Taken outside Cork Harbour this morning, at Volvo Cork Week 2018. No matter where in the world you go, one of these fuckers shows up… Props to Anarchist Rob.
July 18th, 2018
The latest from onboard Prospector as they get that silver beauty rollin’ to Hawaii…
Sorry for the lack of news, been a tricky/busy race onboard the Prospector.
It’s never like this, right?
We definitely had some doubt from the newbies about the legendary downwind conditions to Hawaii, but with the A2 finally up, the race is starting to look more normal – finally!
We spent the first 2+ days in our light jib, cracked upwind in 6-11 knots, trying stay out of the upper low that was playing havoc with the normal SF summer winds. We got off quite well, getting far south and missing the glass-off that ate up the wednesday/thursday starters; although still very slow progress towards the barn.
Even when we got to crack off past the low, we only had 10-12 knots for the ‘blast reach’ where we normally have 20+! But the poor guys up north were becalmed…..
So, now well into day 4 for us, we are still 900 miles out. Foulies are hung up, warm (stinky) gear is packed up, board shorts are out and the A2 is up. Great running conditions, 15 knots TWS, 15 knots BSP and laying down some real mileage towards Kaneohe.
Forecast is for the trades to hold, so maybe a more normal race for the last half.
Very interesting race up ahead between the Monday starters with a huge split between the northerly French contingent and Wolfpack, Bacon Berger, Anais on the south road. My bets are on the south (also our line), but very interesting to watch with such a massive split.
As for our fleet, its a really tricky one. We have a significant lead, nice south position, but correcting out on the magical ORR sleds, especially Benny Mitchell, Tom Addis, and the dream team on the Pyewacket may be a difficult mission. Hopefully as we nose into the trades we can bump our lead out a bit more.
With 900 miles to the finish and 380 miles behind the lead boat from the Monday fleet (we started Friday), the real race is on to see who gets the first Mai Tai at Kyc!
– Artie Means
July 18th, 2018
Former IOR warhorse Jacknife sitting the brush along RT 50 a few miles north of Easton Md. Its been there for years… What is the trail that this boat followed that led it here?
July 17th, 2018
You may recall a couple months ago we ran a short article about potential trouble we had heard about involving broker Jeff Brown and JK3 Yachts, a widely known west coast multi-office dealership. We were surprised/not surprised when we came across a San Diego Court issued summons/complaint against Jeff Brown, with JK3 as the complainant.
Click here to read it, it is a doozy.
This document is of course public record, and we offer no further comment, one way or another. We’ll leave this up to the courts to decide…
July 17th, 2018
Pimp City
Don’t forget Amazon Prime Day! Sailors, today is the Amazon Prime Day, and what does this mean for you? Good discounts from a lot of brands, including the products that our friends from Chile are selling in USA and on Amazon.
Aggressive discount coupons are offered for this day and for for this week only, so check out these new handcrafted genuine leather products made with recycled racing sails by clicking on this link.
(I have the notebook and the wallet – dig them both. – ed)
July 17th, 2018
The TP 52’s get some rockin’ breeze in Cascais. Awesome shot thanks to Max Ranchi.
July 17th, 2018
A sailing story from one of my heroes, Webb Chiles
Once not so long ago there was a sailor who crossed oceans alone in small boats. He did this for many, many years and became a legend. He found purity and joy in what he called the monastery of the sea and loved sailing toward the setting sun or toward the dawn.
When as a young man he departed on his first voyage, three tantalizing sirens kissed him good-bye and waved until he disappeared over the horizon and then, as sirens often do, forgot him.
He suffered hardships, not eagerly but inevitably. Sometimes he starved. Twice he almost died of thirst. He learned that thirst is much worse than hunger. Eight times he survived the great storms that are called hurricanes and cyclones.
People often told him he was brave because he made voyages that not only had no one else ever made, but that no one else had even thought of.
He did not consider himself brave. He did not fear the sea and he knew that men do not conquer the sea or mountains, they only transit them. Still he was at home at sea as few others have ever been. He did fear thirst.
After every voyage the sailor made a pilgrimage to a beautiful sorceress. Wise men told him he must do this and so he did. The sorceress dwelt in a high tower beside a lake so vast some thought it an inland sea. That lake was deceptive, sometimes as turquoise as the Caribbean, sometimes as black as the North Sea in a gale.
The sorceress had coal black hair, a friendly smile, and a gay laugh.
Each time the sailor visited her she sliced small pieces of flesh from him. Though the pieces were small, they did not grow back and over the decades they added up. Each time the sailor returned to the sea he was smaller.
The sailor lived far longer than anyone expected, including himself, and though he grew old he kept crossing oceans. Sometimes he wondered at this. He did not believe in the gods and never asked them to protect him.
Finally when he was very, very old, he sailed his small boat into harbor and made his customary way to the sorceress’s lair.
The sorceress did not age. She was still beautiful. Her hair still jet black. Her smile still friendly. Her laughter still gay. She welcomed him and cut the tiny remnant he had become into three pieces and he vanished.
(I made my biannual visit to my skin cancer specialist today and amused myself on the train ride in by writing this in my mind. I typed it out when I returned home.
Originally the title of this was a dull ‘Modern Myth’. Steve Early in an email called it a slice of life. I wish I had thought of that, but I didn’t. He did, and, knowing a good thing when I read it, I stole it. Thanks, Steve.)
July 17th, 2018
The poor Bell’s Beer Bayview Mackinac fleet is just getting hosed by no wind. This is Wizard finishing second, which is way more than most of the fleet is going to do…
The “slowest race in decades” implies and defines the light winds plaguing the Bell’s Beer Bayview Mackinac Race, which began on Saturday, July 14, albeit with four postponements that pushed back many of the 16 afternoon start times, some by almost two hours.As of 5:30 this afternoon, only 13 of the bigger boats from the 259-nm Cove Island Course had finished. Thirty four boats had dropped out, and no team from the 204 nm Shore Course was in sight.
“The Cove Island Course finishers are all Class A and B…the closest Class C is still 60 miles out, and D, E, F, G and H are behind that,” said Bell’s Beer Bayview Mackinac Race Chair Gary Shoemaker. “As the classes go up, speed goes down because the boats are smaller.”
Though there is no time limit, organizers traditionally stop recording finishes at noon on Tuesday, but for this 2018 edition they will stay at their posts until 6 p.m.
“We have our big awards party at noon on Tuesday, so we hope the winners are in,” said Shoemaker. “We only have the harbor until Wednesday at noon because of the Chicago Mac, so we couldn’t postpone until the next day.”
July 16th, 2018
This is what a typhoon will do. From Deep Water Bay. Fucking ugly…
July 16th, 2018
Navigator supremo Artie Means sends these reports from soon-to-be-fleet leader Prospector, the beautiful Mills 68, en route to Hawaii...
Quite the differing of opinion between us and Pyewackett…..pretty happy where we are on the southern route; but will take a few days to see who’s right. We had a killer start, led out the gate and been upwind ever since, it is so time for a change! Hopefully pushing some furling sails up later today, before kites tomorrow.
Probably most interesting is to see if the ‘frenchies’ (the foiling Beneteau Figaro 3) can get out of the north. They are leading now, but potentially very tricky to get to Hawaii from there!
Below is an article written by Matt Landry for their home Shelter Island YC. – Artie Means.
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We were promised board shorts and T shirts. So far it has been brisk, tight angle jib reaching since more or less the west side of the Golden Gate. Over the past 24 hours, the air temperature as crept slowly upward as the sun poked through a rather consistent cloud layer, offering tantalizing previews of the conditions which garnered the tag line “The Fun Race to Hawaii.”
Prospector could not have asked for a better start with 20-22 knots of breeze at the mouth of San Francisco Bay. Sporty conditions all around as we jockeyed for starting position with Pyewacket within spitting distance of St. Francis Yacht Club. With boat speeds near 12 knots, and a fairly short line, the real challenge at the start was to find a place to slow down, hold a spot and prepare for a speed run seconds before the gun. Luckily, we were able to defend a window on the boat end of the line, allowing a clear lane out of the harbor.
Once through the Golden Gate and its wind tunnel effect, the breeze sat down dramatically. By about 5 miles offshore, we changed from our J2 into the J1 for better light air performance. It’s now early Sunday, and we’ve been in that setup since Friday afternoon…
Currently, the goal is to get around the southern edge of a windless zone that has swallowed up the Wednesday and Thursday starters. We’ve been on starboard tack the entire time; a drag race to get to the southerly trades. In this environment, nothing stays still. Sails are stacked and re-stacked. Jib sheets, mainsheets and runners are in constant motion, squealing protests against their winches as the on-deck crew squeezes every knot of boatspeed. For the off-watch crew, life below is like trying to sleep inside a guitar. Every burp of the jib or drop on the runners sends shockwaves echoing through the hull, magnified to the point that might just shake some fillings loose.
For now though, we press on in cracked sheet upwind mode. Routing suggests we should be into the traditional Fun Race to Hawaii weather in another 24 hours or so. We’re already starting to see some of the lift we need to move into our off the wind inventory, and hopefully beginning putting up big numbers to Hawaii. – Matt Landry.
July 16th, 2018
