“And we sail and we sail and we never see land, just the rum in the bottle and a pipe in my hand…”
To further whet your Vendee Globe whistle…
http://www.360ouest.com/ouest-france/vendee_globe_2008_yann_elies/
More panorama views (cockpit and cabin) of a different Open 60 here
http://www.safransixty.com/spip.php?article962
Even though these around-the-world 60 footers are quite beamy, living space seems minimal. I believe the whole front end is given over to sail storage.
Thanks to LeoV of for the find.
In 1893, Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen and his ship Fram were victims of a strange phenomenon as he sailed past the Nordenskiöld Archipelago, north of Siberia.
Nansen wrote afterwards: “Fram appeared to be held back, as if by some mysterious force, and she did not always answer the helm … We made loops in our course, turned sometimes right around, tried all sorts of antics to get clear of it, but to very little purpose.”
Nansen called the effect “dead water”, reporting that it slowed Fram to a quarter of her normal speed.
Research has already shown that dead water occurs when an area of water consists of two or more layers of water with different salinity, and hence density – for example, when fresh water from a melting glacier forms a relatively thin layer on top of denser seawater. Waves that form in the hidden layer can slow the boat with no visible trace.
more at New Scientist
also has a bailout plan.
The girls and I took in Morning Light, Roy Disney’s film of the TransPac campaign he put together crewed by college sailors with no previous ocean experience. We thought it was terrific, but because the reviews have not been that great, you might want to catch is soon before DVD is your only option. The photography was excellent, and I thought the film makers did a good job of being true to the sailing without dumbing it down for a general audience. The reality show aspect that I had heard a lot about was not nearly as promenent as I had feard. All in all, it seemed like truthful storytelling.
Rodéo à bord de Groupe Bel !
30 noeuds de Mistral, gerbes d’écumes, ambiance sous-marin. C’est dans ces conditions que la banque images hélico et embarquée de Groupe Bel avant le Vendée Globe a été réalisée. Du rarement vu, dixit les photographes et caméramans de l’équipe.
Rodeo aboard Bel Group!
30 knots of Mistral, jets of skimmings atmosphere submarine. In those circumstances the bank board images of helicopters and Bel Group before the Vendee Globe has been achieved. From rarely seen dixit photographers and cameramen of the team.
Rockin’ preview clip of Vendee Globe from the Groupe Bel. More here.
Vendee Globe Open 60 competitor HUGO BOSS rammed by a fishing boat with a big hole in the side and the rig lost. Very sad news for skipper Alex Thomson. He still hopes to be repaired and ready by the start of the solo, round-the-world race in just 20 days.
Link. Thanks to DaveK at S/A for the find.
Yesterday we had a practice sail on Temerity, and few the spinnaker for the first time! Yeah, I know, “pics or it didn’t happen”, but I was way too busy to snap any, so the GPS track will have to do. A great day out with Charlie and Rick, who I hope will be able to join us next week for the Great Pumpkin.
Get yours here, http://www.democraticstuff.com/Sail-Boats-for-Obama-Photo-Button-p/bt24255.htm, they’re just a buck.
Thanks to Lonnie at Talking Sh*t About a Pretty Sunset for the find.
Somewhat infamous.
There are a lot of sources of tide information on the Web. One of the most popular and useful is the WWW Tide and Current Predictor at http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/ . Like the name says, it has current information, unlike most other sources. However, the location of the sites can be hard to visualize at times. To help with this problem, I have created a little Google Earth mashup. Download either of the files below and open in Google Earth, and you will find placemarks with links to the tbone server to see the predicted current at that site for the next couple of days in the Google Earth browser pane. Presently these are only for the West Coast sites (California and Washington), but it would be easy to do the East and Gulf Coasts.
(Note: Right-click and Save As… Some browsers may try to change the file extensions of .kml and .kmz to .xml and .zip. What a pain.)
Download Links:
Finally, a reason to go to Vegas!
The mermaid show “Azure” is performed every hour from 5pm to 11pm Mondays through Fridays, 3pm to 11pm on Saturday and 1pm to 8pm on Sunday.
Mermaid Restaurant and Lounge at Silverton
3333 Blue Diamond Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89139
Phone: (702) 263-7777
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