More Innovations

Five more entries for our group writing project on Best Sailing Innovation Ever. And what a diverse and interesting range of topics our contributors have chosen.

Hail to the Flag! by Jos

The Planing Hull by Tim

Blow by Kevin of News and Verse

The Bowline by Adam

SnapIts! by Christy


I'll write my own post on this topic next week. But it's so hard to decide on the best innovation ever. I have a shortlist of five, so maybe I'll write about the Top Five Best Sailing Innovations Ever.

In any case, there's plenty of time for you to participate too. Full details at Best Sailing Innovation Ever.

What Will You Do This Weekend?

Just saw the following on the Houston Yacht Club website...

What will you do this weekend?

• Put your sails up just 50 yards from your slip?
• Spend the evening at anchor in a protected cove with friends and family?
• Snuggle into your berth after an evening of dining and dancing in the clubhouse?
• Visit with friends after a day of first-class racing?
• Watch your children play in the pool and sail dinghies in the harbor?

I don't think so... Not in Houston. Not this weekend.


Good luck to everyone in the Houston area this weekend. Stay safe.

Blow

When I start one of these group writing projects, like the one this month about Best Sailing Innovation Ever, I am always surprised with the ingenuity and creativity of my readers in interpreting the theme of the project. For example, here is Kevin Pierce's contribution, BLOW.

When the oysters blow from rocks
Because of wind, we're shaking.

Sometimes the boat's becalmed
Because the wind was faking.

When the other guy makes good
It's was from wind, mistaking.

When the seabreeze finds its way
It's caused by wind, awaking.

Regatta dinner beans
Have prompted wind, breaking.

And a perfect day of sail
Was of the wind, partaking.

The best innovation yet?
That's of the wind, making.

Thank you Kevin for sharing that with us. More of Kevin's poetry can be found at News and Verse.

Smuckers Fights Back

Regular readers of this blog, all three of you, will know that I was somewhat rude last year about a certain foul-tasting, unhealthy, inedible "snackfood" known as Uncrustables that was served up in the guise of lunch at a regatta I attended. Given the huge influence that this blog has in sailing circles I assumed that I had put an end once and for all to the role of Uncrustables in our sport.

But no.

Those devilishly clever marketing chappies at Smuckers are fighting back. They will not relinquish the sailing snack market to the likes of Clif Bars and Joe's Deli's Foot Long Subs. Guess who are the title sponsors of this year's J/24 North American Championship?

Yup. Smuckers Uncrustables.


Aaaaaaarrghh.

Rest assured dear readers, I will not take this lying down. I did not ask for this struggle but I will answer the call with confidence. I will keep the pressure on these people. I will not relent.

Spinach?

I'm not sure that all my readers are taking this month's group writing project on Best Sailing Innovation Ever as seriously as the subject deserves. But for what it's worth here are the first five entries...


The Mast! Invented After the Sail by Jim

GORE-TEX® - Best Thing Since Salted Beef by Steve

The Triangular Sail by Captain JP

Reservoirs – providing places to sail no matter where you are by Carol Anne

Spinach, A Sailor's Best Friend by Edward

Along the way my friends considered (and rejected) such candidates for the honor of Best Sailing Innovation Ever as auto-pilots, roller furlers, electric winches, crew, galley slaves, AIS, the sail, the rigging, the rudder, GPS, radio, and lifeboats. (And there was an anonymous commenter who proposed Female Sailors for first place.) So there are a few other ideas if you want to argue the case.

Still plenty of time to participate in the project. What are you waiting for? Maybe I should offer a prize. A pig with lipstick perhaps?


Full details on how to participate at Best Sailing Innovation Ever.

For anyone in the USA who is living under a brick, or for those in other countries not blessed with 24 hour cable TV coverage of the current US presidential election, the pig in lipstick reference is a nod to the issue that has been the #1 topic in the election today. Not the war. Not terrorism. Not global warming. Not the economic situation. Not taxes. Not health care. Not education. Not even how to make sure that the US wins more medals in Sailing at the next Olympics. No. They've all been talking about lipstick on a pig. God help us. We may well yet get the leaders we deserve.

GORE-TEX® - Best Thing Since Salted Beef

Second entry in our group writing project this month is via email from Steve who describes himself as "an ex dinghy sailor, who spent a bit of time sailing keelboats and things."

If I have only one piece of advice to offer you it is wear GORE-TEX®.

Unless you are an habitual dinghy sailor, doomed for eternity to squeeze yourself into a wetsuit, you must have had to put on a set of oilskins. (This is what we call wet weather gear where I come from in England).

If you are old enough, you would have to remember the appalling range of wet weather gear available pre-GORE-TEX®. Who can forget slipping into a sodden mass of wet nylon and bits of mesh, masquerading as a "waterproof", a contravention of the Trades Description Act if I ever met one. Ill fitting and with the absorbent properties of a bath full of sponges, these garments served only to hasten the onset of pneumonia if worn for any length of time and would increase the weight of the wearer to life threatening proportions.

But then there was progress....I remember being overjoyed when my parents stumped up for a set of French Equinox oilies. These were basically just extra thick PVC in shocking yellow, yet the knowledge that when sent to the foredeck, you would return wet only half way up your arms and halfway down your chest made the experience almost tolerable. But sit for a while and OH the sweat! This led to a constant robing/disrobing process, which would often make the entire crew look like it had fleas. But then, after decades of misery, miracle upon miracle, there came GORE-TEX®.

GORE-TEX® has made wet weather sailing pleasurable. GORE-TEX® means coming ashore free of a full body case of nappy rash. GORE-TEX® means you won't smell like the lost property bin of the local gym. GORE-TEX® is Great. GORE-TEX® has to have improved the life of more sailing folk than any other invention since salted beef

Wear GORE-TEX®.

Thanks Steve.

So where is the flood of ideas I expected on Best Sailing Invention Ever? What are you waiting for? Do I need to offer prizes? First prize, a mooseburger dinner date with Sarah Palin perhaps? Full details on how to participate at Best Sailing Invention Ever.

Slogan Contest

He's at it again.

I've written before in World's Most Expensive Sail and Dear Sunfish Class about the penchant of a certain pop-star billionaire to use his Sunfish as a romantic location for charming ladies that take his fancy. It was how he first snagged Heather Mills... and we all know how well that turned out. Now Sir Paul McCartney is once again a-wooing on a Sunfish, this time with his latest squeeze Nancy Shevell according to this story in the Mail Online.

Surely this is too good an opportunity for the leaders of the Sunfish class to ignore? Photo after photo, tabloid story after story, proving that the Sunfish is not only a toy of the rich and famous but also, apparently, a powerful aphrodisiac.

So if you were in charge of marketing and public relations for the Sunfish, what slogan would you choose to launch a campaign to promote the boat based on some aspect of this sex/money/pop-star angle?

The Mast! Invented After the Sail

The first contribution to our group writing project on Best Sailing Innovation Ever comes via email from Jim Katz, who has such amazing insight into nautical invention pre-history that I assume he must be a professor of anthropology or archaeology at one of the world's major universities...

Uurrgh, who was one of the earliest boatmen, having awoken one morning to find himself inexplicably floating on a slightly hollow log the morning after feasting on some fermented berries, discovered that if he stood up on the log, the breeze pushed him along the surface of the water. The Sail was born! This was the state of sailing affairs for 18 thousand years, until one day an especially bright spark noticed that when the wind freshened, he found himself falling repeatedly off the log. That's when he invented the Mast to have something to hold on to. Further improvements followed at a blinding pace as not ten thousand years later it was noted that you could hang somebody else on the mast instead of yourself; then their skin only seemed to do the job even better, and could Kevlar and Carbon be far behind?

Hmmm. What have I started? Beat that if you can.

Best Sailing Innovation Ever

"Best Sailing Innovation Ever" is the title of this month's group writing project. Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to write a few lines about what innovation, new idea, or invention has been most significant for the sport of sailing or has contributed most to your enjoyment of it. Explain what the innovation is and tell us why you think it is so significant.

You might write about some technical advance such as canting keels or GPS. Or perhaps you think something much more mundane has dramatically contributed to your boating pleasure... such as the class 2 trailer hitch, or Velcro fasteners on sailing gloves. It doesn't have to be a very recent innovation... perhaps you are a fan of Mr Cunningham's contribution to sail control, or of Mr Darby's idea for using a handheld sail mounted on a universal joint to steer a sailing craft.

It doesn't even have to be a technical innovation. If you're into race management maybe you think that the dreaded Black Flag is the best thing that ever happened for the sport. Or if your passion is Racing Rules you might want to write about how Rule 44.1 has revolutionized sailboat racing.

Whatever. Be creative. Be a maverick.

Same rules as usual...


1. Write a post on your blog on the subject of "Best Sailing Innovation Ever".

2. Once you've posted your story, let me know about it by sending an email to tillermeister@gmail.com including a link to your post. If you don't have a blog just email me the story and I will post it here. Please let me know about your post, or send me your story, before Saturday 20 September. Choose a unique title for your story please. We don't want a dozen posts all entitled "Best Sailing Innovation Ever".

3. I will post here two links to your story. Every day or so I will write a post listing any new entries in the project. Then at the end of the project I will provide a summary post with links to all of your articles about innovations, ideas and inventions.

Please participate in this project. Do it for fun. Do it to so that new readers will find your blog. Do it to show off your eruditeness. Do it to educate others. Do it to please me.

Oh for Neptune's sake, just do it.

Surprise me.

Getting Serious About the Olympics

There's been a lull in posting here caused by a trip to the UK (without my laptop) and then my laptop going kaput on the day I returned. Perhaps it was lonely?

I'm still catching up on the US news while I've been away... why is this hockey mom who looks like she escaped from a Lenscrafters ad on the TV so much now? ... the Yankees are how many games behind? ... and it can't be football season already surely?

Anyway I haven't read much about what the US is planning to do to improve on its relatively dismal medal performance in Sailing at the 2008 Olympics. I did listen to John McCain's speech last night... but I don't think he mentioned this vital element of national policy. At least I didn't hear anything about sailing before I fell asleep somewhere in between his story about how being a POW is perfect preparation for being a POTUS (amazing nobody thought of this before), and the bit about how his new friend Sarah "works with her hands and nose". What was that all about?

Sorry about falling asleep Big John. Blame the jet-lag. But I'm not going to vote for you if you don't promise that the US will win a medal in every class in the sailing competition at the 2012 Olympics. Forget all that irrelevant stuff about offshore drilling (gets in the way of sailing) and the bridge to nowhere (I hate sailing under bridges anyway). At least the Democrats did show a sailing video at their convention.

Anyway I offer two observations for anyone in the US who is interested in raising the level of US sailing Olympic performance based on a couple of Olympics news snippets I read while in the UK.

• The British Track and Field team had a target to win five medals in Beijing. They "only" won four. So this week they fired the "director of elite performance", which I think is Britspeak for head coach.
  
  Has anybody responsible for the US Sailing Team been fired?
  
  
• Apparently the English professional football (Britspeak for soccer) teams hire a lot of promising youngsters of which only a few are kept on for professional careers with the teams. So someone came up with the bright idea of testing the kids that don't make the cut to assess their potential to excel in other sports... cycling, track, volleyball, cheese-rolling, midget-tossing, whatever... with a view to developing the best of the bunch for the Olympic teams. Sounds like a brilliant move to me. Here you have a source of fit, ambitious, highly motivated young men ready for a new challenge. It would surely be a shame if they all went off to be accountants or estate agents (Britspeak for realtor) or yobs (Britspeak for Red Sox fans).
  
  So what are the plans for finding the next generation of top sailors in the US?