Sydney-Hobart 2012

yeah, yeah - its so easy to second guess the umpires, they would have heard all sides - decision made, no harm done, all part of business.

Now, whats going to happen with Grant Wharington and the Wild Thing disqualification ?

 

yes sure
they could have given the fleet 10 seconds of redress

 

Big deal - that will make the difference to the next boat 2,559 seconds instead of 2,569 seconds.

They could give away five minutes and it wouldnt matter.

http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/standings/

worth grizzling about ? I'm not convinced

 

sure I agree
600+ nm race who cares unless a handicap comes down to seconds??

 

SH and the spectacular 100 footers

Contrary to what some have said the recession has had a major effect on the development of 100' Maxi's as I mentioned earlier. Here is a bit from a good article in the Daily Sail:

from "The re-birth of the 100 footers"

So will the WallyCento class succeed? At the time the rule was conceived there were a few other owners thinking of building 100 footers until the recession began to bite even them. The feeling is that if there are any other potential owners waiting in the wings, it won’t be until Hamilton and the new Reichel Pugh-designed Magic Carpet line up next year that they might press ahead.

read the whole article here: http://www.thedailysail.com/inshore/12/63446/1/first-wallycento-hamilton

 

until the insurance companies and race organisers are reminded that keels have fallen off most of the canting keel yachts?

 

=================
Thats flat out not true! Most canting keels have not failed in any way.
More info: http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/lost-keels-request-information-39377.html

 

That quote does not prove that "the recession has had a major effect on the development" of the 100' canting keel "supermaxi" racers such as Wild Oats, which is what was under discussion.

For a start, that quote mentions only that "there were a few other owners thinking of building 100 footers" until the recession - that does NOT mean that they were actuallly looking at commissioning 100' canting keel "supermaxis" like Wild Oats.

The fact that OTHER boats around the 100' mark (such as fast cruisers, Wallys and similar boats) have been built has already been noted. Paul and I already made the point that people ARE building boats like the Wallycento, which has no canting keel, no water ballast, and is a cruiser/racer to a restricted rule. They are NOT building 100' canting-keel "supermaxi" race machines like Wild Oats.

The owner of Hamilton obviously is not scared off from building new 100' boats by the recession, however he (and the other mooted Wallycentro owners) chose to ignore the "Supermaxis" and create their own class at around the same LOA but with tighter restrictions and no canting keel. That demonstrates quite neatly that the canting keel race machine "supermaxi" class has been a flop, in terms of being a strong class in the style of earlier maxis.

Simple fact #1 - people ARE building and racing boats of around 100' or longer, so the recession has NOT stopped the building of 100 footers.
Simple fact #2 - these people are NOT building canting keel "supermaxi" racers like Wild Oats.

 

I wonder whether we will ever see cars racing in motorbike events?

I wonder whether we will ever see F1 and Le Mans cars racing with the V8s at Bathurst?

I wonder whether we will ever see this sort of tricycle racing in the Tour de France?

I wonder whether we will ever see fully-crewed yachts allowed in shorthanded races?

I wonder whether we will ever see kites allowed in the Round Texel, the world's biggest catamaran race?

I wonder whether we will ever see 18 Foot Skiffs allowed in the LtL, Australia's biggest windsurfer race?

I hope we'll never see any of these things happen. My last offshore-racing season was on a shorthanded multihull, so no way can anyone call me a narrow-minded bigot, but surely people should be allowed to restrict the type of equipment used in an event that they run?

Or else, where do you end up? Do you demand that all the bib beachcat events be opened up to skiffs, kites and windsurfers?

Why not let ballasted IRC style monos run their own events without it beign questioned, just like UCI style cyclists, motorbikes, multis and kites can?

 

I'm just looking for the thread but there was a list that showed well over 50% built have failed

 

Cant Keel systems are super high maintenece and are complex to handle ,service out of the water. Their systems , structure of the keel pivot and retractable foils take up very much interior volume.. You need a good reason to build a cant keeler.

Dont know how many have failed. If you touch bottom while manuvering in the harbour... you earn a trip back to the shipyard.

 

That quote was specifically about Wally-type maxis.

No one was considering building an "Oats-type" Supermaxi.

 

Its a real fashion statement these days...plenty of crazy people.

http://www.mcconaghyboats.com/luxury/singularity.asp


http://

 

Excellent video of Lahana flying south: http://vimeo.com/57522822

 

Yep, it's an excellent video for proving that you can race a 30m yacht hard without relying on motors, and an excellent video for showing how exciting a boat without motors can be.