First up is James Francis on Pure Blonde, testing out his new rig in a nice pitchpole.

Then a slow capsize from RWD.

Then a very fast full speed wipeout from AppliancesOnline. No wonder his crew went to hospital.

I thought it was windy anyway…

What is it?

It’s the place to get a bunch of custom gear for high performance boats like 18 footers, 29ers, 49ers, Moths and the like. The list of products is small, but slowly expanding.

Why?

I’ve talked about it for a while, but a trip to the legendary BestWind on Lake Garda brought the message home. Sailing gear is expensive. Great gear is really expensive. Really great gear is almost impossible to get if the sailing world doesn’t revolve around you. So John, Alex and I started throwing around a few ideas, and out popped SailingBits. We’re pulling together the good ropes, gear and toys that we use and like, with the aim of getting it to anyone, anywhere as cheaply as possible.

Alpha?

The catalogue is a bit sparse on launch date, but you’ve got to say go at some point. We’ve done a little bit of testing, and I know there are a bunch of ‘look and feel’ glitches, but it works. If you want to test it out and give some feedback on how to improve it, go ahead. Next stage is the ubiquitous web 2.0 beta phase.

Ideas?

We’ve gone and included some left-of-centre products… like the super-grippy and super-cheap Atlas gloves for 29ers and 49ers – which I use all the time. We’ve also got some good-value nappy-style skiff trap harnesses from Ocean Gear. Then we’ve got all the Moth tricks that we put on our boats for the Worlds, like the vang-system with high-load thimbles which work infinitely better than the commercial high-load blocks. And then there’s almost every piece of string for your 18′ skiff… including new tacklines.

But there’s always room for more. If you know of some great gear, or have some gucci components that you’d like to sell, drop me an email and we’ll start selling them.

It’s unfortunate that most of the successful dinghy sailing clubs in NSW are also dependent on pokie revenue, with Belmont 16s, Manly 16s and the 18 footer League among them. If we didn’t have our pensioner’s social security cheques paying (at least partially) for our heavily subsidised (and expensive) racing boats… where would we be?

I hope Souths can make a go of it, and do some good, but in reality the punters are just going to move their pokie addiction somewhere else. Same goes for the sailing operations, we’d probably lose our fleets and the pub down the road would rake in the cash.

Sad but true.

For those like lochy who haven’t worked out how to get the AC coverage via the web in Australia, some Irish guys have put together a pretty comprehensive guide on streaming it via TVAnts.

So go ahead and watch. Racing starts about 11pm and runs til 1am. The LV Cup finals start on the 1st of June.

The more people that tune in, the better video performance I’ll have… so start watching people.

A year has passed
since we saw you last
you know how time gets away
365 the number count
seems like yesterday
your memories they still linger on
sometimes its hard to say
things may have been different then
and you’d still be here today
like the ocean waves they come and go
and too the shifting sands
we hope the place your surfing now
keeps you in good hands
the people standing here today
our lives will move on
we stand here side by side knowing
your memory will live long
like the moon and the stars and glowing sun
they visit the ocean each day
for one man surfing the eternal wave
and thats our mate named RAY

I wonder when these guys will wake up and stream all the video feeds out over the web for the diehard fans to watch? Sure it mightn’t be good for the TV distribution deals… but when you can’t get it on tv what’s the alternative? It’s a bit disappointing that 7 years after the NZ cup, the Internet distribution has hardly evolved.

Anyway… if you know a way to stream it over the web, tell me.

Some guys who do seem to have their act together are Seamaster Sailing. Their podcast is a pretty slick production. It’s very Open60-shorthanded-blah-blah focussed, but still great to watch.

If only there were more people doing that sort of stuff.

But the findings don’t surprise Clive Hamilton, the executive director of The Australia Institute, who says Sydney is rapidly becoming a city of “the haves and have-yachts”.

Does a Moth count as a yacht?

Best Race Boat:

Moth defines race like no other boat short of a windsurfer. What impressed us the most is that they learned to fly on foils en masse, a first class to do so in any sort of a reliable fashion, and then made flying a production purchase option for others by introducing at least three different builder models to the public. While doing it they seemed to be able to maintain their existing base, no doubt due to quick testing and availability of reliable packages from the builders involved with the class. They also put forth a well-organized effort to bring the boat into the Olympics, which just might be a success.

NSW News

The NSW Waterways Authority advise ‘that as of the 1st September 2007 all hydrofoiling sailcraft operating west of Sydney Harbour Bridge will be required to display a masthead flashing amber light when at foiling speed’.

When quizzed about this ridiculous new ruling, the Waterways revealed there had been ’several’ complaints regarding ’small hydrofoiling sailboats’ in the Cockatoo Island vicinity. The complaints mainly refer to the speed and inaudibility of hydrofoiling sailcraft, causing a lack of proximity awareness in other waterway users – particularly large motor vessels. They went on to explain that since the fitting of flashing lights to the Sydney Ferries Corporation Rivercat fleet, on-water incidents involving other vessels not observing Rivercats had dropped dramatically.

The NSW Waterways Authority also wish to point out that a $160 on-the-spot fine will be applicable for failure to display correct navigational lights (this includes hazard lighting) and draws our attention to the following clause in the NSW Maritime Boating Handbook – ‘Serious or repeat offences under the marine legislation will result in proceedings in a court after the issue of a court attendance notice. Such offences may include dangerous or negligent navigation and/or failure to display adequate hazard lighting’.

IMCA NSW will be making a submission to the NSW Waterways Authority in an attempt to have this matter resolved in a fair and sensible manner. In the interim, Moth Foilers are advised to exercise caution when west of Sydney Harbour Bridge and drop to sub-foiling speeds when within 30 meters of all other water users.

Time to get back on the water Donosan…