M Squared

Not Exactly Angels on the Head of a Pin

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:26:00 +0000

Perhaps a more practical question is,

"How many sailors can dance on the bow of a Santana 20?"

There are an infinite number of possible ways sailors pass the time while waiting for wind (e.g. play hearts, repair hatch cover hinges, work on an expensive tan, take a nap (our skipper was actually snoring on the boat as we slowly sailed around), clean your bottom...).
Back to the question at hand and the last example. The Cheap Diver is like dental floss for your sailboat. We've seen these racing accessories used by a couple boats in the J24 fleet in Seattle. The owner of Q bought one and received a lesson because each bottom has "certain areas which are difficult to clean⁄reach."
You're supposed to be able to "floss" the whole bottom including the keel. Apparently, it's all about technique and angles. In order to get the Cheap Diver to work its way down the keel of a 20, they thought it would be advantageous to raise the stern... a lot!
So,

"How many sailors can dance on the bow of a Santana 20?"

Looks like about 5 or 6 (YMMV). At that point, some of them start to get cold, wet feet!

Meadow Point Hurricane in the NOOD

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Tue, 26 May 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Sunday started out looking worse than Saturday... Windless in Seattle. By the time we arrived to get ready for "on call", the Loose Nuts gang had already discussed and determine their DNC time. They figured if there was no wind (& no racing) by 1pm, they were heading back home. I'm not sure that crossed our minds but it was early. Time for a game (or two) of hearts.
By mid day, the RC couldn't wait any longer. Out we went to see if the air would cooperate for racing. Close to shore, the C division (centerboards) set up to race in the "Meadow Point Hurricane" (MPH). Most got off four quick races. The Moths and I14's... nada.
Eventually, our RC set up a quick... (by that I mean short but by no legal means "quick") S-X-F. That's a start, windward, finish. Half a windward-leeward. With such a short course it seemed like one mistake could send you to the back of the fleet with no chance to recover.
We wanted to be on port at the boat end and after ducking one boat got our wish. We were heading toward the eye of the "hurricane" - although we didn't know it by name at the time. After about a third of the leg, the extra pressure made up for our start and we started to pull away. The farther we went, the better the breeze. Unfortunately, we were getting closer and closer to the C division race area and in particular a drifting 35 footer with her bow pointed toward us as they watched the dingy racing. Once we confirmed with them that we were also racing they were more than happy to move... just not quickly enough. We tacked to avoid her. The smart thing would have been to tack back into the breeze... at least when the 2nd and 3rd place boats crossed behind us.
We were sailing as if this was the first beat rather than the penultimate leg of the race! The other boats were catching on to the MPH and by the time we reached the windward mark we had dropped to third behind Giddit Off (two points behind us) and the One Eyed Chicken. Bob (tied with us) rounded in last place and headed back to the MPH. Hmmm... well, we went after Giddy Up and everyone else who forgot how we got to the windward mark in the first place and aggressively drifted straight down "wind" (if there was wind) toward the finish. In the process we fouled Giddit Off (by that I mean our limp spin sheet brushed their pole or some other imperceptible contact... what in the world we were doing there... I'll never know...). We dropped the kite (ha, it was a parachute at this point) and spun and managed to avoid losing too much ground. Giddy Up separated from up and finished first. Bob was spun out of the MPH on the run and almost passed everyone finishing in second. Our misery ended as we crossed the line in third for the race and third overall. Congrats to Bob and Giddy Up.

The Moths Came Out at Night

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Sat, 23 May 2009 17:04:00 +0000

With racing postponed all day Saturday at the Seattle NOOD, there was a little pent up demand for sailing (if not racing). This was especially true for the "dinghy" sailors. After dinner, the wind came as you might expect. Seemed perfect for racing but that wasn't part of the program. With daylight waning, the moths came out...
I've seen the International Foiling Moth plenty of times... in stills and video but not in person. It was interesting just watching these three set up their boats with some what of a frantic pace. Their problem now was running out of light not wind. As soon as they hit the water and literally jumped aboard, they sheeted in and took off! One in particular was up on the foils in 10 meters.
Once the cleared the break water, they really started zipping around. It was really impressive to see them in person. It's difficult to appreciate just how fast they are by watching video. Unfortunately, they were out beyond the breakwater in a good breeze. Going fast and having fun!

Here's a video by Charlie McKee explaining how the moth works. It's pretty entertaining too.

Windless in Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:16:00 +0000

I've never experienced a total shutout in terms of wind for a regatta. This year's Seattle NOOD came close. Friday's racing wasn't bad. The winds were light as we never really reached typical hull speed but the racing was fair (to the credit of the RC) and competitive. After three races, H2O Boa was tied with What About Bob? for first place with scores of 1, 2 and 4.
Our bullet in race one was something of a special gift from Q. We were running downwind on the penultimate leg in third behind Q and Bob. Q appeared confused as they approached the finish pin (the same color as our leeward mark). They hoisted their genny, doused their kite, rounded the finish pin (going through the finish line) and were now facing us... looking for the finish. It didn't take them long to realize they rounded the wrong mark as they set their spinnaker rather quickly. Unfortunately, it took a few extra moments to realized the finish line was restricted and they incurred a penalty.
We finished the run close to Bob and rounded outside of them. Their rounding was initiated close to the pin which gave us room to cut inside coming back up wind. With the advantage, we managed to cover Bob and cross the line first.
Saturday's racing was a total bust. Nearly motionless AP flag... all day long. The forecast for Sunday wasn't promising but the centerboard boats didn't race on Friday... Their regatta hadn't even started yet. Sunday was in fact the same program all over again. Only this time the RC had to force something. So we went out on the water to wait...

Your worst day sailing is better than your best day working.

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:09:00 +0000

Unless your job is sailing... I think this is a true statement from my perspective. People often ask me, "How was sailing last night?" or "How did the regatta go?". This kind of phrase comes to mind. Most of the time your worst day sailing is better than your best day working. While there are exceptions... almost any sailing experience is "better than a sharp stick in the eye"!

Well this might be one of those exceptions. Some members of our local Lido fleet went down river to sail in the Spring Fling with Willamette Sailing Club. Although I wasn't there, the story goes;

The skipper's meeting started at 2:00 under partly sunny skies and an 8 to 10 knot breeze. The first race started on time at 3:00 under menacing skies, a building breeze, and claps of thunder. About 30 seconds later a squall rolled across the river. As it hit [us], we luffed the sails and watched them flog in the wind. It wasn't enough to prevent us from being blown over. We tried to prevent the turtle to no avail. We righted the boat and were immediately blown right back over. We decided to wait for the wind to ease a bit before trying again. So, we climbed on top of the turtled boat and began to wait. I looked behind me to see if anybody else had capsized and counted 7 more of the 12 starters turtled as we were. Only 4 boats remained upright, 1 being an 81 year old [with] his grandson on board for his first ride in a sailboat.

The rescue boats arrived in no time at all, including 3, 2 manned jet skis from the Portland Fire Rescue team.

[We] were able to right our boat the second time about the same time the rescue boat arrived and decided to accept the tow they offered rather than sail back, as our machismo seems to have evaporated at some point during the adventure.

Several people had abandoned their boats in favor of the rescue ride as the river water got very cold, very quickly. It took a while to get all the people and boats back to WSC and the race committee decided to cancel racing for the rest of the day. Nobody was hurt and no boats were damaged.

2 races were completed on Sunday in very light winds with [one of our own] taking home a 3rd place trophy in the A Fleet.

It Could Happen to Anyone

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:54:00 +0000

Last week was a fine spring night for sailing. It was cool and mild but enough wind for competitive racing. Our start was good enough to put is in the top of the fleet around the windward mark. We held our position through the first reach but pick off several boats on the second. It was a little too far forward for some who doused immediatly after gybing. Only "Bimbo" was in front of us going around the leeward mark. Positions remained on the long beat back to the top. When we rounded the windward mark again heading for a tower finish, Bimbo went high. We wanted to simply maximize our VMG to the finish and put distance between us and the next boats. We went under Bimbo with Giddy Up and Aquila going low. Loose Nuts was gaining fast after recoving from an earlier infraction. We managed to pass under Bimbo and hang on to cross the line first. It was going to be quite close between Giddy Up and Bimbo. What happens next was captured on video on a Laser 28 after their finish.

Giddy Up becomes Giddit Off!

A Great Day for Sailing

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:10:00 +0000

"In a unanimous decision that [Sailing Anarchy] predicted almost two years ago, the New York Court of Appeals today threw out CNEV's bogus challenge and pronounced Golden Gate Yacht Club Challenger of Record for the 33rd America's Cup. ..."

And from the NYT, "N.Y. Court Ruling Goes to U.S. Club in America's Cup Battle".

Hopefully, this means we're moving beyond the legal battles of billionaires and the AC gets back on the water (soon?)... It will be interesting to see if we get a DoG fight or a multi-challenger event with properly negotiated rules. Which version of AC 33 do you want?

As for this being "A Great Day for Sailing", it has less to do with this ruling and everything to do with the fact that today is the first night of local racing. I'm excited. Let the sailing begin!

Skiing with Danger

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:31:00 +0000

Dogs love snow. Bailey proves that! My lab, Lido, loves snow too but I've never cut his paws. I think that's primarily because he's only gone cross country skiing and snow shoeing with us. No sharp metal edges.

Quadzilla Rides Again

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:25:00 +0000

Some consider the pinnacle of sailboat racing to be the Americas Cup. Looking at the past 6-8 months several teams intent on AC glory and even a few clubs of the past have worked extremely hard at shaping the future of the Americas Cup. A lot of time and money have been spent ... not so much by the sailors but more by lawyers and PR teams... And it could virtually all be for naught. Well, you probably know the messy story.

Thankfully, this situation doesn't represent all of sailing and yacht racing. It's particularly foreign to me relative to the sailing community in this area. The sailors I know are pooling their resources to help another sailor. Quadzilla is a Santana 525 typically raced by a quadriplegic. With the loss of a little strength in his arms, Quadzilla was a rare sight on the lake this past summer. Will a little help from the sailing community and local columnist Bob Welch, an autohelm will get Quadzilla back on the lake. It's a story of Corinthian Spirit at its best.

Okay... Now I'm ready for snow!

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:59:00 +0000

Time to (re) assembly the ski bike. I just wish we had that kind of cold smoke around here rather than Oregon oatmeal.

Llyn Brianne

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:52:00 +0000

Who is Llyn Brianne? No, not a late addition to my list of sailors I'd like to have dinner with. The real question is "What kind of lunatic goes down a 1,000ft wall of raging water in a canoe - let alone on a bicycle?"

Apparently, there are several "nutters" out there willing to give it a go.

Dinner with Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:28:00 +0000

I love sailing. I love working with computers and developing (CAM) software. The intersection of these two interests is a sweet spot for me. With all the sailing blogs, regatta websites, class websites, sailing videos, virtual racing and more... the internet is clearly the best sailing invention of all time in my book. But I'm a little late for that project.

Tillerman's latest group writing project invites people to share "which sailor or sailors, living or dead, real or fictional you would like to invite to a dinner party." There are some that quickly come to mind: Hans Horrevoets, John Newton, Alex Thomson, Steve Fossett, Lia Ditton and Zac Sunderland to name a few...

Coming back to the intersection of wind and bytes, I think I might put Jim Gray at the top of my dinner party list. No, not that Jim Gray. I'd invite the Jim Gray that (most recently) worked for a giant computer industry monopoly in Redmond, WA who was lost at sea in January of 2007. We could talk about his pioneering computer science work related to database transactions (probably a real party killer but something that touches all of us every time we use an ATM or make an online purchase). So, we could "talk shop" as well as share sailing adventures as only geeks can... Of course finding out what happened on board Tenacious on that fateful winter day would also be interesting. I'm sure those that searched for and miss him would like to know...

Life At the Extreme

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:28:00 +0000

This is the motto of the Volvo Ocean Race and the banner you see when you play the Volvo Ocean Rave Game. Certainly, the expression applies to the sailors spending weeks at a time, far out at sea with only their crew mates, experience and ship underneath them. The VORG on the other hand... Well, we have it a little easier. But in some ways, the extreme nature of virtual ocean sailing can only be understood through the experience of those around us. The following was posted on the Support Forum of the VORG (not the type of "support" they had in mind);

DEAR VOLVO OCEAN RACE GAME.
Can you please help me my husband has deen acting most strange the past week.he works from home and has his one office he seems to de getting very depressed latelt.

he's locked in there for hours at a time,we use to go to the pub four or five times a week.the other day he came screaming out off his office something about he had broken a sale?I thought it was something to do with his work.
then the other night it was 3 am before he came to bed,moaning all night about the sodden forecast was late again.I haven't seen him in two dats just passing on his to the bathroom and back all i get from is those sodden doldrums.I just cannot stand it any more.
He mumbled something (in passing in the early hours off the morning)about Il de femando de noronha and cape town,I asked him if we were going on holiday he said you just don't under stand.
To top the lot I went to bed last night and caught him in bed with another laptop I just don't know what to do IM OFF TO MOTHERS.

PLEASE,PLEASE HELP FROM A FRUSTRATED WIFE.

I shared this with my wife (mostly to let her know she's not alone...). Her reaction was, "EXACTLY!"... The laptop has become know as "The Mistress" in our household. I have no idea what that's really like (and neither does my wife). But I admit to thinking about my boat often and quietly checking in on her in the midst of other activities like work, sleep, and doing projects around the house. I feel a little uncomfortable when I know I'll be away from an internet connection and unable to check on wind changes, boat speed and sail selection.

At least, this "Life At the Extreme" can take a break for a little while. Yesterday, I arrived in Cape Town -- the end of Leg 1. The second leg (of 10) starts on the 15th. It's a 4450Nm leg to Kochi, India -- about 2550Nm shorter than leg 1. Time for some rest and life a little less at the extreme.

What Other Sport Requires Dental Training...?

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:41:00 +0000

Found this video on sailkarma.com.

The Volvo Ocean Race teams have been at sea for 16 days. That's the same amount of time for many of the virtual racers (not everyone started leg 1 at the official start). EVK4 pointed out several similarities and differences between the real sailors and the 42,810 (and counting) registered virtual ones... This video points out another significant comparison. Over the course of a race like this where leg 1 will take nearly a month, health care needs are bound to come up that must be addressed while at sea (at least temporarily). I'm just glad that if I find myself in a similar situation, I can schedule a visit to my local, landlubbing dentist rather than have the watch captain jam a bunch of 3M Cavit in my mouth... Hey, I am the watch captain on my (virtual) boat...

A Tale of Two Regattas

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:13:00 +0000

Have you ever attempted to race in two regattas at once? That was the case with me over the Columbus Day weekend (Oct. 11-12). First, that's the same weekend that Yaquina Bay Yacht Club hosts their annual Columbus Day Regatta. Quite a coincidence, eh! Relative to last year, the weather was beautiful and the wind was rather mild but never shut off...

There were a few strange (but not necessarily bad) things about this years event. We never went "up river" around 14, we went "out" to 7 five times, we never touched bottom once (no "touch and tack" this year), there were only 4 Santana 20s (in fact the overall fleet was down a bit compared to years past) and finally we had a total of 9 races over two days. Going around 7 (while not quite as big a deal as going around #1 aka the "Whistler") involves leaving the protection of the bay and dealing with the fluky wind and current under the bay bridge.

At any rate, the Columbus Day Regatta is always fun (a favorite of ours), the BBQ Tuna is great and we usually do pretty well. Unfortunately, it also typically marks the end of the racing season for us. Except this year, I was supposed to be in another regatta at the same time...

It's impossible to be in two places at once. Thinking ahead, I set things up for the other regatta before leaving for Newport. After I got back, I checked on my status and found several interesting things in contrast to the Columbus Day Regatta. A single leg was going to take weeks, there were over 24,000 boats entered and more were registering every day... even after the start. I was in 23,492th place and had run aground... and that was 9 days ago... two days after the start of the Volvo Ocean Race Game.

Today, there are over 37,800 registered boats in the race (late comers automatically started somewhere in the back 20% of the virtual fleet). The first leg of the race (mirroring the actual Volvo Ocean Race) goes from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town, SA. I'm currently in 8187th place and about 6°N of the equator. As I make my way slowly through the doldrums, I'm wondering if King Neptune's realm includes the virtual one...

Sailing Irony

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:07:00 +0000

SA (or should it be SI) posted a picture of Christophe Bouvet on Sirma in the 1600 mile Cap Istanbul 2008. The brief post mentioned the challenging conditions facing the single-handed sailors. The Figaro Beneteau class (sweet boats) typically has interesting races with a large number of boats for single-handed ocean racing. The Cap Istanbul has... had 29. That was until this weekend. Fortunately, the 29th competitor will follow the other sailors to the finish... just not on his boat.
The internet is great for sailors in general. It's especially nice in the off season and when you live in an area or country where the mainstream media thinks covering bicycle racing is an exotic sport... So, I click on the link to the Cap Istanbul and load the race viewer. It's the beginning of the 330nm, second leg from Cagliari, Sardinia to Marzamemi, Sicily. Not long into it, many boats (whose track is traced out by the viewer) dramatically change directions. Well, this is strange. Everything looks very disorganized... Okay, more disorganized than a yacht race should... and then organization returns but all the boats are heading back to Cagliari... What's up with that... I wondered.
The information was still coming in... but it was apparent that something happened to Christophe Bouvet. Another sailor noticed something wasn't right with Sirma, Bouvet's boat.
Racing in the dark, it wasn't clear what was going on.
Fortunately, everyone acted quickly to use the boats tracking information to identify where to search from the missing sailor. After being in the water for two hours, he was found and rescued by Paul Meilhat. Everyone returned to Cagliari and by now have restarted the leg to Marzamemi. Quite a story... Ironic that Sirma's picture was used for the SA post about the Cap Istanbul.

Godspeed Olin Stephens

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:14:00 +0000

Olin James Stephens II (April 13, 1908 – September 13, 2008)

photo from sailing.org

His first published design, a Six, appeared in the January 1928 Yachting with these comments by the young designer: “In any design the most important factors of speed seem to be long sailing lines and large sail area, with moderate displacement and small wetted surface. Then comes beauty, by which is meant clean, fair, pleasing lines. Though per se beauty is not a factor of speed, the easiest boats to look at seem the easiest to drive.” [from sail-world.com: Olin Stephens dead at 100 years old]

It's the "pleasing lines" of Olin Stephens J boats and those inspired by them that drew me to sailing when I was young. A legend passed away this weekend.

Harvest Regatta '08

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 01:52:00 +0000

The EYC, Harvest Regatta was entirely a local fleet affair this year. Although the competition was familiar, the weekend provided plenty of good racing. Rounding the final leeward mark of one race in fourth we managed a second place finish by staying in more breeze than a couple boats in front of us. The finishes all weekend were pretty close.

Although we didn't have as much wind as last year, 10 to 18+ was plenty... and too much for some! We usually like these conditions but our old Genoa required more repair tape after day one. The carnage was mostly on Sunday. One poor Lido lost their mast before the start of the first race. Before the day was over, the remaining Lidos agreed to retire. In the Santana 20 fleet, several boats changed to blades for the last race. We're typically among the last boats to make such a sail change but I agreed with the call once I saw that some of the repair tape was AWOL. The jib is almost brand new.

The wind continued to build and the jib didn't seem to hurt us on the first beat. Soon into the run we were doing 10 plus on the speedo and then within seconds the spin sheet on the guy side pulled through the grommet as the knot failed. (Gordon likes stopper knots rather than a bowline.) We managed to get the kite (hardly an appropriate term for it at this point) down and everything else cleaned up in time to round the leeward mark. On the next beat I tried to unravel the twisted (ready to be rung out kind of twisted) spinnaker. What a mess!

It wasn't sorted out by the time we rounded the windward mark again. We quickly stuck the pole on the jib sheet and winged it out to try and keep up. As I worked on running the tape of the spinnaker, we noticed another 20 completely over on its side. Wow! An unusual site. It looked like someone was trying to walk the keel like a dingy. As quickly as she came up, she was running down wind and leaving a crew member behind. Apparently, walking the plank turned into a MOB exercise (with a good ending). We could see that other boats were also having trouble with the 20+ gusts. The chute was finally ready to go but I looked up and we were quickly approaching the mark. No sense in hoisting at that point. We were in fourth place and more importantly under control.

Loose Nuts avoided disaster on one run when they noticed their forestay pin missing. A replacement allowed then to and won the regatta. "Q", sailing with four all summer, sailed in control, flat and fast, took second. Both boats have been sailing very well all summer. Finishing in third was the 'infamous “H20 Boa”' (according to the report on the class website)... "Infamous"? Must be a reference to the Australian hairdresser's nightmare comment on SA.

SantanaRama '08 Final

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:18:00 +0000

SANTANARAMA 2008: Final Report by Snapper via Sailing Anarchy.

It’s in the can! Santanarama ’08, the 30th anniversary of Santana 20 Class racing is in the books. 39 boats participated in one of the best run and most fun events the class has ever seen.
Only one race was scheduled today so while it was unlikely that there would be any surprises given the points spread anything was possible on this lake.
After an hour long postponement the R/C decided to take advantage of the building West wind and sent the fleet out for the final race. Going into this final race Jim Martinez’s team on ‘Loose Nuts’ held a two point lead over Eric Kownacki’s team on ‘Alexa’. It was apparent that the Alexa team were going to attack Loose Nuts and do a little match racing in an attempt to put a boat between them. Leading up to the start Alexa had Nuts pinned (did I really say that?!) above the committee boat but peeled off too early and got pinned under a couple of boats and Nuts managed to get in cleanly above them in the controlling position.
I was a little busy dealing with a less than stellar start so couldn’t tell what was going on with the points leaders but at the top mark we were in about 6th rounding with Nuts and Alexa a couple of boats ahead of us. The leader was Nick Genovese, an up and coming junior from Eugene, who was enjoying the breeze and sailing well.

On the run the fleet split as they positioned for the leeward gates. We opted for the right gate and jumped the left gate crowd working the left side on the beat. At the second weather mark we were in a solid third behind Genovese and Jason Crowson on ‘Sea Bear’. Jason was in a dogfight with Gordon Matattal for 5th and Gordon was in fourth at the mark.
On the run we pulled away from Gordon and Jason managed to pass Genovese at the leeward mark. We passed Genovese on the beat and took second behind Jason, who sailed a perfect race. We knew we hadn’t lost our 4th place position but had to wait and watch the boats approaching the finish to see if we had put the required number of boats between us and Paul Stephens to nip into third.

When the dust settled Eric Kownacki with crew Bob Martin and Tom Jenkins did what they had to do and won the 2008 class championship by six points over Jim Martinez, Chris Murschel and Rob (don’t know Rob’s last name). Eric has been sailing S-20’s for four years and he and his team put together a very solid effort and thoroughly deserved their win. The Loose Nuts team sailed a great regatta in the challenging conditions and were tough to the end. The top ten were as follows:

Eric Kownacki 44 points

Jim Martinez 50

Chris Winnard 59

Paul Stephens 61

Jason Crowson 66

Gordon Mattatal 68

Bruce Golison 74

Robin Avery 84

Mark Edrich 89

Britt Williams 94

It should be noted that every race was won by a different boat. No one dominated, and the above scores over seven races show how tough this event was.
Santana 20 Fleet 19 did a fantastic job putting this regatta on and if there ever was a candidate for the St. Petersburg Trophy this would be it in my opinion.

Next year’s Class Championship will be hosted by Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego. They have a hard act to follow but a Mission Bay is great venue so it should be another fantastic gathering of Tunas. Official results and notices can be found at www.s20.org.

What a great race to end on. Good wind, challenging competition and multiple plot lines. If Jason (Sea Bear) sailed "a perfect race", then ours was close... Just not close enough to move up. We had a pretty good start and first beat and managed to round the first mark in the top ten. For the next three legs we passed a couple boats. On the last leg we chose the north gate and the right side of the course. This helped us pass Nick and gain on DA and Sea Bear. We crossed the line for a satisfying third. A great week.

S20 Nationals: Day 2 (an Australian hairdresser’s nightmare)

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:39:00 +0000

SANTANARAMA 2008: Day 2 Report by Snapper via Sailing Anarchy.

With the prospect of a light air day the R/C postponed racing until early afternoon and sent the fleet out around 1230. Once again the conditions were trying with breeze on both sides of the course and lots of holes to deal with. This event has certainly been one of the most challenging Class Championships I can remember and the high scores can attest to that.
Going into today, yesterday’s leader Paul Stephens, was comfortably in the lead by six points over Jim Martinez’s ‘Loose Nuts’ team with last year’s runner up Eric Kownacki in third five points back and trying to recover from a deep place (15th) in the first race. Britt Williams from OKC was in fourth place, seven points behind adrift of third. Britt has truly been on of the stalwarts of the class and has hooked up his boat ‘Fayest’ and driven to many of the West Coast events. His enthusiasm and Corinthian spirit is one of the reasons the class has remained active outside of the West Coast and everyone appreciates his commitment to the class and to Oklahoma sailing in general.
So, race one today was another mixed bag with big shifts and picking the correct leeward gate for the next round of pressure. Kownacki and crew sailed a textbook race and worked their way through the fleet to score an important bullet. Bruce Golison and crew Andrew Kerr and Blair Wallace finally got going with a second and Gordon Mattatal, after leading most of the race took third. Gordon’s boat is one of those classic Santana 20’s that looks like an Australian hairdresser’s nightmare – yellow with brown stripes!

After a short delay race two got underway in a nice Southwesterly and once again the fleet split on the beat. The shifts were big and frequent and if you weren’t on top of them you were toast. Local yokel and overall good guy, Niccoli Lenn picked his way though to score a well earned bullet. Paul Stephens rolled on the run and took second with Golison in third. Once again the points were getting interesting.
One thing to note in race two was the performance of the team from Valle de Bravo Mexico, Jorge Murrieta and crew sailing S-20 hull #1 (not carbon fiber, carbon dated), sailed a great first two legs then took the left gate and headed West. They hit the far right side and came rolling back to round second ending up seventh after the run. Jorge was sailing an old boat with old sails and made it work.

Your scribe, Snapper, was not pleased after the first two races having been in contention only to get shot out the back like a melon seed. I tracked down my friend Shannon Clune who is skippering ‘The Reverand Big Bad Bob’ and seeking salvation and benevolence from the good reverend I asked for deliverance and a consignment of beer or ‘thought cylinders’ to get me through race three.
Apparently this worked as after a battle with Bay Area Express 27 sailor Jason Crowson, we finally took a first in race three with Crowson in second followed by Golison. Golly put together a solid 2,3,3 day but is reeling from a 17th and 33rd on day one.

Going into tomorrow we have the Loose Nuts team in first with 37 points - they have quietly been consistent and sailed a really good series. Kownacki is two points behind and Stephens is now twelve points adrift in third. It has been an epic event and knowing that the overall winner will end up having a score approaching forty points shows how competitive it was. The event management has been top shelf and the race committee has been fantastic.

Only one race is scheduled for tomorrow and based on what we have seen thus far anything can happen! -Snap

With stronger winds for day 2, we had better results -- all single digit finishes (3, 6, 6). That puts us in a tie for 5th with Sea Bear. We've got one more race to seal our final position.

S20 Nationals: Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:29:00 +0000

SantanaRama 2008: Day 1 Report by Snapper via Sailing Anarchy.

The Sailing Anarchy mantra is ‘where the status quo blows’, which was very fitting for day one of the 30th anniversary Santana 20 Class Championships
39 boats were on the line for race one, held in light to medium winds. The ‘status quo’ would have seen pre-regatta favorites Bruce Golison, Eric Kownacki and Chris Winnard (your scribe A.K.A Snapper) duking it out up front but at the first mark they were nowhere to be seen! In fact all three were buried on the wrong side of the course and ended up lucky to get 15, 16 and 17! The race was won by the Sacramento team aboard ‘Fusion’ with locals Ron Fish and two time champ Paul Stephens rounding out the top three.
The R/C decided to send everyone in to wait for the afternoon breeze and the keg was tapped. After an hour or so we were sent out for the remaining two scheduled races in what were challenging conditions to say the least! I have raced here for many years but have never encountered such tricky conditions. However, one team managed to sail to complete a solid day of sailing – Paul Stephens and crew aboard ‘Aquila’ turned in a great day posting finishes of 3,5,1 ending the day in a commanding lead. The ‘Loose Nuts’ crew sailed well and are in second with Eric Kownacki rounding out the top three with two good finishes races 2 and 3. otherwise known as Santanarama ’08.

One of the nice things about the class, unlike so many others, is that everyone is really friendly and willing to share any tips to help everyone get up to speed. I’m sure there are plenty of people reading this who are saying ‘oh yeah, Tuna 20’s, what a hack class’… well, there is plenty of well known talent here and they are deep! It’s not the J-24 fleet, where you can get protested for smiling too much or smelling of foreign food, it’s a class that has survived the course of time with all the usual ups and downs but is still a viable entity with a loyal following. Tomorrow looks to be light with racing probably to be held later in the afternoon.

-Snap

Certainly, tied for 15th wasn't what we were shooting for but the conditions were difficult ("the wind was just psycho") and not ideal (on the light side) for us. We'll see what tomorrow brings. It's interesting how mixed up the results are from what might have been expected -- even the "pros" had some bad races.

Nationals Preview: A Pone Free Zone

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:53:00 +0000

SantanaRama 2008: 30 Years of Tuna Sailing

A preview by Snapper via Sailing Anarchy.

The Santana 20 celebrates thirty years of class racing with the ’08 Nationals being held in Eugene Oregon starting tomorrow through Friday. At last count 37 boats were signed up with several of the perennial class heavy hitters in attendance.

Over the years many of the West Coast’s finest sailors have cut their teeth on this class. Bill Herrschaft, Tim Hogan, Bruce Golison, Harry Pattison, Tom and Jane Schock, Charlie Ogletree among others have racked up class championship wins and the class continues to be a fun competitive group and this event is a prime example of that. Eugene Yacht Club provides a great venue with on site camping, evening social activities to local Vineyards and brew pubs, and lots of family oriented things to do.

One of the nice things about the Santana 20 Class is that with a few exceptions, you don’t have to deal with the P.A.S. (Pone Ass Syndrome). As you may recall in my ’03 Melges 24 Worlds ‘Frumby’ report, and those who aren’t familiar with the Poners, they are the guys usually wearing Farr 40 or TP 52 gear making sure everyone can read the boat name in 300 pt font and talking really loudly on their cell phone to the last of the lobotomized hip toggles they refer to as their friends. The ‘pone’ is the penguin-like waddle with cell phone to ear with the signature hand raised to let everyone know how important they are. You won’t find those people At the SantanaRama as they are all on the East Coast this time of year (Espo).

Practice races were run today providing an opportunity to test new sails and speed test (or sandbag) with the competition. Racing starts tomorrow. Let the fun begin. -Snapper

SantanaRama 2008

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:50:00 +0000

It's almost here. SantanaRama 2008 starts next week. This is not some tribute tour to Carlos Santana... It's the 2008 Santana 20 Class Championships hosted by Fleet 19 and the Eugene Yacht Club. Since the championships in 1996, this is the third attempt to bring the "Nationals" back to Fern Ridge. Early in the season, there was a lot of complaining about the lake level and the dumping of water in February. Well, fortunately the lake filled and we should have a great week of racing and fun! So far there are 30 boats registered and the wind have been great (mostly) all summer. We'll see if we can improve on our fifth place finish at the Cascade Locks on 2005.

Wordle Up

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:05:00 +0000

Great Wall of China II

noreply@blogger.com (M Squared) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:51:00 +0000

Although vegetation occasionally cause problems for our local racing, it's nothing like the problems in Qingdao. Fortunately China has been busy (well, their "volunteers" have been busy) cleaning up the sailing venue. "The sailing event [...] will not be threatened by the algae," said Wang Wei, vice president of the sailing committee for the Beijing Olympic organising committee. According to this article, they have constructed barriers totaling more that 40 km in length to hold the menacing weed at bay. The barriers will be patrolled and any algae caught trying to cross the barriers will be "immediately cleared"... in the Olympic spirit of course.
Now... what to do about the smell of "rotting broccoli or cauliflower"....

Did you know that Qingdao means "Green Island"?