Friday, August 27, 2010

Sailing Movies

Yes sailing movies do exist.  My favorite one is “Wind”. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUbesATFSCQ

It has a decent plot, an interesting story, and most importantly some of the best on water sailing action I have ever seen on film.  This one is is a must see for dedicated sailing fans.

The few other sailing films out there are not that great.  Charlie St. Cloud, released this year, looks rather lacking in the plot department.  The trailer does seem to have a couple of good sailing sequences though.  Unfortunately I think I’m just going to rent it, and watch it with the remote in hand and fast forward through the crap.   Here is the link to the trailer anyway.
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/charliestcloud/

The other big “sailing movie” is Morning Light.  Produced by Disney, it is a project of Roy Disney’s that involves holding trials to select a crew of youth to sail his TP52 in the transpac race.  It has lots of good sailing footage, but it is really a documentary about the project, and not a movie in it’s self.  I found it disappointing, but watchable once.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1550686/morning_light_trailer/

While surfing around for sailing movie trailer’s. I found this one.  http://www.childrenofthewindmovie.com/trailer.html It is a documentary of how a remote island adopted windsurfing as an activity for its youth and ended up becoming a way of improving the lives of the community.  This one I would like to see when it comes out. 

So yes sailing movies do exist, but so far there is only one good one.  Share it around!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Efficient Tasar handling info

The following is a handout I did for my sailing club for a clinic I did this summer.

Efficient Tasar handling 


Boat handling procedure for Tacking:

Helm:
Count down to the tack.  Say 3,2,1 tacking.
Push:  at “tacking”, Lightly push the tiller away from you
Step:  Step completely across the cockpit to the opposite side of the boat with your stern foot.
Duck:  Duck the boom
Switch sides.  Beginners do your tiller hand exchange behind your back as you cross the boat.   Intermediate sailors do the hand exchange after the tack is completed.  Drop the old traveler sheet and pick up the new one as you cross the boat. and sit on the new windward deck.
Straighten:  Straighten the tiller
Hand exchange:  Intermediate sailors reach down and cleat the traveller, then move the tiller from behind your back to the microphone grip or the panhandle grip.

Crew:
When the helm says 3, move to the center of the cockpit and hold one jib sheet in each hand.
As the bow crosses the wind, (as soon as the jib luffs) release the loaded jib sheet and immediately use that hand to rotate the mast while you pull the jib in on the new leeward side with the other hand.
Move to windward to balance the boat.


Sail trim in four modes. 
All Adjustments are very small.  Trim as little as possible.

Sail shape controls: Start with the out haul set so that there is one hand width of space between the boom and and foot of the main sail. When the boat is difficult to keep flat with both sailors hiking, de-power by tightening the outhaul and reducing the draft of the sail.  In very high wind also pull on some cunning ham.  All settings will depend on the total crew weight.

Drifting. (0-2 knots)  Traveller up to windward, main sheet out until the boom is back in the center.  (Induce maximum twist in the sail.)  Crew fully to leeward, helm close to center to induce leeward heel.  Sheet out the  jib so the leading edge of the foot follows the curve of the hull. Move like a ninja.  Excessive movement will bounce the wind out of the sails.

Light wind. (3-8 knots)  Sail has some power  Crew moves along thwart, and out to hike in gusts as necessary.  Trim jib sheet so that the foot of the jib is full and not pulled flat. Set the traveller a bit above center.  Trim the traveller so that the leach streamers are both streaming.  Trim the main sheet so the top windward tell tail is streaming 60 % of the time.  In this mode, some authors say to trim the main sheet so the position of the boom matches the angle of the top batten.

Fully powered up. (8-15 knots)  Still trim the main by the tell tails and leach streamers.  Setting unlikely to change.  Crew hike as hard as they can comfortably maintain.  Helm controls the heel of the boat by simultaneously lowering the traveler slightly and head up slightly in gusts to help keep the boat flat and moving fast. Crew does not move in response to changes in the attitude of the boat.

De-power mode.  Wind 15-25 knots.  Taut main sheet.  Leave the traveller below centre at all times.  Keep the main sheet in hand and ease it in gusts.  Helm and crew hike as hard as they can and hope it’s enough.   Move like a sumo wrestler.  Get to the new high side rapidly and force it down asap.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Two Canadians in the Medal race at ISAF Sailing World Cup

CTwo Canadians have made the medal race at the Final ISAF sailing world cup event, Scandia Sail for Gold.   

See link for details

There should be decent video on the event website after the races run tomorrow, mid day GMT
http://www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk/

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Upcoming events at KYC

Upcoming events at KYC

The KYC 505 fleet is holding a mentor night.  We invite all students who have achieved bronze 4 to come out and sail a 505 with KYC members.  If you are a White III and you are interested in sailing a 505, contact me and we can discuss your proficiency.
 
Following the sailing, there will be a meeting to discuss the refurbishment of a 505 that was donated to KYC to serve in our training fleet.
 
Meet at KYC to rig up at 5:30, or earlier if you are able.
 
There are other interesting projects coming up in the near future.  Stay tuned for announcements about:
 
Commodore's Cup sailing schools regatta begins Aug. 30th
Fall Learn to sail Sept. 11,12,18,19
Fall Learn to race Sept 19th ,25th and Oct 3rd , regatta on Oct. 10th
2011 Spring School Learn to Sail and Learn to Race.  Leads up to an intercollegiate regatta at the end of May 2011

Friday, August 6, 2010

Canadian Olympic sailors

The Canadian Olympic sailors have a new support organization called Wind Athletes Canada.  They have sailors prepping for the 2012 games in England.

They have a cool video of  David Hayes, Kevin Stittle and Mariano Benitez windsurfing from Thornbury to Collingwood via Christian Island, and while you're there you should surf around and check out the site.

http://www.windathletes.ca/olympic-classes

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Cool multimedia coverage of 505 worlds

The 505 world championships are on in Aarhus, Denmark.  505's are a high performance dinghy with 1 trapeze and a large spinnaker.

The class association is doing an excellent job of providing up to date coverage on there website.
Check out the multimedia "Mash Up" on the event website.

They have really embraced the whole social media thing.  They have coverage through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and others.  They have tracking of the boats, with live updating from the race course, video updating, pictures, you name it.  This may be the first sailing event with enough info available to make it worth watching live as it happens over the net.  Yay internet!

Video highlights are also available from t2p.tv (Video on Demand sailing TV site)

Personally, I think I'll mostly watch the highlight video podcast.