Off the grid...

I'm going to be taking a short break from blogging for a couple of weeks, keeping to my usual tradition of going cold turkey on my internet addiction while on the road, just to prove I can. So chat amongst yourselves for a while. Normal service will be resumed on or around May 11.

Just to whet your appetite, when I return there will (probably) be posts on...

• What's been wrong with my upwind technique for the last 25 years
  
  
• Some thoughts on small businesses in the sailing world
  
  
• A review of a software tool for racing sailors
  
  
• X crazy things you can do in a Laser
  
  
• Someone who inspired me
  
  
• More fishy videos
  
  
• Living slow

Sailing Blog Reader of the Year

I've honored the writers of my favorite blogs before in such lists as Tillerman's Top Ten Blogs of 2009. But today I want to honor a reader, someone who (as far as I know) doesn't have his own blog, but who contributes to the community of the sailing blogosphere by reading a number of blogs, by taking part in such things as group writing projects, and by regularly leaving interesting, funny and provocative comments on various sailing blogs.

And so without further ado, let me open the envelope with the secret name....

... pause for effect...

... TV cameras focus on the expressions on the faces of the possible candidates...

... more pause for effect...

and the winner of Sailing Blog Reader of the Year is...

O Docker.

Pause for thunderous applause followed by shocked gasps...

Please don't be scared children. Those aren't horns on his hat. They are actually natural. Everyone in his family, on his father's side, has them.

I first became aware of O Docker via Edward's famous EVK4 Superblog. Apparently O Docker is a neighbor of Edward in Berkeley Marina, but Mr Docker hangs out in a much more prestigious section than our superblogging friend, as Edward explained in O Dock, Living the Good Life. According to Mr Docker, life on O Dock is out of this world...

Yes, we live the lush life here on the Berkeley Riviera. On race nights, savory zephyrs of grilling sirloin and chanterelles waft down from the yacht club terrace, gently mixing with the jasmine of our manicured gardens. Peacock and pheasant patrol the docks. The washrooms and baths are adorned in Carrara marble.

All is not bliss, though. Last month, I was fined for failing to finish my docklines in Flemish coils.

Then O Docker started leaving comments on my blog too, such as a description of a day when there was "perfect breeze, perfect sky, perfect destination, perfect seafood dinner awaiting us ashore" in response to my post Just One of Those Days.

O Docker's coining of "Heyitwasgreat" in this comment inspired me to run a group writing project of the same name, and then he started contributing to other writing projects with such stories as Why I Don't Have a Bucket List and The Pied Pipers of Newport Beach.

And so it went on...

Most recently when Adam Turinas of Messing About in Sailboats ran his superb campaign to make April 22 Robin Knox-Johnston Day on the web, O Docker sent Adam an email which Adam featured in Postscript - On RKJ Day. Here is a small extract from what Mr Docker wrote...

Learning to sail is a series of terrifying 'firsts' for everyone. The first time on your own at the helm. The first dinghy capsize. The first time we back out of the slip in a boat big enough to do serious damage. The first time we take the family out and realize the trust they've placed in us. The first passage - even if only from one side of the bay to the other. We agonize over all that could possibly go wrong, and still we know there are things we must be forgetting - there are monsters out there we can never know.

It's in our moments of personal terror that we begin to realize just what Sir Robin accomplished - how much more terrible his monsters must have been than ours, and the courage it took to confront them - with a whole nation watching.

O Docker's contribution was so insightful and moving that it was picked up by Scuttlebutt, perhaps one of the greatest accolades for us sailing bloggers.

And there's the irony. O Docker is not a sailing blogger. But he writes about sailing in a way that is more impressive than almost all of the sailing bloggers out there. He is the sailing blogger without a blog. The Unblogger.

That's why he is my Sailing Blog Reader of the Year.

O No

And since we were talking about bad spelling, how about this one, brought to our attention by newsday.com. I blame the teachers.

Only in America

We really do need to do something about the American educational system. What's the point in protesting against morons if you can't even spell it correctly?

Oh, he's a Cardinals fan. That explains it all.

Saturday Speed Links

The Schooners of New York Harbor by Bowsprite. The unique thing about this blog is the original artwork, and this post is a beautiful guide to recognition of the sailing schooners of New York Harbor. Worth a look.

A Wife's View by Mrs Yarg. In my dreams I sometimes fancy myself in the role of high school sailing coach. What could be more pleasant than spending a couple of hours every afternoon drifting around in a RIB watching kids sail? In this post the wife of Apparent Wind author Yarg shatters my illusions and explains what is really involved in my dream occupation.

Taming the Shrew by Mike Taylor, a graphic and erotic post about... well, don't let me spoil the surprise for you.

My Favorite Rules Issue - Revisited and Resolved

We had some fun here a while back debating a real life Racing Rules issue that happened to me in the Laser division of the Newport Regatta in 2007. I originally posed the question in Both Leeward and Both Starboard. Today Sailing Anarchy discussed exactly the same situation with an answer from UK rules guru Bryan Willis.

I'm relieved that Willis concludes that the only applicable rule is Rule 14 (avoiding contact) under which boats can only be penalized if there is damage. So I don't have to write to Sail Newport and ask them to correct my score for that race in 2007. Phew!

Been a while since we've done one of these, so let's get to it: The Rules Guy, Bryan Willis.

Q: I'm in a Laser going downwind, by the lee on starboard gybe. Wind is about 5 knots. There is another laser which has already rounded the leeward mark, coming upwind towards me on starboard tack. We hold our courses, with him on a bearing to pass to my port side, and me to pass on his port side. We're on more or less reciprocal bearings. As we pass, my boom hits his mast. There is no damage. We both protest. Who is wrong? Who should get chucked?
-Matt Knowles

A: This has always been a bit of a conundrum. If you take the situation a few boat lengths back, the running boat was probably on the windward side of the boat close-hauled, so the running boat is the keep-clear boat. When she crosses the line projecting ahead of the close-hauled boat she ceases being the keep-clear boat and so might possibly be said to ‘acquire right-of-way’, requiring her to initially gives room to the other boat (rule 15).

But if you just take the situation you describe, and if both boats are sailing steady courses, then both boats are on starboard tack and both are on the other boat’s leeward side, so neither is windward boat, and rule 11 doesn’t apply. The only rule that can be applied is rule 14 requiring each to avoid contact with the other and if there is damage, both boats could be penalized.

04/24/09

Three Little Fishes - Frankie Howerd

7 Reasons Why a DoG Fight Will Be Good for the America's Cup

And so it seems that the 33rd America's Cup will be a "Deed of Gift" (aka DoG) Match between two giant 90 foot multihulls.

At least that's what it says on Alinghi's website today...

At a meeting today in Geneva, the America’s Cup defending yacht club, Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), confirmed that it accepts the Golden Gate Yacht Club’s (GGYC) challenge for the 33rd America’s Cup and informed representatives of the American yacht club that its team, Alinghi, will be ready to race their 90x90ft boat (as stated in the GGYC Notice of Challenge) in 2010.

Woo hoo! Bring it on!

Many of the stuffed shirts in the world of yachting are tut-tutting over this outcome and instead want a replay of the boring, endless fiasco we had last time.

I beg to differ. So here are my 7 Reasons Why a DoG Fight Will Be Good for the America's Cup.

1. Tradition
A match sailed under the Deed of Gift will be more traditional. We have strayed a long way from the original concept of the Cup since the 1850's. The way it was supposed to work was that some crazy rich old coot would write a posh letter to the New York Yacht Club essentially saying, "My boat's faster than your boat. Nah nah nah nah." The NYYC would accept the challenge by writing another posh letter saying effectively, "See you next July off Sandy Hook. Nah nah nah nah." The NYYC would then find some other crazy rich old coot with a faster boat, meet the first crazy rich old coot off Sandy Hook, crush him, and all would be well with the world.

So let's get back to that tradition. One defender. One challenger. Two crazy rich old coots. The way it was meant to be. Yachting needs to honor its traditions.

2. Excitement
There's no argument, multihulls are faster and more exciting than big monohulls with all those tons of spent uranium or whatever metal they use now in their keels to slow them down. Let's face it, the 50 knot speed barrier was broken by a multihull. Can you imagine a round-the-buoys race between two 90 foot multihulls sailing at that speed (or anywhere near it)?

3. Simplicity
Multihulls are not going to frig around doing dial-ups and dial-downs and all the other rigmarole of match racing that only 26 people in the whole world really understand. (It was 27 the year before last, but one of the 27 is now suffering from early Alzheimer's.) They are going to accelerate off the start line in clear air and go for speed, speed, speed baby. Bang the corner. Tack. And then off on another wild ride to the first mark. I know, I've sailed cats on Sailx. All that boring tacking and ducking and covering stuff just slows you down. And if we are going to make yachting appeal to a wider audience we need racing to be easy to understand. Anyone can understand the concept of "faster boat wins".

4. Cost
In a deed of gift match, two crazy rich old coots called Larry and Ernie are going to spend a few millions building a couple of multihulls, some port that Ernie chooses (probably Valencia) will get to host them, and someone vaguely impartial but really working for Ernie will lay on three races. That's it. No endless expensive series of "acts" over many years and then a costly challenger series dragging on for months. No "challenges" from no-hope syndicates from Luxembourg or Namibia or wherever. No chasing around for sponsors. Easy. Cheap.

5. Unique
The deed of gift match between multihulls of essentially unrestricted design will be a test of technology and yacht design more than seamanship. This is a good thing. The Olympics and each class World Championship are the events designed to find out who the best sailors are. The America's Cup needs to differentiate itself from these events. The America's Cup should be all about the nerds in the design office. Crazy rich old coot with the best nerds wins.

6. Technology Trickle Down
You know trickle down? That's the economic theory that says its a good thing for rich people to have big expensive toys because eventually the money trickles down to the little guy who pumps out their holding tanks. More importantly, while Larry and Ernie are building the biggest baddest multihulls you ever saw, they will be spurring invention and creating technical improvements that you will eventually use on your Hobie 16. Yeah right. OK, well the other 6 reasons are still good.

7. Spectator Appeal
The DoG fight is going to be the most stupendous event ever in yachting with huge appeal to on-site spectators and TV viewers around the world. Why? Well, because of all the reasons above. To summarize, the audience will love it because

* it will be traditional
* it will be in fast boats
* it will be exciting to watch
* it will be easy to understand
* it will be a one-off event lasting a few days
* it will be a show-down between two crazy rich old coots whom we all love to hate
* a crash between two monster multihulls approaching each other at around 50 knots will be spectacular and the best thing ever to demonstrate to the general public why yacht racing is so much fun. After that, sailing will be bigger than NASCAR.

OK. I admit that this post is only an update of a post that I published in Dec 2007. So what? Yesterday was Earth Day. Recycling is good.

April Sneeze

Hmmm. I may be getting old. I haven't sailed at all since my trip to Florida in March. Very lazy of me. Are Aprils always like this? Let's see. The blog never lies...

Last year in April I was doing quite a bit of solo Laser practice and thinking that I might be becoming addicted to it in The Sound of One Foot Clapping. And I was also wondering why nobody else was out sailing in the frigid bay waters in So Where the Bloody Hell Are You? Hmmm. That sounds like a bit more adventurous than what I've been up to this April.

Then two years ago I was running a bloody marathon through the Streets of London. Was that really me? It sounds like somebody totally different.

Three years ago I was frostbite racing every Sunday at Cedar Point YC and even waxing lyrical about sailing in the rain in Best of Times, Worst of Times. Surely that wasn't really me?

And in 2005 I was writing about attending a Laser clinic in Florida and whining in Pain about all the aches and pains and minor injuries I received there. Now that sounds like me!

Crazy solo sailor, crazy marathon runner, crazy dude racing in the rain, crazy old geezer sailing so much he hurt himself, or lazy old fart. Which one is the real me?

From Falmouth

Sayings from round-the-world sailors. Some that made it... and some that didn't.

• "Any damn fool can navigate the world sober. It takes a really good sailor to do it drunk." Francis Chichester
  
  
• "It is finished, it is finished. It is the mercy. It is the end of my game. The truth has been revealed." Donald Crowhurst
  
  
• "'Record' is a very stupid word at sea. I am continuing nonstop because I am happy at sea, and perhaps because I want to save my soul." Bernard Moitessier.
  
  
• "Courage is not having the energy to go on, it's going on when you do not have the energy." Ellen MacArthur
  
  
• On April 22 1969, after 313 days out of Falmouth, Robin Knox-Johnstron crossed the finish line of the Golden Globe Race, the first ever round-the-world yacht race, and was escorted into port to a noisy welcome at 3:25 P.M. First on board Suhaili, now rust-streaked and peeling, her bottom foul, and her sails tattered, came the customs men.
  
  "Where from?" asked the senior port officer.
  
  "From Falmouth," replied the now-bearded Robin Knox-Johnston with a puckishly straight face.

Congratulations to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on today April 22, the 40th anniversary of the day in 1969 when he crossed that finish line in Falmouth and in doing so became the first person to sail around the world non-stop and single-handed. Among those who tried before, those who raced against him, and those who have succeeded since, his achievement will always be unique. The Everest of yachting.

Today is Robin Knox-Johnston Day on the Web.