The Roundup: September 24th, 2020

The Roundup: Getting Into The Fall

Cooler temperatures abound (for some) and the Atlantic hurricane season is coming to an end (we hope). So here's the latest monthly installment of The Roundup - where we round up our picks for news, education, and entertainment from around the world of sailing at large.

"CROSSINGS" ft. surfing stars Kai Lenny and J.J Florence

John John Florence and co. are back for another sailing adventure out in the Pacific Blue, this time undertaking a 200 nautical mile, open water crossing on a Flying Phantom. Yep, Ocean sailing on an 18 foot foiling cat. What other reason do you need to watch? Sit back and enjoy a high-quality sailing production that's sure to raise the question: "When do we go to Hawaii?"

The Smartest Ship That Ever Sailed

Although it's not a sailboat, what you're looking at there is the smartest ship to ever sail. Fully autonomous, it borrows some technologies from recent developments in self-driving cars (rhymes with Desla) and a powerful Artificial Intelligence software. Named the Mayflower, she is set to undergo sea-trials and attempt a fully autonomous Atlantic crossing in 2021. She is purpose built to gather ocean condition data to better understand our changing oceans as our world warms.

"Defiant" surprises ferry goers down in Auckland

Get a load of this video as American Magic and Defiant, their AC75 in contention for the America's Cup buzz the tower and scare some ferry passengers down in Waitematā harbor in Auckland, NZ. These things are seriously fast!

Comments

A Beginner's Guide to Layering Sailing Gear (Updated October 2023)

Purchasing Sailing Gear can be confusing and brings up a lot of questions. The ones we hear the most often are ● What do I need to buy? ● Where can I buy it? Is it at west marine? ● This is very expensive, can I find it somewhere cheaper? ● My sailor lost this thing, do they really need it? Not to worry! We've put together this general guide to sailing gear to hopefully help all of you answer these very important questions. As you read this keep in mind that the most important thing is feedback from your sailor, as they are the ones who will be wearing this stuff! The first and most important thing is Sailing is a sport where you are at the mercy of the elements and the proper equipment and clothing make a world of difference in enjoying your time out on the water, or in certain cases, being able to survive it! How to choose Sailing Gear In order to choose the proper sailing gear what you need to understand are two main points – Where in the world are you, and what ki

Ask Coach: What Is A Leebow?

Timing + Technique = Control! Welcome to Ask Coach! Where we take your questions on Tactics, Strategy, and Boathandling. In our first installment, let's cover the Lee Bow. This is aimed at beginning to intermediate level racers in order to let them formulate questions they can bring to their coach, so we've tried to incorporate appropriate explanations and language. We think it's important to agree on the vocabulary coaches and sailors use, so as there are many different ways to explain the same thing - make sure you know the difference between Tactics and Strategy What Are Tactics? Out on the race course, you'll be faced with many situations where you have to make a decision, sometimes before you even get to the situation (ahem - *mark roundings*). These decisions are what we call tactics. You can think of tactics as the little steps you take in order to achieve your strategy of success. What Is Strategy? Strategy is the overarching plan for the regatta, race or par

What Should Be In Your Dock Box/Ditty Bag

Although the Optimist class is comprised of children, the fact of the matter is that serious racing happens in the Optimist class and that carries with it needs for equipment and replacement parts. Any sailor or coach worth their salt will tell you that you need a ditty bag or tackle box to carry spare parts and tools in order to keep your Opti up or in case of technicals - breakage - out on the race course. The historical example of a ditty bag, complete with marlinspike So what should you keep in your ditty bag? At the bare minimum, your ditty bag needs to have tools to repair or adjust parts of your boat. A good set of screwdrivers, of medium length, pliers, and a crescent wrench are absolute musts Example contents of a ditty bag. Note the ample variety of tape, tools and spare line Next, you'd want to add a roll of sail tape, the thick kind, to patch up tears or holes that might happen. I cannot stress the importance of dealing with that sooner rather than later, because a sm

Opti TV

Search This Blog