Vendee Globe: Two Women (on Day 60 of the race)

For the three or four regular readers of this blog, it is easy to deduce that I'm following the two women on the Vendee Globe Around the World Singlehanded Race.

On our last post, we said that Dee Caffari had some sail repair to do on her main. This video gives a how-to on main repair on an Open 60. That main looks rather sad!



With all the destruction of those in front, our every day effervescent Sam Davies finds herself currently in 5th (that may not be technically true as Marc Guillemot in 6th has been awarded 82 hours for the rescue of Yann Eliès). She is zeroing in on Cape Horn and her morale may be on the upswing but it's hard to tell with Sam as she is always upbeat. The video mixes French and English.

Boatbuilding in Time Lapse

Neat time lapse video of building a 40 foot shallow draft cruiser. Construction looks to be strip plank, then cold molded, over bent frames.



These guys have a blog all about the construction, which I, unfortunately, haven't read, so what I have written above may be completely in error.

1969; Forty years on

While doing research on previous posts, it occurred to me that some momentous historical events in dinghy sailing took place in 1969.

First, as mentioned previously, the International Moth Class merged with the Australian Moth class in 1969. With this union, the class adopted the higher aspect fully battened Australian Rig, wider beam with racks and the squashed bug symbol. Certainly these additions set the tone for the International Moth class to continue as one of the premier development classes going.

Second, the International 14, after banning the trapeze in 1938, voted in 1969 to adopt it. It was one of the last "performance classes" of that time to adopt the trapeze. It wouldn't be until the 1980's that the International 14 would follow the International Moth's lead and merge with it's Australian counterparts, again adopting most of the Australian rule.

Thrid, Ian Proctor designed the Topper dinghy, the first mass produced injection thermoplastic class in the world. At 46,000 sold it probably ranks third in singlehander numbers, behind Laser and Sunfish.

I'm sure there are other 1969 dinghy sailing notable events. As discovered, I will post them.

How the English do it in the Winter; Part two

As a follow on to my post about the Brass Monkey Handicap Race ..... this is Bala Sailing Club's Handicap Race which occurs annually in February. This video was taken eighteen years ago, in 1994, before Laser, Topper, RS and others developed a profusion of new dinghy classes for the English market. So we watch the tried and true classes such as the 505, Fireball, Contender, GP14, and Enterprise (blue sails) coping with some very blustery conditions.



Video was posted by " SailAction who, like Shockwave40, has some other first rate dinghy sailing videos.

Music for Fridays, Another Twofer; Cheech and Chong

Sorry... Broken link.... Warner Music Group YouTube police.


When looking for Randy Newman's "I Love LA" video, I happened upon Cheech and Chong's parody of both Bruce Springsteens "Born in the USA" and Randy Newman's "I Love LA".

"Born in East LA"

Music for Fridays; The Bees

What do you have when you combine a nonsensical barnyard song sung by English Rockers and then add a Japanese video that depicts the leader of a gang of toughs having some fun in a video game parlor. Add all those barnyard animal calls!

You have "Chicken Payback" by the Bees;



Some of the more astute among you mayh have noticed the tie in with this blogger and a YouTuber whose handle is also chickenpayback

Rock and Roll!

How the English do it in the Winter

In the northern latitudes of the United States, when winter comes the dinghy sailor either;

1. Packs it in until spring.
2. For those really up north, pulls out the ice boat for some hard water racing.
3. Makes a trip to, hopefully, warm and sunny Florida or California for the class midwinters.
4. For New England or the Mid-Atlantic dinghy enthusiasts, buy a Laser or Sunfish, a comfy drysuit, warm sailing gloves and boots, and frostbite.

The English, on the other hand, with their smorgasbord of dinghies, run very large handicap events throughout the winter. When it comes to a variety of dinghy classes, no one can trump the English.

From one of the most prolific dinghy sailing videographers on YouTube, Englishman Shockwave40 , with over 120 videos, we view various singlehander classes racing at the Brass Monkey Handicap at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club . He captures a diversity of designs, both old and new.

1. We start with the Laser Vortex, a small catamaran designed by Jo Richards, with solid deck, an assymetric spinnaker and trapeze. 
   
2. Next is the Internatonal Contender, designed by Ben Lexcen; the first of the trapeze singlehander classes. Wood hulls are still very popular in this class. 
   
3. The Musto skiff appears next. The latest generation in singlehanded design with trapeze, racks, and assymetric spinnaker.
   
4. Next up, a conventional hiking dinghy, the Phantom dinghy is one of many English singlehander designs that occupy the same slice of the sailing market (12' -14' hiking singlehander) now dominated by the Laser. The Phantom was designed by Paul Wright and Brian Taylor in 1971.
   
5. OK dinghy follows. The OK dinghy was designed by Knud Olsen of Denmark in 1958. It was initially the build it yourself trainer for the Olympic Finn. The Laser killed the OK dinghy in North America but the OK Dinghy still remains a very popular international class. See this OK Website for some great photos.
   
6. With the OK, rounding on the inside, is the Topper scow, designed by Ian Proctor in 1969. It was one of the first Injected Thermoplastic designs. When it was first introduced, the Topper was raced by both adults and juniors. Today the Topper is primarily the mid junior singlehander for England, the next step from the Optimist.
   
7. Finally, we have the ubiquitous Laser, the one class you could truly say that you will find at least one at almost any sailing club, anywhere in the world.