Music for Fridays; on Thursday!

I'll be busy this Friday; this being the Christmas season .... so "Music for Fridays" gets bumped ahead one day.

Todays featured artist is one of my favorite reggae singers who, believe it or not, is a German who goes by the stage name of "Gentleman". (Note: This video went away) What's unusual about this video is the backdrop; it features the area in Bangladesh where large ships, at the end of their life, are driven ashore and then broken up .... dirty, dangerous, labor intensive work taken over by a third world country,

I have no idea why "Gentleman" decided to do a reggae music video with ships being destroyed in the background, but it is fascinating to watch.

For a more in depth story, there is the CBS "60 minutes" segment (again, link only);

Ship Breakers of Bangladesh

Vendee Globe; Dee Caffari on Sail Handling

Because the headsails on an Open 60 are all on furlers, all sails are stored rolled up. Dee Caffari gives a good overview.

Europe dinghy, Another Classic Moth

The USA Classic Moth rule uses the International Moth rule as it was up to the early 1970's before the class merged with the Australian Association and allowed wings and a higher aspect sailplan. The Europe dinghy, or, as it was originally known, the Europa, was a Roland Moth design from the 1960's. It was always thought of as the baby Finn. Europe's certainly qualify for Classic Moth racing (other than the Europe one-design sail which has grown too much roach for the Classic Moth rule) and in the U.S several Europes have been absorbed into the Classic Moth class. In Europe, the one-design Europe class remains very strong despite (or because of) the elimination of the class from women's Olympic competition.

A very good video of Europe's playing in some big waves;

Volvo Ocean Race, Bird Watching, Comment 6

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet is in port now, having completed the second leg to Cochin India. Ericcson 4 repeated their win on the first leg and look to be the ones to beat this year. Puma Racing recorded this encounter with an albatross while racing this leg. We marvel at our technology at getting these sailboats around the world but for pure wonderment, nature seems to trump us every time.

Vendee Globe, Dee Caffari

One of the two women racing this singlehanded round the world, Dee Caffari gives an interesting tour of the navigation area in these Open 60's.

Directors Cut; YouTube - Aussie 10 foot skiffs

For my third YouTube video, I again did a slideshow, but this time I heisted all the pictures from the Internet. I suppose this could be seen as a copyright infringment. I was willing to take the YouTube down if someone complained. That hasn't happened yet.

This is a slideshow of the Australian Historical 10 foot skiffs. Most every sailor is aware of the modern Australian 18 skiffs with three men on a trapeze ... on wide racks ... going blistering fast ... on the edge of control and beyond. There is also a modern 12 foot skiff and 16 foot skiff with two men on trapeze.

In the early 1900's there were a myriad of skiff classes in Australia; a 6 footer, a 8 footer, a 10 footer, a 12 footer, a 14 footer, a 16 footer, a 18 footer class and some behemoths over 20' long. These were round bilged, open dinghies with acres of sail and as much crew as they could fit in the boat to keep these boats mast side up. These skiffs were very similar in concept to the American sandbaggers popular in the late 1800's.

Over the last 20 years, there has been a resurgence in the Historial Skiffs, particularly in the Historical 18's and the Historical 10. All of these skiffs have been built as reproductions.

The Historical 10 footer is a ride I want to experience when I get to Australia. 10 foot long .... three crew .... flying spinnakers from the number 2 rig of the Australian Historical 18's. I think this slideshow gives a feeling on how crazy these 10 foot skiffs are.

(Click here to view more posts on Australian Historical Skiffs.)

Classic Moth Nationals - some Pics

Elizabeth Albaugh sent over some pictures she took at the 2008 Classic Moth nationals, held as always in Elizabeth City, NC in mid Sept. For higher resolution pictures, click on the thumbnail.

Jeff Linton won the regatta in his Mousetrap design (a modified Mistral).

Joe Bousquet finished second in his modified Shelly3 design

John Zseleczky was third in a Y2K design (another modified Mistral).

A new Mothboat, a Tippy design,  by Jim Young won the Gen 1 division (older designs and/or slower designs).

And, Walt Collins won the Vintage division in Ara II. Vintage division is restored Mothboats built before 1950. They are required to use wooden masts.

Everyone starts together.