Discover Boating

With so many opportunities for boating fun available today, there’s no reason why anyone can’t take advantage of the benefits that recreational boating has to offer. Read our personal list of Top Reasons for Boating below:

Boating Improves Quality of Life
It’s a proven fact that recreational boating goes a long ways towards improving your quality of life. The minute you start to move forward on a boat, you’ll notice how easy it is to leave your troubles behind. Recreational boating fun provides a constructive outlet for entertainment that reduces stress and provides enriching opportunities for self discovery, whether it’s learning how to water ski or simply enjoying the warm glow of an evening sunset.

Boating is an Affordable Recreation Alternative
Are you under the impression that recreational boating is too expensive for your current budget? Think again. Many boats can be financed for under $200 a month. Dedicated boating lenders will work with you to help you save money and get you the best financing package available. For help determining if you can afford to buy a boat, including boat loan basics, an NMBA Member Directory, a boat loan calculator, and more, please visit our section on Buying a Boat.

Water Access is Closer than you Think
Did you know that about ninety percent of Americans live less than an hour from a navigable body of water? This means that water access is a lot closer and more convenient than you might think. To find a recreation boating marinas near you, please visit our boat marinas and ramps page.

Boating Fun Helps you Bond with Friends and Family
Fifty four percent of all households, in a study by the National Marine Manufacturers Association, listed fishing as their favorite boating activity (followed by cruising and relaxing with family and friends). In other words, to many people the best part about boating doesn’t revolve around the latest waterskiing tricks or the number of fish caught- the best part of boating is simply the opportunities it provides for boating fun with friends and family. Recreational boating is quality time spent away from the television set and the video games, creating an atmosphere that brings people together and creates fond memories to last a lifetime.

Boating Helps Reduce Stress
We can’t stress the statistics enough - numerous studies have shown that a little bit of boating fun each day can go a long way towards reducing stress. In fact, a National Marine Manufacturers Association survey of over 1,000 American households listed boating in the top-three of all stress-relieving activities.

Boating is Convenient
As we pointed out above, since over ninety percent of Americans live less than an hour's drive from an accessible body of water, you can be enjoying the fresh air and water in no time.

In fact, the convenience of boating makes it possible to hop on your boat for a mini-vacation whenever you feel like it, as an alternative to other family recreation activities which can quickly add up to become even more expensive and time-consuming.

Boating is an Engaging and Rewarding Activity
Recreational boating offers lots of opportunities for personal growth. Whether you’re instilling your child with extra confidence as they learn how to properly secure a line, or you’re enjoying the delicate taste of fresh fish that you caught yourself, boating recreation provides many different rewards for all ages.

Boating is Good Exercise
From a rigorous sailing excursion to an invigorating run on waterskis, boating provides sporting enthusiasts with many active endeavors to choose from. In fact, we’d argue that simply breathing in the brisk wind coming off the water in itself can go a long ways towards strengthening one’s constitution- not to mention the additional physical and psychological benefits in terms of relaxation and stress relief.

Recreational Boating is Easy to Learn
If you’re new to boating, take heart. With so many available boating classes and courses to choose from, you’ll be out on the water before you know it. Whether you’ve always wanted to learn how to sail, or you’re just interested in new ways to spend quality time with your family, a wealth of available boater education courses make boating easier to learn than ever. To learn more about finding boating instruction near you, please visit our boating courses page.

Boating is FUN
Last but definitely not least, one of the top reasons for boating is simply because it’s so much fun. There are so many activities to explore when it comes to boating, whether you like to fish, waterski, snorkel, or simply enjoy relaxing on the water. Be sure to check out our boating activities page to learn more about all the different ways that you too can experience boating fun.

SF Sailing Bloggers Sailebration

Recently the east coast blogging contingent got together for a blogging party. I am hoping to do one better to celebrate my 5th anniversary of blogging. I propose a sail on the Addiction with our San Francisco bloggers. I'm thinking EVK4, Horses Mouth, O Docker, Zen, and maybe frogma could fly out! What do you guys think?? It would be a ton of fun to meet you all and I can't think of a better way to celebrate. I am thinking about a day sail out of Emeryville on our Newport 30. Any other sail bloggers of note from the bay area that I missed? Let's party!

40 Years of Windsurfing

My life changed on a dime when I discovered windsurfing in the early 80's. I was living on a big lagoon in Foster City, CA. A friend gave me his board that he was not using. It was a classic Bic. Had some wonderful times on that old board, learning the wind and playing in the water. Moved up to a nice board the next year and then a Klepper after that. Got so stoked, I started a windsurfing club called Wind Power. Had some awesome times and made some great friends. Sailing the bay and delta was about as wild as you can imagine. Great times in my life. By the mid 90's I was moving towards boats, which was a nice progression. I still get out there and have some fun but nothing like the 60-80 days per year that I used to enjoy. Here is a look back at the very beginnings of the sport from the late 60's. Enjoy! Cowabunga!!

Crew Capacity for a 30' Sailboat?

I sent the above query out to several sailing email groups (Newport Owners Group and San Francisco Sailing, both Yahoo groups if you would like to join). Anywho, I received lots of great responses with most agreeing that more than 8 would be too many. I agreed. Then I got a response from a fellow Newport owner with a picture of his boat and 22 crew! I don't recommend it, but it can be done!

Elephants Never Forget

In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mbembe approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Mbembe was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man. Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mbembe's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Pretty Cool

Solar Dynamics Observatory Launch, Feb 11, 2010 HD VERSION A sun dog is a prismatic bright spot in the sky caused by sun shining through ice crystals. The Atlas V rocket exceeded the speed of sound in this layer of ice crystals, making the shock wave visible from the ground. The announcer can be heard in the video saying, "The vehicle is now supersonic."

How Deep is the Ocean?

If you ever asked yourself that question, we have an answer.

Two Ways to Cross an Ocean

Singlehanded from San Francisco to Hawaii in 27 days from nickj on Vimeo.

Inside-Outside (9mn extracts of "Huis clos" 59mn) HQ
by EandMBerque

Ellison to Bring Cup to the Bay!

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive and multibillionaire Larry Ellison won the America's Cup on Sunday, claiming sailing's most prestigious trophy for San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club. Now he hopes to bring the next edition of the regatta—which will likely be held in about three years—to San Francisco itself.

Mr. Ellison, 65 years old, cultivated his passion for competitive sailing in San Francisco Bay, which he dubs "a wonderful natural amphitheater for sailing." He adds, "I'm not sure there's any place in the world that is better for viewers."

Fresh off the America's Cup victory, Mr. Ellison—who is the Bay Area's wealthiest individual with an estimated $27 billion fortune, according to Forbes—discussed his favorite places to sail in the region and where in the Bay he hopes to hold the next America's Cup.

Larry Ellison, winner of the America's Cup off Spain on Sunday, says bringing the race to San Francisco could boost its appeal in the U.S.

Q: Is San Francisco a feasible site for the America's Cup?

A: Absolutely. We match raced [Switzerland-based rival sailing team] Alinghi in San Francisco Bay in the Moët Cup [in 2003]. It was a spectacular regatta because people could watch from office buildings. The boats are big enough that you can see the entire race. We had hundreds of thousands of people watching this race—it was probably the most watched sailboat race ever. And we beat them.

Q: How did you first get into sailing?

A: Reading an article in National Geographic by Robin Lee Graham, where he sailed around the world in a 24-foot boat. I was about his age when he did that. He started out as a teenager.

The freedom to harness the wind and go anyplace you want to in the world seemed magical to me. That kind of independence, demonstrating that kind of self-sufficiency, at least in my own mind became a very romantic idea and something I wanted to do as well.

Q: And your competitive side took it to another level?

A: I first started sailing just for the joy of being out there. I was in San Francisco Bay and I couldn't go around the world—I had a job—so I just did day sailing. I learned on a 14-footer called Lido 14 at the University of California Yacht Club.

[Later I bought] a 24-foot boat. As long as I was out in the Bay sailing, there were races, and I started doing these.

Q: To hold the cup in San Francisco you would probably need a lot of space, though.

A: Well, that's the thing. I intend to talk to Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, and we'll see if there's room on the waterfront to do this. Maybe we can get out to Treasure Island. We want to develop a sailing village like they have in New Zealand and like they had in Valencia [in Spain, where the America's Cup was just held.] We want teams from all over the world to come here.

Q. Where is your favorite place to sail in the Bay Area?

A: Starting down at the Bay Bridge and racing up to a buoy near the end of the Bay. That's a fabulous place and about two-thirds of the race is along the city front. We get very close to the headlands and people onshore can watch.

Q: The America's Cup isn't as popular in the U.S. as it once was. Would holding the race in San Francisco be a way to change that?

A:If we have the America's Cup here in San Francisco, it will allow many more people to watch it. But we also have to do a better job of televising it. We can make sailing much more understandable and much more exciting by putting cameras on the boats.

These boats twist and groan and the sounds are a very important aspect for gaining an appreciation of the sport and how much stress we are putting on these boats.

Via WSJ

Have Watch, Will Sail

HUGO BOSS Watches Video featuring Alex Thomson
by Steerwell

Go full screen on this one!

Rowing Across the Pacific

Rowing Solo Across the Pacific - without aid - a world first from Geoff A Charters on Vimeo.

Update From the Two Teens on Their Quest

Here is an interesting update on Abby and Jessica as they sail the planet. Read it here.

Is that a wing in your pocket?

Someone asked me how tall the wing is on the Oracle boat. At 223 feet she would not fit under the Golden Gate Bridge (220') at high tide. That is one big wing!! The designers of the wing think they can make an even lighter and more powerful rig on the next iteration. Can you say Extreme 40's on the SF bay in 2014? Now that would be cool!

Jailbreak Your iPhone

I had been tinkering with idea of a jailbroken iPhone for a while and decided to do some research on Youtube. I found out it is not illegal, it's easy in version 3.1.2.,you have a ton a cool apps, themes, and cool things that you can do that Apple does not allow. And you can always restore back to your last back up at any time and go back to your old phone. My two big reasons for jailbreaking where being able to listen to music apps and send an email or text without having to shut down the app, send a text then relaunch the app and start over. A little app called Backgrounder allows you to multitask without having to stop whatever you are doing at that moment. The other thing I wanted to be able to do was tether my phone to my computer so I could use the internet on my computer when I am on the water. The app is called Mywi and it allows you use your phones 3g network on your computer. Think of your phone as a wireless modem. There are so many other cool mods and tricks to make your phone 100% better than it is right now. Go to Youtube and explore. Start with a search, "Why jailbreak". It might be time for you to break free of the shackles!

Mission Accomplished

The Fog is Back

During my sunset run in the hills yesterday, the wind was up as the sun was setting. My run gives me an impressive view of the bay from Mount Tam to Mount Ham and the bay. Looking west, I could see the first fog of the season coming over the San Bruno gap. This is a big deal for sailors in the area as it signals the start of big, consistent winds that make sailing the bay so amazing. We just had the bottom of our 30' sailboat painted and it will make for some fast sailing this summer.

On a sad note, my father in law, Richard Pooley, passed away over the weekend in Fla. He was a great man who loved the water. I took him sailing many times during his visits and it gave him great joy to be out in the SF Bay. His last wish was to have me spread his ashes under the Golden Gate from my boat. We will miss him greatly.

Video Highlights - Mavsurf

Click here for video highlights of the surf contest.

Transatlantic Voyage

Gemini 105Mc - Transatlantic Voyage from Will Hershfeld on Vimeo.

I'm Sailing

Replay of the A-Cup Race

If you missed the final race of the cup and would like to watch it, go here. The racing starts at about 1:20 in. (thats one hour and 20 mins.).

Mavericks Looks Swell

The contest will be held on Saturday in Half Moon Bay! For updates and the latest news, click here.

Just as it was beginning to look as if the Mavericks Surf Contest might be doomed for the third time in four years, El Niño finally appears ready to deliver Saturday.
The official votes from the 24 invited surfers won't be tallied until noon Thursday, but the fast approach of the March 31 contest deadline and fresh memories of seasons that got away have pushed patience aside.
The big-wave adrenaline junkies want their fix — and a chance at the record prize purse of $150,000.
A poll of voters who have been poring over computer-model data suggests there is little doubt that the seventh big-wave champion will be crowned Saturday on the beach at Pillar Point. Waves measuring 40 feet on the face — considered the threshold for a big Mavericks day — are expected.
"Ninety-nine percent," is how longtime contestant Evan Slater described the chances for Saturday, adding, "It's not going to be picture perfect, but it's going to be big, real big if the forecast holds."
Santa Cruz's Zach Wormhoudt, another longtime competitor, was just as confident, saying: "Let's get ready to rumble."
The surfers' optimism might be colored somewhat by a desire to get the focus back on the wave. After swells in November, December and January were voted down decidedly by the competitors, attention surrounding the event turned to a lawsuit filed by contest co-founder Jeff Clark, who contends he was wrongly ousted as director by his former partners at Mavericks Surf Ventures in June.
This winter has proved that even with an early opening of the contest window (Nov. 1) and a flurry of good El Niño-charged swells, it's tricky to find a day that will provide the six- to eight-hour windows necessary for a big-wave contest.
"There are no slam dunks; you're just going to have to make the best call you can make," said Darren Brilhart, who serves as a liaison between the contest's surfers and organizers. "(But) I think it's pretty crucial to have a successful event this year."
The storm generating this swell formed quickly near the international date line early Wednesday and barreled east toward the Bay Area. It is expected to turn north just 600 miles off the coast by late Friday. The proximity to shore worries event forecaster Mark Sponsler, if only just a bit.
It's "definitely close," he said via e-mail. "The best would be if high pressure builds in a little earlier than forecast to dampen those south winds."
That would mean cleaner surface conditions for those negotiating treacherous drops at Mavericks. But bumpy rides or not, the chosen 24 are likely to be out there taking the plunge Saturday with brightly colored contest jerseys pulled tightly over their wet suits.
"Fasten your seat belts," Slater said.

Most Anticipated Tech in 2010

Transperant Display

It's been a while since I threw in a tech entry into my blog so here goes. With CES having a huge splash last month and Macworld kicking off this week, we have lots of cool gagets and new tech coming down the pike in the next 10 months. Are you ready for 3DTV, motion sensing gaming, genius phones, charging your phone using WIFI signals, tablets, 152" 3D TV's and many more. See pics and descriptions here.

Aqualights - Iphone App for Mariners

Lights on boats at night came in many different forms and can be very confusing. Here is an app that can help determine what the lights mean and the type of vessel you are seeing. Just select the pattern of lights you see and the app will determine the type of boat and what the lights are trying to communicate to other vessels. Check it out here.

Can A Boat be Made Entirely of Duct Tape?

Trouble in Paradise

BMW/O to Win the Cup!

Valencia, Spain -- Software tycoon Larry Ellison isn't accustomed to losing.

He outgunned his corporate rivals for 30 years to become the world's fourth-richest man and king of database technology. He won the hand of a celebrated romance novelist and built a 23-acre Japanese-inspired paradise in Woodside.

The only prize that's apparently eluded the Bay Area billionaire is the America's Cup, a silver ewer that's sailing's most coveted prize.

Today, Ellison, 66, the chief executive of Oracle Corp., takes his third stab at winning international sports' oldest trophy - this time in an extreme sailing event in wintry waters off the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

The high-stakes grudge match between Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing syndicate and the current cup holder, the Swiss Alinghi team bankrolled by pharmaceutical heir Ernesto Bertarelli, will be sailed in the two fastest boats that have ever raced in the America's Cup. The best-of-three series on a 40-mile-long racecourse will determine the next cup holder.

"I don't like him. I won't beat around the bush," Ellison told The Chronicle. "If I was going to be nasty, I'd say, what has he done in his life that he's proud of?"

"I came here determined to shake his hand," Bertarelli, 45, said at a news conference Saturday that Ellison declined to attend. "Here I am, available, and he is not here."

For many sports fans, the notion of watching a sailboat race is about as thrilling as watching grass grow. But this year's showdown could be one of the most exciting matchups in the cup's nearly 160-year history. It is being broadcast live in Europe and streamed on the Internet.

The teams will race in giant, lightweight, high-tech multihulls that are screamingly fast, incredibly fragile and so dangerously prone to capsize that their crews wear helmets. In November, the $10 million towering mast on Ellison's 114-foot trimaran came tumbling down on its carbon fiber deck during sea trials off San Diego.

Bertarelli, an avid yachtsman, is the helmsman of his catamaran. Ellison, who has won pro and amateur regattas, said he'll serve as a tactician and strategist on his boat. Depending on wind strength, his trimaran will carry a crew of 12 to 20 sailors.

The 33rd America's Cup has drawn hundreds of journalists and the jet-set glitterati to Valencia. The port city staged a shock-and-awe fireworks display Sunday night in honor of a yacht racing tradition that began in 1851 when the schooner America beat a fleet of British vessels around the Isle of Wight.

Continue reading here.

The Story of a Boat

Watch the America's Cup Online

Click the pic for a fantastic view.

Anybody getting excited about the Cup?? If the cup is taken by BOR90, the next cup would be in SF!!!! Racing is scheduled to start at 10:00am in Spain Monday Feb 8th. That works out to 4am Eastern Standard. 1AM on Monday morning for the West Coast.

The second race will be Wed Feb. 10 at the same time. The third, if required will be on Friday, Feb. 12.

It's a best of three - first team to win 2 takes the cup (until we drown in more court cases later).
The official event website setup by the city of Valencia Spain. It will have links to live coverage though I suspect that they may not anticipate the internet bandwidth they are about to be hit with...but it may be a good spot to find text news and possibly up to the minute video:
http://33rd.americascup.com

www.americascup.com
As a subset of that Valencia website, they claim they will be feeding live video at www.americascup.com. PLEASE NOTE that you will probably have to register to see the feed. That could mean that once they start red lining their bandwidth, they'll shut down registration. I was able to register a couple of days ago but I don't see the link to register anywhere on there now. Check early, check often. This could be one of the best sources.

www.Espn360.com
I just discovered that Jobson and Randy Smyth will be covering the event for ESPN360 (thanks Karl!) so this will probably be worth checking out. I would imagine that ESPN360 would be better prepared for a lot network demand. PLEASE NOTE: you will also need to register and setup an account with ESPN360. It is FREE but takes some time...do it early. Their player is intensive on bandwidth and CPU so if you have an older PC and/or limited internet bandwidth, you may have some difficulty with it. The player requires a few plugins and you will probably have browser compatibility problems if you are not running a 'mainstream' browser. Be sure your security is set to something less than "nuclear power station" and use (gasp) Internet Explorer 8 for the best chance of running it. Watch your upper notification bar at the top of the IE8 window - it will need to install several software plug ins to work and the notifications will pop up there in a faint yellow bar asking permission. It works pretty well for me (I've got a new computer running Windows 7 64bit and a speedy internet connection).

www.SailingAnarchy.com
SailingAnarchy just got sponsored by Layline for the coverage and is working with one of the Italian teams from the last America's Cup to get their reporters out on the water. They also have some deal setup with an internet company that provides internet access for boaters (cruisers). Supposedly they are expecting to be able to upload a lot of stuff quickly. Sometimes hard to watch, sometimes juvenile, but sometimes ground breaking and without fear...the SA coverage will be interesting. I don't believe you will have to pre-register or anything for this one. THIS JUST IN. Our very own JC (FON) will be helping SA with their coverage... definitely worth watching now!

http://www.tsr.ch/
You're going to have to polish up your Francais on this one - but if you can manage to navigate your way through, this Swiss TV station is supposed to have some live coverage of the event.

Oceans - The Movie (coming soon)

Opens on Earth Day, April 22 - 40th Anniversary
Double click the vid to watch in full screen and then punch it up to 720 resolution. Very cool. Love the baby turtles!!

Plastiki Sails...Finally

The boat is the 60-foot-long catamaran Plastiki, which David de Rothschild, the 31-year-old scion of the British banking family, plans to sail across the Pacific to Australia, beginning in the first days of March.

What makes the Plastiki unique is that the boat's twin hulls are made of 12,500 plastic bottles that once held soft drinks or spring water. The bottles are filled with dry ice, which of course is a gas.

Except for the boat's two masts, the twin hulls, a small outboard motor for emergencies, and a few odds and ends like the galley stove, the Plastiki is made of a hard, tough, self-reinforcing plastic material called PET.

"It is totally unique," said Andy Fox, a builder of sustainable boats who lives in the western edge of England and was along for the ride Tuesday. "There is nothing like it in the world."

To tell the truth, the Plastiki is no beauty. The boat is a translucent off-white color, rigged as a ketch with a tall mainmast and a shorter mast aft. Both are metal, gleaming in the sun. The 12,500 bottles that make up the twin hulls give the vessel an odd look, like a kid's science project.

There is a low cabin, rounded like the back of a turtle. Inside are four bunks for eight crew members, a small galley and an area for an array of electronics the boat will carry. There will be plenty of electronics; one of the expedition sponsors is Hewlett-Packard. There is a tiny head, as the seagoing toilet is called. This will be an adventure in tight quarters.

But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"I'm very excited," said Jo Royle, a 30-year-old Englishwoman who is the Plastiki's skipper. "I think it's really come together."

Behind the adventure is a dead serious message: de Rothschild wants to draw attention to a world of plastic waste. Only a fraction of the world's plastic bottles are recycled, he says. The rest end up in landfills or out in the ocean. He figures the way to get the recycling message across is a plastic sailing adventure - a message in a bottle.

Read more here.

New Docking Technique Demonstrated

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Oceanfest Film Fest - Today in SF

A bunch of water related films will be screened at Theater 39 on Pier 39 starting today and going thru Sunday. Surfing Dolphins will be screened there (see below). Check out the schedule here.

Interview with Greg Huglin - Surf Flim Guy

He did the dolphin docu from yesterdays post below.

Northern Lights

Auroras are associated with the solar wind, a flow of ions continuously flowing outward from the sun. The Earth's magnetic field traps these particles, many of which travel toward the poles where they are accelerated toward earth. Collisions between these ions and atmospheric atoms and molecules causes energy releases in the form of auroras appearing in large circles around the poles. Auroras are more frequent and brighter during the intense phase of the solar cycle when coronal mass ejections increase the intensity of the solar wind.

Caught in the Storm

It was seven minutes to 3 a.m. when the brass clock in the lower cabin of the Sean Seamour II stopped.

For 62-year-old Ottawa adventurer Rudy Snel, it came to represent the precise moment he believed he was going to die.

The clock froze as sea water poured through every crevice of the cabin following the 44-foot sailboat's rollover in near-hurricane-force winds about 257 kilometres off the North Carolina shoreline a little more than three weeks ago.

As one of three crew members aboard the sailboat, it had been a lifelong dream of the hobbyist sailor to cross the Atlantic.

Setting sail days earlier with two men he met via an online sailing forum, Mr. Snel never imagined it would nearly cost him his life.

In the three weeks since the U.S. Coast Guard plucked Mr. Snel and his European crewmates, Jean Pierre de Lutz, 58, and Ben Tye, 31, from the dilapidated life raft to which they clung for hours, they have confronted their mortality again and again -- recounting their survival after the sailboat was swallowed by the sea.

"The main part of it is not just thinking you're dead, but being convinced of it," said Mr. Snel.

He did not know at the time that the winds behind the storm would subsequently be named as those of subtropical storm Andrea -- a storm so powerful that one ship lost 21 containers, the U.S. Coast Guard would eventually rescue nine people, including Mr. Snel's crew, and four people lost at sea have never been found.

Continue reading here.

Surf Documentary- Dolphins

Click the above pic to read the text.

Amazing Stuff

Slip & Slide

Friday Sing-a-Long

One of my fav's.

BOR90 on CBS News

Monster Multis

Paddle to Seattle - Documentry

Paddle to Seattle Trailer from Ben Gottfried on Vimeo.

Two friends build their own kayaks and paddle alone for 97 days in the wilderness over 1,300 miles from Alaska to Seattle and survive to talk about most things.

Crash and Burn

Biggest Paddle In?

Just in Case You Missed it the First Time Around

From the Top of the Wave to the Bottom - Flea

Nearly dying is a specialty of Darryl "Flea" Virostko.

The surfer, who won the first three monster-wave contests at Mavericks north of Half Moon Bay, almost drowned there once when the leash that attaches his ankle to the board clung to an underwater rock.

So epic was a plunge down a 50-foot wall of water at Hawaii's Waimea Bay in 2004 that Surfer magazine dubbed it the "Wipeout of the Decade."

But Virostko was never closer to death than when he decided to get sober last year, several days after terrified relatives and fellow surfers staged an intervention.

Closing out a final bender, he smoked a pipe of crystal meth, then chugged a half-gallon of vodka as he drove from Santa Cruz to a Pacific Grove rehab center.

"I didn't care about my life at all," Virostko said recently, talking about his rise to stardom and near-fatal descent. "I wasn't being Flea."

Being Flea means pushing the limits of mortality on freakishly large waves, not dry land. Now, he said, it means celebrating 14 months of sobriety, teaching addicts to surf in his FleaHab program, and training to become a drug and alcohol counselor.

"If I can do it, anyone can do it," the 37-year-old said of quitting drugs. "Because I went to the edge of the earth."

Virostko's comeback is an undercurrent of this season's Mavericks Surf Contest, an event that once seemed designed for his audacity. The five-month contest window opened Nov. 1, meaning Mavericks can be held the next time giant swells roll in.

If Virostko wins, he'll own four of seven titles. He could also use the $50,000 check. He recently had to sell his house to pay off $150,000 in back taxes and stay out of bankruptcy.
'You can't go any lower'

Mavericks made Flea's name. But the first time he paddled into it in the early 1990s, he said, he was on acid. In later years, he often visited on meth. At this year's contest, he will be surrounded by surfers who hope he can channel his intensity into his recovery.

"I've never seen anyone who was in that deep turn it around," said Joey Thomas, 61, a Santa Cruz surfer and friend. "You can't go any lower."

"Going from one extreme to the next - that's how he has negotiated his life," said Virostko's 39-year-old brother, Troy. "Now it's opening a new door."

Virostko said drugs never helped his performance - just the opposite, he said - and had nothing to do with his famous fearlessness. That came naturally.

He grew up relatively poor, in a neighborhood on Santa Cruz's west side known as "the Circles" because of the layout of the streets. "West side, best side," he said, flashing a "WS" tattoo.

His mother was a nurse and Jazzercise instructor, his father a high school art teacher who taught him to surf at age 4 at Cowell's, a spot just north of the Boardwalk where many a child has caught his first wave.

He always felt at home in the water. Richard Schmidt recalled an 8- or 9-year-old Virostko knocking him off a wave at another spot known as Rivermouth. Schmidt, a big-wave pioneer who runs a surf school in town, was 12 years older.

"No apology or nothing," said Schmidt, who is now a friend.

Virostko was always a bad boy, said childhood friend Joshua Pomer. In junior high, when a bigger kid bear-hugged Flea - who is now 5-foot-10 but got his nickname because he was tiny until a late-arriving puberty - Virostko hit him in the face with a juice bottle.

"The guy will never back down to anyone," said Pomer, 36, who is finishing a documentary called "The Westsiders" on the life of Virostko and his friends. "He's been in a lot of fistfights and he's lost a lot of them, but he's won a lot of them as well. It's that same bravado he took to Mavericks."

Virostko won the inaugural big-wave contest in February 1999. He celebrated by renting a room at Santa Cruz's Dream Inn on a bluff just north of the Boardwalk, where he and his friends dropped acid and tossed furniture onto the beach.

After he beat world champion Kelly Slater the next year, Virostko was surfing royalty. He won his most recent Mavericks title in 2004.

Read the rest here.

Pic of the Day - Rio

Be sure to click the pic for a bigger look.

16 Years Young and Off to Conquer the World

 

The Learning Curve is Steep!

Pics of the Year 2009

Click on any pic for a larger view.

Puma Extreme

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Water, But Were Afraid to Ask

Kitewing on Ice

Birdmen Jump From Highest Building

The Burj Birdmen from Jan-Paul Bednarz on Vimeo.

Big Storms Hit the Bay Area

A series of four major storms have hit the bay area and beyond. Since Sunday we have seen some impressive rainfall totals. In Tahoe they have received as much as 6-8 feet of new snow. The rain is falling all along the west coast and a tornado touched down yesterday in Socal. They say this is the result of an El Nino in the Southern Hemisphere. We need the rain badly as we have been in a drought for the last three years and the reservoirs are down around 75%. With all the rain, I went up to the boat to check on her between storms. I took a tour of the Addiction and was surprised how dry she was on the port side. We have been battling a leaky chain plate for years and after another round of rebedding the chainplate, it looks good. The bilge was fine, the ports were all locked and tight and the batteries in good shape. I tightened up the dock lines and secured the kayak. Right now winds are out of the south at 50 and building. She should ride out the storm and be good to go for a weekend sail.

Grateful Dead

I have been a Deadhead since I saw my first show in August of 1978 at Red Rocks in Colo. When I moved to the Bay Area in 1981 they were playing all the time and I went to see them a bunch. Since Jerry died in 1995 the band has had a few incarnations with different players trying to fill Jerry's shoes. Many shows have been disappointing but only because the expectations were so high. I went to see the band in San Francisco for the New Year's shows and was blown away by how great they sound now. The band is now called Futhur (after the famous bus) and they added a fey new players including John Kadlecik playing and singing the Jerry parts. When I closed my eyes during some of the songs, it seemed were were back in the days of old. What a great show! Check the show from 12-30 below, the sound is pretty good. Visit their site for upcoming dates and Phil's birthday back at the Civic in SF on March 12th. Hope to see you there!

You can listen to the entire show here.

Wave of the Day - Tahiti

Rescue on Lake Heron

Here is a great rescue story from Michigan. The first post is about what the rescuers did right and what they could have done better. Start reading at the second post to see what transpired during the rescue. What's so cool about the post is that they have the radio transmissions between the CG and their boat Time Machine. If you go to the bottom of the second post you can hear all the transmissions in one place. The crew also received the Hanson Award for their rescue. When the rescuee asked the rescuer if he could give him a reward for saving him, the rescuer replied, "Just seeing you and your son, alive and here aboard TIME MACHINE is the biggest reward I could possible get. Helping you is what sailors do for each other". What a great line! Read the full story here.

The Tragic Story of Moonduster

Lat38 has published a through account of the tragic loss of Moonduster on a Fijian reef during a cyclone. Read the full story here.

1000 Days At Sea

Reid Stowe will hit the 1000 days at sea mark on January 16, 2010. Congrats to you for having the grit and determination to see this thru. Reid start the trip with his girlfriend of a few months. They were hit by a ship in the first month and had to deal with repairs. Then the girlfriend was always sea sick and had to be taken off the boat. Turns out she was pregnant. A few months ago, his boat was hit by a rouge wave in the Southern Ocean and he had to scramble to save her. On one of his passages, he steered the boat in such a way that his breadcrumbs formed a giant heart in the middle of the ocean. He has now lost all his on board computer and communication to shore has been limited. He has had quite an adventure and has nurtured a love of the sea and all the things that go with it. He has decided to keep sailing until it stops being fun. Here are some of the highlights from 2009:
The year 2009 began on Day 619 with Reid facing gale winds in the Southern Pacific ocean as he made his way to Cape Horn. He safely rounded the Horn as the best sailors in the world raced right by competing for the Vendee Globe. Shortly after on day 661, as Reid sailed through heavy seas in the South Atlantic, a wave briefly capsized the schooner, leaving Reid safe, but shaken and more cautious than ever. Despite these challenges, he found the inner strength to continue on into the calmer waters of the Atlantic where he drew the shape of a heart with the course that he sailed. It was a creation inspired by Reid’s love of life, the ocean, the divine, and humanity.

Months went by until Day 800 was reached and Reid found himself in a place where he could rest for a while, not sew sails all the time, and engage in painting more. Another hundred days flew by filled with schooner maintenance and spiritual contemplations. Then he had a curious visitor, a blue heron. Most blue herons are shore birds, but one had found its way hundreds of miles from land. The blue heron, it seemed, wanted company and landed on the Anne. A short, but beautiful friendship blossomed between Reid and the heron. However, ten days later it died, and Reid sailed on.

Reid existed in a timeless place. He often said so and we on land knew it must be true since he always made a point of double-checking with us to see if the day or hour he thought he had was correct. On Day 964, Reid broke the record for the longest non-stop solo sea voyage in history. No one past or present, accompanied or alone, has been at sea without stopping or re-supplying for this long. Fortunately, he was able to share his experience with the world almost every day until Day 970 when the last working computer broke down. Now Reid will have to send his blogs in the spoken form through satellite telephone. On the positive side, we are still in regular communication with him, though it is limited due to the high cost of phone minutes.

As 2009 gives rise to 2010, Reid’s goal of staying at sea for 1000 Days is looking like an inevitable reality. Day 1000 falls on Jan. 16, 2010, but Reid will be staying out longer due to the fact that returning to NYC in winter weather makes for tricky sailing. Instead, he will return in the middle of June propelled by calmer winds.

We hope to see you there as Reid makes his return from the ocean back to civilization and we hop that you continue to follow this amazing voyage as Reid voyages beyond 1000 Days at sea.

Check out his site here.

Awesome Underwater Pics

National Geographic has published some great underwater pics. Take a look.

America's Cup-in One Month!

Ady Gil RIP

In an unprovoked attack captured on film, the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru No. 2 deliberately rammed and caused catastrophic damage to the Sea Shepherd trimaran Ady Gil.

Six crew crewmembers, four from New Zealand, one from Australia, and one from the Netherlands were immediately rescued by the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker. None of the crew Ady Gil crew were injured.

The Ady Gil is believed to be sinking and chances of salvage are very grim.

According to eyewitness Captain Chuck Swift on the Bob Barker, the attack happened while the vessels were dead in the water. The Shonan Maru No. 2 suddenly started up and deliberately rammed the Ady Gil ripping eight feet of the bow of the vessel completely off. According to Captain Swift, the vessel does not look like it will be saved.

“The Japanese whalers have now escalated this conflict very violently,” said Captain Paul Watson. “If they think that our remaining two ships will retreat from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in the face of their extremism, they will be mistaken. We now have a real whale war on our hands now and we have no intention of retreating.”

Captain Paul Watson onboard the Steve Irwin is racing towards the area at 16 knots but still remains some five hundred miles to the north. The Bob Barker has temporarily stopped the pursuit of the Nisshin Maru to rescue the crew of the Ady Gil. The Japanese ships initially refused to acknowledge the May Day distress of the Ady Gil, but ultimately did acknowledge the call. Despite acknowledging the call, they did not offer to assist the Ady Gil or the Bob Barker in any way.

The incident took place at 64 Degrees and 03 Minutes South and 143 Degrees and 09 Minutes East

Ady Gil rammedUntil this morning the Japanese were completely unaware of the existence of the Bob Barker. This newest addition to the Sea Shepherd fleet left Mauritius off the coast of Africa on December 18th and was able to advance along the ice edge from the West as the Japanese were busy worrying about the advance of the Steve Irwin from the North.

“This is a substantial loss for our organization,” said Captain Watson. “The Ady Gil, the former Earthrace, represents a loss of almost two million dollars. However the loss of a single whale is of more importance to us and we will not lose the Ady Gil in vain. This blow simply strengthens our resolve, it does not weaken our spirit.”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is requesting that the Australian government send a naval vessel to restore the peace in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory. We have 77 crew from 16 nations on three vessels, six of them were on the Ady Gil. Of these, 21 are Australian citizens: 16 Australians on the Steve Irwin and five on the Bob Barker. Sea Shepherd believes that the Australian government has a responsibility to protect the lives of Australian citizens working to defend whales from illegal Japanese whaling activities.

“Australia needs to send a naval vessel down here as soon as possible to protect both the whales and the Australian citizens working to defend these whales,” said Steve Irwin Chief Cook Laura Dakin of Canberra. “This is Australian Antarctic Territorial waters and I see the Japanese whalers doing whatever they want with impunity down here without a single Australian government vessel anywhere to be found. Peter Garrett, I have one question for you: Where the bloody hell are you?
”

Better to Stay in Bed?

Fire authorities in California found a corpse in a burned out section of
forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire. The deceased male
was dressed in a full wet suit, complete with scuba tanks on his back,
flippers, and facemask. A post-mortem revealed that the person died not from
burns, but from massive internal injuries.

Dental records provided a positive identification. Investigators then set
about to determine how a fully clad diver ended up in the middle of a forest
fire. It was revealed that on the day of the fire, the person went for a
diving trip off the coast some 20 miles from the forest. The firefighters,
seeking to control the fire as quickly as possible, called in a fleet of
helicopters with very large dip buckets. Water was dipped from the ocean and
then flown to the forest fire and emptied.

You guessed it. One minute our diver was making like Flipper in the
Pacific, the next he was doing the breaststroke in a fire dip bucket 300
feet in the air. Apparently he extinguished exactly 5'10" of the
fire. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

The Joys of Sailing

Found this article and wanted to share it with you. Sometimes we forget the simple pleasures of sailing or just being on the water. Enjoy!

Sailing is both a recreational as well as functional activity for millions of people around the world. Often, when we think of sailing, we think about the massive ships that cruise the oceans, the yachts that race in competitions, and about the money it takes just to own one, let alone having enough friends or family who might be interested in going out on the water on any given day.

But sailing is so much more than that. It is about connecting with nature and being surrounded, and powered, by the forces that encompass us on a daily basis. It's often easy to forget that such wonderful things are all around us when we drive to and from work, text on our phones, or merely walk through the grocery store to find something to eat. The world is abundant with the basic necessities and the promise of reconnecting with it.

Sailing doesn't have to be a process requiring five, six, or even a dozen people to be successful. Small sailboats require only one person to cruise around calm waterways, such as rivers and inland lakes. Of course, whenever you have help, and company, the entire day can open up so many more possibilities.

Imagine bobbing gently in the cool water, the air calm, waiting for it to take its next breath. The sail ripples gently but you're in no hurry and there's not another boat or person in sight. All you hear are the distant sound of life and nature moving about in its perfect symbiotic way. You don't concern yourself with gas prices, work problems, or difficulties in a relationship. Out here it's only about relaxation.

Then the wind begins to build. It tugs on the mainsail or the jib and slowly the boat beneath you cuts through the water. The boat leans up gently and your hand is on the wheel, steering straight ahead. Soon the wind is in your face, brushing past you and that's the only sound you hear aside from the occasional splash of water against the hull.

You move across the lake, catching every puff of breeze in the sails and you begin to laugh in delight. If you're alone, you are loving every minute of it. If you're with someone, you two share a special bond, knowing that this day couldn't be any better. Sailing helps people to reconnect with not only their inner child and the joys we once embraced on a daily basis, but also with the world around us.

Sure, it takes some skills that can be learned relatively easy before launching for your first voyage, and they can also be discovered through the natural course of trying. Sailing has been a part of human culture for thousands of years and while in its infancy, sailing was more about function than recreation, there's a reason why millions still enjoy taking to the water to await the next breeze to guide them through the silky glass waterways.

The art of sailing is open to everyone and if you haven't tried it, you're missing out.

Did you know that less than 1% of the population in the US sails in a given year? Time to change that. Take a bunch of friends out next time you go. My plan for the new year is to send out an Evite each month to all my friends and invite them sailing. First come, first serve. I'll let you know how it works out.

Speed Dream

In 2008 world-renowned adventurer Richard Branson tried to break the current transatlantic monohull sailing record of 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes, 39 seconds on his 100’ Super-Maxi yacht Virgin Money, but had to abandon his attempt when the boat started to break apart in the middle of the ocean.

So, is it possible to beat what Branson calls 'one of the greatest records of all'? Can a sailboat reach speeds in excess of 50 knots in stormy open-ocean conditions? Is it possible to cover 1,000 miles in a single day under wind power alone? Can the performance gap between offshore monohulls and multihulls be bridged?

Radical boat designer Vlad Murnikov believes the answer to all of these questions is yes and is assembling a new international team of designers, engineers, adventurers, and sponsors to prove it. 'The SpeedDream Team,' says Murnikov, 'will comprise specialists with diverse expertise in offshore racing yachts like Volvo 70 and Open 60, multihull and powerboat design, hydrodynamics, structural engineering, and advanced composites.'

The team's two-year quest is to build the fastest monohull sailboat on the planet. 'Not simply to beat the existing transatlantic record,' Murnikov says, 'but to shatter it by more than a day! And then we'll go on to challenge other world records like the transpacific and nonstop circumnavigation records.'

Continue reading.

Almost Run Over

Listening to the slap-slap of wavelets against the hull, my eyes were just starting to close when I began to hear a disconcerting but vaguely familiar hum. I lay ensconced in my bunk in the forward cabin, wrapped in nothing but a sweaty sheet, smelling the mildew on my pillow that has marked the homey smell of boats since I was a boy. Ian had just started the first watch of the night and his 21-year-old girlfriend Hilary lay reading a book in her bunk in the aft cabin. The three of us were sailing down the Brazilian coast on my 40-foot ketch Condesa. The wind was light, the weather was calm and clear, and the coffee was on. Just another night at sea.

“Hey Clark, get up here, fast.”

I was a little irritated because Ian tends to be overcautious, but I slipped out of my bunk and wrapped a beach towel around my naked body. I sprung up the companionway and saw Ian’s worried face in the greenish LCD glow of the cockpit gadgets. But Ian wasn’t looking at the depthsounder, the GPS, or the VHF; he was looking up at the new lights that were entering our world. Against a backdrop of lights from dozens of fishing boats and faraway lights on shore, Ian pointed to the two mast head lights and the red running light of what I knew to be a gigantic freighter on our starboard side.

“Oh shit, he’s close.”

“He’s been weaving all over the place. First he was taking our stern, now he’s turned to starboard again.”

I then knew the source of my hum. The configuration of the lights made the ship seem sure to cross our bow a hundred yards or so ahead—still too close for comfort–but it took me a few seconds to get a feel for the ship’s motion. After these few seconds I could see that yes, it was at the right angle to cross our bow but was turning to port again, towards us.

“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit!”

We turned on our spreader lights, which light Condesa up like a Christmas tree.

We had turned down the volume on the VHF because the hundreds of Brazilian fishermen in the area were driving us crazy. It was a few days before the start of the World Cup and channel 16 was a cacophony of chants, singing, music from a commercial radio station, and confused chatter in Portuguese.

Continue reading.
Be sure to checkout some of the other cool stories on Clark's blog as he circles the planet. They are on the right side of his page.

Spontaneous Snowball Fight In NYC

Mud Hole Ski