I have put three days of sailing behind me. A lot of fun meeting with friends from different classes and on Friday evening with a boat, that I had never sailed before. The Optimist Dinghy. Yes, I have folded 190cm into this little pram and it did not feel as bad as I thought. It all started with a promise or better a birthday present which I had given to K. last week. She got a voucher to take part in the local women Opti regatta and I promised to organise everything. From the fully rigged boat right on the pier to jump in, to babysitting our little one.  read more »

Did the beer can race on Wednesday night, the 17th with the Bull. Only looked up the result now and we came 2nd. First time that the new X-34 won with their YS of 93. We are sailing with YS 96 and we did hang on their transom for a long time only to have a "bad concentration phase" in the middle of the run. It was low and slow with the asymetric and we decided only very late to change into the lightweight sheets. After that we could hold our speed but "Luise" had sailed away. Also with a new crew it has been difficult to fly the tackline and at the same time to roll the boat and gennaker with a loose tack. It has to be hand sheeted in the light air as the gennie wants to collapse if not trimmed right. The job looks very easy but needs an experienced hand. We had fun and nice evening out and that counts the most.  read more »

Second Day of Mothing OK, back to blogging. The weather changed overnight and with it the wind became an onshore breeze. The sun disappeared behind big grey clouds and the shore break did not look inviting. Nevertheless I rigged the Bladerider and worked (walked) my way through the shore break. Got on the boat fine. Flying not really a problem. Upwind not pointing very high. Tacks were slow and bad, some with sailing backwards. Downwind the sailing was fine but however I tried to jibe I put the thing into the water. 13 C definitely better than the 5 C at home. But I lost my power quite soon cause of the capsizes and I knew I needed some fitness to get the boat through the breaking waves on to the beach in one piece. Oh, I am still fitting the blades outside in the chest high water and do the de-rigging there as well. The new centreboard foil sank to the ground and did not come up as the older one used to do. Third Day of Sailing Still a nice onshore breeze and meanwhile Felix had the new boat Orange rigged and ready to sail. We changed into the bay nearby where we did not have to fight the breaking waves and starting the Foiler Moths was easy. Orange should have been sailed by Kerstin but due to special circumstances she let Felix do the first sail and decided to do some photos. It was OK out there but again only for a short period after which I got exhausted. A bit early and again I thought I should start a fitness program. The Orange did not last very long, back to the workshop was the motto. But it was got to see some progress on the flap mechanism which worked well.  read more »

There is an interesting Kiel Week Video here. It shows some heavy weather action from Monday, when the wind was above 30kn, gusting up to 38n. No dinghy sailing on the various courses but a few Laser enthusiasts where practicing jibes. Also some footage from my German Moth friends, Peter and Carlo. The full Moth result list is here: Moth results, Kiel 2008

Dinghy sailors do know a thing or two about sailing.Mark Denzer circumnavigated the island of Oahu this month aboard his El Toro dinghy. Kudos Mark on your achievment!From Mark:Dear Friends,Our family is humbled by the many, generous donations to the National Parkinson Foundation in memory of my Dad, Jim Denzer. As promised, I have sailed an El Toro sailboat completely around the coast of Oahu!!  read more »

A Horizon Job - I love those words and the meaning of it. Difficult to translate into German though a straight one would read: "Horizont Job". I doubt that anyone in Germany, bar a couple of experienced sailors would get the message. Anyway our second outing in the Wednesday night race (this week) with the Bull was a success. A big one. The conditions were just right. Wind from the east, 2-3 Bft. A shame that K. had dates out of town on this lovely evening, therefore Jan and myself decided not to take some inexperienced sailor on board. Instead the two of us sailed the boat alone. We took the old mainsail with an efficient reef, just in case. Before the start we had the usual problems. Tackline over sheet or under?  read more »

We are dwn here at Lake Lipno. 182 sailors from 15 Nations. Beautiful weather but a lack of wind. Today the first qualifier for the "D" fleet had been sailed. "C" fleet hat been abonded. Tommorow we will have 7m/sec and we do hope that the Race committee will find a bigger area than today otherwise I expect a demolution derby on the small course.
I myself have not raced officially today but did a lot of sailing and on the way home I pushed the boat into a crack and have bend the steering. Our good friend Peter G-868 borrowed me his spare steering and my co-driver Henning, G-499 drilled an 8mm hole free of hand with a "not-so-good driller". Nice job.
Something my dear friends might be interested: There is no such "Koch-Duell" as our Gourmet cook, Krogo, G-749 had to stay home due to a big, I say BIG flue. He is staying in bed and calling everyday to ask for weather.  read more »