Category: Uncategorized

Another Uncle Bob special. Watch here. There’s something weird, though, about a sport that requires you to sit down…

If you like to ski powder, and you want to ski some of the best powder in the world, it’s hard to do better than the Chugach Range in Alaska. You’ll need a helicopter of course, and the Chugach Powder Guides would be happy to provide you with one. Since this is the 21st century you can get at least a taste of what you will be in for by watching this out-take from a Teton Gravity Research movie called “Uprising.” Looks good to me. No lines, lots of the white stuff. Dare I say it? I think we are looking at yet more ski porn…

“Where do we start…?

“This looks good…”

“Mmmm, powder…”

Shocking! No pitchpoles, capsizes or dismastings to report today. See the latest here. But it looks like Franck Cammas has some work to do on Groupama. It can be a dispiriting sport…


(Photos via The Daily Sail)

More Hobie cat hi-jinks, for all you beach cat lovers out there. First, some nice little vids. First up, a Hobie (seemingly in the 1970s judging from the clothing and music), towing a wakeboarder. Clip 1. Clip 2. Want more? Well, alrighty then. How about a vid of a Hobie living it up in Tahiti? Click here. Finally, TWC answers the age-old philosophical question: does Hobie surf? And the answer is YES (go here for the full gallery)…

The main pack has shrunk to just four boats–Ericsson, Brasil 1, and the ABN Amro’s–but they are racing hard through the trades. Click here for the latest from Volvo HQ. And here for an after action reprt on all the carnage. Even on the boats that emerged relatively unscathed it was a beast of a start. Here’s ABN Amro 2’s Simon Fisher:

“Broke nothing too major, we are largely in one piece. A couple of the bunks were blown out, we had some problems with the wet box for the generator; we were struck by lightning and trawled a spinnaker. We are managing to hold it together and keep the pace on without breaking anything too major, we’re in good shape. It was pretty scary the first night, certainly for those who stepped up to have a go on the wheel, water everywhere, couldn’t see much.”

Phew. Glad things are going so well. Here’s a prediction: The leg that will bust these boats up like no other will be the South Atlantic after rounding Cape Horn, when they are beating upwind and crashing off waves. Builders and designers never like to overbuild. But I’m wondering whether there is enough beef in any of these boats.

In the meantime, kudos to ABN Amro 2, the so-called kiddie boat. Not only are they up with the leaders (and in fact led for a stretch), but they found the time to send in some great video. Check it out, and try not to drool all over your keyboard. Clip 1. Clip 2. Clip 3. TWC has a new favorite in this race…

“Hey, Simon! Now is not the time to be climbing the mast to shoot video…”

With all the sailing action on the Atlantic Ocean, spare a thought for TWC hall-of-famer Olivier DeK, who is still out there trying to claim some records–any records–for his already outdated monster-tri, Geronimo. De Kersauson just departed LA, in an attempt to break the LA-Honolulu record. Sure, it’s a lame, obscure record for a boat that once aspired to the triple crown: the 24-hour record, the transatlantic record, and the Jules Verne record. But who cares. Go get ’em, Olivier. TWC still loves you. Sail World has the story…

Tri, Tri Again: “After this, we’re going for the Honolulu-Vancouver record, if that is a record…”

Over the weekend, a retired Marine named Jay Platt swam the frigid 1.5 miles from Alcatraz Island to the San Francisco waterfront. Big deal, you say? Well, Platt raised the level of difficulty somewhat by doing it with…HIS HANDS AND FEET TIED. Why? Who knows what wierdness lurks in the hearts of men. But you can read about the whole thing here. And you can watch a video here. Semper F-F-F-F-fi, hombre…

Bound Man Swimming: “Damn, this would be a good way to get Al Qaeda suspects to talk…”

If you really want to follow all the tactis, kead changes, and day-to-day moves in this year’s VOR, do yourself a favor and go here. Why? because that’s where you will be able to download Virtual Spectator, the best way to watch any sailing event from the comfort of your desk chair. Haven’t checked out all the features yet, but so far it looks great. Sure, you’ll waste hours of your time. But if you are here at TWC, you probably do that already…

“Glub! Gasp! Damn, I wish this was a virtual boat right about now…”

It’s hard to keep up with all the action and carnage. And this is just Day 3. Three boats–Movistar, Pirates, Sunergy–are already heading for port to make repairs (check in with the Volvo web site for all the details). And the rest of the teams are having a rough time, as ABN Amro 2 (the kids boat) clings to the lead. It’s hard to fully capture the speed, fear and flat out power of the boats as this VOR gets underway. But this e-mail from ABN Amro’s Mike Sanderson does a pretty good job:

“We were middle of the pack as we left Vigo Harbor, but as the breeze built and we ended up with around 20 to 25 knots broad reaching. By the second position report we had worked “Black Betty” into the lead, it all seemed to be going nice and smoothly. Then we got hit by a big puff, 37, 38 knots of wind; the boat took off, fully under control, and then there was a loud bang and we did the most massive wipe out.

“Tony (Mutter) and Jan (Dekker) got swept along the cockpit with so much force that they took out the leeward steering wheel, steering pedestal and the safety frame that is around the wheel…..

“As if that wasn’t bad enough, we just couldn’t seem to get the bow down so that we could roll up the gennaker. We tried to roll it with the boat still on its side, but the wind speed was just too great. It was then that we realized that our problems were in fact bigger then we thought. We had broken the tiller arm on the port rudder, this is the link between the rudder stock and the steering system, so basically we had lost steerage from the rudder that was in the water. Eventually we managed to roll up the sail and the boat came back downwind miraculously, just using the tip of the windward rudder. Once downwind and with the windward rudder firmly in the water we were able to re-group…

“Our first job was to get the emergency rudder in place so that we could steer the boat, then set about fixing the tiller arm. After much head scratching we did it with long bits of threaded rod and good old spectra lashing… now we are back up to 90 per cent speed and our plan is to try and hang on to the pack as well as possible until we can get on the other gybe and have another go at the repair with more time so that we can push on starboard tack at 100 per cent.

“Just got called up half way through writing this with a 46 knot squall!!! Am just now back in the nav station, four hours later after getting the reacher down, getting it packed and stacked, getting the new sail up and then frantically bailing out the back of the boat, where we have a hole in the deck where the steering pedestal has ripped off… This is seriously hardcore…

“Just heard about Movistar and the Pirates, I hope they stay safe first and foremost.

“Okay that’s about it from me, the young fellas are doing a fantastic job at the front of the fleet in ABN AMRO TWO. For now, more than happy to leave them there and just keep this baby in one piece and under 30 knots…”

It makes you wonder how many of these machines will find Cape Town in one piece…

“Harrr! Err, oops. Umm, Paul, do we have hotel reservations yet?”