(NECN: Hyannisport, Mass.) - It was a day at the shore designed to send a message. Ted Kennedy has no plans to slow down. Senator Kennedy and his wife, Vicki, went sailing Wednesday afternoon, just one day after it was announced that he has a brain tumor. On a picture perfect day for a sail, [...]

Laser sailors are good people. You can lend a Laser sailor your boat, your car, or even your wife, and expect to get them back in hardly any worse condition than they were before.

But even so... I wouldn't just leave all my Laser gear on my boat overnight at a regatta in plain view. Someone might decide that they just had to take my mast top section to replace the one they broke today. Someone might think that some of my lines needed to be transferred to a more deserving home. Someone might forget to bring their buoyancy aid the next day and assume that it would be OK to "borrow" mine for the day. Etc. Etc.

Of course Laser sailors are good people. But there's no point in putting temptation in their way.

So if I'm at a multi-day regatta I have two choices. Take everything off my boat every night and pack it away in my car or the hotel room; or put a top cover on the boat to cover all my goodies from prying eyes and hope that this will persuade those "good people" Laser sailors to look for easier pickings elsewhere.  read more »

Valencia Sailing asked Davide Tagliapietra and Doug Schickler of Schickler-Tagliapietra to give their insight into the fleet of VO70's gathered in Alicante. Valencia Sailing: What are your impressions of the boats and the rule development? Schickler-Tagliapietra: Everybody knows the rule has become a much tighter design space. The boats are limited in displacement range, and keel weight is controlled independently. In the small range, the boats will probably all try to be at the light end, of course with the heaviest bulb possible. Using higher modulus fibre in the masts, and the very impressive carbon rigging will make a nice step forward in performance. Safety and reliability concerns have driven other new rules, especially in the keel area. Not all of the changes are founded on sound engineering, but the stakes are high for Volvo and the resulting boats are undeniably awesome. Valencia Sailing: There have been a lot of interpretations to this more refined rule, comments? Schickler-Tagliapietra: This keel weight rule has unfortunately led to a near "attack" on the interpretation process concerning the keel of one team. Even more unfortunate, VOR found itself in a position where it felt the best way forward was to amend the NOR so a boat without a valid certificate could start the race. They have tried to disarm the situation, but the precedent is troubling. Valencia Sailing: Any other interpretations of interest? Schickler-Tagliapietra: One about the use of a rotary keel actuator instead of rams. It's use was denied, but it stirs the imagination. There is an interpretation concerning the use of spray rails for lift, thus declaring it an appendage. The spray rails will trickle down to other long distance race yachts - a good development from IMOCA's and these boats. Valencia Sailing: Can you give us a summary of the boats and teams, from a designer's point of view?  read more »

Wednesday morning finally saw some America's Cup activity in Valencia, not related to the infamous legal case in New York, even if one could argue about its relation to the world's oldest sports event. Desafo Espaol, the now-invalidated Challenge of Record of the 33rd America's Cup, summoned the press in its base in order to present the team's TP52 and GP42 campaigns for the summer as well as give the current state of affairs in the challenger. Present where Agustn Zulueta, general manager, John Cutler, technical director and in charge of the TP52 campaign, and Laureano Wizner, helsman and skipper of the GP42 campaign. According to Zulueta, the team's current strategy revolves around three main points: 1. Desafo Espaol is primarily an America's Cup challenger and as such it had to adapt its program to the current difficult situation. The main objective is to save money. One of the most drastic decisions was to completely abandon the design of an AC90 yacht. 2. The team has now three sponsors; Iberdrola, the Valencia Region and Quebramar. In order for them to have a return on their investment and given the absence of any America's Cup activity in 2008, the obvious strategy was to participate in the TP52 and GP42 circuits. Iberdrola will use them as a roadshow in order to promote its services around Spain. 3. The TP52 and GP42 campaigns are merely training tools. They will also serve to keep the sailing crew together and eventually bring back sailors that had joined other America's Cup challengers.  read more »

The deck boat manufacturers have designed an innovative craft that's fast, offers maneuverability, and with its V-bottom hull able to skim the waves in a similar way to that of a Bowrider. Ideal for use in protected waters, such as bays and lakes. Deck boats are constructed with a catamaran or cathedral hull with an fiberglass molded hull in most cases although some manufacturers produce aluminum models, such as the Suncrusier deck boats.

Posted by: dawesboat  read more »

Here's what I get with a cross of my sailing "to do" list and sailing dreams... and maybe this also prefigures some New Year's resolution-like-wishful-thinkings.

* replace electrical harness on first doubled Sunfish trailer and mount replacement rear lights

* install inspection ports in rest of Sunfish fleet, do fiberglass repairs on Sunfish hulls and install replacement traveler bridles, get most of Sunfish fleet functional, perhaps order or make more rudder assemblies, possibly get more sails, get a second Sunfish trailer "doubled", look for a trailer that could be customized to transport four to six 'fish

* replace and re-locate through-deck turning blocks for Etchells traveler car and re-run traveler lines, replace Etchells upper shrouds, replace through-console vang turning block, replace port spinnaker cam cleat, other cleats as needed, apply Easypoxy to hull dings, install replacement manual bilge pump, install mast butt mover  read more »

"BARRY AND JUSTINE BEING FED UP BY ROB AND THE BOYS IN FJORDLAND"
I never learn. I can still remember paddling almost non-stop for 11 hours up the West coast, not able to entirely relax the whole day because I'm anxious about what the surf will be like when we land, head down and teeth gritted as we slog into a bit of a headwind, doing the maths and working out I had to keep on taking the same repetitive paddling motion for another 7 hours before I could get off the water. I turned to Barry and said, "I don't want to do this again. I've had enough of paddling on a mission".  read more »

Posted by: dawesboat  read more »

Posted by: dawesboat  read more »