Turbo anything
Spring in North America approaches, and for many of us that means that we will be pulling the covers off our boats and getting them ready for the water once again.
One of the story series we are planning to do this year is turboed boats. People have been hotrodding cars for years, but more and more people are hotrodding or turboing their sailboats.
Emirates Team New Zealand Wins Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland
Emirates Team New Zealand wins everything on their home turf. The team looks unstoppable, and makes me wonder where they might fit into the next America's Cup. If the Louis Vuitton showed anything here, it showed that these boats and these teams can be exciting. You don't need boats approaching a billion dollars to have an awesome race. Congrats to Dean Barker, and the rest of Emirates Team New Zealand. Now lets bring these teams up to San Francisco for the next Cup race.
Groupama 3: How The Round The World Record Was Broken
Another record bites the dust. It is starting to feel like no record is safe. Lately we are seeing records fall at a breakneck pace. Who is the youngest, who is the fastest sol, fastest around the world, fastest in a straight line, fastest with a kite, and fastest with a good old fashioned monohull. It seems that just keeping track of these records is becoming a full time job.
Sailing Needs To Embrace The Main
Why Sailing Should Embrace the Mainstream Media
“The mainstream media?!” You may be asking yourself. “The same media that ruined every sport more exciting than croquet by drowning it in Mountain Dew and plastering it with variations on the word ‘extreme’? The same media that make Presidential elections look like horse races and celebrity slip-ups look like cataclysmic events?”
Yes, I say. Those media.
Laura Dekker: Let Her Go
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Laura Dekker's desire to try sailing around the world. Everybody seems to have some opinion on this matter, from the media to social services to the courts.
I believe that the people who are best suited to judge whether Laura is ready are Laura and her parents. It is simply wrong for anyone else to sit in judgment of her capabilities and stop her from reaching for her dreams.
Does anyone remember William F Buckley ripping into Jim Dickson for attempting to sail across the Atlantic?
Be Prepared
I had an experience recently that really made me think about preparedness, one of the most important aspects of sailing any kind of boat.
I’ll start the story at the end: we were three dripping wet people, all face-palming about losing those valuables around which so much of modern life is centered. Thankfully no one was hurt, but in the drink somewhere near somewhere near Sippican Harbor were a pair of new shoes, three pairs of sunglasses, three cell phones, a purse, two wallets, medicine, and a set of keys.
As The Cup Turns
The soap opera that is the Americas Cup takes a turn even more bizarre today, as Alinghi today announced the venue as Ras-Al-Khaimah in the UAE. In case you have never heard of this place before, check the map below:
What about the Cup?
I recently put up a poll on the homepage to see what readers thought of the current situation with the America's Cup. The results are I think telling, with 59% of readers saying that the America's Cup has become bad for the sport. Granted this is a small sample size, but 20 years ago I would be surprised if 10% of people felt this way.
