MOB in the middle of nowhere

Currently it seems Team Scallywag (Volvo Ocean Race) has a man overboard in the middle of nowhere while winds reach 35 knots. Not a very nice situation. To sum it up: There's 2200 miles to shore, winds of 35 knots, approximately one ship in the neighbourhood. Let's then add huge waves and a water temperature of just 9 degrees C. Not for sissies.

It's not always like this out there...

The thing is, once they realize someone is missing it will take some time to get sails down and come about. When the boatspeed is 21 knots, you'll be long gone before the boat has even stopped to look for ya. The waves effectively prevent visual contact. Chances are slim at best. Sending all my hopes to John Fisher and the crew out there...

UPDATE: John Fisher considered lost at sea. It's a sad day for sailing. Thoughts and prayers to John Fishers family and friends. Fair winds on the other side...

Check www.volvooceanrace.com for details.

What about the sailors?

Everybody seems overly concerned that sailing will die. I am pretty sure that won't ever happen. Not in SL. Not in RL. Nevertheless, here's an interesting piece from the hand of Jonas Høgh-Christensen. It's about how we develop sailing into a sport for TV - or - how we consider what we the sailors like to do.

Dreaming of summer

To put it differently: Should sailing develop into something worth watching for non-sailors or should it first and foremost develop into something that the sailors like to be part of?

Good food for thought as I lay here, - anchored somewhere south of the Blake Sea.

Me, I think it's gone to far with both the AC boats and to some degree the flying Nacra. Obviously, I reckognize the Nacra as a true athletes boat. By all means go sail it; However, some people promote changes in sailing that will favour only sailors of certain specifik physics. Like 185 and a narrow spectrum of weight. That seems unneccessary. To me it makes sense to widen our sport, not narrow it down to a few induhviduals.

No, I don't look forward to Olympics with only one type of sailors in super-athletic boats. I'd like to see several kinds of sailing, including the Finn, the Soling and other classics. They are all physically demanding, but let's not forget the tactics and all that! It might be hard to capture on TV, but it remains nonetheless the most interesting part of our sport.

Read it all over at Sailing Anarchy: Link

What's your take on it?

It's still there...

I've been busy elsewhere, but now that King Winter has my RL in a firm and frozen grip, it's time to check out those sweet virtual waters again. Yes, it's been a while, but... It's still there. 

Relaxing

SL lives on and so does Tradewinds YC. I logged in, rezzed my lovely Ushuaia, and within two minutes another boat passed by. Some things have changed a bit. Ahab has moved his office, and the pier layout is a bit different, but apart from that not much happened.

Enjoying the sunrise

I went sailing and I even met a few ppl from back in the days. One of which told me about an upcoming series of events at Tradewinds. Sailboat events that is. Racing. I better pop in a bit more often to check it out. Right now it's way too cold to go sailing in RL.