The boys and I went to the Olympia Harbor Days today and went out on the Lady Washington for a battle sail. The Lady Washington is a tall ship sailing vessel, a replica of the original Lady Washington that traded for furs in the Northwest in the late 18th century; she was recently named the official Tall Ship Ambassador for the State of Washington (nice to see the state legislature really working hard...) She's was also the Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean and in Star Trek: Generations. She often sails with her companion, the Hawaiian Chieftain, another replica tall ship, as she did today. During a battle sail, the two ships maneuver for position and shoot blanks at each other with their cannons.

 

The Chieftain appeared to hold all the cards. They are a little bigger, a little faster, and better armed. (Chieftain carries four three pound deck guns to Lady's two three pound deck guns and two one pound swivel guns aft.) What's more, today, she had the weather gage (she was upwind of  us), which is normally a huge advantage in sail combat. Once we motored out into Budd Inlet and raised sail, Chieftain fired a shot to signal the start of hostilities and then bore down on us. As she drew near (slowly in the light winds), we unleashed a salvo from our deck gun and swivel gun. Chieftain was unable to respond since she doesn't carry any guns that face forward. We tried to tack repeatedly, but in the shifty, light winds we had difficulty (never really tacking). As we flopped around, we blasted Chieftain several more times. Chieftain never got a clean shot at us and resorted to firing at the pleasure boats that were watching the battle. (It's OK by me to sink a few Bayliners.) According to the captain, they typically try to keep the fights pretty even otherwise the passengers on one ship get bummed, but today, I declare us to be the clear winner.

 

The ship itself was cool. I've been on tons of tall ships before, but I've never sailed on one. It was neat to see how all the stuff works and how much harder it is to do everything than on a modern sailboat. They definitely have a hard time pointing (sailing upwind) and tacking. The crew was nice and seemed to know what they were doing; they have a mix of volunteers and paid crew. I'm seriously considering doing their two week volunteer training where you live onboard for two weeks and learn the ropes (literally). They do an evaluation, and if you pass, you can be a long term volunteer with them. It would be very fun.

Unfortunately, the boys didn't love it. Michael (7) for all his swagger, doesn't really like loud noises, so the cannon fire wasn't a hit with him. Andrew (10) had a better time but somehow got it in his mind that he was going to help with the cannons and be allowed to go aloft, so he was a little disappointed. However, he is game to go on their week-long family expeditions they do in the San Juan Islands every year. I'd love to do that with him next summer.

One a side note, this is the first time I've really done anything in Olympia (which is the state capitol.) It's pretty small and a bit worn out, but the area by the water front looks very fun.

Alinghi won the 32nd Americas Cup today, beating Team New Zealand by one second! Alinghi was comfortably ahead on the last downwind leg with Team New Zealand still owing a penalty turn; it looked like the race was in the bag. Then, the wind shifted upwind. Team New Zealand dropped their spinnaker (the downwind sail) and put up their jib; Alinghi tried to do the same and ran into trouble, with their spinnaker flailing and pole out of control. They got caught in a light wind hole and New Zealand went past. TNZ did a double-tack for their penalty turn (unusual since typically boats will do a 360 - armchair sailors will be debating this forever) and were racing toward the line. Alinghi got their speed up just in time to nose over the line, ahead by a second. It's incredible that after about 90 minutes, these two boats were only a second apart.

This has been the most amazing Americas Cup. Alinghi won 5-2, but each race was fantastic. The boats were well matched for speed despite all the rumors of Alinghi's boats being half a generation ahead. Alinghi simply executed better. The commentators can't stop gushing about what a fantastic final this has been.

So, congratulations to Alinghi for defending their title and keeping the oldest trophy in sports. Also, kudos to Team New Zealand for doing such a great job through the Louis Vuittons and the AC.

Wow. I can't wait for 2011...

After all the excitement of the Louis Vuittons Cup, I was glad to finally get out myself this week. I crewed on Ragin' Cajun, a J-24 I've raced on a couple of times a few years ago. The weather was shifty, threatening to rain. Worse, the wind was very unpredictable, so we tacked back and forth for an hour as the committee reset the course a few times.

We had one start that resulted in a general recall. It was quite exciting. There were twenty-seven J-24's trying to hit the line at the same point (near the committee boat) at the same time. Mass chaos. Lots of yelling. Tons of fun. Same thing at the start of both races.

We did OK. Rico (the owner and driver) pulled a few cool moves at the marks, sliding by a dozen boats. Picking the correct side of the course to work well with the wind shifts was key, but we weren't super successful at that. In any case, I had a great time and hope to get out a few more times this summer.

In case you're interested, here are plots of our GPS tracks for the first and second races. I've added the rough position of the marks.

Nothing beats racing...

Congrats to Team New Zealand for sweeping Luna Rossa 5-0 for the Louis Vuitton Cup! They now get to challenge Alinghi for the Americas Cup later this month.

Luna Rossa sailed well; the races were much closer than the 5-0 score might indicate, but I think Luna Rossa simply wasn't aggressive enough. In the last race, they finally started attacking more, trying to take advantage of their faster acceleration after tacking in the light winds, but it wasn't enough.

Wahoo! Watch out, Alinghi!

Emirates Team New Zealand is off to a 3-0 start in the first-to-five series against the Italians of the Luna Rossa Challenge for the Louis Vuitton Cup. The winner of the Cup also earns the right to race in the Americas Cup against Alinghi (Switzerland).

Today was a day off and a chance for everyone to think about the first three races. They've been close races against two well-matched boats. However, momentum seems to be on the side of New Zealand. The Kiwis have progressively increased the margin of victory in each race going from eight seconds in the first race (crazy close) to forty seconds in the second to 1:38 in the third race (after losing the start pretty badly). What's more, New Zealand has led around all of the marks.

The boats appear to be close in boat speed under the conditions so far, so the difference has been tactics and a bit of luck. In particular, Luna Rossa missed a chance to shut out New Zealand at the start of the third race, failing to tack over the Kiwis after winning the start. New Zealand found better wind on the right side of the course and beat the Italians to the first mark.

We'll see if Luna Rossa can figure out what's going on and pull out a win. They'll need to do something or risk getting skunked.

Go New Zealand!

The Louis Vuitton Cup determines who will go on to challenge the reigning Americas Cup champion (currently Alinghi, the Swiss team). This week, the LV semi-finals in Valencia finished up. I'm happy to report that things are going my way.

First, I'm most happy that BMW Oracle Racing(USA) lost to Luna Rossa (Italy). Of course, normally, I'd be cheering on the US team, but my feelings toward Larry Ellison, the owner of the BMW Oracle syndicate, transcend even my strong patriotism. That BMW Oracle was the Challenger of Record (the runner up from last time), this is was Larry's third try at winning (he hasn't yet), and that Luna Rossa smoked their ass 5-1 makes me even happier. After this humiliation, Chris Dickson, the CEO and skipper for BMW Oracle and turncoat from Team New Zealand, resigned. Besides, Luna Rossa, with the help of their sponsor Prada, just looks better. They have a beautiful boat and great uniforms. Look good, sail good.

Almost as sweet, Emirates Team New Zealand beat a scrappy Spanish team, Desafio Espanol, five races to two. I've been a fan of Team New Zealand for a while; they're a class act and a great example of a smaller effort producing great results. I am, of course, even more a fan of Team New Zealand after having visited their base in Auckland, had lunch at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (home club for TMZ), and sailed around Auckland Harbor on an old AC boat last year. That said, Desafio Espanol did much better than anyone expected in their first AC challenge. Props to Desafio for a good effort.

So, Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa will race in the finals starting June 1. The winner will go on to challenge Alinghi for the Americas Cup. Should be fun!

If you want to watch video highlights or watch a very slick computer representation of the race (the same one they use in the TV coverage and frankly a better way to follow the races), check out Americas Cup Anywhere.

Here's an old Larry Ellison joke just to finish things up:

Question: What is the difference between God and Larry Ellison?
Answer: God doesn't think he's Larry Ellison.

 

Last weekend, I shot the Opening Day of boating season. This is an century+ old tradition, put on by the Seattle Yacht Club (my club). It consists of an opening Commissioning Ceremony on the club grounds, the Windermere Cup crew races, and a big boat parade. There are also a bunch of activities and parties leading up to Opening Day and afterwards. It's an altogether big deal.

 

Despite having been a member for eight or nine years, I've never been to Opening Day. (I did hang out on a speed boat at the exit of the boat parade one year.) In something of a coincidence, Michelle and I were married on Opening Day a long time ago. It was nice to finally hang out at the club for Opening Day; being the "official" photographer gave me a little something extra to do while I was there.

I took over 1000 photos; a few even turned out OK. Unfortunately, I had smudged my camera's sensor the night before as I was cleaning it and didn't have the right tools to really fix it. It didn't affect most of my shots, but you can see the flecks in a few. Drat.

Easily my favorite boat in the parade was the Elvis boat from the Bremerton Yacht Club. The huge Elvis head looked great; the lips and eyebrows even moved with the music. The crew on board also looked like they were having a blast.

Anyway, I had fun. You can check out more photos here.

(Note: I wrote this post on the day the events occurred, but posted this after the trip, so the dates may be a bit messed up. This post is from the seventh day of the trip, Wednesday.)

Click here to see where we were and our approximate course.

We left Smuggler's Cove this morning and headed into the teeth of a big storm. We motored for a while in 2-4 foot seas with 15-20 knot winds and rain coming exactly from the direction we needed to go. It was actually a good day to learn how to handle a boat in heavy weather. It was getting pretty tough with the boat pounding, but I admit I enjoyed it. For a while, the portholes on the low side of the boat (sailboats heel or lean in heavy wind) were under the water (click here for video of pounding seas and green water going past the porthole, 687K .wmv). It can get a little dangerous below in seas like this. I was laying down for a while trying to get a little nap when Mike and Dan tacked the boat (changed directions). Suddenly, stuff started flying across the boat - binders, books, Mike's iPod, jackets, etc. All of this stuff had settled someplace on the last tack, but now that the boat was heeling the other way, it all came shooting out again. Good times.

We hove to for a while so we could cook and eat (heaving to is a cool sailing trick where you almost stop the boat by balancing the sails and steering). It was actually a bit amazing to see the stove swinging around and the pot of hot soup not sliding around. (Stoves on sailboats are gimballed, allowing them to swing to match the heel of the boat so the pots don't slide off). After lunch, we sailed into the storm. Cap't Dan coached us on heavy weather sailing and tacking single handed.

After a bit, we motored the rest of the way into Vancouver, coming under the Lion's Gate Bridge. We're tied up now at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Coal Harbor outstation, on the edge of Stanley Park. We just had a good dinner in the cafe here on the docks. It's nice to have someone else cook for a change.

Michael took off back to Seattle, and we were joined by Brad, a new sailor who will be riding with Papa back to Seattle. I'm staying on board tonight and will hang out on the boat tomorrow for a while before they leave for the San Juan Islands. Michelle and the kids will be joining me here in Vancouver for the weekend.

It's been a great trip - relaxing and fun. It was kind of a gamble getting on a boat with two strangers, but it turned out fantastic. Mike and Dan were easy to get along with and good shipmates, and Papa was a great boat. I highly recommend Dan and SailPapa.com for any chartering.

I'm super glad I did it.

(Note: I wrote this post on the day the events occurred, but posted this after the trip, so the dates may be a bit messed up. This post is from the sixth day of the trip, Tuesday.)

Click here to see where we were and our approximate course.

We're holed up in Smuggler's Cove on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, about fifty miles north of Vancouver on our last night of the trip. We have the tiny inner bay all to ourselves; it's amazingly quiet and an appropriate finish before we arrive in busy Vancouver tomorrow.

This morning we left the Cortes Bay outstation under sunny skies. Once we cleared the harbour, we pretty much had a straight shot down the Malaspina Straight. Once again, at the north end of Texada Island, we ran into a herd of Dall's porpoises. (my guess is that it was the same group we saw earlier) They played with us for a while and then turned tail and ran for greener pastures.

The wind was ideal for a few hours this afternoon, so we set sail, first sailing downwind wing-on-wing and then flying our spinnaker again. (It was nice of Cap't Dan to arrange a downwind run on our way out and another on our way back - it's neat and unusual go downwind north and south...) We ran for a few hours before the wind finally gave out.

All day we've been finishing our foodstuffs, finding creative and yummy ways to exhaust what's left. It's a good exercise.

I'm a bit sad as I think of only one more day on the boat. We've settled into a good rhythm with everyone knowing what needs to be done and just making it happen. I've also enjoyed being disconnected from the world, like a week long plane ride. It'll be weird to be back in "civilization" tomorrow with connectivity, noise, and people.

More than anything, this trip has reminded me that I need to take time off of work.

We have another early tide to catch, so time to go bed. More thoughts later.

After a few days beyond all electronic communication, we're back to civilization (well, we have wifi). We're tied up at the Seattle Yacht Club outstation here in Cortes Bay on Cortes Island, just at the mouth of Desolation Sound.

I have tons to write about, but I need to go to sleep now since we have to get up early to catch the tide back to Vancouver. It'll take us two days to go the one hundred miles back to Vancouver, and it looks like we'll have a storm blowing in our face the whole way. Should be interesting.

It's been stunning up here. We've had great experiences from seeing whales and porpoises to feasting on oysters to resting in secluded anchorages by ourselves. The weather has been mostly rainy with a few breaks, but I've loved it.

Anyway, more later.