Carbon crunch
29 August 2007
On the right: a new carbon bowsprit (gennaker pole) by Selden. On the left, the old one which broke when I stuck into another boat, snagging it between the bottlescrews. The other boat was going upwind, I was sailing downwind. Fortunately, it was a light wind race and nobody on the other boat was hurt. Try to figure the odds that the sprit would enter the small gap between the other boat’s starboard shroud bottlescrews and snap in two.
I think I shall find a blackboard and write 100 times:
“I will always keep my eyes open when racing.”
How to fit a new pole is here.
Topics: Sailing | 1 Comment »
Park the boat
22 August 2007
That’s Trinculo of Howth, a Sigma 44, having a personal moment at her home harbour.
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Fireballs are away.
20 August 2007
Many of the top Irish Fireball sailors are away for a fortnight, racing on Lake Garda in Italy and then to Silvaplana in Switzerland for the 2007 World Championship.
After two races, Kenny Rumball is the lead Irish boat in 8th place. Details are here.
Below: Noel Butler and Seamus Moore at the 2005 Worlds in Teignmouth.
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Chieftain to win?
15 August 2007
Looks like it. Ger O’Rourke’s canting keel Cookson 50 seems set for has taken overall victory in the 2007 Fastnet race.
At 08h 58m 53sec local time, Mike Slade’s new 100-foot super maxi crossed the finish line off the Plymouth breakwater under spinnaker, breaking the Rolex Fastnet Race monohull race record that has stood since 1999.
With an elapsed time of 1 day, 20 hours, 18 minutes, the Bruce Farr-designed ICAP Leopard (GBR) chopped just under 9 hours off the record set by Ross Field on the 80-foot RF Yachting. Wind was southwest at 10-15 knots as the boat finished in a light rain and reduced visibility.
Only 10 miles behind was George David’s 90-foot Rambler (USA), finishing at 09h 43m 21sec and also well within the previous record time.
The two boats rounded the rock just three seconds apart.
Topics: Sailing | 1 Comment »
And they’re off
13 August 2007
The Fastnet race has started, after a 25 hour delay due to a lousy weather forecast.
RORC is offering a nifty tracker service, as above. That’s Vincent Riou and Sebastien Josse on PRB in the lead at bottom left with Estrella Damm on their port hip.
Irish interest:
–Ger O’Rourke’s Cookson 50 Chieftain, one of four boats in Super Zero Canting Keel class.
–Cian McCarthy on Nadie, an X-46
–Anthony Tennyson of Gallileo, Beneteau First 47.7
–Tom Roche, Isobar, Beneteau First 40.7
–Eamonn Crosbie’s Teng Tools (Voodoo Chile), the speedy Ker 32
–Brian Barry, Lascar, Dehler 34
–Eric Lisson’s Round Ireland winner Cavatina, a Granada 38
More news and information at RORC.
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Blow me down!
4 August 2007
The Irish Times features sailboat racing on the front page of today’s sports section!
Ireland’s Justin Slattery was among the crew.
Caption: The Extreme 40 catamaran Basilica lifts a hull high out of the water as they head towards the beach during the IShares Cup race on the opening day of the Cowes Week Regatta off the Isle of Wight. _(Photograph: Chris Ison/PA Wire).
Extreme 40 class website.
IShares cup website.
Cowes Week Regatta website.
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Lots of water in Ireland
3 August 2007
Nicely edited video, I don’t know who the pilot was or what type of aircraft…
[update: upgrade to WordPress 2.2.2 has caused a bug in embedding YouTube…]
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Paul O’Riain in La Solitaire Afflelou
2 August 2007
Irish sailor Paul O’Rian is competing for the first time in this single handed race on his boat City Jet. The course for La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro 2007 follows the Solitaire’s long tradition, made up of 4 legs between three countries. France, Ireland and Spain are the countries and will be covered in 13 days at sea and 1,876 nautical miles. The current edition will not only stop over and restart in Ireland after its first leg, but also use the famous Fastnet Lighthouse as a mark (turning point) for the 1st & 3rd legs.
At this time, he is in 31st place, just south of the Lizard, en route to Crosshaven on board City Jet. It is his first attempt at this premiere French solo racing event.
Link to the event.
– X.Yachts European’s 1999 7th
– Voiles d’Antibes 2003 2nd
– Crew on the maxi Yacht « Alfa Roméo » in 2003
– 1720 Docklands Liffey Challenge 2005 2nd
– Class3 Sovereign’s Cup 2005 3rd
– 1720 European Championship 2006 13th
– Docklands Liffey Challenge 2006 1st
– Solo Ports de France 2007 9th
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Goodness Gracious at the Nationals
31 July 2007
Nice pictures of Louise and Guido at the 2007 Fireball Nationals in Crosshaven last weekend.
Race write up is here and full results are here. More of Bob Bateman’s pix here.
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Smoke in Bangor
30 July 2007
Garret and Niamh joined me for the run to Bangor last weekend for the SB3 Northerns, hosted by the Royal Ulster Yacht Club.
There were 22 boats on the line for seven races in very shifty conditions. We didn’t do particularly well, but had great good fun. A notable leeward mark rounding in one race gained us five places from DFL, and a correct choice of the left leeward gate mark in the last race also pushed us up the field. The event was hosted by the Royal Ulster Yacht Club.
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