Author: ws lirakis

a sailor who carries a camera

CALIFORNIA COAST

We are north of San Francisco, Wine country. Every turn reveals something new and startling. Yesterday we drove along the Russian River to the ocean. We drove through groves of Redwood trees, large for us, but not like the really big trees further north. The coast in this part of the world is so beautiful so fresh, so unspoiled.

It turns out that one of my ancestors moved here from Lancaster, Ma in 1870. He too wrote about being overcome by the beauty and climate.

July 1st 2010

I just can’t seem to move off the Bermuda Race Thread. Here is a remark from Scotty Kaufmann taken from Scuttlebutt. Scotty is of course entirely correct in his statement. He designed a similar surgery to the first “Boomerang”, designed and built by Bob Derecktor and had a serious case of the slows. Scotty’s changes made it a competitive boat. 
    My fondest memory sailing with Scotty is the St. Petersburg to Ft. Lauderdale race, was it in 1980?  It was a fresh breeze from the north. Bob Derecktor was aboard. It was a shy reach at the start. (remember these are the days when everything was big and heavy.)  “Boomerang” was 66 feet; so a mini-maxi in the class with “Kialoa” at 80 feet.
    We were able to hold the spinnaker with two people steering. It was real work. Jeff Neuberth, Scotty and myself were rotating every 15 minutes steering, while the one out would watch the compass. We were holding the big boats in front of us, pushing water, going 17 knots. 
  There are many associated stories, some of which might be too colorful for print. 
      Larry Ellison and the America’s cup were at the White House yesterday. Today they will be in Newport, RI.  Newport must be very excited, Larry Ellison also happens to own a house in Newport, which has led to speculation that Newport could be a legitimate contender for the America’s cup in the future. It is unlikely, Space and money are the primary obstacles.
  All of these musings should be put in the context ofthe BP oil spill, now 73 days and counting, and the still fragile economy of the world.
I am in California, north of San Francisco, visiting my children, I am reminded each time of the variety and beauty of California. This is wine country, and for many there is the association with France, however these colors and shapes are for me much more like Spain. 

MORE 1974 AMERICA’S CUP

The Bermuda Race is now history, prizes awarded, boats already on their way back. In 1970 when we won on “Carina” we arrived at Montauk the morning of the 4th of July, to the sight of a whale sounding. That night we were entertained by the fireworks at every club and town on each shore all the way to our destination, Greenwich, Ct.
“Courageous” was launched in May. History would show just how good she was. Still today a benchmark boat. The Australians arrived in Newport with “Southern Cross” a Bob Miller aka Ben Lexan design, full of progressive ideas. Her fatal flaw was probably too much wetted surface. She had long overhangs, the theory being that when heeled, waterline length increased. All the foreign boats suffered from inferior sails. It is one area where the United States excelled.
One of the stories that merits mention is the one of the helmsman of “Courageous”. Bob Bavier the skipper of name, had replaced Eric Ridder as helmsman in 1964 and was credited with the remarkable turnaround in the success of “Constellation”.  By 1974 he was no longer up to the task, “Courageous” the clearly faster boat was struggling to beat “Intrepid” a better sailed boat. Bob Bavier was replaced by Ted Hood and Dennis Connor came aboard from “Mariner” to start the boat.
Bob McCollough, close friend of Bob Bavier was the one who had to speak to his friend. This remained a bitter moment for Bob Bavier the rest of his life.

BERMUDA

Our destination, Bermuda, a beautiful Island with a long history. Since my first Bermuda race (1966) life here has changed. There are homeless, unemployment, tragedy strikes even in paradise. Still, as visitors, we are inclined to see only the beautiful.
  Despite our trouble in the race, the torn mainsail, we finish in 78 hours, the fastest in four races, only the big boats are in and no one finishes the next morning as we go to breakfast.  The quick passage lays to rest any concerns I had about making my flight. Leaving is always ambiguous, but my wife is at home.
    The airport is one of my favorites, I like the idea of no jetway, but rather walking out on the tarmac to the plane. Somehow in my mind it qualifies as an inspection of the plane.

BILL SHAY’S ASHES ARE COMMITTED TO THE SEA

Shortly after the Gulf Stream during the Bermuda Race, Bill Schneider committed Bill Shay’s ashes to the sea, while Larry Huntington read John Masefield’s “Sea Fever”. Bill was a long time friend and shipmate to many of us. Larry first met Bill at the finish of the 1957 Transatlantic race to Spain. A sober moment in the counterpoint of sun and sea.

Bermuda Race 2010

The story of the torn mainsail will remain the focal point of the 2010 Bermuda Race for our crew, however the race had many other stories. We never had more than 30 knots of wind, about what the rest of the fleet experienced. We were all stacked to windward when off watch, just like everyone else as well.

   We had visits from marine life, the highlight was a large turtle. At first we thought his head was caught in a tire, then his head popped up behind the tire. He was pushing this tire along with his head, by bumping into it. Perhaps his contribution to clean oceans.


SEVEN MINUTES

I am back home this evening from Bermuda. I sailed the Bermuda Race aboard Larry Huntington’s “Snow Lion”. The boat was well prepared, we had a new North 3Di mainsail. We had sailed together in the Block Island race and the NYYC Spring Regatta.
   Seven minutes into the race the clew of the new mainsail failed. There was a collective groan, we all knew what this represented for Larry. My first thought was: “I know Larry will not withdraw”, followed by: “I might not make my flight home..”We watched our class sail away from us, while we accessed the problem and developed a solution. We reefed and started stitching. Once we felt the clew was stabilized enough we unreefed and continued to stitch. About a total of forty hours of sewing.

 We could not sail at 100%. We nursed this sail right to the finish. We managed a second in class and 14th overall, but in my mind the race will always be remembered by the crew for something else. Everyone contributed to the solution, everyone picked up where the last person left off. We behaved as a team with a single purpose. The result was a sense of satisfaction that cannot be measured by results. No one ever quit, they just kept trying harder.