All Articles by: Hill

NASailor Update

Posted by: Hill / April 8, 2012 @ 10:22 pm

Since our launch 18 months ago, we’ve had some fantastic support from this community and made great strides in growing the site to tens of thousands of visitors per month. Some of our best content – boat reviews, the best boat series, and more – generate tremendous interest even today.

But life moves forward; our new family and the rise of other professional opportunities are taking up more and more time. So, effective this week, we will no longer be regularly updating this site. We will still occasionally place new content here, but it will be more of a blog-style format, and will be done only when time permits.

Thanks for your support throughout this process. We’ll see you out on the water!

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Crash Of The Week: Offshore In Serious Conditions

Posted by: Hill / April 5, 2012 @ 10:55 pm

While not technically a crash, this video shows some pretty serious conditions, and the proper way to handle them. Conditions look like 50 knots to me, with sharp, occasionally breaking waves. What looks like the yawl is highly reefed and working downwind with the wave on their quarter. Note the wave state, with the sea shifting from discrete waves, to constant, white, streaky foam. Indicative of approaching and crossing the forty to fifty-knot wind threshold.

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Introducing The Triloboat

Posted by: Hill / April 4, 2012 @ 10:46 pm

Triloboat – a new conception of sailboat. Built at home, and essentially a flat barge (plenty of form stability), these guys are cruising Alaska with them. Is this the next wave of home-built sailboats? Shallow in draught, with two junk rigs and leeboards, these remind me of the old Dutch sailboats.

One boat owner notes:

Luna has no engine. We either sail, scull with a yuloh (1.5 knots at an all-day pace), pole ourselves in shallows or warp. Some days we make 80 miles, some we make 5 or less. We try not to have a schedule, and so find the time to poke around interesting looking ‘holes-in-thewalls’… secluded bays, shallow river deltas, narrow passageways through reefs… If we like a place, we stay a while. Read More »

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Cruising With Your Family: A 14-Year Hiatus And Return

Posted by: Hill / April 3, 2012 @ 9:59 pm

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This family of four left the rat-race of Washington, DC to live on a 40-foot cruising boat in Mexico. We found this heartwarming blog from S/V Del Viento via the Cruising World site. And you understand why – it accurately describes their decision-making process to pack it up, sell their house, and move onto their Fuji 40 for five years. Inspiring, and reminds me of the fun which we had during our cruising period. Warning: this may encourage you to walk away from it all as well.

In our twenties, we traded our boat for a house and our freedom for careers. In our thirties, we slumbered through the American dream. In our forties, we woke and traded our house for a boat and our careers for freedom. And here we are.
The Crew:
Michael (also goes by Mike and Miguel) is 42-years-old. He is an English major who wound up working in IT. He is eager to begin writing Read More »

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Design Review: Aquila 45 – A Pure-Bred Race Boat

Posted by: Hill / April 2, 2012 @ 10:00 pm

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Purebred animals many times are graceful creatures. Built to go achieve a certain goal, they often sacrifice a complete, well-rounded nature in pursuit of that goal. In many ways, the Reichel / Pugh designed Aquila 45 raceboat reflect similar goals. Her design is unambiguous: she is meant to go fast especially downhill, with a sail area to displacement ratio of over 35, Length to beam over 3.17, and a 10-foot draft. We saw her in Annapolis this past year, and she’s a fierce looking creature. Priced at $495k, the entry to this level of performance is just the beginning for a program these types of boats deserve and demand.

Naval designer Bob Perry has a review in Sail Magazine of this design.

This new Reichel/Pugh design is being built in China in a town called Foo Yang at a yard called Sino Eagle Leopard. One boat has been produced so far and they are targeting the racing market. I find this a very good-looking boat, and no doubt with that Reichel/Pugh pedigree it will be a very fast boat and a lot of fun to race.
Read More »

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Two Men Rescued From Raceboat Off California

Posted by: Hill / April 1, 2012 @ 11:24 pm

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Two sailors are safe after heavy weather damaged the 68-foot Geraldton Western Australia raceboat, and injured the crew members. The vessel is competing in the Clipper Round The World Race. The wave came over the stern, knocking the crewman into the wheel, and sheering the pedestal. Conditions were gusting from 40 to 60 knots, with large waves. That’s the adventure they pay for, right?

CNN has more coverage:

After bad weather hindered earlier emergency efforts, two seriously injured sailors were safely on a boat off California’s coast Sunday evening — preparing to fly to San Francisco after their 67-foot racing yacht was damaged a day earlier by high seas, a Coast Guard official said.
Four members of the Geraldton Western Australia’s crew were injured Saturday in stormy weather as they sailed from China to San Francisco for a leg of what’s called the Clipper Round the World Race, race organizers said. The rest of the crew was described as “uninjured but shaken.”
Inclement conditions had hindered initial attempts to send a helicopter to the site, located about 270 miles west of San Francisco.
But by early Sunday evening, a rescue swimmer was in the water near the boat. Eventually, two of those hurt — identified by Coast Guard Fireman Jordan Akiyama as a 50-year-old woman and 67-year-old man — had been transferred to a small boat.

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Crash of the Week: Ocean Sailing

Posted by: Hill / March 29, 2012 @ 11:23 pm

While not technically a crash, this is a great video of some of the incredible conditions aboard these submarines – I mean VOR sailboats. Amazing how much water they take over the boat. If you haven’t seen the Telefonica near-knockdown, definitely check that out too (see further down the page). Those guys are earning their paycheck on this leg.

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J/70 Test Sail: First Report

Posted by: Hill / March 28, 2012 @ 11:20 pm

The folks over at Sailing Anarchy have this report from an (obviously unbiased) Jboat dealer. He had a chance to take out the new J/70 in California. Still, if these numbers are accurate, it should be a fun ride.

I sailed on both boats last Thursday, invited along with the sailmakers and hardware guys to help evaluate sail sizes, rigging and set up for input to class rules. Pix herewith in no particular order.
Observations:
Wind was 10-12 then quickly built to 16 with a max of 18. I based the wind speed on the consensus of four professional sailors that were on board at the time. The boat cruises along nicely downwind in that breeze – between 12 and 14 knots of boat speed. I based that on my GPS which was in my pocket.
The boat feels very balanced with good bite on the helm. We were approaching the top end of the sails at 18 but both sets of upwind sails were made oversized and a little fuller than the boat wants, especially the jibs in my opinion. Once the sails get sorted, the boat will go upwind in 20+ very happily.
Read More »

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Rogue Wave Takes Down Telefonica

Posted by: Hill / March 26, 2012 @ 10:14 pm

All I can say is wow. Technically not a rogue wave – but it sure looks like one. Two big wave hits, both captured on camera. In my mind, this is what a rogue wave experience is all about – one minute you’re sailing along with rough but manageable conditions, the next the boat is knocked down and you’re hanging on for dear life.

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The Beautiful Sea

Posted by: Hill / March 26, 2012 @ 10:03 pm

NASA has put together this truly beautiful compilation of time-lapse video over a two-year period. Built off a simulation engine, it demonstrates an exaggerated flow of the world’s oceans. Beautiful. I love the currents shown crossing the Indian Ocean – you can visually see the old trade routes quite clearly.

The Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center created this beautiful animation called Perpetual Ocean which visualizes the ocean’s surface currents over a 30-month period between June 2005 and December 2007.
Read More »

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Crash Of The Week: Laser Pile-up

Posted by: Hill / March 22, 2012 @ 10:27 pm

We reached back deep into the archives for this one – a true pile-up at the leeward mark. Fantastic. The color commentary is great, as well. Sounds like they had a good time reviewing the film.

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Four Girls And A Sailboat

Posted by: Hill / March 21, 2012 @ 10:41 pm

Nice video story of the crew from Rafiki, and a collaboration with other J/30 across the U.S. And more importantly, they look like they’ve had fun doing it. This is what sailing is all about – competitive fun in the sun with family and friends. Oh yeah, and the sailing.

RAFIKI 2011 from Kate Hayes on Vimeo.

Spinsheet has a nice piece, picked up by the J/30 page:

Last month, I witnessed a kindhearted, wild-haired sort of idea sprout, magically open doors, and manifest itself into one exceptional sailing weekend. This may be my first and last Milwaukee-New-Orleans-Chicago-Annapolis sailing story with an Oahu twist, so bear with me as I untangle the details.
Read More »

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“Next Time, We’ll Do It On A Better Boat”

Posted by: Hill / March 19, 2012 @ 10:51 pm

Latitude 38 has this riveting tale of three Canadian sailors rescued just 280 miles outside Hawaii in worsening conditions.

Three Canadian sailors, including a nine-year-old boy, are safe at home in Calgary after a harrowing rescue from their Yorktown 40 Liahona, about 280 miles northeast of Hilo, during the wee hours of February 8. Bradley James, along with brother Mitchell and son West, had left Puerto Vallarta on January 11 bound for Hawaii on their first ocean crossing. They planned to keep the boat in the Islands, as the family travels there regularly.
They report the weather was relatively uneventful until a few days before the rescue. By February 7, it had deteriorated drastically — 20- ft seas and 35-knot winds — and caused the forestay to part. Brad hauled Mitch up the mast to attach a “new cable,” but Mitch was thrown into the water when the shrouds came loose and the mast buckled. Brad was able to bring his brother aboard, but they feared he’d suffered a concussion in the fall. As the pair attempted a jury rig, the mast fell away completely. To top things off, the engine had overheated.
Read More »

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Cruiser’s Disappearance Remains A Mystery Off Mexico

Posted by: Hill / March 19, 2012 @ 10:40 pm

Med_Finesse found stripped1

Solo cruising takes a special kind of person. Donn Pinkney, and his Catalina 27, was that kind of person. A young home builder, he was cruising from California down to Mexico near Manzanillo before disappearing on board. The boat ended up washed ashore, but he remains missing. We certainly are hoping for a happy ending.

In mid-January a young house-builder, sailor, and surfer Donn Pinkney set off for an adventure sailing trip south from Dana Point in California with a friend on his 27ft Catalina sailing boat Finesse. By 20th February they had reached Manzanillo in Mexico, but his friend couldn’t go any further. He set out alone anyway and hasn’t been seen since.
His 27-foot sailboat washed up on Mexico’s west coast in late February, stripped and empty, with no sign of its skipper. Read More »

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Have You Made One Of These Spring-time Goof-Ups?

Posted by: Hill / March 18, 2012 @ 10:56 pm

With the upcoming spring – early here in Annapolis with this unseasonable weather – more and more people are heading out to the boatyard. Unfortunately, a small percentage of these people will get hurt or take unnecessary risks. Our friends over at Boat U.S. have put together this list of what may seem obvious gotcha in the boatyard. Have you done one of these?

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 12, 2012 – Let’s admit it. We’ve all made mistakes. And when it comes to boating goof-ups that can cause a little pain, the folks at BoatUS Marine Insurance have seen them all, handling hundreds of claims each year. So here’s a look inside the claims files for some of the more preventable mistakes that cause injuries around the boat yard every springtime, and some tips to avoid them:

Don’t overload the ladder: At any marina each spring, ladders are as common a sight as channel markers on the ICW. Up. Down. All day long, boaters scramble on ladders to bring up supplies, fix things and prep their boat. Carrying heavy things, however, sometimes causes ladders to buckle. Lesson: have your own ladder and know its safe carrying load. It is also good to never face forward or have two persons on one at the same time, and understand that loose footwear such as flip-flops can snag on a ladder rung quicker than dragging a treble hook over Grandma’s shag carpeting.
Read More »

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Crash Of The Week: Watch Your Fingers

Posted by: Hill / March 15, 2012 @ 10:34 pm

Sent in from our reader – Steve – we had a fun time watching this one. This is pretty much how we’ve seen these types of incidences actually occur on the race course. You’re zipping along, and then all of the sudden wham. That’s one advantage of staying on the high side. Thanks Steve!

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Should Your Propeller Be Free-Wheeling Or In Gear?

Posted by: Hill / March 15, 2012 @ 10:27 pm

Leave it to the internet to come up with answers like these. In a great example of individual testing, MaineSail from Sailnet has some great research that he conducted to get the definitive answer to his question: does a fixed propeller generate less drag for a sailboat when it is free-wheeling or when it is in gear (not rotating).

There is a caveat (ahh..you thought this was easy). All sailors should look to their owner’s manual on their transmissions. Some engine manufacturers like my Yanmars allow the transmissions to be put into neutral under sail. Others may not.
Read More »

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This Man Lived His Life As A Pirate – And Then Got Out

Posted by: Hill / March 15, 2012 @ 10:20 pm

We found this interview of a pirate who has recently called it quits. He describes quite graphically the conditions and characteristics of life in Somalia. Interesting.

Youth are a largely curious and impressionable lot who are prone towards the more dramatic and popular occupations and lifestyles. Many young men in Somalia would be very happy to be called a pirate, a Mujaheed or a militiaman. These titles portray power, influence and most importantly spread fear. He may find it difficult to tell you what exactly he seeks to achieve through his heartfelt struggles and initiatives. These social groups constantly draw their strength from an endless supply of youthful recruits. Within Somalia’s poverty and battle ridden boundaries, a generation of youth who only understand the language of violence have emerged to claim these seemingly coveted and powerful roles in society.
Somalia Report interviewed Ibrahim Farah Osman, 26, who was once a pirate and is now reformed. He lives in Kakuma refugee camp, in Northern Kenya.
Read More »

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Cruise Ship ‘Anchorman’ Caught Red-Handed

Posted by: Hill / March 12, 2012 @ 11:14 pm

We reported on this earlier, but the Californian who ‘accidentally’ released a cruise ship anchor was recently sentenced. But the notable thing were the details caught on film – in this case he walked closely in front of the camera several times. It was also interesting that it was the stern anchor, and not the bow anchor which was dropped. Check out the video…

A California man was sentenced in Florida this week to two months in prison and house arrest after he drunkenly deployed the anchor of a Holland America cruise ship while the vessel was underway.
According to reports, Rick Ehlert, after a long night of drinking on Holland America’s MS Ryndam in November 2010, snuck into the cruise ships control room and released the 18-ton stern anchor which brought vessel, traveling at 18 knots at the time, to a sudden stop.
Luckily for prosecutors, the whole thing was caught on the ships surveillance camera leaving little doubt as to the identity of the perp. A federal judge sentenced Ehlert to four months incarceration — two months to be served in a federal prison and two months of home confinement — followed by three years of probation, a $7,500 fine and alcohol abuse classes. Read More »

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Fukushima and the Ocean

Posted by: Hill / March 12, 2012 @ 11:03 pm

The sea. If you’re a sailor, it is one of your loves. In all of its forms. But what happens when it becomes the dumping grounds for massive amounts of radioactivity? Well, Fukushima is letting us find out. In this article, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute researchers are tracking marine radioactivity – and the answer may surprise you.

One year ago, a series of events began with an earthquake off the cost of Japan that culminated in the largest accidental release of radioactivity into the ocean in history.
We have to be careful and say “accidental” because in the late 1950s and early 1960s, 50 to 100 times more radioactivity was released worldwide as fallout from the intentional testing of nuclear weapons. The word “ocean” is also important, since Chernobyl in 1986 was hundreds of miles inland, so it had a smaller impact on the concentrations of radionuclides in the sea than was measured directly off Japan in 2011.
Read More »

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