It’s another installment of Video Anarchy, brought to you by our foiling friends at The Great Cup.
Vamos A La Playa
As US772 told you last week in his report from the Dirtboat Worlds, Nevada’s stark desert is one of the most visually impressive places to sail imaginable, and the unique piece of American geography provides a gorgeous backdrop to this video showing just what landsailing is all about. Shots of the Smith Creek Playa are best in HD on a big screen, and hit this link for some drone aerials during one of the event’s crazy dust storms. And if you want a look at just how scary Latino music was in 1983 (and the inspiration for the title), hit this link.
RORC To The Rescue
Yeah, there are a lot of idiotic looking blazers. And yeah, maybe the pole-back, supper-table IRC boats are the antithesis of what Sailing Anarchy is all about. But we’re stoked to see an American with the quickest boat in the fleet help Team Ireland crush the rest of Europe, and we’re even more glad to see historical events like the Comedy Cup saved from extinction. With their biggest fleet in a while, it looks like the RORC is on the right track…check out more here.
Skidmarks
While Team Oracle’s management continues to make the team, the country, and the sport look shady, the actual sailors seem to be having a blast. Have a look at this hilarious short from OTUSA racers during their Moth Camp in Lake Macquarie about a naked Jimmy Spithill’s hygiene during his Sports Illustrated photo shoot. Thread here, and a slightly more serious Oracle moth training video here.
Back Then, Again
Your wildly approving clicks and comments from the ’83 SORC inspired us to give you more, and thanks to the Aussie RB Sailing Blog, we’ve got it. The hour-long video comes from the 1982 Hawaii Clipper Cup, and includes not only the historic Americans like Kialoa, but also the big Aussie names in SORC racing. Enjoy it, and get over to the Video SORC thread to chat with other old bastards who remember it, too. Big thanks to original SA’er “SPORTSCAR” for the heads-up.
Ashes To Ashes
Some odd decisions and shitty conditions meant that, despite the 2014 Moth Worlds pulling in the biggest fleet in the Class’s history, the event went by somewhat unnoticed by the larger yachting community. We just couldn’t get excited by the two-fleet format, racing peppered with abandonments and postponements and sail measurement issues, or the fact that, with the ’13 World Champ, the majority of the expected ‘AC Mothies’, and nearly every US sailor opting to blow off a trip to the UK South Coast, the competition wasn’t really what we’ve become used to.
Add to that the organizers’ total fuckup with the media; they chose to use a UK sailing publication for all of their media work – something we normally applaud because it usually means good, professional content. But in this case, that sailing publication branded everything from the Moth Worlds with their own magazine’s logo, virtually guaranteeing the majority of the sailing media would ignore it. It may be petty, but it’s also the basic common sense: If you depend on the media to maximize exposure for the health of your class and the satisfaction of your sponsors, it’s a good idea not to ostracize them with an exclusive publication partner – unless your media partner is bigger than everyone else, or writes you a huge check…neither of which happened last week in Hayling Island.
Fortunately, the English got their hands handed to them both by Nathan Outteridge, who wins his second Moth World title, and by the Aussies, who took the all-important Ashes trophy in the team competition between Ol’ Blighty and Oz.
We congratulate Nathan, and above is a look at what the Ashes is all about from Beau Outteridge. And mark your calendars for early 2015, when a massive fleet, including many of the names who sat out the ’14 event, will descend on Sorrento, Australia to battle for perhaps the most important title in performance dinghy sailing.
