Month: March 2012

ONION PATCH SERIES

 

Reading the recent article about the Onion Patch Series puzzled me because the description did not resemble any of the series I had sailed in the past. I participated on “Carina”, “Charisma”. The series in those days the series began with a race starting in Oyster Bay around Buzzards Bay light tower, around Block Island and then finishing at Castle Hill. Once in Newport we sailed three day races before starting the Bermuda Race. The race s were open to all participants but the teams were scored separately, just as the Admiral’s Cup had been sailed in the early days, before the beginning of the end when the Admiral’s Cup was excised from the crowds, but that is a subject for another day.

As I write, I wonder if we as sailors have been our own worst enemies.

“IT’S A FOLLY”

Grant Dalton has become the “Ted Turner” of modern sailboat racing. We all anticipate his next words. He shocks, surprises, and has a fresh plain spoken approach, that no matter how outrageous his statements might be; there is always a nugget of something we can relate to.

It his latest statement he says that if it were up to him, there would be a change of boats for the America’s Cup and has supporting evidence for his statement.

BEING IN THE RIGHT PLACE

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, a big day in Newport with a parade and everyone wearing a grin. Tucked in a corner is the CCA’s Safety At Sea Seminar; typically held every March in Newport in preparation for the Bermuda Race.

We must remember this is a 4 day race, 6oo miles. Not really a long time; it does get you offshore away from land but not for long. I don’t need to attend as I qualified last year for the the transatlantic race, 3000 miles, and 16 days.

The way to win this race is being in the right place for weather and to maximize the benefit of the Gulf Stream. It is far more important than sailing fast. The people in the following pictures can help put you in the right place.

KNOTS

I have always been fascinated by knots. It was what every sailor knew when I was young. I was taught by the professional sailors of the era. My first attempt was the black and white belt.I was 13 years old. I no longer remember the name of the string I used but it was still sold in chandleries expressly for macrame.

These professionals told be of a shop specializing in macrame near the docks in Brooklyn. I took a while, but I hitchhiked and found the shop; however the man who owned it was old and had failing health, so all I could do was to gaze in the window.

I still tie knots, I suppose much like someone who knits. During the America’s Cup Jubilee there was a Frenchman (not the one in the video) tying knots on the dock; we had a duel of sorts, testing the other’s knowledge of knots.

IT’S ABOUT THE RIGHT OWNER

I have always considered Yves Tanton a very good yacht designer with good original ideas. But it seems he suffered from having the wrong owners of his boats, because he never seemed to get the recognition he deserved.

He was designing light displacement boats long before it became fashionable. But he never seemed to have a boats in the hands of an owner who got good publicity.

Olin Stephens had very good fortune in that department. Olin had some boats that did not realize their potential but he had enough boats good boats in the hands of capable owners.

Juan K has had more than one keel fail, but again he has had enough successes to push the mistakes into the shadows.

 

GET YOUR SEABOOTS READY

 

Announcement of the Transatlantic Race 2015 and the Atlantic Ocean Racing Series 2015

march13_bpNEWPORT, RI, USA, March 15, 2012 — Following the success of the Transatlantic Race 2011 and its companion Atlantic Ocean Racing Series, the Royal Yacht Squadron and the New York Yacht Club, in conjunction with the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Storm Trysail Club, announce the Transatlantic Race 2015 (TR 2015). The race will start in mid-May, 2015 from Newport, Rhode Island, the on-the-water home of the New York Yacht Club. The TR 2015 is scheduled to coincide with the 200th Anniversary of the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) in early June.

The Bermuda Race has not yet happened, and already  plans are set for another transatlantic race. While I understand the desire to break a record set;  the idea of finishing at the  Lizard, which is near nothing, seems silly.

DATA WE DREAMED ABOUT.

For me this is a dream come true. To have the data instantly available and unobstructed by crew.This is cool.

People who constantly reach into a pocket to check a smartphone for bits of information will soon have another option: a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time.

According to several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year. These people said they are expected “to cost around the price of current smartphones,” or $250 to $600.

The people familiar with the Google glasses said they would be Android-based, and will include a small screen that will sit a few inches from someone’s eye. They will also have a 3G or 4G data connection and a number of sensors including motion and GPS.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on the project.

Seth Weintraub, a blogger for 9 to 5 Google, who first wrote about theglasses project in December, and then discovered more information about them this month, also said the glasses would be Android-based and cited a source that described their look as that of a pair of Oakley Thumps.

They will also have a unique navigation system. “The navigation system currently used is a head tilting to scroll and click,” Mr. Weintraub wrote this month. “We are told it is very quick to learn and once the user is adept at navigation, it becomes second nature and almost indistinguishable to outside users.”

The glasses will have a low-resolution built-in camera that will be able to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby, according to the Google employees. The glasses are not designed to be worn constantly — although Google expects some of the nerdiest users will wear them a lot — but will be more like smartphones, used when needed.

Internally, the Google X team has been actively discussing the privacy implications of the glasses and the company wants to ensure that people know if they are being recorded by someone wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in camera.

The project is currently being built in the Google X offices, a secretive laboratory near Google’s main campus that is charged with working on robots, space elevators and dozens of other futuristic projects.

One of the key people involved with the glasses is Steve Lee, a Google engineer and creator of the Google mapping software, Latitude. As a result of Mr. Lee’s involvement, location information will be paramount in the first version released to the public, several people who have seen the glasses said. The other key leader on the glasses project is Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, who is currently spending most of his time in the Google X labs.

One Google employee said the glasses would tap into a number of Google software products that are currently available and in use today, but will display the information in an augmented reality view, rather than as a Web browser page like those that people see on smartphones.

The glasses will send data to the cloud and then use things like Google Latitude to share location, Google Goggles to search images and figure out what is being looked at, and Google Maps to show other things nearby, the Google employee said. “You will be able to check in to locations with your friends through the glasses,” they added.

Everyone I spoke with who was familiar with the project repeatedly said that Google was not thinking about potential business models with the new glasses. Instead, they said, Google sees the project as an experiment that anyone will be able to join. If consumers take to the glasses when they are released later this year, then Google will explore possible revenue streams.

As I noted in a Disruptions column last year, Apple engineers are also exploring wearable computing, but the company is taking a different route, focusing on computers that strap around someone’s wrist.

Last week The San Jose Mercury News discovered plans by Google to build a $120 million electronics testing facility that will be involved in testing “precision optical technology.”