I bought four Budweisers to celebrate the halfway point.  It’s the first time I’ve seen Bud since being in Europe.  Of course we are in the Canaries, so it’s a little different.  The trip looks like it will be slow.  There is a lot of light air forecast, and we are going to have to sail way out of the way to get any pressure.  Near the Cape Verdes I think.  The trip down was easy and we did the 700 miles in 3.5 days in strong downwind conditions.  Now that’s over though.  Anyway, we’ve got to cast off, so, bbfn and I’ll write again in St. Thomas. 

-R

I’m leaving to bring my Dad’s boat to St. Thomas today.  I’m back in Spain with my Dad, Phil and Tom.  You don’t know these people, but they all be good.

I spent the last two weeks in Paris studying French and this is what I learned:

It was nice staying in Paris.  I walked around a lot.  Until I couldn’t anymore, actually.  Fortunately I had a new pair of shoes from Columbia which were extremely comfortable compared to the old Crocs I was threatening to sport in Paris.  I visited some interesting cemetaries and found one that I found particularly great:

Well, I gotta go fuel up the boat. 

First stop is the Canaries.  Looks like there will be a lot of wind on that little leg.  Update from there.

-R

And it feels good.  Winter is approaching here and the weather is cooling a bit.  The delivery to Sotogrande from Sardinia was very easy, if not boring at times.  A lot of motoring in the middle of the Med with the last bit from the eastern part of Spain to Gibraltar downwind in light air.  We did quite a bit of spinnaker sailing along the coast in lovely conditions that are worthy of one of the biggest gay-ball songs ever written.  In fact I made a video of our trip along Spain.

Observe:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTQWZfi1_Bw

Gibraltar was really amazing though.  I will look for any excuse to visit again.  Here are som pictures from the top.

Here is the ridge view of clouds being launched from the windward side into vortices.  Very cool to watch in motion.

Here is Dee with the clouds flying into the Atlantic side.  They are not going slowly either.

I’m going to Paris tomorrow as a guest of Lablee family for a fun wedding at a castle.  There is rumored to be a pony and all kinds of good stuff. 

-R

 it’s beautiful.  Sailed here from Corfu, Greece through a nice chunky front that caused a great deal of flash flooding in Sicily and Tunisia and unfortunately there was quite a lot of human life lost on land.

  Dee and Tif did well, and the trip was relatively uneventful for us, beyond a 40 knot squall in the early AM hours the second night out.  It was upwind the whole way, as usual.  We leave tomorrow for Spain.

Okay let’s talk about sails.

So I’m preparing for life on the Gulf Coast again after this delivery is over.  I hope to build more sails at Ullman Gulf Coast over the winter break.  It has been really great working so closely with Dave Bolyard and Dave Ullman.  I cannot emphasize enough the value of sail development  and it’s relation to boat speed.

Before leaving La Trinite sur Mer I took my main and jib to a local loft and measured them in every dimension so there would be less guess work with the new set.  I also analyzed all the patches and batten details looking for improvements in weight and durability.  It’s a funny line to be walking the first time around and there are some things we nailed, some things we overbuilt and some things we underbuilt.  It’s all pretty obvious stuff to see when the sail is lying unloaded on the floor. 

So we now have detailed, real world numbers on a main and jib that have exactly 1,000 miles on them.

-Patches for luff and leech on both sails:  some will be bigger, some will be smaller, and the design will change a bit for the full hoist and first reef patches on both main and jib.

-Patches for batten ends:  all will be bigger except for one.

-Radial tape reinforcements to control bias:  I will suggest we rid of some entirely and extend others so they are doing more work.

-Batten placement:  The third batten is doing a lot more work than I imagined.  That will be moved on the new sail.

-Luff/Leech reinforcements will also be refined around the Dimension Polyant cloth we used.  Basically smaller and lighter in most areas and extended further up.

-Roach:  Will not change.  A six foot square top is enough for this boat. 

-The luff will be extended a bit now that I know the optimal rake position for my boat upwind.

There are some really weird loads happening with these large square top sails, and with what we’ve learned from this first set, I firmly believe the next set will leave little room for improvement.  I’d go into more detail about the measurements above, but I’m treating it like proprietary information belonging to Ullman and Dimension Polyant.  Because of all they have done for me, I want these groups to benefit from this info before anyone else.

I’ll make another post when I get to Spain in about a week. 

-Ryan

I’ve spent the last couple days packing up my friend Arnaud’s apartment, and cleaning his car so that when his family comes out to visit they will not be too shocked to see the amount of crap I have stacked in the downstairs bedroom.  I moved there a little over a week ago.  It’s near La Trinite in a small town named Locmariaquer  (pronounced: lock-my-yack- care).  It’s beautiful and has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.  It’s the first time in years I’ve lived alone, and I was enjoying it.  However I won’t be back there until the middle of the winter. 

The other part of this equation was packing the boat up.  She is tidily packed away at Charlie’s place with all the loose deck hardware off, boom and bowsprit down below, tape on everything that needs UV covers, winches and clutches covered and the mast safely hanging inside a small warehouse attached to Technologie Marine.  So that’s all good.

I have been spending my spare time with France Birch, Mike’s wife and the mother of my friend Tifenn.  The three of them have been and continue to be extremely helpful to me here in France, and have been great company to boot. 

France is in town visiting her apartment and working to get some visas for a music group from the Dominican Republic.  She’s been working with them for a couple years now.  Anyway, the point of this is that we’ve been eating a lot of Oysters at lunch time, and they are getting really good.  I’m guessing it’s a result of the season changing and the winter approaching.  The one’s I had earlier this summer didn’t even compare to oysters in Louisiana when they are in season.  The same can be said for the one’s I’ve been eating lately.  When I get back to Louisiana I’ll have to do some more measured tests.  Lie detectors, sensory deprivation, stenographers wearing blindfolds: that kind of thing. 

So now I’m in Paris, and Tifenn and I leave from here to go to Athens to meet my friend Dee at the boat.  Dee’s flying in from NOLA, and she’s sailed on the boat quite a bit.  I think it’s just the three of us for this delivery to Gibraltar, because my Dad may have to get back to the States for a little while.  It’s been six months for him on the boat, so…

More on this later.

-R

I’m glued to this race right now.  If you had told me it was possible for a series boat to lead the MT fleet I would have never believed it, but that is happening under the relentless attack of Francisco Loboto.  There is really no excuse unless the protos are holding back to be conservative.  The boat’s Francisco is in front of  right now cost 3-4 times as much, weigh as much as 500 lbs less, have taller lighter masts and deeper keels and are all carbon fiber.  I won’t even mention the canting keel advantage, because even down wind it’s significant.  So basically what he is doing is really phenomenal and inspiring.  This is a battle of mental strength and he is winning on many levels.  It’s like “Scanners” where if you look at him he’ll make your head blow up.  That’s what’s happening offshore right now.

Now that I’ve mentioned my enthusiasm for Francisco’s work he’s bound to break something.  Therefore I’m not including a link to the race.  You know, the rules of superstition and stuff.

Okay, enough of that.  What’s happening with Myrna?   Tomorrow I’m taking the mast down and bringing the boat to Charlie’s, Technologie Marine to get a bottom job.  I’m also going to prepare the boat for a new sponsor who is supplying synthetic rigging which is way freaking lighter than the steel stuff that’s up now.  I’ll mention them when we have the details ironed out.  

 I’ll take the weight savings aloft and remove the equivalent from the bulb to lighten the boat a bit more.  Than I’ll add more sail area with the new main and jib, because I think we can get away with it.  I’m not the type of person to say I like pushing my boat or going “balls out”, or decorating the walls with balls or something to do with balls, but I know what my boat wants and for some reason she likes having a lot of sail up.  I’m hoping to better define an “edge” by lightening the boat a bit and adding a smidge more upwind sail area.  Plus it will be fun to drill holes in the bulb. 

I’m going to Paris on the 18th or so to visit, then I fly out Athens maybe? to help my Dad deliver his boat to Spain.  He’s out of crew and as usual I get the tap.  It will be fun to see him.  We always have a good time sailing together and arguing about what sails to put up.  Then he tries to convince me that he’s preparing “the best steaks ever” and comes on deck with these black things that are oozing a mixture of blood and oil all over the place.  The bleeding grease shanks are usually followed up with a warm Red Dog, and as boredom mixes with beer I’ll start to joke with him about how he destroyed my childhood, because it always gets a reaction.  Inevitably we both end up laughing our asses off about it, because we both know wouldn’t change a thing, even if we could.  I’ll do an interview with him for those who don’t know him.  I leave for that trip on the 23rd. 

-R

P.S. I am not sponsored by AIG.  That was a joke.  I’m actually sponsored by Blackwater USA with logistics and catering supplied by the CIA. 

P.S.2 I like this picture by Bruno Bouvry  www.imagesdemer.com

 

It’s posted:  www.sailinganarchy.com

I left Jesse and Conrad yesterday to get back to La Trinite.  Jesse seems very well sorted out for Transat and only used my help because I was there.  Conrad still has a few things to do, but is pretty well taken care of at this point.  Chris Tutmark and Craig Horsfield seem really sorted well, and didn’t require any help from me at all which shows they are well organized.  Most everyone is ready to go from what I could see. 

The Editor at SA said they’d be following me in the Mini Transat closely.  That should be easy to do since I can blog about it from land.  I guess he didn’t catch that I’m not going!  I hope that doesn’t throw a wrench in the works for SA.  I sent him an e-mail already. 

Strangely I don’t feel upset or anything about not doing this year’s race.  I’m excited for the guys who are going, but not jealous which surprises me.  I thought I was more petty than that.  I must be slipping.  I just feel relieved to have the hardest part of the mini over with.  That is the refit.  I’ve still got a small work list, but it’s nothing compared to the massive amount of work (for me) I put in over the past year.  Mostly I’m just feeling relieved to have gotten here, sailed in one race and made my sponsors happy with a good result.  Now the fun part starts and I am doing the budget for next season.  A budget which includes hotels with internet!   

Speaking of budgets, look at this:

The massively modified and amazing Gitana 11, now 78 feet long preparing for the Route du Rhum in 2010.  One of Gitana’s problems being the 95′ Idec to port.  The other being the 100+ foot Sodebo about 100 yards away to starboard.  Consider this: the Route du Rhum is a solo race.  These are big boats for solo racing, and they are as fast as they are big.

As a sixty foot ORMA class trimaran, Gitana 11 sailed the 4,000 mile course in just over seven days under the spell-like control of Lionel Lemonchois.  It was a sublime accomplishment.  Historic and poetic. 

Sometimes these races are won by men behaving like machines, but Lionel’s record showed me solo racing can be more than that, and that’s why I’ve come to France.  On the mini it’s hard to get over the mechanics, because the boats are so small and are rarely, if ever fully in harmony with the sea.  The big multihulls are a much better medium to interact with the sea.  Their highs and lows are proportional and extreme, and to me it’s the purest and most honest way to go offshore. 

Until then, minis.

-R

I guess they are doing it in two parts.  www.sailinganarchy.com

Beyond that I’m in La Rochelle helping a couple Jesse Rowse and Conrad Coleman to prepare their boats for the Mini Transat.  It’s something I wish I had for all of my races, and I can offer it, so I am.  Maybe one day it will come back to me.  Who knows.  I’ll keep you posted about the race.

-R

A small explosion in cyber space.  People are actually looking at this blog.  What could it be?  Check Sailing Anarchy…  Okay that makes sense.  Now I have to produce a story.  Unfortunately because of SA it now has to be ”extremely entertaining”.  How does one come up with an entertaining story about sailing a 280 mile race on a mini that is mostly upwind in 15- 20 knots?  If any of you have done it, you’ll understand there is nothing “entertaining” about sailing minis upwind, and with the confused sea state along the Aquitaine coast, it’s nothing short of absurd.  Maybe that’s the angle then.  I’ll write this today and get it to the ever lurking and sometimes dangerous Editor of Sailing Anarchy. 

We won the Port Medoc race.  I’m sitting outside on a sidewalk, it’s sunny, and I can barely see the screen, so I’ll do an update later with more info.  Just wanted to let everyone know.

-R