Today - coffee break off Cape Horn

A thousand miles from Cape Horn...



Amazing waves wash over the deck as crew fixes broken engine mount:



Puma racing team embraces surfing legend...

Puma's skipper (left) is 50 year-old Ken Read, an American yachtsman who is considered one of the world’s most accomplished and celebrated sailors. He was named “United States Rolex Yachtsman of the Year” twice and has over 40 World, North American, and National Championships to his credit in a variety of classes including the J/24 and Etchells 22. - From Wikipedia

The honorary twelfth crew member (right) is American big-wave surfer, co-inventor of tow-in surfing, and an occasional fashion and action-sports model Laird Hamilton. The crew will track wave patterns while sailing through the remotest reaches of the world's oceans. As monster waves are found, Laird will fly in, prepared to surf.

“It’s been a life-long goal to push boundaries and find rogue waves at sea to ride,” says Laird. “When PUMA Ocean Racing approached me with ideas for how we might collectively make this happen during the Volvo Ocean Race, I was thrilled.”

Follow all at: http://www.puma.com/sailing

Robbie Brown - fast in and on the water

Robbie standing on deck of his soling
COLLEGE TUITION 

OOYR's own Robbie Brown had a great night in Bath, New York at the Section 5 Class C Swimming and Diving Championship:

Brown set two new Class C records en route to garnering Swimmer of the Meet honors.
He won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.39 seconds, also establishing a new pool mark in that event, and touched first in the 100-yard freestyle in a state-qualifying time of 47.20 seconds.

“Robbie had an amazing performance tonight,” Alexander coach Beth Shea said. “Even the officials were talking about his swim in the 50; he had a great start off the blocks.”  By Cathy Fancher and Bill Bruton Jr.
http://thedailynewsonline.com

Robbie is a junior at Alexander High School, and it is amazing to think that with his fantastic speed he will have another year to compete. During the summer he is out at Point Breeze running Oak Orchard Yacht Club's youth sailing program and racing COLLEGE TUITION on Thursday nights. He will also be taking on an assistant role to his father, John Brown's position as Fleet Captain. Congratulations to Robbie, who at this time is ranked fourth fastest 50 Free swimmer in New York State.

Bio: Future plans: Undecided. Considering majoring in engineering in college. About me: Lists his dad as the person who has had the biggest influence in his life. Favorite athlete is Michael Phelps. Also competes in outdoor track and field.

Luna Rossa - stepping the sail

Luna Rossa is back in Auckland and ready for a year of testing and training alongside Emirates Team New Zealand. The knowledge-sharing partnership between the Prada-backed Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand was announced back in November. The two teams will pool resources ahead of next year's America's Cup in San Francisco.

Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand will train and race each other on AC45 catamarans.

Beautiful Winter Day at O.O.

It has been an incredible winter. Here is a quick shot from an iPhone looking back at the harbor from the Oak Orchard shore. Just a bit of ice on the rocks betrays the season. Two and a half months before boats start going back in. Time to think about the wetted surface prep.

Susan Hood Trophy Race - Port Credit Tradition

In the spring of 1955, Doug Hood, a member of Port Credit Yacht Club, approached George Cuthbertson the creator of C&C and offered to put up a trophy if someone would produce a simple measurement system for handicapping custom built yachts. Doug donated the trophy named after his brand new bouncing baby daughter Susan. Approximately 25 boats were measured and the first race was held in early June of that year. The course was Port Credit to Oakville to Port Dalhousie and back to Port Credit. In spite of a fire on one yacht, very little wind, and Doug winning his own trophy in a Cruising 6 Metre “Junge”, the race was a great success.

Today, the Susan Hood Trophy is presented to the yacht winning PHRF overall, with other trophies for the division winners. It is believed that this is the only case where the title trophy is not awarded to the winner of the “Grand Prix” class (CCA, IOR, and now IMS), although there are trophies for those divisions as well.
Excerpt of article by John Weakley

The race is a 73 nautical mile overnight race around the western end of Lake Ontario.  Starting at 8:00 PM from just offshore of the Port Credit Yacht Club competitors sail through the sunset to the Burlington Weather Mark then make their way to a mark off of the Niagara river before heading back across the lake to Port Credit.

In 2011 the racers experienced some amazing weather not unfamiliar to seasoned lake racers:

The video below is a cool trailer lead-up to the 2011 race:



Video below of Black Diamond, a Jeanneau 39i in a wild squall storm sailing in Susan Hood Trophy Race 2011. Black Diamond experienced all sorts of conditions on Lake Ontario from no wind for most of the night to a 50 knot squall, rain, sleet, snow and hail. Finally completing the 75 miles in 16 hours.


Video aboard BLAST: At around 11:00 the storm front hit us. We scrambled to reduce sail area as the winds went from light to sustained 30+ knots and we were being blown downwind at 10+ knots with just our main up. The boat was under tremendous strain since we still had a full main sail up and couldn’t get a reef into it so to avoid damage as the wind was continuing to build we rounded up into it and quickly dropped the main. Here’s a short clip from just before we doused the main.



Susan Hood on facebook

Cronkite Report - 1987 America's Cup

Taking us back to the turning point:

In 1987, sailing enthusiast and CBS News Anchor Walter Cronkite hosted an in-depth look at the competition for the 1987 America's Cup. The 2-hour show includes some amazing footage, insightful interviews, and of course the reporting thoroughness and style that made Cronkite an icon of American television.

To celebrate Walter's contributions to American sailing on this occasion, the NSHOF website is now featuring a two-part series entitled 'America's Cup: Cronkite Reports' where he chronicles, race by race, the 1987 America's Cup campaign, a watershed event in Fremantle, Western Australia. 

Mercy/McQuaid Sailing Team win 2011 White Trophy

Story from Rochester Yacht Club.

It took a total team effort for the Mercy McQuaid High School Sailing Team to win the 2011 Lawrence A White Trophy at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London CT October 15,16.

The White Trophy is by far the biggest High School Regatta in the Fall Season, attracting 21 teams from as far away as Sarasota Fl, Georgia, Chicago IL and Minnetonka MN, including the 2010 National Champion Antilles HS, US Virgin Islands.
High School Sailing combines the scores of two Fleets (A and B Divisions). Each School has one boat in each Division they sail two race sets then switch boats and Divisions. Scores are added representing the number in which they finished and the lowest score wins.

Very shifty and strong 20-30+ knot winds greeted the six sailors from the Mercy McQuaid team that made the trip. Lead by Team Captains, Senior Brendan Cook and Sophomore Maryn Cannon starting in A division and Sophomore Nick Sertl and Junior Danny Lawless in B Division.

The Optimist - Humble Beginings

The history of the Optimist Pram has been well documented. The ubiquitous little boat has been a proven trainer for many of today's sailing masters. If you are not familiar with the inception of the Optimist down in Clearwater Florida, you can hear the story firsthand from the designer Clark Mills as he recounts the events that resulted in the largest one-design fleet in the world. 

Blazing boats on Halloween - at it again

Halloween Boat Burning - LI Maritime Museum - West Sayville NY
The museum's annual Halloween Boat Burning is one of New York's most unique family events! Each year, someone donates a large, wooden boat that is simply beyond repair and we set it ablaze for Long Island's largest bon fire!

Each year at this event, we also raffle off a new wooden boat, lovingly hand-crafted by our boat shop volunteers to a lucky winner!

Halloween costumes encouraged.



Interesting video from last year's inferno - have to skip ahead to the three minute mark in the video to see them enkindle the sacrificial yacht.

Local sailing legend to retire

Local sailing legend, Bruce Franklin announced his retirement from yacht racing at Oak Orchard, but will continue to support the program in another capacity. Franklin stated that he made his decision to retire "after a long hard look." "I like the idea of sailing," Franklin went on to explain, "It's the actual sailing part that I need to give up. I'm going to continue to watch sailing; I love that. But, the actual pulling lines, tangling them around my feet, and putting over-rides on winches while trying to protect my head -- that part needs to stop." 

Skipper Ray Leonard commented on Franklin's decision, "He's a vital part Emeraude's crew, and I think other crew members look to Bruce to draw the heat off themselves when things get tense out there. I'm not saying that he's a whipping boy - because we don't actually whip the crew anymore. But, I'd say he was very important to crew morale." 

Franklin has requested to fulfill a very important role as the Committee Cottage. "I've got a really good vantage point to watch the races from my front deck." he explains. "I would like to run the races from my front lawn where I can keep track of the racing or take a walk if I want. I really only have to pay attention during the starts and finishes; that I can do."

The O.O.Y.R. Logo Design - Available

The design scheme for Oak Orchard Yacht Racing encompasses the iconic image of the newly built Oak Orchard Lighthouse at Point Breeze, N.Y. The lighthouse was destroyed in a storm in 1916, and with the rebuilding project, it has become the newest lighthouse built on Lake Ontario in the past one hundred years. So, it was an easy choice to include this image in the design. 

The design is available on clothing and other merchandise through CafePress.com.  CafePress the items are purchased at a nonprofit price. Just a few of the items are shown here in this posting.The online storefront in located at: http://www.cafepress.com/ooyr

THEN

NOW

The Ebb of Summer

The colors of autumn were beginning to show along Oak Orchard's treed banks, and the weather was like a summer's day this Columbus weekend. Up here in the north we have to shelve our summer skills and prepare for the cold that will turn this little river to ice.  The video of Emeraude making her way to the gin pole and readied for the yard, is a bit of an art/music video to capture the waning of our warm sailing days.