Whenever we get videos piling up in the back rooms of Sailing Anarchy , we purge them with an installment of Video Anarchy, and this one is a doozie. Check it.
Sneaky Peaky
Though the work list is massive for the September launch of the first new Supermaxi the world has seen since Alex Jackson’s Speedboat, we’re told things are more or less on schedule for Jim Clark’s Comanche (née New Cubed). The fact that photog-to-the-NPT-mafia Onne Van Der Wahl is already making videos of the boat tells us Ken Read and friends are confident that the VPLP/Verdier monster will be ready for her trip to Sydney with (a tiny amount of) time to spare. This little sneak peak, which shows virtually nothing, is courtesy not of Onne but of his editing team at Death Cookie, and it sort of reveals a boat that’s fairly conventional in thinking; evolutionary rather than revolutionary, and perfect to go up against 10+ year old designs that have had it all to themselves for the past decade.
Satan’s Regatta
Named for the French sailor known to the British Navy as “Admiral Satan”, the Trophée Bailli de Suffren is the only event of its kind; a 600 NM race/rally from one beautiful Mediterranean port to another, for Classics only. And while they invariably sail like the ancient pigs they are, they sure are pretty, as this very beautifully produced movie shows off quite well.
Youth of Today?
You’ve got billionaire-funded kids teams, 44-foot carbon yachts, Russian oligarchs, feuding ex-America’s Cup teammates; as much drama as you can handle. And with all that, they still can’t make an RC44 look cooler than what it is – a tiny version of the piggy IACC yachts. Hey – at least they have live blogging at their Worlds! Here’s a look at the Gazprom Youth team, who we assume won’t be sailing any US regattas for a while…
Youth of Tomorrow
It’s not often that a kids’ regatta gets video production by someone as good as our own “The Rev Petey”, but he was on hand last month for the light-air ILYA X Scow regatta in Gull Lake, MN. It’s long, but watching the smiles on these kids’ faces should give you smiles of your own, and even some optimism about the future of the sport in the Midwest.
Heavy Air Wizards
While the British media were freaking out over a storm-swept dinghy regatta in Ireland, 60 of the world’s prettiest classic dinghies were battling for their UK National Champs (and still are). Check out the Merlin Rockets sailing in 10-35 knots of Hurricane Bertha remnants…though with storms, rain, sun, breeze, and a near gale, it looks like a typical day in Cornwall to us. But hey – no fog!
Video Fail
While we love TP52s and think they are the best thing to happen to big boats over the past decade, we’ve been unimpressed by the 52SuperSeries – the group that’s been trying (and failing) to regain the glory of the Audi MedCup days for a couple of years now. They seem to have some sponsors, but let’s be frank: It’s become yet another ultra-wealthy fun-fest for owner/drivers; like the RC44, but for boats that aren’t nearly so dumb. So why have they had to work so incredibly hard just to get 5-7 boats on their starting lines? Maybe it’s because the people behind the PR and marketing wheel suck at it?
Above is an example from last week; it’s clearly an introduction to a contest to sail aboard a TP52 during a SuperSeries event, and it’s clear the SuperSeries folks are trying to run the contest, even though they are using Ed Baird as a spokesman, and Quantum’s video footage. But what’s not clear since the video went up is what the contest is, how you enter it, or who it’s for, other than that it says “Facebook” on the title, along with the word “Competion”, whatever the hell that means. A long search through the lonely SuperSeries’ Facebook Page reveals that “Closing date for entries is 31 August, 2014 get your entries in!”, but that’s about it, and our e-mails to the Series’ PR people went unanswered. So good luck winning the contest, and don’t be surprised to see SuperSeries sponsors walk away at the the end of the year just as Audi did when the organizers fucked that one up. Why is it so hard to be even a little bit competent at this shit?
