Happy Halloween

Hope you all have a great Halloween night and Fair seas!

SAILGP TO RETURN TO USA IN SEASON 2

SailGP will return to two iconic U.S. shorelines for its second and third events of 2020, with Season 2 grand prix events set for San Francisco on May 2-3 and New York on June 12-13.

Featuring the fastest on-water sail racing in the world, teams from the United States, Australia, China, France, Great Britain and Japan will compete for the season’s $1 million purse and the SailGP Championship trophy.

San Francisco Bay – one of the world’s top sailing venues – will welcome SailGP back to the Marina neighborhood on the northern edge of the city, with the shoreline acting as the racecourse boundary for the intensely thrilling action. Last year’s event saw sellout crowds as more than 22,000 spectators took in the U.S. debut of the league.

Just 40 days after San Francisco SailGP, the F50 catamarans will be unleashed on the lower Hudson River, as Brookfield Place in Battery Park City hosts its second edition of the supercharged racing event. More than 40,000 people attended last year’s event, which featured no shortage of drama, including the first F50 capsize.

Rome Kirby and his American squad will be looking to the support of home crowds at both events to propel them to victory and add to their first race win during the 2019 New York SailGP.

Tickets will be available early in 2020. For early access to ticket offers, more information and event details, registration click on this link... SAILGP

If anyone would like to join FunToSAIL and Inland NW Sailors in San Francisco for the May 2,2020 SailGP regatta please email us at funtosailgroup@gmail.com

3D Printed Sailboat

I always tell people that 3D Printing is the wave of the future. Want a fork, spoon, or plate? Just print it out in your home 3D Printer. Or how about a sailboat part? A batten cap, batten, new mast base, cleat, etc. 3D Printers can do so in metal, plastic, etc. Its only a matter of time before whole boats are built by a 3D Printer. Actually...

Here it is the world's largest 3D Printed boat, a 25 foot long and 5000 pound sailboat created by the University of Maine. This is a Guinness World Record on 3 levels: 1. Largest 3D Printed boat, 2. Largest 3D Printed object, and 3. printed by the largest 3D Printer.

The future is here and it's only a matter of time before most of us have these 3D Printers in our homes. It can not happen soon enough.

A BOOM CAN KILL!

Sad to say a 38 year old man was killed when a boom hit him in the head and knocked him overboard. He was pulled aboard and attempts were made to resuscitate him, but to no avail. He and 3 others aboard a yacht were on their way to Sydney Aus.

Yes booms can kill and we should always inform all on board when making maneuvers, particularly down wind when jibing. Before jibing inform all on board of  your intention to jib by yelling "prepare to jibe", make sure all on board inform you that they know what you are about to do, they should yell back "ready to jib." Then after they respond you yell, "Jibing." Once through the jib of course trim up and sail your course.

Sometimes when people are sailing directly down wind the wind can accidentally get behind the sail and throw it across to the other side of the boat, this is called an "Accidental Jibe." The wind should never "accidentally" get behind the sail. The sail will give you signs its about to come across accidentally via the boom lifting up (if boomvang is not tight, if you have one), or sail gets loose looking/baggy, has bad shape. Sails that are fully battened are harder to see lack of shape. Thus we should also be watching the wind as it ripples across the water, make sure the wind is hitting the sail at the correct angle.

Wearing a water sports helmet is not a bad idea to protect ones head. Hobie Cats roto-molded sailboats have no booms, which is a great safety feature particularly for new sailors. The advantage of a boom however does allow for better mainsail shape control for better performance.

Sadly some lessons are learned the hard way, so let us all learn from this and keep an eye on the boom.

Here is a nice video to show how to safely jib a keelboat. Shortly I will post some new videos myself of how to jib a small monohull and catamaran.