Messing About In Sailboats

Tall Ships in San Francisco

20080723n_020, originally uploaded by li'l debbie. Last week, I had a whistle-stop trip to SF. I was meeting at the incredibly hip offices of IDEO, the awesome innovation and design firm. Their SF office is on the Embarcadero. As we were sitting in a meeting in a conference space overlooking the water, the parade of Tall Ships came by. It was incredibly hard to concentrate on the meeting at hand. Worst of all, the blinds were down so I could make out the silhouette of the ships but not see them in full. Talk about frustration! Read more →

Tall Ship o' The Day - HMS Bounty

HMS Bounty, originally uploaded by mintaka2. Read more →

Tall Ships

These were sent to me Dan Bessmer from the Tall Ships Festival in Tacoma, WA. Thanks Dan. Every year, an armada of Tall Ships gather at Rouen in Normandie, France before heading of into the Channel. Here are some from this year. You can see a great set of photos here on flickr. Read more →

Great Sailors and Their Boats - Troubled Affairs, Part 3

Part 2. At the far end of the spectrum of the relationship between Man and Boat are the tragic affairs. In a perverse way, they are probably the most interesting. One of the most famous examples were the cases Donald Crowhurst and Nigel Tetley’s relationships with their trimarans Teignmouth Electron and Victress in the Golden Globe race of 1968. They were identical boats and considered cutting edge speed machines that theoretically would win the race. Crowhurst mortgaged his house and bet his business in constructing the boat that he thought would bring him fame and fortune. It was tricked out with the latest in marine technology manufactured by Crowhurst’s own company. To the outside world, his boat was a floating advertisement for Crowhurst’s genius, his business and the future of sailing. Behind the scenes, it was a different story. The boat was constantly, behind schedule, not built to Crowhurst’s specifications... Read more →

Great Sailors and Their Boats - Troubled Affairs, Part 2

Part 1 One of the most surprising relationships between Man and Boat was Francis Chichester and Gypsy Moth IV. Gypsy Moth IV is mythologized in England. She sits (sat? I think she may have been moved) next to the Cutty Sark at Greenwich, within spitting distance of the Maritime Museum and the Greenwich Meridian. She is a monument to Chichester’s circumnavigation and British maritime accomplishment. In reality, Chichester had a very fractious relationship with Gypsy Moth IV. She was built for him with the single purpose of racing round the world. She was long, thin, high off the water and light. At the age of 64 and in poor health, Chichester was very concerned that he could handle Gypsy Moth’s 54 feet for the hundreds of days his circumnavigation would take. He braved the longer waterline in the interest of speed. She should have been a delight but from the... Read more →