A couple of months after Emirates Team New Zealand announced it would begin offering up hosting rights for its defense of the America’s Cup to the highest bidder, it’s looking less and less likely the 37^th Cup will be staged in the Kiwi team’s home waters of Auckland, New Zealand.

Not only that, but ETNZ CEO Grant Dalton is sounding increasingly comfortable with the idea of holding the event elsewhere, justifying the decision by saying team needs the money if it’s to be competitive.

As Dalton put it in a recent statement: “I’ve heard it said that: ‘Emirates Team New Zealand would be better losing the 37th America’s Cup in New Zealand than winning it offshore.’ Of course, these are comments that come from outside the team, and one expects from people with some sort of vested interest. I still find it astonishing that anyone would expect such a team as ours to set themselves up to lose.”

Fair enough, but as I commented in a recent editorial, the downside to winning at any cost—never mind the fans and government that helped you establish your winning ways in the first place—is that things may reach a point where the sailing public no longer gives a damn.

As for Dalton’s astonishment at the fact there are those among us who are less than thrilled at the idea of offering up the 37^th Cup to the highest bidder if missing the days when the America’s Cup remained, however imperfectly, a “friendly competition between nations” makes me a person “with some sort of vested interest,” so be it…

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Following the devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard has deployed assets to evacuate the wounded and provide relief.

On Sunday, Coast Guard helicopter aircrews began transporting medical personnel and supplies from Port-au-Prince, Haiti to Jérémie Airport in the southwestern corner of the country. As response and recovery operations continue, these air assets have been making return flights to evacuate injured citizens to medical facilities in Port-au-Prince. The aircrews have also been transporting urban search and response teams to areas with collapsed buildings. Read on.

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© 2021 Latitude 38 Media LLC / Jennifer Gridley

Bay Area sailor Sally Lightfoot didn’t join the sport until her mid-20s, but once she began, she sailed her way through the ranks from eight-ft prams in the East Bay, to sloop-rigged dinghies in the Central Bay, to ocean racing aboard 30- to 38-ft boats and PRO’ing a few YRA one-design regattas. She also took up windsurfing, and though never a serious competitor, she race-managed a few national and international boardsailing competitions. So when a Florida friend needed help sea-trialing his boat, Sally was his go-to sailor. Years later she still remembers the experience as a waypoint on “yet another of sailing’s learning curves.”

The boat was a sturdy, full-keeled Swedish Laurin 28 sloop, unaccountably named Tolvfingertarmen (“12-finger gut,” or duodenum). My friend was comfortable with the boat, but had little offshore experience.

Despite thousands of inshore, coastal and open-Pacific sailing miles, I’d never sailed in Florida, and I was unfamiliar with the boat design. The boat owner and I planned to sail from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas.

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San Francisco, CA (August 13, 2021) – The Kiteboarders and Windsurfers were rigged and ready to go this morning for signature San Francisco conditions featuring big breeze and strong currents on Day 1 of 2021 West Marine US Open Sailing – San Francisco.

The Men’s and Women’s iQFoil and Open Formula Kite events were challenged with wind speeds reaching over 20 knots and temperatures in the 60s for most of the day but all three events completed five races. San Francisco, CA (August 13, 2021) – The Kiteboarders and Windsurfers were rigged and ready to go this morning for signature San Francisco conditions featuring big breeze and strong currents on Day 1 of 2021 West Marine US Open Sailing – San Francisco…

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The members of the Australian Etchells Association have rejected a resolution pressed heavily by the Association that Mould 11 boats, which do not presently hold measurement certificates, be allowed to race in Australia if not overseas in the coming year.

So, the fighting between Mould 9 owners whose boats have measurement certificates and the Association looks set to continue. But many of the earlier arguments of the Association are starting to fail, with now talk of rectification of Mould 11 hulls or speed bumps on the hulls to equalize performance.

However, in my line of work, when the way forward is difficult or murky, thankfully someone usually asks the “Forrest Gump” question. That is the simple question that ignores all that has gone before and cuts through to the very basis of the controversy…

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A detour off the racecourse on Lake Mead leads the team to the north side of the Hoover Dam. (Michael Hanson/)

“Anyone got the time?” says Jim Rosaschi as we maneuver his Capri 30, Blue By You, toward the northern side of the Hoover Damn on Lake Mead. It’s only 9:56 a.m., but Jim’s boat partner, Glenn Frank, doesn’t hesitate with a reply.

“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” he says.

Out on the main lake, a grand total of three boats bob around waiting for wind on day two of Nevada YC’s season championship. The previous day saw no races completed due to lack of wind, and with an equally dismal forecast for today, we decided to forgo racing and take a tour of the Hoover Dam instead. As we sail down the channel toward the damn, a strange canyon-effect generates the only wind on the lake. We cruise along in 6 knots of breeze and marvel at the 1.7-billion-year-old rockfaces towering above our mainsail. About 120 feet up, the high-water mark for Lake Mead has washed the rockfaces clean of their sediments. The reservoir hasn’t been at full capacity since 1983, and like the lake itself, the racing scene here also has its highs and lows…

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Turns out it takes more than a pandemic to keep sailors, naval architects and boatbuilders down. It wasn’t fair, but there’s no denying some parts of the global economy fared better than others this past year, and among the lucky ones was the marine industry. Not that it was all smooth sailing. Supply and workplace issues certainly put a crimp in productivity, as was evident in the fewer number of entries in last year’s Best Boats contest. However, the industry has since come roaring back, and the result is a Best Boats class of 2022 that’s as healthy as we have seen in years: replete with everything from borderline production megayachts to a fun new batch of daysailers and pocket cruisers and even a pair of high-tech scows for the foiling crowd. Boat shows are also back, which means not only being able to renew old acquaintances but also being able to (hopefully) get aboard as many boats as you want without all that social distancing. If you’ve never been to a boat show before, now’s the time to check one out. Same thing if you’ve been dreaming all these years of buying a new boat. If there’s nothing else we’ve learned over the course of the pandemic, it’s that there’s no time like the present. As always, SAIL’s Best Boats panel will be fanning out throughout the upcoming boat-show season in search of its favorite new designs. Look for its selection of winners in our January issue…

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When The Ocean Race announced it would have an IMOCA 60 fleet in its 2022-23 edition, it shook up the offshore racing world. Suddenly sailors who’d made a career all alone for months while sailing the Vendée Globe were talking about refitting to make space for crews. Likewise, sailors who’d made names for themselves in the VO70 and 65 started drawing up plans to transition their teams to IMOCA 60s. One such team is the sustainability-focused 11th Hour Race Team.

IMOCA 60 class is governed by a box rule, meaning that yachts can vary widely within the class as long as they follow certain parameters like LOA and safety guidelines. Notably, the IMOCA 60 has historically been designed for the Vendée Globe, a race with a primarily downwind course (the fastest possible circuit of the globe). This means they’re optimal downwind boats, but not as strong on a beat…

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As Rambler 88 rounded the Fastnet Rock they took a hard left and left the Fastnet Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) to Starboard.

Unfortunately not only was the TSS an obstruction, it was also a mark of the course. This is allowed – see Racing Rules of Sailing Rule 19.

From the tracker replay, Rambler 88 very clearly avoids the TSS as an obstruction so no cause for alarm or protest there. However, the TSS was ALSO a mark of the course as per the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021 Sailing Instructions Appendices. It had to be left to port.

From the tracker is it clear that Rambler virtually gybed at the mark (The Fastnet Rock) and left the next mark (the TSS) to Starboard and therefore DID NOT SAIL THE COURSE…

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