Sailing Anarchy

we care a lot

We’ve been accused of not paying any attention to the Sail GP in ‘Frisco, but see? – We care. A lot.

Things are hotting up a little in the practice sessions over in San Francisco and these guys are certainly not just Driving Miss Daisy with a bit of an ‘Oh shit’ moment for Team China but the practice course is where to work out the near disaster management rather than once the starting gun has gone.

If nothing else the image proves these are not just boring stable computer controlled foilers. Getit wrong and they WILL bite, and bite hard. Apart from the damage to crew egos, confidence and bodies the wing damage from a 40 kt capsize would put a huge damper on the shore teams social life.

With the breeze hardly up into the teens these GP50 Cats are easily topping 40 knots and at that speed, when things get out of line they do so quickly. We hear they are trying for 50…..degrees!

Not a normal look for the Team China boat and happy to report it didn’t ultimately result in an early bath but when you push it you get closer to the edge. Talking of that, a little bird tells me they are targeting 50 today.

With just over a week to what might be called the home event in San Francisco (well Larry relatively lives just down the road) the teams are all assembled and out on the waters of San Francisco Bay pushing their machines to see what they can do and perhaps as importantly what they can’t do.

As one of the greatest ever coaches used to tell his ‘ferrets’ “Train like you are racing than then race like you are training”.

It all kicks off for real on ‘The Bay’ in just 8 days and I hear the top tier tickets have already sold out, thank goodness for the internet. Photo from SailGP.

Tittle inspiration courtesy of Faith No More.

what is it?

Or perhaps “what was it?”

love me tender

Why didn’t we think of this years ago? A Guide to Finding the World’s Best Dinghy – where you can click to sort over 30 of the world’s best dinghies, ranking them by the 10 most important qualities of a dinghy like weight, stability, ease of towing, sailing performance, etc.

Our clever friends at Off Center Harbor have created exactly that, and you can click here to get it now, because they’re giving access to Anarchists for a limited time.

Whether you want a beautiful wooden tender that sails well and can be easily cartopped or a plastic beast the land-lubbing in-laws can drag down the beach, the Dinghy Guide will help you find your new favorite little boat.

Thanks for OffCenterHarbor.com for making this guide and sharing it with Sailing Anarchists.

get off my lawn!

It’s almost as if I wrote it. – ed.

The geezers at the “paper club”, NOSA, need to give up the Newport to Ensenada Race. Their years (decades really) of mismanagement and failure to adapt to yacht racing’s trends have resulted in the smallest fleet, in several lifetimes, heading down the coast.

Plus their acquisition of the even lamer ‘Border Run’ race, has resulted in a quarter of the fleet of the “Newport to Ensenada Race” not even crossing the border past San Diego. Good going, losers, instead of learning from the Border Run’s failure of multiple courses effectively dividing and conquering the event, you’ve divided and wrecked a once great yacht race.

You heard it here first: race participation will continue to diminish until the 40 boats entered in N2E 2025 each take home one of the perpetual trophies as a participation award.

The best thing NOSA could hope for, at this point, for the survival of the event, would be to give up the race to a legitimate yacht club with small amenities such as a clubhouse and a membership base, that can promote and run the event in the right direction.

For anyone actually doing the race, I’ll see you at Paris de Noche on Saturday night. We can drown our sorrows in tequila and strippers.

Jump in the discussion.

scotw

Somehow SCOTW seems a bit beneath her accomplishments… Read on.

god save the queen

Really? No more calling boats “She” or “Her”? How about “Bitch” instead – would that make everybody happy?  “It”? FFS…

It was The Queen who said: “May God bless her and all who sail in her,” as she commissioned Britain’s latest warship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, in 2014.

But now the tradition of referring to boats as “she” or “her” is under threat after centuries of naval history.

On Tuesday it emerged that a British maritime museum has begun referring to ships it exhibits as “it” in a bid to appear more gender neutral.

The decision taken by the Scottish Maritime Museum near Troon was sparked by vandals. Twice in four months, references to boats as “she” have been scratched out of information signs, forcing the charity’s director to scrap the gender-specific term altogether.

Jump in the forum.

rare view

We dig Skip Novak’s adventures. Here’s one you can be a part of…

Pelagic Australis Photo Sailing Safari in The Falkland Islands – Guided by Rick Tomlinson – 2 – 16 Nov 2019 – A 14 day tour of the islands’ finest wildlife sanctuaries and places of photographic interest by sailing vessel. This two week cruise in early November is in the southern spring at the height of the wildlife season for all things that fly and swim.

Among other attractions, one of the islands in the far west is home to the biggest Black Browed albatross colony in the world. Gentoo and Rock Hopper penguin colonies are many, as are other flying sea birds, birds of prey and water fowl. Sea lions, dolphins and whales are abundant. Check it.

cut it

The are lots of changes upcoming with the Laser. It will change name shortly. There are likely legal changes that will be made to the international and national class associations, which will not be allowed to use the Laser name any longer.

And there will be new builders as, following the recent decertification of LaserPerfomance, the world supply of hulls is now in the hands of only two relatively small builders in Australia and Japan. And there are completely new rigs that the officials of the international class are looking at introducing.

On top of that, the Olympic future of the Laser will be decided later this year, possibly in May, by World Sailing.
There are lots of changes indeed in the making! But what about the sails? Read on.

Title inspiration thanks to O.T. Genasis.

give me liberty, or…

…get your ass kicked?  DC was the last boat to use “Liberty” and we don’t think that turned out too well…We kid, we’re sure everything will be ducky….

the truth

This poor shitter has been at the centre of the Extinction Rebellion environmental protests in Oxford Circus. Not dignified and you do feel a bit of sympathy. What is it? Props to Anarchist Andrew.

Title inspiration thanks to Wartime.

catch the wave

The CEOs of Eni, Fincantieri, Cassa depositi e prestiti (CDP) and Terna have signed an agreement to develop and build wave power stations on an industrial scale.

The agreement seeks to combine the expertise of the collective companies to transform the Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter (ISWEC) pilot project into a project on an industrial scale. Eni installed the project at its Ravenna offshore site, and it became operational in March. The ISWEC production unit is capable of converting energy generated by waves into electricity and adapting to different sea conditions so as to guarantee a high continuity in energy production.

The pilot plant has been integrated into the world’s only hybrid smart grid system featuring photovoltaics and energy storage as well. It reached a peak power output of over 51kW, or 103 percent of its nominal power.

The technology, part of Eni’s strategic decarbonization plan, is suitable for powering medium and large offshore assets and, in the future, will enable Eni to convert mature offshore platforms into renewable energy generation hubs.

Read on.

again?

What, the results of the last  Golden Globe race: 12 retirements, 1 Chichester, 5 arrivals and 1 navigator still in the race, weren’t bad enough? No! they are going to do the damn thing all over again….

It will take place in 2022 and 20 sailors of 10 different nationalities are already engaged for a departure on September 22, 2022 (7 British, 3 Australians, 2 French, 2 American, 1 Austrian, 1 Canadian, 1 Irish, 1 Italian, 1 Neo Zealand, 1 Norwegian). Of the 20 future participants, 12 already have a loan boat.

Read on.

yahoos need not apply

From the Fabulous Forums…

Kudos to the Siebels for funding the most ambitious community sailing program in US in a generation or three.  Now leave it up to US Sailing to anoint three of the five funded locations without so much as an application or review to well-established (ie, Blue Blazer) locals on East/West/Top coasts.  Locating these new programs in areas already well-served by yacht clubs, sailing programs, etc sorta misses the whole point, no?  Looking at the map, I see the entire Yahoo South is omitted.  I suppose they will award one to Miami to compliment the US Sailing Center there huh?

How about the Great State of Texas?  Second largest state in Union with nearly 30 million souls and a large minority population, and growing?  How come US Sailing doesn’t award one to Houston/Dallas/Austin network covering most of the sailing in the state?  How come Atlanta or NOLA isn’t included?  How about St. Louis?  Do we really need ANOTHER location in San Fran?  Annapolis?  Chicago?  Come on US Sailing.  You remind me of US Tennis Association.  All the $$$ goes to the Haves, not the Have-nots.

Jump in the thread.

where is it?

From the Fabulous Forums…

I’ve been away for a while, but am back as we prep for some long-distance cruising again.  There used to be a forum for construction and building, which has apparently been dropped.  Where do those types of discussions take place now, or is that all left to “the professionals”?

The answer is that it has been here for a long time – Fix It Anarchy,  brought to you by West System  – ed

unintended consequences

The ‘outside assistance’ rule in offshore racing has become increasingly problematic. Rapid advances in digital technology and mobile communications make it difficult to frame effective restrictions. Whatever limits are set soon prove virtually impossible to police.

A generation ago, just switching on a transistor radio to hear weather reports during a race was grounds for DSQ. The principle that a boat and its crew should be totally self-sufficient underpinned the whole sporting ethos of blue-water sailing.

But more recently the internet and wireless connectivity have meant that even boats racing on modest budgets can monitor sophisticated weather websites and sea surface temperature data throughout a race – and superimpose that information onto their chart plotters to plan tactics and calculate the fastest track.

Up to now, the bulk of that data has been commonly available to all competitors. So, in the sense that it is ‘outside assistance’ it is accessible to the whole fleet. Anyone with a laptop or smart phone can, theoretically, view the same tactical information. No specific advantage is enjoyed by individual boats.

Nevertheless, the technology represents a clear subversion of the traditional prohibitions on ‘outside assistance’. As such, it must be met by changes to the Racing Rules of Sailing as signaled in any Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions. For example, here’s how the NoR for the last Sydney-Hobart dealt with the issue:

11.3 Changes to RRS • RRS 41: A boat may obtain assistance in the form of any readily available commercial meteorological or hydrographical information regardless of cost.

Of course, that little qualification “readily available” is open to interpretation. Specialist marine meteorologists in private practice sell their analysis and predictions to ambitious yacht owners, and there seems little doubt that an undeclared extra payment might yield additional information that may not be so “readily available”.

But there is now a new, perhaps unintended, development that threatens to upset the whole ‘outside assistance’ applecart. Last week the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia released their Notice of Race for the 2019 Sydney-Hobart. Tucked away in the Media Rights and Restrictions section is this single-line entry:

15.7. A boat may during its race use a drone flown from and recovered by the boat in accordance with the Sailing Instructions.

Drones? Why was it necessary to formalise permission for yachts to fly one of these ingenious devices? Presumably, it is because the media have alerted race organisers that they wish to use aerial video and still pictures taken from drones in their coverage. Anything to keep TV, newspapers – and the sponsors – happy.

But unless the Sailing Instructions (which are usually not published until shortly before the race) somehow manage to place tight restrictions on their use, legitimising drones in offshore racing will have profound tactical implications.

These miniature, remote-controlled helicopters are no longer just toys for geeks. Their development has been astonishingly rapid. Long-range drones now weigh less than two kilos, can fly at close to 60mph, stay aloft for 30 minutes and have a range of up to 8 miles – all the while transmitting high-resolution ‘live’ pictures back to their controller.

For an acquisition cost of around $4,000 a top-of-the-range model of these ‘eyes in the sky’ can make the lifelong dream of all tacticians and navigators come true: they will be able to see over the horizon.

Send up the drone to search ahead for better wind or to spot the holes.

Send up the drone to check out what your competitors are doing. What tack are they on? What breeze do they have? What sails are they using?

Send up the drone to its maximum altitude and look for the cloud patterns up to 30 miles down the track.

That level of information is priceless during a tight race and, with a re-charge interval of around 90 minutes, a drone can provide real-time updates every two hours.

The Sydney-Hobart race is often won and lost as the leading yachts negotiate the notoriously fickle winds around Tasman Island on the final day. The odds in that annual lottery will be significantly reduced if crews are now able to launch their drones to help navigate them through the puffs and avoid the ‘parking lots’. The sky above Tasman could be thick with these lithium-powered humming birds.

Perhaps, in an attempt to prevent such obvious applications, the Sailing Instructions for the Hobart will limit the use of drones to the first and last hours of the race when media attention is at its peak, and to a short radius of operation around each boat.

Good luck with that. The spate of recent scandals and protests associated with the line-honours contest suggest we should not place too much faith in the sporting instincts of hyper-competitive owners and crew.

Will the drones themselves be subject to the rules of the NoR and SIs? Can you shoot down an opponent’s drone? Can you deliberately crash your drone into an opponent? Can you protest if another yacht’s rig accidentally downs your drone? Etc etc.

The possible permutations and grounds for dispute are endless – and none of them good. Imagine more than 100 drones all fighting for airspace in the Transpac, or skimming back and forth across the Irish Sea during the Fastnet Race. Chaos.    

And hovering above all this is a fundamental question: is it truly outside assistance if the drone is launched and recovered from the same boat?

– anarchist David

seeing red

Not much prettier than this of the Classic Schooner Class winner 54′ schooner Severine  from the Antigua Classics Regatta.

stepping up big-time

New Program will Support Innovation and Provide Resources to Community Sailing in Five Major Markets Around the USA

BRISTOL, R.I. (April 22, 2019) – US Sailing is set to launch the Siebel Sailors Program, a landmark community sailing program made possible by a ground-breaking donation from the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation, led by successful tech industry businessman, sailor, and philanthropist, Tom Siebel. The Program’s purpose is to increase opportunity and diversity in the sport of sailing by providing resources and support to youth sailors at public access sailing centers across the country.

The Siebel Sailors Program will support an important US Sailing objective of providing increased access to sailing for youth, regardless of socio-economic background. US Sailing, through the Siebel Sailors Program, will provide fleets of sail boats, equipment, and expert coaching at community sailing centers initially in five regions across the country. The Program will significantly enhance community sailing center programming, advanced skill development, and competitive opportunities for young sailors.

“US Sailing is thrilled about the generous donation from Tom and Stacey Siebel and we are excited to be launching this program that is a game-changer for community sailing as we engage with a growing audience of youth sailors,” said Jack Gierhart, Chief Executive Officer of US Sailing. “The Siebel Sailors Program allows US Sailing to increase diversity in the sport and work more closely with community sailing centers around the country to offer opportunities for youth who are looking to advance their skills and learn from the top coaches.”

Throughout 2019 and 2020, US Sailing will select qualified community sailing centers to establish five regional Siebel Sailing Networks and partner with US Sailing in the implementation of the Siebel Sailors Program. Each Network will include four community sailing centers: one Primary Siebel Center and three Supporting Centers. Center selection will be determined based on several criteria, including an established infrastructure for learning, safe facilities, and equipment for youth, and a record of working with underserved youth populations. In total, twenty such centers are to be established across the US in 2019 and 2020 in cooperation with local communities. On average, each center will be provided a fleet of sailboats and associated supervision and equipment.

Siebel Sailors will have access to a range of sailing experiences and boat types, with the RS Feva XL as the primary boat. The RS Feva XL, manufactured by RS Sailing, is one of the fastest growing doublehanded sailboat classes in the world. With a modern sail plan and controls, and a durable, performance focused hull, the RS Feva is an ideal training platform for the Siebel Sailors Program. Read on.

orr4u?

Ratings based on velocity prediction programs are gaining advocates across North America. Here are the numbers.

The total number of boats with rating certificates derived from measurements and a velocity prediction program is on the rise in North America. As our end-of-year survey proved, the market is moving, and the team at the Offshore Racing Association (ORA) is encouraging that move.

Note that for the purposes of this survey, we have included the single-number rating rule, IRC, which is not a VPP-based rule but in many areas competes for market share with current VPP-based rules. Note also that the ORA owns and manages three VPP-based rules—Offshore Racing Rule (ORR), ORR-Ez, and ORR-Mh (multihull).

Reviewing the published 2018 data from the groups managing the IRC, ORCi, and ORC Club, as well as the ORR and ORR-Ez, shows that 1,543 certificates were issued to boats in North America last year. This is an increase of about 400 compared to 2017, a 35-percent lift, and is the result of growth in three of the five rules surveyed.

READ MORE

under water

Is this a good idea….?

A Swedish-Norwegian research project will be looking into the possibilities and costs of transporting CO2 captured in Sweden for storage on the Norwegian continental shelf. This is the first project ever to look into this possibility.

“This can bring Sweden closer to its target of achieving climate neutrality by 2045,” says Research Manager Kristin Jordal at SINTEF.

May reduce CO2 emissions by 500,000 tons per year

The aim is to investigate the possibilities of establishing a full-scale facility for the capture and transport of CO2 from the Preem refinery and wet gas plant at Lysekil. Such a project would reduce CO2 emissions by up to 500,000 tons per year, and the demonstration plant represents a step towards establishing a full-scale facility by 2025.

Read on.

roots

Where it all began… The first boat designed and purpose built for DSS… Fast and furious – the Infiniti 36GT ‘Skazka’ now available through Yacht-Zoo .

lotta love

That’s nothing but straight up cute! From the 2019 AUS O’pen Skiff Champs

chargers

You just have to love this shot  from the 2019 AUS O’pen Skiff Championships.

nose job, arse lift

We all know that old joke about the farmer and his favourite axe: it’s had three new handles and two new heads, but he reckons “it’s still as good as new”.

Well, consider the photo above, taken of the veteran 100-footer Black Jack before the start of the last Sydney-Hobart race. If word on the waterfront is right, that section of hull is just about all that will be left of the old Reichel-Pugh after the radical mods being planned for its bow and stern.

It’s not as if this 14-year-old supermaxi is slow. Originally built for Neville “Croaky” Crichton in 2005 and campaigned as Alfa Romeo, she beat Wild Oats XI for line honours in the 2009 Hobart race before being sold and raced in the Northern Hemisphere as Europa.

Brought back to Australia by Queensland property mogul Peter Harburg, the 100-footer was refurbished and re-named Black Jack after the late Australian Grand Prix motor racing champion, Jack Brabham.

Meanwhile, in late 2015, WOXI – a virtually identical Reichel-Pugh – underwent extensive plastic surgery. In an attempt to match the off-wind speed of Comanche and reduce the supermaxi’s nose-diving, six feet was lopped off the stern and nearly 40 feet removed ahead of the mast. A complete new – and longer – bow section was then fitted. In effect, this moved the mast aft to the middle of the boat.

But controversy remains about another feature of those Wild Oats renovations. The bowsprit was grafted into a newly curved stem profile, much like a traditional clipper bow. Many commentators at the time believed this broke a number of rules, including those that govern maximum LOA for the Hobart race, the limits of the “working deck” area and the requirement that a spar such as a bowsprit should be detachable.

With far less radical modifications, Black Jack then proved herself to still be competitive at the front of the fleet. She was always ‘there or thereabouts’, matching Wild Oats in most conditions and sometimes sailing slightly quicker in light-to-moderate air. She was leading the 2018 Sydney-Hobart and might well have won but for some unlucky holes and shifts rounding Tasman Island on the final day.

But it seems there are now major changes underway for Black Jack. Perhaps ironically, it is the bowsprit that may have given us the first hint. While the yacht and crew were in Queensland trying to break their own elapsed time record for the Brisbane to Gladstone race, a specialist carbon fabrication shop in Sydney was commissioned to make Black Jack a new bowsprit.

Why would she need that? Well, news has leaked that McConaghy’s, the boat builders who made both Alfa Romeo and WOXI, are constructing not just a whole new for’d section for Black Jack, but a broadened aft section as well. It seems that owner Peter Harburg wants to have the combined advantages a wider stern, and a mast position that puts the boat’s centre of effort in the most efficient place. Only the middle section of the hull – and the deck layout – is likely to survive.

Those mods will cost millions. Is there no end to the determination of some millionaires who can’t be happy until they’ve won Sydney-Hobart line honours? And the added spice to this unfolding saga is that Harburg was the owner who first raised the issue of Wild Oats XI not transmitting from its AIS during the 2018 race. He didn’t protest, but there’s little doubt the manner of that loss still rankles with him.

As the old proverb goes, “revenge is a meal best served cold”.   

– anarchist David

well, at least he saved the rudder…

Spotted off Coronado Roads. Jump in the forum to discuss…

bic blu

The O’pen SKIFF Eurochallenge is a mini-tour criss-crossing the European continent, giving young sailors  the chance to measure their skills at an international level.

The 2019 Eurochallenge started today, in Palermo, Sicily, an idyllic Mediterranean island location, popular with all varieties of wind and water sports fanatics. The other rounds will take place later in the season, at Sopot, Poland, and then finishing at Mandelieu on the Cote d’Azur in the south of France, a range of different conditions that will test the youngsters to their limits in pursuit of the Eurochallenge title. With the O’pen SKIFF World Championships having already taken place, in New Zealand at the turn of the year, and and the summer in Europe still to come the Eurochallenge is a great opportunity to get back into serious international action. Read on.

see dee

Our friends at the Ocean Institute are stoked to let you know that  Ocean Institute we will be featuring Dee Caffari on Thursday, May 23 at 6pm as OI’s Distinguished Speaker Series presenter in Dana Point, CA.  They’ll have drinks and some bites of food in Ocean Institute’s waterfront courtyard before and throughout the presentation.

And of course I’ll be there! – ed.

40×3

This might be the best looking multihull we’ve seen in a long time. Sure they advertise, but did you ever hear me say those butt-ugly H&H multis were pretty? No you did not. We try to bring it to you straight.

Rapido Trimarans will be at the La Grande Motte Boat Show in France from 24-28 April to show off their plans for the new R40. Drop by to discuss the R40 further (or the R50 or R60, of course)!

multi multi

Straight off the PR e-mail. Makes sense to us…

While the Caribbean season has been exciting, there’s some excellent news which will delight all cruising multihull and racing enthusiasts, the launch on the initiative of private owners-skippers, of a Mediterranean circuit for the summer season: Multimed Racing.

The objective is to bring together owners interested in an annual racing program from March to October, with half a dozen events among the greatest classics of the Mediterranean. The Multihull Cup, 900 Nautiques de St Tropez and Ruta de la Sal are already on the prograà l’initiativemme, and others will be announced very soon.
Participating in at least four of these prestigious races or retaining their best four performances will allow any gentleman skipper to participate in the annual challenge, rewarded with a prestigious trophy.

Optimist – Lake Garda Meeting – Riva ITA – Country Cup – Final results

As a prelude to the Optimist Lake Garda Meetings, the Nations Trophy was held with one representative per country racing. After three races, the local Alexis Demurtas ITA was the winner ahead of Caspar Ilgenstein GER and Henrik Puolakka FIN. The results of the North Americans and Caribbeans: CAY 8th, BER 10th, BAH 19th, ISV 20th, MEX 21th, USA 34th. 36 nations from 5 continents were present. — The ranking list. — The Optimist Meeting begins today with huge fleets as usual: 991 Juniores from 35 nations and 117 Cadetti (U12) will participate. — The event website.

white thrash

Our fucked up system – yes, we are working to make all of it better – won’t let us play FB videos, so I’m afraid you’ll have to click….twice. Oh, the horror…

the splice of life

Did you know that a well spliced rope will typically retain 90% of its strength?

Marlow Ropes is well-known for providing helpful education resources and advice for sailors, and this year, the leading rope manufacturer is pleased to launch a new and improved on-line collection of splicing tutorials.

From the advanced D2 (Dyneema®) Eye Splice to the intermediate Excel Taper and  beginner level Continuous Loop control line splice; Marlow will guide you step-by-step through a range of 11 splices, suitable for all types of sailor and for all abilities, allowing you to improve and master your seamanship skills to get your rigging ready for the start of the season.  

With over 150 years of combined splicing knowledge and experience, splicing is integral to Marlow’s product and service, with their splicing service available to trade and commercial customers for bespoke rope assemblies, slings and strops across the industrial, vehicle and working-at-height industries.  In the marine industry, Marlow works with leading rigging professionals and consults many of the world’s leading race teams (including the British, US and European sailing teams amongst others). 

The full splicing collection will be released over the start of the summer.  To view the first three films in the series, click here.  For hands-on splicing demonstrations and advice, find Marlow at boat shows and events across the UK & Europe, or enquire about attending one of their UK nationwide Rope-Shows at a sailing club near you.

making america stupid again

You haven’t had quite enough of this asshole yet?

On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced new measures to roll back the Obama-era normalization of relations with Cuba. The changes include unspecified new travel restrictions and an unprecedented decision to allow private lawsuits against foreign companies over the Cuban government’s expropriation of property in the 1950s.

“The Department of the Treasury will implement further regulatory changes to restrict non-family travel to Cuba,” Bolton said. “These new measures will help steer American dollars away from the Cuban regime or its military and security services, who control the tourism industry in Cuba.”

The new measures include further restrictions on individual “people-to-people exchanges” for non-family tourist visitors to Cuba. This form of travel will still be allowed for American tourists accompanied by U.S.-based, authorized sponsors, like cruise ship operators.  Read on.

shine it

A Swan 82 looking shiny during a refit in China. A full and lets say interesting story is soon to come…

woxi vision

Too funny! Jump in.

here comes the rooster

Day 1 of the Rooster Zest Southern tour sprints started off with quite light winds and some rain clouds popping around the course.  A M-shaped course right up against the windward side of the reservoir to keep things interesting. The round robin series got underway with good racing throughout the fleet. 6 races were run with no place safe from front to back and the entire fleet finishing within a minute or so. The evening included a visit to a moderately priced curry house follow by a pint or five by the Thames river.

Day 2 go underway in much steadier conditions, so much so that the M-shaped course from the previous day was still true! .

Today the fleets were split into gold and silver and the scoreboard reset. In the gold fleet the battle for first was between the Sam/John Knight and Mike Simms/Jack Holden. Despite the Knights taking the first race, Mike/Jack found their form to take 4 straight bullets and win the gold fleet with Sam in second.

The battle for third was between Caroline Whitehouse/Tony and Sean Cleary/Richard Ashwell. Caroline showed improving pace throughout the day (including 2 second place finishes at the end) to take 3^rd.

In the silver fleet, new-comers Pete Mitchell and Sarah Newton showed great pace to take the win! It is widely expected this paring should be gold fleet contenders in the coming events. Andy Hatch and Lou Hosken also showed great pace taking 3 wins in the silver fleet. However, an OCS for them in race 5 meant they had to settle for 2^nd place.

QM and it’s race team did a great job getting a M-shaped course to work in very shifty conditions.

Many thanks to Rooster and Zest for their continued support and sponsorship of the RS400 Southern tour.

Next up is the Rutland RS Sprints on the 27/28 April followed by the highly anticipated Warsash RS400 open/party!

RS Southern Tour events : https://www.rs400.org/index.asp?Fleet=RS400&selection=Events

does this story have an ending?

The UK Laser Association has announced on its website that a « Club Edition » of the Laser has been introduced by LaserPerformance. This is presented as a « training boat  » that does not bear the World Sailing Building Plaque or a Sail Button.

The statement reads: « This is fine as a training boat but we feel it is important to clarify that these boats are not Class legal based on the Fundamental Rule within the Laser Class Rules. These boats will be ineligible to compete in any UKLA sanctioned events, broadly speaking but not exclusively, those advertised on the UKLA website.  Read on.