Month: August 2004

  • Shifty Winds

    Yesterday I was off-work, and I had a lovely afternoon sailing. I marveled again at how shifty the winds are on little inland lakes.

    In contrast, sailing in Galveston last winter, I remember that we picked a point to sail to, set our sails, and didn’t touch them again until we had to dock — that’s how steady the winds were in the Bay.

    I often hear people bragging about how learning to sail on little lakes where the winds are shifty makes you a better sailor.

    I’m certain it makes you a better sailor on shifty inland lakes, but does it make you a better sailor overall? Blue-water sailing is different and requires a different set of skills — similar, but different.

    A former colleague of mine also bragged about his little Hunter, and how he hit a big wind as he was rounding a point somewhere near Big Sur. Hunters are cheap and small boats, not known for being luxury yachts. He was proud to say that his boat was sturdy and small enough that he didn’t capsize. However, the 50-foot Catalina sailing behind him caught the wind broadside, and nearly did.

    Coastal sailing, especially around the high coastal hills near Monterey and Big Sur, I’m told is also very shifty compared to open-water sailing.

  • Sofia Bekatorou & Emilia Tsoulfa

    Too cool!

    		 Gold mettle

    After finishing a poor 15th at the 2003 European Championship in Brest, France, Tsoulfa and Bekatorou bounced back to win the 2003 Worlds in Cadiz, Spain. Tsoulfa credits the lackluster Brest finish for motivating them. “That made us more obstinate and we went to Cadiz determined to get the scepter back and we did,” she says. As gold medal favorites in Athens, Bekatorou and Tsoulfa don’t dodge the pressure of winning at home. “We want that medal very much and we will continue to work hard till next summer,” she says. “We have promised it to ourselves and to the Greek people.”

    from
    http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletebios/5018391/detail.html
    BEKATOROU-TSOULFA SECURED THE GOLD

    Athens, 19 August 2004 (16:48 UTC+2)
    The Greek crew of Sophia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa secured the gold medal in the women’s 470 class.

    from http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=473511

    BEKATOROU Sofia — Women’s 470

    Date of Birth: December 26, 1977
    Gender: Female
    Place of Birth: Athens, Greece
    Hometown: Athens, Greece
    Club: N.O. Kallitheas
    Higher Education: Metsovio University (Athens, Greece) – Civil Engineering
    Occupation: Civil Engineer
    Languages Spoken: Greek, English, German and French
    Qualification for Olympics: Finished 5th in the 1998 World Championships in Palma de Mallorca
    Started competing: Age 9, Greece
    Personal Coach: Elias MYLONAS (Greece) Coach since: 1997

    Other performances:
    1st – Women’s 470 – Hyeres – France – 1998
    3rd – Women’s 470 – ISAF Dubai World Championships – Dubai – 1998
    5th – Women’s 470 – World Championships – Palma – 1998
    7th – Women’s 470 – World Championships – Melbourne – 1999
    1st – Women’s 470 – World Championships – Balaton, Hungary – 2000
    3rd – Women’s 470 – European Championships- Turkey – 1998
    5th – Women’s 470 – European Championship – Zadar, Croatia – 1999
    1st – Women’s 470 – European Championship – Garda, Italy – 2000

    from http://www.sailing.org/olympics2000/info2000/bio_0112784.asp

  • Paul Foerster

    Paul Foerster

    Foerster learned to sail on the bayfront in his hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas. When he was 13, his father, Leroy, read a sailing magazine while waiting in a dentist’s office and decided to learn to sail. He bought the boat and a sailing book the same day. Years later, the family acquired a 22-foot cruise boat in which Foerster, his father and his brother would take overnight trips. When Foerster arrived at the University of Texas, his expertise surprised other members of the school’s sailing team. A three-time All-American, Foerster graduated in 1987 with a degree in aerospace engineering.

    Foerster is a design engineer for Raytheon, an electronics and aerospace technology company. He met his wife when he borrowed a boat from her father.

    excerpt from http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletebios/5017510/detail.html

    sailing results from http://www.nbcolympics.com/results/5000729/detail.html

  • Pacific Sailing (www.pacificsailing.net/about_us.htm)

    We are a sailboat charter company that has been operating in scenic Shoreline Village in Long Beach since 1988. The company provides low cost access to small sailboats to the public. It is also a sailing club and sailing school with yachts in sizes from 25′ to 50′.

    The office in the picturesque fishing village near the Queen Mary overlooks the fleet of boats available for charter in the exclusive Rainbow Harbor Marina. It is a short walk to the Aquarium of the Pacific, and adjacent to the Long Beach Convention Center. Shops, specialty boutiques, hotels, theaters, and restaurants in Shoreline Village and Downtown Long Beach surround the area.

    The location is particularly ideal for sailing to Catalina Island, which is a favorite destination for Southern California boaters. Within a few minutes of setting sail, usually adjacent to the Queen Mary, you will be exiting the Long Beach Harbor, and entering blue water for an enjoyable 30 mile crossing to the enchanting island of Catalina.

    A favorite activity for charter excursions is whale watching in the spring and fall. Many of the Gray Whales follow a coarse [sic] that takes them very near the shore, sometimes even entering the harbor. . . .

    Pacific Sailing offers two courses to train people with little or no experience who want to begin their sailing adventure. Long time sailors may also avail themselves of these programs to refresh and sharpen their sailing skills. . . . The ASA certification is recognized internationally as credentials for chartering a sailboat anywhere in the world. Both courses are hands-on, on-the-water training programs.

    Other Pacific Sailing activities include club trips to Catalina Island. These excursions are an excellent way for those new to yachting to experience a San Pedro Channel passage to the island.

    Seasonally, on specified evenings, Pacific Sailing sponsors yacht racing inside the Long Beach Harbor. This provides an opportunity for members to competitively test their sailing skills against each other in very informal regattas. . . . Knowledge and experience with sailing is not necessary to join a crew or go along as an observer. Participants will learn something about sailing while enjoying an early evening race inside the harbor.

    We provide Corporate Regattas, which is an excellent way to teach team building with a hands-on experience using the competitive nature of sailing and the need for the crew to work together under the direction of a captain. . . .

    from http://www.pacificsailing.net/about_us.htm

  • Gorgeous Sailing Photography (www.oceanpix.co.uk)

    One of these photos looks as if it were taken with infrared film.


    taken from http://www.oceanpix.co.uk/sailing-jtilney.htm

  • Punch Cards and Chads

    Punch cards.
    Yesterday, as Matt and I were driving to Cici’s Pizza, to try it out for the first time, I realized on the way how it is that I deal with people.

    People are like punch cards to me.
    Everyone starts out with a full 100%, meaning I can believe they’re normal, sane and good people initially, and for each thing they do to me, I detract points from how favorably I view them, by making a little punch mark in their punch card.

    Other people don’t seem to do that. Matt seems to view people as starfish. They do something unfavorable, and you cut off the arm of the starfish, but given time, it will grow back. Trust grows back for others.

    For me, that doesn’t happen.

    People are punch cards. Once they do something bad to me, there is no turning back. The card is punched. The hole is permanent, and I don’t waste time trying to find the chads to put them back. That’s not my job. I have enough time trying to maintain my own punch card in life. I don’t have time to be prettying up others’ cards.

    The world is so full of people and life is so short, there is no sense in my mind, to waste valuable living time with people who aren’t interested in being good to others.



    http://marinasailing.com/

  • The Vanguard Nomad

    Augh! I drool!



    http://www.bana.com/nomad/


    http://www.teamvanguard.com/boats/c/cnt/images/nomad.swf

    Thank you to Mackenzie88 for posting this on her site, where I was able to see it and drool over it.