Greetings yachties,
The annual round Waiheke Race promised up to 20knots with a westerly turning south. Some thunderstorms around Hamilton, lucky we weren’t going there. The day dawned with mist on the hills and by 0900 nothing, not even a zepher, then it rained. Perfect lets go yachting. No short course. We had a great sail and I managed to take a few videos and a few pics with me new camera, enjoy.
Waiheke Boating Club Round The Island Race 2009
Another Gun – Steve and crew: Red Rum – Young 88
the winners
getting ready
not a lot of breeze
“We need more wind”
winning raft
focus needed to keep Panui moving in such a light breeze.
passing the cruising division
opps, who put that rock there?
Waiheke
Race Officer
a great day had by all and a great BBQ and prize giving.
The Mighty Stewart 34 Yacht-A Kiwi Icon
In 1958 R. L. “Bob” Stewart was commissioned by Peter Colmore-Williams to design a fast 34-foot racing yacht that could double as a comfortable family cruiser. The yacht Patiki was an instant success on the race course, thrashing her competition and drawing the immediate attention of Auckland’s top racing sailors. Cruising sailors were also impressed by the design, attracted by affordability, seaworthiness, spaciousness and excellent sailing characteristics. During the 60’s and 70’s boatbuilders as well as “do-it-yourselfers” began building more Patikis in sheds, boatyards and back yards all over New Zealand.
Within a few years, the ever-expanding fleet of Patikis began to dominate the Auckland racing scene. Their spirited owners eventually looked to further raise the bar. They longed for a different type of racing competition-one based solely upon sailing skills and tactics, and not on an individual yacht’s design advantage. Eventually the Stewart 34, as it came to be known, became the first one design keel boat class to be granted their own separate racing division by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
A total of 63 Stewart 34 yachts have reportedly been launched since 1959. Sixty one are believed to be sailing today. Hundreds of owners and thousands of crew have sailed tens of thousands of races and hundreds of thousands of miles, providing for many interesting “sea tales,” some hilarious, some tragic.
My book Stewart 34 Yachting-the First 50 Years is an account of the history of the mighty Stewarts. It is nearing completion and scheduled for release in October 2009. Included with the book will be a DVD containing exciting footage from the Citizen Watch Match Racing Series in 1987 and an extensive photo archive from the 50 year history of the Stewarts. For more information, watch this space!
SPIRIT OF MYSTERY ARRIVES IN AUSTRALIA
Pete Goss and the crew of Spirit of Mystery have arrived in Melbourne Australia after an epic five-month and 11,800-mile journey.
A flotilla of small boats and hundreds of onlookers welcomed the 37-foot wooden lugger into Williamstown, Melbourne at 1.30 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time today, Monday 9th March 2009 (0230 hours GMT).
The crew had an emotional reunion with Mark Maidment, the 44 year-old crew member who had to be taken to hospital with a broken leg after the vessel was knocked down by a freak wave in the Southern Ocean last week.
Friends, family and the public flocked to the quay side to cheer in the little craft as she slipped into the marina with Cornish flags flying in the bright sunshine and gentle breeze – a far cry from the events of last week. After hugs and kisses were exchanged, the crew were welcomed to Australia by the Mayor of Hobsons Bay, Peter Hemphill, and the President of the Cornish Association of Victoria, Derek Trewarne, who was waiting ashore with a cold pint of beer and a Cornish Pasty for all the crew.
The crew, with Mark in a wheelchair after his operation to insert pins in his leg to hold together his shattered tibia and fibula, stood together on the deck of the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria 155 years after the original crew of the fishing vessel Mystery set foot in Williamstown.
Treating Hypothermia
There Is Much You Can Do to Battle Hypothermia and Cold-Shock Response
By Kim Kavin
Updated March 5, 2009
Championship cold-water swimmer Lynne Cox can freestyle and breaststroke for as long as two hours in the Bering Strait, where the water temperature can hover around the mid-30-degree Fahrenheit mark.
Boaters who fall overboard into 60-degree seas and drown within minutes are often said to have succumbed to hypothermia.
How can both of these statements be true?
“The reality for boaters is that you can last a lot longer than you think if you get thrown into the drink, even in cold-water cruising places like Maine and the Pacific Northwest,” says Dr. Eric Johnson, a Staff Physician at Teton Valley Hospital, in Driggs, Idaho; past president of the Wilderness Medical Society; a NAUI diving instructor; and a Mount Everest base camp physician.
The more you remain calm, the better your chances for grabbing a life ring tossed your way or being plucked from the water.
The more you remain calm, the better your chances for surviving an overboard situation.
A lot of deaths following sudden cold water immersion are incorrectly classified as drowning due to hypothermia, according to Johnson and other experts. Often, these victims drown because of effects of the initial Cold-shock Response.
The Cold-shock Response is initiated the minute your skin touches the water, usually in water below 60 degrees. Your Cold-shock Response kicks in faster than you can blink – causing you to gasp uncontrollably and breathe rapidly, as your body tries to acclimate itself to the water temperature around you. Though these reflexes do eventually subside, they can be extremely detrimental in an overboard situation.
“It lasts one to three minutes,” says Johnson, who spoke at the week-long “Medicine for Mariners and Safety at Sea” conference at The Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda in January. “This is actually when most people drown, not from hypothermia, but from the gasping from Cold-shock Response. They suck in water while they are hyperventilating and trying to get air.”
If they’re not wearing a floatation device and their head goes underwater in the first minutes, they can easily inhale seawater and drown, Johnson said. If you can get through that initial first few minutes alive, with your head above water, then you have a good chance of surviving before hypothermia actually sets in.
A MATTER OF TIME
In truly icy cold water – say, if you’ve fallen overboard off the coast of Juneau, Alaska – you will have five to 10 minutes of what doctors call “meaningful movement” after your breathing settles down from the initial Cold-shock Response. This is certainly enough time to grab a life ring……
Great stories from Madmariner.com here
LE MAXI BANQUE POPULAIRE V JOUE LES PROLONGATIONS 06/03/2009
Décidément, la météo hivernale mène la vie dure aux records océaniques. En stand-by depuis la fin du mois de janvier et amarré dans le port espagnol de Cadix-Puerto Sherry depuis le 17 février, le Maxi Banque Populaire V attend toujours une hypothétique fenêtre qui lui permettrait de partir à l’assaut du temps de référence de la Route de la Découverte. Faute de créneau météorologique exploitable ces dernières semaines, Pascal Bidégorry et ses hommes ont décidé de prolonger leur attente et de se laisser jusqu’à la fin du mois de mars pour saisir toute opportunité qui pourrait se présenter. En attendant, le Team Banque Populaire garde sa ligne studieuse pour avancer dans la mise au point du maxi trimaran.
Undoubtedly, the winter weather forecast leads hard life to oceanic records. In stand-by since the end of January and belayed in the Spanish harbour of Cadix-Puerto Sherry since February 17th, Maxi Banque Populaire V always waits for a hypothetical window which would allow him to attack the reference time of the Road of Discovery. For lack of exploitable meteorological parallel parking these last weeks, Pascal Bidégorry and his men decided to extend their wait and of l
A Day of Velcro – 05 03 09
Last night’s progress was a little disappointing but, hey, lets have none of that! Forward is the only way to look.
When I tacked round to head south-east the waves were right on my bow, which means Totallymoney.com took the brunt and was getting slapped around a little, so I had to bear away to make things more comfortable.
Today the wind has eased off a little more but it is still gusting 24 knots, which isn’t all that great. However, It’s also backed round to the north a little more which is helpful. I’m currently making around about 10knots SSE, the best I can do with this sea state.
I was able to grab a break and read a book today, which gave me a chance to be ‘somewhere else’ for a little while. I think the fact I had a stash of Pringles on the side to munch really helped me savour the moment!
I spent this afternoon applying velcro to the items that live on the chart table: the keyboard, mouse and my brilliant glow in the dark clock being the main ones. It makes it a lot easier to type this in heavy seas…I’ve also put some velcro under the chart table so that even if I get knocked about quite a bit, it’ll stay firmly in place.
Yesterday evening, before it got dark, the wind had dropped for two hours and so I thought that knocking my second reef out was necessary. I did this and what do you know, the wind immediately picked right back up again, so the reef needed to go back in! Typical…
I waited half an hour to see if it was just a long gust but the wind held steady. I thought of what every sailor says about reefing, “If you’re thinking of doing it, then do it!” and went ahead and put the reef back in whilst I still had a little bit of daylight left.
This was a little harder than shaking it out but after twenty minutes we were all trimmed up again with all the lines tidied away neatly and I was a lot having a lot more comfortable sail.
The albatrosses have continued to come and go as they please. Every now and again I glance up through the window to see them whizz past. They never cease to amaze me with their grace.
©Sailmike2009
Valencia Sailing Talks to Frank Cammas
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Valencia Sailing talked last week to Franck Cammas, the French multihull guru, during the 3rd day of test sails of the repaired Groupama 3 trimaran. Cammas talked about the first impressions of the test, his busy schedule this season, including three record attempts, as well as BMW Oracle’s BOR90.
Valencia Sailing: Let’s start with the obvious question. What are the initial impressions from the first test sails of the “new” Groupama 3?
Franck Cammas: Unfortunately, the first three days we sailed with a very light breeze, not the kind of conditions for such a boat. She has been conceived to go fast in strong breeze, so we haven’t seen too much. For the moment we work on the overall setup of the yacht, the rigging, the sails but it is very early to make a thorough assessment. We still need to spend more time on her.
and….
Valencia Sailing: Let’s now talk about your other major project, the BMW Oracle 90ft trimaran. Have you finished your work with the Americans?
Franck Cammas: A new series of test started in January and I came back to Groupama 3 last week. The boat is still undergoing development but I think she is spectacular. It’s at the same time a very enjoyable boat to sail but also an extreme one, radically different from what we have seen so far.
Valencia Sailing: Such a radical boat needs a very experienced helmsman. You are probably the best multihull expert in the world but it’s James Spithill that will eventually steer her. Is he a good student?
Franck Cammas: Spithill is a very good student. He shows interest in a lot of things and not only has spent time on the BMW Oracle trimaran. He has also sailed on other catamarans and multihulls and is a very fast learner. He was already one of the best monohull helmsmen of the world and since a year now he has been training and racing in this domain and in my view he is now a top notch multihull helmsman.
latest rule here
Americas Cup Rule 2009-02-28_AC33_rule_version_1.1
How many tall ships can you see?
Bodypainting |
NBA Dancers |
Danica Patrick |
Tennis Stars |
All Models |
Video Collection
Spanish boat breaks forestay
Thursday 5 March 2009 23:30 GMT
Telefonica Blue suffered a cruel blow last night when the Spanish boat broke its forestay while leading the fleet through the Southern Ocean on day 20 of the marathon Leg 5 from Qingdao to Rio.
Skipper Bouwe Bekking notified Volvo Ocean Race headquarters of their mishap at 17:40 GMT. The crew has put in place a jury rig and has decided to carry on under reduced sail.
In an email sent from the boat at 22:48 GMT, Bekking graphically described the incident and underlined the team’s desire to continue.
“We were ripping along, making great speeds in 15 knots of breeze, when all of sudden a loud bang was heard from the rig. My first instinct was to look up but I saw that the mast was still in one piece. A fraction later, the headsail dropped in the water,” he wrote.
Squids trip to the Middle East
Apart from the lack of sailing it was very pleasant, particularly as Paul got into baking bread, pineapple upside down cake and brownies. We also caught our only two fish of the entire trip: they made exceedingly tasty fish curry.
And of course flying fish. It has been just over 30 years since I did my first offshore passage, and all that time I have been tossing back the flying fish that came aboard overnight figuring they were too much trouble for a small amount of food. Well, I was wrong. One morning I awoke to find Paul had prepared flying fish for breakfast. Delicious. Never again will I waste a flying fish.
The floor gaveway
The repair at sea.
Then the wind died.
Shortly after that episode I got up one morning and Paul asked me if I could smell anything. I took a deep breath and answered promptly: “camel shit”. The wind had swung and was blowing from the land, now about 50 miles away and there was a very distinctive smell to it. It was identical to the smell of the camel enclosure at Auckland Zoo.
Local yachting
PUMA
LEG FIVE DAY 20 QFB: received 05.03.09 0903 GMT
We’re getting a bit of a reprieve today. This race seems to be a constant cycle of getting the snot beaten out of you for an unspecified number of days followed by a couple of days to clean yourself up, lick your wounds and prepare as best you can for the next ass- wuppin: because it’s coming.
When it’s game on, things start to fall apart pretty quickly and it’s the galley that seems to get it the worst. It’s up forward on our boat, so when the boat jumps off a wave there is a multiplying factor to the amount of movement up there … think of a see-saw and the amount of movement between the seat at the end and the seat nearest the pivot point….. Add to this the fact that you don’t see the waves coming and therefore have no chance to brace for the impact. As well as the potential for a huge mess, it’s also quite dangerous. Add the final ingredient – food – and bingo; you now have a recipe for disaster… no pun intended.
It starts slowly with the odd little spill here and there – it’s impossible not to. Usually the guys are pretty conscientious about clean up, but its dark and you’re bouncing around so maybe a 90% job, and the grime slowly starts to build. Then it happens … a big spill, let’s say a half bowl of greasy beef and noodles straight in the bilge….. You’re on hands and knees doing the best you can to collect everything up, but the grease is starting to spread, a call for some help up on deck. While you’re away, someone unknowingly steps in the area of the spill….. And then before you know it, the galley has reached a tipping point beyond which there is no coming back until the weather eases up. Imagine little incidents like this happening over and over and you start to get the idea. After two or three days of tough weather the galley can start to look like a major environmental disaster area. Noodles stuck in every corner of the bilge, a thin layer of grease on every hand hold, the trash bag overflowing. There’s no paper towel until tomorrow and you still can’t find the spray-n-wipe.
But not today! The whole galley area has had a major going over and is positively sparkling; everything is squeaky clean as they say. The ever-vigilant Rob Salthouse gave it the whole soap-down this morning and I came in this afternoon and did the disinfectant treatment. Rob also gave our failing stove a full service. We haven’t had any problems with it yet, but a little preventative maintenance never hurts. Imagine a stove failure during our next heavy air upwind session …… coming soon. The whole thing is now held together securely with steel wire and should see us to Rio.
Rick Deppe MCM
latest positions here
THE TEN ZULU REPORT
LEG 5, DAY 20
By Mark Chisnell
There’s a monster weather system, a zone of high pressure, that is blocking the path to Cape Horn. And yesterday the fleet fanned out across the South Pacific as the skippers and navigators struggled to find a way under, over or through the middle of it.
We have a pressure cooker situation, with a huge separation from the northern to the southern boats, and the outcome critically dependent on the neurotic wiles of a couple of weather systems. There’s a reason that we call the separation leverage – because, just like in finance, it’s a measure of risk. And as we all know, the longer the lever, the more powerful the tool. And right now, we have a really long lever – over 250 miles from the north to south of the fleet – and a lot of risk. It’s hero or zero time.
At 10:00 ZULU this morning, Ericsson 3 was seeing her wind (TWD) slowly shift from the east into the south-east, as she got east of the centre of the high pressure. It was allowing her to sail a faster course, much closer to where she wanted to go. A couple of hundred miles to her south, PUMA and Green Dragon were also getting the first of the wind shift to the south-east, PUMA had started to make her way east (on starboard tack), and I think we’ll see Green Dragon turn to follow her very soon. Even further south, Ericsson 4 and Telefonica Blue were going south-east (on port tack), still battling an east-northeasterly breeze.
What does it all mean? Initially, Ericsson 4 and Telefonica Blue took up the challenge implicit in Ericsson 3’s turn to the north-east after the scoring gate yesterday. They went due south, the ‘old skool’ veterans picking up the gauntlet thrown down by the young gun, Aksel Magdahl, navigator aboard Ericsson 3.
From the Drawing Board
By John Welsford – Hamilton, New Zealand
He’s off again
The Appetite Strikes Back – 04 03 09
I’m definitely finding my sea legs now and my appetite has returned to normal, hurrah! Today I cooked up soup for breakfast, had a large helping of chicken and pasta with white sauce for lunch, and for dinner I think I’ll tuck into some shepherd’s pie!
I’m settling into the routine now with my sleep being able to just nod off for short bursts, wake up, check the boat and nod off again. Yesterday evening, as the sun set, I was joined by a couple of amazing albatrosses. I sat on deck, all togged up in my oiles staring at these incredibly graceful birds – almost an hour passed without me realising…I made my way inside Totallymoney.com as darkness fell and hung up my wet oiles to dry out.
The albatrosses rejoined me today, coming and going as they pleased, I grabbed the camera but as soon as they saw it they instantly flew away! Camera shy perhaps? Eventually, I was able to get a couple of great shots as they became more confident and came in close for a good look at me.
A high pressure system has caught up from behind now and is due to start passing over early in the morning, giving me some pretty light conditions. The wind might drop down as low as six knots.
Currently I’m sailing around 54 degrees off the wind, so almost beating my way forward, which isn’t the most comfortable, but it’s what I’ve got to do to make progress. I’ve broken into my thermals as it’s getting chilly – but I’ve yet to put on my extra-warm fleece jackets. I know it won’t be long, though!
©Sailmike2009
back into the southern ocean
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This post is tagged cammas, david, duckworks, frank, howie, hypothermia, john, maxi banque, mike, perham, pete goss, populaire, puma, spirit of mystery, stewart 34, telefonica, valencia sailing, volvo, waiheke, welsford
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