Technology Of Sailing | Port Townsend Sailing Association

America’s Cup Live Broadcasts This Weekend

If you have the time and interest you can tune in to the live broadcasts of the America's Cup series races from Venice this weekend. Quite a treat to hear the familiar "Guys, we got a cluster f**k here" spoken by a highly paid athlete in an Australian accent.

It's an amazing sight with the Cup catamarans racing in the narrow confines of the bay in front of lovely and historic Venice.

You can find the races at http://www.youtube.com/AmericasCup.

What Are You Going to Do About Your Bottom?

Thursday night. Free for everyone. 2012 racing season skipper’s meeting follows the talk.

Dan Newland Reports in From the Bleeding Edge

http://project.kiteboat.com/

After helping finish up one of the first GP 26s with Brook Dees, and Jim Antrim’s Class 40 built at Berkeley Marine, Dan is again in the Bay area working on the Kiteboat Project, a foiler trimaran that is powered by a kite. Here’s a short report from the always entertaining Mr. Newland.

“The boat is a kick. The hulls are 25′ long and weigh about 90 lbs each and (I’m not kidding), overbuilt. We could take probably 20 lbs out of them. Everything is carbon and the core is Nomex. VERY stiff but you can litereally put a half-hull under your arm and carry it off.”

“The systems are interesting and fairly complex. The foils are “J” shaped and tied to the bow “sensors” i.e. paddle like deals that move when waves hit them to keep the boat from porpoising. The “T” foil rudder has a swiveling box with electric trim to adjust height. Then there are the kite launching poles, reels, controls…the list goes on. Anyway, it’s fun and great working with these guys. Most came from BMW/Oracle and built the trimaran so they are used to this stuff. Good guys, all. OH! and Tom George is good friends with one guy, Gabe Murphy. He grew up on Guemes Island in the SJ’s and ferried to school in Anacortes.”

continue reading » Dan Newland Reports in From the Bleeding Edge

Thinking Of Switching Over To Flush Thru-Hulls? Practical Sailor Has Some Tips

Thanks to Hill at North American Sailor for the tip.

If you sail a lot in light air, there are a number of upgrades you can consider. From new sails, to light-weight halyards, to removing gear from the boat. We’ve already talked before about the value of training as well. But one upgrade which [...]

America’s Cup 34, a tech overview

The media presentation of sailboat racing has forever changed based on the work done for the 34th Cup races. It’s really excellent and if you haven’t seen it you can replay the races on YouTube here. At the center of those changes is Stan Honey, well known sailor, navigator and electronics wizard. The first [...]