Sail Magazine

by Kimball Livingston

All on assignment, Kimball Livingston has sailed the oceans blue. And he's been to Fink, Texas, too.

Circumnavigation, Interrupted

by Kimball Livingston, Posted March 21, 2011

They’re mad as hell and they’re going to take it.Sitting in the harbor at Mal, capital of the Maldives, once home to kings, the skipper of the Kelly Peterson 46 , Esprit, reports, “The country offers a $350 cruising package to visit the other islands, but we are going to sit right here with fifteen other boats that have decided not to do the

Remaking History

by Kimball Livingston, Posted March 11, 2011

It’s a good bet that Starling Burgess, when drawing the lines for his 1934 America’s Cup defender Rainbow, never imagined that a new Rainbow would be almost ready to launch 77 years later. Or that a new version of his 1937 defender, Ranger, would be already sailing. But the J Class represents the epitome of beauty and elegance under sail, and because of that, the Js are back. Six

How a Few Cal 40s Transformed America’s Cup

by Kimball Livingston, Posted February 25, 2011

OK, I’m not above stretching a headline to get your attention. But history should record that on February 11, 2011, the first tests of the new America’s Cup sports graphics system were conducted in South San Francisco Bay, using volunteer Cal 40s and a rented helicopter.They woulda done it on the cityfront, in America’s Cup-racing waters, but the City of San Francisco is not

The Stan Honey How-To

by Kimball Livingston, Posted February 3, 2011

The giant trimaran that holds the round-the-world sailing record, with the speed to hop from weather system to weather system, and the even larger—suddenly crippled—trimaran that is out there now trying to beat that record . . .“Are fragile,” says Stan Honey. “The premise is to build a china cup that is extraordinarily fast in flat water and 25 knots of breeze. You use the boat’s

Not Over 'Til It's Over

by Kimball Livingston, Posted December 13, 2010

Dateline MiamiWhat you won’t get, if you’re not part of it, is this. Larry Ellison’s team is going to be just as disappointed as I am if the 34th America’s Cup match is not sailed on San Francisco Bay. I’ve heard them out. I’ve looked into their eyes. I wish I could convey the sense of disappointment if—The amphitheatre, the reliable breeze, the stuff you’ve heard before,

What's Up with the Cup?

by Kimball Livingston, Posted December 3, 2010

Would-be America's Cup teams around the world are eyeing City Hall, San Francisco as Cup-in-SF proponents prepare to make their case before the Budget and Finance Subcommittee of the city's Board of Supervisors. That hearing will take place on Wednesday. Negotiations have been going on for months, and it's crunch time.On the opposite side of the globe, meanwhile, fabricators are working

41 Years in the Saddle

by Kimball Livingston, Posted November 30, 2010

And there it is, the December issue of SAIL, the first issue in the history of the magazine that does not bear the name Charles E. Mason III on the masthead. “Chip” as his oldest friends call him, was a founding editor. Issue number one hit the stands in February, 1970 and I do mean hit. There is a whole generation of sailors

Report from the Barcolana

by Kimball Livingston, Posted October 13, 2010

Ross Stein, who races Corsair 24 #357, Origami, out of San Francisco Bay, sends this report from Italy’s big, crazy, beautiful Barcolana race, or Coppa d’Autunno. With turnouts in the thousands for a course only 19 miles long, there’s not much that compares. The race is sailed in the Gulf of Trieste, with one of four marks laid in the waters of neighboring

A Brand of Brothers

by Kimball Livingston, Posted September 21, 2010

I am pretty sure the Johnstone brothers never imagined creating anything so very successful as the J/Boats, Inc., that we know today. But imagining success on some level—that would come naturally to Rod, the designer and to Bob, the marketer. Long before J/Boats became the Johnstone family business, sailing was a family passion. Then came a case of left brain meeting right brain and—Don’t

Multihulls and More = AC 34

by Kimball Livingston, Posted September 14, 2010

There is much to be absorbed in Monday’s announcements by the Defender and the Challenger of Record for America’s Cup 34. Beyond the anticipated headliner that 72-foot, wingsailed catamarans are the platform of choice, I note that the latest documents open up some wiggle room regarding venue. Gone is the draft language stipulating that the challenger eliminations will be sailed in the waters of