The wrangling continues in front of Justice Cahn in the dispute between Alinghi and BMW-Oracle and the conditions of the next America’s Cup contest.  Although Cahn made a ruling in the American team’s favor, Alinghi appealed on the grounds that the American submission included the phrase “Keel Yacht” along with the 90 foot by 90 foot parameters.  Their argument is that a multi-hull is not a “Keel Yacht” and that the submission is flawed because it would result in a sailing barge.

I admit thinking this was the silliest argument in the world because catamarans obviously have keels but then Alinghi threw in some US Sailing / ISAF definitions that muddy the water slightly.  Alinghi also managed to pull off a submission timing maneuver that left GGYC (BMW-Oracle) with very little opportunity to argue their case in front of Justice Cahn.  A bit out of sequence, GGYC continued to argue their case with a letter to Justice Cahn.

So what’s going to happen?  If you look back to the 1988 America’s Cup where Conner sailed the 60′ catamaran against the New Zealand monster mono-hull you’ll see that the challenge filed by New Zealand had the same “Keel Yacht” phrase in it.  After the event, New Zealand challenged the American catamaran’s legality with the New York courts with the notion that the catamaran did not meet the definition of a “Keel Yacht”.   However, the Deed of Gift only stipulates that the challenging vessels be defined in very simple terms of length, width, draft, and type of sailing rig.  One can expect (as has been done in the past) that these are the only parameters that the defender is obliged to meet so making additional defining phrases in the challenge is moot. 

GGYC’s letter to Cahn argues this point that the event is not governed by US Sailing or ISAF but it is only the Deed.  The continue that such minor details should be easily negotiated between a defender and challenger and that Alinghi should not be allowed to cherry pick the challengers (I’m paraphrasing loosely).  I suspect that this is going to go again the way of BMW-Oracle but that Alinghi will continue to file appeals until there is nobody left to file with.

It’s been a while since Orange II’s circumnavigation attempt set the current “fully crewed” RTW record of roughly 50 days (only 7 days shorter than Joyon’s single handed record set this past month).  Frank Cammas has a monster Trimaran, Groupama, and is barreling for the equator after just rounding the Canaries.  They’re on pace to set a new record though they are very early into the attempt.  Can the trimarans take the major RTW records from the catamarans?  The website is here.

Who says sailing is a safe sport? Check out this sequence of photos that Craig VanEaton recorded from a chase boat on the first day of racing during the Tradewinds regatta last Saturday. Nigel and I had a rough start but were picking off boats and had just rounded A-mark headed for the reaching mark when we found ourselves in the middle of a very tight pack of boats. We ducked low under the Key Sailing Team of Kirk Newkirk and Glen Holmes looking for some clean air and Nigel said “if they flip,we’re (*&#$#!”. It wasn’t 3 seconds later when a big hungry gust engages with our fleet and Newkirk experiences a snarl in his mainsheet as they go over right in front of us while we are all doing about 16 to 18 knots on a reach. Pity my batteries had died in my onboard video camera as it was poised looking right at their boat for this entire sequence.  Reminder; we’re the boat with the blue hulls and the grey and white mainsail.  Watch the spray off the rudders as Nigel slams the helm over to try and avoid their boat and watch me as I come off the wire to be barely missed by the tip of their mast.  We managed to finish in 2nd place in that race.

Hammocks look like they’re trying to escape from their frames. Obviously was way too breezy to sail. I’m working out my new tousled look. Awards ceremony, breaking down boats…y’know…stuff that happens at the end of a regatta.

Everyone is thrilled that Spring Fever is back on track for an early occurring Easter weekend this year.

Four races were gotten in today and our boys got a second, two bullets, and a DNF, due to breaking the grommet at the top of the main in the last race. Virtual reinactment: “More downhaul!” *popping sound* “%#@&” They made it to the shore (albeit slowly) at the park, quickly replaced the sail and sped back out to the course only to find that it was to be the last race of the day. Nigel and Jake are breaking down the boat now so there may be a post later (after dinner, prolly) about today’s events. It certainly looked wild from our vantage, with a grand total of seven boats flipped at one point. I haven’t heard from Mike and Dave of Team Layline but they seemed to be holding their own against rock star Mischa Heemskerk. I’m sure that Rick will have content posted soon for the whole story and stats and it looks like Barb Short has an update thread running on the boards. All I’m reasonably certain of is that the top three finishers in the I-20 fleet are Team Seacats, Team Velocity, and the Wicksters. Officially, however, Nigel and Jake’s DNF hasn’t been dropped as of yet which would place them third although the Sailing Instructions specify eligibility for a throw out after four races if my memory serves. The forecast is still looking hairy for tomorrow. Y’know, where it’s time to distinguish the fine line between exhilaration and recklessness and pushing the envelope vs. pushing pencils on insurance forms. Stay tuned, sweeties.

I only wish I could show you all of the plenteous and variegated fritilaries garnishing the lagoon floor that rest mere steps from our hotel room door. In point of fact, you would, at this very moment, be gazing upon Madam Nature’s splediferosity instead of parsing these measly bits of confused scribble had someone not forgotten the camera cable. That would be me, natch. I left it far behind me, along with my snow covered neighbors and my bubbie: a misunderstood but well meaning Pit Bull. Jake and I slipped and slid all the way to the airport following a rare winter treat. A fair few inches fell quickly as we were packing and I kept getting sidetracked by the fun outside. With our world clothed in the fluffy water, the backyard and neighborhood were suddenly transformed into what can only be termed artificial daylight. I kept grabbing giant handfulls of these unflavored snowcones and taking them inside for a rather messy treat. I blame this for skewing my priorities (not to mention freezing my tongue until I was slurring) and attention for Keys Trip 101. French pedicure, check. Sunglasses, check. Xanax, check. Glossy briefings concerning the latest on the zeppelin-like crash and burn of Britney, check y’all. And with that, I was ready to go. Mea culpa.

In any case, I’m not getting on a boat so my race photos would have been sub par in that respect, regardless. However, I did bring the camera charger so I will have plenty of evidence on offer for any civil or criminal proceedings (or a little friendly blackmail) stemming from any land based, after hours mayhem cum frivolity. What happens in the Keys will definitely not stay in the Keys so if a Meister Jaeger or Captain Morgan come a knockin’ then, be ye warned, my megapixels may follow.

Meanwhile, boats…are…racing! And…that’s the extent of my update. Wah, wah, wah. The reasons for this are 1) I have no binoculars, as aforementioned. 2) With several fleets meandering around in various states of readiness between the three minute start sequences, I am even more confused than usual as to what’s happening. 3) I am in pain and can barely think straight. I’m fairly sure that Jake will post later about his first ever competition on the same boat with Nigel Pitt after years of camaraderie at the same regattas. Nigel and Alex Shafer walked away with top honors at the 2007 Nacra 20 North American Championship in Pensacola last Fall while Jake sailed into second place crewing for Wick Smith at the same race. Wick’s back here at Tradewinds with his regular crew (son, Wick Jr.). I’m excited to see how things play out with that little switcheroo, even though each fleet has some great competitors from around the world in a sport where one small miscalculation, unexpected puff, or fit of overconfidence can cost dearly. My girls, Tammy Pitt and Renee Lennard are back from trinket gathering and armed with binocs so I may have some details later. They’re much better at spotting, anyway, being competitive sailors themselves. I know I saw three boats flipped at once across the horizon but none had blue hulls so I’m still feeling good. Tammy says that Nigel and Jake are in 4th at the moment. All of the boats seem to be enjoying super conditions, smoking up the course, and only one of the flipped boats I mentioned earlier is still over but not receiving assistance, so presumably it’s not too bad.

Meanwhile, Tammy’s got on a bikini top, so I’ll see what I can do for you. Oh yeah, no camera cable. Too bad, so sad. Well, you might be able to find photos of women in bathing suits somewhere on the Internet. If only one knew where to look. Good luck with your new assignment. I’m going to go talk to the girls, maybe play some on Neopets. Yes. I admit it. I’m not really a grown-up at all.

I’m posting from bee-you-tiful Islamorada in the Florida Keys to support Team Seacats during the 2008 Tradewinds Regatta. It’s sunny and not snowing. Neener, neener, neener. The wind forecast has been a bit sketchy, depending upon who you ask/where you look. There were light breezes between 5-8k during the tuning runs yesterday and the general consensus is that there was sufficient wind to get some productive practice/tuning runs under their belt. Local reports from the weather Channel are calling for light air again throughout the day with a honker in brewing up for tomorrow. This morning’s NOAA forecast is calling for 10-15k with a slight right shift around 1pm. My feeling (speaking as the expert I am patently not) is that they’ll be seeing at least 15k throughout the day. The marks have already been set and the guys are up the road at Founder’s Park Beach applying their game faces. I do hope they get in as many races as possible today, especially considering the race could be called tomorrow due to rough conditions.

As it happens, we will have a great view of the course from our hotel lagoon, so Renee, Tammy, and I will most likely cheer them on from here in the shade. We may even be able to procure some binoculars. That would certainly make me appear less useless and uninformed. Spin runs will, naturally, be much easier to call for those we know well. I haven’t taken much of a look at the roster for the event yet. I’m confident that, in addition to serving as PRO, Rick White will be posting both news, highlights, and photos over on Catsailor…so do check it out. I’d love to point you to a “Who’s coming” and fleet breakdown list but it’s been disappeared since pre-registration is no longer an option. Or maybe I just can’t find it. Hopefully, Rick or Mary will have time to get that information posted later during their all of their spare time this weekend. Until then, I can only talk about the folks I know well enough to recognize on the water and provide the link for the NOR. Fortunately, Nigel and Jake (Pitt and Kohl) are on the big, blue Team Seacats I-20 while Dave and Mike (Lennard and Krantz) have a spiffy new Zhik kite on their Infusion. I’ll also be on the lookout for other friends and do wish everyone a fun, safe day on the water.

So come back later for updates if you wish. I’ve taken a break from harassing teams of strangers for their names, home bases, turn-on’s, etc. for this event. I am overly enthusiastic to provide free publicity to any team at any time, but I’m dealing with a serious Fibromyalgia flare-up and simply don’t have the energy to chase people around. More soon…

It’s been a while since we checked in on the Sled project….our intreped model builder has been hard at work and is busy installing the hardware and wiring in the first prototype - it’s looking incredible…even though this visit provided me some good reading, I still want more and find myself pouring over the details. The Sled

Lady luck has been singing a little different Tune for Joyon for the last couple of days. He really struggled to get to and through the Doldrums at the equator and after having to go up the mast to repair a halyard, noticed that a shroud was coming undone. After having to return to the deck for tools and a second trip up the mast in very unsettled seas, Joyon has injured his ankle and only managed a minimal repair on the shroud. Sail changes are happening quickly as the winds constantly change with squalls and calms in the middle part of the world and he’s getting ready to enter some boat breaking heavy seas and upwind sailing. He is currently 2800 miles ahead of McArthur’s pace but that boat won’t go very fast with out a mast.

Our lake levels are very very low around here due to a really dry summer….what can we do?  Wait…I have an idea!

Word on the street is that Alinghi just closed the sale on a Volvo Extreme 40 (ex Basilica Racing) which will be in a container headed to Sweden in a few days.  Alinghi is rumored to be hunting for a second boat for training.  This via this morning’s Sailing Anarchy.