Seriously? Did Tom Jones really do a Prince cover?

Perhaps this will help to make up for the lack of entertainment around here lately….

(listen closely)

Sorry things haven’t been happening here as frequently as usual. I’m neck deep into a bathroom remodel involving a good bit of liquid stone (concrete). Bathroom was really dated with pink “salt’n'pepper” base tile and 40’s yellow floor tile. After several weeks involving pneumatic chisels (concrete slab floor) , wall surgery with hand chisels to replace some coroded plumbing (concrete walls), pouring a new, level, concrete floor, hydrochloric acid washing the remaining 59 year old tile and grout (smoker’s house for 52 years), and painting over the 70’s brown/yellow walls, I’m nearly there. When this is done, I hope to build another one meter for boat on boat tuning…then start on a major kitchen remodel.

Haven’t had time to research thoroughly, but I hear the New York Court just ruled that the Spanish Challenger is invalid for the next cup. Bump, set, spike - the win goes to GGYC / BMW Oracle. Alinghi claimed that if the court case went this way that they would meet GGYC on the water on mega multihulls…will they? Time will tell how sour things remain!

News Article

I finally had a little time this weekend to jot down some thoughts regarding the latest Olympic Tornado mess. A blog made by one of the editors of Sail Magazine, where he speaks with some of our US Sailing officials, inspired me to respond. The arguments they present are many of the same arguments heard before and show a very narrow vision and shortsightedness of their position. Read Kimball Livingston’s blog HERE.

For those who aren’t up to speed on the matter, the US Sailing submission to the ISAF for the 20012 Olympics did not originally include a multihull although the Tornado catamaran has been in the Olympics since 1976. Multihull sailors mounted a huge campaign and the submission was withdrawn and resubmitted that included two multihull events (one men and one womens). A little over a week ago, the ISAF met with the delegates from around the world to vote on the events for 2012. The US delegates choose to ignore the submission made by US Sailing and not one single US vote was cast in favor of the multihull. Combined with some other strategies from other countries, the Tornado lost by one vote and will not be included in the 2012 Olympics. Our head cheeses in charge have reiterated that they don’t feel that the US has solid medal potential in multihulls - and even if this is a wise way to choose events, it’s a load of crap.

This position to vote for events in which the US has medal potential absolutely baffles me. Not only does it sound like a bad way to build our sport, but the claim that the US has little medal chance in multihulls is garbage. Simply look at the results! The USA has won medals in the Olympic Tornado four times since it was first included in the Olympics in 1976 (8 events). This matches the 470 men, matches the Star, and is two MORE than the Finn! Where are these guys looking that they don’t see the US medal potential in the Tornado?

So perhaps they’re saying they don’t see much potential after Johnny and Charlie retire after the next Olympics in Quindingo? If so, they’re not looking. The championship regatta recently held for the Tornado in California to determine who defends the US spot was nearly won by, “gasp”, someone other than Johnny and Charlie (Robbie Daniels and Hunter Stunzi). J&C pulled out a last day miracle to win. Maybe it’s the lack of a huge youth program that they are using to gauge potential? If so, they’re not looking – and I’m beginning to think they don’t look on purpose. Multihulls (largely on our own but within US Sailing) have built a terrific youth program created and managed by only a few very inspirational people. Olympic-berth runner-up, Hunti Stunzi, is a product of this program and there are many more very talented youths working their way up the program now. I know this because I manage the US Sailing Multihull Championship where we have held open a youth position and have seen them race against some of the best in the country in the Championship. I also race against them on the water from time to time. While I may not be a world champion, I’m not a slouch and I can see these young guys and gals get stronger every time I see them on the course.

Even if our elected volunteers were looking at the situation fairly, each country determining and voting for it’s best medal potential is a poor method of choosing events. Some claim that they must do this in order to keep sponsorship up and the programs funded. While there may be an element of truth in that, we don’t subscribe to our national and international sailing organizations hoping that our delegates can maneuver inside the system to win each of our respective countries more medals. Instead, we subscribe to these organizations so they will manage our sport. If there is a funding problem, we should deal with that directly and focus on the good of the sailing as it applies to such a showcase event. A big reason that we lost an Olympic event for 2012 is because sailing, as presented in the Olympics, has been BORING. It’s difficult to cover on TV and hard for spectators to watch. The Olympic organization has told us this. What really bothers me the most about this ordeal is that instead of reaching out to this challenge and dealing with it directly, our sailing leaders continue to think selfishly inside a confined box and ignore the bigger picture. They should be focused on making our sport show the fresh, new, and exciting things that are happening around the world within sailing. Eliminating one of the fastest sailing platforms in lieu of a handful of traditional mono-hull dingies pays no heed to the reason we had to eliminate an event to begin with. Hell, if snowboarding gets a Winter Olympic spot (at which it immediately became a stunning success) the ISAF should be asking itself why the foiling Moth hasn’t been a consideration for one of the sailing slots right next to the multihull!

Across the Atlantic on a beach cat. This duo is setting out to cross the ocean in style with a new purpose built boat…boy don’t those wings look comfy? (edit: but not THAT comfy) See their website (Google Translated to english) HERE.

photo: Martin Coudriet

Last week in a really startling move of bias and blindness, the ISAF decided to eliminate the fastest sailing boat from the 2012 Olympic competition in lieu of 6 knot wonders. I’ve started to write a post about this on three different occasions but I just didn’t have the time to sum up everything I wanted to say. Multihulls have seen so much growth throughout the world it just seems moronic that they should be excluded from the Olympics where they have enjoyed 30 years of competition. This video, from AdventureOnline.tv says a lot of what I want to say.

If you want catamaran like performance…get a catamaran. Shown here is Glen Ashby (Ashby Sails) sailing a Flyer II. Found this over at Sailing Scuttlebutt.

It’s almost as if some sailors just simply refuse to accept catamarans. Here you see would would happen if a Laser mated with a catamaran.

The first 10 of a 246 step process (the rest located HERE)

1. Specify that your drive-thru order is “to go.”
2. If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.
3. Start each meal by conspicuously licking all your food, and announce that this is so no one will “swipe your grub.”
4. Name your dog “Dog.”
5. Insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions “to keep them tuned up.”
6. Reply to everything someone says with “that’s what you think.”
7. Claim that you must always wear a bicycle helmet as part of your “astronaut training.”
8. Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with a can of Lysol.
9. Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.
10. Do not add any inflection to the end of your sentences, producing awkward silences with the impression that you’ll be saying more any moment

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I just can’t get enough of these things. Found this over at the Mr. Boat Blog.

It’s been a while since we talked about this here, but the case was heard on Oct. 22nd by the New York Court. While this could drag out if the court decides that any of the facts are in dispute between the parties…but if the facts are not disputed and it’s simply a matter of deciding the meaning of the wording, Justice Cahn could give a ruling in a week or two.

So what’s happened since then? GGYC/Oracle has said that they would rather have an agreeable match in 2010 rather than race on mega multihulls and if they win the court case, they intend to attempt to arrive at a negotiated protocol with Alinghi. There is still some scoffing on the part of the Alinghi camp at the notion - but time will tell.

On the other side of things, the design rule that was apparently achieved collectively through Alinghi and the other registered competitors has been released to the public. The 90′ monohull rule is a bit of a change going to more of a “box rule” rather than a complicated set of stability vs sail power relationships. Before, draft and weight were a function of sail area and water line. This time, very similar to the US One Meter we designed here and the Formula 18 catamaran we race on, the new AC90 rule is defined by clear definitions on displacement, length, width, draft, mast height, and sail area. Of this it is notable that the upwind sail area does have a maximum but spinnaker area is unlimited.

Bruce Farr (Farr Yacht Design) provides some interesting insight to the rule on Sailing Scuttle Butt HERE. The current ACM provides the following image that shows what the difference between the new AC90 and AC70 might look like.

GGYC / Oracle are still concerned that Alinghi may have had a jump on development of this platform depending on how much of the new rule was actually worked out with the competitors. Alinghi is boisterously claiming that this is not true and GGYC has asked to see the original draft of the rule to show that the parameters have changed significantly enough to preclude any early development. However, all of this could be erased if/when the courts decide that the CNEV challenge was invalid….we should know soon.