By kimball | Published:
April 30, 2010
I figure Genny Tulloch had it right when she said, “Match racing is looking great as an Olympic sport, because generally we can race more often than the other fleets—whether it’s too windy or too light for others, we’re still typically racing.” It was true on the French Mediterranean at the just-wrapped Semaine Olympique Française, [...]
By kimball | Published:
April 28, 2010
Plastiki, 39 days out of San Francisco and halfway to a final destination in Australia, arrived on Wednesday in the Line Islands. I gather it was none too soon. Arriving at the Line Islands. © Plastiki Co-skipper Jo Royle writes, “We were ready for a stop. Everyone on board has worked hard to keep the [...]
By kimball | Published:
April 27, 2010
From the Indian Ocean, approaching Australia after a six-month, nonstop circumnavigation, Sydney to Sydney: “Despite the fact that today started with a knockdown, a wet bunk, a headache and some pretty huge seas, I’ve had a great day. I know the words knockdown and great don’t belong in the same sentence, but right now I’m [...]
By kimball | Published:
April 25, 2010
It worked, the owner-driven boatshow of the Bay Area Multihull Association. No, they didn’t have thousands of people thronging the docks, but that was just as well because they didn’t have thousands of free hotdogs to give away. Think, instead, 100 free rides given out and 300 free hot dogs crossing the grill, and I’m [...]
By kimball | Published:
April 23, 2010
Imagine a boat show that is not a “boatshow” put on by the industry but a grassroots effort by people with something in common to roll up their sleeves, get some boats together, take people for rides, and share the love. I have a friend who likes to end a conversation with the words, “Now [...]
By kimball | Published:
April 21, 2010
“Pacific Gyre? The problem is not in the middle of the ocean; the problem is in your refrigerator.” A Bryant Austin life-sized image on display in a whaling nation. © mmcta.org It’s been a long, long time since I saw anyone twist up an aluminum can and toss it overboard from a raceboat, or any [...]
By kimball | Published:
April 20, 2010
Waving the Jamaican flag for Jamaica Lightning Bolt. Photo by Kimball Livingston Barely a day and a half after Team Finland arrived from its long crossing of the Pacific, the Clipper Round the World fleet was off again, bound now from San Francisco to Panama over 3,329 miles that are all but guaranteed to be [...]
By kimball | Published:
April 19, 2010
Team Finland treating arrival as triumph. Photo courtesy Clipper Ventures What a twisted piece of irony that a hard-luck boat finally makes it across the Pacific to re-join its round-the-world race just one day ahead of the start of the next leg, and what in most seasons would be a seabreeze forecast on San Francisco [...]
By kimball | Published:
April 14, 2010
Being a convert from the Can’t-Happen-Here-Party, I have the convert’s zealotry for seeing America’s Cup 34 sailed on San Francisco Bay. Now we’ve inched a step closer with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously adopting a resolution put forward by Ross Mirkarimi, commending the BMW Oracle Racing team for the win and stating that, [...]
By kimball | Published:
April 11, 2010
The gaff-rigged Kate returns from the racecourse. Photo by Kimball Livingston Little-known factoid: Puma’s store in Boston, the U.S. stopover for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, is now the sports apparel maker’s hottest store. I got that small but meaningful tidbit out of a sit-down with Puma Ocean Racing skipper Ken Read on the final [...]