Damning report on 'youngest circumnavigator'

You may have heard of Aussie Jessica Watson, the 16-year-old girl who is planning to go around alone in a pretty pink S&S 34.

But before the thing even started, she collided with a Chinese freighter off Australia's Gold Coast on Sept. 9.

Just bad luck? Maybe not, say inspectors from Maritime Safety Queensland. They cite her sloppy log keeping and speculate that she dozed off just prior to the collision.

Still, that's not stopping her attempt to one-up Zach Sunderland, the American lad who set the 'youngest' record recently. Also, Sir Richard lends his support, saying "she's not a baby anymore."

Cruiser's first-hand account of Samoan tsunami ...

This is from the Cruiser Log forum. A fascinating narrative from someone who's there: http://www.cruiserlog.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13641

View from the flip side

here's some tres cool video of the Melges 32 Worlds shot from ... underwater:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfYSEUThviQ&feature=player_embedded

Courtesy of one of our favorite blogs, Sailing Anarchy. Even if you're not as obsessive about boats as we are, the "Sailor Chick of the Week" feature is highly recommended.

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/

Over 50'/Under $50,000

Remember the "tiny Stonehenge" scene from This is Spinal Tap?

That's what we thought of when we saw this 55" [sic] "Sampson Sea Breeze" for sale:

http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/14438

Not much to say, except that the hull material apparently couldn't be quantified -- it's listed simply as "other". We're guessing it's another cement boat, but we could be wrong about that.

Another thing that strikes us: What appears at first glance to be an ill-placed and heavily raked mast is actually a tree growing along the bank behind the boat. Clever.

Oh, and just because we can't resist, here's that scene from Spinal Tap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlf5ucFanpY

White Lightening!

Here's the first state-side look at the hot new Beneteau 40 First, a Farr-designed thoroughbred unleashed on the sailing world earlier this year. We saw her at Annapolis Yacht Sales on Saturday.

Although the folks at Beneteau call her a cruiser adaptable for racing, it seems the other way around to us.

Didn't bother to look for the price tag. What is it they say: "If you have to ask ..."

More photos from Sailing World:

http://www.sailingworld.com/photogallery.jsp?ID=1000024184

And ... a mini-review at Cruising World:

http://www.cruisingworld.com/boats-and-gear/boat-reviews-and-previews/beneteau-first-40-a-mini-review-1000076406.html

Weekend weather sucks ...

enough said.

See for yourself:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?w0=t&w2=hi&w3=sfcwind&w3u=0&w4=sky&w5=pop&w7=thunder&w8=rain&AheadHour=0&Submit=Submit&FcstType=graphical&textField1=39.08190&textField2=-76.57250&site=all&unit=0&dd=0&bw=0

http://forecast.weather.gov/shmrn.php?mz=anz532

Elf ... a yachting phoenix.

We're a bit late in pointing this out, but our friend Rick Carrion (at top, standing), a retired school teacher who has worked tirelessly for many years to restore this racing classic, was featured in the August issue of Wooden Boat.

Last year, we were privileged to sail aboard Elf, a splendid gaff-rigged cutter, designed by George Lawley & Sons and built in 1888 in Boston. The photos were taken at the time.

Rick's odyssey with the boat began in 1971 when he bought the nearly sinking Marconi yawl as a liveaboard during his college days. It was years later that he uncovered the documentation number and discovered the boat's pedigree and the nature of its original rig. Billionaire Peter Kellogg has been among the benefactors on the 17-year, half-million dollar, restoration project.

You can read more here at the Classic Yacht Restoration Guild's site: http://www.cyrg.org/elf.htm and in the Wooden Boat piece.

Best Bay Boats - Pearson 30

This week's entry is the venerable Pearson 30. She's a versatile cruiser/racer that has a reputation for being quick on the race circuit as well as safe and comfortable for gunkholing around the Chessie.

The early P30s sported the once-ubiquitous Atomic 4 gasoline engine, but for those who prefer diesel, many -- if not most -- have been repowered. One really nice thing is that her fin keel is encapsulated, so she'll take a grounding. And, there are no keel bolts to worry about.

About 1,000 were made in the 1971-1981 production run, so there are plenty of them kicking around.

Overall, not as pretty as the Alberg 30 we featured last week, but faster. The P30 is a solid, if unglamorous, performer. Median price seems to be about $12,000.

Here's more info from the Pearson Sailing Association of the Chesapeake Bay: http://cbpsa.org/links.asp

Good Race!

Perfect weather for last night's race. About 7 kts. from the south. Options sailed a respectable race -- no huge mistakes, but ended up near the bottom of the pack on corrected time.

Nautical word of the day ...

CUT AND RUN: to leave hurriedly, 1704. Originally, a nautical term meaning to make sail by cutting the cable instead of weighing anchor. The metaphorical usage dates to at least 1861.

Wednesday Race Wx

Looking at 5 kts. or so out of the SE at the start on a rising tide, backing to the S and increasing to about 10 kts. for the finish. Overcast skies, with a slight chance of rain.

Our favorite Weather Forecasting sites listed below.

NOAA Hourly Weather Forecast: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?w0=t&w2=hi&w3=sfcwind&w3u=0&w4=sky&w5=pop&w7=thunder&w8=rain&AheadHour=0&Submit=Submit&FcstType=graphical&textField1=39.01&textField2=-76.5&site=all&unit=0&dd=0&bw=0

Sail Flow http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=174&regionProductID=30&day=0&timeoffset=28&selected_model_id=

Pro Tides: http://www.protides.com/maryland/74/

Over 50'/Under $50,000

Continuing our (tongue-in-cheek) series of the market for used, big and cheap ...

Nothing telegraphs "Danger, Will Robertson!" quite like the words "owner built" and "ferro cement". If any part of the hull or deck is covered in blue plastic tarp, well then, that's just icing on the topsides.

http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/7986

Among other things, this 56' behemoth would sleep the forenoon watch on the USS Nimitz. She's ostensibly a ketch, though the sails are "plus", whatever that means. The head apparently comes with its own holding tank (how 1960s!).

Ad says the hull has no leaks. At first glance, we felt the not sinking thing was a definite selling point. In fact, everything sounded swell until we got to the part of the blurb that advised "in need of repairs and TLC."

Awl, shucks. A project boat.

Our guess is this beauty is way beyond TLC.

Starboard!

Here's a photo (from Spinsheet's Dan Phelps) of this weekend's Bartlett Cup held near St. Michael's, MD. The event marks the sesquicentennial of log canoe racing on the Chesapeake.

Log canoes, based on dugouts, are (or were) unique to the Chesapeake. They were forerunners of the famous skipjack and bugeye designs used for oystering and crabbing. Later, log canoes were used as a means of getting catches quickly to market.

The key feature of the log canoe was the extreme instability that required rail meat to sit far out on a series of planks.

Nice video here too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPFjZlWnGBs

Morning on Broad Creek ...

Cool Kite ...

This one belongs to our friend "Ardi the Albanian" Muca. Photo courtesy of Adrian Flynn.

Weekend Wx

Sunny, yes, but how much wind? NOAA's Marine Forecast has an SCA, with winds gusting to 25 kts. on Saturday. Sunday looks like a light air day:

http://forecast.weather.gov/shmrn.php?mz=anz532

http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=174&regionProductID=30&day=0&timeoffset=25&selected_model_id=

... but other forecasts are calling for more moderate conditions:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?site=lwx&FcstType=text&site=LWX&map.x=301&map.y=95

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=21146&hourly=1&yday=261&weekday=Saturday

Nautical word of the day

GROGGY: Befuddled, tired, weak, as if from a fight or drink, 1832. Older use, from 1770, means intoxicated.

Grog is a mixture of rum and water once served to sailors in the Royal Navy. The name comes from the nickname of Admiral Edward “Old Grog” Vernon who in 1740 first ordered the mixture to be served to sailors in the place of neat spirit. Vernon’s nickname is from the grogram coat he often wore. Grogram is a mixture of silk, mohair, and wool which has waterproof qualities.

Race Redux

In the second race of the Magothy fall series, what started out as a windy day ended in 25 kts., overcast and the back of the pack finishing with running lights on.

Twice around the buoys may have been a bit much. Several boats retired, appparently unwilling to risk spinnakers on the final downwind leg.

Still waiting on the results. Maybe a protest lodged by Rocket Science is holding things up.

Best Bay Boats - Alberg 30

A new feature here on Sailing Maryland. We're taking nominations -- so here are the parameters: 25-35' LOA, with decent, used examples at less than $50,000.

Meantime, we're going to start with one of our favorites: the spunky little Alberg 30, the 60s/70s-era plastic fantastic from Canada, designed by the legendary Carl Alberg.

She's got circumnavigations to her credit but also seems to do respectably well on the various PHRF circuits -- not bad for a greying, modified full-keeler.

On the Chesapeake, there's the added benefit of an enthusiastic class association (http://www.alberg30.org/Assoc/) offering, among other things, a number of A30 one-design races throughout the year.

Clean, well-maintained Alberg 30s run $15-$20K.

My Old Man and the Sea

Someone pointed this out to me a few weeks ago. Whatever you thought about William F. Buckley the irascible conservative, it's hard not to like Bill Buckley the irascible sailor. A nicely written ode from his son:

http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/q=ZGMxYjAzMTFlNDBjZTU2ZjMxY2JiYWI4NzkzMDA2MDE=q=ZGMxYjAzMTFlNDBjZTU2ZjMxY2JiYWI4NzkzMDA2MDE=

Race Wx

Wednesday in both rivers will be 10 kts. out of the ENE with a better than even chance of rain.

Nautical word of the day ...

BY AND LARGE: Current meaning "in all cases" or "in any case."

From the nautical: by meaning into the wind and large meaning with the wind: as in, "By and Large the ship handled very well."

Over 50'/Under $50,000

A good friend of mine, Larry Ricci, once quipped that broken dreams could be easily indexed on the Internet. "Just go to yachtworld.com, select over 50 feet and under $50,000," he said.

In honor of Larry's insight, we are creating an occasional feature on Sailing Maryland that utilizes his extraordinary methodology.

First up is this 55' wooden schooner, custom-built in 1950. She's lying (slowly rotting?) somewhere in Ft. Lauderdale and could be yours for the incredible sum of ... you guessed it, $50,000!

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1950/Custom-Built-Schooner-2043105/Ft.-Lauderdale/FL/United-States

The fact that the only photos of her underway look like hand-tinted daguerreotypes or that she would require a crew of 12 from a Patrick O'Brian novel, should not put us off. She is "An ocean vessel wanting to ply the caribbean or the south pacific islands, with you in charge," the write-up assures us.

"As the anchor drifts to the bottom in the crystal clear water the sounds of island drum music and singing floats across the water," the blurb continues. "... Before departing your sailing vessel to go ashore, your sailing mate comes up from below in an island srong [sic] with a rum punch."

"You feel lucky, knowing that you may have purchased one of the last large sailing vessel capable of this type of comfortable crusing," it concludes.

Sighted on the Magothy ...

Victory is a 44-foot pilothouse cutter -- a one-off Ted Brewer-commissioned design. According to the current owners, she was built over a two-decade period in the backyard of an Everett, Wa., doctor.

Fiasco on the Potomac

On the 8th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the ever-vigilant Coast Guard aggressively challenges a suspicious vessel, firing 10 (count 'em 10!) "warning" shots at the boat to move it out of restricted waters.

Except, that's not what happened.

Apparently some over-eager cub reporter was scanning the VHF and overheard an impromptu "exercise" the Coasties were conducting. The speed with which the erroneous report fell into CNN's news vacuum and subsequently spat out its satellite uplink could probably be measured in microseconds.

The exercise (along with some realistic sounding radio chatter) was, according to the Coast Guard, transmitted on a training frequency.

OK, so maybe it was not a good idea to conduct such training on 9/11, but my question is this: why didn't someone have the good sense to realize that Channel 16 -- not Channel 81 (or whatever) -- would have been used to hail another vessel? That would have at least given them a few seconds pause and could have averted a very embarrassing situation.

Nautical word of the day

MAYDAY: The distress call for voice radio, for vessels and people in serious trouble at sea. The term was made official by an international telecommunications conference in 1948, and is an anglicizing of the French "m'aidez," (help me).

Weekend Wx

Despite the gale warning currently in effect, it looks like the weekend could be decent sailing weather.

Saturday: overcast with a slight chance of rain, with 5-7 kts. out of the NNW on the Magothy and Severn:

MAGOTHY SATURDAY:
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?w0=t&w2=hi&w3=sfcwind&w3u=1&w4=sky&w5=pop&w7=thunder&w8=rain&AheadHour=48&FcstType=graphical&textField1=39.08190&textField2=-76.57250&site=all&unit=0&dd=0&bw=0&BackDay.x=56&BackDay.y=14

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=21146&hourly=1&yday=254&weekday=Saturday

SEVERN SATURDAY:
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?w0=t&w2=hi&w3=sfcwind&w3u=1&w4=sky&w5=pop&w7=thunder&w8=rain&AheadHour=48&FcstType=graphical&textField1=38.59&textField2=-76.30&site=all&unit=0&dd=0&bw=0&BackDay.x=56&BackDay.y=14

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=21401&hourly=1&yday=254&weekday=Saturday

Sunday: is looking similar wind-wise, but the chance of rain tapers off.

Recession is over, if you want it (a boat, that is ...)

In December 2007, I did a story for NPR about how the boating industry was a bellwether for the economy. At the time, things were looking pretty grim:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17620887

Well, a few months later, economists finally got around to telling us, yes, in fact, we were in the midst of a Great Recession. So, when exactly did it "officially" start?: Dec. 2007.

So, here's the good news: I recently chatted with the yacht broker featured in that story, Mr. Dave Van den Arend of Crusader Yachts in Annapolis. Now, he says, he can't keep up with demand. He's selling boats "like hotcakes."

If the marine industry is a bellwether on the way up as well as the way down, maybe this thing really is almost over.

Maybe.

Wednesday night at the races ...

The first race of the Magothy River Sailing Association's fall series started out with a bang, literally.

A collision between a couple of non-spins rounding the windward mark caused much sound, but little fury, as neither was damaged enough to retire. We think the Pearson 30 Merlin had rights, but it was hard to tell from our (uh hum, distant ...) perspective.

The weather was just about on target, too, with give or take a bit on 12kts and a fine mist of rain by the finish.

Meanwhile, far back in the pack, was our C&C 27 Options (Larry Ricci, skipper). Our star-crossed campaign continues, thanks in part to a botched sail change at the top mark by yours truly:

http://www.magothysailing.com/racing/2009/2009_wed_s6r1.html

In future, I hope to carry some sort of report on the high-society races at that other river to the south.

Remembering Walter Cronkite, Sailor

CBS commentator Andy Rooney recently remembered an outing (on the Chesapeake?) with colleague Walter Cronkite aboard the late anchor's 64-foot Hinckley ketch, Wyntje.

Rooney describes the pair in the cockpit watching a man ashore yelling and gesticulating. Cronkite waved back. A few moments later, the yacht's keel touched bottom.

Rooney: Didn't you hear that man yelling 'shallow water'?
Cronkite: Oh, I thought he was saying 'hello, Walter'.

Nautical Word Of The Day

BAMBOOZLE: From the 17th century, it described the Spanish custom of hoisting false flags to deceive (bamboozle) enemies. Works equally well in 21st-century politics.

This is what 50+ kts. looks like under sail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ-gdqo35os

Wednesday Race Wx

September is here and looks like we can leave behind the August "painted ship ..." light-air races. Wind and rain in the forecast:

ANNAPOLIS fleets are looking at NNE at 15-20 kts. with rain likely:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?w0=t&w2=hi&w3=sfcwind&w3u=1&w4=sky&w5=pop&w7=thunder&w8=rain&AheadHour=0&Submit=Submit&FcstType=graphical&textField1=38.59&textField2=-76.30&site=all&unit=0

MAGOTHY RIVER folks should get a steady 13 kts. out of the NE:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?w0=t&w2=hi&w3=sfcwind&w3u=1&w4=sky&w5=pop&w7=thunder&w8=rain&AheadHour=0&Submit=Submit&FcstType=graphical&textField1=39.08190&textField2=-76.57250&site=all&unit=0

French cat l'Hydroptere breaks speed record

... a blistering 51.36 kts. over 500 meters and 48.72 kts. over one nautical mile!

http://www.hydroptere.com/_en/

NOAA forecasts

What was up with this weekend's Chesapeake Bay forecast? Last I checked (on Friday), it all looked good through the holiday. Instead, it started blowing stink Sunday afternoon. A lot of boats (power and sail) caught out that had to be helped into slips in the 25kts. of gust.