I would never imagined that I would see snow at sea level in California. The California around San Francisco. Here are the photos to prove it snowed at 1200 feet; not really very high. (It was reported that it snowed near Santa Cruz.)
World’s oldest one-design starts build
Work has started on building the world’s oldest one-design yacht
Work has started on recreating the world’s oldest one-design class yacht. Hubert Stagnol, the French boatbuilder with a yard based in Brittany, has already laid down the wood to build the first example of the class, which lacks a name, in 124 years.
The design was commissioned from GL Watson and Co by the Clyde Canoe and Lugsail Club and the first three were built in 1886, named Red, White and Blue. Three more were ordered the following year, but it’s thought no more were built after that time, and it’s also thought that none of the originals survives.
It is, according to GL Watson, holders of the design to this day, an opportunity “to allow 21st-century sailors to gain first-hand experience of the origins of one-design sailing”. The drawings reveal that the origins of one-design sailing are a 19ft 2in (5.9m) LOA yacht with a 1ft overhang at the transom, 6ft (1.8m) beam and a sail area of 313sqft (29.1m2). A transom-hung rudder, long bowsprit, lug rig and low cuddy cabin complete the look. The boat is being built for a mystery client.
Helena and Paul are friends who are pushing the sport of sailing forward. From my perspective with enormous charm and grace. I wish them the best of luck, as I watch with interest at their progress.
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New Vestas Sailrocket 2 Aims For Speed Sailing Record “Since we started pursuing the Outright World Speed Sailing Record 9 years ago, the record has been raised by exactly 9 knots. The current record holders, the kite surfers, have taken it out of the reach of all the previous contenders and it is going to take a very special boat to get it back. Vestas Sailrocket 2 is a boat that aims high. The only satisfactory outcome for us is the outright record,” Paul Larsen, pilot and project leader from the Sailrocket 2 team says. With the record raised to the current level, the ambitious team behind Sailrocket is even more eager to develop a boat to break the Outright World Speed Sailing Record. In order to do that, conventional design has been left behind and everything is pushed to the limit. “Many lessons have been learned since the first Sailrocket was launched in 2004. The first boat shows the scars of the many learning processes we have been through over the years. In the end it performed as predicted; although she briefly emerged as the fastest boat in the world, she never achieved the Outright record title. The record was like a mirage: as we got faster, so did the record,” Paul Larsen says. “We learnt a lot with the first boat. The recent performance of the kite surfers vindicated our decision to build a new boat. I’m confident that Sailrocket 2 has the potential to take the record to new levels.” Vestas Sailrocket 2 will be launched on 8 March at Venture Quays, in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Both Sailrocket boats will be shown to the public. |
Am I that current that Lady Gaga would copy my ideas? This crib was conceived and designed by my wife and built by me for our first grandchild. Work on the plug started more that a year and a half ago. The egg was then shipped to our son in the crate shown.
Lady Gaga it is reported was less than original this year. People are saying her new song sounds exactly like Madonna. The costumes were certainly not as cool as in the past; and now even the set is taken from our idea? really.
US marine archaeologists have found the sunken whaling ship belonging to the captain who inspired Herman Melville’s classic 19th Century novel, Moby Dick.
The remains of the vessel, the Two Brothers, was found in shallow waters off Hawaii.
Captain George Pollard was the skipper when the ship hit a coral reef and sank in 1823.
His previous ship, the Essex, had been rammed by a whale and also sank, providing the narrative for the book.
‘Pretty amazing’
The remains of the Two Brothers were found by researchers from America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), about 600 miles (965 km) north-west of Honolulu in the remote chain of islands and atolls.
The wooden vessel has disintegrated in the warm waters, but the researchers found harpoons, a hook for stripping whales of their blubber and cauldrons used to turn whale blubber into oil.
“To find the physical remains of something that seems to have been lost to time is pretty amazing,” said Nathaniel Philbrick, an author and historian, who has been researching the Two Brothers, the Essex and their captain.
“It just makes you realise these stories are more than stories. They’re about real lives.”
The sinking of the Two Brothers was relatively uneventful compared with the Essex’s run-in with the sperm whale in 1821.
After the Essex sank, Capt Pollard and his crew drifted at sea without food and water for three months and even resorted to cannibalism before they were rescued.
Pollard gave up whaling and became a night watchman in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
While Meville was inspired by Pollard’s adventures, the unlucky seafarer’s character is not thought to have been the basis for the novel’s obsessive Capt Ahab.
Footing the bill for the America’s Cup still an issue
On the America’s Cup to-do list for the next two years: Make plans and review the heck out of them. Demolish some buildings, build others. Design and erect yachts, then race them. Attract hundreds of thousands of people and then entertain them. And what else?
Oh yeah — pay for it all.
Two entities — the America’s Cup Organizing Committee and the America’s Cup Event Authority — are tasked with raising a total of $300 million.
Six weeks after San Francisco was chosen to host the 2013 race, neither has yet raised a dime — mostly because they have been trying to hammer out who is responsible for raising what — a question that, until Friday, elicited different answers from each agency at this point.
On Friday, the leaders of both entities sent in a statement saying they consider “the entire 300M a shared responsibility” and that ever since The City won its bid to host the event “we have worked jointly to raise this money and are aligned in our fundraising efforts.”
But just the day before, Mark Buell, the chairman of the ACOC, a nonprofit volunteer board made up of mostly local business and government leaders, said his organization needs to raise about 10 percent of the $300 million total. That $32 million raised by ACOC will cover the city of San Francisco’s costs, which will come in the form of police security, transportation and environmental review. The rest would mostly be left up to the for-profit Event Authority, mostly through sponsorship contracts and TV rights.
At the time, Craig Thompson, CEO of the Event Authority, contradicted Buell and said the ACOC is contractually obligated to raise all $300 million, and the Event Authority is simply helping them.
“If you look at the contract, San Francisco’s Organizing Committee has an obligation to deliver $270 million to the event, plus the $32 million to offset city costs. …. We’re the ones who get big companies to understand why they should put their money into this — it’s a good investment for them,” Thompson said.
But in an e-mail the following day, Thompson changed his tune: “Since San Francisco won the right to be the host city for the 34th America’s Cup, we have worked jointly to raise this money, and are aligned in our fundraising efforts.”
Asked how confident he is that the ACOC will be able to raise the money for the event, Buell laughed.
“I don’t sleep at night, thanks for asking,” he joked. “Really, I do wake up at 2 in the morning, trying to figure out if we can really do it.”
The first sign that the America’s Cup is coming to town could be apparent as soon as next month, when the massive trimaran that won the last Cup is displayed on The City’s waterfront.
The massive racing yacht is currently being shipped from Spain to San Francisco. Its mast is so tall that it can’t fit under the Golden Gate Bridge, so it has been taken off the ship and will be reassembled once it arrives.
Last week, Mayor Ed Lee said it’s yet to be determined where the yacht will be displayed, but he said it is expected to play a part in the fundraising drive for the event.
Sponsorship will bring in the bucks
Those who can afford to cough up millions of dollars for America’s Cup sponsorship will be able to watch the event at close range: from the boat itself.
The America’s Cup Event Authority, a for-profit entity billionaire boat racer Larry Ellison created to put on the event, has set up three tiers of sponsorship: a global partner, a global sponsor and a national sponsor. Each tier will accommodate just six sponsors, and will guarantee different levels of advertising and branding.
Event Authority CEO Craig Thompson wouldn’t say how much the tiers cost, but said that an independent media valuation firm pegged the value of the top sponsorship at $74 million — but the authority will discount that cost significantly.
Companies that fork over for that highest tier will have their names branded on the buoys around which the yachts will turn. They also secure TV sponsorship, room at the VIP sponsorship tent — and one lucky person will be strapped onto the boat during the race, he said.
If you love to race, and want to have fun doing it, no class does it better than the six metre class. Never have I experienced a group that exhibits better the values of yacht racing. Loves the boats they sail; knows more about the history not only of the class but each and every boat. I know the parties will be fun the people nice. Not to be missed.
PRESS RELEASE 9.2.2011
The Six Metres gather at the NJK–yacht club at Blekholmen
6-METRE WORLD CUP 2011 IN HELSINKI IN AUGUST
6mR-class World Championship 2011 will be held from 5th August to 12th of August at the NJK-yacht club at Blekholmen in Helsinki. The championship takes place every two years and is expected to bring together a fleet of around 50 boats and 250 yachtsmen from around the world.
The SEB Six Metre World Cup 2011 held in Helsinki is part of the 150th anniversary of NJK-yacht club, Nyländska Jaktklubben. This same year Finland also celebrates its 150th anniversary of yacht racing history.
In Helsinki the championship will take place in two classes: the modern Six Metres (build after 1965) and the classic Six Metres (build before 1965). The majority of the Finnish fleet will compete in the classics division.
This will be the 19th Six Metre World Cup. In the year 2009 the WC was sailed in Newport, USA. There the winner in modern Six Metres was Sweden’s Hugo Stenbeck with Sophie II, and in classics Canada’s Eric Jespersen with Gallant. From Åland, Finland, Henrik Lundberg took silver in the classics with Fridolin. Both winners are America’s Cup –veterans. The Finns have won the championship in classics three times, last in 2003. The Swedes on the other hand have mastered the championship in moderns.
The championship was last held in Helsinki in 1999. The Six Metres was an Olympic class from 1908 until 1952. Among the boats participating in this year’s Helsinki WC are all top-5 boats from the Helsinki Olympics 1952.
The Six Metres in Finland add up to 40, and worldwide the registered boats add up to around 300. Following the Six Metre rating rule, each boat is different. The Six Metres are considered extraordinary beautiful and many highly esteemed boatdesigners are among the constructors, namely the late Olin Stephens from USA and Finland’s Gösta Kyntzell.
The SEB Six Metre World Cup 2011 -program:
1.-4.8. 5.8. 6.-7.8. 8.-11.8. 12.8.
measuring of sails measuring of boats prerace (2 starts/day) races 1-8 (2 starts/day) prizegiving (reserve day)
Media accreditations: Markku Lamppu.
Additional information: Henrik Andersin, head of the Organizing Committee, henrikandersin@me.com, +358 400 406 391 Markku Lamppu, press, markku.lamppu@welho.fi, +358 50 542 3424
www.6mRWorldCup2011.fi
Title sponsor SEB. Day sponsor Baltic Yachts. Sponsors Viking Line, Finnlines, Silja Line and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. Suppliers, Volvo, Itella, Jouko Lindgren Boat Yard, Henri Lloyd, Procopé&Hornborg, Maritim, WB-Sails and Scandic.
This Saturday evening at the Hyatt in Newport will be a seventy-fifth anniversary of the URI Sailing Team. For me I have nothing but fond memories of that time. I will not make it to the event but here are some pictures looking back
If anyone has more photos or memorabilia I would very much like to here from you.
San Francisco is still adjusting to the idea of hosting the next America’s Cup. There is much to be accomplished. There is a lot being done behind the scene presently. I have included a photo of the waterfront which shows just how close the docks awarded to Larry Ellison are to the city; walking distance to almost everything, including the financial district. Below is a photograph showing the waterfront where the Oracle team will make it’s camp.
