Swell

2011 18ft Skiff Worlds JJ Giltinan

2011-03-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

Quote from last year "Here we are again, one year on and in the wash up one place better... so that’s 10^th, 9^th and now 8^th in the last three champs. Consistent if nothing else. Gotta Love It 7 and Coxo et al again had a great tussle, Seve and crew coming out on top, saving the best til last with a runaway victory in Race Seven. Their boat speed, crew work and general boat handling is so much better than the rest of the fleet that they extracted themselves from daily tangles to come through race after race. Heaven forbid if they started cleanly and consistently."

This year we managed to keep everyone on board and injury free for the whole regatta and in turn were rewarded with a podium 3rd overall. Tickled pink. Contrast to last year and Seve did start well and so 7 and Coxo/Linksey/Trent finished 1st/2nd and quite some points ahead of us. They both have massive support network, money and resources to burn but nonetheless great team efforts and the two crews continue to dominate the event. We scrapped on to the podium, nothing to pick between us, Red Claw, Howie, Smeg, Woody, and Budgen.

Debrief of the racing as I saw it

Race One

Race Five

2010 Sydney Hobart Yoozuu

2010-12-24T17:26:00.000-08:00

Water ballast. 300kg of carbon, pumps, tubes and sweat. Why not just put it on the keel?

Should be a great race.

Woody

2010-10-31T01:51:00.000-07:00

Nothing happening in my life but what a photo. Love it. And Woody then went out and won, ha - sensational.

2010 SB3 World Champs

2010-07-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

best bit was the headlines...

Hey this was pretty crazy. Jerry rang half a year ago and asked what I was up to mid July 2010. The end result was going to Lago di Garda for a week and winning the SB3 World Champs with Jerry and the very talented Joe Lewellyn.

bow 03 on the nose,
kite sheets out of water!

100+ boats, 15+ nations and many highly rated proven performers, this was an amazing win. Above and beyond all that we had Great Fun and showed me that sailing non-skiff boats can be top notch too.

It was an absolute education sailing with Jerry and Joe, and sailing against so many closely matched competitors. Marvellous contrast to the wham bam thank you ma'am world of 18s and 14s.

The fleet was another eye-opener; top notch and ruthless on the water and friendly as pie once ashore.

view from the hotel room

What are these boats? Firstly; no hiking... what is hiking, whats the point.... either sit or trapeze... anything in between is a bit odd, isn't it? I mean real hiking, be it moth or laser or finn is part of the gig but wrapping your body around a wire and leaning until your nerves are cut off... how is that fun? From what I can see they're the most popular (read cheapest) of the sports boat genre... amazingly close up wind and down, top speed every day was between 15 and 19 knots, three or four short races a day. Short races.... and lots of them.... much better than the bad days of one long long long day afloat for one crumby race result.

Joe loved scrubbing the keel

Torbole Sailing Club remains an incredible place to sail out of; they are a low key, well greased machine and nothing was too much effort. They even produce a little movie of the action, here's the link.

Thankfully one of us
wasn't scared of the water

Photos - Andrea Carloni / Stefano Grasso, see his web site, including here and presentation night

2010 18ft Europeans Champs

2010-06-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hey, bit late but you gotta blog 'em up! Crazy regatta with Jack a last minute no show and Justin stepping in and doing an absolutely marvelous job. Actually ultimately highly rewarding with Pistol and Justin getting me round and on to the podium in second place for the second year running. Seven won – comfortably in the end – but along the way we showed enough speed and smarts to take a few races from them.

Beautiful venue too, Malcesine is quite a venue now their new club and grounds are done.

Anyway here's a press release to tell the story….

Mounts Bay SC 18 foot skiff SLAM places 2nd at 2010 European Champs

WA 18-foot skiff SLAM was one of three Australian boats to fill the podium at the European 18-foot skiff championships at Malcesine Sailing Club on Lake Garda in north Italy from May 31 to June 5.

Helmed by Grant Rollerson, the Mounts Bay Sailing Club-registered SLAM finished in second place to Sydney-based world champions Gotta Love It 7, steered by Seve Jarvin.

Sydney boat Applicances Online rounded off the podium, and first European skiff was the ever improving Hungarian boat Liberty Sailing in 5th with Miklos Ujhelyi Gaspar at the wheel.

SLAM skipper Rollerson said he was tickled pink with the result.

"We got off to a couple of false starts when the container with the Aussie boats turned up late, just a day before the regatta, and additionally when our middleman Jack Young had to dash back home for personal reasons.

"At the 11th hour Justin Healey stepped in.

"He's a top notch skiff sailor from Sydney, now resident in London although two years out of practice.

"So in the context of things second overall and taking a few fastests off world champs Gotta Love It 7 was beyond expectations.

"We had world champions in numerous classes behind us including skiff wunderkind Euan McNicol and established warhorse Howie Hamlin.

"The winds were challenging and the venue is stunning, so absolutely no complaints.

"These are the fastest racing dinghies in the world so there's never a dull moment.

"As always it's a team boat, we were very fortunate to have Peter Nicholson and Justin on board, keeping the skiff tracking.

"In addition we competed with the new SLAM range of technical dinghy clothing, and are pleased to say they more than ticked all the boxes. It's very very good gear."

This is the third year the SLAM skiff has contested this event, placing 1st, 2nd and now 2nd again.

SLAM Advanced Technology Sportswear has been active in Australia for many years. As sponsors to the Australian and New Zealand Olympic teams, and as partners with the successful Oracle America's Cup challenge they are at the forefront of dinghy and big boat sailing apparel.

In addition their range of aprés-sail garments for ladies and men continues to impress. Visit SLAM at http://www.slamanz.com, or contact Marcus Ashley-Jones on marcus@slamanz.com.

Western Australia has a long tradition in the 18-foot skiff class, stretching back to victory in the Australian Championships in 1907, won by Mounts Bay skiff Aeolus, helmed by Ted Tomlinson. Aeolus was the first ever WA yacht to win an Australian Championship. For further information about 18ft skiff racing in Perth, email wa18footers@gmail.com or contact Scott Glaskin on scott@agenda.iinet.net.au.

Perth Dawn Raid

2010-03-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

Beautiful! Kiting on a 15-20 knot E'ly at Point Walter with cousin Mick, just the two of us at The Crack. By the time we left a few hours later there were quite a few more....

Later that same day, out on the Hobo, beaut.

2010 18ft Skiff Worlds JJ Giltinan

2010-03-18T05:53:00.000-07:00

Here we are again, one year on and in the wash up one place better... so that’s 10^th, 9^th and now 8^th in the last three champs. Consistent if nothing else. Gotta Love It 7 and Coxo et al again had a great tussle, Seve and crew coming out on top, saving the best til last with a runaway victory in Race Seven. Their boat speed, crew work and general boat handling is so much better than the rest of the fleet that they extracted themselves from daily tangles to come through race after race. Heaven forbid if they started cleanly and consistently.

Coxo, Linksey and Trent on the other hand generally started well and sailed consistently but suffered from boat speed in a few wind ranges and this made it very difficult for them to challenge, especially on the uprange Races Six and Seven. Who else? Project Racing didn’t win and I’m not sure why... they were very fast, even though their big rig looked dreadful at times... I guess lack of consistency got them in the end. Rang & Famish were always playing catch up being raced out of time in Race One and eventually this ankle tapped them.... they too though had their moments, great speed but ultimately too many non counters. For SLAM every race had a story, and if all we do is learn from - and act on - each one then we’ll win next years regatta. That is the challenge.

Here's Don and Shirley, and together with the rest of the Double Bay Sailing Club they help make the regatta. Meanwhile we all have bad regattas, but I felt super sorry for the Aucklanders, their container – the whole ship in fact – sent back . The club arranged boats but it’s never the same. Pity, because the only kiwi boat Chris Skinner and the blokes were fast, so the rest would surely have mixed it up.

Also, due to injury, we had quite a few guests on board; Adam Beashel, Hugh Styles and Nathan Wilmont. Very very interesting sailing with these professionals, and I think all three of us learnt quite a bit about the way good sailors operate.

Again we had some world class photographers there in Chri s tophe Favreau and Christophe Launay. Check out their stuff and hand over some green... they’re both very talented. I’ve included their work here.

Race One

Light little E’ly. Great start mid/two thirds down but failed to take our chance, about 20-30 seconds in where we could have tacked and crossed.
Up the line 7 fouled Club Marine and forced them both to tack and take the south. Meanwhile we were forced left; off the start cross the fleet when you can, if right is your strategy. That was the story of the first beat. Those two boats got to the top mark in the top six, we made it there in the bottom six. No problems though, rolled up the sleeves and did a great job of getting back to 9^th, which could easily have been better. Or worse and in fact quite a few boats were raced out of time by a magnificent race from Club Marine to be counted DNF, as the breeze died to a zephyr in the last leg to the finish off Clarke Island. 9^th, not a disaster. And hats off to Club Marine who didn’t bottle it, held their nerve and made the big budget teams look pretty silly. Amongst others Smeg and The Rag raced out, unfortunate way to start.

Race Two

Three string big rig NE’ly. Beautiful racing breeze. Again we nailed the start, 2/3^rdsdown the line and right on the all important layline for Bradley’s Head.

Nearby Rob Greenhalgh was going well to leeward, as was Project Racing, well to weather. Rob and the guys got a bit unlucky, forced away early by a Manly ferry and driven deep. By the top mark they’d recovered, so obviously going fast. Meanwhile we made it to Bradley’s with Project, they tacked and we followed them out. We were a few boat lengths clear of the fleet and raced together upwind until near the first lighthouse we decided to tack away and head right – the breeze wasn’t settled so we thought there was more right. It didn’t work you need a good reason to tack away from the fleet. It put us back but still in the top few. Then at the mark tacking port to starboard I got caught in my trap wire – been experimenting with a new shocky tidy up system – since scrapped. When we came out we were back in 10^th. Downwind and got further stuck in the fleet, back to 14^th ish by the Shark Island turn, and even further back by the bottom rounding off Clarke. Back on a breeze, and we got the peddle down, and by the Beashel were back near the top 10. From there we raced well enough, good speed and crew work, and got back to 10^th. Again a great race with a few killer mistakes.

Race Three

Really windy S’ly. Actually had been big south for some time that morning, gusting over thirty. They held us ashore awhile before sending us out. It was probably 22 – 30 knots, but there were enough sub 20 knot holes to find places to tack, bear away etc. Held out for an hour before we were sent back in... the wind hadn’t abated and boats were capsized and broken north south east and west. Tough one, but at the time they should have held us ashore for longer OR just fired the gun as soon as we were out there. Afterwards we felt fine, good on us for our self preservation. Unfortunately I had dislocated my pelvis somehow... next day couldn’t really walk, but sailed anyway.

Race Four

Light little SE’ly, we got around ok, except that I let the team down a bit, could barely walk, let alone sail. I can't remember the race really, too much friggin pain. We crossed in 7^th though, our best race so far, and thanks to Jack and Pistol for getting me round. Here they are, carried me all week really and before, so thanks guys.

Race Five

Another SE’ly, with outgoing tide. By now I really couldn’t lift my legs, let alone walk. Adam Beashel kindly agreed to sail, and I watched from a RIB. Adam hadn’t sailed for a while and it showed, slow off the line and nearly last at the first turn; a position he consolidated by capsizing. Great race to watch though, as they pulled up their socks and ripped their way back to 5^th. Impressive to watch the team improve dramatically leg after leg, and very unlucky not to take 4^th on the line. Never give up. Meanwhile out the front the Rag sailed very well to score a runaway victory. We’ll never know, but Herman and Chris Skinner were sitting pretty 2/3rds of the way up the first beat, well out to the right and round the west side of Shark, before they both capsized on a tack. I daresay but those two would probably have rounded 1 and 2. Jack’s turn. Unbeknown to him he’d incurred a grade 2 tear to his knee AC. That very sadly was the end of his regatta. Interesting to watch the rigs off the boat. Learnt a lot.

Race Three Resail

Lovely patchy ENE’ly and run out tide, with start off Clifton Gardens and the top mark up off Beashel. Course Six – up and backs - and four laps.

Hugh Styles stepped on in the middle. Again we had a ball tearer of a start, midline and clear. Two and a bit on the wire. Light. With the run out tide and a little hint of left slab out between the northern shore and the Sow and Pigs we headed straight out on starboard towards Manly. A third of the fleet came with us, and the rest peeled to the south, to Steel Point; traditionally favoured in this course. I thought it was worth a go because of the tide and the lefties. Anyway in the end it wasn’t, but not by much, we rounded in 4^th or 5^th, so all good. We dropped a few and lost contact with the leaders in a bad leeward mark rounding second time down, but overall another good day out and 7^th on the final bell. In light winds always sail angles aggressively downwind.

Race Six

Beautiful 16-20 knots little rig NE’ly, and Nathan Wilmont stepped on. A real pleasure to sail with we couldn’t have a had a more relaxed day out. The breeze was up though and our it was a big ask to step straight in with a new crew... but we had an absolutely fantastic day out. Great start and podium speed uphill, fighting with the top few up the first beat. Little kite’s a bit shagged but ok. Solid 6^th until disaster struck on the very last mark, rounding the Shark en route to the finish. Well clear of Smeg with got hit by a doozey of a heading darkie at the mark and in a moment of panic we dropped the chute over the side and trawled it under the boat. In the end we knifed the halyard and limped home in 18^th. All my fault, and a great shame. Tailor your risk to match the return... we should have dropped the chute well early, the was no gain in taking the risk we took.

Race Seven

Last race and still hanging on 5^th. Again a beautiful breeze and Hugh back on bought again. For I guess the first time all regatta we got a rubbish start, my fault. Nothing against Hugh, but we just couldn’t settle or gell and unltimately on the sausage downhill we infringed the Red Claw and had to do a turn. My fault again. We slipped I guess from about 10^th to further back than F-back. We brought it home in 14^th and sadly that pushed us back to 8^th overall. If sailing with a new team, be happy to sail inside the curve, take it easy, enjoy the day and the rest will come.

2010 i14 Worlds : Day 8

2010-01-15T13:56:00.000-08:00

Wrap Up
Everything they said was true, Great Event; venue, wind, boats, fleet size. Only problem is the amount of boat work required, which got me thinking; why aren't we all just sailing 49ers. Lot's of reasons why, but they do show you, you don't need 100+ blocks on a small two man skiff to go fast. Incidently in the two days since the event we've had a 25knots NE'ly and commiserately strong Southerly. What else; life jackets are extremely unsafe, I really beleave they should be optional and up to the competitor.

Photo above by Christophe Launay.

Day 8
Beautiful day, 10 - 14 knots NE'ly, and again a great towards-pin start, looking super good in the top few, Greenhalgh out ahead, and nearly at the top mark when our jib track buckled and bent, we got stuck in irons and couldnae tack. Sorted the problem out by which time back in the 20s.... we had a new tacking technique - bit slow - but battled back to a mid teen result. Bit of a pity but a nice day out to finish. Greenhalgh comfortable winners, with Alistair Richardson and Dan finally putting in a good result with a 5th.

2010 i14 Worlds : Day 7

2010-01-10T12:35:00.000-08:00

Irwin Sails leading the charge, photo by Christophe Favreau. Congrats to Dan and Archie winning with a race in hand.

Day 8
Forescast for an awesome NE'ly today. Blue sky, should be a golden day to finish. Silver first off at 10:30am then Gold. Err, but that's before the seabreeze fires... unfortunate.

Day 7
Another great day's sailing, SE'ly 13 - 17 knots on the race course except at the very very top and bottom where it dropped to 7 - 10 knots. We've got the boat firing uphill and rounded 3rd and 6th ish in the mix at the first marks of both races. Capsiz'd in each race gybing; so finished in the teens twice. Greenhalgh continued his unfortunate breakage run and had two bad races. Irwin a great day but finished up with a DSQ for port starboard. Kristic a 2nd and a sh1tter. Ben Austin and Pistol a return to form 2 x 4th, all too late... the real news was Dan and Archie finishing the day with 6th and runaway 1st, confirming their names on the trophy and negating the need to sail the last race.

2010 i14 Worlds : Day 6

2010-01-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

Tuskfish; what was I thinking... nothing like a red emperor, proudly displayed above!

Day 7
Forecast looks good, but nothing out there currently. S/SE 10 - 20 knots.... means the BOM (Bureau of Met~) are having 5 bucks each way. CONFIRMED - Silver are off first, two races starting 11am.

Day 6
Champagne sailing. Super breeze, a little on the light side but nonetheless a fantastic NE'ly on a blue sky Friday. lots of close racing and beating up the bush covered cliffs of Middle Head and Grotto Point Reserve. First race rubbish start but got back in the mix to finish mid teens. Up front it was shaping up to be a great race between Greenhalgh and Archie but Rob's rudder pin feel out and he retired. Win to Archie & Dan. Second race and a much better start from us. Rounded the first mark in about 6th and that is roughly where we stayed. Dopped one here, picked one up there and still a bit slow downhill but all in all great to be close enough at the finish to hear the gun and see the leaders complete the course. Again Archie off the hook; Dave A & Cameron clear leaders til they stuffed the final gybe and let the regatta self confessed favorites through. They now look pretty unbeatable and would need gear failure to lose. But anything is possible, they gave the Nobel Peace prize to a guy running a country that invades as and when. Nice move.

2010 i14 Worlds : Day 5

2010-01-07T13:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of brother Bruce with a - hey Bruce what is that fish - reef fish of some description. Emperor? Think it's an Emperor. Photo taken in Peoples Republic of WA, near Broome.

Day 6
Will be a good seabreeze, except we race two races at 11am. Out there.

No wind right now. 8:27am.

Day 5
Great start mid line, 5th at first mark, 25th at second, 13th at finish. Down that first run pretty amazing, missed two shifts and these Alexander kites are too full in the head and it appears you need to trim them out miles to make them work, but on the next two runs we nearly held our own. Great speed etc upwind. Close at the top, Archie/Dan lucky to sqeak a win over Rob/Andrew from Canada, it will be interesting last few races for those on the spec~ ferry.

2010 i14 Worlds : Day 4

2010-01-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

Nicked this photo, they make a hell of racket and there seem to be more of them here than in the Eastern Suburbs around Double Bay.

Day 5
Wind is very very light as I speak, but th forecast is for SE 10-15 so fingers crossed the breeze gets up. We carry the qualifying position as a non drop'ble race so we've got our work cut out. Hopefully though we can spear in some good results and move up the ladder a bit.

Day 4
We were second fleet out again, so watched from the shore as the first lot enjoyed a 8 - 12 knot 3 lapper in a SE'ly course between Manly circle and the middle of the Heads. Archie & Dan won with a massive margin. As we got out the breeze built, sucking into a local system from the West. Beautiful sailing breeze, best of the week. Pre start and our speed seemed very good. Gun goes and we're off, little problem with a leeward bridle getting caught on the leeward footstrap so we struggled a bit and probably in the 20s by the time we hit our first tack. Tacked, fixed the problem and then got going. We're fast. By the top mark we'd caught the leading bunch, although Rob & Phil were clear. 4 or 5 boats ahead, Ben & Pistol just behind, and then quite a nice gap. Spacer mark and then the hoist. Here we ran into problems, the chaps behind held their hoist and attempted to white sail past us. In the process they knocked Jarrod off the wire and we capsized. This didn't work out at all, I fell into the jib sheeting system and broke it. We retired, protested and sought redress but were only given average points, so 6th, 12th & 20th plus two averages equals 25th overall... quite unfair as our drop is now weighting heavily into our outcome. Meanwhile on the race course Rob & Phil won comfortably.

2010 i14 Worlds : Day 3

2010-01-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

Day Four
9:30am and the Southerly Change is already in, so should be another twin wiring day. Whilst I strongly believe the event is inferior to the presented alternative - Fremantle - I have to confess we've had good, interesting winds every day.

Day Three
Got the 20 knots we expected, a long way from the 30 I've seen on other sites (don't believe the hype), but all good. Partingtons and housewife's favorite Ben and Pistol fired in a 1/3 in race one. Lindsay and Andrew from Victoria managed a 2nd. Flight two, and we got away ok, bit sluggish but ok. Fired left with Greenhalgh and Phil, and got a nice lift to cross them going into the cliffs. Then disaster. Well not quite but enough to slow us. Jib halyard block at the top came undone and the jib dropped a few inches. This was enough of a problem to drop us back to 8th. Ahead of us 1541 and Greenpigo set the pace, followed by Kristic and rounded off with Doug/Taitsie, the Sepo Galvanaz, Denis & Brad and the young Poms. As the race developed Rob & Phil broke their pole and Denis & Brad broke their jib sheet and so we got back to a consolidating 6th. Lots of work to do, and still having too much gear failure but at least we're on the way to getting our mojo back - with the help of Jack from SLAM!

Form boats; Greenhalgh/Harmer, Dan/Archie, Partingtons, Meaty, Ben/Pistol, the poms on 1541
2nd row; Irwin, Brad/Denis, Doug/Taitsie, Dave A/Cam, Dave Hayter, young poms, Paul Galvanaz

2010 i14 Worlds : Day 2

2010-01-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

View from the balcony, not too rough! As ever, you can check out Christophe's photo work here.

Day Three
9:30am as I write, as you can see from photo, clear golden day. Expect 20-30knot seabreeze, tide still ebbing (high at 12:42) but down to 1.2m, so should be the best day so far.

Day Two
Little bit of light rain in the morning, cloudy and cool. Blue sky appeared and flight 1 got going in a marginal two wire NE'ly. Benny Austin and Pistol scored a house wife's favorite victory over Rob Greenhalgh and Phil Harmer. Rumours that Rob & Phil passed inside all three bombora marks - not legal - but his result stands, by the grace of God goes thee. Both boats looks fast. Next, we got to have a go and after three generals got away in a 12 knot NE'ly, building to 14/15 knots by the end. 1.4m tide was high at 11:45am, so we had run out all day. Very enjoyable conditions. Only fly in the ointment was our rudder up down control stopped working on the gun of the last start and it took us many minutes to fix and start. 4th from the end at the first mark... I daresay the leaders had already rounded the bottom mark. We whizzed through the fleet but not enough tarmac on the runway and 20th by the time we made it home. Meanwhile up the fleet Archie and Dan won easily from Mark Cristic who in turn was well clear of 3rd. Speed good, boat maintenance less than perfect.

Day One
SE'ly 8-14knots, high tide 10:53am at Camp Cove, with a bit of a seaway in the top half of the track. Rain fronts washing through every so often. Ebbing tide all day, 1.6m. Very good conditions. We were first fleet out with two races to do. 5th or 6th at the first turn, still finding our feet with new stick, but kinda ok. Poor downhill... we're working on it... and dropped from the 3rd-6th pack back into the 7th-12th pack. Good work two but then bit unlucky dropped 3 on the way to the bottom mark and 12th overall. Archie and Dan 1st, Rob and Phil 2nd and both boats looking very fast. Those two boats plus us have very stiff spars, I guess they're a few more days along the tuning cycle. Plenty to work on to get this ship going faster! Race two Blackflagged but luckily enough we got Redress... nonetheless it's quite unfair... 5 races to qualify of which 4 count towards the average and then we drop the worst... well this means our outcome is a function of our worst race... poor redress from the protest committee but apparently not debateable. I won't be at all surprised if Dan and Archie (they also BKD->RDG) get matchraced in race 5.

2010 i14 Worlds : T-1

2010-01-02T03:29:00.000-08:00

No comment, it was as shit as expected. Apparently - according to the starter - we're sailing the best harbour in the world. I assume he meant for beaches and shopping.

New stiff Southern Spars mast is a glam.

20-30 knots due tomorrow, although starter says for insurance reasons if it's more than 20 knots he'll pospone..... what a sorry state of affairs. Incidently this is despite a class limit of 25 knots.

2010 i14 Worlds : T-2

2009-12-31T17:39:00.000-08:00

Well easy to see why they decided Sydney would be better than Fremantle....

Apparently there's nothing to do after sailing there, whereas here there are plenty of places to have a beer and bitch and moan about the weather.

Still 100+ boats and cold beer and it is a nice place... super.

18ft Skiff Mark Foy Trophy Part II

2009-07-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well that was fun. 30+ skiffs and super tight racing. 2nd overall pity, stuffed it up with crash and bash race 6. Could've would've didn't. Won 6 from 11. Getting better though.

In the end we paid the price for too much inconsistency, exposed and ultimately Rob Greenhalgh, Dan and Phil caught up and overhauled us. They sailed well, with great starts and more consistent results. Well done them.

Great week though, despite the OCS and DSQ for crashing into everyone on the startline, nonetheless, and very very lucky to have sailed with Jack Young and Michael Coxon. Low stress programme, made easy with two yachties with calm, measured outlooks.

Last race and we were even on points with Howie, Felix and Matt. We sailed a great race to come out ahead and win our 6th race of the week.

Lots of great photos on the web. Christophe Favreau took a bunch, Ingrid Abery too. Killo and Christophe also put out a YouTube broadcast most days, through the Channel MarkFoyTrophy2009. Christophe also runs a cool blog.

The yacht club at Carnac, well fantastic, the skiffs have some great friends and they really went out of their way to help. Celia, Cedric, Francois et al.

Maybe next year we'll get to use the little rig, like in the poster!

18ft Skiff Mark Foy Trophy

2009-06-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

Sunny and Hot here. and Windless. Apparently it has been windy, but actually every day since arrival the wind has turned it down a notch.

We spent the first two days rigging a new big rig, new mast, boom and working sails. All looks good, and then got out for the practise race on Saturday. Light winds, two ish on the wire and small pressure bands made for tight racing. We won in the end, but got a bit lucky with Active Air snagging the top mark, and then the set off mark, and Trevor running on to a few cray pots. Lots of fast boats, including Howie (Macquarie Real Estate), Graham Catley and Cult of Mason (Investec). We are rigged with GPS, so you can follow the practise race here.

Yesterday was scheduled for race one, but no wind until 5:30 when the RO abandoned with AP over N. Thereafter the breaze filled in to 10 - 15 knots.

Race results, reports and photos will be on the carnac site.

Windguru not looking positive, but hopefully we'll see some thermals with the warm weather.

2009 14ft Europeans

2009-06-07T04:35:00.000-07:00

Well the 2009 14 foot dinghy European Champs was held last weekend in The Hague, on the west coast of Holland. We were part of the North Sea Regatta. This is a pretty big affair, but the beer tents etc still small enough to be intimate and non-Cowes like. Great weather, 13-15 knots on Friday and Monday, 9 - 13 knots Saturday and Sunday. Blue sky and relatively calm seaway. Out on the track we had massive tide, crazy really, one or two knots and either with or against wind as the weekend went on. Also being out on the course for up to 9 hours a day we tended to get all the tide.

5th overall, results didn't quite work out for us. We certainly haven't lost any of our straight line upwind speed, especially on Friday and Monday when the wind was up. The story of our weekend was poor starts, getting caught out on the wrong side on the twitchier middle two days, indifferent speed downhill, and even the odd capsize for good measure.

Well done comfortable Winners Alistair and Dan!

End to the Long Winter

2009-06-07T03:09:00.001-07:00

January staggering home from the Petersen's in the early hours came across this chap, up in arms and a more than just a little frosty...

May. This is a beaut, a little bar near Waterloo, they actually sell motorbikes and odd bits and pieces. With the toilet behind the bar and downstairs tucked around the workshop, this place was a great hangout. Here with Jack Mac and Tom Palmer....

Easter at The Mews, with the Robos, Ris and Zeb....

April. Not sure why I haven't noticed it before, but here at Hyde Park Corner there's quite a moving New Zealand War Memorial. It's very well done, simple, elegant, and moving. Each cross is enscribed with text, pictures and images.... in the other corner of the Corner is the Australian equivalent. It's, err, bigger.

April, earlier that same day. The half of the Crazy Waltons, Seamus & Tim. Great stuff.

Easter, with Ris and Sandy....

March in the Snow, weekend away at Chamonix, with Deborah and Jarrod...

JJ Giltinan 2009

2009-03-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Back in London after a relatively successful JJ Giltinan 18ft International Champs. We placed 9th from 32 which was a fine result for a turn up and sail, Jack recovering from pneumonia etc. Plenty of skilled operators behind us who had hoped for more, so we can't complain too much. Lucky to be sailing with two great yachties; Jack and Fang.

The skiff is looking even better than last year, logo'ing on both sides of the main and spinnakers too. Nice.

Well documented, and well done to all top 6... down to the last race and super close... especially the winners Euan, Linksie and Trent.

Yet to have a look, but I'm told the sailcam.tv footage is really very watchable. Will and Mark were busy every night, very positive for the class.

There were a couple of world class photographers there, Ian Roman and Christophe Favreau.

Ian Roman / JJ Giltinan
Ian Roman / JJ Giltinan / Slam
Christophe Favreau / JJ Giltinan
Christophe Favreau / JJ Giltinan / Slam

Christophe has set up a French 18 blog.

Also I've got Franklin Tulloch from Earthbound Studios to put together a promo viral. The footage is from San Fran last August.

This year our regattas are

Mark Foy Trophy & European Championships, Carnac, 27 June to 4 July

San Fran International, 30 Aug to 4 Sept (Bridge to Bridge on Thursday 3rd)

Both events should be big, but the Carnac regatta in particular promises to be a high profile affair, maybe more than 40 skiffs. Double Bay are talking 3 containers, Auckland a container.

What are the SLAM skiff's goals? Clearly : to win! but also to build the brand and awareness of the 18 SLAM. This is year two, and as we build regattas we build awareness. Also towards the end of the year we'll have the skiff in Perth for some promo work.... speed runs from Rottnest Island to Perth, etc etc. Watch this space.

Fixiated

2009-03-02T23:23:00.000-08:00

Fascinating Fixies, Fixiated, get it, a nice little home grown portmanteau.

Core driver is the shit awful commute in London. Walk to Earlsfield station -> overground train to Waterloo -> underground drain to Bank -> Bank to Liverpool St -> walk, coffee and work. All the way rammed in like the live sheep trade.

Bike options, plenty.... city road bike, bmx, mtb, preacher, but go watch Mash and the answer is clear... fixed wheel.... without the hard core face sandpaper ideally.

Started off at the high street shops Evans and Cycle Surgery. The entry level fixies generally come with flip-flop hub to allow freewheeling baby steps into this brave new world. Ok, that's the starting point.

Five minute walk and we're in uber cool Brick Lane Bikes, the ceiling littered with bike frames, all steel, the shop itself is more or less a work area. A few japanese shoppers give away how cool it is - they aways hang out in these niche affairs. Surly frame = £350. frame alone. moving on....

Down the road at the Truman area off Brick Lane and a shop called "The Bike Shop", what my mate called Ground Zero. Hard core, obscenely niche-esque, no free wheeling, no brakes, no handle grips, no branding.... Check it out;

Gun metal / Royce Hubs

Handbuilt by Lee Cooper in Coventry

Handbuilt Wheels

£1,600

Pedals no included

Prices across the board seem too high; steel frame, forks, two wheels ... how much can it cost to produce?? Prices start round £350 and go up to £2,000. So, what are the choices.

off the rack, which tend to be a bit too much "commute", and not enough "fixie" for me. Also they're cheap components and shiny white or silver paint... scratch unfriendly.
better production, like the Wilier-Pista, but at £850 a bit exie for purpose
fixie pure, expensive and too hard core for me. The nicest production version is the beautiful Bianchi Pista, shown here 2008 for £400. If I wanted a pure fixie, for fun not commute then this would be the one, god damn it you could hang it on your lounge wall and put the Picasso in storage.

.... it came down to the Kona Paddy Wagon and the Charge Plug Freestyler, both are steel with a bit of colour, enough to look good even better with a few scratches. Their non-fixie elements (handles, brakes, saddle) are matt black and visually low profile / unobtrusive.

Finished up back at Cycle Surgery, went for the Kona Paddy Wagon 2009, they matched my www price of £440. Bargain, apparently.... Next stop is pimping, tricking, blinging her up. Brooks saddle and handle grip, Obama spoke stickers etc etc

Incidently, how many rich kids are on the streets out of work ????

http://www.vanillabicycles.com/

As of December 1st, 2007 the wait for a custom Vanilla is over five years.

bikesnob speaks about it

More Bike

2008-09-08T03:52:00.000-07:00

Orbea Diem + Brooks saddle, panniers, handlebar tape + Garmin 705 + Shimano Dura Ace chainset, disc brakes = Rob's Cruiser

Note carbon fibre mudguards, seatpost & handlebars! ... some might say the irony could become overbearing.... http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/06/too-much-irony-too-little-time-elusive.html

18 foot skiffs : San Fran

2008-08-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

Bejesus what a regatta. Blows away any other place and any other boat by so far as the render it the best week of any yachtie's sailing year without question... or at least I wanta do anything that's better!

In the end 3rd place, so on the podium. Two excellent boats ahead of us, to be fair Seven won by miles by virtue not of speed but crew work and boat handling - as Howie pointed out at his eloquent prize giving speech it is all about the crew - , and indeed a few real contenders behind who ultimately suffered from lack of consistency, plus Woody on Yandoo who had his worst regatta since I've known him, with a twisted ankle and bashed rib.... no place for the faint hearted and could happen to any of us. For our part three capsizes was a bugger, but probably everyone had at least that, and luckily we got better, as team gelled and boat tuned, and the last three races (except Bridge to Bridge) had us competing quite genuinely for first.... 1st, 2nd and then a 6th (lying in the mix when the jib block blew up). Plenty of work to do, plenty of ideas... all positive.

My word those downhill rides are totally mind re-arranging!

Bridge to Bridge I made a hash of the start, and quite frankly that's the race. Nonetheless 20 minutes of downhill out of control wild ride make it worth it regardless of result. The Bridge, a few knots of ebb, the thick sea fog, helicopters overhead, kites and boards everywhere... totally crazy. Here we are, lame start and all, yellow chute... note Gotta Love It 7 already GE-ON....

For more amazing shots see Christophe Favereau's website or visit him at facebook or on picasa.

Or check out Franklin Tulloch on youtube, which is currently here too. He's working on his amazing movie!

Here's a bit more video

Next Year!

Cowes Week : Extreme 40 class

2008-08-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

We won. Won the Extreme 40 class at Cowes Race Week. Dave Alexander, Matt Noble, Tom Partington and trusty navman Charlie Dechaine.

The main event for these boats, the Extreme 40s, was the iShares Cup held immediately prior. We did a weeks practise in our boat Ellen MacArtur Trust, and were keen to compete in the iShares. Unfortunately we were not allowed to race, primarily I think because regatta organisers OC GRoup were cr@pping their pants about their boat being bashed up. Hugely dissappointing.

In the end Oracle France took the boat on Day Two (Sunday) since on day one they had smashed the bejesus out of theirs in a loose port / starboard with BT. The French were on port. Judging by the cracks in the hulls near the front beam join, the groaning and cracking noises coming from the front beam, the looseness of the rudder assembly (in sailing post-iShares) and the bent out of shape massive shackle on the cunningham block, Oracle France continued to push EMT beyond safe limits. Good on em.

So we watched the iShares and then sailed the Cowes Week races in the week after. The racing was in the morning, and in the afternoon took corporates out for jollies. Nice weather too, generally 10-18 knots, never quite getting up to the 20+ knots of iShares.

Four boats competed off and on, BT helmed by the lady herself Ellen, Volvo the dutch entry sailed by Tornado ex-World Champ Herbie, and Holmatro helmed by a dutch bloke who had apparently won the Round Texal Race.

And what about the boats? in 15 - 18 knots were we making 17 - 20 knots upwind, 22 - 26 downwind... so fast, and these were speeds we could sit at, not daily maximums. Sensation-wise though not a great deal going on, and really slow to tack / manoeuvre in general, but the speed is nontheless pretty wild.

i14 Worlds : Wrap Up

2008-07-22T02:31:00.000-07:00

Blown out, no racing on the final day, second overall. Well done the winners Archie and Matt, and on one hand was pleasantly surprised by our result and whilst there were no expectations it was quite a fine finish, yet on the other disappointed we didn't get the last race to try and win what was a very winable proposition.... Great regatta, very sociable, and lucky to have sailed with boat and helm. Jarrod and I fight like sibblings on the water, but both with a common goal, and ultimately some super rides and ever improving scorecard make it all worthwhile. They really are fine boats, just a bit short!

Now on to the Extreme 40 iShares, got a crew of 4 with just the one bloke who can spell multi-hull. Should be a blast. Matt Noble, Dave Alexander & Tom Partington - so 1st, 2nd and 3rd from the 14 Worlds, plus the winners of all races (Tom and Andy P won 2 races). Matt has sailed a lot on high performance cats before apparently and Dave had a little cat as a kid, we had a few cats too... Mary, Susan, Roland and Barbara. We'll put her together and spend a few days practising and then take a view if we can be competitive against what is essentially a fully funded, fully professional circuit. Otherwise we'll be a corporate platform. We'll see. Very grateful to John McKenna and OC Group for the opportunity.

i14 Worlds : Day 6

2008-07-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

A few more twists and turns today, in a race held in a 14 - 23 knot side-off breeze. In short we won. Yay.

The start looked a little starboard biased, but the idea was to start mid-line, and spear left where the breeze looked more solid, but not too far (the shore was on the hard left and looked a little patchy) and then get back right asap and across any right handers. In the end we got away probably a little too far down the line, but as the grind to the left evolved we sailed through a gradually backing breeze. Those to weather, RMW, Lennon/Rice, the loan boat youth, Partingtons, Rog & Gilly, Archie/Matt all tacked away and we stacked out to the left, in building pressure. As we came across on port the new pressure continued to lift and extend us across the right pack, and as luck would have it we rounded ahead. Unfortunately this was all shortlived as a black line built in behind us and the chasing pack ran down with fresher pressure. At the bottom it was Partingtons, Roger, Lennon/Rice, RMW, Archie then us... in building blackness on the veer (moving right). We got a good rounding and started coming back at em, and did a nice job picking the layline, to leeward of Partingtons, Lennon; both of whom stacked way high. RMW had tacked away left and came back to be out and down from the three of us... and led us back to the top mark. The reason for the right-tending breeze was a large rain bearing cell enveloping the course, bringing +20 knots at times, and limited visibility. By now compass was +40 degrees right from the start.

We made rounding, snuck through for first beneath Alistair/Wheeler having trouble with the bear away, and launched away on one hell of a gust. The gybe mark was easily made, but of course with the new right build a track to the bottom with chute all the way was never on.... we dropped early and white sailed up to the mark, rounding neck and neck with Andy/Tom P. Almost immediately their rudder feel to bits and we found ourselves on our own, a situation that permeated and persisted up the beat, by which stage we had a really healthy lead - maybe a few minutes.

Wind still in the right, so set and gybe. Breeze up now, really windy so helm in, fast and safe down to the bottom on the sausage. Once again we where heavily carted and wound up dropping prior to the round up.

Looking back once settled and only one boat down there in the rainy mist - Archie & Matt. So now the last triangle, nothing to report really we kept it safe and plodded to the top mark and back out to the gybe mark.... safety first. Across the bottom however things got a bit fruity, the sea exploded and the wind really ripped in. We just weren't ready (our sheets are a tad short and crew foot struggling to find the foot loop), and bow down hard bit the dust post drop prior to the last rounding. Shit, boat nearly turtle and bodies littered on or near the jib. I was wrapped in a bunch of ropes. Anyway we eventually got her back and nursed our way round the mark, pulled on the rudder gybe, vang, cunno, tad of rig tension, and settled into a final track to the finish line to weather and right of the top mark. We still thankfully held a lead of a couple of minutes. Archie as it turned out had capsized on the gybe mark, and so the chasing pack was now Rog/Gilly, Martin & Son, Lindsay/Andrew - and that's the way we came across the finish line. Phew, nice to clock in a win.

And so what happened to our competition? Andy and Mike broke a mast, a Seldon mast, apparently a pbo cap shroud chaffed, broke and down she came. Dave and Cameron had a more curious ending. From what I can tell Alistair and Simon on RMW had come around the top mark, run downwind for a bit and then capsized. A few others, Flossy for instance, saw the danger, held off on the hoist, got to weather of the obstruction and then hoisted. Dave however hoisted immediately and ran deep and hard. By now Alistair and Simon had righted their skiff and had climbed back in-ish, heaved to and lying on port. Dave A coming down at speed on starboard, yelling and calling to RMW to get out of the way. Apparently an out of control RMW then took off a bit, just as Dave and Cam came past, and stabbed a hole through the side skin of the hull, a couple of inches forward of the wing and shroud chain plate. At this point their race was over. Subsequently the chaps successfully protested and received redress for 5th.... the place they were in at the time. Fair? who knows.... I certainly wouldn't plot a course to leeward and across the bow of a recently righted skiff in 20+knots, but good on em.

Provisional top six results overall after six races of seven (with one discard)
1. Archie Massey/Matt Noble (GBR), 15 points
2. Jarrod Simpson/ Grant Rollerson (GBR), 19
3. Dave Alexander/Cameron McDonald (AUS), 19
4. Roger Blasse/Andrew Gilligan (AUS), 25
5. Mike Lennon/ Andy Rice (GBR), 27
6. Martin & Neale Jones (GBR), 34 points

So where does this leave us? We're 2nd on discard, and the forecast looks grim/in the balance for tomorrow. If we win then Archie and Matt must finish 6th or better. Dave/Cam and us a simple first past the post affair. The Jones' in 6th can't get to us even if we make use of our discard (12th). Rog/Gilly, and Mike/Andy basically we get a top 6 and they can't get to us, even with a win. Interesting and we'll see! Currently it's rainy, windy and dark.....

i14 Worlds : Day 5

2008-07-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

Two races today and we nailed it, well almost.

Race Five was a great effort, our best of the championship so far. Breeze was up, 13 to 15 knots. We correctly identified more wind on the left and a port biased line and got away with a terrific start, a boat length off and charging at full speed as the gun went. Archie and Matt also got away nicely, nearby and with a clean set of heals. The two of us made it to the first turn quite a few boatlengths clear of the pack. Both boats extended as the race went on, indeed Archie cleared out on us when he made the first triangle (course is sausage, triangle, sausage, triangle, finish) in one and us and the rest of the fleet were forced to gybe. Dave and Cam followed us home with a third, just pipping Mike and Andy on the line. Importantly our other competitors the Partingtons, Roger and Gilly, Lindsay and Andrew were well back.

Next, race six, and for whatever reason we were off our game, both of us and and eventually this ankle tapped us down the pack a tad. Again the conditions were right for a port end, head left track, although for some reason Simpson choose to start late and by the time I gave him the hurry on, well suffice to say we were some 5 to 7 boatlengths from the line. Not that it mattered.... in 14 knots the boat is so damn fast and we made light work of getting to the top mark a solid third, behind Archie/Matt and Alistair Richardson, both of whom had started pin end on or near the line and also worked left. Dave and Cam were close behind. Towards the end of the first run I stuffed the approaching layline, the result of which was two extra gybes and a Jarrod sissy-fit which nearly capsized us.... at the turn though we were just ahead of Dave and Cam, and with the breeze still at 13 /14 knots all was good in the world and we set off to grind down the two ahead. Triangle later and same scenario... we'd pulled out on Dave A, to leeward the chasing pack of Lindsay/Andrew, Jones & son, Mike & Andy were rapidly disappearing in the rear view mirror. On the starboard lay however the breeze went a bit light and patchy and Dave ran us down with more legs in the slushy seastate. We rounded the top narrowly ahead. The two ahead had cleared away in the light. Down the dead run we made more small gains, although at this point the chasing pack came down with new left. The previous two beats had been go-right affairs and after we rounded Dave climbed in side with the new puff. We needed to get left, and eventually did, but too late. To make matters worse we then stacked too far left and finished up on the far side of the left line gust, knocking back on port with it as the chasing pack maintained a line under us but heading for the right. At one stage we looked pretty darn rooted, but eventually got a bit more left squirt, just enough to be with the Jones', and ahead of the Partingtons, Lindsay, Mike and Roger; Dave A and Cam were now gone. The triangle downwind and we nearly capsized on the gybe.... Andy and Tom P got though, although we made up ground on the tight shy across but not enough and even though Huey settled the puff-o-meter back up to 13 knots it wasn't enough and we followed the Jones' and the Partingtons home in 6th. To make matters worse Dave and Cam snuck into 2nd, and so extended net gain on the day.

A fair bit of what-could-have-been about this race for me.... get the laylines right downhill and guaranteed 2nd or 3rd, get the ladders right on the second last beat and guaranteed 3rd or 4th, gybe right and consolidate 5th. Flipside is if we'd started ten mnutes earlier the wind was down to 7 or 8 knots and god knows where we'd have turned the first beater.

All in all not too bad.... 2nd and 6th and with the forecast looking favourable again tomorrow the stage is set from our aging and hapless heros to turn it on with a top 3 and consolidate third.

With racing looking unlikely on Sunday I can't see anyone but Uncle Gear Failure beating Archie and Matt. Likewise Dave and Cam have a drop of 7th so we'd be doing well to get ahead of them. We must beat Mike and Andy, which hopefully should be easy enough... the boat has only one speed once the breeze is up.... our job is just to get to the line on time, point her in the right direction and not capsize (again)!

Provisional top six results overall after five races of seven (with one discard)
1. Archie Massey/Matt Noble (GBR), 10 points
2. Dave Alexander/Cameron McDonald (AUS), 14
3. Mike Lennon/ Andy Rice (GBR), 18
4. Jarrod Simpson/ Grant Rollerson (GBR), 18
5. Andy & Tom Partington (GBR), 22
6. Roger Blasse/Andrew Gilligan (AUS), 23 points

i14 Worlds : Day 4

2008-07-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today we arrived expecting a great day out, another 13 - 17 knot picture purfect affair on a challenging but highly rewarding seaway. Sadly it wasn't to be; the race committee hoisted the AP and we sat about chewing the fat for a few hours before they blew it off all together.... apparently it was 27 knots on a massive sea out on our course area.

Looking out to the course I couldn't see a single white horse. Checking windfinder and it validated this... no more than 16 knots all day. Afterwards I went for a bike ride, a nice 80km, and the headwind was absolutely minimal.

So what are these jokers up to? In any event we have two races tomorrow, so it should be a great moment to turn the screw, turn in two top 6 results and cement a place in the top three, or top six, or top 30??.... hopefully the former!

i14 Worlds : Day 3

2008-07-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

Lighter day today, 9 to 14 knots.

Got a great start two thirds down the line and speared off to the left corner. Mike Lennon and Lindsay came our way too, with the Alistair Richardson off on the pin and also heading left. Mike and Lindsay tacked under the lay, us a little later up near the lay. As we approached the top mark the wind went a bit wobbly and patchy, but nonetheless we seemed to be benefiting from a bit of left. Those to leeward tacked on the starboard lay and just got across us (Mike, Andy Partington and Chris & Adam on the Ovington works boat). Dave Hayter slipped through as we tacked, and so we rounded in 5th.

A few ups and downs but that's how it stayed... Lindsay, Roger and Flossy got past us on the first run, although the former swam on the drop (WTF?).... later on we got back Turner and Roger and finished the day 5th. Not a particularly lucky number in Asia but there you go.

Partington & Son now with two bullets, boats with speed : Partington, Lennon & Andy Rice, Dave Alexander, and Flossy from time to time. Oddly RMW and the P&B works team of Dave Evans & Simon Hiscocks seem not to be firing; the former with average speed, the later with new-class-teething problems. We're fine too, but need to work harder on lowers / vang to keep the thing powered appropriately. Also centreboard (height & gybe) and jib trim are proving critical...

So 12th, 5th and 5th leave us in 4th overall. How does that work... ? Well when the drop comes in tomorrow we may slip - unless we can post another top 6, or dare I say it top 3.

i14 Worlds : Day 2

2008-07-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

13 - 17 knots, gusting 20 occassionally. A few waves. 30 boats from 90 finish. Must have been survival. Go figure.

We had two lame capsizes tacking on the first beat and then sailed the race weaving through upturned / capsized / broken 14s to finish in 5th. What the rest of the fleet were doing I have no idea, it really wasn't that big a deal. Partingtons won by seven minutes, then Lindsay, then a gap back to Doug & Damien, Dave Alexander & Cam McDonald, then us. We should have taken these two except Jarrod insisted on dropping the chute at the final wing to do a white sail gybe (WTF?). It then took a half leg of lobbying before application to rehoist was approved... So gay.

Had a nice little 65km ride on the bike afterwards. Gotta love a bit of flat countryside, and a tailwind home!

2008 18ft Skiff Europeans

2008-07-06T00:24:00.000-07:00

Strewth we won it, which was nice. Should've blogged daily, next time....

TP52s on The Solent

2008-06-19T03:50:00.000-07:00

Friday though to Sunday was out on the paddock onboard Magic Glove as part of IRC super zero in the IRC Nationals run by RORC. Magic Glove is a TP52, one of five in the regatta, all modified to be IRC optomised. This seemed to mean more weight in keel, no kite pole, bigger chutes flown from fixed bow sprits, big head mains with double backstays.... in general the consensus is these boats are faster than their circuit equivalents.

In awe on Thursday practise day but once I got over the size they were much like any other big boat... indeed easier in many ways.... these modern big boats are more like skiffs than I think the sailors realise. My job : help on the aft grinder, and spot wind down hill.... in short not muchado, so lots of time to check out the racing and the rigs. They sheet the jibs insanely narrow in on these boats. The helm and owner, Colm, did a pretty cool job helming against all these pro helms...

The racing was close, and tight and hard fought. The courses were a variety of long 2 and a half hour affairs and wham bam 40 minute shoot-em ups. Which brings me to the PRO
- big wind change at start, AP, and changing pin end by <5>
- flying Zulu, taking numbers, and then annoucing intention to let everyone off
- asking the fleet to hoist jibs and sail upwind so PRO could get a feel for the breeze
- delaying start for over an hour because a support boat had broken down
- using the pin end as a mark of the course, indeed there being two pins (orange and black) from different starts (no surprises, race protested, and subsequently abandoned)
- using a windward mark of the course as the pin of a finish line, and to make it really bad, making the pin the favoured end (fleets rounding as we were finishing)
- having the boats on the water for too long... we were out for > 8 hours... for 3 races....
- needing to get races in, running the long race first
- and, to rub in the problems, getting the results wrong.... guess that's the RORC, and not the PRO....

From a racing point of view they would be best served by .... keeping it simple....
Start to Top Mark, down to Leeward Gate (down and off set from start), repeat 2 or 3 or 4 times and Finish at Committee Boat on other side from start line. Target race time 40 minutes to an hour... perfect! Two of those an then straight into the 2 hour round-the-Solent milkrun, and then you're got your 3 races in with minimum time wastage, everyone's happy and you're in the bar at a reasonable hour.

The best racing by miles was simple sausage and leeward gate on short courses... 40 - 50 minutes.... this was ironically where we were weakest.... skiff downwind and gatework is still a foreign language for some of these big boat sailors. Classic example of our boat was race 6 resail on Sunday. Off the line in good shape. Left favoured. Heading left. Ram to weather, we straight line bounce them off after afew minutes sailing. All good. Henri Lloyd and Stay Calm to leeward, us ahead though. We tack low of port lay (why? I guess to avoid tacking in Ram's water inside 2 boat lengths at top mark). New wind right and with course skewed, call was made to gybe set. We had previously concluded left gate looking down was correct. Indeed it was favoured all day. By not leading Henri Lloyd and Stay Calm back on the port lay we were exposed to inside hook from them, and indeed this happened to us, although just from Stay Calm. By this stage we're on starboard approach, on a nice lay. Ram behind also on starboard lay. The call was gybe set, head left (looking down). We, seeing Stay Calm approaching tight on port lay, hunted down to close the gap. They tack tight to leeward, and we both luffed and slowed and made the mark before bearing off downhill. This silly tactic meant we were pinned from gybing. and slow. Ram, in 4th, came around, gybe set, hard left, left mark and ahead by a few boatlengths. By engaging Stay Calm with traditional tactics we won the battle to loose the war... we should have given ourselves room to swing the gybe. This was the race over. Later down the run we compounded our error by picking the wrong mark, but I won't dwell on it....

Overall these are cool boats, and I was lucky to get a look in...

Here's some snaps.... chute woolled.... and hoisted by four blokes on two pedestal grinders

Note the big head main on (comfortable regatta winner) Ram. We had their measure once breeze was on but suffered in the light... just like the transistion days in the 18s...
Stay Calm, below, had Ray Davies calling tactics.... Glove behind and to weather..
There we are, Ian Budgen on trim. Note staysail.... which seemed to generate a lot of discussion (for .1, .2, .??? of a knot)... guess it's worth it, plus keeps the crew busy and involved...
Think this is Glove, Ram then Stay Calm...
Ben Ainslie helmed the boat in the background, Glove to weather on starboard.....

Medemblik Regatta

2008-06-05T04:41:00.000-07:00

Had the i14 here for training and boat work. The ISAF circus turned up and in return Medemblik's blue skys turned to grey, the yellow sun to a sooty disc and the warm spring air to something more befitting traditional weather of The Week.

Got out with Super Coach Euan Big Hair McNicol to watch the Stars, and also the final day's Gold Fleet race sailed in 20+ knots with horrible short seaway... during which the Finns were (believe it or not) enjoyable to watch!

The most impressive thing was the number of coach boats... the rampway was chocked like weed on the Murray....

2008 North Sea Regatta

2008-05-20T04:50:00.000-07:00

Only did the Thursday of this four day regatta, on a sportsboat called a Streamline - 3 man 2 on trapeze - with Philipp and Tielo. Great day out even if the lads were still completing their winter rigging programme on the way to the start line. Managed a 1st and 3rd.... both undone because we didn't sign on. ho hum... Note the boat sherry has been broken out....
Big regatta, well done from the looks....

Holland

2008-05-08T03:11:00.000-07:00

Spring - Wow.

Drove back through the night Saturday night... managed a speedy 10 hours vesus 14 hours out (night vs day travel on European motorways)... and by 1400 hours we were out on the water taking in the sights of a magnificant Spring Queens Birthday long weekend Sunday!

Cycling this week has been awesome, >250km Mon/Tues/Wed through some absolutely fabulous countryside... warm low 20s with no wind, no hills and empty cycleways makes for very relaxing and enjoyable times.

No wind today (Thursday).....

Sailing on one of these things tomorrow with Philip Kadelbach down at Scheveningen....

Riva Cup 2008 Lake Garda

2008-05-08T02:41:00.000-07:00

Bugger me drunk, we won it. And with a race to spare. Boat was super fast, and fleet thin but we did ok considering we hadn't sailed together for 5(?) years, no practise and a couple of Worlds contenders in the mix. Plenty to work and build on with the Worlds only a couple of months away.

Jumped the plane Tuesday from Perth, into London sparrow bang Wednesday, over and landed in Amsterdam late morning, and in the car and off to Italy later that day. We (Debs, Jarrod and I) arrived into Garda 5am ish on Thursday and took a nap.

Thursday put the boat together (first time... it took a while), and got out on the race course in time to drift around an oddly windless Garda. No racing, and back to the harbour.

Friday three races in 15 - 19 knots. Perfect really, very similiar to The Swan in sea state. Rigged the kite halyard wrong, such that it was not going through any pulleys prior to picking up the pole launcher. Not ideal, and bloody hard to hoist. We managed a 2nd, 1st and a 4th... which was a recovery from a pre-start crash, capsize and associated turns.

Saturday same same not different, 1st, 1st, and 2nd to finish.... final race in which we were leading til the final downhill dash to the committe boat but a combination of stripped kite sheets and poor tactics put us down the ladder when the fat lady started squealing.

Photos nicked from http://www.keep-sailing.de/ ....

On another note, here is George and his amazing DIY bike.... no bull...

He even managed to use a bit of 14ft skiff boom section at the bottom of the rear suspension...

House Reno - End of Week 8

2008-02-27T02:34:00.000-08:00

Bottomless pit of time and money. Guess it's half way depression. Well to windward now, tide under us and the startline far from sight... plenty of traffic against the night sky as we make our way through the Channel, the dawn and France still some way away...

Raised and squared the bullnose verandah...

In the new bathroom we're nearly done. Plumbing complete, concrete board floor inplace, blue boards have gone on the frame erected to split the old room into two. Ceiling frame ready to drop in ceiling, waiting on skylight and pink batts and sparky to wrap up.

Hall / Living room tie in nearly done too. We've put in two lintels, and completed the stud work to link in kitchen to this space. Floors have been redone, and electrics too....

Here's a water lily from Kosi and Bruce's garden pond...

Out the back has been all the action. Including drunken architect falling over and being asked to leave site. The back's been completely removed and reinstated. Not easy without plans (architect MIA). Old fountations were removed, recompacted and reinstated. Floor including cement board and brickwork complete, and plumbing and electrics in situ. Not shown here is the roof, the frame for which is already in place... next steps : put on the tin and insulate!

Actually here's the roof. Tomorrow we'll start to finish off.... in case it rains (sic)....

Slam

2008-02-26T18:49:00.001-08:00

Wow... sailing, huh... got better every day bar the last. Great stuff with a new boat, 20 minutes practise and a bowman 18yo 29er sailor - Fang - from Perth who’d never sailed the boats.... he turned out to be pretty handy... and Jack was there so what could go wrong.... Need to remember Sail gives way to Langman (fell foul of this one in the last race)
Pictures
Results

Gotta Love It 7 won emphatically, with a more or less professional campaign. No complaints though, the icing on their cake was their ability to start well and keep their noses clean. Plus no big heads, and the boys drink plenty of p1ss, so good on them. Their coach is a good bloke too.

House Reno - End of Day Ten

2008-01-12T18:00:00.001-08:00

Wow, I'm excited. Buddha said change is good (or certain?), so maybe it's the house, maybe it's the change from office work.... whatever. Work has progressed at a sweet pace, nothwithstanding the warm weather, after work slabbing, and occasional architect mia episodes... the bills are racking up alarmingly quickly and so I have traded the rental for a borrowed motor...

Out the front we've cleared the roots, and she's home to a constant stream of skip bins....

Inside the corridor and the living room have become friends. Cool how Simon did this, by propping planks up to the ceiling cornices either side of the wall and then tapping out the offending wall. We'll add the steel lintel next week... Frosty's always smiling... the day rate must be too high...

New opening master bedroom to en suite. Simon put in a 12mm steel plate, knocked out the brickwork below, added some right angle light weight mesh and then pastered to finish....

Bedroom becomes bathrooms. We removed the existing floorboards, lowered the supporting wooden frame, put down concrete board and then the plumber put in the sewer takeaways...

Next, up goes the wooden frame for the partitioning wall, including the shower rose outlet and the etching in the wall for show nobs. Next week we'll add a mouse for Footy the sparky to run the power, Slossie will finish the plumb work, then the blue board walls can be put in together with insulation... and drop in the false ceiling... at 3m height. Shower rose@2.1m
Out the back demolition is more or less complete...

Dad sometimes gets lost on his daily walk...

Simon and Artur love to chew the fat, surprisingly no beer can evident in this shot...

dunny still works...

House Reno

2008-01-03T02:34:00.000-08:00

1 x circa 1890 house + a tenant-created fire + some new plans + a looney architect + a small team of strong arms = ?

Viewed from the sky, she's located just north of sunny Perth's CBD, 5 minutes from the Beaufort St strip.... checkout the handcrank here, and here

This period house has a bull nose verandah, limestone & tuckpointed brick frontage, with high ceilings and commiserately high pitched roof. In this photo we're already pulled down the picket fence.

Out the back is a lean to which originally housed the kitchen, laundry and storehouse. A newer laundry (circa 1975) has been added (right in photo), at which point the kitchen was "modernised", and a bathroom and toilet added. I guess there was a toilet at the rear block, and that this was removed at that time. Work on removing the roof has already commenced in the photo...

The tenants' fire started in the laundry. A blown light globe was replaced by a candle, which subsequently fell into the dirty laundry basket and hitherto provided the fuel for the fire that burnt out the store, and back kitchen lean-to. The bucket-bong, located in the main building next to the bed, was probably saved....

Plans, the plan is to;

- kick out squatters (tick), and their belongings incl. syringes (tick)

- clear the front yard of existing scrub trees, redo the fence, re-instate the verandah

- internally there are 5 rooms; convert one into two bathrooms (one an en suite), build en suite door, enlarge living room by knocking out wall to include hallway, knock through living room to meet new back area

- the lean-to has structural issues, so will be knocked down and re-instated. this means ripping out the kitchen, bathroom, toilet and store, pulling off the roof, knocking down the walls and tearing up the floor and existing footings. next compact, and build footings, new brick walls, bi-fold doors, a couple of standard doors, a window, and then build floor frame for concrete board. once complete, this provides structure within which to build new kitchen, add laundry, ceiling work and floor tiles.

- new guttering, plumbing & electrics. add air-con and insulation.

- the narrow western alleyway will act as a service-way, so power meter box, plumbing and hot awater, communications, air-con will all be stashed away between and behind the front facade and the rear water feature

- back yard to be cleared, add water feature and outdoor area, build rear driveway

Bern Dog

2007-12-30T16:30:00.000-08:00

Kited yesterday at Scarbourgh Beach, lots of kiters out on surfboards sans straps. Three choppers and a gaggle of boats searching for a missing swimmer... presumably an aqua bog taken down by the jack daniels in his tum tum coupled with the weight of his jeans...

You can't put a leash on the Bern Dog. That's a knee brace, not a leash.

Cousin Mick "Mohammad" Foster....

Turkey, Singapore

2007-12-20T17:24:00.000-08:00

Sunday December 16, after the Kings Cup stopped by Singapore for a ketchup. Hangi & Deap Fried Southern Turkey.... add thirty Swingaporeans and Endless Punches... we never did try the Turducken...

Gregg & Mustard joined at the, um, hip...

Hangi and Deep Fryer....

Hangi Notes

Biggest river rocks
Only wet towel down if hot enough
Food packs in metal nets
Pack fill with reed strips, not dirt

King's Cup Pictures

2007-12-13T01:26:00.000-08:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/csschuler/KingsCup2007InPhuket

Cafe Kick

2007-11-29T02:20:00.000-08:00

Kings Cup

2007-11-26T02:21:00.001-08:00

Sailing on the Sponsor's boat with me local mate Daniel - should be a great week out!

'Mont Clair' selected for the prestigious Phuket King’s Cup RegattaSiam Winery’s latest imported wine, 'Mont Clair', has been selected to be the official wine being served at this year’s Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, Asia's biggest and most prestigious sailing event, this year all the more important as it honours His Majesty the King’s 80th Birthday.Mont Clair is Siam Winery’s new line of reasonably-priced fine wines imported from various coastal vineyards where the grapes are allowed to ripen fully while developing balanced flavours. Mont Clair is offering wine-lovers three variants - Bin 5, Bin 6 and Bin 9, each promising the uncompromising quality at a price for your everyday enjoyment.

St Vincent Photos

2007-11-22T04:27:00.000-08:00

Tobago Cays, the sea rich with ocean life, feeding fish... camera gave out before the spotted eagle rays turned up...
Lobster prepared and cooked by Mr Fabulous...

Top of Mayreau looking NE across the Cays...

Saltwhistle Bay, NW Mayreau...

Becci, with clothes and beverage, Tobago Cays...

BBQ off the back, Tobago Cays...

Chefs, Tobago Cays...

Kiting Mustique to Mayreau via the Eastern side of Canouan (West of Savan Island, East of Petit Canouan). Sun got the better of me so returned to the Mother Pod....

Admirality Bay, Bequia....

Jerry's Old Man's Pride & Joy, Admirality Bay, Bequia....

Petit Nevis for a snorkel and a beer, en route to Mustique...

Young Love, St Vincent....

Becci & Jerry, Mustique...

http://www.barefootyacht.shutterfly.com/

St Vincent

2007-11-21T07:33:00.000-08:00

Bloody heck that was good. Chartered a 46ft Beneteau from Barefoot Charters, the fleet being...

Beneteau 413 - Lady Di - Becci & Jerry
Lagoon 38 - La Mouette - Leslie & Rob
Beneteau 382 - Rainbow Chaser - Sam & El
Jeanneau 40.3 - Winters Gate - Jerry & Sue
Bavaria 40 - Flying Fox - Ian & Alec
Beneteau 461 - Postscript - Emma, Lee & me

Daily account... from Friday, 9th of November

Friday - in and St Vincent
Saturday - Admiralty Bay, Bequila
Sunday - Mustique, via Petit Nevis
Monday - Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau, via weather side Canouan
Tuesday - Tobago Cays
Wednesday - Tobago Cays
Thursday - Saline Bay, Mayreau
Friday - Petit St Vincent, via Chatham Beach, Union Island & Mopion
Saturday - Clifton Harbour, Union Island, via Palm Island
Sunday - Admiralty Bay, Bequila
Monday - St Vincent to Barbados, and out

Dining - all good to excellent

Tommy Cantina's mexican at Admiralty Bay

Basils on Mustique

The nicely done bar at Salt Whistle Bay Resort

Robert Righteous & de Youths Seafood Restaurant & Bar & Dennis' Hideaway at Saline Bay, Mayreau

Main Bar at PSV

Main Bar at Palm Island

Frangipani at Admiralty Bay

Carriage House, Crane Hotel, in Barbados
Snorkelling - snorkelled most places, drop the pic and then jump in. tobago was the winner winner chicken dinner by miles, but generally the reef's in a sad state, looked more like storm damage than tourists. diverse range of fish, generally juvenile. highlight was feeding cray shells to a few spotted eagle rays off the back of the boat in 10ft of water.
Diving - dived the dinghy gap at tobago, viz poor but a few sights in.
Kiting - kited for fun a downwinder from Mustique to Mayreau, but gave it away a couple of hours in due to sun burn.... great fun though, the only pity being the section between Canouan and Mayreau contained some big big swell, and they would've (could've) been a blast.... next time. kited tobago off the small beach at Barabel island, which was super duper storm trooper, but generally wind too light. would've kited more but most of my struts are blown :(
Fishing - tried hard, the flotilla all running high quality lures from decent rods and 50lb line, and caught nothing. robert caught two barra and a handful of evening catch, including a biggish jack. maybe we needed to be further out the weather side of the islands.

Cruising - absolutely sensational crusing country. lazy sailing, off the breeze on the way down and then a monster (well 6 hour), on-the-wind fetch back to Bequila.... made all the easier since Learner Lee helmed the lion's share. no motoring other than the early Monday morning dash back to Blue Lagoon to return the charter.

Barefoot - you get what you pay for, we had a dozen or so mechanical & electrical problems, but on the whole I was very impressed. only charter from them if you can self-repair, or you're happy to hang around in the instance a terminal problem occurs. from my perspective it was quite cool that everything broke since it was an opportunity to learn more about that side of things. our boat was in a clean & tidy state, the staff there were extremely pleasant and laid back, and most importantly the fridge never let us down (only big pity was when the stereo packed it in)!

actually why am I bothering to find urls.... this place has it all!

_____________

got it pretty right, but next time...

rubber ducky > 5hp
tool box should have socket & spanner set min
clothes in lockfast bags, incl. set of clean clothes for exit
prepare checklist of mechanics & electrics in advance
take more cash, less credit

Zinny!

2007-11-08T03:50:00.000-08:00

The Great Man was there last night at the Speight's Bar in Temple. Bloody nice chap. He also felt Doug Rollerson should be sent to jail not for ripping off a charity but for hanging out with a league player.

Judged harshly as 4th in haircut stakes http://www.ellisnz.com/2006/03/10-worst-hair-cuts-in-rugby-as-judged.html. His old blog.

Essex, Innit

2007-11-05T07:41:00.000-08:00

60km Saturday, 40km Sunday.

Getting to an age where people are packing up and moving from the Big Smoke out to the banjo playing lowlands. Friday night @ Dave & Gemma's place, just outside Burnham-on-Crouch, followed by Saturday @ Lee & Sally's Witham pile. How to compare

Simpson : Gates 3, Sheds 4, Weathervanes 1, Pools 1
Smith : Gates 2, Sheds 3, Weathervanes 2, Pools 1, Lakes 1
Daniels : Gates 0, Sheds 1, Weathervanes 0, Conservatories 1, Fountains (non working) 1

Interestly both Essex dwellings were sold as having connection to the Knights Templar. Nebulous.... "An inventory by Geoffrey Fitz Stephen reveals that by 1185, the Order of the Knights Templar had extensive holdings in London, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Salop, Oxfordshire, Cornwall, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire." Cressing Temple, is close to the Daniels' town of Witham. And Smithy's place was owned by a Templar Knight... 'Little John'. Estate Agents having a field day...

Daniels' Compound:

Smiths' Compound:

SB3 - Windy

2007-10-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Cycle Saturday.... 70km. By leaving the kite gear back in the Republic of London I helped to guarantee the first decent bit of wind this Summer.... Sunday and the Hamble Winter Series in the SB3. Up early and all fired up for a bit of fun with 23 knot average forecast to build to 30 by noon. Add big Spring Tides and it's worth the effort. Of course it was too good to be true, racing cancelled and kite gear in the Cittae.

Instead I was lucky enough to do main and tactics on something called a J92S, with Paul Heys, Marie-Claude & Emma. Small boat with an even smaller paddle and a fat heavy deep spinnaker = plodder sailing and lame low speed broaching. Unfortunately we blew out all the kites (2) and finished off the wind under white sails alone. 4th overall in IRC3, which later became 3rd on handicap. No sure why these sports-boats-for-amateurs don't have decent rudders to encourage more aggression downhill when uprange. The second race was cancelled, and as we headed in, with 27 - 30 knots true from 210 we heard and saw the rescue helicopter pulling a head-injured crewman from a competitor's boat.... bad boom ducky methinks.

It's been a while since I've been on a boat that starts to weather of the committee boat lay, then comes rolling in fingers x'd hoping to find a gap. Jesus, don't people learn.... not only high risk but also dangerous.

Pity they didn't send the SB3s out.... the Far 45s were having a ball.

SB3

2007-10-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

Sailed one of these on Sunday with Rob Greenhalgh & Lovers. Big fleet, close one design racing, no hiking, asymmetric kite, crap rig, cheap boat (£20,000 new all inclusive).... I was impressed. They've started selling them in Australia too.

Bugger II

2007-10-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

various views on it...

10:00am: Meet at central London location and pile into limo.
11:00am: Leave London
11:15am: First abuse dished out on the motorway to Frenchies travelling to Cardiff. One-nil us.
11:30am: Liquid lunch kicked off.
12:00pm: A couple of French ladies get the Sharpie eye and hastily beat a retreat. Two nil us.
12:15pm: Callum falls a can behind in the drinking tally.
12:30pm: Mike relieved of music duties.
1:00pm: Service stop. Complete dominance of the service facilities by 100s of kiwis. It's going to be a great day in Cardiff.
1:15pm: Callum struggling with music responsibilities, falls another can behind.
1:30pm: Carload of Frenchies boom out a haka at us from their car stereo. Wish we had a copy of that recording. Two-one.
2:00pm: Arrive Cardiff just on kick-off of Oz v Pom game. Thousands of kiwis fill the town and for the first time ever we're cheering on England "cos they'll be a breeze in the semis."
3:30pm: Poms win. Kiwis jubilant. Bring on those cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
7:30pm: Wow! Those last 4 hours really flew by talking sh*t with (unusually nice) French people and bumping into folks I haven't seen for ages. Are there any kiwis left in London?
8:00pm: Arrive Millennium Stadium. Full house of blackness. Seats on the 22. This is the best game I've ever been to.
8:01pm: Oi, you lot in the red, white and blue - get away from our haka!
8:40pm: Halftime and gee there's been a lot of kicking but at least we're up 13-3 and the hot dogs here are pretty bl**dy good.
8:50pm: Back into it and we really need a song to get the boys fired up...."Clap, clap....clap, clap, clap, clap.....All Blacks!" Half of me wanted to say "Milo" but that's still inspirational stuff.
8:55pm: Luke - don't go!
9:05pm: 13-all and that's a decent rendition of La Marseillaise but at least we've got Luke back.....hang on, where's Dan Christ going???
9:15pm: Back in front thanks to Masoe - when did he come on? Conversion might have been useful but never mind, the lads will kick on from here.
9:20pm: Is that John Malkovic's little brother out there for the French....and what's he doing running with the ball??? Somebody stop them! Gutted. Try and conversion and we're down by 2 but there's still 10 mins to go. Somebody fire up the milo call again!
9:21pm: Where's Nick going? What the hell's happening to the backline?
9:26pm: So there are a few problems with changes in the backs but you forwards have had the ball for ages, how about sharing it?
9:29pm: Phase 109.....drop goal......please......somebody.......drop goal.....pleeeeease.......
9:30pm: Good thinking Luke, 30 metres was much to close to have a shot, 50 metres is much more your range. I really can't believe that missed.
9:31pm: Stop that little French b*stard heading for the sideline! Somebody get him! Get him! Geeeeett hiiiiimmm!!!!!
9:32pm: 1. Stunned disbelief.
9:33pm: 2. No, it can't be all over. Check your watch and bring the teams back.
9:34pm: 3. You owe us for the Rainbow Warrior so how about we just take your semi final spot?
9:35pm: 4. If I hadn't come here we would have won for sure. Why didn't I just stay home and watch it on tv???
9:36pm: 5. Those fcuken useless w*nkers. A simple job to do and they fcuk it up. How fcuking retarded do you have to be not to be able to think to take an easy drop goal?!?! Fcuk them, fcuk rugby and fcuk this stupid World Cup.
9:37pm: 6. I can't believe I have to go to work on Monday.

9:38pm: 7. At least there's beer!

5:00am: We're in London. How'd that happen?

This has already been the longest week of my life at work. Go Argentina and France.

Bugger

2007-10-07T03:19:00.000-07:00

Well that didnae quite go to plan... interestingly enough looking for a photo of Wallaby despire but no report on http://www.smh.com.au/... front page sport is all about Bathurst. The Sports' Editor there could probably get a job in media with the Burmese junta.

My memory's a bit hazy... there was quite some (bar) time between the unlikely and implausible pommy rout ("England will bother Australia the way a moth bothers a flame" and plenty of similiar quotes proved a tad wide of the mark) and the penultimate.

It all started off so well. Nervous but solid, chipping away, retaining possession and moving forward. Half time and slowly slowly. Then the disgraceful sending off of McAlister for alleged obstruction. At this point the French played well, pounced, and turned it on... stretched the defense wide right, then wide left and scored a good try. McAlister back on and score builds to 18-13 after a try out wide to So'oialo. Kiwi moving forward, ball lost and fed out to Michalak, defense weak... 2 yard forward pass... try and conversion. No dramas... quite some 12 minutes left in the game.... but a failed field goal attempt, choice of wrong options and solid French defense meant the score held and we lost. "Wayne Barne's decision to show McAlister a yellow card and his missing of the clear forward pass which led to France's final try determined the outcome of the match." Realistically NZ lost the game when they lost the ball while going forward, and failed to defend the subsequent run from Michalak. They then were not composed and pragmatic enough to take a drop goal and secure the points and the win. 4 more years indeed... incidently Gregan played his worst game in a long time.

And to make matters worse Nana passed away today, a lovely lady I saw and knew too little.

All Black indeed.

Zinzan
Before the game
"So confident in fact that i think we will put 40 points on them. 40-19. There you have it. I have made one of my famous predictions. I honestly reckon we will stuff them. People have been saying 'But Zinny, are you not worried about 1999, the way the French turned on the style.' Not worried at all. This French outfit can't do that. If they do, we will just step it up a gear. We will rough them up, bust a few heads and they will crumble. "
After...
"Let me start by saying.........f**k you all."

Campese
Before...
"New Zealand vs France....as i mentioned, NZ to win. Laporte's changes have been described in the press as 'interesting' and laced with a 'hint of mind games' The actual term is f*cking stupid. New Zealand are too hungry a team to be trying out new positional changes! If it works, fair play to him. I really don't see it though!

I honestly believe that Englands only hope other than 20 drops from St Jonny lies in the forwards. That is our true weakness. If England can exploit that then we could be in for some trouble. You guys don't have the backs to threaten a picket fence! I mean you can't pass. If you can't do the fundamental aspect of Rugby then you won't pose a threat. England need to hope their forwards turn up and if they do they need to keep it tight.

Our backs however are another story. Now im not being biased and i'm sure you will all agree, our back line is dangerous. Larkham however is injured. That will play a difference. Of course it will. He has a big effect on our backs. Barnes will replace him and is a very talented player. But he's only 20. He will get nervous. England should target him with forwards. Sadly i think they will send Farrell at him and i say sadly for you guys as big Andy will hit the deck, roll a bit and George Smith will be there in a flash. He is faster than any of your back row and will cause England enromous problems. I saw someone on the forum describe it perfectly. The AA get to the breakdown quicker than England!"

After
"The better team won. Yes i admit it, the better team won. England turned up and dominated up front. We were poor. Englands games against Samoa and Tonga and to an extent South Africa helped majorly as they knew what to do in the heat of battle. We had not got a clue. We were outplayed, out muscled and out thought. We started to play as indivduals and that is a sign of panic. There's not much else to say. Congratulations England. Good luck against the French. ( Did u understand that through gritted teeth?)

New Zealand......oh dear oh dear. The draw has not helped them. They had not been tested and were not prepared. Simple as that. I also feel for them as the standard of refereeing was disgusting. I have been going on about this since day one and it just gets worse and worse. The pass was so clearly forward which lead to the winning try. Fine you might say you can't use that as an excuse. I'm not and i don;t think the kiwis will either but in my opinion, this is the World Cup. A palce where we see the World's best players. We should also see the best referees but sadly its not the case. It may only be one decision, but one decision can have a huge effect. It has cost a team the world cup and also has cost a man his job. Refs see what they want, or definitely did so this weekend. I only hope it improves for the semis. "

Rugby

2007-10-06T01:19:00.000-07:00

Nothing to write, no wind = no kite. Rugby = spectator, especially so now we're getting down to the business end. Some are more passionate than others http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tuSpIyHIDc... all agree though... the french are fcuked, the poms are rooted, and the scots may as well not even bother.

"And yea though I walk through the tunnel at halfway, I have no fear. For it is now that we true Black people are at home, in the dark territory. There is no form here, there is nothing other than what we create. The only light is the fierce light in our hearts as they begin to beat with that deep sea rhythm and it is now that questions are asked, nerves and chins are put to the test. What we know about the journey forward prepares us, what we know about history reminds us, that even though the Blackness is often the water in wish all others swim, we are still part of the larger collective.
A collective called ‘competition’ and this truth is only opponent we face. When the All Blacks step on the field against France, the only team capable of defeating the Blackness is themselves, the entire Rugby Universe moves when ‘the black’ moves. Some of us will not make it the whole way, it’s a moment even I dread and I know it will knock on my door as well. Well it can piss off - I’m not buying any. I am Black, today, tomorrow and so on, it is time to shrug the dead weight of expectation and truly enjoy the beauty of sport and why you love Rugby. Jettison the details and revel in the fact that we are going to witness a cosmic aligning in the Rugby Universe, only ever seen before in 1987. France the free radicals, Australia the fools gold and the Springboks, have rotated around the ball continuously since the ref called ‘time on’ in the Rugby World Cup. And the first alignment takes place in Cardiff. I don’t know if the All Blacks will win, but I believe they will. Why would you want a certainty, when the uncertainty is where all the fun is, to let go and fully believe that the All Blacks will win; and not just on Saturday, is more exciting than usual when you know the entire Rugby Universe has a destiny that might exclude us. The thrill of the moment has begun, the fuse has been lit and there will be fireworks.
Try this. Read this question and then close you eyes, the first answer you hear is the where your level of blackness is right now.
Will the All Blacks win?
That’s the correct answer…"

Amsterdam

2007-09-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Best seen by bike. Magnificant rugby Friday, Saturday & Sunday with Joe, Mark & Gregg, Saturday night caught Stateless (some pommy band) at Cafe Pakhuis Wilhelmina with wee Jake & the Scots.

Tonga on fire. New Zealand ok. France & Agentina hanging in there. Australia passible. England, South Africa, Samoa, Fiji, Scotland, Ireland, Wales et al all look pretty average...

Rarity - 2 x NZ victories

2007-09-18T03:17:00.000-07:00

Two Magnificant Wins from the place-of-birth

New Zealand 108 v Portugal 13, no sign of glass jaw... yet

England 159-8 v New Zealand 164-9, hurrah the new captain

Australia looking average but ominiously full of peaking talent, injuries withstanding. Boks looked good too.... but then who wouldn't (against the World Champs / World Cup Holders / Whatever)?

Riding; smashed by the Lunatic but managed 45km Fri, 80km Sat, 45km Sun, and again today.

Kiting; the wind finally arrived. Hill Head is a bit of a circus, and altogether not that good anyway with a pulsing on-shore 14-18knot westerly.... but nonetheless great to get out. Kited it on high tide.... probably much better at low. Water warm. Calshot is much much better.

Huizen

2007-09-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

Here it is... the Simpson Compound. Three front gates, and four sheds. Strewth. Spent the weekend dishing out kite surfing lessons, and sizing up the local italian with Deborah + Jarrod.

eating / drinking / living blogs + www sites

2007-09-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Check out http://www.belgian-beers.eu/... it portals to a heap of massive London and near Continent eating / drinking / living blogs + www sites.

amazing. and interesting. got me a bunch of reading to do.... !

Abner Kingman

2007-08-31T03:20:00.000-07:00

Shamelessly lifted.... Dude's got some lense on him....

San Fran

2007-08-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

What to say? Little rig every day, Ripping on a Flood, Bucking Bronco on an Ebb, Hang on to your seat for the Bridge to Bridge and Enjoy the bars, Little Italy, Sausalito, Haight Ashbury, Stimson Beach..... had the GPS on most of the time, so a little surprised our top speed was only 25knots. 9 boats, 3rd overall, 2nd in the B2B (11th overall). Good 10 ten days.

Chip completed the Bridge to Bridge in less time than it took to deliver his Winning Speech.... full credit to Chip and Chavez 1st and 2nd, although the kites steal an immediate couple of hundred yards since they get the favoured northern end of the line. The chat is next year we'll all be on the same start line.... Sweet Jesus (Dr. Dave Bowman: My God, it's full of stars). Check out the Kite Nationals, including Chip's foiling board, way cool.

Simon, Ris and myself had to put up with nosey photographers....

Great Film & Photos @ Chris Ray, Abner Kingman or E Franklin Tulloch, and then there's Belly [cue link to surfboard company / journo blog / photo shop / etc]

Verandah Tassie Parker

2007-08-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

There she is. A quiet child is a good child, so top marks to Mel and Dick for the production of a good kid. aka Isabella Grace. Otherwise a bit of cycling round the Winchester countryside. Saturday attempted to sell the i14. Keynes would be proud : 1 willing buyer + 5 anxious sellers = rooted price. Meanwhile the forecast looks better for the Fastnet... pub navigator speaks... beating to Land's End, mostly on port, followed by a reach to The Rock and a high speed reach with jib top to the Scilly Isles peeling to an A sail to Plymouth. Follow the race. Other guff.... has cable got a future? If broadband can handle the it, then no. stream tv down the www. BBC have already started.

Berlin

2007-08-06T04:11:00.000-07:00

Is it Europe's best city.... maybe.... certainly the cheapest. Wakeboarding on the Wannsee down round Potsdam Saturday and Sunday, with Saturday evening a standout dinner at Shiro i Shiro, (site) followed by the trendy Weekend Rooftop (site), to the so-damn-trendy-it-doesnae-even-exist-on-the-www Crackers, newest creation of Cookies (site). When I say 'trendy' that's the Berlin take on the word. Set in a light commerial area in Mitte, made to have the look and feel of a bar set up in a small carpentry workshop (complete with workshop wood and broken mirrors) circa Wall-just-came-down, with a top end sound system and (not that I'd know) top class DJs, the place was quite a scene.... definitely a fan of the dress-down-to-impress Berlin style though. I'm lucky to have such good friends there. Did I mention the weather was beautiful?

Birthday

2007-08-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Birthday party tonight, Hurrah Hurrah for Deborah's 26th. Still looks 22 though.

Here's a picture of Deborah Simpson Presenting the Letter to General Washington. (Description: Woman who masqueraded as a male soldier presenting a letter to General Washington. Source: John Gilmary Shea, The Story of a Great Nation (New York: Gay Brothers & Company, 1886)

wow, she's the best one though...

Secret Surf Spot

2007-08-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

Surfing at Sumpters Reef. Kite surfing at Llangennith. Road Ride at Lacock. Judith + Justin's sensational wedding at The Pear Tree nearby. The Rev Sally Wheeler was very good, best on ground in the face of stiff opposition (aka the kid who could sing). The only sus bit is staying at a pub called The Red Lion.....

Motion Based

2007-07-25T05:14:00.000-07:00

This is a beaut. Hooked up the Garmin 305 HR and cadence sensor and got on the road. Jack would have been digusted.... what has life become, slave to an automat, chained to a blimp?

Sport Sport Sport

2007-07-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Gosh. Time passes. Blogs don't get updated. Catholic guilt mounts... if you're Catholic. But I'm not.

Here we are, The Lunatic and I, having had a bloody pleasant ride with Spike 'Sherpa' Daniels down at Box Hill. Well in fact we're not at Box Hill in the photo, this is The Lunatic's Fat Cat lodgings spitting distance from Hyde Park Corner. The Lunatic was fired up having riden the morning before on the Prologue course before the Authorities closed it. These jokers (and Martin) just finished L'Etape 2007. 11:00, 9:30 and 8:45. that's hh:mm. Strewth.

And then to last weekend. 160 NM Cowes to St Malo on the Fair Do's VII. Amazing entry list of 197 boats. I guess they came for the plethora of marine life in The Channel, at final note I saw 1 x dead gannet and drifts of seaweed too numerous to count. The boat is a beaut, and it's a privilage to be on board, although I can't quite get my head around sailing for 20 hours and doing a half a dozen tacks (90% thru The Needles) and no kite work. And a 20 hour putt putt home. Memorable nonetheless.

Here she is with her kite up, in the past some time.

Fussball and Kitesurfing

2007-07-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

Kitesurfing Sat and Sun and pleasant table soccer-based party combined Karen and David's birthdays in Winchester.... add fussball to the universe of things a cannae do. Tea and scones with Aunty Annette Sunday evening.... no Uncle Terry since he's a victim of the terror attack on Glasgow airport so was suffering the train ride down, first class was the best he could do unfortunately. Following the attack the airport remains intact, so I guess that still leaves George Bush ahead in the airport destruction count. I don't see him being caught.

Valencia in London

2007-06-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ............ off to the battleship

Valencia

2007-06-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

wow. I mean WOW. obviously not as good as sailing the historic 18s but bloody close. On the water Saturday, and in the Harbour barn Sunday. Bumped into a brazillian people and enjoyed a magnificant NZ victory. I can now say I have truly enjoyed watching a sailing race. More than can be said for soccer.

Two races down now... one boat smokes the other twice off the line... hmm? Think NZ will only win if they exploit Swiss pre-start weakness. Or continue to get lucky upwind whilst with leverage. Dean Barker must be the right man for the job if he's picked to steer ahead of a bloke who has so many gold medals he uses them as door stops. By contrast Ed Baird just looks coonfused... think his space age specs have a porn movie showing. Back Door Sluts 9, most likely. Meanwhile Brad Butterworth spends most of the race sitting. It's not easy to stand with that much gold in your pockets.

For photos check out Ian Roman, and for Hamble-side 2 second delayed insight, Mark Chisnel. Yes, that is Bruce Portman, he has left Fremantle.

London to Brighton

2007-06-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday 17 June

27,000 entrants.... quite a crowd. mostly daily-trippers on mountain bikes = 90km of dodging and passing when you start at 6.30am.... 30 minutes too late.

Our little gang of Spike, Martin, Ado, Jarrod & Cunno made the ride between 3:00 and 3:45 hh:mm... a little academic with the traffic yet Brighton was a pleasant enough place for a pommy breakie and a morning cr*p.

Lago di Garda

2007-06-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

Well there it was. Another 18 regatta. Hard to argue with the boat, the location, the marvellous 25 competitors or the fair spirited manner in which racing was conducted (with the exception of a few eurowankers). Lucky enough to sail with a couple of skiff warhorses Macca and Smithy. At the end of a week of sailing we managed 6th, let down in the main by our lightwind performances but nonetheless happy overall. Howie the Sepo won comfortably, Woody 2nd, reliable as ever. 3rd & 4th Cult of Mason and Radii. 5th and on the rise Jarrod, David & Ovi. Danes, poms and the rest behind... bring on San Fran mid August.

Analysing out the result and days 1, 2 + 3 were sailed in generally three-on-the-tree type breezes. 4, 7, 5 Saturday followed up by a 6 + 8 Monday. The kite tack line streamed out of the boat on beat two in that 8th, at the point when we were wrestling with Woody + Stefan for 4th. Pity. Tuesday a 3rd and a 4th and starting to get it together. The 3rd was a 1st til we stuffed a layline... all close racing though. At this point we were up to 4th overall and eyeballing a podium.... with hindsight the hand cranking set in a bit early.

Wednesday lighter winds and time for the rot to take hold... one race completed in very light breezes saw me screw up the start and locked out for a 16th. Nice. On the next day we raced off Malcesine on the eastern side of the pond, pleasant wind in fact, if a little patchy and flicky, and probably one of our best days sailing, results aside. In the first race a farkwit Wet.Project took us out with a crash tack from beneath and then violent luff/tack to port while we calmly waited on starboard with 40sec to go. Not sure what you do about these water bogans etc keep moving and avoid.... then held out downwind... the backmarker europack tend to be pretty imaginative and yet sh*t with their laylines so don't get held out... then sailed a few super legs back to 11th. Afterwards the long distance race and a capsize off the start kinda blew our chances.... from last though we sailed quite ok again and got to 10th at the first turn.... which then improved to 8th... about as good as you can hope for in a cr*ppy long-legged affair in 8 - 10 knots. Last day, Friday, and only one race completed since a rippa mast-breaking storm came through in race 2 and flattened the fleet... in the race prior we had been having a tight race for 5th-ish with Woody, and looking to leap Ed + Bov ahead.... unfortunately halyard blown too soon on a windward drop = leach tape around top main batterns... 16th... drop two in the bag. Nice.

Incidently check out the plans for Campione, and thanks to Christophe for the photos.

Back to Work

2007-06-07T08:09:00.001-07:00

Two chilled out weeks settling back into London life. Great place in the Summer and have so far enjoyed... Sunday The Crabtree in Fulham / Monday Blackfriers, Jewel in Picadilly, Dog & Duck in Soho, The O Bar, Bar Soho / Tuesday Admiral Codrington, Janets Bar / Wednesday Half Moon in Leadenhall Markets, Les Trois Garcon, Lounge Lover Bar / Thursday Tao in Bell Lane, tba pub, The Mews / Friday Lombard Brassiere at Bank, Pavillion on the lawn bowls, The Devonshire Arms, The Globe in Notting Hill / Saturday down in Winchester Black Boy, Mix, Greenes / Tuesday The Devonshire Arms / Wednesday The Vintry, The Don, Smiths. Thankfully I have joined a gym, and am off to Lake Garda tomorrow.

Last weekend not enough wind to kitesurf, although met the Calshot lot and sorted out some launch sites. Sunday was a bloody nice ride with Cuno, bloody nice until I took a fall & busted my helmut. Smelling salts from some old boy did the trick and made it back to Belly's in one piece. Lower back is still numb, muscles under the spikey melons are tender but the Doctor says keep taking painkillers until it gets better. Simple.

In the meantime here's the view of the wild Sydney winter from the apartment.

Drop the Hammer

2007-05-20T21:10:00.001-07:00

Let's kick this off with yesterday's Panties outing in the harsh late Autumn sun.... photo courtesy of skiff stalwart Ace