisco, and summered in Charlevoix.

I drove from Michigan to California strait through and back to get her Melges 24 sailboat one crazy weekend. We were close... But we weren't.

Jessica's craziness started to wear on me, quickly. Her mood swings and depressive, negative, brutal behavior was increasingly hard to handle.

Jessica swindled all of her money away on frivolous things... She was the epitome of the poor lil' rich girl.. The more money she realized that she didn't have, the more clever she tried to be on get rich scams and borrowing from friends.

I hadn't talked to Jessica in years-- and I really was interested to see how she was doing... My fingers led the fateful call. (damn, why did I do that!)

Jessica answered, and we had several minutes of general niceness... Then , it got crazy... Like Britney Spears crazy...

After arguing about the America's Cup, she asked me if she could borrow $30,000.00 to help pay off her credit card. ( Are you Serious?) Next, she asked if I would marry her so she could get on my health insurance... (seriously, are you serious?)

I've worked hard for everything that I have in my life, and I've learned to make peace with what I don't have. On the opposite, Jessica was making me so angry with her inability to find a job, and her assumptions that I would just hand over a ton of cash with no form of collateral really irked me.

Thank god my phone died midway through the conversation... But as I sit here and continue to reflect the actions of my once was friend... I continue to roll my eyes.

Feelin' the love!

Last night was a perfect night for yacht racing! Sunny skies, temperature in the low 70's, and a crew who is feeling good after coming off of a victorious win at the LeBlance Cup!

With the big boats out of town preparing for the Mac race, it was our turn to score our first bullet in the summer series! With 2 melges 24's in the fleet on a primarily reachy course, we definitely had to play sharp.

Our start was intense! A similarly rated boat in our fleet (Illusion) with an unsimilarly talented crew (yes, they suck) started in a little prestart smack down. You see, Illusion had DG aboard. DG is an awesome professional sailor who I have been working with for the past 10 years. When I say he's good, he's pretty f'ng good. He starts ruthlessly and takes every opportunity to try and make you fuck up. He's that damn good.

But, last night there was lacking on the part of DG... I don't know if cockiness got in the way of his abilities, but everything he threw at us, we successfully evaded.

The Wip was amazing on the helm... In every situation where a dial up or dial down occurred, we were successful in freeing ourselves from their grip. The team was on fire, and after a number of overtly aggressive moves, our team was fired up even more. (Our boat has a number of people I work with as well as Illusion has a number of employees as well from our office).

3..2..1... Milliman counted out as we successful started near the pin on starboard, with clear air above and Illusion pinned to leeward. On the first windward leg, our speed was always better and our point was higher. Gretty and Ben called puffs and shifts, and our hiking was more than we had ever done to try to give Wip the ability to sail as fast as possible.

Knowing that DG was on the other boat, our tacks needed to be stellar, and they were. We rounded 'red eight' first in our fleet, followed by the two Melges, and then Illusion.

Our race yesterday was against the melges... The 24's are very zippy in any condition that they can plane in ... and parts of yesterday allowed them that luxury.

We eased the genoa and set the barber hauler for the reach down to 'yacht club'. Gretty, Vez, and Wip worked the sheets with the puffs, and I joined the crew on the rail for some massive hiking.

We reached the bouy off of yacht club and readied the spinnaker in the forward hatch for hoist...

Rounding YC, we hoisted the red spinnaker in which was the quickest hoist to date... We were determined to win this race, and by the way we had extended on the melges--you could tell we were working harder than anyone.

A nice run with our lightweight runner brought us past the city front twards the mark off Bryant Park. The melges took a higher course than us, hoping to get their speedster on plane... As we rounded the mark at Bryant Park and eased the pole foward for the spinnaker reach to Sand Pit, we noticed they had closed the gap slightly.

On the reach from BP to SP, we finally took a lesson learned from our years of racing Melges's. How to successful fend them off reaching. As the Melges was coming on fast, and slightly higher than us, we headed up to fend them off. At the point where they were about to roll us, we executed a successful aggressive dive to leeward, squaring the pole back in the process. The melges ended up having to gybe for the mark, thus taking our stern... We successfully blocked them.

We rounded Sand Pit for a very short beat to the weather bouy. When I say short... I mean very short. The race was determined on who could get their spinnaker gear around to the other side of the boat, and have a quick clean hoist at WB.

Again, it must have been in the cards, but we had an 'America's Cup' style hoist and jib drop. As we were heading back to SP for the penultimate leg of the course... Illusion crossed our bow--2 full legs behind us... We lapped them!

One final douse and a concentrated beat to the finish at Red Eight ensured our Win.. The team was finally working together, and you could tell that everyone was having a great time.

On the finish, high fives all around, a round of brews, and a lot of loud music took us back to the dock. One of the best sailing nights of the summer!

Photojournalist of the day.

Check out the awesome shots that Tyler takes... Pretty amazing.

Wonder if we could get him to take some of the boat while racing???

http://www.lightstalkers.org/tylersipe

Boats have personality, the Amorita has perseverance!

Owners hope to rescue yacht sunken in race

By Sean Flynn/Daily News staff


The owners of a classic sailing sloop that sank Saturday afternoon after a three-sailboat collision off Beavertail in Jamestown hope to raise the boat today.Jed Pearsall and William Doyle, both of Newport and co-owners of the Amorita, each said they are optimistic that the New York 30 sailing sloop built in 1905 can be salvaged.

"I'm devastated," Doyle said Monday, as he talked about the accident. "We'll use whatever means are needed to get her up. She will be rebuilt. She's not lost, but damaged."The owners said the Amorita went down quickly after the Sumurun, a classic sailing yacht from 1914, hit it. The Sumurun has its homeport in Antigua, in the Caribbean.

Also involved in the collision was the Alera, another 1905 New York 30. The Alera is based in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.The owners and others connected with the boats did not want to talk about details of the accident because there are insurance claims involved.

Pearsall, Doyle and two crewmembers from the Amorita were in the water after their boat went down, but nearby boats quickly picked them up.The classic sailboats were racing in the Robert H. Tiedemann Memorial Regatta, in a course that went around Conanicut Island. The boats were going around a marker when the Alera reportedly nudged the Amorita into the path of the Sumurun.

Doyle said the hull of the Amorita suffered "significant damage." He said the other two boats had minor damage.Scott Backholm, a search and rescue controller with the Coast Guard, said the call came in Saturday about 3 p.m., and the Coast Guard at Castle Hill launched a boat. He said everyone was out of the water by the time the Coast Guard arrived.The state Department of Environmental Management is investigating the accident but was not prepared Monday to release any information, according to DEM spokeswoman Stephanie Powell.

Members of the New York Yacht Club formed the race committee for the regatta, which set the rules and procedures for the race. Michael Leavitt, communications director for the New York Yacht Club, said the club would not release information because it was an event sponsored by the Museum of Yachting.

Doyle, chairman of the Museum of Yachting, said he was concerned the accident would detract from the overall success of the regatta, which is planned as an annual event in memory of Tiedemann, a founder of the museum. Last year, the regatta was only open to 12-meter yachts, but this year it was open to other classic sailing vessels as well, he said.Doyle said 30 boats participated and it was a successful event in terms of fundraising. He said the weather was fine and everything went well, except for this "unfortunate accident.""There were perfectly safe conditions on a beautiful day," Doyle said.

In 1904, New York Yacht Club officers decided to contract famous yacht designer and builder Nathaniel G. Herreshoff, of Bristol, to design and build 18 one-design sailboats for club members to race against each other.

During the winter and spring of 1905, the Herreshoff boatyard built the 43.5-foot sloops, including the Amorita and Alera. They are 30 feet long at the waterline, hence the name.The New York 30s won immediate accolades and had an avid following because of their sleek lines, smooth handling, speed and strong mains.Pearsall said he and his father, Adrian, bought the Amorita in 1981. They restored the boat according to original specifications, including reframing and installing new planks, deck, cabin, cockpit and engine. Doyle became a co-owner in the early 1990s and he and Pearsall raced the boat successfully in many regattas.

Sail Magazine in January 1994 listed Amorita as one of the "100 Greatest Yachts in America."Boothbay Harbor Shipyard bought the Alera from owners in Ontario in 2004 and totally restored it in 2005. David Stimson, a master wooden boat builder and designer, oversaw the work, and sailed to Newport with his wife and two sons during the inaugural cruise in the summer of 2005.A. Robert Towbin has owned Sumurun, built by Wm. Fife and Sons in Scotland in 1914, for more than 25 years.

Pearsall said the three boats came together at the course marker off Beavertail, at the southern tip of Jamestown, about one-fourth of the way into the race, when the accident occurred.Pearsall said he is confident the boat will survive this ordeal. "Boats have personalities," he said. "The Amorita has perseverance."

Ellegedly.com

Quick Shout Out to my friends at Ellegedly.com.... This site is run by a very successful, creative, genuine guy who I was lucky enough to meet in Key West a couple of years ago... Be sure to check out his site and especially his blogroll!

A horrible collision yesterday has sunk the classic NY 30 yacht, 'Amorita'. Amorita is one of the most photographed and beautiful yachts belonging to my friends Jed and Bill.

Salvaging begins today... My thoughts are with Jed and Bill.

http://www.ny30.org/amoritahistory2.pdf

It's Over!

Unfortunately Alinghi beat Team New Zealand today to conclude the America's Cup! Amazing racing today, as the finishing delta was the closest in Cup history... 2 seconds!