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January 16, 2013

Introducing the American Youth Sailing Force

by Michelle Slade

AYSF gets acquainted with the AC45.

The American Youth Sailing Force shares their enthusiasm and passion to represent San Francisco in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup.

Selected by Oracle Team USA to represent San Francisco in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, the seven members of the American Youth Sailing Force are still pinching themselves that they’re potentially on the road to an America’s Cup career. For the first time there’s a path for youth sailors 24 and under to sailing’s pinnacle event, and this west coast-based team is ready with huge amounts of energy and passion.

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January 16, 2013

You Again?

by Stuart Streuli

A look at the IRC Swan 42 sail plan on Phil and Wendy Lotz' Arethusa, the S2 symmetric spinnaker and a new spinnaker staysail.

If at first you fail to finish, well then, you have to try it one more time.

Last year, my first attempt at the Lauderdale to Key West Race did not go well. It was memorable, but much in the way a dinner is memorable when the waiter accidentally dumps a plate of marinara in your lap. The race produced a good yarn for the magazine (in our May 2012 issue) and more than a few worthwhile lessons.

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January 11, 2013

Volvo Ocean Race: Reporters Wanted

by Dave Reed

Hamish Hooper, media crewmember with Camper/Emirates Team New Zealand in the 2011-'12 Volvo Ocean Race, earned the race's top MCM, despite chronic sea sickness.

The Volvo Ocean Race is seeking qualified candidates for onboard reporters for its 2014-'15 edition. Do you have the stomach?

The job listing’s video teaser says it best: “The best media job in the world . . . Or the worst?” This is a question only a select number of past Volvo Ocean Race media crewmembers can honestly answer, and those I’ve spoken to over the years offer the predictable response:

“It depends.”

It depends on whether you can tolerate organizing making freeze-dried meals for 10 grumpy, hungry, sleep-deprived men. And then doing their dishes for nine months.

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January 7, 2013

Maserati's Classic Passage

by Tim Zimmermann

Maserati off on a wild ride from New York to San Francisco.

The Volvo Open 70 Maserati sets out to take a stab at the record of the legendary clipper ship Gold Route.

Ocean passage record setting is all about the big three: the Jules Verne (around the world, non-stop), the West-East Transatlantic (from Ambrose Light to the Lizard), and the 24-hour distance record. I have no argument with that. Those are intense, risky, and sometimes brutal sailing challenges. And it is fascinating to watch skill and technology inexorably raise the bar.

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January 7, 2013

Down But Not Out

by Amelia Quinn

Don't wake up in the morning in a haze of pain-filled regret. Preventing injuries on the water, at the gym, and even out socializing is key to keeping your sailing season going smoothly.

Whether from a traumatic injury or general wear and tear, chances are that something is eventually going to lay low even the healthiest athletes. Knowing when to take a break and recover is just as important as hitting the gym, and dealing with your injuries instead of ignoring them will help reduce the time it takes to get you back in the game. Especially in the off-season, you should be checking in with your body and making sure that it’s at 100 percent.

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January 2, 2013

Complexity Squared

by Michelle Slade

Unlike the other three teams still in the hunt for the 34th America's Cup, Artemis Racing had to be built from scratch. Paul Cayard, shown with the team's first AC72, is the CEO of the challenger.

To be able to build, test, and optimize the two boats and three wings needed to compete effectively for the America's Cup, Artemis Racing and CEO Paul Cayard first had to build a team.

With some 30 years invested in the event, 53-year-old Paul Cayard is no stranger to the America’s Cup. As CEO of the Swedish-flagged Artemis Racing, Cayard’s taken on the task of building an AC team from scratch, a massive undertaking given the complexity of the boats, the nature of the racing environment on San Francisco Bay, the expense, and limited time within which to make it all happen.

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December 31, 2012

Desjoyeaux Talks Up MOD70 Sailing

by Bruce Gain

image-photo2mod70-foncia-skipper-michel-desjoyeaux-r-680-460

Michel Desjoyeaux before the start of the Krys Ocean Race.

Offshore sailing legend Michel Desjoyeaux hopes an American team will soon take part in the MOD70 circuit.

The rocky coastline of Brittany, France, is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. But this time of year, in late fall, when it is very wet, the weather can cast a pale of dark over anyone’s soul.

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December 18, 2012

No Down Time Down Under

by Michelle Slade

Emirates Team New Zealand design team member, and catamaran guru, Pete Melvin.

When it comes to multihulls, few, if any, have the résumé to match that of Pete Melvin. He's designed some of the world's fastest boats, and won some of the toughest multihull championships. Now he's trying to help Emirates Team New Zealand win the America's Cup.

Pete Melvin is considered one of the world’s leading designers of racing multihulls. He’s also a multiple class world and national champion. His company Morrelli & Melvin has designed boats ranging from the record setting 125-foot PlayStation maxi-catamaran to two different world championship-winning A Class catamarans. His partner Gino Morelli was involved in Dennis Conner’s ’88 Cup program with the Stars & Stripes catamaran, and in 2008 Pete began working with Oracle Racing as a sailing coach before moving into design analysis.

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December 17, 2012

Frostbiting: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by Tim Zimmermann

When the temperature drops, the real Laser fun begins.

Tim Zimmermann goes for a couple of a dips and gets in the frostbiting spirit of the season.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year."

That chorus keeps running through my head because it's the holiday season. Cold weather is settling over the mid-Atlantic, the leaves are gone from the trees, and there is talk of snow and freeze warnings from weather forecasters. It's my favorite time of the year, so of course I am excited. But my enthusiasm and anticipation has little to do with a fat, bearded, old guy in a red suit, or mistletoe, or presents.

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December 5, 2012

Numbers Man

by Michelle Slade

Navigator Kevin Hall sails on Artemis Racing's AC45. A modern day America's Cup navigator must be comfortable doing just about anything onboard the boat as the job's traditional responsibilities have become less and less critical during the short-course racing.

Kevin Hall's career in the America's Cup is a study in evolution and that's only accelerated with the advent of the AC72.

In the modern America’s Cup, the traditional navigator—even at it’s most evolved—is an endangered species. With the courses so compact and the boats so hungry for human horsepower, having one person dedicated to tracking the team’s progress around the course and keeping an eye on the competition is a luxury some teams may decide they can't afford. But if four-time America’s Cup veteran Kevin Hall is worried about his position being flicked off the race boat, you wouldn’t know it.

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Sailing Blogs

Introducing the American Youth Sailing Force

You Again?

Volvo Ocean Race: Reporters Wanted

Maserati's Classic Passage

Down But Not Out

Complexity Squared

Desjoyeaux Talks Up MOD70 Sailing

No Down Time Down Under

Frostbiting: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Numbers Man

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