Category: Uncategorized

All the sea lion craziness (see previous post here) prompted TWC reader Traci Ayris to alert me to a more pleasant sea lion/human experience. Here’s Traci’s note:

Given that we are notorious for great whites in these parts..(er.. three attacks within last 12 months.. two fatal) thought you may like to see that it doesn’t stop us from getting in the water.. .especially when there are cute sealions like “spotty” around who seem to fall in love with you.

These pics were taken at an amazing place called Baird Bay where you can swim with wild sealions in sheltered rockpools and dolphins out in the bay. These animals are not fed.. they are simply used to humans …as pups their curious nature leads them to join in when we swim and as adults they then bring their young out.. so over the years this particular colony have a great trust of humans.

I believe that the baird bay experience is truly unique and a great place for a wetass weekend!

This obviously needs further investigation. Can’t wait to get my all-expenses paid ticket out there. Traci?…


“Spotty is a slut, and might be willing to nuzzle that diver above. But this guy is just too damn ugly…”

Yessirree, the photographers seem to have it made, scratching a living by getting out to all sorts of wild places and taking pictures of people digging deep into adventure. Skip Brown is one of the best, and you can check out his gallery of stunning photos here. Here’s just a small sampling of five…

We’re up to our ass in morons, and today I’ve got a double-header. Start with this little clip, which features an idiot named “Manny” who likes to chum for hammerheads and then grab on for a ride. Unfortunately, hammerheads turn out to be more tolerant than one would think and it doesn’t have the ending I was hoping for…

Next, up is TWC’s favorite dumbass adventure duo, aka “The Wild Boyz,” famous for going on safari in a zebra suit, and also jumping into a tub full of alligators. Today, they are back into the tub, and this time it’s filled with piranhas (“these bastards will bite your wiener off!”). I hope they get paid the big money…

“Manny’s too skinny to waste my time with. Now those Wild Boyz, they’d be some good eating…”

This one is happening in my home waters, and it’s a great regatta. Forty two teams, stacked with Olympic and Rolex talent, duking it out on the so-far calm waters off Annapolis. Here’s your coverage rundown. Annapolis Yacht Club site. Rolex site. Sailing Anarchy discussion. T2P.TV daily video reports (free reg required, and it’s worth it). Have I missed anything? Nope, don’t think so…

Race 1 Start: “Gag! Gasp! Help, I can’t breathe…”
(Photo: Dan Nerney/Rolex)

The official site is French only. For the language-impaired or freedom fry lovers, here’s one site that’s doing a pretty good job of tracking the thing in English. The fleet is going super-fast, reaching and running their way to the first pit-stop…

“Yeah, Baby…!”

The Mini Transat fleet is at sea, racing to the Canaries, and it has been rough going. Irishman Cian McCarthy has alrerady been dismasted, and there is lots of fast downwind work going on. The official website is French only, but even if you don’t parlez you can get the positions and scan some very cool photos. For English-language updates, follow Englishman Nick Bubb. Bubb killed at the start, owning the pin while the rest of the fleet banged around at the committee boat.

Bubb has since faded to mid-fleet, but at least he was kind enough to post a very cool Mini Transat preview video. Watch it here.

English, French, it doesn’t matter. When it comes to the Mini Transat the pictures tell it all.

The action is starting to pick up, with 47 days to go to the start. Check out the Volvo website and get your ass updated. The newest wrinkle is the appearance of Paul Cayard’s Black Pearl. Haaar! Cayard and his crew have been out all week taking their new boat through her paces, and Cayard has been practicing his report writing. Some excerpts:

My first impressions of this boat is that it s much more powerful that the VO60’s were. It is a bit daunting actually. It will take some good sail handling techniques to keep the manoeuvres safe and efficient during the race…

The weather routing we did yesterday worked out perfectly. We rode some nice south westerlies up to the north west side of Ireland yesterday and this morning. The wind slowly turned from south to west over four hours this morning. Then the wind direction went from west to north in two minutes when the front passed us. It happened so fast that all we did was turn the boat 90 degrees and nothing had to be adjusted.

Soon after the front passed we set the kite (spinnaker) and sent it.

Thirty knots of boatspeed for the Pearl in 27 knots of wind. These boats are weapons!

Still rippin’ it up. We did 480 miles on the Pearl in the past 24 hours
and believe me we are trying not to go too fast. She is capable of leaping
small buildings if you are not careful and the landings are a bit brutal.
She is not a ballerina, more of a belly flopper. Not going to be a
comfortable rid around the world. The 60’s were less violent that this
baby. Awesome machine through.

We have had the full fire hose conditions most of today and in side it
feels like you are getting dragged down a cobble stone street in a 55
gallon drum. All pretty similar to my other experiences. One difference is
the constant speed. We are definitely going to get their quicker. The boat
is very easily driven and won’t need much sail area…

If you want a sense of how wet and fast these machines will be, just check out these Jon Nash pictures of ABN Amro.

Ericsson looks fast, too. Here’s a couple from Rick Tomlinson:

And here’s the headsail they’ll all be looking over their shoulder for:

“I can’t believe I have to look at this ugly-ass thing for the next 30,000 miles…”

You couldn’t do this with a 12 (see post below). Take one Melges 24 and one wakeboard, mix with a stiff breeze, and you get…some serious Wetass fun. Watch here…

“Okay, next maybe we could drop it out of a plane with those insane parachuters…”
(Thanks to the detectives at Sailing Anarchy, I can now report that the video was made by a Norwegian M24 team. Check out their website here)

Say what you will about displacement (heavy) and speed (slow), you have to admit that the 12-meter design is a timeless classic that always looks good and evokes the best of sailing. The NYYC has managed to lure at least 17 of them, from early classics like Northern Light, to modern champions like Courageous, to a world championship that is making the waters off Newport look spectacular. You can follow the action and results here. Check it out, and watch the drool…

Classic Onawa (1928)…

Hissar (KZ5) Chasing Freedom (US30)…

Courageous (US26) Running Downwind…
(Photos: Dan Nerney)