WholeSail

2008-07-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

America II and Elinora on the Hudson river this afternoon. More pix here:
Windows Live Spaces

a poem

2008-03-17T17:41:00.001-07:00

"Sea-Fever"

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

By John Masefield (1878-1967).

Good discussion

2007-11-25T18:23:00.000-08:00

I came across Renegade Cruisers this weekend. Some excellent postings. Well worth the lurk.

the Vineyard Race 2007

2007-09-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to get a ride on George Petrides' Avra. The boat was very well prepared, George had everything organized down to a T.

Weather looked doubtful up until the day of. But the wind filled in nicely and we had upwards of 15Kts most of the race.

Avra is a j120 - I could not believe how well this boat moved. We were above 8Kts most of the time hit 10 a few times. Even when the wind was below 7 we were still able to move along at 6 kts or so. Very impressive.

George was amazingly meticulous about sail trim. He has a very specific system to make sure the boat is sailing to its maximum potential. If we weren't sailing to speed, we set out to solve the problem. And most of the time we did.

In the end we finished 15th out of about 40. In our division 11 minutes seperated 4th from ninth. Very tough for a 238 mile race.

Dennis Conner Regatta

2007-08-22T15:56:00.001-07:00

Our lowly Wednesday night crew has been given the opportunity to perform in the Dennis Conner International Yacht Club Regatta. Today, day one was kind of nasty, overcast, light wind, realy heavy current due to the hard rain yesterday. The first race we were in third place approaching the upwaind mark, then we got becalmed. All in all, we found it very difficult to keep the boat moving the shifty winds. Ended up sixth overall. Not bad, but not spectacular.

Hopefully three races tomorrow.

first shot - bulls eye

2006-09-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

Last night was my second night on the helm for our wednesday night beer-can races in NY harbour. First time this summer. Our regular skipper was taking care of some personal matters, our regular bow and mast crew were in Chili. So we rounded up a couple stringers and I resolved to do my best.

Whatever it was, we led from first rounding to finish. My first win ever in a sailboat... I'm very pleased.

google maps - navigation aid?!

2005-07-22T02:49:00.000-07:00

Yes this has definite potential. I did a quick look at the Virgin Islands, the detail's not great at the moment. But think of the potential this tool will have. Be able to check out photos of a harbor before trying to crawl in for the first time. I'm sure there's an aftermarket for marrying the google maps to nautical charts...

Charleston - Bermuda Recap

2005-05-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

I'm back!

Outrageous time doing the C2B.
Loved every minute of it. Could have kept going. We came in sixth overall and third in our class.
Dan and Steve were fantastic. Great crew all around.

More great photos by Debra Gingrich

Biograph (the long version)

2005-02-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

As a kid in Northern New Jersey, I practically lived on the family sunfish. My friends and I spent hours racing each other up and down the lake, exploring the shore line and playing pirate (jumping off one boat to climb the other boat’s mast and swamp it).

The interim years were filled with a successful career in technology, a somewhat less successful career in theatre and a variety of extracurricular activities. In my thirties I was living in New York and working too hard. I was working on the play ‘K2’ that follows the final moments of two doomed climbers. As part of the research for the role, I dragged my scene partner up several outcroppings of rock in central park. Somehow I got hooked set about ‘learning the ropes’. Through much of my thirties I found myself hanging precariously hundreds of feet off the ground in New York, Colorado, Nevada, Kentucky and West Virginia. Climbing was a blast, the people are great. The sites are incomparable and the self confidence you gain is not to be explained.

Climbing, however, is extremely dangerous. When your hobbies magazine has a regular, lengthy obituary column, you have to wonder. This may be justifiable to a single guy, but relationships change you. I had just met Andrea and it just wasn’t that much fun to put her through the ‘will he come home?’ routine every time I went on a climbing trip. So I started climbing less.

Fast forward a couple years and Andrea and I are happily married and living in a beautiful loft in lower Manhattan. We take long walks along the battery and look at all the lucky people docked in North Cove and sailing back and forth in front of the Statue of Liberty. One of our favorite games was to look at the people inside some of the power yachts and wondering what the ‘Worthington Yates’ types were saying about their butlers behind their backs.

I also took long looks at some of the beautiful ocean going sailing yachts there at the foot of the trade centers. It brought back old dreams of sailing quietly along to unexplored places. But the idea of getting back into it wasn’t yet in the cards. Too much work, too little time.

Then 9/11. We lived about a ¼ mile from the towers. I worked even closer. The short version is that we were extremely lucky, but badly shaken. In the months that followed, as we got back into the apartment and tried to get some kind of grasp reality I paid back my luck by asking a question. ‘Am I doing everything with my life that I want to be doing?’ Sailing came up pretty high on the list.

That coming April I did a crewed charter in the Virgin Islands on the Dreamwalker. I loved every moment of it. I came back to New York feeling better than I had in years. That spring I enrolled in the intro to keelboat course at Manhattan Sailing club. MSC keeps 28 J/24s in the very same marina as the aforementioned ‘Worthington Yates’. I joined the club and cruised around NY harbor all summer long. Racing looked fun, so I volunteered as rail meat when I could and eventually earned a permanent crew position in the Wednesday night series. Things progressed and now I’m a skipper with the club. I hold the bow position on a Wednesday night boat with a really great bunch of people. The people I’ve met have been pretty much the opposite of what I expected. Everyone’s very personable and most are genuinely humble.

This winter I’m crewing on an Interclub in Larchmont New York. I don’t think I could have imagined how competitive frostbiting in Larchmont is. On a typical weekend there are 25 boats, several national champions and two former Olympians. The boats are incredibly difficult to keep moving efficiently. But I have to imagine that you’re not going to get a much better education in buoy racing.

Biography

2005-02-05T08:52:00.000-08:00

The short version:

Chris Smith has taken ASA classes through bareboat certification. He races J/24’s in New York Harbor in the summer and takes part in Frostbites Interclubs in Larchmont New York in the winter season.

Charleston - Bermuda

2005-02-01T02:26:00.000-08:00

I'm committed. I'll be sailing on a Hinkley Bermuda 40 for this years Charelston to Bermuda race in May.

Crusing

2005-01-15T06:17:00.000-08:00

Manu & Chris share their travels on a J40 via words & pix.

weather

2005-01-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

Noaa's web forecast

National Buoy Reports

NOAA Wavewatch

Weather Models::

NY Noaa's web forecast:

Northeast Buoy Report

Radar :

Frostbiting!

2005-01-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Today I skippered good old number 14. There was good news and less than good news,

In the less than good department:
*The traveler broke during the fourth race (we were able to tie it
back on and continue). We need to take a look at this tomorrow (port side).
*We hit the windward buoy in the first race
*We got snagged in a mooring buoy in the third race

In the good news department:
We beat our arch rival twice.
We were actually second overall to the windward mark in the fifth race (after which
we quickly got caught in irons)
We were great down wind!
We were never really 'out of it'. This was heartening.

Eva was an excellent crew member. Very helpful.

Overall it was a great time!

sydney hobart...

2005-01-06T20:37:00.000-08:00

It was a wild one. I'm kind of bummed that Konica/Minolta folded. But that's the nature of the beast... For future reference. Here's a nice diary of the race.

NGA: NGA Publications - Bowditch

2004-12-12T19:59:00.000-08:00

NGA: NGA Publications - Bowditch The navigation bible. On-line. Free. This is a good thing!

Larchmont Yacht Club

2004-11-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

OK, even though we're at the bottom of the rankings, and we dumped during the fourth race on Sunday we still made the photo (sale 14).Larchmont Yacht Club

North Sails One Design

2004-10-31T06:15:00.000-08:00

North Sails Interclub One Design Tuning guide for future reference.

Frostbiting!

2004-10-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

Our first day on the water today. A few practice starts and several practice (short) races. Let me see if I can remember our finishes.... hmmm this is difficult... last, last, last, last, and second to last.

The interclub is a cool little boat. It looks like a little whale. Sails like one too! This is going to take some getting used to.

Frostbiting!

2004-10-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

Today Joe and I were introduced to our interclub at the Larchmont Yacht Club. Straight off we met the club commodore and several of the members of the race committee. Everyone was extraordinarily nice.

The boat's in fine shape. Cute in a 'herbie the love bug' kind of way. I guess if you can make this big go relatively fast, you've got skills!

j24worlds

2004-09-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

For those of us who putter about on Wednesday nights... This is where the big boys come to play! j24worlds

Maxi catamaran Orange

2004-08-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Maxi catamaran Orange is off and running.

ISAF Athens 2004 Olympic Games

2004-08-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

ISAF Athens 2004 Olympic Games Great source for the latest olympic news.... Plenty of good images + mark rounding stats pretty much real time.

Maxi catamaran Orange

2004-08-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

Awesome.... Maxi catamaran Orange is ready to head out for a transat record attempt!

Lightening Nationals

2004-08-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

Our coach, Adam Walsh is competing in the Lightening Nationals Go Adam! Sail #15190

nyc_sailing Photo Gallery by Steven Singer at pbase.com

2004-08-06T01:13:00.000-07:00

nyc_sailing Photo Gallery by Steven Singer at pbase.com .

The bad news bears

2004-07-22T03:27:00.000-07:00

Nobody ever cheers that hard for the guys that finish third!

I've been racing witha great bunch on Wednesday nights in our club beer can J24 series. We've been doing terribly all year. Monday night we hired a coach to come in and tell us what we were doing wrong.

Coach basically said that our helmsman was oversteering and not letting the boat get up to speed. Also we were slaming the boat around the tacks to quickly.

These good words, 20-30 tacks and 10-20 gypes and our session was over.

Last night we maid the quantum leep from back of the pack to first around the mark on the upwind leg.

Kudos to our team captain for having the humility and brains to recognize that we were screwing something up and needed outside help.

way fun on the harbour

2004-06-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night racing (J24's) on NY Harbour. We ended up mid pack but it was warm and the wind was stiff... Good night.

EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE - Outdoors Gear, Survival Equipment Review & Survival Information

2004-06-03T03:55:00.000-07:00

EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE - Outdoors Gear, Survival Equipment Review & Survival Information For future reference.... Some good stories of open water mishaps. Good reading.

J/24

2004-05-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

Sailing Forum Archives some tips for those of who subject themselves to the j24.

Mad Shark

2004-04-23T18:06:00.000-07:00

Mad Shark Just in case you have a little time on your hands...

Welcome to AMYRC

2004-04-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to AMYRC
this is way cool. An Autonymous model yacht race across the pacific.... Wacky!

Steve Fossett Ocean Challenge.

2004-03-20T19:12:00.000-08:00

Steve Fossett Ocean Challenge. Day 42, steve's kicking ass.

32nd America's Cup Official Website

2004-01-26T03:45:00.000-08:00

32nd America's Cup Official Website, They're not wasting any time on the web site....

Wind-Borne III - Journal Entries

2004-01-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

Wind-Borne III - Journal Entries. A good sailng journal...

An open directory of sailing wipeouts... cool

2004-01-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

Index of /~schramm/wipeout

2003-12-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

Sydney to Hobart starts tomorrow.... Looks like it should be a good race.

Welcome to The Tartan Owners Website, hosted by TONE

2003-12-17T15:34:00.000-08:00

The Tartan Owners Website, hosted by TONE Just for reference.

Cayman

2003-12-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

Just got back from the Cayman islands... Doesn't appear to be much sailing going on there. Bummer really. Nice beaches, way too many tourists, way too much 'Americanization'

Racing.

2003-11-27T11:58:00.000-08:00

ISAF Rules Lots of cases and animations.

Cool sailing vid

2003-10-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

Wild tri vs sailboard action

Voyeur

2003-08-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

Voyeur? Watch them build the new Kingfisher.

Volunteer

2003-08-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

I volunteered with the Omega Teen Sailing Program associated with the club today. It was a beautiful, albeit calm, day. The kids were basically running through the ASA basic keelboat class. This meant an hour or two of lecture, then a lot of sailing. My job was to assist the instructor. Make sure we didn't lose anyone over the side.

It was a surprise to see how quiet the kids were. I was on a boat with four boys. They said two words the whole day. I was surprised.

Pirates

2003-08-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

Pirates in the Strait of Malacca... Be careful people.

Images..

2003-08-13T18:51:00.000-07:00

Chris sent across a link to a gallery of shots he took with his new camera. Way cool. This is an awesome shot of the Southern tip of Manhattan from the cockpit of a J24.

Fastnet

2003-08-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

Kicks off today

They don't know

2003-08-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

The whole question today was -what's the weather going to day. Low clouds most of the day. It seemed to be raining over Statan Island most of the day. Aside from that, there was a nice pleaant brease and it wasn't too hot. A good day in the harbour with Chris, Gina and Sy.

2003-08-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

Sir Francis Drake - explorer, privateer, spy? Today's ny Times reveals the latest theories.

2003-08-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

Way cool, My first one design race on a J24. It looked like rain, but I thought it would be worth a try anyway. I ran into Chris whom I sailed with last weekend, he was kind enough to allow me to fill in for a missing crew member.

Chris introduced me to regular crew members Wes and Joe. I had met Joe on another occasion. Both were nice enough and seemed very sure of themselves.

We picked up a fifth crew member - Richard just before pushing off. I was very impressed with Richard, probably in his 50s but extremely capable.

Chris had previously told me that his crew tends to lose all the time. But I'm sorry he was dis appointed. We finished third from the end.