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Late last year, we sold Messing About, now called Genesis to our friend and clubmate, Eli Blumenthal. He's having a blast with her as you can see below. The shot below are of Eli sailing Genesis last Sunday with son Steven and friend Rebecca. In the second shot, the other S2 is the bigger model sailed by another clubmate, Bob Wardlow.
You can see the video here. And this my friends is what will save sailing!
Photo: S.Gattini/STUDIO BORLENGHI
Among the 30-strong fleet preparing to compete in the Transatlantic Race 2011 in late June and early July, there are at least as many variations on the theme of traversing 2,975 nautical miles of ocean stretching from the start in Newport, R.I., to the finish at The Lizard on the coast of Cornwall in Southwestern England. For some, sailing across the Atlantic in this race, co-organized by the Royal Yacht Squadron, New York Yacht Club, Royal Ocean Racing Club and Storm Trysail Club, is about the chance to sail into the history books, while for a younger generation of sailors it is about building a foundation for future success in the sport.
A growing contingent of younger competitors is seeking sailing opportunities beyond the inshore dinghy programs typically offered at yacht clubs, high schools and colleges. The young sailors making up the Oakcliff All American Offshore Team (AAOT) on the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy's (USMMA) IRC 65 Vanquish and the German team on the Andrews 56 Norddeutsche Vermögen Hamburg are two groups who are taking advantage of the Transatlantic Race 2011 to expand their skills and hopefully build reputations as the next wave of capable ocean racers.
The German team is organized by Hamburgischer Verein Seefahrt e.V., an organization founded in 1903 in Hamburg with the express goal of maintaining seagoing vessels and training young people, both physically and temperamentally, to become skilled mariners. The German crew looks to be the youngest in the race, with an average age of 22.5, but has experience that belies their years as all have offshore experience from racing long and short distances as well as making passages on the Mediterranean, Baltic and North Seas.
"This specific team never sailed together before," said Eike Holst whose third Transatlantic Race will be his first as skipper. "We all knew each other and almost everyone sailed together somehow but never in this constellation. This is caused by the structure of our club. For example, me and my navigator, Max Wilckens, sailed together exactly in these positions in the 2010 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, finishing second in our division, and we sailed together with one other crewmember, Katrin Hilbert, in the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race when Max was one of the watch officers and I sailed as bowman."
Holst selected the team to undertake the Transatlantic Race 2011 "with good advice of Max," and noted that while most of the crew participated together in an ISAF Survival at Sea Seminar in March as well as in "teambuilding meetings" during the winter, the first time they all sailed together was in April. When Norddeutsche Vermögen Hamburg, launched in 1999, departs with the 15 other boats during the second start (June 29), Holst and his crew will have spent close to three weeks in Newport making their final preparations for the race.
Continue reading "Transatlantic Race 2011 - The Kids Are Alright" »
There were times in the last six months that I thought this day would never come. We bought Poetry in October and were only able to sail her briefly before putting her on the hard for the Winter. Between the Morgan Marina guys, the awesome Joel from Fiberdex, Dave from Eggers, Robyn from Signalize and yours truly, a ton of work has been done. I will spare you the gory details but she's ready!
Oh yeah! I almost forgot. She is now called Cadence. That was Alice's idea. It fits. This her third name. The original owner kept her on the Great Lakes where she was called Bagpipe. Previous owner sailed her out Stonington as Poetry. Entirely coincidentally, there is a thread between these names.
Today she was launched. You can see the progression below.
I then spent 4 hours putting her back together. As we had un-stepped the mast, this was especially complicated as I had to reconnect lights, VHF, radar, wind indicators. Amazingly this worked. Putting the running rigging back together is almost done.
On Friday the missus and even the son and heir and I will sail her over to her mooring. I can't bloody wait. Bring on Friday!
Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
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