By kimball | Published:
August 30, 2009
There is no reason to sail a 505 except for the love of the game, love of the challenge, love of the people. Sure, you have Olympic-level talents, but the 505 is no stepping stone to a six-figure America’s Cup salary (which, though scarce, still exist). The 505 is also a realm where mere helmsmen [...]
By kimball | Published:
August 25, 2009
There hasn’t been a 505 world championship on San Francisco Bay since 1981. Apparently it takes that long to forget— Though day three lacked the carnage of day two, and that was a relief. Fascinating, meanwhile, to see how the SAP techies slice and dice their transponder-based data to turn it into news for sailors [...]
By kimball | Published:
August 23, 2009
I know why Mike Holt and Carl Smit lost 30 seconds on the final beat of the second race of the 505 Worlds. They sailed into gas. The gas at the back of the fleet. They lapped the tailenders. Hoo, boy. For all those who spent a big portion of their day capsized in the [...]
By kimball | Published:
August 11, 2009
Wuzzat above? Big feet on the netting of a big boat: © Kimball Livingston In San Diego, as I write, Larry Ellison’s BMW Oracle Racing Team is showing off the 90-foot trimaran that they say will be their boat for an America’s Cup match six months from now, and Ellison is explaining that, in his [...]
By kimball | Published:
August 9, 2009
Mike Farley saw a lot of racing in the IOR generation of Maxis, then came his last big gig in competition as project manager for Alaska Eagle in a Whitbread race around the world. His gift to the next generation of sailing was way-doggies different. Sean Farley, the newly-crowned world champion of kite racing, recalls [...]
By kimball | Published:
August 6, 2009
Lots of chatter at Crissy Field Beach about fins being reshaped overnight, but the man who went two days without losing a heat in the Kite Course Racing World Championship says, “I had my board ready a month ago. There are guys who mess with their fins every day, but I just want a board [...]
By kimball | Published:
August 3, 2009
Now we know what it takes to get the number-one, bull goose kiteboard developer to about-face: A world championship for course racing. That, and San Francisco Bay. Paolo Rista shapes boards for himself, also for the likes of Bruno Sroka, who has been ripping up everything in 2009. And Paolo Rista has been developing fins [...]