Inshore Racing

Kitesurfer Rob Douglas on Hitting 55kts

by MacDuff Perkins, Posted November 9, 2010

On October 28th, 2010, American kitesurfer Robert Douglas became the new, outright world speed sailing record holder with a speed of 55.65kts in a maximum windspeed of 45kts, in 18cm of water. We got a hold of Rob and asked him the question that every sailor wants to know: what's it like?SAIL: At the risk of sounding clich, what goes through your head when you’re

Class 40 Racing Coming to the U.S.

by Adam Cort, Posted December 7, 2010

Race organizer 11th Hour Racing is bringing grand prix Class 40 racing to U.S. shores this spring as part of its new Atlantic Cup regatta. The event, which is set to begin May 7, will include Pro-Am racing in New York Harbor, a double-handed distance race from New York to Newport, Rhode Island, and a series of fully crewed inshore buoy races in Newport. Highlighting the grand prix nature of the

Wacky Boats

by Peter Nielsen, Posted December 8, 2010

The Lemsteraak The shouts of the crews mingle with the sound of timber meeting timber. Eased-out booms sweep across decks, grinning sailors ducking as the treetrunk-sized spars brush their scalps. On shore, screaming spectators wave banners and urge on their local heroes. As the fleet approaches the mark, the race turns into a barging match—literally. For we are on the

January 2010 Class of the Month: The Shields

by Sail Staff, Posted December 30, 2010

Back in the early 1960s, America’s Cup veteran and long-time one-design proponent Cornelius “Corny” Shields decided that the cadets at the various maritime academies in this country needed quality sail training if they were to become truly competent seamen.He hired Sparkman & Stephens to design the 30-foot Shields, one of the most striking one-design racers ever, with its long overhangs,

What Are We Doing Wrong?

by Nigel Calder, Posted March 23, 2011

Dave and Jaja Martin are not your typical couple. In their twenties they spent seven years sailing around the world in a 25-foot boat, during which time Jaja bore three children. In 1995 they upgraded to a 33-foot boat which they cruised (with the children) into the pack ice above the Arctic circle before moving to Maine.In Round Pond, Maine, there is a YMCA summer sailing camp. The

Headsail Sheeting

by Dave Gerr, Posted April 19, 2011

Many seperate details make a boat close-winded, but one critical factor often overlooked is the headsail sheeting setup. The most exquisite hull form with the most modern rig in the world won’t sail well to windward if the headsails can’t be trimmed in close enough to get the sails to do their work.Headsail sizes are defined in terms of their luff perpendiculars (LP) as a percentage of

Extreme 40s Leave their Mark in Boston

by Meredith Laitos, Posted July 6, 2011

In Boston Harbor, all eyes were on American skipper Terry Hutchinson this past holiday weekend as his Team Artemis Racing entered the final day of Extreme Racing with an 8-point lead. From July 30 through July 4, Artemis competed in a top-notch fleet of 11 Extreme 40 catamarans racing in Boston for Act 4 of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series.Over the course of the weekend,

Short tacks

by Sail Staff, Posted April 6, 2009

Not surprising that only 154 boats turned out for the 22nd edition of Key West Race Week, down from 261 boats in 2008. Still, the competition was high, especially amongst the Melges 24 (33 boats) and the Melges 32 (20 boats) fleets. While the grand-prix action was in IRC 1, it was IRC 2 that proved to be the most interesting handicap fleet to watch as it featured the U.S. racing premiere of the

Speed sailing records smashed on water and land

by Tom Nunlist, Posted April 3, 2009

On the 26th of March, two separate teams broke both the world water and land sailing speed records independently of each other.An Australian team sailing the Macquarie Innovation broke their own water speed record set last December at Sandy Point, Victoria, Australia and became the first vessel to complete the official 500m run with an average of over 50 knots. At Ivanpah Lake in

Announced: 2009 US Sailing Team Alphagrapics

by David Schmidt, Posted March 17, 2009

US Sailing recently announced the names of the 2009 US Sailing Team Alphagrapics (USSTAG). This selection was based on the results of the 2009 Rolex Miami OCR. “We’re excited about the new team because we’ve never had this many Olympic and Paralympics sailors return this early in the quad, which is a sign we’re delivering more support to the sailors,” said Olympic Sailing Chairman Dean Brenner