A weblog for San Francisco Bay sailors

originally published on SailBlast. -covering the AC34 in San Francisco.

The View From Spithill’s Office

Jimmy Spithill’s version of getting up and heading to the office is just a little different to most. He starts in the gym about 7, heads home for a shower and breakfast, then hits the ORACLE Racing HQ at San Francisco’s Pier 80 for an operations meeting which sets the team’s agenda for the day. This week the focus has been on trialing equipment with Race Committee and umpires. A sailing team debrief follows where the team discusses what happened the previous day on the water, analyzing video footage and working with coaches Philippe Presti and Darren Bundock (aka Bundy). Meetings over, it’s time to crank up the pace and get out on the water. “It’s a full day,” says Jimmy. SailBlast editor Michelle Slade chatted to the skipper of America’s Cup defender, ORACLE Racing about his first week sailing the AC45 in San Francisco.

SB: What have you learned this past week in San Francisco?

Spithill: The way the weather works here on the Bay is perfect – from midday on you can be sailing. On these boats you don’t need more than a few hours because it’s so physical for the crew. You get to the point where you start to get diminishing returns because everyone’s starting to get tired. These boats are just physically draining and it takes its toll – you never get a break really. By the time the end of the week comes around you can definitely see everyone needs a couple of days off to recharge.

Another thing we’ve learned here is to split the week up, like we’ll do a Mon/Tues sail, take Wed as a maintenance catch up day, then sail Thurs/Fri. You could sail six days a week but you wouldn’t be any better for it. On the old boats, 2-boat testing was draining but more mentally concentration-wise for the drivers and the trimmers.

SB: There’s a lot of talk about the athleticism required on the 45?

Spithill: It’s definitely a different game – the huge emphasis now is on the athletic side, which I think is good. I have friends who are professional rugby players and they don’t see the athletic side of sailing – they instantly think of guys in a blazer sitting on the side, swanning around the bay. Once people see the 45s, with the cameras and mikes onboard, they see the amount of effort going into it. [Read more →]

Once again OCSC got a feature in a magazine. This time in the International Lifestyle Magazine. The ILM focuses on positive lifestyle choices from around the globe, be it Kayaking in Thailand, marathon running in Peru, exploring the Galapagos Islands or in this case Sailing the San Francisco Bay. The ILM searches the world to bring you the unusual and the interesting.

Click here to get to the article!

These photos were shot by OCSC instructor Bill Kinney. He was part of the last OCSC Farallon Islands trip on the Schooner Seaward.

The first image is a Tufted Puffin. There are only about 100 of them on the island, so they were lucky to get so close to one. The second shot is of a Pidgeon Guillemont carrying a small rockfish back to its nest…

Enjoy!

Originally published on the official America’s Cup Blog.

If the test sessions in Auckland were the proving ground, the America’s Cup World Series is set to become the stage for nothing less than a transformation of sailing.

The new AC45 wing-sailed catamaran is now designated as THE boat of the America’s Cup World Series. Alarmingly quick and responsive, challenging and physical, the AC45 will push the best sailors in the world to their limits, and beyond.

The opening AC World Series event begins in just two months time in Cascais, Portugal. Plymouth, England and San Diego, California are also ports of call in 2011, where the best sailors on the planet will be competing in the opening stages of the 34th Americas Cup.

And you’ll be closer to the action than ever before. If you’re fortunate enough to be there in person, the racing will take place just metres from the shoreline.

But if you’re not, don’t worry. Major advances in the television and web coverage of the sport, tested during the trials in Auckland, mean watching the America’s Cup has never been more compelling.

You will see and hear all of the action, as it’s unfolding, from multiple angles on board the boats. Revolutionary graphics technology will make the fast-paced action easy to understand. This is sailing from the inside out.

The best sailors on the fastest boats. That’s the promise. Now see it delivered.

Article was originally posted on “Lectronic Latitude”

As recently as a few months ago, it was looking like the Bay Area would miss the the spectacle of the AC 45s altogether. Given a schedule that saw no official activity on the Bay until August of next year — coinciding with the arrival of the AC 72s — it seemed as if the closest the AC 45s would get to sailing here was the proposed Youth America’s Cup. But according to a source with the Cup, Oracle Racing will have two AC 45s sailing here starting the first full week of June. After some practice time, they’ll be used to test the regatta operations and media side of the event for the ensuing three weeks. The source told us that they expect to have 10 of these ridiculously cool wing-sailed cats ready to go for the first America’s Cup World Series event in Cascais, Portugal, in early August. Still unresolved is the actual number of challengers, with the official tally at nine, along with four “undisclosed” teams. Although it hasn’t yet been confirmed, the source tells us that the final list will be announced in a press conference in San Francisco in the middle of June.

Just a little while after they left for their circumnavigation we interviewed OCSC Alumni Gar and Nicole. If you missed the 3 part interview click here to get to Part I

Now Dreamkeeper finished the lap! Read below the original article our friends at Latitude 38 published a few days ago…

May 18, 2011 – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Did Gar take sun sights all the way around the world? Ahh, probably not. But on light-air days during the Pacific crossing it was sure fun to practice. Photo Courtesy DreamKeeper © 2011 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc.

Sausalito sailors Gar Duke and Nicole Friend of the Pacific Seacraft 40 DreamKeeper had cause for celebration last week, as they crossed their outbound track in Banderas Bay, thus completing a four-year circumnavigation. “We don’t have that hanging over our heads anymore!” says Gar. They will soon start the long trek north to their old home at Sausalito’s Pelican Harbor, but don’t expect them before mid-summer. [Read more →]

June 25 – 27, 2011

Join Anthony Sandberg for three days of rafting on Oregon’s Wild & Scenic Rogue River. This 3-day whitewater rafting journey winds its way through one of the most beautiful pine-forested canyons in North America.

Camp riverside and spot abundant wildlife including deer, bear, otter, osprey and bald eagles from the bow of your comfortable raft. Paddle fun yet exhilarating rapids and test your skills in an inflatable kayak. This O.A.R.S. rafting adventure shows off the river’s best features as it flows from its headwaters near Crater Lake National Park towards the incomparable Oregon coast.

For more information on this trip visit OARS.com or contact our Private Trips Manager, Carrie Aronson at 1-800-346-6277 Ext: 4786 or by email: carriea@oars.com

Carolina Surfers help Indian orphans ride waves
By Surfer / Posted on May 10, 2011
Author- Miles Christian Daniels.

We here at OCSC felt very touched by this story and thought it is well worth sharing…

Eager to learn, these Indian orphans were thrilled to spend time in the surf at Varkala. Photo: Matt Born/StarNews Media

One girl was found in a garbage can. Another’s eye plunged by a needle so that she would be a “better” beggar. One girl watched her mother get run over by a train as they tried to run from police.

These girls now live together at an orphanage in Kochi, India. Jack Viorel first heard about them three years ago, at a book drive at St. Mary School in Wilmington, NC, where he teaches. The drive was to raise money for Homes of Hope, a Wilmington-based non-profit that helps support this, and other orphanages in India. [Read more →]