Delta Lloyd - Day 1, Breeze On!

Each sailor that came off the water today had a different word to describe the conditions. Serious, extreme, full-on, crazy, wild. For us it was about survival. When you get a Star boat going down wind in 25-30 knots (some claim 35) it is all you can do to hang on, keep the boat pointed in the right direction, and most importantly, the mast pointed skyward. We did all those things and notched a single digit finish so there is nothing to complain about.


At the finish of the first race we got ourselves back under control and made some minor adjustments before looking around at the fleet. It was carnage. Of the 29 competitors, 5 had breakdowns and did not finish the race, and one World Champion broke his mast right after finishing. The wind was gusting over 30 and the waves had stacked up to four feet in the shallow fresh water making them very close together. Full-on.

At that point the race committee decided to end the carnage and send us home. It was a long cold 3-mile slog back to the harbor and a hot shower and big Italian dinner with the US Sailing Team capped off a long day. Racing continues through Sunday. Stay tuned…

Delta Lloyd Regatta - Arrival

On of the great things about all the traveling I get to do with my sailing is learning about new people, places and cultures. I never would have believed that I would have to travel all the way to Medemblik, Netherlands to learn how the simple sailing rule of starboard and port came about.

Here in Medemblik they sail some very traditional boats in very shallow water. To keep from constantly running aground, the boats were designed without a keel and with very shallow drafts (flat bottom). To keep the boats from sliding sideways, a leeboard was added. For those of you who did not grow up sailing sabots in southern California, a leeboard is like a centerboard on the side of the boat.

Now when you bring a big boat into port, you do not want to break off your leeboard on the dock, so you always tie the boat on one side – the PORT SIDE. When sailing, boats tend to heel over putting one side lower into the water. When on PORT TACK the leeboard is lower in the water, making the boat more maneuverable and on the other stack the leeboard is up in the air making boat handling difficult. Therefore, a boat on PORT TACK shall always keep clear of a boat on starBOARD TACK because she has more maneuverability.

I am sorry to say it took me more than 20 years of lessons and coaching to learn that!
I am in Medemblik sailing The Delta Lloyd Regatta which starts on Wednesday. So far things have been going well with beautiful weather and moderate breeze. The more normal Medemblik returns tomorrow with cold, rain and wind.

Volvo Boston - In-Port Race Report

If you were curious about what the most difficult maneuver is in a Volvo Ocean 70, it is a tight tack into the weather mark with the upwind code-zero up followed by a quick set of the spinnaker. Five big grinds in a row. A code-zero is a sail designed for sailing up wind that is set off the top of the mast and the end of the bow sprit. When fully trimmed in, it reaches all the way to the back of the boat, nearly 80 feet! Telefonica calls their code-zero “the anaconda” because it is so big. In order to tack, you have to furl the sail to get it around the headstay and then unfurl it on the new tack. Each time it takes six guys grinding to get it done. Follow that by a spinnaker hoist, another furl, and a big spinnaker trim and you really get a work out.

Saturday’s In-Port race in Boston was an amazing experience. Fan Pier was packed with people for the ceremonial dock out where the King of Sweden and the Prince of Saudi Arabia walked the dock and shook the hand of each crew member. Each boat left one by one with their theme song blasting and the announcer going through the list of crew members. Telefonica Black rocked out to “Black” by Pearl Jam.

Unfortunately, it was a very light wind day and we slowly cruised around under postponement for an hour. Even though it was very early in the season, Boston came out in full force with hundreds of spectator boats. The first race got started in 5-6 knots of wind, but with the “anaconda” we were able to do almost 10 knots upwind. Amazing boats.

The first race finished with a great jibing duel between our team in the black boat and Puma, who just nipped us in the end. The second race saw the wind build to 11 knots and we had a great start with Telefonica Blue leading us into the top mark. We held second all the way around the track until we caught a lobster pot on our keel and watched both Ericsson boats and Delta Lloyd pass us down wind into the finish. Puma was charging strong but this time we were able to hold them off. Our team claimed the bad luck was the lobsters getting back at us for the team dinner the previous night when we ate their cousins!

We returned to Fan Pier in reverse order of finish to full fan fair, more music and the announcer going through each team with a little bio of each sailor. Tens of thousands of people packed the water front and it was a real treat to be the “local addition to the all Spanish team.”

Joining Telefonica Black for the weekend was a truly amazing experience. I have gained a whole new level of respect for what these sailors go through racing around the world. The Volvo Ocean Race is truly life on the edge.

Volvo Ocean Race: In-Port Boston - Practice

I always knew that running a Volvo Ocean Race team around the word was a huge undertaking, but I didn’t realize what was involved until I joined Telefonica Black for the Boston In-Port race. Boston hosted the teams on Fan Pier where each team has constructed a base for the few weeks they are in town. There were hundreds of custom shipping containers housing offices, media crews, work shops, locker rooms and kitchens, tents with full sail lofts, and hospitality areas.

On top of that, each team needs two sets of everything because the sail boats are faster then a container ship. The Telefonica base from Rio did not come to Boston, it went to Galway, the next stop after Boston. Add on top of getting the gear around the world, the fact that you need to take care of 12 sailors per team, their families, a shore crew of 12 plus a huge organizational staff. It is a daunting task.