Sailing Anarchy

who gonna get it?

North has to be the heavy favorite, right? Who’s gonna lower their price so much that they end up making no money off the deal, but want the marketing and PR value? Thoughts?

The 49er class invites expressions of interest to design and build 49er and/or 49erFX sails for the 2021-2024 quadrennial.

The 49er class welcomes world leading sail designers and manufacturers to bid on becoming our class sailmaker(s). The selected sailmaker(s) will have the opportunity to build sails for at least the four year period leading to the Paris Olympics, with the possibility to extend for further quadrennials.

The current 49er sails have been used since 2009 while the 49erFX sails have been used since 2012. The 49er class has had 3 different designs of sails over the years, while the 49erFX is coming off the original set of sails.

The class is seeking improve consistency and longevity of the sails, to keep the costs of campaigning as manageable as possible.

Each of the two rigs, 49er and 49erFX, has been updated for 2021 already, with CST being the new mast maker for the classes. The new masts are of the same geometry and bend characteristics as the previous generation of masts. The existing class masts are expected to remain class legal for the foreseeable future.

We invite all interested parties to get the full technical requirements via email. Expressions of interest are due by March 28th, 2020.

getting weaker

Environmental advocates from across the country today protested the Trump Administration’s proposed rollbacks of the National Environmental Policy Act. The National Environmental Policy Act is one of this country’s foundational environmental laws, ensuring the public is informed and can participate in decisions on major federal projects from power plants and refineries to freeways and pipelines.

Under the Trump proposal, public review of proposed projects would be significantly curtailed. Further, the proposal would allow the companies responsible for major polluting projects to be involved in the environmental review process far earlier, potentially allowing them to stack the deck in favor of approval. It also reduces the scope of NEPA review and allows the federal government to ignore the impacts of climate change.

In response to today’s rallies, Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement:

Not every project can or should be built. The National Environmental Policy Act ensures communities have a right to know the environmental and fiscal impacts, and whether less destructive alternatives exist. Trump’s attack on the National Environmental Policy Act silences the communities across the nation fighting corporate polluters.

If this rollback happens, it will weaken communities’ efforts to protect their air, water and public health. We must not allow this critical tool for public engagement to be eliminated by the businesses determined to destroy our environment for profit. We will not tolerate efforts to dismantle our bedrock environmental laws.

Read on.

park n’ go

A race that continues to grow in both size and global importance, the 12th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 got underway today in Antigua. Situated at the winter time crossroads of Europe and the Americas, the race and it’s entry list read like a who’s who of yachting. With 73 boats and around 700 sailors from at least 37 nations racing, the Caribbean 600 has become one of the major middle distance races on the global calendar and the size and quality of the fleet is evidence of that.

Despite the impressive mix of both monohulls and multihulls present, both course records – currently held by Rambler 88 in the monohulls and Maserati in the multihulls – look to be safe as the conditions are atypically light and forecast to stay that way for about 24 hours before building back to a more typical 20 knots. After the start, much of the fleet got parked up behind the island of Barbuda which has wreaked havoc on the overall standings.

In the MOCRA multihull division, the same trio of MOD 70’s that did a west coast tour last summer is now back together with Argo, Powerplay and Maserati all in attendance. The light-air of the first day won’t do the full-foiling Maserati any favors, nor will the crew lists on Argo and Powerplay, which include French legends such as Franck Cammas sailing on Argo and Loick Peyron back with his mates on Powerplay.

After a close-fought battle in California Offshore Race Week and Transpac 2019, Jason Carroll’s Argo and Peter Cunningham’s Powerplay look to again be running away with the lead from Giovanni Soldini and crew on Maserati. Joining the MOD’s for the 600 is the recent Cape Town to Rio record-setter Ultim Emotion 2 (former Prince de Bretagne), who is currently trailing the three MODs by a margin.

Also of note is the new syndicate-owned Shockwave (formerly Paradox), the ORMA-inspired Irens-designed 63-footer that is arguably the fastest cruising boat on earth, but will be contested for that title by another ultra-quick ‘cruiser’ in our mate Stephen Bourne’s new Rapido 60 trimaran Ineffable. 

Once the fleet gets into more steady pressure, one can expect the Askew Brothers’ and their world class crew on the VO 70 Wizard to be amongst the fastest monohulls to sail the course, though they’ll have their hands full with three other VO 70’s present as well as a couple of upstart VO 65 programs and even a Volvo 60.

With the light conditions potentially favoring a more easily-driven hull and taking some advantage away from the powerful canting-keelers, we’re cautiously pulling for our pals on the Mills 68 Prospector to make some noise, both over the line and on handicap. At the first turning mark, Prospector was the first monohull and was in front of all but the four fastest of the multihulls. 

Another fascinating battle to watch will be that of the three two Cookson 50’s in the race. One of the best platforms money can buy for this type of race (and a previous winner), just two are left after Ron O’Hanley’s Cookson 50 Privateer struck an apparently un-charted rock just before the start. “Our instruments were showing us in 20ft of water off Half Moon Bay but we must have hit a rock,” commented Ron. “The rudder broke right off and with no steerage we sailed the boat offshore… ABSAR (Antigua Barbuda Search and Rescue) got to us in 30 minutes and did a really professional job – we owe them a huge thanks and will do so via a donation.”

A major bummer for the well-sailed and well-traveled Cookson 50 program, but the light conditions are perhaps playing into the hands of Joe Mele’s fixed-keel Cookson 50 Triple Lindy, who can’t hang with the canting-keel versions in a righting-moment contest but crushes in the light.

As well as all the heavy hitters in the MOCRA class and premier IRC divisions, there’s the infamous Teasing Machine, a TP 52, several Class 40’s, production racer/ cruisers and everything else under the sun in this massive fleet. Track the fleet here, or on your mobile device using the Yellowbrick app. – Ronnie Simpson.

what do you know?

From the Fabulous Forums, brought to you by Marlow Ropes.

I bought the Farr 920 that was in the US Watercraft bankruptcy auction a couple of years ago. I’m finally getting ready to splash it.

I’m looking to get some provenance on the boat/find previous owners.  I met a guy at the auction (Brian I believe) who had owned the boat previously, unfortunately I lost his number. It had also been subsequently owned by someone who worked at Hall Spars.

Anyone got any info to share with me?

keep your eyes on the road

The U.K. Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has released its accident investigation report into the ro-ro passenger ferry Red Falcon colliding with a moored yacht on October 21, 2018.

At 0811, when navigating in severely reduced visibility in Cowes Harbour, the master of the Red Falcon lost orientation when his vessel swung out of control, departed the navigable channel and was spun around through 220°. In his confusion the master drove the ferry in the wrong direction resulting in a collision with the moored yacht Greylag which was sunk on its mooring as a result.

Visibility varied between 0.2 and 0.5 nautical miles, but dropped to about 50 meters at the time of the collision. Read on.

spread the love

We’re stoked to see nearly 40 teams take on the first leg of the Shorthanded Sailing Association of New Zealand’s legendary doublehanded race ‘Round the North Island. Sponsored by Evolution Sails, the 4-stage epic is back for it’s 13th edition with a massive fleet of boats ranging from a little Elliott 7.9 meter all the way up to a trio of fast 52 footers.

Sailing out of Auckland and 154 miles up the east coast to the beautiful harbor of Mangonui, the fleet saw relatively benign conditions and a minimum of carnage, though the girls on the Elliott 1050 High Voltage hit a UFO and retired to head to the boat yard in Opua for a closer inspection. The three 52-footers at the head of the pack had a tight battle to the end with Angus Hall and Rob Basset’s Bakewell-White designed 52-footer WIRED just holding on to be first to finish. Right on their heels and finishing at the first crack of daylight, birthday boy Chris Hornell and his daughter Bex were second on line in the TP 52 Kia Kaha.

With moderate reaching conditions from the SSW to bring most of the fleet home, Steve Mair and Jamie Logan on the Bakewell-White 37 Clockwork (ex General Lee) romped to a close handicap and divisional victory over Damon Jolliffe and Josh Tucker on the Elliott 10.5 Motorboat II (former Squealer). Our recently lengthened and further optimized Kiwi spirit boat Anarchy, originally a Bakewell-White designed YD 37, came home fifth on line but 1st in class and 2nd overall in the provisional handicap results. Look for AJ Reid and his son Will to be contenders for the entire regatta. 

The second leg will take the fleet around the northern tip of New Zealand before sailing all the way down the very exposed west coast and into Wellington. The longest at 550 nautical miles -and likely the roughest – stage of this race, it’s where many of the legends of Round North Island are made.

We love seeing our friend friend Suellen Hurling and her team from Live Sail Die on the scene to provide some great video highlights and race coverage throughout the race. Follow the race website and tracker here and their excellent Facebook feed here.

For any of the many anarchists who are undoubtedly in this race, we’d love to hear from you!. Send your submissions to [email protected], we’re sure your words are more exciting than the drivel we’ve come up with from far away! – Ronnie Simpson.

og

A Queensland grandfather has become the oldest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world after spending nearly an entire year at sea.

pink fireman?

never ending

Not to worry, people! President “I don’t give a fuck about the environment” will make sure this never happens again.

Oil spread beyond the known satellite footprint of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a new study led by scientists at the University of Miami.

The Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010 releasing 210 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days. Oil slicks from the blowout covered an estimated area of 57,000 square miles (149,000 square kilometers).

The researchers combined oil-transport modeling techniques with remote sensing data and in-water sampling to assert that a proportion of the spill was invisible to satellites. The study’s lead author Igal Berenshtein said the spill was only visible to satellites above a certain oil concentration at the surface leaving a portion unaccounted for.  Read on.

rich guy problems

Someone had to take the initiative and it is the Superyacht Cup in Palma that grasped the nettle with the introduction of a new dedicated Performance Class at its next edition in June 2020

The Superyacht Cup Palma has taken a lead in meeting the evolving nature of the superyacht community with the introduction of a dedicated Performance Class for its 24th edition in 2020. It’s a move that reflects the maturity and responsiveness of Europe’s longest-running superyacht regatta, and looks well set to be warmly welcomed by the increasing number of yachts, owners and crews who occupy the “more speed please” sector of the spectrum. Read on.

inflatable love doll

Yes, let’s drag this back to the surface!

a day in the life

University of California researchers have attached cameras to 30 rare Antarctic minke whales to see how sea ice affects their behavior.

The tags, clinging to the animals’ backs with suction cups, recorded video and motion data for 24 to 48 hours. Each time the whales surfaced, the researchers could calculate from the video how much sea ice was present, providing clues on how it influenced the whales’ behavior.

Previous research has relied on satellite images to study the whales’ habitat. Read on.

what is it?

Well, it ain’t fresh off the assembly line, we can tell you that! What ya got?

hit the target

Seabin Project are on target to hit the $1M mark today, with over $850K raised in the last 3 days. We have 28 days left to raise $3M and then we will scale up Seabin Project!

The Seabin Smart Tech is now operational in 52 countries. Each day over 500 million litres of water is filtered for micro plastics, oil and more. The global daily capture estimate is 3.6 tons of marine litter.

A Seabin works by sucking water in through the top of the device and pumping it back out again at the bottom. As water travels through the middle, a filter captures trash, oil, fuel and detergents.

Going forward, Seabin Project is looking to drive scale and profitability by shifting manufacturing from Europe to Australia, streamlining the sales process and continuing to diversify the product offering with subscription based revenue. Check it out.

take your pick

and so it begins

15,873

Congrats to Francis Joyon and his crew of Bertrand Delesne, Christophe Houdet, Antoine Blouet and Corentin Joyon onboard IDEC Sport for setting a new reference time of 31 days, 23 hours, 36 mins and 46 seconds along the Tea Trade Route from Hong Kong to London.

Sailing at an average speed of 20.7 knots over 15,873 miles sailed, the crew has knocked an impressive 4 days and 2 hours off of Giovanni Soldini and Maserati’s two-year old record along this prestigious Clipper Route that spans nearly half the globe.

This is just the latest feather in the cap for a boat that holds the Trophy Jules Verne and an incredible three straight Route du Rhum victories. Bravo Francis Joyon and the entire IDEC Sport team!

By lowering the record time for the Tea Route between Hong Kong and London to just over a month, Francis Joyon and his crew of four on the IDEC SPORT maxi trimaran have not only smashed Giovanni Soldini’s time by 4 days, but also divided by three the time it took the big clippers in the second half of the 19th Century to sail this route, as they fought a trade battle to be the first to bring the leaves for the revered brew back to London.

Throughout the 15,873 nautical miles sailed out on the water at an average speed of 20.7 knots, the maxi trimaran went through almost all the wind, sea, sun and temperature conditions imaginable with a series of surprises and unexpected hurdles, as they sailed sometimes smoothly and sometimes in highly uncomfortable.

Read on.

french fryer

go to sea

There can be few tougher tests for a new 33-footer than being thrown into the fiercely competitive Rolex Fastnet Race. To pile on the pressure, Fastrak XII, one of the new Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300s, had only been launched 10 days before the start.

While Fastrak XII was in the capable hands of experienced offshore sailors Henry Bomby and Hannah Diamond, they were as new a partnership as the boat. And yet 80 hours later Bomby and Diamond had delivered an impressive performance finishing second overall in the 61-boat doublehanded fleet. But that was just the start.

They were also second overall out of 84 boats in IRC3, a fleet that included fully crewed and doublehanded entries. Read on.

you know it ain’t easy

The latest on Francis Joyon’s Tea Run attempt is coming to an end, but not without a rather difficult situation…

IDEC SPORT maxi-trimaran will enter a very tricky stretch as they enter the Thames Estuary with all its shipping, buoys and currents… a dangerous area that sailors prefer to navigate in daylight. Nothing is ever easy for Francis and this time he has run out of fuel and his batteries cannot be charged, so this zone will be particularly risky, as he will be sailing without his AIS and radar…

Typical of what we have come to expect during Joyon’s adventures, you might say. The holder of the Jules Verne Trophy and winner of the last Route du Rhum has throughout his career experienced many similar unexpected situations and dealt with them successfully, with his incredible, untiring physical and mental resources making up for the technical deficiencies. Read on.

it sucks

The 3,600dwt general cargo vessel MV Ankie has made her first voyage with two eConowind Ventifoil wings installed. The vessel sailed the North Sea from Delfzijl in the Netherlands to Hamburg and Norway and then back to Rotterdam.

The modular Ventifoil units are wings with vents and an internal fan that uses boundary layer suction to double the force of the Ventifoil, while reefing when needed. Together with the Technical University of Delft and MARIN, eConoship studied several concepts of wind propulsion, concluding the suction wings studied by Jacques Cousteau were most promising.

On the captain’s demand, the Ventifoils deploy automatically to the optimal angle relative to the apparent wind. The generated force is transferred into the deck, and motor power can therefore be reduced. The Ventifoils can be containerized inside a 40-foot container or fixed to a vessel. Read on.

grease monkey

Everyone who buys a used boat knows what this Anarchist says…

Protecting all the winches from corrosion by carefully packing each one with the three types of grease known to man.  Brown heavy duty machine grease, over laid by blue trailer bearing grease, topped off with some form of white grease.

Love ya work. Jump in the thread.

caption contest

Ah yes, the delam era! Have fun.

scotw

Samantha is a girl for all seasons, and always makes SA look good whether she’s Sailor or Skier Chick of the Week

the man

In this new video about L. Francis Herreshoff by our friends at Off Center Harbor, you’ll get to sit in on an intimate conversation among three gentlemen who actually knew Herreshoff.

You can click here to step aboard with biographer Roger Taylor, historian Maynard Bray, and close friend Art Brendze as they relate personal stories and deep knowledge of the man behind the brilliant yacht designs.

Thanks to our friends at OffCenterHarbor.com for making this video available to Anarchists.

TrumpGP

We’ve never pulled punches about the kind of person we think Larry Ellison is.  Even as fans of his SailGP project have begged us to ‘go easy’ because of ‘the good’ he’s doing for the sport, we’ve maintained that Larry rarely has  done anything for a truly good reason. His latest project is more about Larry’s inability to accept defeat and spiting the tiny little nation who so completely humiliated him in Bermuda.

And today, Ellison’s spite for ‘the people’ likely killed his series for good when the news broke that Lazza is now raising millions for one Donald J. Trump, hosting the orange diabetes host for a quarter-million-dollar-a-plate fundraiser next month, presumably in some castle or palace or spaceship or wine cavern.  Ellison becomes the first tech titan to openly support Trump outside of the notoriously detested Peter Thiel; obviously the thought of Bernie Sanders coming for any of the billions that Ellison is entitled to by right was just too much for Ellison and his infinite generosity.

Looking at the 2020 SailGP season schedule we’re struck by what a well-educated and socialist-loving bunch of venues are on the list, and we are not at all sure that Sydney, Copenhagen, New York, Cowes, and San Francisco are going to be excited about providing support for Larry Ellison’s passion project, especially since Trump is likely to attend at least one of the US events.

Anyone who downloads the SailGP App, visits a SailGP venue, or shares a SailGP link will indirectly be supporting Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, and anyone who works for SailGP will be directly supporting it.

Hey, It was good while it lasted. Discuss in the FailGP thread.

bad actors

This is my version of hell. I told you why I wasn’t going to the us sailing “leadership” forum, and here, in (almost) living color, is exactly why: Dave Reed, Dawn Riley, some dork (with his badge on to signify his self-importance), Tucker Carlson, oops, Thompson and Tom Ehmann.

Excepting Ehmann, I could not find four people who dislike me more, and vice versa. And look at that ridiculous “stage” – could they cram them any closer together?

Can you imagine me up there – hahahaha! I’d be wearing a black Anarchy hoody, on my third Bloody Mary, saying inappropriate things, making snoring sounds, and probably farting about every other minute. I’d blame Riley too, and no one would doubt me.

Yep, looking forward to my invitation for next year. – ed.

fill ‘er up

Personally, I’ve had this kind of other woman while also having another woman. Sayin’… – ed.

Another gem by Sara Steenland.

yacht club justice

Reading the front page piece on the chair throwing sailor getting a conviction recording set aside reminded me of the abuses of justice seemingly afforded to those or through those of supposed higher standing.

I wonder how the lack of understanding of the word punishment or similarly penalty has slipped in some quarters.

This sailor threw chairs at another causing actual bodily harm – not one chair but 5. What a shame that his social life may be curtailed – isn’t that what a punishment should be? A punishment? 

Would he have got away so lightly if he was – for example – claimed to be the result of a single parent upbringing ?

Or a country leader who broke rules regarding foreign influence in a country’s elections and his mates declined to allow evidence that could have damaged his chances allowing him to get off scot free then in the light of his comments gets his buddy’s jail sentence reduced – hmmm…

Or bringing it back to home when a Sydney Hobart super maxi tacks in the water of another and receives the lowest possible actual penalty (one place) the chairman of the jury who had served for 8 years is mysteriously NOT invited back the following year.

Revolutions are made of smaller injustices than these and no small wonder there are liberals in the world. – SS.

can i sell you oceanfront property?

young bucks

For Ben Beasley and Nick Gardiner, the start of the 2020 Short Handed Sailing Association Round North Island Yacht Race can’t come soon enough. As the youngest competitors in the race, on the smallest boat in the fleet, Beasley (19) and Gardiner (20) are keen to get out there and prove they can take on this epic adventure.

Their yacht, Moving Violation, is an Elliott 7.9 designed by Greg Elliott. At just 7.0m on the waterline Beasley and Gardiner will have plenty of work to do to keep Moving Violation at the front of the pack in what will be a diverse division including  Coppelia and Arbitare, both Farr 11.6’s, Duty Free, a Farr 1220, Fifth Dimension, a Beneteau First 36.7 and Distraction, a Farr 1020. Also, in this division, we have Am Meer, a Bavaria 38, Start Me Up, a Ross 930, Pelagian II, a Stewart 34 and the fleets second smallest boat, C U Later, a Ross 8m. Read on.