Friday, May 27, 2011

Spinnaker Cup 2010 - Nathan Single-Handling

Seen here with his shoreside crew (actually I am not kidding - sailing races are won by a combination of the person on the water - no doubt, it's a tough world out there and it takes skills and determination to win AND by the onshore teams. Preparation is key to any offshore race and even pro sailors have last minute thing to work on, need expert pieces of equipment and sailmaking talent, etc...I guess it is true of Formula 1 too? Anyway, just saying that the shoreside team in offshore racing deserves a lot of the credit of a victory)

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Princess Elise
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Nathan is attacked by the mainsail
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Nathan is thinking hard about his race strategy: weather forecast inshore is 15 to 25. Weather forecast offshore is 5 to 15. Offshore is also a longer course for a coastal race. His suggestion? 'Oh ok, I think that I will go offshore then'

His logic is undeniably mysterious.

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Nat setting up the offshore safety gear for Man Overboard: a pole with a flag up top so the person is visible during daylight above heavy swell...a floatation device so the person can rest and a strobe so the person can be seen at night. We can also launch the lifesling (the white item) which has a strobe and is attached to the boat to recover the person and throw the drogue overboard which should help slow down the boat faster (nice he? slow down faster...get it? ok...onto the next thing) - clearly in a single-handed race, unless you manage to catch onto this as you fall overboard, it might be pretty useless to you...

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San Francisco Bay
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La vie ne tient qu'a un fil.

All photos courtesy of Matt

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