I wasn’t able to get all the videos into the last post on time (if you didn’t see it go back and read it, there’s some good stuff there), here’s a few more shots detailing the starts and the races from our significantly better last day.  In order, they go: 1.) First Start 2.) Second Start Part I 3.) Second Start Part II 4.) Second Start Part III

The reason for that Second Race Part so and so business is because youtube only accepts videos under 10 minutes, and the second start coverage was 23 minutes long.  Therefore I chopped it up with the 2nd and 3rd videos at 10 minutes and the last at 3 minutes.  Confusing, I know, but its all I got.

And with that, I’m pretty much signing off.  The pre race hype is gone, the preparations have been made, the races have been raced, the stories have been told, the multimedia has been shared, there is nothing left to do but return home.  If you’ve got any questions, just email me at ale627ATgmail.com.  The bulk of us are flying out tommorow, but Fuzz is headed to Michigan for 2 days and Ryan left earlier today.  That leaves Me, Rick, and My Dad flying out tommorow at 8.  We’ll be back in Hawai’i on Sunday, just in time for the workweek.  See all of you around the club, on the course, etc.  If not, I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog and hopefully we’ll get together sometime soon to do something worth talking about again.  Until then, later.

<Cash Flow>

2009 J/24 World Championship

Annapolis, Maryland

Dylan Ale

Yesterday was the last day of j/24 champs, and we completed 3 races out of the 7 total, so it was busy.  The Chesapeake was glassy for about 45 minutes when we got out there, but the PRO took us to another spot with more wind.

She was determined to get a start off so she told us that after 1 general recall we would be going straight to black flag.  Well the black flag went up eventually, and we were deep.  We ended up with a 51 that race after a frusturating downwind leg.  As Fuzz says, “That’s a keeper!”  In the second race there was more wind and we had our best finish yet, a 41.  We felt like we were in the groove all day long: the wind was up, the temperature was warm, and the skies were clear.  In the 3rd race we basically won the entire start in the middle of the line and powered over to the left and rounded in the top 15.  However, the wind died a bit and we finished in 42nd to end the event.  We were pretty happy with our results and moved up 5 spots in the rankings to 62nd for the entire event.

After the race we put the boat away and gave it back to Harry.  Then we donned our teal kyc shirts and headed over to the closing ceremony.  The finishing results for top 15:

Bruschetta– Brazil — Mauricio Santa Cruz

National Sailing Hall of Fame– USA– Chris Larson

Carrera– Argentina — Matias Perriera

Clear Air– Canada– Rossi Milev

Bomba Charger– US Virgin Isles– Anthony Kotoun

We headed on home and crashed, happy with our last day results.  Tommorow?  More Sailing with our host Art!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a rumor going around that this is the worst J/24 World Championship ever, in the history of the event.  Well today started out pretty well, with some decent breeze.  Eventually we got a start off after 2 postponements due to shifts right before the start, and we won the middle boat end.  We were tense with a very good start, and we went right (again).  We had vey good speed and height and a header came and we went back left.  Port tack boats were ducking us left and right and we were doing good on the fleet that had went left.  More lifter and we were looking golden.  A few tacks thrown in and we rounded the top mark in 23rd.  We went down the middle searching for wind and rounded in roughly the same positon, probably catching a few boats.  Upwind again, and somehow we ended up being the furthest most right boat on the course.  We had taken a huge flyer, and when we tacked on layline we were faced with chop, no wind.  Eventually the wind picked up and it lifted some 30 degrees and we passed a huge fleet on the left.  At this point we were definitely in the top 1/3 of the fleet and were in the best position we had been in the entire series.  It was downwind to the finish.  We went down the middle initially, but boat number 49 began taking our wind so we gradually were pushed up to the right side.  The wind began to die where we were so we bore further right for more breeze, with the plan to come in hot on starboard and take the fleet.  40 yards to the line…. and all the wind dies.  Everyone’s spinnakers collapse, and our mains fall in.  One boat gets the idea to douse and put up the jib, and soon we all follow suit, but we are too late and over 30 boats sail over the top of us with a lift (we are now going upwind.)  The wind shifts again and we can’t make the finish, getting rolled by more boats before we finally float over the finish.  We are definitely frusturated, finishing in the 60s yet again.  We douse the jib, only to have the current float us back across the lline into the course again.  Frantically we pull the jib back up, but the RC didn’t care and counted us as finished anyways.  By this time the entire fleet had finished and our support boat with Harry the boat owner, a few friends, and our relatives came over, cheering us on.  We didn’t want to hear it, and a pending thunderstorm scared them away.  A huge rain line developed in the distance, and I ducked for cover in the hatch.  They roughed it out on deck with beers and foul weather gear for a good 10 minutes of booming thunder and lightning, and huge water drops raining down.

Video:

After that it cleared up pretty promptly and the PRO wasted no time declaring that the racing WOULD go on as soon as we got some wind.  There was no wind for the rest of the day.

video:

After that we went to the rum tent and then went to the afterparty bbq with some good food.  Back home to bed early because of a bumped up start tommorow in an attempt for more races: 930 start!

p.s Sorry for the bad/shaky videos they were taken with my camera because we forgot the video cam at home again.

Today was basically the same conditions as the day before.  It was absolutely dead as far as wind is concerned when we were heading out, and I wore a rashguard and boardshorts for the majority of the time.  However, one difference between today and yesterday is that the P.R.O (Principle Race Officer) was determined to get a race off.  We got out there, and the water was glassy, but a puff rolled through and the RC wasted no time starting the sequence before the wind died.  Luckily it held through the start, and we nailed a decent start and the right end, next to the #1 boat overall Bruschetta and the North One Design crew.  We felt confident, and in good company, as we sailed off to the right.  Even though Bruschetta contintued to make trees on us with every second, we were feeling good.  Then the wind died.  We went a bit farther then Fuzz called the tack, and we ended up nearly drifting to layline from the 1.4 knt current heading upwind.  Thats when we saw the ~40 boats that went left off the start and were coming fast.  They nearly all crossed in front of Bruschetta and the North Crew, leaving them deep in the fleet.  Needless to say, we were even deeper.  By the time we rounded the top mark, we were in the bottom 5, somehow.  In an effort to catch up, we went left off to the wind, and it was looking up for a while.  We crossed in front of Bruschetta and the North One Design crew, and for a second it looked like we were beating close to 45 boats.  Then the wind shifted and died.  They all passed us again, and when we headed upwind Ryan and I headed downstairs to keep the center of gravity low and over the keel.  The rest of the race upwind was spent downstairs, but when I came back up for the downwind leg Bruschetta had pulled far ahead again, and we were close to last again.  Upwind again for the final beat and I’m sent packing downstairs.  At least there is kettle style potato chips.  Fuzz and Ricky did a good job navigating the boats and ended up rolling just over 10 boats near the finish, landing us a 65th out of 79.  The wind died again and the PRO sent us in for the day.  A visit to the Rum Tent with our relatives (My uncle Bill and aunt Tricia) for an hour or two, then off to KFC for 2 buckets of dinner, and American Idol at 9, then off to bed.  The forecast is for a huge squall tonight, bringing 15-20 tonight with 10-15 tommorow.  That is certainly an improvement over today’s ordeal.  We shall see.

We didn’t sail today.  The wind was too light.  We came prepared but the race commitee, after waiting until 2:45 (the races were supposed to start at 11) finally called the day off.  Needless to say, we had some free time during that time, and we all caught naps and ate all our lunch.  Here are some pictures by ryan that show the situation:

We got some good videos with Rick’s new camera as well. I couldn’t find a way to upload them to wordpress, so I just opted to upload them to youtube.  It is the easiest way.  See them after the 3 pictures.

ps We filmed many other videos as well, but many of them relied on audio and the camera didn’t do a good job picking up long range audio, so they are pretty much useless.  Nevertheless we still got two decent videos of the conditions today.

Well, today was the official start to the J/24 World Championship 2009.    We got up early (6:30), had some delicious egg mcMuffins (homemade) complements of Ryan.  We dropped Ricky off at APS to pick up a halyard stopper ball to stop the spinnaker halyard splice from jamming in the sheave, but they didn’t have any of the type we were looking for.  Since our boat was in the water all we had to do was get on board and rig up a little bit.  We dressed adequately (after experiencing the pain of too little clothing the day before) and then shoved off.  As expected, it was raining and dismal.  Half way out, Rick says, “Anyone got the radio?”  Ends up, we forgot it charging on the bedroom floor.  Perfect start to a perfect day.  Finally we get to the racecourse, and the first start sequence begins.  Its a general.  It starts again, and this time we get a clean start off.  Fuzz directs and Ricky nails a good start, but the entire fleet pinches like crazy.  They ease off their jib halyards until they get some serious scallops, then pinch like crazy.  We ended up beating about 15 boats  at the end of the race.  We were frusturated.  We drifted downwind to the starting line and ate lunch and discussed what went wrong, but the next start began quickly.  Up with the jib.  6, 5, 4, 1, 0!  General recall.  Retry.  General Recall.  Retry.  General Recall.  Retry.  General Recall.  Retry.  Finally we get a start off.  Luckily it was a decent start and we went right.  Our boatspeed was really good and we felt ‘in the groove’ but by the top mark the fleet that went left (about 50 boats) squeezed in front of us on port and it all went downhill from there.  At one point we were in 2nd to last.  However, fuzz made a good call going upwind on the second beat to hang left, and we made out.  We finished in approximately the same position as the previous race, perhaps slighly worse.  After that, we popped the chute and sailed on back, cold as ever and disappointed.  After a difficult time finding a docking place, we squished to the car and drove home, making a necessary stop at a liquor store before we came home.  No pictures again, too distracted watching our breath.    We tried our best to get some quality video in, but the battery was dead.   Good thing too, it was not fun.  Hopefully we will get some footage tommorow.

Today we woke up fairly early to get to APS early.  Ryan was tired from a late night ‘meeting’.   We got our gear together and piled into the car to get to APS.   30 feet down the street from APS, Ryan doesn’t feel so good again.  We go into APS (sans Ryan) and pick up the necessary gear (a shortened list because Art loaned us some stuff).  Rick and Fuzz go to a briefing at 8:45 and Ryan, Me, and Dad go to the boat.  We fix stuff and replace stuff while Ryan hangs out on the trailer.  Rick and Fuzz are back.  We get the boat in the water and it starts raining.  It is very cold.  We slowly transition from boardshorts and dry shirts to complete foul weather gear with 2-3 layers below.  The engine won’t start.  We try the pull cord for 5 minutes.  We think, “It must be flooded, let’s give it a minute of two.”  We wait 8 minutes.  It turns the ’safety’ switch was on.  We nickname the motor ‘Ryan’.  We head on out to the racecourse 1 hour out.  It is very very very cold.  The line is super long when we get out there.  We sail upwind for a while and go for a set.  We douse and get ready for the start of the practice race.  I call times and we nail a middle of the line start, but lots of other boats are over and they call for general recall.  We start again, and this time the RC decides not to general recall again, even though a list of about 50 boats is read off, every one of them over early.  We sail upwind, and its pretty crowded.  We go far left even though we started on the right and lose about 30 boats.  We round the top mark ~55th.  We sail downwind, and then back upwind.  We have very good speed AND point, and pass a bunch of boats back.  We head downwind at ~40th.  We get passed some more and Fuzz decides that we shouldn’t finish the race because its a jinx.  We sail in under spinnaker, shivering and cold to the bone.  We raft up next to a few other boats and call it a day, heading to the car first, and then over across the bridge to AYC.  They hold a ‘ceremony’ which consists of a bunch of people coming up to talk.  However, some was interesting, including the J/24 designer, the AYC commodore, IJCA president, Mayor of Annapolis, etc.  They stayed for a cocktail meaning 4 or 5, and left ~2 hours later.  Rick’s parents followed us home and ate dinner with us (bbq’d chicken) around 9.  Dessert and bed.  Up at 6 tommorow for an 11 o clock start to the J/24 world championship.

some video of the sail back in later if I can figure out how to convert .avi to a suitable format for this blog.

Today we did more of the same.  We worked on getting the boat ready some more for the majority of the day.  We woke up fairly early to get to the boat.  We have a new tweaker setup in which I can pre feed the spinnaker from the rail.  Very sketchy, but it works.  We added to a growing list of stuff to purchase from APS to fix the boat, including bullet blocks, ring dings, spectra, polish, etc.

When Harry, the boat owner, wasn’t looking, Ricky installed some alluminum cam cleats in the rails for cross jib sheeting.

He was almost done with the first one by the time Harry noticed, and it ended up that it was all good with him anyways.  We also pulled the stanchions and hack-sawed them off to the class minimum length, then reinstalled them.

Finally we were almost done, and my dad went to go pick up Ryan Arfman from the airport, who was forced to arrive a day late due to work matters.  He showed up after about an hour and a half due to some bad navigating, and weighed in, officially putting us under the weight limit.  Immediately we all headed over to the Boatyard Bar & Grill (again.)  After that our plan was to head to APS to pick up the parts, but it ended up that they close at noon on weekends (they are sailors afterall) so we couldn’t get in.  We walked back and went over to the new SLAM tent over by the junior area.  Rick picked up some apparel and traded in a slam jacket he already had.

The wind seemed very light, and we were all tired, so we decided to cancel our initial plan to go sailing later.  We walked back down to the boat and began polishing it.  We worked out some more kinks in the rigging, and we all rotated polishing the bottom.  When we were finally done, we headed to Giants and purchased $220 worth of food (a full shopping cart).  We made another stop at the liquor store and headed to Arts.  Tommorow is the practice race day, and we are going to wake up early to get to APS before they close, and work our some more rigging, and then go sailing by 9:30.

Additional Pics:

Memorable Quotes:

Dog’s got no duffle bag back there!

Hey, what the hells going on down there???  You guys having a circle jerk or what?  -Art

I’ll have a doggie style, please.

I may have rolled down the window, but it was an innocent roll. -Fuzz

Well, after 11 hours of fun air time, we arrived in Baltimore safe and sound.  Fuzz picked us up and we went straight to the Yacht Club, spending the rest of the day there until it got dark.  (we arrived in baltimore around 9:30 local time)  We met up with the guy who we are chartering the boat from, who was very nice, albeit a bit loud.  The boat is named ‘Blue strikes back’  because his old boat was totaled in a t-bone collision.  A lot of sitting around and waiting ensued, but finally we were able to get back in line for inspection and stickers.  Once it was our turn to enter the tent, they brought out all sorts of measuring tools to judge if our boat was legal or not.  One was a clamp around the keel to make sure it was proper thickness all around, and another was a small mouth thing that made sure that the trailing edge of the rudder was no small than 4mm in width.

Then we hoisted the boat up to check balance, checked the thickness and hollowness of the keel, examined the rudder, and looked at the hull.  Finally it was over, and we wheeled the boat back over.  The only criticism the judges had was that our keel was a tad too thin in one area.  The boat owner hired a mexican worker for $120 each side of the keel to fix it.  He applied bondo to each side and sanded it smooth, and we finally recieved our sticker verifying that our boat was good to go.  Then it was time to put the mast up, but a tree was in the way.  An offer of a chainsaw was put up, but we didn’t accept.  My dad and I went over to get preliminary readings on our weights for the day, and when we came back, we couldn’t find the rest of our team.  After a while we concluded that they went to APS without us, so we jogged down severn avenue to APS.  On the way we saw Fuzz with a big sandwich and fries, since he had already locked in his weight from the day before.  We continued on the APS, and I felt like I was in a candy shop.  It was fairly small, smaller than the average west marine, but it was chock full of goodies.  When I got back they had the mast up and the boom was coming on.  After a while I went to fetch the beer and ice while Bob Ale went for a run to drop weight.  Together we both came in under target weight.  For dinner, we headed down severn avenue to the local sailor pub and all had burgers.After that we headed to Art’s house to crash.  It is a very nice and roomy house, where I am currently writing this post even though I should be sleeping.  Some more pics below:  (also, if you have a facebook, the entire lot can be found under my photos)

Aloha  All,

Well here is an Update Team Hawaii is currently on it way to Annapolis for the J24 World Championships.  First crew member there is Fuzz Foster of North Sails Hawaii.  We have been assigned bow number 25, and we are 34th in line for measurement.  Supposedly there have already been some sails rejected because the sail makers stamp was in the wrong place, talk about strict.  Our sails have already been measured and passed, we have got everything weighed and we are ok there for optional equipment weight. As of this morning there were 93 entries, I guess the 80 boat cap was waived.  We will have a pushpit cam to try and video the starts.  I don’t know about you but 93 boats on the line will be interesting. We have decided the name of Bob Ale’s boat will be a good team name for us, so we have registered as “<CASHFLOW>”.  Appropriate as the campaign fund raising portion has come up short, so we are all going to take a hit in the pocket book to come up with the  approximate $3,500.00 difference. Anyone interested in a tax deductible donation to our cause can send a check payable to Hawaii Sailing Foundation, at 44-149 Kauinohea Place, Kaneohe HI, 96744, and mark the check memo to the “Hawaii 2009 J24 World Championship Campaign”

I would like thank our sponsors so far who have contributed to our cause.

Kaneohe Yacht Club

Hawaii Sailing Foundation

Jody Boeringa of Kula Glass

Kaneohe Sailing Foundation

Maui Boat and Yacht Club

Kaneohe Yacht Club Deckhands.

Take a look at these sites for updates.

http://www.j24worldchampionship2009.com/

http://hawaiisj24campaign.wordpress.com/

This is my last update till I land tomorrow, and Dylan will take over as publicist and blog master, so keep an eye on our blog site.

See everyone at KYC Bar Sunday afternoon May 10th for all the fun stories.

Sincerely,

Rick Osborne, Jr.

Skipper – <CASHFLOW>

Team Hawaii.
Thank you to OMIA and Pat Kudlich who has donated funds to the campaign.