Archive for November, 2007

WTF RTW?

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

Unless you are buoy-banging one design racer, the only thing cooler than the Transpac/Transat/Fastnet/Sydney-Hobart circuit are the various round-the-world races. However, there seem to be a lot of them, and they change names. From Bruce Schwab’s site, here’s a list of the various races for the near future:

2007/2008:
Barcelona World Race (doublehanded nonstop on Open 60’s)

2008/2009:
Vendee Globe (solo nonstop on Open 60’s)
Volvo Ocean Race (crewed with stopovers on Volvo 70’s)
Portimao Global Ocean Race (solo or double with stopovers on 40’s and 50’s)

2010/2011:
Velux 5-Oceans (solo with stopovers on Open 60’s)

2012/2013:
Same as 2008/2009…..

Jack Frost #1 cancelled due to oil spill

Monday, November 12th, 2007

Last week, a containership hit the bay bridge in the fog, tore its hull, and spilled 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into SF bay.

Mashup

On Friday, SFYC harbor was closed off with a float boom due to encroaching oil, so Shanti (and our friends on the Pacific-built O911 Elusive) weren’t able to race. In the end, the entire SF30 class elected to not race, and eventually Encinal YC just canceled the regatta.

We looked into having the crew volunteer for spill clean-up in lieu of racing, but apparently there is a glut of volunteers and no real need for more. Which leads to a kind of weird dis-connected feeling of having this environmental catastrophe taking place on the bay, but nothing to really do about it. Except not sail.

Anyways, I got a chance to replace the broken spinnaker pole car.

New boots!

Friday, November 9th, 2007

So sweet.

hlextremedeckboot07.jpg

These run at least 1/2 size small, so I’m glad I got the 13.

Beautiful fall daysail

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

The day after daylight savings ends and we get a late start. No matter, time seems to stretch out on a beautiful day like this. We are trying out a spare cruising sail from Charlie/John/Eben on Elusive. But it came without battens, so between that and the high-cut #2, we really looked pretty ramshackle.

Pull out from SFYC at around 1PM, head for the gate. Call Bob and Shana aboard Charisma just as someone sees their red sails. Head over and do some side-by-side sailing. After everyone gets a turn on the tiller under the Golden Gate Bridge, hoist the 1.5 oz chute and run down to alcatraz to say good by as Charisma heads home to Alameda. Short sleeves from dock to dock.

Thanks for the great pictures Shana!

Leeward heel

Leeward heel! Horrible trim!

Running down

Running down from the gate.

Great day!

Beautiful day on the bay.