Sailing Rocks!

2012-02-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

Foiling Trimaran

Osprey Hydrofoil from Adventure Online TV on Vimeo.

ISDF worlds event video. Some canadian footage

Hiking hard

Arty Vid from the swiss sailing team

A day with the Swiss Sailing Team from JUERGKAUFMANN.COM on Vimeo.

Saturday Sailing #44

2012-02-04T15:09:00.000-08:00

Canadian's doing well at Miami ORC regatta.

The story:
http://www.canadiansailingteam.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71%3Awright-qualifies-for-london-a-3-podium-performances-on-medal-race-day-miami&catid=4%3Anews&Itemid=3&lang=en

The highlight video (with lots of CAN sail#'s)

Cool crew overboard signal light

http://www.sailmagazine.com/pittman-innovation-awards/spinlock-pylon-led#ooid=kzZ245Mzovxv_PW3ZOag9WvJhzcddTHQ

Old footage of 18ft skiff sailing downwind in very high wind

Winter on Galiano Island BC

Galiano Island Winter Tourism Video from Pure Souls on Vimeo.

Saturday Sailing #43

2012-01-28T22:30:00.000-08:00

Next leg of Global Ocean race, in class 40's starts Sunday

Banque Popular buzzes a cruising cat

British Adventure going around the world by human power

Saturday Sailing #42

2012-01-21T22:30:00.000-08:00

Canadian, Nicola Grike wins RSX sailboard slalom event. Her sail # is BRA1 in the video. Nicola has trained at JSCA

Canadian, Paul Tingle is in contention for the world champion ship in the 2.4MR class at the ISDF disabled sailing worlds.

Story:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Canadian-Sailing-Team---2012-IFDS-World-Championships.html?soid=1103755470060&aid=56LEGnvbfYk

Video:

According to the BBC, Sails make a boat go.

Saturday Sailing #41

2012-01-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

Volvo Ocean race Leg three start

Banque Populaire reduces round the world record to 45 days

First event for extremely fast one design trimaran's, the MOD 70

Saturday Sailing #40

2012-01-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

British single handed sailing academy

Opti Worlds team racing:

Unwise surf skiers

Saturday Sailing #39

2011-12-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

Rolex Sydney Hobart Day 1

Rolex Sydney Hobart Day 2

Cat Crash

Dinosaur sailing fans?

Saturday Sailing #38

2011-12-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

Volvo Ocean race at sea for christmas

Canadian Olympic Sailors had a successful worlds in Perth

Two or more Canadian boats are in this vid:

6 Canadians are now qualified to go to the olympics. Story here:
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Canadian-Sailing-Team---Perth-2011.html?soid=1103755470060&aid=kATe0FZmOmg

Mike Golding completed the Transat B to B single handed open 60 race:

Cat meets bridge ...

Clever animation that has nothing to do with sailing.

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

Saturday Sailing #37

2011-12-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

I'm posting one day early this week as I was a day late last week.

The most interesting thing happening this week is the ISAF world championships:

More at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/isafchannel?feature=watch

Banc Populare continue to rock around the world. The boat is 100 feet long. How big does that make the waves in this vid?

Saturday Sailing #36

2011-12-11T10:06:00.001-08:00

Published Sunday the 11th.

Volvo Ocean Race leg 2 start. All the boats are back in one piece and racing.

Britain's Mike Golding is back racing Open 60's again.

Three boat crash at the start of the Brest to Bristol race for single handed open 60's

The Maxi Trimaran "Bank Populaire" is at sea attempting to win the Jules Vern trophy for the fastest crewed passage around the planet.

http://www.thedailysail.com/offshore/11/60608/0/banque-populaire-jules-verne-trophy-attempt-2011-10-dec-report

Saturday Sailing #35

2011-12-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

30 Min Highlight video of the Volvo Ocean Race leg #1 into Cape Town

Sailing world article "Casualty Corner" describing the status of the three VOR boats under major repairs:
http://www.sail-world.com/Canada/index.cfm?SEID=0&Nid=91339&SRCID=0&ntid=113&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

Global Ocean Race departing Cape Town

Saturday Sailing #34

2011-11-27T22:30:00.000-08:00

Yachting Monthly Crash test boat test.

Yachting Monthly is a UK magazine that has been doing a series called "Crash Test Boat" The last one is what happens when a gas system is poorly maintained. You can probably guess the results ...
http://www.yachtingtv.co.uk/explosion.php

Click here for the rest of the series
http://www.yachtingtv.co.uk/index.php

More big trouble in the Volvo Ocean Race. Puma is dismasted.

Story here:
http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/PUMA-Ocean-Racing-retires-from-Leg-1/4117/news.html

Video here:

Canadian open 60 "O Canada"

Saturday Sailing #33

2011-11-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

Canadian Finn sailors training

P28 Foiling multihull with a wing sail

AC 45 match racing highlight show

Saturday Sailing #32

2011-11-13T22:30:00.000-08:00

Azam dismasted in Volvo Ocean race 6 hrs after start

4 Days in, down to 4 boats:

A mast climb aboard Goup Ama

Conrad Colman finishes leg 1 of Global Ocean Race

My first and possibly only powerboat video posting:

Cocktail Class Championship 2011 from Gary Reich on Vimeo.

Saturday Sailing videos #31

2011-11-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

Ocean Race started Today!

Tour of the Volvo boats.

Race start + inport action

More info here:
http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/home.html

more video here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos

Saturday Sailing Video #30

2011-10-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

Vesta Sail Rocket breaks 100 km/hr with Journalist aboard

Volvo Ocean Race in port race was today!

Saturday Sailing video #29

2011-10-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

An Opti Regatta shot from and RC helicopter

505 sailing with 420 sails in 30 + knots

Saturday Sailing video #28

2011-10-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

Here's Vesta Sail Rocket going 40+ knots

First boat enters the start port for the 2011/2012 Volvo Ocean Race

Low Bridge ahead

Saturday Sailing video #27

2011-10-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

Global Ocean Race, double handed circumnavigation in Class 40's starts

my new theme song ...

Saturday Sailing video #26

2011-10-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Extreme 40 cats

AC 45's Plymouth capsize club

Royal Canadian Yacht Club Team win NYYC invitational regatta

Thanks readers

2011-09-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Readers

This blog now gets about 200 page views a month.

Thank you all for reading this blog. I have enjoyed surfing for links to put up, and I have enjoyed some of the comments I have had from people I meet locally. I have some more written posts and less video highlights planed for the near future. I hope you enjoy them.

I have a great opportunity for two students who are interested in getting their CYA Intermediate Cruising qualification in November. You would need to have completed CYA Basic Cruising and be available in the Vancouver area for a 5 day cruise and learn course. For those who have read Basic Cruising Skills, this will be a chance to sail with Gillian West, as she will be supervising as I upgrade my qualifications.

Thanks again for reading. Contact me by email at: joel@allseasoninstruction.ca if you are interested as soon as possible.

Joel Taylor

Saturday Sailing video #25

2011-09-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Fishermen attacked by a swarm of sail boats

lasers in waves

Sail training program volunteer sails with Quantum

AC 45's in Plymouth

Saturday Sailing video #24

2011-09-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

Gulf Island cruising with Simply Sailing, my new employer

Bowman's view of spin handling on the TP52 "Quantum"

keep a good lookout or else!

lasers in waves

Saturday Sailing video #23

2011-09-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

Melges 32 Wipeout

Another Wipout video:

Saturday Sailing video #22

2011-08-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hobicat jumping a wave

Volvo Open 70;s in the fastnet

Ramble 100 capsizes in the fastnet

And in a follow up, righting Rambler 100

p.s. Rambler 100 essentially the bigest, fastest US owned race boat.

Laser Heavy weather slalam event in San Fran.

Unwise sailor surfing a 40 foot cruising cat through a treacherous entrance

Saturday Sailing video #21

2011-08-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

Yacht dismasted by a tanker. Should have gybed away.

30 min video of new America's cup boats, 45 foot cats with wing masts.

Short clip of the action at stage 5 of the extreem 40 series in Cowes, UK

Saturday Sailing video #20

2011-08-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

Promo video for Scandia team GBR

America's cup 30 min TV episode

Lasar slalom event in San Fran.

Saturday sailing #19

2011-07-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

A novel ungrounding technique

half hour show of the extreme 40 catamaran event in Instanbul Turkey

Sailing a keel boat backwards under spin.

Saturday Sailing video #18

2011-07-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Excellent videography from Trans Atlantic race

A dolphin capsizes a laser.

Lasers Attack!

Copied from Sailing Anarchy.com

Saturday Sailing Video #17

2011-07-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

Climate Scientists trying to get attention

Saturday Sailing Video #16

2011-07-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

a Ted Talk about Trash

A cool promo video for a cat event

Ocean Defender Corporate from EASY RIDE on Vimeo.

A cool promo video for a match racing event

A promo video for a land yacht

A cat event video

saturday Sailing Video #15

2011-06-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

A nice cruising video

Long dolphin video

America's cup 45 foot catamaran capsizes

Saturday Sailing Video #14

2011-06-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

This post is late because I had a technical difficulty.Blogger didn't post it when I thought it did.

A group of 2000ft tall waterspouts near New South Wales, Australia.

Promo video for the "New America's cup"

Saturday Sailing Video #13

2011-05-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

Mast climb on a 50 foot beneteau

Big Crash in Extreme 40 cat racing

Crazy mark rounding in Extreme 40 cat racing

A video from the new UK 18 foot skiff league

Saturday Sailing Video #12

2011-05-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

Odd video interview of sailors racing in the Atlantic cup in class 40's

Vesta Sail Rocket 2 Up on her foils for the first time. close to 20 knots with main eased.

Saturday Sailing Video #11

2011-05-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

Worlds cutest cabin cruiser.

My excellent cruise with my sailing club for our big boat orientation program

Saturday Sailing Video #10

2011-05-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

You can do match racing maneuvers in an AC 45 wing sail cat.

The KYC yacht club is open for the season!

Same event from the pier...

Vesta Sail Rocket II is under going tow trials before their assult on the sailing speed record

Saturday Sailing Video #9

2011-04-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

This clip made me laugh.

First Volvo Ocean 70 for 2011 race hits the water.

This one made my wife laugh.

From Proper Course, the excellent blog mostly about laser sailing
http://propercourse.blogspot.com/

Saturday Sailing Video #8

2011-04-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Barcelona world race, the double handed around the world non stop race in open 60's has finished. Here's an English language video from the second place finisher.

Abu Dabi Ocean Racing team, lead by Ian Walker are gearing up for the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean race.

Extreme 40 catamaran series had a wild and woolly day in Qingdow.

Saturday Sailing Video #7

2011-04-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

A neat laser video

A cool video of the KYC 505.

A link to a really excellent blog post. Why is it excellent you say? Because it contains the phrase "For me the water maker has been like the flux capacitor in the Deloriean, I know what it does, and I know what it sounds like when it's doing it's thing but the how has always passed me by."

//Velux 5 oceans, CSM's blog

A really gutsy move ...

Badly done Crew Overboard

2011-04-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of a badly done COB.

Can I get some comments listing what was done wrong?

Saturday Sailing Video #6

2011-04-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Watch this and then tell my you don't need a holding tank

Watch this and tell me life jackets are to uncomfortable to ware.

Here's the article this is from:
http://www.sail-world.com/cruising/index.cfm?nid=81827&rid=11

Even Sail boat obey stop signs. Tell me you can't do the same ...

Saturday Sailing Video #5

2011-03-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

A slightly different mix than normal.

4 AC 45's racing in New Zelland

The Japanese Tsunami wave passes under a coast guard vessel on its way ashore.

SAP 505 worlds will have excelent live coverage again

A video from my three day tour of the gulf islands

Fair Sailing!

Joel

Saturday Sailing Video #4 - High wind videos

2011-03-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

49er sailing in High wind with dramatic ptich pole

British Lady Mini Sailor downwind in 35+ knots

Neutrogena in High winds on the way home to the finish of the Barcalona World race.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Breymaier-Sailing/259689104089#!/video/video.php?v=10150444768400501

Saturday Sailing videos #3

2011-03-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

80 year anniversary video of the race round the Isle of White in the UK

Vesta Sail Rocket 2 prepared to set new outright sailing speed record. Lookout kite surfers!

Vestas Sailrocket 2 from Richard Langdon on Vimeo.

Video from the masthead of a 100 ft cruiser going under the panama canal bridge

Thomas Coville gives a tour of his 105 foot tri, in English.

Traffic jam at Cape Horn

2011-03-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

Two race boats from two seperate races rounded cape horn at the same time on Tuesday March 9th.

The boats are Neutrogena, an Open 60 racing in the double handed Barcelona World Race and Sodeb'o, a huge trimaran the is challenging for the Jules Vern trophy for fastest single handed voyage around the world.

In fact four other boats from the velux 5 oceans race also rounded the horn this week. I find this remarkable because it points to the number of sailing races that are all happening at the same time. All the boats from every race set their start date so that they pass cape horn during the peak of the southern hemisphere summer when it is safest, thus creating a relative traffic jam of boats in one of the most remote and hostile places on the planet.

The following is video from Sodeb'o

Velux 5 oceans leg three ends in sprint.

2011-03-08T18:24:00.000-08:00

The Velux 5 oceans leg 3 from New Zeland to Brazil finished in a sprint, with the second, third and fourth place boats all within sight of each other.

The big story seems to be how each skipper delt with mechanical issues aboard his boat as all three skippers had there fair share of troubles. Gutek had a loose keel, which ment he could only sail with the keel pined against the hull at maximum cant. This prevented the keel from working loose, but limmited his options at times. Derrick had mechanical issues with his engine and some issues with his navigational equipment. CSM, Chris Stanmore Major had sail issues. He had a 2+ m rip in his main that took him two days to repair in the lead up to cape horn. Then he had a minor rip in his head sail that he was able to fix with out dropping the sail.

In the approach to Cape Horn, Derrick and Gutek where with in site of one another, and CSM was a couple hundred miles astern. CSM made up the gap and passed both of the other boats and was leading into the last hour or so of the race. He then made a navigational error that required him to complete two more gybes to cross the line. This allowed Gutek to close the gap again and beat him accross the line by 40 seconds! This is the closest finish for any leg of the velux 5 oceans in History! Derrick trailed the other boats in by an hour. All three skippers were able to celebrate their safe passage togeather on the dock.

Here's a link to a video from Velux describing the action.
http://www.velux5oceans.com/#/latest-news/ocean-sprint-3-an-amazing-finish/1642

Saturday Sailing links #2

2011-03-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

Here's more sailing related video and links

1) Steven Colbert talking about a 2005 Charlston to Bermuda race. He's doing the race again this year.

2) An article from Attainable Adventure Cruising:
http://www.morganscloud.com/2011/02/16/this-and-that-february/

3) A boat review of an Island Packet 34
http://nasailor.com/2010/12/15/boat-review-island-packet-36-estero/#more-3182

4) 23 min Highlight show of 1989-90 Whitbread around the world race

5) Chris Stanmore-Major rocking around cape horn
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150093094975896

6) An Ice boat crash

Memory aid for Port hand bouys

2011-02-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

Port hand Bouys are like 7 up cans.

They are always green, odd numbered and have a square top.

This nugget of wisdom came from a Kayak blogger named Bonnie who is Bouy Crazy

How not to Navigate with GPS

2011-02-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

The following is a list of stuff not to do when navigating with GPS

1) Do not place waypoints on solid objects. This can lead to collision with said objects.

2) Do not "Drive the TV". This is a situation where a skipper sits at the nav station and stares at the pretty boat on the screen and does not consider outside information. The worst case of this is the powerboat skipper who sits on his flybridge at night with all the interior lights on and is not able to even see outside. He just stares at the "TV" and does not keep any semblance of a proper lookout.

3) Do not assume the chart information displayed on your screen is correct. Most chart software suppliers only provide updates to their data every year or two, where paper charts can be updated regularly by hand. This can be an issue when depths change in an area of high silt deposit or other man made alterations to nav aids. Also most electronic chart data is digitized from another source. This is an opportunity for human error.

4) Do not assume GPS will always be available. Murphy's law is an important consideration at sea. Your GPS can fail from something as simple as lack of power, physical damage, or corrosion. The American government can also de-activate selective availability and reduce your GPS from 10m accuracy to several hundred meter accuracy when ever they feel like it. The safest option is to be prepared to take over from the chart plotter by recording regular fixes in your log or on a chart. To do this you also need to have paper charts, navigation tools including a hand bearing compass, and the skills to use them.

In short, having a GPS aboard does not mean that you no longer need to know how to navigate by hand and eye.

Canadian Ocean racer rounds Cape Horn Safely

2011-02-24T18:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Canadian Ocean Racer, Derick Hatfield, rounded cape horn safely. He's past the most dangerous point on the whole circumnavigation, and is headed for the next stopover port in Brazil.

He has had a challenging race. The first leg from L'oreant France to Cape Town South Africa started nicely, then he appeared to gybe to early and had less wind then the boats that went further off shore. The second leg he promised to be more competitive and it looked really good. He was first out of the port of Cape town, and was challenging for second place for much of the leg. Then the Polish skipper, Gutek, chose a better route into Wellington New Zealand and beat him in by a day or so. In this third leg he has rounded the horn and is within 20 miles of the second place boat. All the boats except for the Leader, Brad Vanlou are having issues on this leg. The keel on Guteck's boat in moving several millimeters from side to side due to a broken component on the outside of the hull. He has had to throttle down to stay safe. Derick has engine issues that lead to low power available for the boats pilots and navigation equipment, as well as a leak in a forward compartment. Then there is Chris Steinmouth Major. He has had a ripped main sail that resulted in a marathon sail repair session. He posted an excellent video of his work at the link below. Chris has consistently done good video and written blog posts. See them at the same site.

http://www.velux5oceans.com/#/latest-news/csms-sewing-marathon/1562

It looks like this will be Derick's last race. He has made several comments that he feels he has done what he needs to do with ocean racing. Time to go back to his young family and retire from his second career. He's not done yet though. The last leg from Brazil up to France is still to come. Hopefully he can cross the line with a second place instead of the string of thirds that he has got so far.

A navigational poem

2011-02-22T19:30:00.000-08:00

A Navigational Poem

Meeting steamers do not dread;
When you see three lights ahead
Starboard wheel and show your red.

Green to green or red to red,
Perfect safety, go ahead.

If to starboard red appear,
’Tis your duty to keep clear;
Act as judgment says is proper:
Port—or starboard—back or stop her.

But when upon your port is seen
A steamer’s starboard light of green,
There’s not so much for you to do,
For green to port keeps clear of you.

Both in safety and in doubt
Always keep a good look-out;
In danger with no room to turn,
Ease her—Stop her—Go astern.

Copied from John Vigo's blog at:

http://www.johnvigor.com/Blog.html

And a poem about single handed sailing:

Pablo Neruda:

……and now, nothing more,
I want to be alone with my essential sea……
I don’'t want to speak for a long time,
Silence! I want to learn,
I want to know if I exist.

From Royal Vic YC single handed sailor Andrew Evans e book "Thoughts, Tips, Techniques &Tactics For Single handed Sailing"

Boat Show highlights

2011-02-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

Here's some Highlights from the 2011 Vancouver International boat show.

From the Vancouver Convention Center

Could this be my next coach boat please?...

A cruising tug I liked ...

A Beneteau 30 I really liked ...

A Cruising Cat


Cabin of cruising cat

Interesting sailing video

2011-02-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

Here's some sailing videos I enjoyed this month:

Helicopter assisted yacht racing:

AC 45 on Auckland Harbor

Chris Stanmore-Major aboard eco 60 spartan in the velux 5 oceans race. In the Cook Straight, New Zelland in 45 knots of wind.

http://www.velux5oceans.com/latest-news/brad-speaks-the-challenge-of-the-horn/#/csm-gets-a-battering-in-the-cook-strait/1376

Ryan Breymaier aboard open 60 Neutrogena in the Barcelona World Race

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150398684770501

Ice Wind surfing with a wing and skates from earlier in the year

Crazy wind powered kinetic sculptures

Neutrogena pushing hard
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/video/video.php?v=10150407337295501&oid=259689104089&comments

Hope you like 'em

Why IOC and ISAF decisions affect amature sailors - Part III

2011-02-05T19:45:00.000-08:00

Continuing with the list of decisions made by the ISAF equipment committee and how they will affect local sailors.

5) Introduce a high performance skiff class for women. There will be an equipment trial for this event that will possibly result in new skiff designs that can be sailed by mixed husband and wife teams. As this new boat gets exposure and becomes more popular, it may start turning up at our local club races. A new toy toy to play with can only be a good thing.

6) Introduce a new kite boarding medal event for men and women. As more people see kite boarding on TV in the Olympics, more people may want to come out and try it. There is a local windsurfing school. This school may take up teaching kite boarding as it increases in popularity.

7) Keep the 49er for the men's high performance skiff. This decision affects local sailors similarly to the 470 as the 49er has a youth development boat that leads directly to the adult version in the 29er. Keeping the 49er won't have much affect locally as there aren't many 29ers or 49ers around locally. It's still a cool boat though.

8) Keep the Laser full rig for men single handed sailors, and the Laser radial for women single handed sailors. Both of these boats have served our sport well. They are all affordable and sailed in large fleets locally. They are also an awfull lot of fun to sail. The introduction of a dinghy that filed the same niche could only be counterproductive at both a national and local level.

9) Keep the Finn for single handed heavy weight men. The Finn has served international sailing well as a more technical boat to sail than the laser that is suitable for a more average weight man. The laser requires a crew weight that is slightly below the average male. This is the one decision that I am not sure about. It seems a bit odd to have both a light weight single hander and a heavy weight dinghy. This class may be vulnerable for replacement with a boat that better meets IOC criteria.

And that brings me to the end of how high level political decisions in the sailing world governing bodies affect local sailors Did I give you some information you didn't have? Was this post useful to you? Should I continue with such long wordy posts?

Why IOC and ISAF decisions affect amature sailors - Part II

2011-02-03T19:45:00.000-08:00

Here's the first 5 decisions made by the ISAF equipment committee regarding medal events for 2012 and how they will affect local sailors

1) Remove the Men's keel boat competition that is currently sailed in Stars. There are some local Star sailors, but they are unlikly to be affected by this change. They will still happlily sail against each other in their own events. Less CYA resources will go to Star sailors nationally, but they aren't getting much now anyway.

2) Keep the Woman's match racing format that will be first sailed at the London games in 2012. I predict that since match racing meets the spectator and media friendly requirements of the IOC, the men will want to get in on the action as well. This may result in a mixed keel boat match racing event with both men and women. Locally I hope this trickles down to a local match race event. It seems like something the M242 fleet would be interested in.

3) Reintroduce a catamaran event. This event will be sailed with mixed teams of men and women. The concept of mixed sex events is unique to sailing. No other sport can do this on a level playing field. This is one of the things that will help keep sailing in the Olympics A lot of local fleets have mixed crews already, but this may result in some more respect for the crews that do this. Hopefully this will influence the high performance classes like the Volvo 70s.

4) Change the 470 event to a mixed teams event. The national level sailors are not happy about being required to break up the teams that they have spent years developing, but it will probably turn out for the best. IOC is not going to allow more medal events for sailing, so there have to be some changes. The athletes will probably accept this decision because it is better than having your event removed from the games as first the cats and now the Star have had to deal with. The 470 class has a direct effect on local sailing. The 420, its development class, is very actively sailed locally. I think it will be mostly positive as the class will probably get more exposure as they are breaking new ground and trying new things.

Continued in part III...

Why IOC and ISAF decisions affect amature sailors - Part I

2011-02-02T20:56:00.000-08:00

First off some definitions. IOC is the international Olympic committee. They make the rules governing the Olympic games. ISAF is the International Sailing Association of Federations. They govern the rules of the sport of sailing for all participating national sailing organizations and classes of boats. Each national sailing organization is set up essentially to develop Olympic competitors. In Canada this is CYA.

Now, the first decision that affects us as sailors is the IOC's criteria for a sport to remain part of the Olympics. Early last year the IOC updated its criteria to keep the Olympics relevant and interesting to all nations. My understanding of this extensive document is that In order for a sport to stay part of the Olympics they must: be accessible, affordable, played by the majority of countries in the world, and spectator friendly, and generate media interest and coverage. IOC also decided that sailing would be required to stay with the same number of medal events.

This raises some issues for sailing. We have some classes such as the Star boat that do not meet any of these requirements but are an Olympic class. (http://www.starclass.org/index.shtml). We also have several classes that only meet most of the requirements such as the Laser. Lasers as you know have an international following, are popular in many areas of the world, and are affordable when compared to other race boats.

Now we get to the ISAF decision that affects sailors. ISAF must keep sailing as an Olympic sport in order to justify its own existence. If there is less international sailing competition, there is less need for the ISAF. So the ISAF equipment committee wrote a recommendation in November that will make some major changes for the classes and formats that compete for medals in the Rio games in 2016. Here are some of the changes that were recomended in november and how they may effect local sailors. These changes are not official and will be voted on in the spring. I will detail these in part II.

Clarification of rules question in pre start

2011-01-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

I posted the following to Matthew Knowles, a US sailing Racing Rules Committee member who writes a blog called Unruly at http://rulestalk.blogspot.com/2011/01/q-2010-40.html

Hi there

I have been enjoying your blog. Discussion of the RRS is improving my overall rules knowledge.

Anyway, I have a rules question that came up when I was discussing pre-start with a member of the local Tasar fleet that I race with here in Vancouver BC. Here's the situation:

In the last minute of the start, two boats are approaching the start below a close hauled course on parallel courses aiming to start about 1/3 of the way in from the boat end. Boat W continues to slowly approach their chosen start point, but boat L accelerates and drops to leeward and obtains an overlap, then heads up and calls for room.

Is W required to give room because she L is Leeward, or is she not required to give room because L is the overtaking boat?

Thanks in advance

Joel Taylor

I got the following response by email.

Hi Joel,

Glad to hear you are enjoying the blog.

There is no provision concerning an "overtaking boat" in the Racing Rule of Sailing. That concept from the COLREGS does not carry over.

In your scenario, W must keep clear of L under rule 11. However, L must initially give W room to keep clear at the time the overlap begins (rule 15) and must also give W room to keep clear of her each time L alters course (rule 16). To put it differently, W must do everything she can to keep clear, but L can't do anything that makes it impossible for W to do so.

Best,

Matt

I like this explanation and will be using it in my Learn To Race teaching.

Less than 40 days to the start of the Barcelona World race.

2010-11-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

It is now less than 40 days to the start of the Barcelona world race. This race is double handed in open 60's. All the high end teams look like they are ready to roll for this one.

It looks like there will be decent online coverage if the following recently released promo video is any example.

Also, Sail world.com just noticed that there are sailing video's on line.

http://www.sail-world.com/Canada/index.cfm?SEID=2&Nid=77063&SRCID=0&ntid=113&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

Book review

2010-11-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

Since it is the off season, it's a good time for some sailing reading. Here's two books I like.

The first is "Getting Started in Sailboat Racing" by Adam Cort and Richard Stearns. This is the book I use as a reference for teaching introduction to racing. The book is written as a guide for the competent sailor to make their first steps into racing. As a result the style is very simple and straight forward. They do not use any jargon or exotic language, and they explain every aspect of racing very thoroughly. The diagrams are simple and complete and add to the text extremely well. At the end of each chapter there is a question and answer section that discuses the topics covered and ensures the reader understands the topic. The authors have also inserted some humor in the form of banter between them selves that plays out over the course of the book. All in all I think that this is the best book to read to prepare for your first race.

The second book is "The Blue Book of Sailing" by Adam Cort. In this book the author sets out to discuss the "22 keys to sailing Mastery". He discusses topics relevant to both keel boats and dinghies, ranging from using sail trim to aid steering and docking under sail and power. He does this in the same simple and straight forward manner that makes the book a pleasure to read. He tackles some heavy theory and does it with simplicity and flair. Adam Courts humor and wit also shine through in this book. I heartily recommend that any dingy or keel boat sailor read this book as well.

Both books are available from the Vancouver Public Library, or at least they will be as soon as I return them.

Revised "Rules of boating"

2010-11-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

I have been talking about the three rules of boating with my cruising students. I just watched a video of a couple prepping for an ocean passage and I like what they said on the subject. So I modified my rules of boating. My official "Three rules of boating" are now:

1) Don't hit anything.

2) Keep the people on the inside of the boat.

3) Keep the water out the outside of the boat.

Here's a link to an offshore sailors article that continues on this theme. Being an offshore sailor, he adds some items to the priorities. His are:

What Really Matters

Keep the water out
Keep the crew on the boat
Keep the keel side down
Keep the mast up
Keep the rudder on

http://www.morganscloud.com/2005/01/01/taming-the-wimp-within/

Sailing videos

2010-11-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

The dingy racing season in Vancouver is now officially closed. I was the PRO for one day and mark setter for the second day of the closing event of the year, the blue nose regatta. The event is hosted by the club I work for, the Kitsilano Yacht Club. Here's the video I took of the event.

I also found a good video about the sinking of the Concordia in February of this year. The Concordia was a floating high school program that was run on a tall ship. Man I wish I had been interested enough in sailing when I was in High School to do something like that.

http://www.cbc.ca/landandsea/2010/11/concordia.html

The start of the Rue du Rum race in France has been the major new item in the sailing world. Here's a clip from the Anarchy on the water coverage of the event:

http://www.youtube.com/user/SailingFanatic1?feature=mhsn

Armchair sailing

2010-10-31T08:13:00.000-07:00

With the off season setting in, some of us will be sailing less and spectating more. There is now some excellent web coverage of large events.

Personally I will be watching several interesting sailing events that are taking place this winter. The first is the Velux 5 oceans. This event is raced in open 60's that were built before 2003 and are designed to minimize their environmental impact. As I have previously mentioned Derek Hatfield, racing "Active House" is the Canadian entry. As I type this the two leading boats have entered the trade winds on the southern side of the doldrums and are powering away from Derek, who is stuck still stuck in light air. Two other boats are behind Derek, further North in the Atlantic. Here's the link for the race viewer:
http://www.velux5oceans.com/

Another interesting race that is taking place this winter is the Barcelona World Race. This one is in Open 60’s, but with double handed crews. The advantages and disadvantages are explained in the magazine section of the website. The end result is that the boat can be pushed harder with two crew than with one. In fact, in the last race in Alex Thompson and Andrew Cape set the 24 hr speed record for open 60’s, Including those raced with full crews. It was an interesting race last time, and probably will be again this time out. Here’s the link:
http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org/en/

Down in Australia the 18 footer season has just started. This is an annual tradition in Australia. The boats race every Sunday on Sydney harbor, dodging ferry traffic pleasure boats, and the occasional freighter. They are 18 feet long and have three trapezes and an enormous spinnaker. There is excellent video shot from the 18 footer .tv website’s dedicated camera cat. They have completed two races already, and more to come. Check it out at:
http://www.18footerstv.com/

Good video coverage of the Extreme 40 catamaran series that finished in September is available on the class website. The class is quite possibly the most exciting, spectator friendly sailing event around. The boats are fast, the courses are short and wipeouts, crashes, and close racing abound. With both on boat and multiple off boat camera’s the action is always well documented. Check it out at:
http://www.extremesailingseries.com/video/almeria/

Hopefully that will keep your sailing itch scratched without having to get cold and wet.

Worst mark rounding ever

2010-10-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

I just saw a video of the worst mark rounding ever. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DgdNwqi7Og

From the same source, here's quite possibly the most polite mark rounding ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zykTdU2a4CQ&feature=related

What is it like at your club race night?

Canadian Ocean Racer starts Velux 5 oceans race

2010-10-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

Our Canadian ocean racer has started the Velux 5 oceans race. The race is run in 5 ocean sprints. From La Rochelle France to Cape Town South Africa, then to Wellington New Zealand, Salvador Brazil, Charlton Carolina, and back to La Rochelle in June of 2011

It's been a long hard road for Derek to get where he is. Here's the short story:

First he Built an Open 40 at his parents home on the east coast of Canada. He funded the build from his own money, but was unable to secure a title sponsor for the boat. To pay for gear and racing expenses he solicited donations from Canadians. In exchange he gave donors a piece of branded gear and painted their name on the hull. He campaigned the boat under the name of "Spirit of Canada" In 2003 he entered the "Around alone" race. Unfortunately he was dis masted rounding cape horn. He spent several months in Brazil acquiring a new rig and installing it. Then he went back out and finished the race. What I found remarkable about this was that when the race finished, Derek was still at sea. He attended the closing ceremonies virtually, and when he did finish he was awarded 3rd place in class II. From this success he started fund raising to Build an Open 60. The fund raising, and the build wasn't complete until 2008, when Derek entered "Spirit of Canada" in the Vende Globe race, again with funds raised from Canadian sailors and yacht clubs. The Vende is the single handed ocean race with no stops. Derek was dis masted in a vicious storm shortly after the start, and along with several other competitors returned to the start to make repairs and restart the race. He was able to make good progress and catch back up with some of the fleet when he again suffered rig damage. This time a spreader and some shrouds failed. He abandoned racing, jury rigged a repair and sailed into Australia. He made repairs and sold off the boat to cover the loans he had taken out to pay his expenses to a Canadian Consortium who renamed her "O Canada" and are expected to race her in the next year or so.

That brings us up to the present. Having been bitten by the ocean racing bug Derek didn't give up campaigning. He entered the current edition of "Around Alone", now called the Velux 5 oceans after it's new sponsor. The new innovation in this edition is the Eco 60 class of Yacht, which consists of open 60's built before 2003 and requires skippers to produce the smallest ecological foot print possible during the race. Derek is going around with electricity generated by wind and solar and is caring no diesel fuel at all. This time around Derek has a title sponsor, "Active House" They have provided Derek with the funds to ensure the boat is in excellent shape and to pay for new sails immediately before the start. In the past Derek has raced with the gear and sails he could afford and didn't always have the best of equipment. As the boat is now painted in the Active House colors there is not a place for the names of the donors on the outside of the hull. They are now painted on the inside of the cabin roof where Derek will see them daily and remember all those who have supported him.

As I write this Derek and Active House are headed for the equator and the Doldrums. He didn't have a great first couple of days at sea and made a couple of tactical errors that placed him to the east of his competitors and in lighter wind. The Duldums should slow the other boats and hopfully Derick can play his cards correctly and make some gains.

Here's some links for more info
http://spiritofcanada.net/wordpress2/
http://www.velux5oceans.com/

America's cup goes in a new direction

2010-10-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

I have written a bit about some of the happenings in the America's cup. I think things have solidified enough for me to venture an opinion on the prospects for the 34th cup.

First, the boats look really cool. The goal seems to be to contest the America's cup in the most advanced sailboat available. They will run 40 foot cats with rigid wing rigs for the first year, then up to 70 foot cats, again with wing rigs for the rest of the lead up events and the final event. The boats are expected to be the fastest and most powerful boat available. They are designed to be very very fast, but also may be hard to control. They will definitely be different from what has been sailed in the past. They look interesting enough for me to start thinking about sailing cats in 2011. My club has a Nacra 570 and an F 18. Both cool, fast cats but not nearly as crazy as the big boys. Last year I thought Tasers were the coolest thing around but I am now looking forward to playing with cats. I think other sailors who are exposed to the wing rigged boats may think about moving away from mono hulls and into cats as well. Some of the pro teams don't seem to feel the same way though as they have decades of experience and time invested in mono hulls and don't want to play the new game. It looks like it will be a draw with some teams leaving and new teams forming to replace them.

The racing format will be designed for T.V. This can only be a good thing. T.V. coverage of a sailing event with fast, exciting boats? Close to land, with Formula 1 style camera work? I'll be watching that! I don't see how this could be bad, but some of the existing teams do. They say the format is unproven, and is unlikely to economically viable. From the example of the VX 40 cat series that has good T.V. coverage and is run in an accesable venue I think it will work out just fine.

The defender has tried to set up the series with a mind to controlling costs. They have done this by including a lot of services in the initial entry fee. You pay one fee and you get a 40 foot boat to race the first year, a base at each venue and weather resources at each venue. They are also making rules to limit support staff and the size of the sailing team. Makes for a steep entry fee, but lower operating costs. Previous additions of the cup required an enormous budget and huge resources to run a campaign. I think its a positive sign that they are attempting to address the issue at all.

So far it looks like a few teams have chosen to take their mono hull experience and compete in the Audi Med cup in TP52s rather than run a cup campaign. This can also be a good thing as it keeps a good series of races in very high performance mono hulls, and allows the America's cup to develop into a venue for extremely high performance catamarans. I think the commentator who said that the teams that don't get in this year and balk at the cost now may never go back to cup racing latter as the cost will be even higher as teams start to develop and the standard of racing goes up. If they chose to enter the cup in its current format they will likely get the most level playing field there ever has been. At this time there are only a few sailors with experience designing, building and racing these boats. Admittedly they all work for the defender right now, but at least all the challengers are all in the same boat. They all need to go find cat sailors and get them on board asap.

All in all I think that the event will be good for the sport of sailing. Anything that gets T.V. time is going to get exposed to more people. More exposure that can only result in more interest in sailing. Especially if people see sailing as being a fast paced, exciting sport rather than as as dull, uninteresting and hard to understand.

This month in sailing...

2010-09-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

I found some interesting sailing stories while randomly surfing this month.

The most interesting one for me personally is that Derick Hatfield has sailed "Active House" across the Atlantic and has made it to the start of the Velux 5 oceans race. This time he even has funds to get some new gear and give the boat some TLC before the race. Check out this link at: http://spiritofcanada.net/wordpress2/

I also saw a story about the 470 Canadians, http://www.sailing.ca/news/470_canadians/ on the CYA website. That was interesting to me because The Learning Facilitator I took my first level of dinghy instructor from was in the event. While I was there I read an interesting race report from the medal race of the paralympic 2.4mr class. The event was won by Canadian, Paul Tingley. http://www.sailing.ca/features/2010_24_world_championships/

The major sailing news story of the month is the boat selection for the 34th America's cup. The defender, BMW oracle, has chosen large multi hull with a rigid wing sail. This is good because the boats are much faster and can race closer to shore, making the event more spectator friendly. The bad part is they have chosen a boat that none of the other teams except for themselves have any experience sailing. This could be an entirely self centered decision designed to ensure they keep the cup for as long as possible in the same way the American teams manipulated the rules to ensure they kept the cup through the 80's. It still remains to be seen if the other teams buy in to the format and choose to pay the entry fee to play. This time the fee is bloody steep, but it includes a 40 foot version of the boat that teams will compete in for the first year of the preliminary competitions. Should be interesting to see how it works out. Here's the official site: http://www.americascup.com/

Canadian C class cat sailors win "Little America's cup"

2010-09-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month Canadian Fred Eton won the "Little America's cup".

This event is run in the fastest cats around. Minimal profile, dagger like twin hulls with a wing rig make for an insanely efficient and powerful boat. Boat speeds easily double the wind speed. For example they will do well over 20 knots with 8 knots of breeze. Nothing else matches them.

The C class cats have suddenly getting the notice that there incredible performance deserves due to the recent decision of the current holder of the America's cup, BMW Oracle to run the next event in multi hulls with a wing rig, the same as they ran with in AC 34. Last time Oracle built a massive 90 foot trimaran with a wing rig, and the defender Alingi built a spider thin 90 foot lightweight catamaran with conventional sails. The event wasn't much of a race as the wing rig was so much more powerful that the event was over quickly when Oracle easily won three straight races.

Now the C class sailors are suddenly the only guys who know how to build these type of boats and sail them fast. All the existing AC teams are going to want to put one of these sailors on their team. I hope they make them pay for through the nose for their experience. The class that once was an open group of friendly sailors sharing developments and helping each other go faster is probably going to enter the super secretive world of America's cup design.

There is an excellent show on CNN that covers the C class cat championships. Check out the link below:

http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/main.sail/

Also:
http://www.thestar.com/article/283826
http://littleac.com/WELCOME.html

Canadian offshore sailor heads for the start line

2010-09-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

Derrick Hatfield, our Canadian offshore sailor has secured a title sponsor for his Velux 5 oceans race.

The boat formally know as "Spirit of Canada" has been re branded to reflect her new title sponsor, Active House. Active house is a corporation involved in designing houses that produce more energy and resources than they use.

Now that he has the funds secured, Derrick is headed off to the start line of the Velux 5 Oceans race. The race starts on Oct 17th from La Rochelle, France and consist for 5 ocean sprints with stops in port between legs.

There is a position plotter on the Spirit of Canada website, and there will be frequent updates on the Velux 5 oceans event website

See the links below for photo's and more info:
http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=74522&refre=y&ntid=113
http://spiritofcanada.net/wordpress2/
http://www.velux5oceans.com/

Sailing Movies

2010-08-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

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!

Efficient Tasar handling info

2010-08-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

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.

Two Canadians in the Medal race at ISAF Sailing World Cup

2010-08-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

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

See link for details

http://www.sailing.ca/features/scandia_day_2_brings_mixed_bag_of_conditions_yet_solid_results/

There should be decent video on the event website after the races run tomorrow, mid day GMT

http://www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk/

Upcoming events at KYC

2010-08-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

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

Canadian Olympic sailors

2010-08-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

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

Cool multimedia coverage of 505 worlds

2010-08-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

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.

http://www.505sapworldchampionship2010.com/

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)

http://www.t2p.tv/guide/5o5worlds10.php

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

http://www.505sapworldchampionship2010.com/categories/podcasts/feed/

English Bay Scramble - The craziest race on the bay

2010-07-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

A unique local race called the English Bay Scramble is coming up August 14th.

It may be the only race where it pays to take a different course than your competitors, because there is no set course! You can sail around any two marks in any order, then through the start/finish, then around the rest. The winner is usually determined by their strategy, rather than having a good handicap rating. The race has been won by little boats like Cal 20's or M242's or on windy years by bigger cruisers.

It's all up in the air after the start gun, with boats dispersing all over the bay, coming together at the marks, then scattering again. Makes for a very chaotic day. Totally un spectator friendly, but cool and really fun for the racers.

See the link below for info:

http://www.englishbayscramble.com/

505 Mentor Night

2010-07-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Coming up is a mentor night for the 505's at KYC. This is for KYC students or members with White Sail III or above who have trapeze and spinnaker experience. This is your chance to get out on a 505 and sail a racing machine! Next date is August 17th, 530 pm. Email kitsilano_yachtclub@telus.net to sign up.

Social sailing days with KYC Lightning fleet

2010-07-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

The  social sailing days with the Lightning fleet at KYC are coming up. Come give sailing a try or check out a Lightning.

  The  days are: Aug 1st, Aug 15th and Aug 28th. 11am start with destination to be set by the people who turn out. Possible  destinations include: Caulfeild Cove (AKA Tiddly Cove), Dundarave  Wharf, Ambleside, the deck at Bridges (requires paddling past  Burrard Bridge).

Anyone, whether you are a KYC member or not, is very welcome to participate, with prior arrangement. If you'd like more information on how to participate, email me at kitsilano_yachtclub@telus.net.

Why sailing rocks

2010-07-18T19:44:00.001-07:00

I want to start with a statement that most would disagree with. Sailing rocks because it is affordable. Most look at the pretty boats moored at expensive marinas and just assume that our sport is out of their league. The "Yacht Club" sailing model with those gorgeous sailing machines in large marina's is not the only one out there. Sailing clubs and co-ops are affordable alternatives. They represent one of the many methods of sharing the cost of ownership.

In the Vancouver area we have several options. Most of these are based out of the Jericho Sailing Center. In the interest of disclosure I should tell you that I have been a member there for several years. The center operates much like a community center. Individual and club memberships are available. Each individual member owns their own boat, while the clubs share a fleet with their members. Two clubs I've been a member of, Viking and Discovery, include access to cruising keel boats as well as a small fleet of dinghies. Membership with the JSCA is much more affordable than storing a boat at a marina, but it does mean you are limited to a boat that you can winch up and down the ramp. The Hollyburn Sailing Club on the north shore of English Bay is another club setup fairly similar to JSCA with both private owners and a co-op fleet.

Shared ownership is another option. I know several families that own boats together and keep them at the Kitsilano Yacht Club. Again in the interest of disclosure I should say that I work at KYC as the Sailing Director. Most boats at the club are owned by more than one person and some have up to four partners. This makes the cost of ownership considerably cheaper. KYC also has a dinghy pass that allows members to sail the training program's boats.

Storing the boat on dry land is one of the ways to control cost. This works well for dinghies, but does put some limits on what you can own. If you want something you could do some cruising in there are several good options, all of which are light enough to be raised up by a crane or winch and stored on the hard. Personally I like the J24 the best. It has accommodations and a galley below and still manages to perform nicely under sail. Google Martin 242 or Siren 20 for two other options.

The point of this entry has been to talk about affordable options available to get out sailing. Personally I have sailed at co-op dinghy clubs here in BC and in Manitoba. There are clubs available on most lakes and rivers in the country. Good examples are the Glenmore Sailing Club in Calgary and the Toronto Island Sailing Club. You can find more searching the internet for sailing clubs in your area or check out the CYA webpage for sailing clubs.

I have really enjoyed sailing from a club. I like that I get access to a varied fleet, so I can choose a boat to suit my crew or the weather conditions that day. I also really like that I always have somebody to sail with. As soon as you join you are part of a group of active sailors and rarely lack a sailing partner. It's also really nice to have people to share the boat maintenance chores with! All in all I think sailing clubs are the way to go and I'm sure you can find one near you.