Epitome of Summer

What is the epitome of the American summer to you? My personal favorite is still the whistling and slamming of a screen door on a porch. Only in America...

But the follow up is quite close: wind in your sails. I was lucky to join races at the Sandy Bay Yacht Club races on Star boats (awesome!) and on Rhodes 19.  The club in Rockport, MA, on Cape Ann sports other one design races as well, for example on Bulls Eyes, Flying Scots and 470s. These two pics - thanks to Mike Lane - show the start of the Rhodes 19 division on June 29th 2012 and my humble self skippering Brian Bones' "Amenomania".

Which is a clever pun, me thinks: This word was invented by Shackleton's crew members, sitting tight on their ice floe after the "Endurance" was lost. Only wind or death could free them from their misery - so they got obsessed with the force and direction of the wind.

Start of the Rhodes 19 fleet in Rockport, MA

Trimming the spinnaker in weak winds on "Anemomania".

Brian was so nice to let me sail his boat this day, but I couldn't have done it without the two avid star boat racers Ted and Mason. Mason took me out on a star boat race the day before. Whoaa! That is real fun, even that keeping the back stays in shipshape order requires some adjustment. Not exactly rocket science, but I definitely had to get used to it. But once you are airborne... you won't go back.

[Edit: Thanks, Karin, for remarking on the correct spelling of epitome!]

Clutter, Then Declutter!

The easiest thing in the world is to put too much clutter on your boat. That's exactly why I thought of a new mug for the sailor chickens aboard Mistral IV - and came up with a slight variation of the well known British appeal:

Sure enough this is available as mug:

Buy me!

By the way: The best way to declutter your boat is not to put too much crap aboard. If you need inspiration, read this little book by Sam Llewellyn: The Minimum Boat.
If you like to read an example column first: This is why.

In Sync

I am still preparing the photos from the trip of Kona Kai down the Eastern seaboard. In the meanwhile a really nice video about the synchronized movements aboard a racing vessel (song: Vikunja - The Antique Tin Carousel). I wish I could perform tacks like these. See on my alltime favorite sailing website Sailing Anarchy!