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Monday morning and the start of Week 2, Part III. For me the proper kick-off to the third year here in Southampton and having talked to the firends on my course it will be the first week where actually something will have to be done. I’m looking forward to it with my third year project and the group concept design assignment both being something special and interesting as well as most other modules now looking into the useful stuff instead of being the basics.

The weekend was filled with following the races I wasn’t able to see from on the water in Palma though and from here again a big thank you to the crew of Henri Lloyd – Weapon of Choice for being such a great bunch of people and allowing me to learn heaps from all of them. Congratulations to them aas well for sailing into 2nd during the coastal just before it got abandonned and getting the best results of the week on the final day (showing time in the boat is very, very important). Obviously I am still very envious I had to miss out on the weekend and last nights’ antics but you can’t have it all. Some promises have been made and I look forward to following up on those.

Well… a new notepad ready to go and my calendar sorted so it’s time to go and get started with lectures, meetings and design work.

Life is pretty damn good (it does help I’m starting to acclimatise again and the sun is out)…

Ciao!

Thursday was my last day in Palma at the TP-worlds, by Tuesday it was clear the core crew would make the weight and I stayed a while longer to help as much as I can on shore and from the RIB as a nipper and a pair of outside eyes. But life goes on and Uni has started so I had to get back to that.

The racing had been great, with some clouds the weather was comfortable (temperatures stayed under 30 degrees for Thursday in Palma) and racing very, very close. Unfortunately the guys on Henri Lloyd – Weapon of Choice didn’t manage to keep hold of a 5th place at the top-mark rounding but she is still sailing better than expected. After racing I rushed to the apartment to pack, got picked up and dropped off at the airport for my flight back. The flight went smoothly and very early I managed to walk out Gatwick with my bag only to get a huge shock…

Blightly is bloody freezing after almost two weeks down south, with temperatures around 3degrees C during the midnight ride to Southampton.

Today it is back to uni, get stuck in it and see where we can go from here. But a special thanks to the guys of the team for sticking up with me and taking the time to answer my many questions and sharing so much of their knowledge. Guys like Matt Adams, Tom Wilson, Shreda, Andy Yeoman, Boycey, Freddy Shanks, David Lenz, Rob Greenhalgh, Graham Sunderland, Malcolm Stewart, Sammy Evans, Chris Walmsley, Richard Favel and all other were really helpful and great fun to be involved with.

Well, better get on with it, time for real life again…

Ciao!

It is Tuesday morning and today is the first day of the 2009 TP52 World Championships. On the agenda for the day is the official practice race and finalising of all measurements.

Yesterday the team went out in full race mode and after a couple of practice legs we (on the RIB) in cooperation with the Quantum support RIB laid a course and almost all 10 boats joined in for the practice races. Very interesting to see all the different teams lining up next to each other and try different things. In short a practice race consists of 3 starts and after the last one there is a windward-leeward and a couple of tacks after rounding the leeward gate. The results don’t count but Henri Lloyd – Weapon of Choice was able to mix it up with the rest of the teams.

Today will be like a real race day (but with a couple of extra jobs to do before the boat is allowed to race from Wednesday till Sunday). Visit the official website for some good shots of the boat and the racing and I expect them to do a blog once the RC is out there: www.tp52worldchampionship.org

Here are a couple more shots from me:

And this one is on the official website frontpage (There are some pretty places in Palma):

(credit: Nico Martinez / 2009 TP52 World Championship)

Ciao!

After almost a week in Palma the boat is in the water. The good news is she floats and the boatbuilding stuff has come off the boat. The hard work over then? Well… yes and no, hopefully when we go sailing tomorrow we don’t brake anything so in that respect the hard work is over. However now the stuff that makes a boat go faster: rig tune, sails, trim and boathandling. I’m expecting a long day and there are only a couple of days of practice before the TP52 worlds start. Looking on the bright side I am alowed another late start (7.30hr) after an early evening (18.00hr).
So what is our plan? Well Henri Loyd – Weapon of Choice will leave the dock at a sensible time to hoist most of the sails and see if they indeed fit. It is then time for a visit to the Real Club Nautico de Palma (RCNP) to see our berth for the week and get ome lunch and with a couple extra bodies we will be off for an afternoon of practicing.

Looking forward to it and here are a couple of shots from the boat and Puerto Portals boat prep area:

(other peoples’ containers; spinnakers in the loft; boat afloat in the sunset)

Ciao!

ps. More info here

After a day filled with delays I am now sitting on the sofa in Palma…

Not only did the flight get delayed, shopping and settling in did not go to plan. But all is well now, bed is ready day 1 is behind us and from tomorrow onwards the focus is on getting the new Atomic (called Henri Lloyd) to the start of the 2009 TP52 Worlds. To do this there are three proper guys around and myself and life should be pretty interesting over the coming few days…

Anyway there is an early start for tomorrow scheduled so I am off to get some well deserved rest and will keep the blog updated with any interesting developments.

Ciao!

Very unlike the Royal Thames, the Farr45 fleet managed to get only 2 races in over the weekend. The efficient race committee usually manages to get us to race up to 8 proper Windward-Leeward races but this weekend the breeze was just not helping, conditions were even lighter than last weekend. This meant that on Saturday’s race the breeze died through the first attempt and only 2 boats got scored (after one got DSQ-ed for a tiny collision we had with them in the pre-start). Sunday’s racing was slightly better and a full race got sailed (2nd) but a second (third for the series) was very far away and much like the Saturday the RC called it a day (very wisely) when all of us could still do something useful with the rest of the day. In the end a 2nd place for the series and with the great weather a very enjoyable weekend with the guys from Atomic.

Only time will tell what’s next but the forecast is for the summer to continue a little while longer…

Ciao!

yes, the inaugural Bendytoy First 40.7 Europeans were held this weekend in the Solent. All very official with EUROSAF present and boats representing different countries. Well, when I write representing I mean that a number of boats had 1 (yes, one) national on board of the country they had chosen to represent. However I was not there to make us a Dutch entry, just sailing as England (impressively England, Scotland and Wales could be represented separately when under ISAF we’d all been Great Britain).

Anyhow, 9 boats present (plus 4 corporate charters racing for something else but using the same line and course) and very challenging conditions throughout the weekend. Here is not the place nor the time to comment on the proceedings so I will leave it at that. In the end we were a bit unlucky the SI’s were lacking a hard cut-off time (using the word ‘aiming’ for last finish time instead of ‘no racing shall be started after…’) so that we finished on equal points but ending up third on the last race’s result count back. Then again those are the rules and finishing first was never going to happen so on the podium was a pretty good result for this team I think.

Anyhow next up is another weekend of Farr45, racing with Atomic this weekend and after the weekend it is also almost time to get back to lectures as fresher’s week kicks off. A couple of short and intensive races run by the experienced guys of the Royal Thames YC should see plenty of action as long as today’s forecast for the weekend doesn’t hold. Having said that, a weekend of bobbing around in no breeze but bright sunshine is quite nice as well…

Ciao

that is what the weather people are telling us here but the weekend was again very nice and being out on the water on Sunday was no punishment whatsoever. It was about a year ago I had gone out with my good friend Fred (who’s now married…) and his dad on the Daring. In much milder conditions and with a bit of sunshine, the horrible memories of being bruised and battered have become less pressing on the Daring’s legacy… Having said that the boats are still unbelievably soaking wet and admittedly the racing was not all that good (no gybe required on a W-L course…) but being able to enjoy the weather made up for it all.

Other than that life is still pretty quiet around here with most students still out and about so I have been properly nerdy in reading through articles and other literature on my third year project in an effort to finish my hull design relatively quickly in my quest to come up with a Savitsky-like method for predicting the performance of a yacht’s hull. But with the weather people wring and the sun still out I think I might just go and enjoy that a bit more while it lasts.

Ciao!

Three first places in seven races and second overall, that is the score after four days of Dartmouth Week on the Farr45 ‘Atomic’. Boatcaptain Tom Wilson has transformed the boat from when I last sailed on her and the crew has been developing itself even more although this was hard to notice when the middle of the boat saw some crew changes curtosy of the 2 extra days that had to be taken off to participate.

The event was sailed in generally medium conditions though Friday got blown out (more than 47 knots in the gusts before the day was canned) and Sunday had the breeze around 30 knots at times. For me it had been a while back since I last sailed in some big breeze but with the quality of the guys on board it never was an issue. Luck however seemed to be the biggest problem in the four races we didn’t win and even in those we did finish first we had not everything go our way. In the F45 fleet differences have become very small over the past season and although everyone seemed to have approached this event in a fairly relaxed manner the boats seemed to be evenly matched once again.

Personally the biggest plus was being able to sail with another highly experienced and top-notch (ex?) pro-bow behind me with a wealth of experience (both in- and offshore) and I’ve been able to take a lot from that. On a side note, it was also great to see the lovely Sanguma out racing (even if she was still sporting her final event’s sticker on the bow). I believe she managed a credible top ten finish in her class of 22 boats.

With another weekend’s sailing behind me I will be trying to read up on yacht design this week amongst more boring things…

Life’s pretty damn fine,

Ciao!

For not updating you for more than a month. But now that’s been said what has happened?

Well not all that much actually, did the Cowes Cruising Rally, spent some time in the Flatlands and did a five hundred something mile delivery from Scotland to Torquay. In the mean time I was able to catch up with friends who where about for the Fastnet race (or the Cowes Cruising Rally). See below for some whots of Fastnet start and delivery and I’ve included a montage of the Irish Sea Wildlife trip…

Life’s still pretty damn good!
Ciao!

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Varuna (Ex-Danebury with Mike Castania and Mike Broughton on board) just after their start

Eclectic heading for the NeedlesRoark going the same way

The two Dutch boats I’ve raced on in a single shot

A couple of the many dolphins that visited the boat on the trip through the Irish Sea

Beautifully clear water as well