Sailing Club Spotlight Stone Sailing Club

RS Feva sailing 20-35 Knots

2012 British Sailing Team - London 2012

gp14 sailing at Annandale sailing club

49er Sailing Boat

SAIL Boat Review: J/70

Sailing on a hobie cat

It’s just you, a 30-knot wind whipping your body and the open sea. Like a rollercoaster, the sailboat bounces up and down the two-meter waves. You give it a firm grip to keep from falling into the sea, and shift your weight to keep the sailboat from flipping over. A miscalculation could mean the sea swallowing you whole. With your adrenaline shooting up at an all-time high and your brain processing too much information, you don’t have time to think about sharks and other potentially deadly forms of sea life. Or do you? “Whenever you’re in the water, sharks will always cross your mind,” said Jun Villanueva, smiling. Villanueva, hobie cat competitive sailor, has been sailing for 10 years. Although he has never encountered a shark, he becomes animated when he talks about sightings of pilot whales, dolphins, manta rays and sea turtles. Sailing, a relatively young sport in the country, he said, is slowly attracting more Filipinos. On the competitive level, the annual Philippine Hobie Challenge now has 50 per cent Filipinos and 50 per cent international competitors. Sailing is an incredibly strenuous sport. It demands that your entire body be in good shape, and if it’s not, it will be in a few weeks. With just a harness and a hook attached to the boat to keep you from straying too far when you fall—and everybody falls off, just like every boat flips over—you’ll need strong arms and legs and a firm grip to keep your balance as you constantly shift. And, oh those sheets (ropes used to control the sail) are really heavy, too, especially when up against a strong wind. From your upper body to your midsection all the way down to your toes, sailing will give you a complete body workout. Sailing for 10 hours “If you get a lot of wind, you’re exhausted after an hour. During light wind you can go on for two to three hours, depending on conditions. During competitions, there was a time when we were sailing for 10-11 hours,” recalled Villanueva. This year, the BlackBerry 12th Philippine Hobie Challenge held at El Nido, Palawan, last March attracted world-class athletes for the first time, such as World Champions Mick Butler and Natalie Hill. While there are many hobie challenges in the world, none is as unique as the Philippines’. The Philippine Hobie Challenge is a long-distance adventure race, with sailors sailing between islands and natural rock formations, hopping from island to island on a five-leg course. International competitions usually follow the standard, triangle racecourse. In February next year, the course will kick off at the Hundred Islands, Pangasinan, and end at Anvaya Cove, Subic. Although it’s not yet official, Butler, said Villanueva, has expressed interest in coming back. Villanueva said his claim to fame was beating Butler in the first leg this year. Butler, who was probably used to a triangle course, barely made it to the Top 5. He did, however, win the succeeding four legs and still emerged overall champion of the Philippine Hobie Challenge. This year, Villanueva said plans are already underway to get the youth interested in sailing. Youth camps and training centers will be set up, and will be formally launched at ROX, Bonifacio Global City, The Fort, in September. Anyone can sail, he said, as long as there’s genuine interest in sailing. Villanueva said you will get wet a lot and flip over many times. That’s just how the sport is. During this year’s competition, he said his boat flipped over at least three times. Getting the sailboat back up or yourself back on it is not easy, especially if the wind is strong. Scary speed The hobie is designed for racing. It is a very light sailboat with a huge sail. It will ride fast in perfect conditions. How fast? Maybe around 40 km an hour. Sure, that’s not a lot when you’re riding a car. But if you’re on a motorcycle, without a seatbelt, a 40 km per hour ride will give you a different experience. Better yet, try imagining yourself on a bicycle going downhill, hands off the break, until you reach that speed—a little terrifying, isn’t it? “It is scary, especially on your first encounter with the open sea. You look back and you see the land disappear, and all you see is water, and the closest person sailing is about two miles away. It’s disconcerting. You want to hold on to that boat,” Villanueva said. But take all the fear aside, and sailing is one of the best adventures you’ll probably experience, especially in the Philippines. Villanueva said he has been to so many islands in the country that he didn’t even know existed, islands that are undeveloped. Today, some of the remote islands they’ve been to are part of their outreach program, and they donate school materials whenever they can. There are so many things you discover about your country when you’re sailing, he said, and you learn so much about yourself, too. In the end, he said, you just learn to roll with the punches. Sailing is also a serious sport, so proper training is required. “Sailing is a lifetime of learning,” Villanueva said. “There’s the physics aspect—what’s the effect of wind on my sail; the navigation aspect—how do I get from this island to that island. You have to know how to look at the nautical chart, understand meteorology, the effects of tide and current, and so much more.”

Sailing a way of life for some families

Picture a sailing vacation: swimming in tropical waters, lazy days exploring palm-tree-lined islands, eating mangoes and watching sunsets. Sounds nice, right? What if it were not for a week or two, but a year or two … or five? On a boat where your sailing companions are less than 40 feet away, always? Where 80-mile-an-hour winds can make you reconsider your plan? Where at times you must stay awake for 32 hours on a long stretch of open ocean? Where your boat engine breaks down, and a fellow sailor happens to have the needed part and is happy to help you install it? Where the biggest question of the day is do you snorkel, tidy the boat or explore a beautiful island? Now try doing it with kids. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A handful of brave — and lucky — families live this way. They home-school their kids, believing the world’s ports and people are the ideal classroom. They spend days, sometimes weeks, at sea without contact with anyone else. They rely on a tight-knit, global community of fellow sailors. They wake up in a different marina daily or weekly, snug in their cozy floating homes, wondering what the day will bring. Two families — the Doolittles of the Bay Area and the Maddoxes of Anacortes, Wash. — harbored long-held dreams of epic sailing trips with their families. Not independently wealthy, they waited for the opportunity when money and timing lined up. For the Doolittles, it was realizing the boys were at an ideal age: “Not so young that they wouldn’t remember and appreciate it, and yet not so old they could do anything about it.” For the Maddoxes, it was when Glenn was laid off, with a hefty Christmas bonus. They went for it. And didn’t look back, despite storms that battered their boats, money worries and (at least initially) disapproval from extended family questioning the safety of taking young kids out to sea. The Doolittles Ben and Molly Doolittle, along with boys Mickey, now 10, and J.P., 8, sold their house last September, bought a used 38-foot Catalina, and two weeks later, sailed out of San Francisco Bay. They are midway through a two-year adventure through Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Currently, they’re back in the Bay Area, taking a short break from the hot, humid El Salvador summer, and earning a little more money from their medical insurance business, which they run remotely on the boat. Next month, they plan to resume the trip, sailing from El Salvador to Costa Rica by Thanksgiving, Panama by Christmas, then onto the San Blas Islands, the Caribbean side of Panama, Belize by Easter, then Key West and home by fall 2013 for Mickey to start sixth grade. While he’s enjoying the break, Mickey said he’s excited to return to the boat where it’s “quiet and you wake up to dolphin pods and sea turtles and whales.” It can get lonely, he said, but he and J.P. scope out the “kid boats” at each harbor in search of friends. In addition to being home-schooled by mom Molly, who used to be a fourth-grade teacher, the boys jot down trip notes and observations in their own blog. Molly Doolittle also keeps one for the family. Molly Doolittle said her favorite part of sailing is being part of such a tight community of sailors who rely on one another. “If someone needs help, there’s no hesitation – you just jump in,” she said. “It’s like a throw-back to when people really helped each other out.” Ben Doolittle, who sailed solo for two years before he met Molly, said he always intended to do a big sailing trip with his family, a pact they made before marriage. "I’m a dad with two kids and a wife, and Molly is mostly at home with the boys," he said. "So my option is living in the U.S. and working all day and having a house, or taking advantage of this opportunity to sail with my family." "You wake up when your body says to, you make coffee and you say, 'What do I want to do today? Is it boat tasks? See local culture or volcanoes and rainforests? Snorkel?'" Ben Doolittle said for him, the sailing is secondary to the travel. “In my mind there is no better way to see the world,” he said. “You have your home, your books and your computer, but every morning you open your door in a new place.” The Maddoxes A year-and-a-half ago, Glenn and Pam Maddox completed an epic, five-year sailing adventure with their two young girls, who were just 2 and 4 when they set out. In five years, they covered roughly 40,000 nautical miles in their new Catalina 440. Only the adoption of another child, a medically fragile boy named Bryan Tian, from China where they sailed to and volunteered, could alter their dream to sail completely around the world. In the spring of 2006, Glenn and Pam, along with daughters Linzi, now 10, and MeiLing, 8, sailed from Tampa, Fla., to Nova Scotia, then down the U.S. coast to Savannah, Ga., then to the Turks and Caicos Islands. From there, they spent almost a year in the Caribbean going as far south as Guayana, then turned around and sailed to Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and through the Panama Canal. From Panama, they sailed to the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island and back to Chile where their scariest disaster awaited: a six-day storm with winds gusting to 80 mph that battered their boat against the rocks. It took nine months — and much of their savings – to fix it. Once deemed sail-worthy, the boat headed to Easter Island and the South Pacific, hitting Pitcairn Island, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and on to China where they volunteered for three months at the same orphanage the girls came from. That’s where they met their newest arrival, Bryan Tian. The Chinese government would not allow the Maddoxes to adopt him, however, until they had an income and a residence. That ended the around-the-world dream, but started a new chapter in their lives. They headed for home, sailing from Hong Kong to Taiwan, Japan and the Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea and then down the coast of southeast Alaska, ending in Anacortes in the fall of 2010. Pam got a job, they moved into an apartment and waited for Bryan Tian to arrive, which happened about three months later. Glenn Maddox said the original intent of the trip was to be close to and really get to know their adopted daughters. “But Linzi and Mei-Mei took us on a trip,” he said. “We got to see the world through their eyes and it was amazing to see how well-received they were in all these remote places — like rock stars. The girls made this trip unbelievably unique. We got to live in their wake.” Now a stay-at-home dad, Glenn doesn’t know what the future holds. Bryan has at least one more surgery, and the girls have mostly adjusted to school. They recently sold their beloved boat, “ending an era,” he said, “But Linzi needed braces and Bryan has had $25,000 in surgeries. This is an important time not to be sailing because he has needed so much medical help. But it was pretty sad to say our trip is absolutely done.” The Glesers More common than families on long sea journeys are empty-nesters and retirees. Virginia and Robert Gleser of Modesto, Calif., spend half of each year sailing to and around Mexico, often hosting their eight kids and six grandkids for visits on their boat named Harmony. Virginia wrote a new book focused on maintaining healthy relationships amid the occasional stresses of bad weather and boat breakdowns, and the ever-present tight quarters. Next month, she starts a book tour of "Harmony on the High Seas, When Your Mate Becomes Your Matey," starting with the Oregon Women’s Sailing Association in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 8. Virginia says keys to happiness and success together on the water are appreciation, gratitude, forgiveness and celebration. And one more biggie: “Communication is the No. 1 relationship tool whether on land or sea. But in a boat’s small space, if you fail to communicate what you need and what you are feeling, emotions and tensions can build to uncomfortable levels,” she said. After the book tour, the Glesers plan to head back down to Mexico for six months on Harmony, enjoying warm waters, the camaraderie of other sailors and their grandchildrens’ visits. “We will remain in Mexico at least for now, but maybe when the grandchildren grow a little older they can come with us farther afield, maybe to the South Pacific or the Caribbean,” Virginia said. “Who knows? Our plans are made in sand at low tide.”

OK Dinghy World Championship Preview

OK Dinghy World Championship is being held in Vallensbaek, Denmark from 21st to 28th July 2012. No sailor has ever won five OK Dinghy World titles. Three sailors have won four titles and two of them called it a day after that. The third sailor in question is the current World Champion Nick Craig (GBR) and he is about to try for a record fifth title at the 2012 OK Dinghy World Championship next week.

Sailing Club Spotlight Rickmansworth Sailing Club

Rickmansworth Sailing Club has received more than £40,000 in funding from Sport England to repair its ageing pontoons and buy two new dinghies. The club, which sails in Troy Lake, West Hyde, was given the grant from the £135 million "Places People Play" Olympic legacy programme. One grant of £32,116 will be used to replace the old pontoons, which are used to get in and out of the boats, with a modern plastic-modular system. The main decking on the access road bridge will also be replaced. A further grant of £10,000 from Sport England will be used to buy two new dinghies. Club commodore, Paul Johnson, said "We are delighted to have been awarded these grants. The new pontoons are safer to use and easier to maintain. "These investments will move our club towards the quality facilities we want to provide for our members and will help attract new members." Martin Smethers, a past commodore and grants officer said: "Rickmansworth Sailing Club is a strong local club and are always looking to attract more members. "Our project is opening up our club and giving people in the Rickmansworth and surrounding areas the opportunity to try their hand at sailing for the first time in these brand new boats. "We’re delighted to have received Lottery funding to make it all happen." The improvements will also benefit organisations such as the U3A, Royal Life Saving Society, Batchworth Dragon Boat Club and local angling groups which use the sailing club's facilities. David Gauke , MP for South West Hertfordshire, said: "This investment is fantastic news. Rickmansworth Sailing Club, has always has a strong sailing tradition both locally and nationally." "This money is an investment in helping young people of today and for securing the future for the Club, allowing them to work on their development plan which is aimed at increasing membership, and providing improved and modern facilities." Rickmansworth Sailing Club one of hundreds of projects across England benefiting from funding during the second round of the Inspired Facilities fund. Seb Coe, LOCOG chairman, said: "This is a fantastic funding project that will deliver a real legacy from the London 2012 Games. "It will provide a whole range of sporting opportunities for young people through improved facilities and will I hope inspire them to take up sport."

13' Inflatable Portable Sail Boat Catamaran.

Team Vodafone Auckland - Noumea 2012

London 2012: Team GB's top 10 sailing hopes for Olympic glory

Ben Ainslie Finn Has one Olympic silver and three golds but remains as determined, focused and fiercely competitive as ever. Admits that at 35 his body is beginning to let him down but his mind most certainly is not. Won a sixth Finn world championship in May. Gold at London 2012 would ratify his position as one of the greatest Olympians Key rival Ainslie says there are 10 or 12 sailors capable of winning on any given day. American Zach Railey won silver at Beijing and will be hoping to cause an upset Medal prediction Ainslie will not be satisfied with anything but gold Paul Goodison Laser Once held the Olympic, world, European and British titles at the same time following his gold medal at Beijing. Goodison also knows what it is like to miss out on a medal, finishing fourth at the Athens games. Passionate and aggressive, he still uses the disappointment of that fourth place to motivate himself in training and competition Key rival Since Beijing he has battled with Australia's Tom Slingsby for top spot. The scrap could be one of the keenest in Weymouth Medal prediction A consecutive gold is not beyond him Alison Young Laser Radial Aged 25, the youngest member of the GB sailing team. In May she finished two points off the bronze medal position at the worlds. Then at the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta in June she showed how quickly she is learning by winning gold at the Olympic venue Key rival China's Lijia Xu will be one to watch. She won bronze in Beijing, the first Chinese sailor to win a medal and has been in good form throughout 2012 Medal prediction A medal of any colour would be a great achievement Bryony Shaw RS:X women's windsurfing The only British woman to win an Olympic windsurfing medal — bronze at Beijing. The decision to drop windsurfing as an Olympic event will motivate all the competitors to make the most of this last chance Key rival Lee Korzits is aiming to become the first Israeli woman to win Olympic gold. Medal prediction Shaw's preparation has been hampered by illness but she will challenge strongly for a podium place Nick Dempsey RS:X men's windsurfing Has experienced ups and downs at the Olympics. Made his debut aged 20 at Sydney in 2000 when he finished 16th. Won bronze at Athens in 2004 but was bitterly disappointed to manage only fourth in Beijing. Took bronze at the Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth in June Key rival Frenchman Julien Bontemps won silver at Beijing and took first place in the world championships in Cadiz in April Medal prediction Has been training well – could go one better than Athens and take silver Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark 470 women The pair came together only in February 2011. Clark had finished sixth in the 470 class in Beijing and her attempt to find a new partner became something of a soap opera. Mills and Clark won a string of silvers before taking gold at the world championships in May, becoming the first British women to win in the class Key rivals Bound to be a competitive fleet with lots of potential winners but the Australian pair of Elise Rechichi and Belinda Stowell, who have both won golds in the 470 with different partners, will be tough Medal prediction These two could be very popular gold medal winners Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell 470 men Patience is a jovial Scot, Bithell a down-to-earth Lancastrian. Both started sailing aged seven and have worked together since 2009. They showed they were Olympic medal contenders when they won silver at the Sail for Gold regatta at Weymouth Key rivals Australians Malcolm Page and Mathew Belcher are the men to beat. They have been a dominant force since teaming up after Page won gold in the class in Beijing Medal prediction Will struggle to upset the Australians but a silver medal is possible Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes 49er Morrison and Rhodes grew up competing against each other in Exmouth, Devon. Went to Beijing as one of the favourites and were bitterly disappointed to finish ninth. The 49er is one of British sailing's strongest classes and the pair are planning to use their failure in China to inspire them to success Key rivals Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen are firm favourites. They head the world rankings and have a brilliant record at Weymouth Medal prediction The Australians are in pole position. Silver medal would be a great result Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson Star The elder statesmen of the team, Percy, 36, and "Bart" Simpson, 35, have three gold medals between them. They used to battle with Ben Ainslie in the heavyweight dinghy Finn class. They teamed up in 2007 and won gold at Beijing in the technical keelboat class. Lifelong best friends who love the pressure of elite competition Key rival Weymouth will be the latest venue for the latest round of a long-running battle between Percy and the great Brazilian Robert Scheidt, winner of two gold and two silver Olympic medals Medal prediction They will leave disappointed if they do not take gold Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush, Kate Macgregor Women's match racing Likely to be one of the hits of the Games. The event is exciting: a series of one-on-one races around a two-lap course, it is likely to be held in front of the main spectator area at Weymouth. Lush and the Macgregor sisters are all making their Olympic debuts but with home advantage are hoping to make a big impression Key rival The American team led by Anna Tunnicliffe-Funk (born in South Yorkshire) were beaten into silver position at the world championships in Gothenburg this month by a Finnish crew but may be the team to beat Medal prediction A new team, first Olympic Games, a bronze medal would be a good result