By admin | Published:
May 15, 2013
Here is a response submitted to SailingScuttlebutt.com in response to the pickup of The Prototype blog. I would note that it was not “submitted.” From Dan Meyers – Newport, RI: As I get older I figure that I have seen all of the foolishness in the world, but this week the nonsense submitted to Scuttlebutt [...]
By admin | Published:
April 8, 2013
Photos © Kimball Livingston What’s in a shadow? Some things cast a long shadow, relating to Grant Dalton’s comment— If New Zealand can’t win the America’s Cup this time out, “The team cannot survive.” Heavy stuff, but before we follow that up, I want to know something completely different. I wanna know, when our Kiwi [...]
By admin | Published:
February 24, 2013
Photo © (presumably) Gilles Martin-Raget/Oracle Team USA I don’t think anyone connected to America’s Cup competition was quite prepared for the poise and capability of the young sailors who showed up this month to try out for a spot in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. An event that once sounded vague and dicey is [...]
By admin | Published:
July 31, 2012
Photo © Kimball Livingston When we slowed to 22 knots, it felt like sailing into molasses. That is the addiction of speed. And I appreciate it, Jimmy Spithill, that you once showed me 28 knots on an AC45, but the boys on l’Hydroptere let me drive at a boatspeed of 34 knots. Top number for [...]
By admin | Published:
April 30, 2012
There’s more to it, I think, but that quote from reigning world champion Johnny Heineken is not a bad start for explaining why kites are hot. Heineken continues to dominate the course-racing scene with a combination of raw speed and the tactical smarts developed out of growing up racing dinghies and skiffs. How long can [...]
By admin | Published:
April 22, 2012
Does it say something about sailing or does it say something about journalism that even the New York Times had to look for an America’s Cup tie-in when it reported the tragic deaths of five amateur sailors aboard a keelboat rounding an island at the edge of the Continental Shelf, 27 miles from the nearest [...]
By admin | Published:
April 16, 2012
As cruel a lee shore as exists on the planet. Low Speed Chase comes to an end in the Farallones Race, a fully-crewed contest that had been run without loss of life since 1907. Photo posted on Facebook by Will Paxton; provenance not identified . .
By admin | Published:
February 27, 2012
You know how, sometimes, you’d rather be wrong? I seem to remember writing, “If” lead negotiator Stephen Barclay and his America’s Cup cohorts were a trifle naïve regarding San Francisco politics when they first blew into town, trumpeting the splendors to come, an 11th hour lawsuit filed last week by former President of the San [...]
By admin | Published:
February 2, 2012
Everybody please relax. The America’s Cup is going to be fine. Through the lens of Gilles Martin-Raget The recent spate of negative headlines from Auckland to San Francisco will someday make comic collectibles. I seem to recall, not so many years ago, a great handwringing around the building of a ballpark that was sure to [...]
By admin | Published:
July 11, 2011
On mark roundings, tacking drills, gybing drills and kites As a longtime member of what some people imagine to be a stuffy yacht club on the San Francisco cityfront, I am pleased to share a few thoughts regarding the skill sets of the racing sailor and the place of kiting in that community. The thoughts, [...]