Tuesday, August 03, 2004
I'm Outa Here...: Off to Glandore, Ireland until August 20, so TWC is hereby on sabbatical. What's in Glandore? A choice of Guinness or Murphy's in every pub, sweet sailing, great paddling, hilly biking, the odd rain shower, and emerald fields that stretch to the horizon. My ass is sure to get wet...
Glandore Harbor
West Cork
Glandore Harbor
West Cork
Posted by Tim Zimmermann @ 9:10 AM 
Monday, August 02, 2004
SailDog--I Mean Rocket--Update: No one ever said building an otherworldy multihull to sail through the 50-knot barrier would be easy. And Paul Larson and his SailRocket team are finding that out. The thing just does not want to get up on a plane and sail fast, particularly after Larson modified the sail to make it flatter and less powerful. In the latest outing, the experimental TinkerToy was plowing a hole in the water, while windsurfers were ripping it up on a plane all around them:
"The rig was noticeably less powerful than the week before but then this is to be expected as we are targeting stronger conditions. We figured that the reason that we were performing beyond expectations last week was because the sail was so full and had little leech tension. Basically it was a good light wind setup. The new rig seemed to lose flow very quickly if you over sheeted. The boat is very strange to sail as it just has absolutely no heeling reaction to powering up which is unlike any boat I have ever sailed before. You just don't feel anything load up. The only thing that happens is that the boat accelerates. All the sailboards were sailing around us with their big rigs all loose and twisted on their big wide boards. every time there was a little gust they would pump up onto the plane and go tearing off. A luxury we didn't have but then that is not what we are here for,
A good friend had lent us a GPS to read speed off but today the figures were just nudging over ten knots at best. We decided to make the best of the day and do some other things... like giving Helena her first sail seeing as she is the backup driver. It is an imposing boat to sit in for the first time. I explained to her how you can sail the boat down the course just steering by the mainsheet alone. Sheet in and she bares away and sheet out to head up. Combine this with the rudder and she is pretty maneuverable. One thing we noticed as Helena headed down the outside course was that when she got a gust that the back lifted before the front once again. It shouldn't still be doing this.
As we towed back up the course the wind increased with a large high-level cloud bank that was coming in. We got up to 15 knots of wind as we set up for the next run and thought that we might be in for some speed but alas the boat just didn't lift out and we were left with only 15 knots as a top speed as I hunted around looking for a way to break free from the waters drag. A sailboard went tearing by whooping away... as I would if I was on the board. Something was not right. YELLOW PAGES ENDEAVOUR would have been doing 35 knots in these conditions and we were still mushing along. We headed for the shore.
Basically there is an equation that SAILROCKET needs to effectively hook into and it is this- by going fast we make wind, which makes power, which makes more wind which makes more power etc. The boat is designed to feed off this like no other boat but it seems that we can't quite get the equation started. Of course a stronger wind would help and slightly depowering the rig wouldn't help but it still felt lacking. We agreed that a much bigger forward planing surface was needed. Bigger shoes. This would help the nose of SAILROCKET lift out sooner which will greatly reduce the drag as well as serve to help the transom lift also.
We noticed how slowly water drained out of the centreboard cavity when we raised the boat out of the water. The venturi effect was supposed to suck this large area dry when SAILROCKET started moving but the seal seemed to be too effective which left us thinking that we may be carrying as much as twenty-five kilos of water around with us up front. When the new planing surface is built we will remedy this by making a complete watertight seal around the centre-board so it should be a double bonus."
So, back to the drawing board, or the workshop, to build a new front end. Just to keep your hopes alive, here's a video (from the Daily Sail--the best online sailing magazine in the game) of SailRocket's first test sail, where she's putting up a lot of spray but at least looks like she could eventually be fast...
Slow Boat: "Hmm, I wonder if this thing would make a good front yard planter..."
"The rig was noticeably less powerful than the week before but then this is to be expected as we are targeting stronger conditions. We figured that the reason that we were performing beyond expectations last week was because the sail was so full and had little leech tension. Basically it was a good light wind setup. The new rig seemed to lose flow very quickly if you over sheeted. The boat is very strange to sail as it just has absolutely no heeling reaction to powering up which is unlike any boat I have ever sailed before. You just don't feel anything load up. The only thing that happens is that the boat accelerates. All the sailboards were sailing around us with their big rigs all loose and twisted on their big wide boards. every time there was a little gust they would pump up onto the plane and go tearing off. A luxury we didn't have but then that is not what we are here for,
A good friend had lent us a GPS to read speed off but today the figures were just nudging over ten knots at best. We decided to make the best of the day and do some other things... like giving Helena her first sail seeing as she is the backup driver. It is an imposing boat to sit in for the first time. I explained to her how you can sail the boat down the course just steering by the mainsheet alone. Sheet in and she bares away and sheet out to head up. Combine this with the rudder and she is pretty maneuverable. One thing we noticed as Helena headed down the outside course was that when she got a gust that the back lifted before the front once again. It shouldn't still be doing this.
As we towed back up the course the wind increased with a large high-level cloud bank that was coming in. We got up to 15 knots of wind as we set up for the next run and thought that we might be in for some speed but alas the boat just didn't lift out and we were left with only 15 knots as a top speed as I hunted around looking for a way to break free from the waters drag. A sailboard went tearing by whooping away... as I would if I was on the board. Something was not right. YELLOW PAGES ENDEAVOUR would have been doing 35 knots in these conditions and we were still mushing along. We headed for the shore.
Basically there is an equation that SAILROCKET needs to effectively hook into and it is this- by going fast we make wind, which makes power, which makes more wind which makes more power etc. The boat is designed to feed off this like no other boat but it seems that we can't quite get the equation started. Of course a stronger wind would help and slightly depowering the rig wouldn't help but it still felt lacking. We agreed that a much bigger forward planing surface was needed. Bigger shoes. This would help the nose of SAILROCKET lift out sooner which will greatly reduce the drag as well as serve to help the transom lift also.
We noticed how slowly water drained out of the centreboard cavity when we raised the boat out of the water. The venturi effect was supposed to suck this large area dry when SAILROCKET started moving but the seal seemed to be too effective which left us thinking that we may be carrying as much as twenty-five kilos of water around with us up front. When the new planing surface is built we will remedy this by making a complete watertight seal around the centre-board so it should be a double bonus."
So, back to the drawing board, or the workshop, to build a new front end. Just to keep your hopes alive, here's a video (from the Daily Sail--the best online sailing magazine in the game) of SailRocket's first test sail, where she's putting up a lot of spray but at least looks like she could eventually be fast...
Slow Boat: "Hmm, I wonder if this thing would make a good front yard planter..."
Posted by Tim Zimmermann @ 9:16 AM
Shark Stories I--"I do...Glub-Glub": There are lots of weird places to get married. But donning dive gear, and saying your vows in a tank with fourteen sharks has to be one of the more creative. So give credit to Daniela Consolaro, 31, and Maurizio Andreosi, 40, the Italian couple who did just that.
"Fourteen sharks swam around looking bored as the couple -- his nickname is Bull Shark and hers is Nurse Shark -- responded "I do" to Mayor Pietro Pazzaglini, communicating via a phone link."
They don't get a perfect Wetass score, however. The two newlyweds--who said they were trying to draw attention to the destructive practice of shark finning (where fisherman catch sharks and cut their fins off to make soup and other pharmaceuticals for markets across Aisa)--were in a cage, protected from the toothy audience, who had obviously already gorged on the reception canapes and weren't hungry in any case...
Shark Tank Nuptials: "Hey, guys. Are you going to comsummate this thing underwater, too? Because if so, I gotta ask to get moved to another tank..."
(Photo: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)
"Fourteen sharks swam around looking bored as the couple -- his nickname is Bull Shark and hers is Nurse Shark -- responded "I do" to Mayor Pietro Pazzaglini, communicating via a phone link."
They don't get a perfect Wetass score, however. The two newlyweds--who said they were trying to draw attention to the destructive practice of shark finning (where fisherman catch sharks and cut their fins off to make soup and other pharmaceuticals for markets across Aisa)--were in a cage, protected from the toothy audience, who had obviously already gorged on the reception canapes and weren't hungry in any case...
Shark Tank Nuptials: "Hey, guys. Are you going to comsummate this thing underwater, too? Because if so, I gotta ask to get moved to another tank..."
(Photo: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)
Posted by Tim Zimmermann @ 9:02 AM
Shark Stories II--"Open Water": This movie is setting up to be the Blair Witch Project of the aquatic world. It's about a scuba-diving couple who were left behind by their dive boat, and it was made on a shoestring budget by a semi-amateur couple who love to dive. The New York Times has two great stories about this movie. The first recounts the six years it took Chris Kentis and Laura Lau to make the movie (which cost $130,000 and got picked up at Sundance for $2.5 million). From the beginning it wasn't a normal project:
"Mr. Kentis and Ms. Lau cautioned casting agents that some nudity would be required for the pre-dive scenes and that, once in the water, actors would have to get super-close to some very big sharks — no mechanical or computer-generated jaws in this movie."
And they ended up with a lead actress who was scared to death of sharks (but didn't tell anyone until it was mostly over), and a lead actor who blew out his knee halfway through the project.
The second NYT piece probes the mystery of the real-life story which Open Water is based on:
"The real-life couple, Thomas and Eileen Lonergan, traveled to Australia after three years as Peace Corps teachers on the islands of Fiji and Tuvalu. Thomas was 33, Eileen 28; both were experienced divers. Australia was the first stop of a planned round-the-world trip before returning home to Louisiana.
Early on Jan. 25, 1998, the Lonergans rode a shuttle bus to a marina in Port Douglas, Queensland, where a company called Outer Edge Dive carried them and 24 others to the rim of the Great Barrier Reef, 40 miles offshore. The day's last dive was at a coral formation called "Fish City" because of its abundant marine life. While others followed a dive master, the Lonergans toured the site on their own.
At the end of the 40-minute dive, the crew was supposed to log each person's dive and count heads before the boat left. But several crew members were inexperienced and uncertain of their responsibilities. Amid this confusion, the Lonergans' dives weren't recorded and the head count was botched. The captain, believing he had all passengers aboard, motored back to Port Douglas."
Oops. The Lonergans were never seen again, and assumed to be victims of shark attack. But questions quickly arose as to whether they had truly been the victims of an accident, or whether they had perpetrated a bizarre suicide pact. None of their equipment, which washed up in various places, showed any sign of shark bite. Thomas Lonergan's diary, left in his hotel room, contained references to being ready to die. And they had deliberately separated from their dive group and stayed down beyond the agreed dive time. In the end, authorities concluded that it was not a suicide pact, or an attempt to disappear together. But the tale is so bizarre that Kentis and Lau had to tone it down for fear that no one in a theater would believe the true story. The last trace of the Lonergan's turned up six months after their disappearance:
"In a coastal mangrove swamp, fishermen found a dive slate, designed for underwater writing. On it was a message from the Lonergans saying they'd been abandoned on the reef by Outer Edge. "Please help us," it said. "Find us soon before we die." They also scribbled the time and date: 8 a.m., Jan. 26, the morning after they had been left behind."
The movie opens Friday. Wonder whether the scuba dive industry is worried whether it will have a Jaws-like impact on dive tours...
Filming "Open Water": "Well, I'm having no trouble acting scared..."
(Photo: Lions Gate Films)
"Mr. Kentis and Ms. Lau cautioned casting agents that some nudity would be required for the pre-dive scenes and that, once in the water, actors would have to get super-close to some very big sharks — no mechanical or computer-generated jaws in this movie."
And they ended up with a lead actress who was scared to death of sharks (but didn't tell anyone until it was mostly over), and a lead actor who blew out his knee halfway through the project.
The second NYT piece probes the mystery of the real-life story which Open Water is based on:
"The real-life couple, Thomas and Eileen Lonergan, traveled to Australia after three years as Peace Corps teachers on the islands of Fiji and Tuvalu. Thomas was 33, Eileen 28; both were experienced divers. Australia was the first stop of a planned round-the-world trip before returning home to Louisiana.
Early on Jan. 25, 1998, the Lonergans rode a shuttle bus to a marina in Port Douglas, Queensland, where a company called Outer Edge Dive carried them and 24 others to the rim of the Great Barrier Reef, 40 miles offshore. The day's last dive was at a coral formation called "Fish City" because of its abundant marine life. While others followed a dive master, the Lonergans toured the site on their own.
At the end of the 40-minute dive, the crew was supposed to log each person's dive and count heads before the boat left. But several crew members were inexperienced and uncertain of their responsibilities. Amid this confusion, the Lonergans' dives weren't recorded and the head count was botched. The captain, believing he had all passengers aboard, motored back to Port Douglas."
Oops. The Lonergans were never seen again, and assumed to be victims of shark attack. But questions quickly arose as to whether they had truly been the victims of an accident, or whether they had perpetrated a bizarre suicide pact. None of their equipment, which washed up in various places, showed any sign of shark bite. Thomas Lonergan's diary, left in his hotel room, contained references to being ready to die. And they had deliberately separated from their dive group and stayed down beyond the agreed dive time. In the end, authorities concluded that it was not a suicide pact, or an attempt to disappear together. But the tale is so bizarre that Kentis and Lau had to tone it down for fear that no one in a theater would believe the true story. The last trace of the Lonergan's turned up six months after their disappearance:
"In a coastal mangrove swamp, fishermen found a dive slate, designed for underwater writing. On it was a message from the Lonergans saying they'd been abandoned on the reef by Outer Edge. "Please help us," it said. "Find us soon before we die." They also scribbled the time and date: 8 a.m., Jan. 26, the morning after they had been left behind."
The movie opens Friday. Wonder whether the scuba dive industry is worried whether it will have a Jaws-like impact on dive tours...
Filming "Open Water": "Well, I'm having no trouble acting scared..."
(Photo: Lions Gate Films)
Posted by Tim Zimmermann @ 8:35 AM
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