The 3rd Race goes into History. 2:1 for the Kiwis.

Been in Valencia on June 26th to watch the third race in the 2007 America´s Cup with my fellow colleagues. We had booked the full program including the MY "Newflash" going out on the race course. The picture to the left shows the ETNZ leaving the marina through the canal at about 12.00h as being the first team. The "B" team with helmsman Ben Ainsle left just before. We headed out at around 14.30h. It was a lumpy sea out there, big swell right in front of the canal. These conditions would have been called "boat breaking conditions" in San Diego in the early days of the IACC class. The girls from my team went complete seasick, my "toughest man" a little green despite the seasickness pills which we had been taken. They were warned and the rest of the team decided to stay outside until it is finished. Readers of the official site and the various blogs (I highly recommend my AM Cup link list) will know that we had to wait until a minute to 17.00h when Peter Reggio started the race. That it would become the "race of the century" was not clear at that moment and not 10 minutes into the race when the Kiwis had hit a right hand shift, a big lift for them which also had more pressure. Their lead was about 300m on the virtuell eye, which was installed on a plasma screen on the yacht. We had a very experienced captain who was able to place the 26m luxury MY at the center of the action. Often bringing the boat into the "not allowed" area which was marked with red buoys and only allowed for boats with red/yellow flags. There was plenty to see and plenty to discuss and the crew of "NEWFLASH" brought champagne out when the race was finished on a nail biter.

The evening was spend in the Estrella Damm bar (as the evening before) where we met some friends and also people from the German Team. They kept their lips tight about next days announcement that Karol Jablonsky (DN P-36) would become skipper of the UITG-Team who had just been allocated sail nr. GER-101 for their second IAC Yacht, which is under construction around the corner in Kiel. Anyway it had been an unforgettable time spend in Valencia for the 32nd America´s Cup. I close this report with a picture, also taken with my mobile. Showing ETNZ with skipper Dean Barker, coming in after that hard earned victory against Alinghi. I must admit, that I fear at this stage, that Alinghi will shift up another gear and are coming back into their winning zone. We will wait and see. Three interesting days are lying ahead.
Eine gut geschriebene Zusammenfassung des 3. Rennens fand ich auf meiner Clubseite. Hier der Link: http://www.ssc-online.de/html/rennen_3.html

Gone Sailing and watching the AM Cup

Two ..uuhps three tasks at hand on the weekend:
1. "Samantha" had to be delivered to Flensburg for the upcoming Musto-Double-Hand-Challenge.
2. On Friday we had been invited to race on a Archambauld 35 during Kieler Woche and:
3. The first two races in the Americas Cup this season!
Gone sailing in Kiel Friday evening. The pleasure factor from this regatta being just OK. Nice boat but with a 35 footer you would not like to start in IMS 1 where you have mostly 45 footers upward. Takes a bit of fun away already close after the start. One after the other is passing just on the basis of a longer waterline.
Saturday afternoon we watched the first race (on compie) and were not too much impressed after that first wind shift which some commentators have seen at abt. 10-12° in favour of "Alinghi". Nevertheless she did not look slow.
Jumped into the car after the race to drive up north (Maasholm) to the boat and detaching ropes within half an hour. Sailing upwind until midnight in a nice breeze and a late sundown with some moon putting a silver shine on the sea. Berthed for the night at Marina Minde late at one o´clock and leaving next day in a rainstorm reefed. Ended up motoring in no wind at close to 13.ooh into the Marina Sonwik and got collected after putting all the wet stuff away. Just making it home for the second race and man, has it been exciting. 1:1 and everything is OK. Tomorrow I will be with my team in Valencia watching the third race. I still cannot believe this as we had booked it already last year. And now we see a very important race.

A friend had send me some interesting comment on the race strategy yesterday. Read for yourself if you have not scrolled through all my links on the right side. As I understand the analyses is from Gary Jobson. One of my favourite tacticans of the old days. He and Dr. Stuart Walker whom´s books taughed me a lot.

quote
ETNZ caught a favorable wind shift on the left side of the course during
a tacking duel. ETNZ closed within one boat length after trailing by
three lengths. Hutchinson called for his helmsman, Dean Barker, to sail
low of course by about 7 degrees. But ETNZ did not ease the sails out.
Butterworth on Alinghi called for helmsman, Ed Baird to tack right on
the Kiwi’s wind. Fooled by NZ’s head fake, the call to tack was made too
early. Instead of hurting NZ’s wind Alinghi allowed the Kiwis to have
clear air in their sails. Barker brought his boat back up on the wind
and now had the Swiss blocked. It was a rare mistake by Butterworth. And
it was costly.

Quelle: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/gj/#Race2

Its all about the folks behind...

This morning I read a letter in the Euro Scuttlebutt which really struck me. I like to bring it on here for people to understand what made me a "fan" of the Kiwi camp. It also brought back the memory of the long night in early 2003. Me and my DN friends had stayed up to see the first of the TNZ vs. Alinghi start at 02.00h in the morning in a hotel at Lake Goldberg, only to see the Kiwi boat falling apart. Three of us showed tears. Nevertheless we had some good Iceboat racing the next day.

quote
* Rob Wilkinson, Auckland, New Zealand: Although it would improve my bank balance for the Cup to come back down 'ere, I have to agree it's better for the sport for it to stay in Europe. The hyperbole in the local media is "they're one step away from bringing it home", but personally I can't see them overhauling Alinghi. My bet is 5-3 to the Swiss, not that I'd tell my staunch Kiwi father-in-law that. He'll personally march me to Immigration and have my passport revoked for being a traitor.

It's quite incredible, though, how New Zealanders really get behind the team. People who know the square root of duck all about yachting - they still think Anchor is a brand of butter and port is just a fortified wine - are totally compelled by the whole thing. Our small nation tucked away in the corner of the world might just possibly beat Bertelli and his billions.

The morning after the LV Cup final match, I was sitting in a waiting room and some little old lady was yawning and remarked she hadn't slept for a week because she'd stayed up all night to watch the racing. She didn't know anything about sailing but wanted to "support the boys". I swear there's only two degrees of separation between everyone in the country so her grandson is probably on the team.

Then I went to the chemist and the two old guys behind the counter were clarifying who the strategist and tactician were (they finally agreed, and got it right). It's like that everywhere. There are few places in the world you'd get that kind of public support for yachting.

I'm glad Sir Keith Mills has entered the Cup fray and put the Poms back in the game but I bet few landlubbers north of Hampshire could tell you (come 2009) who the Origin skipper is. Down here, every man, woman and child knows that Deano is "captain" of our boat. No pressure, mate.

I still recall watching the first race of the 2003 final at Auckland Airport. The whole arrivals terminal came to standstill as the boats crossed the line. No one cared about people pouring through immigration. Hundreds of eyes were transfixed on the big screen. The boom broke, blue bucket came out to bail out, the headsail ripped out of the foils and the team retired and people around me started crying. I was more staggered about the public reaction than NZL82 almost sinking.

If Dalts, Dean and co do win it back, it'll be one 'eck of a party. It'll make the '95 celebrations look like a village carnival. Cheers from Kiwi land, possibly the future home of the Auld Mug.
unquote

Racing the Bull and thoughts about OL classes

The beautiful German summer weather turned into rain, thunderstorm and strong winds on Friday last week. On my to-do-list there had been a couple of things with the rigging. Lengthen the shrouds, shorten the headstay to get the mast more upright but I hate to fiddle with the boat (any boat) in the rain. We hoped to have enough time to do the jobs on Saturday. Saturday again, very bad weather and we cancelled the racing for ourselves and visited Kieler Woche, which had just started for all the Olympic Classes + 1. Plus one being the 2,4mR disabled sailors. First half of Kieler Woche this year being held exclusive for the existing OL classes.

K. had never been to Kieler Woche though she did some very competitive 470 sailing, but due to the iron curtain and the decline in sailing after the wall came down, she had only able to sail at Warnemünde or otherwise on the East German lakes. (This whole thing is a story in itself) Nevertheless, I thought that in Kiel I would not meet any German OL sailors whom I know, as all the Olympic sailors are max 25 years old since the Soling had to go. Wrong I was. There is still Roland Gäbler in the game, leading as per today the Tornado fleet and in the Star, Alex Hagen. Not to forget Marc Pickel, whom we helped with selection of materials for his new Starboat. (This just to drop a few names). Offshore boats, IMS 1 - 4 were also in Kiel and the crews were in the beer tent, which was fully packed. We had a few interesting talks around the Foiler Moths and Finn Dinghy developments. (Oh so, beautiful these Wilke carbon masts!). Scrolling through the results sheets: http://www.kieler-woche.de/segeln/index.htm I found that the participants in some classes were at the very low end compared to years before. Bad timing with ISAF worlds I was told. But where are all the Germans, normally found in the Tornado, Star or 470 class? Good participation during weekend regattas or more fun orientated events like Travemünder Woche might be one of the reasons. Is it no fun to compete against "full time" sailors? To learn it the hard way? I had done it, many years ago in the Flying Dutchman. Having the oldest boat (G-500) on the start line. Being last in every race. Capzising even before the start and some "not so nice FD guys" laughing at me. This only made me work harder till I got to grips with the sport I still love.

One Day in Valencia

Just have to send a quick report about my last "non-sailing-event", though it was in the heart of the America's Cup. In Valencia at June 13th. I had been invited earlier this month to the Boat builders Ball from SP, Isle of Wight and my dear friends insisted that I had to come. OK, I arrived yesterday afternoon and went straight to the Estrella Damm Bar with the SP guys. This bar being the meeting point as I had been told and of course there arrived a couple of sailors from the Kiwi camp, Ben Ainsle, Rod Davis and a few guys who's name I do not know (yet). Like being well organized, later in the afternoon, the two Alinghi boats were towed in. They must have been out two boat practising. Later at the party (it only started to buzz at around midnight) I was told by one of the umpires that the Alinghi boats raced each other with umpires and all the works. The Kiwi camp kept a good look on the two boats, they could immediately tell me which one was SUI 100 and which one the SUI 91. I would need a few days adjusting to it but of course, they are watching these boats with eagles eyes. ...I heard it through the grapevine: Four STP 65´s are currently under construction. "Rosebud" being ready to sail the next days. One belonging to a German Owner. Ex Admiral's cup winner. The second German IAC Yacht will get the number GER-101. Construction is well under way. Alinghi coming out of tacks a couple of seconds faster than ETNZ. Also not necessary to bear away so much with SUI-100 to get back up to speed after tacking. Some insiders gave it 5:0 to Alinghi, I expect much closer racing and hopefully a ninth decider race, going to the Kiwis. The underdogs, who have hopefully kept their best weapons in the shed sofar. I'll let you know more when I am back from visiting Valencia again for third final race on June 26th with all my team here at CTM.

All New...but less Speed

All new, yes, nearly: The Bull got new rigging, very light Easy Rigging carbon cables and a new square cut mainsail. To say I was not happy with the outcome at the first day out on the water, is an understatement. Either the boat was slow or I did sail slow. The Taktick never showed more that 5.6kn when in the old configuration I got the speed up to 6.2 on a flat water upwind leg.
I have to do more testing with different rake and when I have calmed down I will write about what went wrong from the manufacturers side.

Two nights on anchor... just about

Time is passing by so quickly for an Americas Cup junkie that it is difficult to cope with updating this blog about my own sailing experiences. The time is lost in the workshop, preparing the new rig for the Bull but I want my weekend to go out into the Baltic Sea to get back some sea legs on the 36 footer, "Samantha". And difficult it was. No, not to get free from work, it was difficult to cope with the grey Saturday and the chop and waves, created by the eastern wind, once out there. I did not feel good and asked myself: Why am I not using the dinghy inside on the "pond" instead. But this was a cruising weekend. Therefore let's start at the beginning: It was our first weekend with "SAM" this year. In May I had chartered it out to a couple to let the boat make some Moonies.

So, on the first weekend in June, we were greeted with a marvellous sunset in the big marina in Maasholm. This is a 40 min drive from home. Too many boats, too close together, narrow passages. All things which I do not like, so normally we cut lines immediately after having stowed the goodies and filled the tank with fresh water and sail "out of this place". (Eric Burdon's song jumps into my mind) Around the corner there is a nice bay where we dropped anchor for the night. Cosy to say the least. I had admired German Circumnavigator-against-the-wind, Wilfried Erdmann, who once dropped anchor in this bay (the only boat at that night) after a hectic schedule which he must have had in Kiel during the Volvo Ocean stop over, where he had a promotion job with his 11m aluminium sloop. Some readers might remember the thousands and thousands visitors and Erdmann's boat was cramped with people. People who could familiarize more with this boat instead of the "Illbruck" or the other V60´s. Me, coming back from the Volvo Ocean flotilla, my guests being unloaded in Kiel-Schilksee, who had greeted the boats at the Kiel Lighthouse and putting the boat straight into the marina berth, driving home, had to stop on the road and look at the lonesome boat "Kathena" on anchor in the bay with the sun setting nicely. I put in thoughts if I am doing it right here. Not staying on board for another night. On anchor. And going to work early next morning after putting the boat away. He seemed to do it right. You do not need to have an anchorage far away, in the Caribbean or the South Pacific, it can be here. Right at home. And I know from the books Wilfried Erdmann had written, he had been there, seen most of it, living an ocean cruiser live and I haven't been there. Just dreaming about, following the routes of my brother, of Moitessier, Erdmann and many others in my reading. But, I had developed into a sailboat racer early on, not a cruiser and I am now slowly enjoying the cruising part of sailing.

This story got an awful bend I just realize. But those are the thoughts. Nevertheless, it was good to drop anchor last Friday night. The next day, we sailed some 25 miles in a grey and lumpy sea and dropped anchor again in Denmark's nice Horuphav bay. The wind started to shift away from land at around 23.ooh and I decided to lift anchor and to move into the crowded marina. We were greeted by a couple at the entrance who were taking a "night stroll". They gave us a tip to berth the boat at the rigging crane which we did. The boat just squeezed in there and I felt relaxed for the night. Next day the sun greeted us and we had a marvellous sailing day with some messy manoeuvres using the spinnaker and the code zero. But that is something we could improve. We must improve for the upcoming double-hand-challenge end of this month.

Wednesday (yesterday) night again sailing Jürgen´s Melges24. Being first ship home (just about) but not on corrected time, I see my windspotting and crew-handling a bit weak at present. No wonder with so few sailing time only. One does not get better from watching it on the computer or TV. One has to go out there and to do it!

Wednesday Night (beer can) Race in a Melges 24 and "updates"

Only yesterday, did I sail my second beer can race on the home water this season. Due to changes in life and other responsibilities I do not have my Bull 7000 ready for sailing. But this season, we have two Melges 24 in the fleet. Jan has purchased his boat "Bostik Bad Boys" in late autumn and he did practise all through the winter. Every Saturday going out with his team. I could see them sometimes passing by and got a bit nervous about the hours, they were spending in their new boat. They had asked me sometimes to come out and play but I am changing things on the rig and the Bull is not yet ready for sailing. Until yesterday I was even hopeful that I would be able to beat the Melges on the line but I fear that this is not possible. I had to change my mind which was built on last years results against Melges 24´s which might not have been sailed to even 80% of their potential. Anyway, I got my hand on the tiller of "Henri LLOYD" yesterday and I did crew for Jan on his boat last week. They were keen to learn and practise the Kiwi drop, which I had learned from the designer Greg Young during a Bull´s training session. It is a very common maneuver with A-sail boats but mostly unknown to regular spinnaker users. The main thing is to douse the A-Sail on the windward side whilst rounding the mark. NOT before. All the cloth drops nicely into the rig and you have your crew on the windward side to stow it away. Mostly this is the side to hoist it from leeward on the up-wind-mark.

The M24 "Henri LLOYD" came to Germany recently from England. There are not many used boats on the market at present and with a little communication assistance by myself, the boat ended up on the Harwich (GB)/Esbjerg (DK) ferry, where the new owner, Jürgen, collected it, using my German number plate on the English trailer. You just drive on the ferry, tow it on and off you go. Easy. Did that many, many years ago with a Flying Dutchman, coming in on a Roll on/Roll off Vessel from Australia. But this boat belonged to FD friends from down under to be used on their EURO tour. Customs office wanted to know about. Off course, and I told them to treat the Aussie boat like a football which you need for playing. Got away with it after much discussions. Otherwise you need to pay customs duty and VAT. Have to fill in many documents and be able to claim the money later when the boat goes back home.

So, "Henri LLOYD" was offered to me yesterday and I collected crew and off we went. A pity that the "Bostik Bad Boys" did not come out to play. They had work to do. New Boats to prepare for collection. That is their trade and it is busy time at present. We managed a good start, came first to the weather mark and did some nice downwind work with my experienced 14ft sailor in the crew. The wind nearly died. It died totally for us. At least that is what we thought. We came to a standstill, long way in front of the fleet of X-79, X-99´s and other boats. We sat there, waiting for the wind to pick up again but the only thing which happened, was the fleet to catch up with us. Deep inside I had thought we were caught in the soft mud but my crew, who knows this water from swimming and windsurfing all over the place, denied this until I asked why a goose feather on the water would now start passing us from behind. OK, heel and rock the boat free. We rounded the weather mark in third place, first happened to be old Windsurf buddy, Klaus on his Mistral Raceboard with a huge sail. Well done Klaus! We managed to get back into the front in this zephyr wind. We were in good mood due to being out there and our result does not turn Jan away from racing against us. Stay tuned. We will take the Melges out again next Wednesday. By the way, the photo at the top shows the committee boat on the way home, towing two tailenders. (click on it to enlarge) K. took it from the roof of our new house which is under construction. This being one of the reasons, the racing comes a bit short this summer season. My goal is to get the new in-house workshop ready by November and start into a full DN season next winter. Any by the way, for anyone interested: the Bladerider has delayed the delivery again until 10th of June. Clever guys, they are sending out regular status reports, which stops nervous clients from calling in. I understand that they want to see a fleet of their boats at the Worlds in Lake Garda later this month and me and my friends are far from being able to even reach a starting line in this nice little craft. So, let us patiently wait for the Flying Moth to arrive in June.

Taken the Singlehand-Dinghies for a ride...

All of a sudden there was time left in the evening after the LV Semi Finals came to an end and work in the company had been done. A sunny evening which allowed to sail in shorts and T-shirt. First we sailed across to the SSC sailing club youth training to take part, but the young sailors did some playing and mocking around with boats. No marks laid, just playing cat and mouse. Not bad and maybe fun in a fleet that varies from 29er, Laser, Pirat, Europe and others. We decided to do a long downwind stretch, some 5km as this is my weakness against the girl. Much wind reading and anticipation for the next shift required to stay close but once she catches a gust, she is off and I am left behind in a different wind system.

Anyway, we met our friends Roger and Jörg doing some Laser training. We did some upwind work with them, Roger as fast as ever but Kerstin able to stay in front. I had some problems shifting into "competition mode", which normally is not a problem for me but once in the back of the 4 boat fleet, I only did the wrong things. Tacked into a hole etc. When a big black cloud appeared over the town which Roger analysed as a wind sucker we departed to either ends of the Schlei Fjord to reach our berths before the wind would die. A nice evening of sailing was finished with a round of strawberries from the nearby fields, purchased earlier in the day.

Great Reading about the Americas Cup

There are some Journos out there who´s AM Cup articles your fellow blogger is reading with interest and enviousness. Great stories about a great event. There is nothing like that happening around my life, though it is not boring, but how can I interest someone with a story about me putting the DIV II board out on the water to try to beat my lady in her dinghy. Just for the records, it happened last weekend and I put in an extra hour of boardsailing after the exciting races yesterday, when BMWO beat Luna Rossa across the line in a tough race. Tough to watch. That is why I needed some relief. You will guess by now that I am cheering more the Italian boys, the Brazilian magican, the Italien Gentleman and the Aussie boy other than the slick and self-appointed challenger team, Oracle. At least, this is the image they have built around them. Now the wall of self confidence must be dented. I am not a believer in the sand-bagging theories appearing in some sailing forums.

On another note, I read today one of the best sentences about sailing with a crew. Confidence in your crew. Something which gave me shivers. James Spithill, Helmsman, Luna Rossa Challenge, about his crew: "The guys have pretty much said to me ‘put the boat wherever you need to and the sails will be there’ and they have delivered. So it’s full credit to those guys.”

Thank you James and keep up the good work. I don´t mind to be glued to the screen during racetime and hope to see you in Valencia in the final, when I am paying a visit.

Worst Mistcake...

Tillerman on Propercourse writes today: "Write a post on your blog about the worst mistake or most embarrassing moment you had while sailing". mmmh, he wants this "to serve as terrible warnings" - a very good idea, indeed. A pity, nobody had warned me about what happened to me in the following story, but would this have been possible for the incident which I had ran into?

Some years ago, being on a cruise with my 36 footer in the Baltic Sea with girlfriend, the 5 year old boy and the dog, sun is shining, just a light breeze from the back and only the main up. There is a shallow marker at a corner of an island which we want to round, 1,5 miles outside. Girlfriend reading the map and pointing towards the marker. Some Danes take an inside route, which I also did during a regatta some years ago. "Well, you know, I know this area..."
We are not heeling at all. Suddenly we are running aground. The boat shakes, the boy (his first trip) feels the boat bumbing on the ground. The dog barks. Boy starts crying, dog goes crazy. Girlfriend ash white. We have to take the main down. Immediately. I push the dog down below, girl holds son and the main drops down on the 5,20m long boom. Dog is bleeding on his paw and wants out. Starting the engine, reverse. No reaction. Waving with rope to boats passing close. No reaction. Someone yells: "Heel that thing" - he cannot know that we have a winged keel. Draft 2m´s and we are sitting on these bloody wings. Heeling increases the draft. Oh, could someone please pass by and throw a little wave?? Someone up there must have heart it. A small passenger ship in the distance sends some gentle waves... the boat rises from the ground, full reverse, touches just a little at the trough and takes of with the next one. Slowly out of here. Backwards in the same direction were we came from. Planned destination cancelled. Straight home. The little one, since than, does not want to step onboard again. He has felt emotionally the wrong aggregate state of the boat.

The boat did not carry any damage but a fortnight later my charterer asked me if I knew a new route around that cape. "Oh, well no. I cannot recommend this way. Please stay out if you round that corner". Bloody me, I forgot to delete the course lines in the Garmin...

Sailing without fun...but fun in the sun!

This blog is actually updated (noops, I was not able to send it through, I am doing it today, being homebound) from the airport in Singapore where we are in transit from Bali back to Hamburg via Frankfurt. The reason to visit the beautiful island of Bali as a first timer, had been an invitation to a wedding party in the Four Seasons Resort, at Jimbaran Bay Four Seasons, Bali , from a good ol' friend and sailing buddy of mine, with whom I had shared my last H-Boat, G-736 some years ago and the 36db, GER-3843 which I still keep and sail. Our friend did marry into an Indonesian family. This had been an event which I did not want to have missed. Actually it had been the most incredible event I had been to. Not only wedding wise. Definitely something, which I will never forget. (K. just talks on her mobile from Singapore Airport to her parents in Wittenberge and she told me that it is just as phoning from next door...amazing times) OK, the wedding party went on for 3 days and I had put in 3 extra holidays, getting the very special rate in a place which I normally would not choose as my holiday home. Anyw, one of the days we went sailing in the resorts only 2-hander, a Hobie Cat with a "keel". (do not know exactly the type) It was nice to be out on the Indic (Indian Ocean for non- circumnavigators) but to sail the boat was horrible. The boat was very hard on the helm. Weatherhelm. I could not find out what was wrong before coming back to shore with a sour arm. The instructors told me that they are waiting for a new rudder from Australia, which takes time. OK, it made me happy that I had not forgotten how to get through the surf in a Cat, but sailing a straight line was near impossible. The rudder just had way too much rake which put the boat out of balance. We tried to wet ourselves afterwards with a sea-kajak but it seemed that we had missed all, but one wave on the last run-in. With this last wave we did a handstand, burying the nose into the sand… a lot of laughter not only from the beachmasters but also from ourselves.

Out of balance is what I am today after the exhaustive trip home, following the daylight. But it is not the tiredness, it is a little virus in the system which keeps me close to were you wanna be alone…

No sailing in Valencia but a great day in Schleswig...

One gets tired to read about postponements and "no race days" in Valencia though as a sailor, I have "been there" in quit a few occasions when we travelled far, say to the Med to take part in the FD regatta in San Remo or later in Hyeres when it either blew "cats and dogs" or the see stayed calm. Same happened during Kiel Week but never for more than 3 days. The good thing is that work get´s done, the bad thing for me that some journalists are digging into crap. E.g. suggesting that Dean Barker of ETNZ is not good enough because he lost against the Latin Rascals in the first race. Pressure is built here from English Journos, as far as I can interpret things. These guys want to see Ben Ainsle on the wheel to have an advantage for the next round when Britain takes part with the ORIGIN challenge. I have followed the Kiwis since the "Skiff on steroids", NZL 20 days. Being a tiny little supporter by purchasing some team gear and "promoting" this team within my group of sailing friends. Everyone here has heart the voice of the Cup, Peter Montgomery. We have a sailmaker friend, who learned from the many Cup videos which I got send from Kiwiland, to act and speak like PM. Great Fun. Back to what I want to say: Barker took some scalps during the Match Circuit. Some big scalps and I believe that the ETNZ will make it through into the Cup. And if not and you ask e.g. Dennis Conner, who will win the Cup: His answer is said to be: "A Kiwi. There is a Kiwi in every team". Like that.

Yesterday had been an interesting day here in the sailing community. My friend collected his Melges24 from the Harwich/Esbjerg ferry, the former HENRI LLOYD, from England. The boat was purchased through phone and mail with help from my side cause of language problems. Without ever meeting the owner in person, it proved to me that as a sailor (a boatowner) I can trust sailors (boatowners) elsewhere because we share the same passion. Passion for boats.

This also applies to my fellow colleague, Bjoern, who recently purchased an older 1/4 Tonner. A Bruce Farr Design, built abt. 30 years ago in Germany at the former Burmester boatyard in Bremen. A cold moulded boat, still in very good condition. Yesterday we celebrated the "boat in the water" event. The official launching will happen later. I do hope that I can post a photo later about this interesting boat, which still pleases the eye. Having done some 1/4 ton sailing myself on a Nissen design, I had many chances in the old days to look at the beautiful wide stern of this particular Farr design. (Wide of course in the meaning of the IOR days, today most boats are wider)

So, K and I did sail to the event with our dinghies. We live just on the other side of the water. (On the north side, just about the middle of the picture. Our friend watered his Farr boat just across on the south side. We launched from the green close to where we live and when we came back later, after doing some up-and-downs to shake the tacking and jibing cow webs off, we de-rigged under a full blossom cherry tree. What a sight.

Did you watch the anemometer in Valencia?

Anybody who watched the anemometer in Valencia over the last 30min would have been amazed that the windspeed had been 0 knots! This thing either sits in the windshadow of a chimney or something else or the weather is not cooperating at all!

Actually I believe that the Spaniards have placed their Anemometer free of every windshadow and what we see is what we get...Have a look yourself and pray that the condition will improve now, when it looks like +39 might have their version 5 mast ready to race. Go: Weather Data from Valencia and press thumb for the Finn Dinghy guys in the AC.

Two days of waiting for the AM Cup Races to start

It is the second day with starts postponed in Valencia. Not a sign of enough wind. At least the weather has changed from the cold blustery days to some nice and warm sunshine from what we can read. I am not there. I am following it via the Americas Cup Homepage. I think for the true aficionado it is not a bad thing. He understands the adverse weather conditions and that you cannot schedule sailboat racing according to the TV program.

Every sailor or windsurfer must have come to a sailing site where the locals told you: "It is always windy or always sunny here" and when you arrive, you find just the opposite. Or the locals tell you: "You should have been here an hour ago". It happened to me quite often, when driving to the Baltic Sea from Hamburg, to put in some windsurfing in the waves (small) and to air my 4.7 or 4.2qm sail, it seemed that I had arrived too late.

The weather in Europe or more special at the Med is, according to my sources, normally more reliable as at present. But this does not help when everybody down there and at the recent Mallorca regatta has frozen like never before. In the sum of all external forces I think the weather did not change much but it may have moved. We here in the North of Germany did not have frozen lakes during this winter. The people on the Med have had 4 weeks of really bad weather, even snow where it normally does not snow at this time of the year. We can only hope for the better and better it will get in Europe. Whilst "down under" they start preparing for winter, we are coming into our spring and summer season. May the gods of wind prepare some nice racing in Valencia!

And by the way to all European moaners. It is far better to have a postponement line from AC Valencia on your work station during office hours, other than being glued to the TV at 02.00am and not knowing if it will happen or not. Smooth watching.

Digging into the past

This blogger is a little bit out of order due to a bad cold which does not allow me to go out on the water or to do the jobs on the boats which have to be done. Of course there is some planning for the upcoming Double-Hand-Challenge, being started from Flensburg and maybe a participation in the Melges 24 Europeans held in Neustadt.

Every sailor here knows that racing on your own boat brings a lot of satisfaction but also heaps of work in the preparatory stage, whilst crewing for a friend/owner shifts over the workload and the boat prep to someone else. Going through the stages of a bad cold, I could easily decide to skip all boat work and just jump on a well prepared boat as seems to be the Melges24, purchased this week by a friend of mine with whom I had some excellent sailing and racing results in the past. I will never forget one specific Kiel Week in the heydays of IMS, when we sailed together on his X-382 with a good crew. Jürgen and I decided to share the helming from one race to the next as both work hard and concentration on the wheel would fade easily when jumping from office into sailracing. Jürgen started the first of 6 races as helmsman in the Kiel Cup where there were 25 competitors, all keen and many with newer boats and sails. I did the mainsheet on this toprigger and we changed place in the second race. Being a bit nervous after Jürgen set the goal with a second place and helming the first time in a competitive race with a wheel I tried to “bend” the wheel during the starting sequence that the crew asked me to ease the grip, otherwise the sailing would well be finished before arriving at the weather mark. OK, guys, I see what you mean. I sat on the rail, used the wheel like a tiller, softly touched and started to feel the boat like I used to feel any boat which I sailed before. We managed with some excellent crew work to come first and than we never looked back. We won this Kiel week overall under IMS with a near clean scoring sheet. Later during the price giving we learnt to know the Kiwi, Ross Field who was sailing in the Farr Maxi OD Class “Mistral”. Ten boats on the starting line. Very exciting. These 80´superyachts of those days where supposed to race to Stockholm the next day and Ross Field asked me to crew on his boat. Maybe he was lured into asking me, because I carried all the trophies from the stage to the bar. I thought about the offer but knew quickly that this one was not for me. I am not a distance sailor. I cannot sleep on the rail. I do not have enough power to even carry the smallest sail on a maxi yacht. I had to turn him down but asked him if I could help a friend, a sailmaker on to his boat. Yes. And that is a another story, when my friend Harry sailed on the “Grand Mistral” Maxiyacht to Stockholm with a bunch of Kiwis.

It reminds me also to another story when Greg Young asked me to have Ross Field to helm my brand new Bull7000 during Cowes Week 1996, where the boat had been delivered from Auckland. I acted a bit nasty and answered “Ross, who?. The man can do the mainsheet but I am going to helm my boat myself”. How we did not survive Cowes Week and got run down by a 40´Swan even before the first start in front of the starting line at the Royal Yacht Squadron is a story in itself.

I do hope that I get OK soon and do not have to bring up so much of my sailing history. Better to report about actual life out there on the water.

Unbelievable exciting!

just listening to America´s Cup Radio and watching the race-tracker on the official site. +39 with helmsman Ian Percy and all the Finn blokes right in front by about 203m to Areva. Our German team made it back to 5th place. We have to see how she goes downwind.

Couldn´t resist the nice weather on Sunday and took the dinghy out of the winter storage and went sailing for 2,5 hours together with K. Both had tons of fun, enjoying even our rustiness and slow tacks and jibes. NEver started that early in the season over the last years but living now so close to the water and having the boats on stand by one has to do it!

Have to hit back to the official AM CUP website to see how the +39ers are doing.

Not much happening at this time of the year

Sailing is not on my agenda at this time of the year. The transition between winter mode and spring mode brings with it a lot of work to catch up on my boats and workshop. The water is way too cold and " Cold Shock is the killer in water below 15 degrees Celsius" as Jerry Freeman, from Racing at Petit Bateau Ltd., wrote in an article, featured yesterday in the Europe Scuttlebutt. An article which I propose reading for every sailor. I am a vest wearer nearly always but have to rethink a few clothing tips when going out early and not having developed my sealegs.

A friend had send to me this morning an interesting link to a: Swedish Blogger with DN Scrot , who had survived an accident during the last DN Europeans. His boat being "skrot" which in German means: Schrott and to you English speaking guys: "Scrap". This guy has other nice boatbuilding projects featured and I wished my Swedish knowledge would be able to read through, but it isn´t.

April brings a lot of boatwork on the various projects and from May on I think we will go sailing on the water again.

DN European Championship put behind...

What a week we had in Haapsalu, Estonia. Spring temperature on the Ice and a lot of racing. One cannot ask for more. My friend Andreas Bock, (G-624) Germany won the title in a hard fight against all those young Polish, Latvian, Estonian competitors. He also beat former World Champion Ron Sherry (US-44). I had the pleasure to become second best German, finishing 20th which is not too bad without much training this season and bearing in mind that I will zero again this year. I had reported nearly daily on the German Iceboating site: www.eissegeln.de (use the link) of course in German but you will also find photos which give you an idea about the trip and the location. More photos are available on www.eissegeln.at the site from our Austrian commodore, Niklas Müller-Hartburg, who did a phantastic job, travelling 2400km with a trailer behind to find a location which would suit all 150 competitors. This big fleet of course had been divided, after 2 qualifiers in typical DN-fashion, into 3 fleets. Gold, Silver and Bronze. Anyone interested to know more, should try to read the German diary under German Iceboating Homepage on the page under DN Yacht where you can also find result lists.

Haapsalu in Estonia is the place to go for DN sailing

Tomorrow morning, Friday at around 05.00h am we will leave for Haapsalu for the DN EC. The only place in northern Europe at present, which has sailable ice conditions and with a weather report of unchanged temperatures and no snowfall predicted, we should be able to sail our European Championship from Sunday on. My friends and I have booked the ferry from Stockholm to Tallin, others are taking a ferry from Rostock into Ventspils, Latvia. The latter takes 27hrs and I think that is very boring to be on a ship that long. We prefer the 13 hours drive to Stockholm, than an overnight ferry and we will be ready to sail a few laps at around noon on Saturday. Sunday the first races are to be started. The picture attached is from the World Championships 2002 at the same place, were Ron Sherry, US-44 won the title.

A pity I could not train anymore before the Championship this year due to workload and no ice within easy reach. I have to try hard to defend my 12th position on the World Ranking, otherwise I will slip back and have to go through the qualifier races next season. This is really, really difficult. Only one race and you have to be within the top 12. Coming from a bad starting position (drawn by the computer), say left side in the 40´s or 50´s you have to do one more tack than the starters from the right and chances to make it, are small. I have been there in the qualifier league due to two bad seasons and I will try my best not to drop back again. My fellow readers should wish me luck and I promise to do some reporting.

Waiting for departure to DN EC coming weekend

Very difficult to catch up with my blog these days. There was just no opportunity to go sailing (iceboating as in winter...) and I do not want to bore you with a typical "day in the office". Or a Monday evening like this one, where I catched up on reading fellow bloggers messages.

Just to let you know about the difficulties this year to find good places for DN sailing, I´ll post the latest message from our European Commodore who is travelling with car and trailer (which has his equipment stowed) from Vienna to Poland and further into Sweden and now wants to check Conditions in Finland and maybe look further on into Estonia. All to find a suitable site where 180 sailors can launch their boats, sail races and can be accomodated for the upcoming European Championship. Niklas is a great guy who is doing this in the old fashioned style. Looking it up for himself. Not trusting webcams, not trusting reports from people who want to pull us into their territory to make some money, or just lazy race organisers who do not like to travel. Niklas, we here in the north of Germany really do appreciate what you are doing at present. Keep cool and keep up the good work. See you on the Ice.

Posted by Niklas (Commodore) on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 07:04 pm:
Dear friends, to avoid - I know that this is almost impossible - too havey discussions in the grapevine I decided to post some preliminary informations here.
I started on thursday night from Vienna to Gizycko (where has been the Polish Championship) to check the ice there. Arriving on friday Irealized that the icesituation in combination with the weatherforecast is not good enough. Saturday I got information from Kjell..that there are some spots in Sweden, but it came out that only the spot in Västeras could be good enough for a EC. The other spots have too thin ice.
Now I'm in Västeras and we wait for rain, so that the slush and snow may disappear. For what will happen with the water afterwards I'm missing the phantasie. Tomorrow (Thursday) we will have the decision if the EC will be in Sweden or not.
If the decision is not to sail in Sweden, there are two possibilities: Finland and Estonia. Tomorrow I get informations from the Fins and from the Estonians about the icesituation there. The decision where it will be I can do when I have seen the ice myself. So I have to go there and this takes time. So please wait till tomorrow for the information if we will sail in Sweden or not. And please be patient with me - it's not that easy. Think Ice. Niklas

No DN sailing but a video for the "Warmduscher*"

No DN sailing last weekend. Good Conditions only in Poland but a 15 hours drive away. Some of our DN friends took part in the DN World Championship this week where Bernd, G-107 came 3rd and former W/C Ron Sherry, US-44 finished 4th. Congratulations! Also the junior, Max Minarek, G-479, did well. Find more information through my links > Eissegeln.

Normally I would not like to recommend a youtube video here but this one: GEANT, Orma60 tri in a breeze is something I had to watch several times. Michel D in mid Ocean sailing GEANT, the ORMA 60 tri, upwind in a breeze. Wow. Comparing this to the Fomula 40 sailing, which I did years ago on Lake Garda, I think I was in Kindergarten.

Das mit dem Tri ist definitiv nichts für Warmduscher und auch nichts für Forumsegler. Eisberichte vom Solgen, Schweden klingen gut. Morgen geht die Rundmail raus, wenn unser Scout vor Ort grünes Licht gibt.

*Warmduscher = staying home and taking a hot shower instead...

No Iceboating, Weather is going crazy this Winter

We did not drive to Sweden last weekend for the DN regatta. The weather report did not convince us. Not enough wind at the Mälaren. Some Dutch friends made the trip, which for them is 5 hours more, and they did some racing in snowy conditions. They did well, they love these conditions. Maybe we should not look too much into the computer and try to analyse the weather, just hopp in the car and go. As we did in the years before Internet.

I got a nice respond to my thread: "Who is your sailing hero?". Very interesting to read. Look at the comments and give me yours: Sailing Hero, comments...

DN Sailing - a trip to Sweden on Feb, 2nd.

This blog had been started in December 2005 because I wanted to tell some of my friends about iceboating in Germany as well as keeping a log myself. Long time ago I had given up to write shortcuts into my trim-book. With the ever changing hardware and style of sailing as well as with new knowledge, all the numbers, written down, did not help me at the end. New Technology also made the book, with regards to roadmaps, redundant. Nowadays you are finding the smallest lake in Nowhere-land with your little GPS. On the Swedish Iceboat site they are showing the Long-and Latitude of the places to go. Just type it in and go >> OK, sometimes you have to drive for 10hours and more as we did last weekend. It is not always freezing in Germany as it did, when I started this sport. 7 years in a row we went iceboating nearby. The next 7 years we had to travel. Another 5 years of fantastic conditions in Germany after that and again some weaker wintertime following. Sometimes it was cold but way too much snow for sailing. Tried it of course but got stuck in snowdrifts. Some friends broke their boats. One of my friends started with a well built DIY boat on such a "bad" day. He got stuck several times. In the bad mood he put himself, he lost his boat from the car roof and we had never seen him again on the ice. I remember that on the Sunday after, the snowdrifts had been softened and we had some great racing. W. Schwarten was showing us how to do it and won most races by length.

Back to last weekend. Arriving in Västeras at 03.00h in the morning, going for a pee on the ice, checking if it really was there and a couple hours of sleep in the Camper. The sun was waking us up in the morning. The reed on the lakeside showed signs of wind and we knew already, that it was worthwhile to drive up all the way to Lake Mälaren. 13 boats from Germany, 2 boats only from Sweden went out for some thrilling practice races in a good Force 4 Bft wind on fast ice. A good training for the upcoming weekend when the Swedes have their official race weekend, which takes place every fortnight in different regions of this big country. Anyone who wants to read more and wants to improve his German language skills should go to:

My German report. The photo had been taken on the launch site.

Who is your sailing hero?

Picture by Jim Bolland (see my Linklist for more information about this artist)

Tillerman made me aware of Gary Jobson´s site the other day and I must admit, Gary Jobson is one of my heros of the "old days". Exactly, the America´s Cup of the eighties. I have been in Newport 1983, watching the final AC races, when "Liberty" with Dennis Conner at the helm lost to "Australia II" with John Bertrand, being Skipper. One day on High Street in a bookshop, Gary J. was signing his latest book "Racing Edge", written by Ted Turner & Gary Jobson. A book which helped me many years later in my match racing career. Gary Jobson wrote me a note into the book: "Smooth Sailing to Manfred". And though, I had only learned my English in school, these two words I felt, is all about it!

Whenever things go wrong with me, be it in sailing or other things, I say to myself: Smooth Sailing, and that has been also what I wished Gary in a mail when he had a rough time, health wise. The Curmudgeon (Scuttlebutt) published Jobsons e-mail address and all the well wishers must have helped that this great sportsman is back on the water. A true hero indeed. Use my linklist for your best advantage. Today it is Gary Jobson whom you should pay a visit.

Car Breakdown hindered DN Racing in Sweden-no sailing!

Still a little bit frustrated I was not in the mood to write about last weekends "would be iceboating". Our Swedish friends had called for a DN regatta in Västeras. The weather report looked pretty good for Saturday. Sunday maybe snow and not much wind. I got notice from a couple of friends from the Netherlands and Poland that they would be at the start line. Packed up everything in the Camper and on the way home to pick up K, I realized that there was a lack of oil in the cars system. Filled up 2 liter at the nearby Gas station but still no sign of enough oil. Looked under the car. The filter leaked like a strainer. I called the emergency service as it was a minute to 18.00h. Closing time. Got the car there, half way towed due to noises which made me shut off the engine. Got a new filter, oil and a good-bye from the technicians and after 800m realized white vapour from the exhaust. Big white clouds behind me. Stopped immediately. K. who is a good runner, got her car from home and we towed the Camper back. Garage closed and my hope to make it to Sweden disappeared. Saturday I got text messages about the wonderful site in Sweden, the racing, 42 participants and everything. Good friends tried to cheer me up or to disappoint me. You never know, when in winter mode. We make a lot of fun about each other and ourselves. Anybody interested in the reports (German language) see under links > Die Eissegelseite dt.< and go to DN Yacht in the menue bar left.

Boatshow Visit and other matters

Just back from a visit to the biggest "European" boatshow. The "boot" in Düsseldorf. Not exhibiting with my company, I was visiting the show for two days to meet some customers and their products in the spotlight. To give a quick review is nearly impossible. Way too many impressions. Be it the smart looking BRENTA30, the beautiful lines of the HANSE 430 (Epoxy built), the Tender 08 on the Volkswagen Marine stand or some giant Motor Yachts. The one on the photo did amaze me. Why on earth do you bring such a boat to a boatshow like Düsseldorf? Are there any "would-be-customers" walking around with their ladies and when they see this thing, just say: "hmm, Darling, shall we buy this?"After having bought the Bladerider on the Hamburg boatshow early in November, my budget is limited... But I was looking for a pair of boatshoes and I happen to see the (not so new) Lopolights. They are qualified to be used in Germany now and I need new (sailing/anchor) lights for "Samantha". Lopolight offers a smart solution: Sailing light to be switched into anchor light. The sailing light also lightens the Windex. I had to buy this for the next seasons doublehand-overnighters. I know, politically it is not quite right. The commercial ships do NOT like sailboats with lights on the top of their masts. The light is difficult to see within all the other lights from the bridge above. Someone even told me that you can be rammed whilst anchoring. Skippers look at the light in abt.18m height and think you are still very far away. Fish stories? Uuuhps, nearly forgot to mention. I was very much attracted by the PBO yacht rigging from Easy Rigging. Saving 50% weight compared to your wires is quite something. The product looked well sorted. Haven´t had a look on their website but for anyone interested: www.EasyRigging.com

Friends found some black Ice in Sweden. Might go there tonight for another trainings weekend and some short races. The Swedish fleet is having their races up in Västeras but the forecast is for snow in that area. Catch up with you later, have to check the weather reports.

Finally we found some Ice

Being a DN Iceboater with so much love for the sport I really got nervous finding myself in mid January and no ice anywhere around. Hope was fuelled from the webcams in Italy at Lake Rescia on the website:

German Icesailing. Trouble was that we did not find a scout who would drive there to measure the ice thickness and to check the surface quality. Webcams can be fake. Some people just pin a picture in front...

Anyway the good pictures from the cams left us with no choice. We had to travel down there. Anyone interesting to read the full story including regatta results, though it is in German language, should visit the German iceboating website and look under DN Yacht. There you can find my full report. It helps you improving on your German as I constantly try to improve on my English knowledge by reading your sites.

The pictures shown here were taken on the weekend. The "dull looking site", I took on Friday from the balcony of the hotel. No sailing due to rain and way to much wind out there. Normally you find the mountains all snowed in but this years weather (sofar) is far from being normal. Saturday and Sunday we had good racing in beautiful sunshine and I only lost on countback to one of our German competitors, who will compete in the DN Worlds in three weeks time to be held in Minnesota, USA. I will not be there, though the trip might be shorter than our adventure this past weekend, riding the 150km/h storm "Kyrill" on the German Autobahn A7.
Manfred, DN G-99.

DN - Auf dem Weg zum Reschensee, ITA

Wir rasen durch die Nacht. Auf dem Weg zum Reschensee. 1098 km entfernt von Schleswig. Über Deutschland tobt einer der schwersten Orkane der letzten Jahre. Eben mussten wir von der Autobahn runter. Bei Gießen. Totalsperrung. Erst hatten wir gedacht, wir haben und verfahren, also wieder rauf auf die Autobahn in Gegenrichtung, dann kehrt an der ersten Ausfahrt und das ganze noch mal. Tatsächlich wir wurden sanft von der Autobahn heruntergelottst (mittlels hell blinkenden Schildern) und sollten nun der Umleitung U52 folgen. Doch das ging auch nicht lange gut. Einige Ortschaften waren abgeriegelt.

70 km bergauf-bergab durch Waldgebiete mit viel Schrott auf der Strasse fanden wir endlich wieder zur BAB zurück. Nun fliest der Verkehr um 23.44h Der VW Bus schwankt wie ein Schiff im Sturm aber unser Steuermann fängt ihn immer wieder ab.... autsch..ne ganz harte Böe. Die stieg von der Seite ein.

Wir wollen in Nesselwang übernachten. Der Schlüssel befindet sich in einem grünen Briefkasten.

Unterwegs haben wir noch einige DN Freunde angemorst. Die meisten glaubten nicht, dass wir unterwegs seien. Krogo klang dann aber sehr überzeugend. Man kann schließlich nicht auf der EM starten und vorher nicht im Boot gesessen zu haben. Und ausserdem, wie häufig hatten wir schon zu Hause fürchterliches Wetter und tausend km weiter schien die Sonne und das Eis blinkte.. Warten wir es ab.

Der vollständige Bericht befindet sich unter DN Yacht auf der Homepage:

German Icesailing.

Last Sailing in the Old Year

Yes mates, I wished I would have gone iceboating between X-mas and the new Year but even if we drew the circle around 1500km, there was no ice nor did the weather maps show any promise of minus temperatures except on the arctic circle. Writing about DN Iceboating is why I started this blog. Some sailing friends from Down Under, who had always promised to visit and go sailing with me in winter, should know what they were missing. But there is hope, watch this space around 15th of March, when we are about sailing our European Championship. I might have shown DN sailing to one of the heroes of modern dinghy sailing. From Down Under. But first it must get cold.

Back to the theme: I got a mail call from Rolf in Switzerland who is marketing an interesting range of boats, all built by Lion Yachts. The smaller one, the Humphries H-22, we once built ourselves during boatshows and it happened to be a lovely little Sportsboat. Fast and furios in a blow. Always safe to sail. It had to go because the fleet got too big to cope with. The other boat Rolf is selling caught my interest already last year. The AXion 33.5.

AXion homepage A design from John Corby, England and being built in epoxy. The boat already had amazing results down at Lake Constance and Rolf had asked via a circular letter to people interested in the boat, if they liked to crew in a regatta held in Antibes at the end of December. Yes, of course, had been my response. Can I bring a crew? No problem. There we were. Flying into Nice, got collected by a friend who loaned us a nice little Smart (how you lock this car, when the top opens automatically is another story, preferably on an Autoblog) and met the crew of "Imperator" on the pier at December 27th. The boat looks racy, don´t you think?........

The weather was nice, not very much wind and therefore there was only one race per day during four days. Competition came from a lot of different boats, X-35, X-99, Beneteaus 44.7, 40.7 and a separate Sportsboat class with nine H-22´s competing. All boats squeezed together on a small starting line with a shoreline on the left in a short distance. In the first race it was obvious to start at the buoy end, which we did but not with best timing. I was sheeting the jib and later the gennaker and felt responsible for a bit of tactics. I thought we would have to dug many sterns but this incredible boat pulled out with great speed after we got settled and minutes after the start we had to tack due to the shore and we only had to pass 2 sterns. Saw some nice breeze lines out at the sea, catched it and arrived at the weather mark, close to Nice airport way ahead the fleet. It must have been 15 minutes. I forgot to start my watch as the distance was not seconds, but minutes. The wind died on the long way home to the finish line in front of Antibes harbour and we started to drift half way from the finish. Boats from the back end catched up. The wind turned around 180°, headsails up again and we pulled away with the first new breeze. First ship home and we won on corrected time. Big time.

Day two saw some good breeze at the start which later calmed and became a drifter. The weather mark had been set close to Cannes this time. The French race committee had set a mark a mile to weather which was followed by a long downwind leg along the shore to the mark off Cannes. It all went well until we rounded the mark again in dying wind. We opted for the shore again and others drifted out to sea. They got the new breeze (180° shift at noon again) setting in first and some of them rolled us during the downwind tacking. We were fighting back as quick as we got some nice sailable breeze and just squeezed in as second ship home. Corrected we were 4th. The next competitor on the score board had managed two 2nd places thus we had to beat him in the next race.

Day three saw us meeting at the boat without the owner, who had other responsibilities. We had small troubles interpreting the French way of signalling and about the course which was set as an up-and-down. We managed a good start and stayed in front. I remember that the big white gennaker on the boat pulled us fast downwind with a bit of tweaking the tackline. Crew weight on the rail did not help much in rolling the boat to windward. It is just plain stiff. First across the line and first on corrected time was a boost for the morale, the owner and the marketing of the AXion 33.5. Day four was a windless day and we could´nt either loose or show the öpotential of the boat. We won the regatta on a countback and I am still wondering what makes this 33 footer so incredibly fast. It could not have been my sheeting, ej?

Later K. and I spend some nice days strolling through the old and picturesque St. Paul, through the big marinas on the Cote and through St. Tropez. Boat spotting. We saw boats which you normally only see in the glossy mag´s. Ships like "Ice", "Carinthia IV", "Borkum Riff", "Stormy Weather", a couple of 12mR´s and 100foot Swans and the much admired "Mari Cha IV". It was worth of not going iceboating but now I just can´t wait and my friends are luring me into defending my title as Bavarian Champion down at Lake Rescia (see picture above) in the north of Italy. The webcam today looks nice. Black Ice. No snow. Just what we like in winter. But without training?

New Sails

In my August theme "Where do you sail" I had mentioned that I need fuller sails for my Bull 7000 due to a lack of power in light air and choppy sea. I am working on this issue now and as always the big question to me is about: "who shall make these sails...". I have many friends in the sailmaking business, some had been fine competitors, some I had sailed together with, which makes the decision rather difficult. Some I had distributed myself but at the end of the day it comes down to: "who can provide the best service and who has a knowledge in the class".

For my Bull 7000, I have always trusted my English friends at Sobstad as they have sailed the Bull very successfully themselves. That has been the reason why I have ordered the headsails always from them. You can see from some nice features that they really have a knowledge about, how the boat is best being rigged. Subtle detailing. The mainsail on this boat is another story, as I have a carbon mast in the boat after the aluminium mast broke some years ago. We burried the bow into a steep wave trying to pass a 44ft X-Yacht in strong wind. We did not release the Top Gennaker immediately as we should have, and so the disaster started. The top of the mast kept on sailing, the boat, deep into the stern wave of the boat which we chased, stopped.

The new "kind of DIY" carbon mast is very stiff, maybe we used a little bit too much carbon as a safety factor and the stiffness gave us some problems with the first new mainsail. This one for obvious reasons, had been ordered locally. Our friends at HOLM Segel, just around the corner, had to re-measure and to re-cut the luff twice as I had always seen the sail as a test sail for the new rig configuration: Taller mast and shorter boom was my aim. Now it is time to do something better. Of course a lighter mainsail made of kevlar and maybe some carbonfibre to follow the loadpaths. This normally is difficult or better impossible to get from your sailmaker around the corner. But there is development happening in the market and this year the Dimension-Polyant brand offered the 4th Dimension pre-fabricated highTech sails to smaller sailmakers to service their customers. This is the way to go. The "local sailmakers" can purchase loadpath optimized sails in one piece but without all the necessary clews, rings, reefs and such. They put on the luff and the leechcord and will fit the sail to their customers special requirements. In my case, a square head, loose foot and high tension cunningham which shall open the top when pulled.

There is lot´s more about sails and adjustments which I have learned during my sailing experiences. One thing for sure which amazed me lately had been the new and very strong boom vang which I saw on an exhibition Laser. This nice piece of equipment allowed me to pull until the boom hit the afterdeck of the boat. Without much muscles. Compared to the new Laser, which K. could have used during the Christmas break in the Med (no wind at all, story following later), that fitting on the exhibition boat was so much better that I will try to get it for my own downhaul. Not only an eye-opener but also a leech-opener. American made.

How it all began

Inspired by the great Tillerman, (see link to Propercourse on the right side) I have written a little story about the beginning of my sailing. I have only realized by now that I am a little late but there are maybe some readers out there, who might enjoy this. Also my THANKS to Tillerman to keep us communicating, especially in this winter time without a boat in soft water or on hard water.

Here it goes:
Coming from a non sailing family I caught the bug by watching sailboats on the river Elbe as a teenager. Sometimes a friend took me in an old steel dinghy. Building paper kites I learned about the wind. Did start only when I was 23 and had earned some money to buy my own boat in 1970/1. A Flying Dutchman. G-500. An old boat. The racers had G-931 and above. A change in shape had taken place and the "expert sailors" laughed at me, when I showed up at Kiel Week.

It was also difficult to find a club without having two bailsmen. Read every book in the trade. Trimmed a lot ashore. Participated in races though the boat was old and outdated. Overhauled it and painted it and sold it and did the same with FD G-1057, my second boat. Having my third brand new FD, G-1308, built by Hein in 1974 and yes, a sistership to the famous G-1288 from the Diesch brothers, who won Gold in Kingston in 1976. I practised with them but only managed to become no. 12 in the long German ranking list at those times. And yes, I remember a phone conversation with Ian Murray (?) who wanted to order a Hein boat and I tried to help with the German/English, uuuhps Aussie language, when Uli Libor (FD Olympic Silver in Accapulco) was not available.... My first win came in autumn 1974 in Berlin. Oh, I love this silver plate, which showed me: I can do it. Today I am not putting any pressure on my 9 year old boy who does not like boats at all, though I would love to see him sailing and to tinker with his boats as I love to do, still today.
_________________
smooth sailing
Manfred
_/) _/)

New kid on the blog...

Having had not much time going into blogland lately, I was pleased to see a comment by Burki in my blog. He seemed to like the idea of blogging so much that he started 3 blogs. One is named "thefridge" , hmm, what does it mean. I thought actually, it is named the "fridge door" and maybe he wants to tell us about his unhappy days on a Laser. One must know that he has turned into a speed windsurfer, though I know that he had been one of the best crews one could find in Germany. Not only on the wire of a 14 footer but also in Keelboats where he sailed with Jochen Schümann (of Alinghi fame) in a couple Match Races. I think that he also won the Champion of Champions Series in a PIRAT (like the Snipe) dinghy some years ago.

Burki has changed into a Speedsurfer and he showed me some interesting devices and computer programms about the way these Speedsurfers are listing and reporting their data on to the Internet. Maybe you find some information on his pages, which I am going to link. The windsurfers are only racing against the clock (should I say GPS?), whilst we sailors are normally sailing against another or other boats. I have the feeling that we can learn from the Speedsters, from what Burki had shown to me. There had not been enough time at his last visit and I do hope that we can spend more time when he is over here, in the North of Germany. Or maybe, as Burki suggested, in spring 2007 at the Cote á Azur. If I am not able to manage the linking today, goto: http://c3-thefridge.blogspot.com/

Winter mode and talks about Foiling

Everyone out here in the North of Germany is now getting into winter mode. Not that it has been cold at present, the point of freezing seemed far away. Interestingly, my little DN (history & race results) booklet tells me that in the past years we have had some nice days sailing the DN at the end of November. Having seriously raced in Germany in the middle of December, which needs safe ice. This will not happen this year. We have to be patient.

Bar talk at the local sailing club at present is about apparent wind sailing and the message has spread that we will have two Bladeriders (Foiler Moth´s) sailing, or should I better say, trying to fly, on the waters of the Schlei next spring. Boats are not produced yet, but delivery has been confirmed by KA sails. Being an eagerly waiting new owner of a Bladerider, I have had a look at the Aussie Moth website and found the discussions about the status of the class, e.g. will the Bladerider ruin the Moth class etc, astounding. My friend and I would never even have suggested to purchase a Moth from what we had seen so far within the class in Germany. The boats being used looked very crude, they normally did not survive one race without going back into the "homeyard". One particular boat, (a Prowler?) looked well sorted and Jens from Ratzeburg was flying it very well. This pulled the trigger and the Bladerunner, exhibited on the Hanseboot show, looked sorted. Looked the business. Also the fact that Rohan did sail it on the River Elbe (my homewater for many Flying Dutchman years), a tidal water with busy traffic of the biggest container ships, right before Hanseboot. This showed us, what is possible. Far, far away from going racing in the class we want to learn about this exiting thing, called foiling, and if it is not for us, I am sure that many people want to jump on the wagon next year and we will be able to easily sell the boats. Of course this is not the objective. Definitely not.

Some people asked about the foil for the windsurfer which I mentioned during Hanseboot conversations and my blog. We showed the crude equipment (MarkII), built by Werner, on the boatshow and people were interested but did not believe, that you can fly with it. There is actually a video, which proves that it is possible to do so and to steer as usual with the mast raked forward or backwards. I wish I would be technically able to put it into You Tube, but have not tried anything like that yet. For my Blogger friends I put a photo down here.

In the middle of this week I have to fly out to Dubai. This time only a couple of days and for "business only" reasons, but I think, that I will spend one or two evenings on the patio of the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club. Meet me there.

HANSEBOOT, the International Moth and our booth

Hanseboot boatshow started last Saturday and my company is participating since I have found it 22 years ago. This year we had to change the location due to the extensive rebuilt of the whole area. The old halls are being teared down and the Hamburg Messe is building new, really large halls for exhibitions of all kind. The fair ground is most known to seafarers, be it professionals or amateurs for it’s Ship, Machine and Ocean Technology exhibition as well as for the boat show with an in water part in the Hamburg harbour. Boats of all kinds are exhibited and one of the stars of the show had been the new HANSE 63 in a fascinating apricot colour for a client from the US east coast. This thing is really huge. OK, in the water down at the marina they have a SWAN-80-something and other big boats but as an exhibitor myself I do not have time to drive down to the harbour. Also the weather this week is really bad and the temperature is soaring around 0° C since Thursday. Better to stay in inside.

To me the most exciting boat on the show is the Bladerider, exhibited by my sailing friend Christian (onSail) who represents the RS range of products and he struck a deal with Rohan Veal, the former World Champion of the International Moth class, to come and join him on the show and to give a bit of interviews and to promote the „flying Moth“. Their stand is opposite our own one and you can imagine that since Friday evening when we where all rigging our booths, I could not take my eyes of this little craft. After a good night sleep in Hamburg in my Van and a bit of discussions with my colleagues early in the morning, I took the chance to talk to Christian and Rohan at exact one minute after the opening of the show and ordered a Bladerider. Yes, my friends. I will be able to report to you first hand experience about sailing this most exciting sailing boat of the century. Of course you have to wait until the late spring next year. I am getting in to DN iceboat mode first and we DN´ers al hope for cold season with black ice. (see also my entries from Jan 06 and further) Sailing the Moth later next year, I need to do a bit of slimming down, loosing weight and a better fitness, but it is motivating. Not that I can see myself sailing somewhere in the middle fleet in the International Moth´s World Championship to be held in Dubai in 2008, but the plan is set. Practise and have fun as much as possible and to get the license to foil as quick as possible.

It happened that an old windsurfing buddy came along in my office some days before the “hanseboot”. Werner of the famous Wernerfinne had developed a foil for his windsurfer. He even brought to me a video, which shows him riding high on the foil. Of course we did exhibit the foil and we promoted Werner´s marketing phrase “Foilen statt heulen”… So this part of hall 12 became a “Foiler” corner and I am sure that a couple of people caught the bug and will join us next year, or maybe later.

For my blogger friends out there, I was able to convince Rohan to write a short paragraph into my blog. Here it goes, “live from the hanseboot Boatshow:

This is Rohan here writing a quick spot on Manfred´s blog. Not sure what I am supposed to write, but for someone who is nearly twice my age, Manfred seems like he is still living as a teenager! And not only did he buy a boat from us, but he makes frequent visits to our booth to introduce me to a potential moth sailor or helps sell boats to interested customers. Just wondering how long it will be before Manfred will start working for KA and take over my job? Ah well, hopefully I can still take him out on the race course! Maybe not on the DN tho…
Rohan Veal
www.rohanveal.com

Last sailing this season

Germany had a long weekend from September 30th until 3rd of October, the day of celebration of the re-unification. The wall came down on 3rd of October 1989. Many sailors went out for a last cruise and we took “Samantha” our 36db for a cruise into the islands of Denmark were we met friends for a dinner on board and some interesting conversations. Our friends had invited for a „good red one“ a couple from a Swedish boat, a Hallberg Rassy. This couple had already fulfilled the dream of crossing the Atlantic and cruising the Caribbean waters. Oh, we wished we would have time to do the same. The Swedish Gentleman spoke fluent German, as it happened that he worked in Hamburg as an engineer. Other people on board the classic 53´ sloop, that reminds one to the great S & S designs, had been our DN iceboating friends. Of course we also discussed the upcoming season and if we should go to the USA to sail in the World Championship in 2007. Our friends from the Detroit area had spoken out invitations last time around.
As I can only speak for myself, I will not do it again as my last encounter had cost me „an arm and a leg“. Do not worry, this means, I had spent way too much money. I had bought a complete DN to stay in a trailer with four other European iceboats but it turned out to be „not much sailing, but much travelling time“. Not exactly what I wanted. I sold my equipment and bailed out.
Back to report about the last weekend of sailing. Our destination had been Avernakø. It turned out to be a 70° apparent wind reach with our new Code Zero. Lovely weather and we were dressed in T-shirts. What a late autumn day this was. We reached the destination pretty late, as the wind only picked up around noon. Friends with their boats had come from different destinations and the cooking had already begun. We had brought a home baked cake with us, which somehow everybody was longing for. Coffee and cake in the cockpit of "Samantha" with people coming and leaving. Later a walk across the island in the beautiful countryside which wetted our appetite for the evening dinner. We watched a beautiful sunset from a nice vintage point and than back to the small harbour. What a wonderful smell as we came close to the little harbour. Lamb, spiced with garlic and fresh mushrooms were cooked in the pantry of “Katinka”. The photo shows our wide IMS stern and "Katinka" beautiful bow line.
After a nice dinner we started discussing the weather report for the next day, which showed no good. Henning, who had sailed this weekend as a single hander on his X-79 decided for an early departure, before the 25-30kn of predicted wind would have built up substantial waves on the open sea. Kerstin and I thought we could take it easier with our boat and did not want to leave already at 06.00h. Maybe it was a mistake, as after breakfast around 10.00h, when everyone else prepared for a very windy windward leg home, the wind howled in the rigs of the boats. We prepared 2nd reef and jib no. 4 for us. The bigger boats just used their headsails, which are on roller furls. When we left the wind shadow in the lee of the island, we thought that this was the right set up. “Katinka” impressed us much, when they just rolled out their headsail and the beautiful sloop with the classic lines just glided through the waves whilst we started hammering into head waves on our race orientated IMS hull. It turned out to be the toughest windward sailing of the season. Around the half way mark the mainsail broke in parts and our boat just does not like to sail upwind nicely without a piece of main. We had to go lower and of course more distance. As everyone had got the message for a right hand shift coming in the afternoon from weather reports, we sailed mostly for the right side to be able to ease and reach after the shift. What happened: it turned left around 15.00h and we had another beat into our destination at Maasholm. These “wrong decision making” or bad weather predictions do no only cause frustrations and bad placing during regattas but they are disgusting whilst on a cruising tour. You long for the hot shower but instead you find yourself beating into the wind and sea for another extra 1 -2 hour. Finally we made it. The boat was prepared for the haul out and winter storage and this season is finished for us. Hamburg boat show is coming soon, the house hunting is coming to an end, the contracts have to be signed and there is lot’s to think about what we will do next season. Maybe leave “Samantha” in storage for a season and get on with other important matters or share the boat with my brother who is finally “coming home” after having spent many, many years on the ocean and in the south sea. I am full of hope that I can improve my cruising skills, weather and navigation knowledge with his help.

Sailing the Dinghy

This blog shall not be dead, no. Instead of writing, I am househunting. Whoever has done this, know´s what I am talking about. I am on the hunt since 6-8 month and a couple projects have slipped away. Some others were "rip off´s". Now my projects, left in the bag, are getting closer to the water. The Schleifjord which I had shown in a previous thread.

Nevertheless the weekends are devoted to sailing and after doing the Sportsboat thing in Flensburg it was time to change back into the singlehand dinghy for some basics. We had three one-design Seggerling´s on the starting line and a couple of yardstick boats, from IC (International Canoe) to Skiffs. A very good regatta on a nice lake between Rostock and Berlin, roughly speaking. It is one of our favourite lakes for DN iceboating and many championships have been sailed there. Maybe one of the reasons not writing immediately after the weekend had been my "loss to the girl". She beated me and my other sailing mate on the water with better height and better speed. She was really good in moderate to strong wind but unbeatable on the Sunday with medium winds. Maybe we practised too much with her. Besides some rough moments mentally, during the race, of course we cheered her and felt that she deserved it. She shows amazing tacks and an amazing happiness once she is out there on her own boat. I have a photo which proves it all but have to get permission first to put it on here.

On the other side of planning and not sailing, I must say, that I am hooked on the Swift SOLO. I got somehow into their mailer and they keep me informed about things going on. I am trying to convince 3-4 guys here in the office or from the sailing club, that we should purchase kits and start building them during wood/epoxy seminars. This boat not only attracts me from the beauty of the wood work but also the lightness and the way the guys are handling it in the videos. Them who knows have seen it. For the other ones I will put a link in here later. I have to hit the road but did not want to leave you in the dark.

Swift SOLO homepage

Eehm, this is about sailing but just a short one about a film, which I saw the other day. I got the "World´s fastest Indian" from a friend who visited me, coming home to Europe from New Zealand. Really worth looking it. It gave me tears, shivers and happiness. All you want to get from a movie. A great happy end and a lection that "you can do it".

German Open Sportsboat

Die Fachpresse schreibt heute:

>>Bei den German Open der Sportboote verpasste Christof Becker mit seiner "Si!" (Esse 850) den Titel, den sich Jörn Petry mit seiner Melges 24 "Haiopei" sicherte, um einen Punkt. Die Melges hat sich europaweit als Einheitsklasse etabliert, nur in Deutschland tut sich die teuere Rüsselboot-Klasse schwer, so dass die Melges vor Flensburg bei den Sportbooten mitsegelte. "Es ist doch schön, dass so verschiedene Boote gegeneinander antreten. Es sind alle Geschwindigkeitsfreaks, und das verbindet. Es ist schönes Segeln", gewinnt Manfred Schreiber der Mischung Positives ab. Der Schleswiger belegte mit seiner "Bull-y-hoo (Bull 7000) Rang drei, auch wenn er am Abschlusstag "den Wind nicht verstand", so Schreiber. Becker hatte seine Esse 850 auf einem kleinen Foto in einer Fachzeitschrift gesehen und sich sofort verliebt. Dass er das Boot zusammen mit seiner Frau Claudia beherrscht, zeigte er vor Flensburg.<<

Naja, typisch Presse! Das mit den "Geschwindikeitsfreaks" ist nicht aus meinem Munde. Wäre ja auch ein bißchen lächerlich, sich als "Speedfreak" zu outen, bei 6kn Amwind Geschwindigkeit und vielleicht 14kn auf dem tiefen Raumschotkurs. Spass macht die Beherrschung des (Sport) Bootes auch bei viel Wind und der Wettbewerb mit den anderen Bootstypen. Zu sehen, welche Ideen sich durchsetzen, was macht schnell und was ist Marketing. Die Esse850 ist mit Sicherheit ein Boot, mit dem man in der Sportbootklasse gewinnen kann. Es ist auf Grund seiner Länge schnell aus dem Startfeld heraus und segelt zumeist mit freiem Wind. Die Melges ist hier im Norden tatsächlich nicht weit verbreitet, Jörn Petry hat sein Boot auch ohne direkte Konkurrenz schnell gemacht und den Sieg vedient. Mit der Bull (siehe Foto) segel ich auch nur gegen mich selbst und muss in den Einstellungen und mit Hilfe der Segel etwas an Höhe und Speed an der Kreuz zulegen. Die Vormwindgeschwindigkeit wird durch die richtigen Winkel bestimmt und auch da gibt es Nachholbedarf.

Interessant wäre noch gewesen, wie die Brenta 24 der "Berliner Segler" abschneidet. Leider ist sie dem Starkwind am Freitag zum Opfer gefallen. Mastbruch vor Regattastart. Die T750 hatte sich den Kiel kaputt gefahren und die Banner 23 Sport verlor das Ruder. Die Schleswiger Jungs waren aber fix und haben über Nacht ein gebrauchtes Ruderblatt modifiziert und eingesetzt. Die Ergebnisse und einige nette Bilder können unter www.fsc.de eingesehen werden.

We had it all...

Last weekend we have sailed a fantastic regatta in the inner Bay of Kiel, just opposite the big shipyard HDW. The regatta, so called "Inshore Race Meeting" had been well organized by the "Academic Sailing Club" of Kiel and all the students involved did an amazing job. Not only the race-management on two different courses had been excellent but also the catering was outstanding. Exactly as promised to me by my friends, who had attended the regatta last year in it´s first edition. I think, that nobody would have believed that already this year we would have three 18 footer and flying Moths at the starting line. (All not from the north of Germany) Very impressive and already worth the trip to Kiel. I started in the YS group 2 as we were only 3 Seggerlings. With us two J24 but boats from the organizing club. Several dinghies of mixed colour and our friends with the amazingly fast SZ-Skiff. The J24 are nearly unbeatable with their YS number but also, they did a good job sailing the shifting winds in the harbour. I managed 3rd place with Kerstin following in 4th position and the SZ-Skiff in fifth. Klaus, another Seggerling, finished 6th. On the water the three of us had very close racing with positions changing, match racing tactics and lot´s of fun. Though it had not been funny in the first moment to be beaten on the line by a mere 30cm in the first race and coming 3rd in the second race. After swallowing this and getting my smile back it got better with two wins in the afternoon. Partying was great and somehow the students have got the crazy idea that your intake of drinks on the Saturday night would weight your score for Sunday racing. Gladly Sunday racing (independent long distance race from Saturday) had been called due to high winds and the pricegiving was based on the evenings result alone. Here a young women won with an intake of 217g of "who knows" and beat all the boys. Well done is not really what I would like to say.

The pictures shall tell you a bit about the racing and wet your appetite for the 3rd edition of the "Inshore Race Meeting" in Kiel in 2007. From top to bottom.
Pic 1: Flying Moth,
Pic 2: Formula 18 against IACC Yacht
Pic 3: 18 Footer against IACC Yacht before start of separate race.
Pic 4: 14 Footer flying
Pic 5: Sailing Journal´s editor, Tom Körber in the LV style weather mark. Champagne bottel holders missing
Pic 6: Moth against Cruiseship background