Around The World Of Sailing

Basic Sail Repair Kit

We all know that it is important to be prepared for emergencies. In your car you have a set of jumper cables, a flashlight, a spare tire, even a snow shovel, just in case. It is possible to have the same peace of mind out on the water. You never know when you are going to find yourself in the middle of a port to port with a tear in the spinnaker or a blown out batten pocket, and it is good to be ready.

It is possible to perform minor sail repairs while on the water, all you need to have are a few basic items on board. Your sail repair kit should include the following: two hand sewing needles, a hand palm, waxed thread, zip ties, a sharp knife or scissors, slides in appropriate sizes, sail repair tape (dacron), and a short piece of high modulus line. Small tears can simply be taped, while larger tears can be hand sewn for temporary use. A simple baseball stitch should be enough to get you to your next port.

If you are planning an extended trip away from civilization, you may also want to consider keeping the following tools on board: a long batten, a hack saw, webbing, a scrap of heavy sail material, shackles in various sizes and a drill.
While it is best to trust a professional sailmaker for all repairs, it is possible to make minor repairs while on board, in order to get safely to the next port.

Jim Frisinger
Bluffton Bay Sails
231/ 759 – 2532

Linky Sailing News

Racing Middle Sea Results, Nokia wins. US Offshore Champs.

News Hanson medal awarded. Soldini's concerns. Jacques Vabre WX. Wild Thing . Cup Venue. Brits. Ellen is ready
Great Lakes Ballast Water meeting.

College Sailing Hobart hosts St. Marys defends War Memorial .

Water Level Update

Below you'll find water level info that pertains to Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Reference Point- Measurements in Inches

Difference from Chart Datum -7
Difference from last month -4
Difference from last year -10
Difference from long term average for October -25
Difference from Record High -65
Difference from Record Low +6
Forecast for 24 November 2003 -2

Click for information on other lakes.

Note: A recent peak into a book showed the following description of low water in the summer of 1886, on the Menominee River "The low water level in the River severely affected work in the paper mills, and it was anticipated that the mills would have to close down if it did not rain soon. In addition, Marinette was without electric lights, since water was needed to generate electricity. Residents were, as a result, relying on the light from kerosene lamps."

Linky Sailing News

Racing Middle Sea podium fills. Gold Cup

News New J's. Sail Newport. Etchells rankings. USCG Auxilliary . Attention must be paid. AC Site News. War Baby winsGreat Lakes Indiana plans. Erie dead zones to be studied.
College Sailing Harvard regains # 1 ranking.. Harvard also hosts/defends women's regatta title.

Weather visual above in text via link

Jacques Vabre: Monohulls

Open 60 Class
With a total of 17 boats on the start, 5 more than the last race in 2001, the IMOCA Class represents the biggest fleet out of the four in the TJV and boasts the most international field of skippers from 8 different countries. It is impossible to predict the strongest teams as the talent is so strong across the board and the proven class designs will be pitted against some new generation Open 60’s.

The 2001 winner, World Champion French skipper Roland Jourdain is defending his title on board the proven Lombard design Sill, which is now owned by his co-skipper, 29 yr old Alex Thomson, kicking off his 2004 Vendée Globe campaign in a strong position.

In this class, much attention is also being paid to the two brand new monohulls on their first offshore race. Virbac, the first Farr-designed Open 60, is in the hands of Jean-Pierre Dick. Next to her in the basin is the new Ecover, the third Owen-Clarke design after ‘Pindar’ and ‘Team Cowes’. For British skippers Mike Golding and Brian Thompson, theirs will be a rude baptism when they hit 40 knot winds on the nose on the first night sailing down the English Channel but if anyone is up for the job, these two heavily experienced skippers are more than capable of winning through. Golding has occupied the other two podium positions in previous races and so the only one left for him to fill is the top spot. Another skipper on for raising the bar on his 3rd place performance from 2001 is Aussie Nick Moloney, racing with Figaro skipper Sam Davies on Team Cowes. A boat which is likely to threaten these skippers is Pindar, which is a highly competitive boat in terms of pure speed, and with past TJV winner Emma Richards and the transatlantic record breaking Kiwi co-skipper Mike Sanderson on board, this will be a team to watch out for.

Around Alone winner, Swiss skipper Bernard Stamm, with co-skipper Christophe Lebas (Cheminées Poujoulat/Armor Lux) is renowned for his ‘heavy foot’, there are no brakes on this boat. Three ex-Vendée Globe skippers appear in the line-up: Joé Seeten & Eric Dumont (Arcelor-Dunkerque) as well as Dominique Wavre, who has announced his new sponsor and boat name as Carrefour Prévention. The Vendée’s winning boat, PRB, is now in the hands of skippers Vincent Riou and Jeremie Beyou, new to Open 60’s but well grounded in other disciplines of offshore racing. After a significant weight loss program over the winter, VMI, the Open 60 in the hands of Sébastien Josse & Isabelle Autissier, will be for one a hard act to follow in any reaching conditions like the Trade winds. Another light and quick boat is Garnier, ex-Aquitaine Innovations, skippered by Belgian Patrick de Radigues with Elie Canivenc. One dangerous skipper to watch is Spaniard Javier Sanso, who played cat and mouse with the top three 60’s in 2001, and he is back on Objectif 3 (ex-Gartmore), this time with adventurer Charles Hedrich.

With 7 boats represented in this fleet, Group Finot is still the dominant design: VMI, PRB, Arcelor-Dunkerque, Garnier, Carrefour Prévention, Objectif 3 and Loire-Atlantique (Antoine Koch & François Robert) – all these boats were constructed between 1997 and 2000 with proven downwind performance and speed.

The race will be more of a challenge for the older boats in the fleet which came out between ’89 and ’92. However these four boats will have their own fierce competition: Gonnagitcha is being helmed by legendary skipper Mike Birch and his son Robert; Adecco is in the hands of another family team, Bob Escoffier and his daughter Servane, 60e Sud is skippered by Vendée veteran Didier Munduteguy and there is a Canadian pairing on board Ciment St Laurent Océan of Georges Leblanc and Marc Nadeau.

Open 50 class
Winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2001 in the Open 50 monohull class, Aussie Paul Larsen could well put in a repeat performance. With British skipper Conrad Humphreys, they are racing on board a winning boat. Designed in 1996 by Group Finot, Hellomoto (ex-Ashfield Healthcare/Cray Valley) won the Route du Rhum 2002 with Nick Moloney at the helm, and Around Alone 98-99 with Jean-Pierre Mouligné. Their main competition comes from ‘le Défi Vendéen’ skippered by Jean-François Durand & Stéphane Chemin. This boat won the Saguenay/Saint-Pierre/Vendée transatlantic race this summer, and the Berret/Racoupeau 2002 design is a good all-round performer. Heavier and older yachts, Branec III (Langevin/Lemay) & Labesfal (Diniz (POR)/Taylor (ENG) are pinning their hopes on a long upwind slog in heavy conditions for the first few days of the race in order to play their advantage. Labesfal weighs 13.4 tons, Branec III weighs 8 tons – a real drag compared to Hellomoto’s 5.5 tons! The wild card is Storagetek, the smallest boat in the fleet. Winner of the 2000 Europe1NewMan Star with Jean-Marie Arthaud (Biotonic), Storagetek won Class III of the Route Rhum 2002 with helmsman Régis Guillemot, who then elongated the hull by 5 foot in order to comply with the Class II monohull category for this event.

Weather :
The Race Director will take a decision on the multihull start this Friday morning as the forecast is still for a strong low pressure system to arrive on Sunday morning. The monohull start is not affected as there will be a small anticyclone to calm the conditions enough for their Saturday afternoon start.

College Sailing Report

Weekend Winners: Mass Maritime/Macmillan, Hobart William Smith Hoyt and MAISA Sloops, ODU Nelson Women's, Harvard NEISA singles,

Team of the Week: Hobart William Smith for winning their district sloops and then winning the Hoyt Intersectional

Sailor of the Week Clay Johnson Harvard '07 won the NEISA single handeds with only 47 points in 18 races, winning 7 races including the final 3.

Linky Sailing News

Races Middle sea race.

News Bermuda news. Sailor trophies. Land speed competition

Great Lakes Mariners Memorial . Truck ferry

College Sailing Tufts qualifies. Weekend report. PCIYRA women's 1 ups.

Ogelbay Norton's Fred R. White Inbound Muskegon Channel over the Weekend

1st Aid Learn and Help Learn

This is the third of a series of articles on the subject of sailing safety. The articles will attempt to combine different ideas on safety from sources such as the Red Cross, personal experience, computer programming and other outdoor pursuits.

The goal is to link these ideas from diverse sources and see what kinds of safety routines and knowledge can be developed.

Possessing 1st aid skills comes from the 10 essentials. It means you know how to treat medical emergencies when more formalized help is not available, which is almost 100% of the time when sailing. Volunteering is one of the Red Cross 5 preparation steps.

Incentive to learn 1st aid can be personal in satisfying a desire to be better able to care for yourself. Incentive to become a 1st aid trainer goes beyond self. The more trained people, the better the chances there will be a qualified person to care for you if you are unable.

If you both know 1st aid and train others you increase everybody's chance of health, safety and survival.

King Edward Gold Cup Analysis

Bermuda and it's International One Desig Fleet played host to the annual King Edward Gold Cup. The regatta is part of the Swedish Match Tour.

The eventual winner was Peter Gilmour defeating another match race veteran Chris Dickson. That pairing along with some events that occured along the way are the take away from this event.

Along the way Dennis Conner was defeated by Paula Lewin, while Gilmour beat Russell Coutts. Conner is an infrequent match racer, but the Coutts defeat is more suprising as he won the event as recently as 2000 and had his veteran crew with him. Also eliminated early was Peter Holmberg the 2001-2002 tour winner.

Of more interest is the final four of Dean Barker, Jesper Radich + Gilmour and Dickson. The old guard- both Dickson and Gilmour debuted in the 1987 America's Cup v. the new guard as Barker is 29 and 2003/03 Tour Champion Radich is only 27.

Gilmour took out Radich 3-0 in the semis while Dickson beat Barker 3-1.

Then the old dogs put on a full 5 race final. They traded over early's and ended the first 2 races tied at 1. Gilmour then took race 3 and lost race 4 via penalty. Race 5 was a multiple penalty job with Dickson's team ulimately sufering a crew work error that gave Gilmour the Gold Cup 3-2.

Some of the same stars that topped sailing in 1987, still do in 2003. That's one of sailing's selling points- competiive longevity. Compare sailing to football- 1987 MVP John Elway is retired. You have to go to 1995 and Brett Favre to find a football MVP who is still playing. Not so for sailors.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Middle Sea . Race Gold Cup.

News 2004 Transat. Tall Ship match race. Land speed record attempt . Solar storm

Great Lakes Muskegon ferry dock

College Sailing Mass. Maritime wins Macmillan. Hobart tops at MAISA sloops .

Jacques Vabre Predictions

On November 1st, the bi-annual Jacques Vabre trans atlantic race will start from Le Harve France. The course will take the fleet below the equator to a finish in Salvador Brazil.

There are 50 and 60 foot classes for both multihull and monohull yachts. The boats are sailed doublehanded. This article concludes our preview of the race, with predictions of the top 3 finishers in each division.

Enter your predictions in the comment areas below.

Open 60 Trimarans

1. Groupama
2. Foncia
3. Sobedo

Open 60 Monohulls

1. Team Cowes
2. Sill
3. Ecover

Links for this article provided by Intersail

Jacques Vabre News

On Saturday morning at 10.00am French time under the winter sunshine the Transat Jacques Vabre Race Village was opened officially by Le Havre’s Mayor Antoine Rufenacht to the rhythm of a Brazilian samba band in the impressive new race sponsors’ tent and in the presence of hundreds of local French people as well as many visitors from Brazil.

Catherine Roux, the Director of Marketing for Kraft Foods France gave her impressions on the event side of the race, which has attracted their sponsorship since the very beginning: “It is the human facet that gives the event a unique spirit – all these men and women are here working for your pleasure. Amongst them is Gérard Petipas, President of the race organsiation Pen Duick, whose passion for sailing and the people in this sport gave him the inspiration. “The skippers participating in this 10th anniversary edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre are the best in offshore racing,” he declared, before sending out the general invitation to all to watch the start and enjoy the festivities this week. Nothing becomes official in a race which ends up in Salvador without the presentation of the race’s ‘mascot’, Brazilian Dayse Vieira, who was adorned in her full Bahian dress. She introduced the President of the Centro Nautico Da Bahia (CENAB), José Raimondo Zacarias, who announced: “Everything is ready to welcome you all to Brazil, with music, dancing, happiness and caipirinhas!”

All the boats entered in the 4,340m double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre race from outside France made it to the Paul Vatine basin before Friday midday deadline. There are now confirmed a record 39 boats taking the start line: 17 multihulls and 22 monohulls. A total of 38 skippers are competing in this race for the first time, including British skippers Sam Davies on ‘Team Cowes’ and Conrad Humphries on ‘Hellomoto’, Portugese skipper Ricardo Diniz on Open 50 ‘Labesfal’. There are British entries fielded in each class, from Alex Thomson as co-skipper on board 2001 winning Open 60 ‘Sill’ with French World Champion Roland Jourdain, to Mark Taylor on board ‘Labesfal’ in the monohull classes, as well as Ellen MacArthur on Open 60 multihull ‘Foncia’ to British pairing Ross Hobson and Andi Newman on the smaller multihull ‘Mollymawk’. The only other all-British campaign is skippered by Mike Golding with Brian Thompson on the newly launched ‘Ecover’ Open 60.

Out of the 9 women in the race 2 are racing on board Open 60 multihulls, Ellen MacArthur and Karine Fauconnier on ‘Sergio Tacchini’. Britain’s Emma Richards on ‘Pindar’ is the only female skipper in the Open 60 monohull class, however legendary Frenchwoman Isabelle Autissier is co-skipper with Sebastien Josse on ‘VMI’.

There are 10 nationalities represented in this race from Irish to Australian, and in fact three skippers are from the Southern Hemisphere: Aussie Nick Moloney, who won the Route Du Rhum in Class 2, now on board Open 60 ‘Team Cowes’ and fellow countryman Paul Larsen, the defending Class 2 monohull champion, this time round on ‘Hellomoto’, joined by Kiwi Mike Sanderson, record-breaking racing skipper of Mari Cha IV, on ‘Pindar’. The only North American entry comes from Canada, Georges Le Blanc and Marc Nadeau on board Open 60 ‘Ciments St Laurent’.

The Route:

Exiting the English Channel (48 28 N 5 06 W) – Westerly gales blowing up the channel make for upwind tacking battles out of the world’s busiest shipping waters and notorious tidal vaguaries. There could be a North Easterly wind if a high pressure system sits over England, giving the fleet a quicker run out into the Atlantic.

Bay of Biscay – In November, the Bay lives up to its reputation with active low pressure systems whipping up strong westerlies and a rough sea – probably the harshest part of the race.

Cape Finisterre at 42 54 N 9 16 W – The course rhumb line passes off this notorious headland, which can trap any boat that comes too close and has not calculated his route properly. Only a losing tack to the Northwest will get you out and round this promontory. The sailors call the seas in this area ‘boat-breaking’ as the distance between waves shortens nearer the coastline.

The N Hemisphere Trades – Racing down the coast of Portugal is the fun part, with high speeds maintained by the steady following winds.

The Islands – The rhumb line takes the fleet past the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands, which can either create wind funnels to accelerate the boats or indeed great parking lots to halt their progress too. The tactics come in to play here in order to choose the right route through these obstacles.

The Doldrums & Equator – The toughest part of the race tactically and mentally, weaving through the unpredictable light and squally conditions in the transition zone before the Equator. The sailors attest to the fact that each time is never the same! These days, the high tech and ultra lightweight carbon racing machines never completely come to a stop here, even the lightest breeze can be exploited.

The S Hemisphere Trades – The fleet change hemispheres and season, as they enter spring time and benefit from South Easterly winds to propel them to their destination.

The Ascension Island waypoint (multihulls) – After the Equator the fleet splits in two, and the multihulls must head towards the Ascension Islands directly into the SE Trades, so another tacking battle ensues. However, once round, the multis fly directly into Salvador, skirting above the S Atlantic anticyclonic system called the Saint Helena High.

Arrival into Salvador da Bahia – the fleet have to decide whether to play the local winds off the Brazilian coastline or stay offshore for a more regular flux, but the conditions are favourable for the last run into the finish line.

The Course mileages:

Multihull Open 60 – 5,190m course: 2001 winner was Groupama, at an average boat speed of 15.04 knots

Multihull Open 50 – 4,400m course

Monohull Open 60 & 50 – 4,340m course: 2001 winners were Open 60 Sill (av. Boatspeed 10.92 knots) and Open 50 One Dream, One Mission.

Linky Sailing News

Races Alfa Romeo leads light air Middle Searace. Gilmour beats Dickson for Gold Cup. Adams/Mallory results

News Vabre Village Opens. Liverpool to host Clipper

Great Lakes Photog dies

College Sailing 4 qualify at NE singlehandeds. ODU wins Nelson Trophy
Hobart takes Hoyt Trophy

Visibility was slight near the Muskegon Pierheads on Saturday.

Jacques Vabre Preview # 3

On November 1st, the bi-annual Jacques Vabre trans atlantic race will start from Le Harve France. The course will take the fleet below the equator to a finish in Salvador Brazil.

There are 50 and 60 foot classes for both multihull and monohull yachts. The boats are sailed doublehanded. This article is the 3rd installment of a preview that will look at some of the entered sailors and boats.

Since 1999 a growing number of the teams have been co-ed. For instance Ellen Macarthur sailed with Yves Parlier that year and will team for the 2nd time with Alain Gautier. Unlike the Volvo Ocean race where all women's teams have competed and not done well, short handed ocean racing is an arena where women are absolutely equal with men's teams.

Ellen Macarthur and Emma Richards

There are 10 co-ed teams of which we will look at 5. In the Open 60 trimaran a pair of French skippers have co-skippers from the UK. Alain Gautier and Ellen Macarthur will sail Foncia, while Karen Fauconnier and Damian Foxall will sail Sergio Tachini.

Gautier is a Vendee Globe winner and finished 2nd in the 2001 Jacques Vabre with Macarthir as co-skipper.

Fauconnier is a 2003 Sailor of the Year candidate, while co-skipper Damian Foxall has background from Figaro's to Race Class cats.

Past performance makes Foncia the favorite over Sergio Tachini.

The Open 60 monohull's have three prominent co-ed teams. Emma Ricahrds will skipper her new Pindar with Kiwi Mike Sanderson on board. Sanderson is skipper of Mari Cha IV but short on Open class time.

Aussie Nick Moloney and Brit Sam Davies will sail Team Cowes best known as Ellen Macarthur's Kingfisher.

Sam Davies and Nick Moloney

An all French co-ed team will sail VMI. Skipper will be Sebastain Josse with highly experienced Isabelle Autissier as co-skipper.

Richard's boat is supposedly quite quick, while VMI was the winner of the 1999 Jacques Vabre. However, Team Cowes is an excellent boat, Nick Moloney has a lot of time aboard so of the three mono hulls I'd tip them.

Next week we'll make our podium predictions....if you have thoughts use the comment area below and post them!

Linky Sailing News

Racing Gold Cup. Middle Sea Entries. Chicago Match Race. Adams/Mallory

News Battery basics. Farr signs up. VOR thoughts. SOTY candidate Ainslie in Bermuda . VDH ready. Peyron speaks

Great Lakes New observation system. Mud sampling. Ice Atlas

College Sailing Navy news. SAISA singles

Torresen Marine Needs a Rigger

Sailboat Rigger

SAILBOAT RIGGER: Established sailing oriented service yard
looking for full time rigger. Experience required. Salary
commensurate with experience. Duties include stepping and
unstepping masts, splicing, installing and maintaining
roller furling systems. Other positions available:
http://www.torresen.com/employment/

You may send resumes or employment inquiries to:
Kathleen Torresen
Torresen Marine, Inc.
3126 Lake Shore Drive
Muskegon, Michigan 49441
or email to: kathleen @ torresen.com

Torresen Marine New Website Design

This week Torresen Marine debuted a new design for our website. This design change has several goals. One is to make the home page of the site more compact. Another is to give visitors a better idea of the range of services Torresen Marine offers both online and at our facility in Muskegon MI. Visitors can learn about boat storage and service

The new design highlights opportunities for visitors to interact via our Marine Engine Forum and Sailing News areas.

Our online ship's store is also undergoing improvements. Watch for a more extensive product line in the near future. Meanwhile, you can still purchase products such as the popular Ultimate Sailing Calendar.

Torresen Marine plans to continue providing customers all the necessary knowledge and skills to visitors via our online presence and in person in Muskegon MI.

If the scenario above appeals to you should know that Torresen Marine is seeking a sailboat rigger and has other employment opportunities.

Torresen Marine's new homepage. Let us know what you think in the comment area below.

Torresen Marine's New Homepage

Boat Smart: The marine radio a life-saving tool or pain in the stern

The marine radio a life-saving tool or pain in the stern

By Senior Chief Tom Rau, Coast Guard Group Grand Haven

The marine radio, offers an instant connection between those in distress and rescue responders. In the hands of professional sailors it has proved to be an expedient life-saving tool, however, in the hands of many recreational boaters it has proved to be a real pain in the stern for rescue responders. It’s not uncommon for a recreational boater to call the Coast Guard requesting assistance and then provide a sketchy or, worse yet, no position at all which can then lead to a lengthy search.

Lake Michigan is an immense body of water extending over 330 miles with a maximum width of 118 miles and a surface area of 22,300 square miles, which equates to 117 million square feet. The average recreational boat occupies less than 30 square feet of surface area- a speck if that. If I drove around the entire shoreline of Lake Michigan, it would take 800 miles to make the round trip. Lake Michigan including its major bays, harbors, nooks and crannies has carved out over 3,200 miles of coastline.

That’s a lot of area for Lake Michigan’s 19 Coast Guard Stations and Air Station Traverse City to guard. Each station has been assigned areas of responsibility that cover the entire Lake Michigan coast line. Although stations may have several boats, normally only one duty boat crew stands by to run search and rescue- in short, one boat one crew. It doesn’t require a MIT degree to figure out the strain needless searching can place on limited resources. Nor does it take a slide rule jockey to work out a solution. The remedy lies with Joe or Josephine boater and proper use of the marine radio to activate an expedient and possibly life-saving rescue. Here’s how.

Location I once asked a communications radio watchstander at Group Grand Haven’s rescue coordination center how to cut down on needless searching. ‘Require all boaters to carry a GPS unit,” he said. Yet, many boaters labor under the illusion that when they call the Coast Guard, by some magical means they can determine the caller’s position. It’s the same small-boat mentality that calls large commercial vessels in fog and ask them if they can seem them on radar.

The watch officer on the bridge could have a dozen contacts on his radar screen and some recreational boater wants to know if the bridge officer can see him or even better yet identify him amongst a dozen or so radar contacts. Give the watch officer a break, only a boater can effectively mark their location. Unfortunately too often recreational boaters are unable to provide an accurate position, which leads to the Coast Guard and other rescue agencies depleting resources and time conducting needless searches while depleting precious time that could prove fatal to a wayward boater. Location, location, location it is quintessence of search and rescue. It’s entirely the boater’s responsibility.

Don’t procrastinate The old adage, ‘he who hesitates is lost”, couldn’t be more apropos for boaters who procrastinate calling the Coast Guard regarding safety concerns. My dad use to say: “procrastination is the thief of all time.” On Lake Michigan procrastination could steal your life. Boaters would be wise to follow a standing order for Coast Guard ship board conning officers, “if in doubt, that is reason enough to call the captain.” Don’t be timid either. The Coast Guard welcomes calls. You are not inconveniencing the radio operator. It’s a lot easier for them to gather pertinent information in a timely manner rather than at the last moment during an emergency. Should the boater correct the concern, a simple radio call assures a win win situation for all. Better you make that call early than too late- so make the early call.

Lost Communications For whatever reasons, which totally baffles me, many boaters lose radio communications with the Coast Guard. Most boaters contact the Coast Guard over VHF-FM Channel 16, the distress frequency. Once the Coast Guard determines the boater’s location, nature of distress, and number of people aboard, they will request, if it’s a non emergency, that the boater switch to Channel 22, the Coast Guard public working frequency. For whatever reasons, perhaps the boater’s radio isn’t programmed to channel 22, or the boater doesn’t know how to change channels, or the boater has a change of mind, or they corrected the problem, or they received assistance from another boater, or what ever, communications end.

Understand that once the Coast Guard rescue response system has been triggered there is no stopping it until officials can determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the calling party is safe or, God forbid, deceased. Thus the only person that can stop the search and rescue process is the boater one way or the other.

Delayed calls Many boaters after observing a boater in possible distress, depart the scene and later call the Coast Guard, which instantly activates the search and rescue system and requires the Coast Guard to take action. Had the reporting party checked out the situation on scene and then communicated with the Coast Guard, they could spare the rescue system an onerous search.

It’s far better for the rescue response system and for boaters that they maintain effective communications, then for rescue responders to fill in the gaps with resources that might be needed to effect a timely rescue elsewhere. Boat Smart- keep in touch and utmost know your location.

International Numbers

A study by the Maritime Safety Authority of New Zealand provides information on how safe the boaters of varying countries are. Using fatalities per 100,000 vessels Denmark has the highest fatality rate at 24.6 per 100K. Lowest is the UK at 1.5 per 100K. On average the USA shows a rate of 6 per 100K.

Michigan has 1,003,947 registered boats. Using 2000 statistics Michigan had 31 boating deaths. This is a rate of 3.1 per 100K. This is the same rate as Sweden which has 1.3 million boats.

Areas with higher boating death rates include Western Australia (17.2/100K), Tasmania (10.0/100K), and New Zealand (8.7/100K).

These areas have climates that allow boating 12 months per year. They also are in the area of the Southern Ocean considered treacherous even by around the world sailors.

Germany (2.5/100K) and the United Kingdom (1.5/100K) have lower rates. Both of these countries have at least some boating on inland lakes as does Michigan.

This is just another tool/perspective we can use to consider how safe we and our boating peers are.

Safety Notes

Notes from an article in the September 2003 issue of Yachting World. Article written by a survivor of rescue at sea. Boat he was on lost her keel. He and another person surived- 4 others persished.

Can't always depend on a life raft. The situation may not be ideal and you may have to survive without the raft.

Author Cave Diving experience which served as cross training for surviving this situation.

For sudden incidents such as loss of the keel you need all equipment on your person.

On board his vessel the following safety rule was in effect: all crew were required to wear a PFD/ and safety harness and be clipped on.

Certain foul weather jackets have toggles which allow attachement of PFD's. Jacket toggles: Author suggests using wire ties to permanently attach PFD to jacket.

Toggles for PFD Attachment

How to dress? Dress for the worst expected conditions

Aussie Survival course key, highly reccomended

Survivor's personal safety gear included: Personal EPIRB, and hand-held strobe

He stowed his strobe inside his inflatable PFD with velcro, then a landyard to the oral inflator

Recommended Strobe duration: Look for one with 4 AAs or 2 C's, such a unit will last at least 1 nite.

He also velcroed his EPIRB to his PFD.

Your personal knife and all equipment must be immediately accessible. He uses the following set up to keep his knife ready. The Lanyard of knife is kept outside of jacket pocket. It's held in this ready position by velcro sealed pocket
of jacket.

Knife Stowage

Flashlights. He wears one on a lanyard around his neck. He keeps a spare in coat pocket.

Personal Flares: He uses a sleeve pocket to stow these.

Knife: Had to cut away harness tether, couldn't detach harness.

A hood and also a hat are key to staying warm.

During his time in the water the author found that breaking time into segments was beneficial.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Conner eliminated, Coutts advances at Bermuda Gold Cup.

News Hobart defender enters + an Ameircan entry

Great Lakes Conference Report. 6 rescued. Ballast Water Mtngs.. Wreck found. Ferry news

College Sailing Tech IG's. Wisco News. Sloop Champs to be sailed in Flying Scots.

The John J. Boland unloads at West Michigan Mart Dock

2003 Sailor of the Year Voting

Torresen Sailing Site visitors will again choose the female and male sailors of the year.

Here are the female candidates:

Corrie Clement Womens College Sailor of the Year
Karen Fauconnier Winner Open 60 Trimaran Grand Prix
Sally Barkow Rolex Winner of the Rolex International Women's Regata
Emma Richards- 4 in Class I Around Alone. She was the 2002 female sailor of the year.
Hannah Swett Yngling World Champion

The Male candidates are as follows:

Ben Ainslie Winner of Finn Worlds and Pre Olympic Regatta
Russell Coutts- Winning America's Cup Skipper for the 3rd time. Coutts was a SOTY nominee in 1999 losing out to Giovanni Soldini.
Armel Le Cleac'h Figaro Solo Winner
Bernard Stamm Winner of Class I of Around Alone
Brad Van Liew- Winner of Class II of Around Alone

Cast your votes and enter a drawing for a 2004 Ultimate Sailing Calendar.

Made In Muskegon Compass

The above image is of a typical marine compass. Typical except for the fact that it's the only one that says made in Muskegon MI.

I believe that the compass was made by the Carpenter Brothers company of Muskegon. The compass is installed on a 1973 boat.

Although none are made in Muskegon, the Torresen Marine Ship's store does have a full selection of top quality compasses.

What is the Proper Size Fuel Filter

A question that comes up during haul out/winterization time is:
What is the proper size fuel filter for my diesel engine?

Answer:
Many sailors add Racor (or Groco etc.) filters to their diesel engine. The purpose of these filters is to provide fuel filtration in addition to the on engine filter.

Let's begin with the stock "on engine" filter. These filters are typically 10 microns or under. In layman's terms 10 microns means they filter out particles 10 microns or larger in the fuel.

You can then add additional inline filters before or after the on engine filter. If you want to add a filter after the on engine filter a 2 micron element would be appropriate. A 2 micron element should only be used as the last filter prior to fuel being ingested by the engine. Put another way a 2 micron filter should not be used prior to the on engine filter.

If you want to add a filter prior to the on engine filter, ie between the tank and engine you should use at least a 10 micron filter. If you use a filter that is known to be of good quality, then 10 micron will likely be sufficient. If you are at all suspicious about fuel quality you should go to larger 15 or 30 micron elements.

Another way to look at this is that your filtration system should have filters with larger micron numbers nearer the tank and your final filter should be smaller than the primary filter, as small as 2 microns.

When it's time to change, the finer the filter (or the smaller the number of microns) the more frequently the filter will need to be changed.

Our Marine Diesel Direct Online Store you can order Racor replacement elements such as the R12 , and R24

College Sailing Report

Weekend Winners: Team of the Week: Harvard wins this fall's only 4 division regatta the Navy Intesectional. Yale wins their women's intersectional.

Sailors of the Week Molly Carapiet 06 and Jenn Hoyle 05 of Yale, winners of B division at the Yale Women's Intersectional with 15 points in 10 races. They won 7 of 10 races.

This weekend's regatta hosts include Texas and Connecticut College

Links for this article provided by Intersail

Water Level Update

Below you'll find water level info that pertains to Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Reference Point- Measurements in Inches

Difference from Chart Datum -6
Difference from last month -3
Difference from last year -10
Difference from long term average for October -24
Difference from Record High -64
Difference from Record Low +7
Forecast for 17 November 2003 -2

Click for information on other lakes

Linky Sailing News

Racing Cayard/Trinter win Star NA's. Bermuda Gold Cup.

News Holmberg joins Alinghi .

Great Lakes Bad news for Larinda. State of the Lake Conference

College Sailing Yale Women Win. Dartmouth report. HWS. The only 4 division event

Jacques Vabre Preview # 2

On November 1st, the bi-annual Jacques Vabre trans atlantic race will start from Le Harve France. The course will take the fleet below the equator to a finish in Salvador Brazil.

There are 50 and 60 foot classes for both multihull and monohull yachts. The boats are sailed doublehanded. This article is the 2nd installment of a preview that will look at some of the entered sailors and boats.

Continuing from Part 1 there are 2 more past winners entered. Thomas Coville and Herve Jan teamed to win the mono hull title in 1999. This year they will sail on Open 60 trimaran's.

Coville is the skipper of Sobedo. Jan, who twice has been part of Jules Verne record setting crew, will serve as co-skipper of Geant. Vendee Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux is the skipper of Geant. The extremely capable Jacques Vincent, a 6 time circumnaviagator will team with Coville.

Of these past winners Geant would seem a good bet as she won last years Route Du Rhum transat.

The sailors profiled so far have been French. There is a strong British presence led by Mike Golding's new Open 60 mono hull Ecover. His co-skipper is Brit Brian Thompson.

There will be another 100% British team on the 45 foot trimarn Mollymawk. Ross Hobson and Andy Newman will both sail their 1st Jacques Vabre.

Next we will preview the five co-ed teams in the race.

Accomplishments

Samuel 'Shark' Kahn, age 14, won the Melges 24 World Championships with a crew....Richard Clark ( three times Canadian Olympic Finn representative), Mark Christensen (multiple Volvo race veteran), Brian Hutchenson (Melges 24 sailing guru) and Brian Lee (Shark's 20 year old cousin).

John Kolius age 40+.... finished 2nd at the J80 World Championships with a crew of Caleb Borchers, Roberta Steele, Mallory Fontenot and Megan Mulhern. The last three are members of the La Porte Texas high school sailing team. Kolius won an Olympic silver medal in 1976 and J 24 World titles in 1980 and 1982.

Kahn's win has been questioned, ie - was it bought? what role does the helmsman's skill play? etc. Meanwhile Kolius took some of Shark's peers and raised that up to world class level at a simarly early age.

You can choose which acheivement you prefer. Suffice to say that there looks to be plenty of young sailing talent on the way to keep things competitive.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Cayard leads Star NA's 6 skippers, including Dunn and Hardesty advance at Gold Cup . Sunfish Worlds. SF Racing

News Cup Hall of Fame , Olympic trial wildcard

Great Lakes Great Lakes freighter fleet purchased. St. Paul remains on the Lakes

College Sailing Navy Report. Potential Olympians. Orange Coast wins West Coast Sloops

The entire Couregaous crew present an autographed model to America's Cup Hall of Fame inductee Gary Jobson who is fighting cancer.

Book Scout Look Out: The Risk In Being Alive

The Risk in Being Alive

Brian Hancock is a South African native with accomplishments in crewed ocean racing, solo sailing, sailmaking and writing. He has written 'The Risk in Being Alive' a "to this date in my life" compilation of stories.

Hancock has two Whitbreads under his belt. These form the subject matter of some of the tales. Most memorably he tells of rounding, or nearly not rounding Cape Horn, on board Alaska Eagle. This with fellow sailor and author Skip Novak. ( 4 JU 03). Hancock writes of knowing that he and his shipmates had escaped with their life and vows to return.

He also writes of his involvement with the sole Soviet entry in the Whitbread. He sailed only one leg on the uniquely designed Fazisi. The boat lacked standing head room and sausages were stowed above Hancock's bunk.

Hancock grew up in apartheid South Africa. He writes of several bouts of travelling within South Africa, and his time in the South African army. It's fair to say that apartheid is a sometimes acknowledged, sometimes not, theme of the book.

Two of my favorite chapters were 'Tea With Condors' and 'The Roo in The Refrigerator'. In Tea With.... Hancock travels to Cape Horn to spend time on the land and to pay his respects and give thanks for surviving the Alaska Eagle hell ship Cape Horn rounding.

He and his expedition mates meet up with a man named Miguel who is tending a sheep station. Miguel is a loner and cooks elaborately with ingredients including goose eggs and Old Milwaukee beer. Hancock ends this episode having climbed a 6,000 foot mountain and seeing condors up close.

In 'The Roo'... Hancock recounts a Trans Australia hitch hiking journey. Eventually he meets up with another loner living in a corrugated iron shack in the Australian outback. This fellow turns out to be a bit mad, as he stows an intact kangaroo in his refrigerator.

Despite these meetings with loners, Hancock later attempted an Around Alone campaign. This campaign ended with a grounding off Bermuda in his Open 50. He lacked local charts for Bermuda and so ran Great Circle up on a reef. This ended his chances at racing.

This episode shows perhaps the books best quality: honesty. Whether it's running on a reef or putting his 'bakie' in a ditch, Hancock doesn't hide the travails of an adventuresome life.

The 'Risk in Being Alive' is an honest, compelling and interesting read.

Introducing the New Intersail

Torresen Marine has upgraded the capabilities of our popular Intersail directory.

The table below shows how Intersail can be used to access information on a variety of sailing topics.

Why not get to know Intersail by making up your own searches? Such as BOOM which gives BVI Sailing Guide , Owens Yacht, Onne Van Der Wal and Max Sea

Intersail figures extensively in the development of our sailing content. You can help Intersail improve by submitting a site

Melges 24 Worlds

Here's something you don't hear everyday....a 14 year old skipper wins the world championship in a top of the line class like the Melges 24. The 14 year old in question is Samuel Kahn. Kahn sails as part of his father's Team Pegasus operation and had some outstanding sailors onboard including Volvo Ocean race winner Mark "Crusty" Christensen and Olympic Finn sailor Richard Clarke.

Kahn's team sailed an oustandingly consistent regatta finishing out of the Top 10 only once. They won races 3 & 7.

Star skippered by Harry Melges-another famous sailing name- finished 2nd 9 points back. Star won races 1,2, 5 &6. However the team's last 3 races were 11, 8 and 21.

Other teams to win a race were Joe Fly (races 4 &8), and the P&P Sailing Team in race 9.

Kahn's win will generate a lot of controversy along the lines of was his title earned or bought? Regardless of the method Kahn's team beat sailors such as Mark Reynolds, Dave Ulman, John Bertrand and James Spithill who have Gold Medals, world titles etc. Kahn has Olympic ambitions in the 49ers and the future will show whether this was a one time fluke or a beginning of a consistent winner.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Young skipper wins Melges 24 worlds . J 80 worlds. Gold Cup qualifying. Star North Americans

News New US Sailing leader. Larinda salvage update. The Race reacts to Edwards deal

Great Lakes Eagle Bluff light transfered. Holland news. Ballast water legislation

College Sailing Harvard wins Navy Intersectional. Yale wins women's intersectional

John J. Boland visited West Michigan Mart Dock over the weekend

Build A Clothing Kit

This is the second of a series of articles on the subject of sailing safety. The articles will attempt to combine different ideas on safety from sources such as the Red Cross, personal experience, computer programming and other outdoor pursuits.

The goal is to link these ideas from diverse sources and see what kinds of safety routines and knowledge can be developed.

For sailing clothing that keeps you warm, dry and protects you from the sun is necessary.

One rule for putting together a clothing kit is: cotton kills. Cotton soaks up water, cools down fast and really has no place being worn as protective sailing clothing. See

Old fashioned wool can be a good choice for a sailing wardwrobe as it helps you retain heat when wet.

You need to update this clothing kit to make sure it matches expected condtions. If you haven't you should consider updating your clothing kit so it is set up on the 3 layer system.
This includes Base layer Mid Layer Outer Layer .

Such a clothing system can be combined to suit all conditions from cool summer days, to cold and rainy fall and spring days, inshore buoy races and offshore passages and various onshore activities.

Updating your clothing kit will include keeping up on new developments such as TP fabric. Stay warm and Dry!

Torresen Marine can assist you with all your clothing kit needs.

Lake Michigan Death

Paul Richard Strzyewski of Mears MI, 50, perished last Thursday while sailing on Lake Michigan near Pentwater MI. Strzyewski was sailing his Sunfish, which apparently capsized. The overturned boat was spotted by fisherman.

Coast Guard Station Ludington recovered Strzyewski who was wearing a PFD. They attempted CPR but could not revive him. At the time the water was 52 degrees, air temperature 71.

In such conditions a person can become exhausted or unconscious in 1-2 hours. Survival time can range from 1-6 hours.

This incident serves as a reminder that late season sailing requires much awareness and vigilance.

The small boat basin at Coast Guard Station Ludington

Featured Brokerage 1969 Islander 37

Featured Boat: 1969 Islander 37

This Bruce King deisgn has an Awlgrip paint job.

The boat comes with a cover for the winter months and air conditioning for the summer.

Linky Sailing News

Races Melges 24 Worlds: Kahn leads Melges. J 80 worlds Lutz has big lead. Sunfish worlds. Mini Transat

News: Ferry investigation Ferry pilot. Ken Read explains

Great Lakes Menakaunne harbor. Lake Michigan death. NewCutter

College Sailing Dartmouth takes over # 1 ranking

Linky Sailing News

Races Melges maintains worlds lead . Lutz leads J 80 Worlds . What happened to Mckee

News Staten Island Ferry accident being investigated. Bermuda Gold Cup starts soon. Jacques Vabre

Great Lakes New pollutants. Jim Dryer.

College Sailing Hap Moore results. National View Cedarfest

College Sailing Report

Weekend Winners: Datrmouth Navy Women's and Hap Moore
White Trophy and Ivy League Harvard
HWS Invite Hobart William Smith
Stoney Burke Stanford

Team of the Week: Dartmouth with wins at the Navy Women's regatta and the Co-ed Hap Moore Team Race Regatta.

Sailors of the Week Old Dominion's Anna Tunnicliffe (Perrysburg, OH) and Christabelle Fernandez (Virginia Beach, VA) won A Division at the Navy Women's Intersectional by 29 points, averaging 3.2 points per race while winning 8 of 15 races.

This weekend Navy hosts an intersectional. Teams include Texas A&M and Michigan.

Readers Write: Winterization

A diesel engine owner wrote: "Thanks for pointing me in the direction of how to winterize my Universal 5411 fresh water cooled diesel engine. I have a few questions. Can I use regular automotive antifreeze? Should it be diluted with water or full strength? How much (quantity of fluid) will be needed to perform this winterization step. "

My answer: You do not have a fresh water cooled engine. IE there is no heat exchanger and no closed cooling system. Winterize as per instructions for raw water engines.
Do not use regular anti freeze. You should use propylene glycol (RV-MARINE, non-toxic) - anti freeze, which is usually pink. This is especially important as the antifreeze is pumped into the water when you start your engine in the spring.

You'll probably need at least 3 quarts. Use an antifreeze tester to check the antifreeze. This will tell you the temperature to which your antifreeze will be effective. The more water you add, the less good the antifreeze does. We use a 50/50 mix of 100% antifreeze. Your mixture will be dependent on what is in the engine and where you are located.

Ripples Quiz

If a cat's foot is a paw then cat's paws are what? Then comes minor waves and white topped waves.

Then there's seas and a by product of waves. Then there's crests and water and wind combined to make something.

The above is a description of a well known sailing weather tool, that progressses level by level. The above describes waves while this tool also deals with wind.

What is this a description of? Enter you answers in the comment section?

Water Level Update

Below you'll find water level info that pertains
to Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Reference Point- Measurements in Inches

Difference from Chart Datum -6
Difference from last month -2
Difference from last year -12
Difference from long term average for October -24
Difference from Record High -64
Difference from Record Low +7
Forecast for 10 November 2003 -2

Click for information on other lakes

Linky Sailing News

Races Melges 24 Worlds Day 2, Harry Melges leads. J 80 worlds day 1

News Edwards sponsorship deal, Adams and Mallory

Article 1: The Planning Game

This is the first of a series of articles on the subject of sailing safety. The articles will attempt to combine different ideas on safety from sources such as the Red Cross, personal experience, computer programming and other outdoor pursuits.

The goal is to link these ideas from diverse sources and see what kinds of safety routines and knowledge can be developed.

Article 1: Know You are in Trouble/The Planning Game

Here we combine ideas from survival training and extreme computer programming. If you don't know you are in trouble, you may lose crucial time that relates to survival or proper actions.
Adequate planning is essential to recognizing trouble.

Here are some examples that combine planning and recognition. Plan for scenarios such as having to reef, having to sail to a dock or mooring, loss of electronics etc. Planning for these situations will allow you to know when you are in trouble. If there is reefing trouble, you may know when a storm
trisail is required, which could lead to not losing your mainsail, saving your rig etc. Planning to sail into your slip can improve boat handling. Planning for loss of electronics can lead to updated charts and better navigational skills.

What other ways can advance planning lead to knowing you are in trouble? Use the comment area to let us know.

Tie Off Your Halyards

Once your boat is hauled out, winterized, and maybe even
covered there is one more step that should be taken. It's a
step towards courtesy. You should properly stow and tie off
halyards so boat yard neighbors don't have to listen to a
symphony of hundreds of banging halyards.

If your halyards are internal you should make sure to park
them near your bow pulpit and not near the mast. This keeps
the halyard well away from it's partner in noise, the mast.
Also, it keeps the halyard away from the expensive paint job
on your mast. If you have external halyards you should
still park the halyards as far forward as practical. In
addition, you should tie off the standing end that runs up
the mast.

Perhaps the easiest way is a piece of shock cord, cut to the
proper length along with two plastic or metal hooks. Size
the shock cord, knot the hooks on and put the cord around
the halyard and the shroud. This pulls the halyard away
from the mast, reducing noise and damage to the spar's
finish.

It's a small investment with shock cord under a $ 1.00 per
foot and hooks around $ 5.00. It'll also gain you the
appreciation of neighbors.

The Danger of Dodgers

Dodgers those plastic and canvas convenience items that cut down on spray, make rain go away and raise comfort in inclement conditions do have
a down side. These dangers become apparent inshore and near the dock. Each year I pick up many boats during fall and get reacquainted with the
downside of dodgers.

The first danger is that of lessened vision. I am 6 feet tall and from the helm of most dodgered boats don't have a clear view over the bow.
Standing on a cockpit seat helps, but often takes you away from the engine controls.

The second danger is twofold. In addition to the bulk of the structure cutting down on vision the plastic in the dodger can reduce your sight two
ways.

One way is through aging of the plastic. It then cracks and crazes distorting your vision. Removing your dodger and sending it to the canvas shop or
sailmaker for a plastic makeover can fix this problem.

The other is via condensation and dew. Michigan fall mornings are often laboratories for dew. This collects on both the inside and outside of the
dodger windows, both towards the bow and on the side. Cleaning them up with a bandana or rag before sallying is a must.

Having denigrated the dodger offshore on a cold or rainy day this deliveryman can't think of a more valuable piece of equipment. Still, when near
the dock setting your dodger at half mast is a good safety enhancing idea.

Linky Sailing News

Races Melges rules day 1 Melges 24 WC. Mckee problems

News J 80 WC Tracy Edwards gains sponsors

Great Lakes

College Sailing Stanford wins Stoney Burke. Hobart William Smith wins own regatta

The Buffalo delivers coal to Sappi Paper

Mumm 30 Worlds

Sailed on the Island of Elba off Italy the 2003 Mumm 30 World Championships proved unsually competitive. Cheyenne the winning boat totaled 92 points in 11 races, an average finish of 8.4 Showing how tough the racing was Cheyenne had 3 finishes in the 20's in a 41 boat fleet.

Racing was so even that in 11 races there were 11 different winners. Boats from 6 countries won races, with Italian boats winning 4 races. The overall placings of race winners ranged from 1st to 26th, showing the depth of the fleet.

Cheyene's crew included ex Team New Zealand tactician Hamish Pepper . Other members of the winning team were: Claudio Recchi, Guiseppe Maletto
Carla Ubertalli, Francesco Di Caprio, Roberto Martinez and Massimo Bortoletto.

Many of the world class teams will be at the Farr One Design open scheduled for Miami this November.

Jacques Vabre Preview # 1

On November 1st, the bi-annual Jacques Vabre trans atlantic race will start from Le Harve France. The course will take the fleet below the equator to a finish in Salvador Brazil.

There are 50 and 60 foot classes for both multihull and monohull yachts. The boats are sailed doublehanded. This article is the 1st installment of a preview that will look at some of the entered sailors and boats.

This will be the 6th sailing of the race and never has a team won in consecuctive years. In fact Roland Jourdain is the only living sailor with two Jacques Vabre titles. He won the monohull class in 2001 and the multihull class with the late Paul Vatine. Jourdain will sail on the Open 60 Sill with a British co-skipper Alex Thompson who recently purchased Sill for the upcoming Vendee Globe Race.

Also entered are the two sailors who teamed to win the multihull championship in 2001. Franck Cammas will once again sail Groupamma. He will team with Franck Profitt who was on the winning multihull team in 1999.

The other half of the winning duo Stève Ravussin will be sailing Banque Covefi with his brother.

All of these sailors can have expectations of winning again. Groupama won the Challenge Mondial this spring, Sill was 2nd in the Round Great Britain Race and Banque Covefi led last years Route Du Rhum before capsizing.

Future articles will continue to look at the many well-known, talented sailors who are also 'in with a chance'.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Cheyenne wins Mumm 30 Worlds. Troubles for Mckee. Hutchinson wins Senators Cup

News Melges 24 Worlds , JV qualifier, VOR status, Columbus Day or Leif Ericson day

Great Lakes Beach testing, Holland. Flow changes, Birchbark canoe

College Sailing Harvard success

Muskegon Lake Sun Rise

Linky Sailing News

Races Mumm 30 Worlds Mini Transat

News Preperation. Onboard/Overboard Sailor of the Year Nominees Hobie News. NZL powers Mari Cha Demographics Survey Golding report

Great Lakes Toxics. The Lake Guardian

College Sailing Weekend hosts include: Cal and Hobart/William Smith and Navy The IG's

How not to cleat a line.

Mari Cha IV Record

The newly launched 140 foot schooner Mari Cha IV has claimed her first passage record. The carbon nomex racer sailed from New York to England in 6 days 17 hours 52 minutes and 39 seconds for an average of 18.1 knots.
During the voyage she set a new monohull 24 hour record of 525.5 miles.

Mari Cha is a specialized vessel. During the design process it was determined that approximately 93 feet was the optimum length for a sloop. Knowing such boats already existed a schooner rig was conceived. The masts are each 147 feet, meaning that Mari Cha essentially carries 2 full sized maxi rigs.

The boat is set up for offwind performance and has both a canting keel and water ballast, yet weights just 50 tons.

Mari Cha is an apparent wind boat. Due to her size and speed she carries no conventional spinnaker poles as she is always has the wind on the beam or forward.

Mari Cha is a mono hull, so no comparison to a multi hull will be completely fair. However, due to her size Race Class cats and tris are the best comparison.

On her first trip Mari Cha sailed 525 miles in 24 hours. Playstation acheived 580 miles.

Again we can look to Playstation which holds the outright Trans Atlantic record of 4 days 17 hours. Mari Cha's record is 48 hours slower.

Looking at the progress of the 24 hour record we see that there are 13 multi hulls that have sailed more than 525 miles. These date back as far as 1995 and include 60 foot trimarans such as Groupamma. The current outright 24 hour record is 697 miles by Maiden 2.

Initially Mari Cha IV is the fastest mono hull. Still, there's a variety of challenges for this carbon schooner.

Linky Sailing News

Races Mumm 30 Worlds Race 1. Mini Transat

NewsMari Cha 4 sets Trans At Mono Hull Record , The Race Postponed , Bizarre Horse Story. Pindar

Great Lakes Ballast Water Regulation. Water Monitoring Day Tarangini Update

College Sailing Navy Report & Harvard

Tarangini performs docking manuevers in Muskegon

Water Level Update

Below you'll find water level info that pertains
to Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Reference Point

Difference from Chart Datum -5
Difference from last month -4
Difference from last year -12
Difference from long term average for October -23
Difference from Record High -63
Difference from Record Low +7
Forecast for 3 November 2003 -3

For information on other lakes see:

PDF File FAQ's on Current Water Levels

College Sailing Report

The first weekend of October saw college sailing action on the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast.

On the East Coast #3 ranked Dartmouth won the Danmark Trophy sailed at the Coast Guard Academy. Brown was 2nd with Kings Point 3rd. # 1 ranked Harvard finished 4th. Dartmouth's Scott Hogan sailing with several crew won A Division by 27 points.

Farther south, Navy won the T.S. Stern regatta sailed in Charleston by 5 points over the home team.

In the Midwest Wisconsin won the Carey Price regatta sailed in Detroit. Minnesota was 2nd, Michigan 3rd. Wisconsin's B division team of Joe Zechlinski + several crew averaged 2.46 points per race.

Out west USC won the Bryson Women's regatta upsetting the #1 women's team Hawaii which finished 6th. Stanford's B divsion team of Liz Shearer and Anna Vu averaged 2.5 points per race.

Also on the West Coast was the district single handed eliminations. Brian Haines of Stanford scored a 13 point victory over Gregory Helias of USC. Both sailors qualified for the single handed nationals. Haines was 7th at last years nationals .

Team of the Week: Stanford for a 3rd place at the Bryson womens regatta and their Brain Haines winning the PCC Singlehandeds.

Sailors of the Week: Joe Zechlinski along with crew Carolyn Soling and James Dunham for their B Divison win at Carey Price. They averaged 2.46 points per race while winning 2 races.

This weekend Berkely, Hobart William Smith and Michigan State host regattas

Linky Sailing News 8 October

Races Mckee takes back lead. Middle Sea Entries

News Mari Cha on record pace. Larinda salvage

Great Lakes Water fleas, Dryer completes Lake Michigan Swim

College Sailing West Coast. PCIYRA Singlehandeds

Winter Improvements

In a recent Yachting World column Ellen MacArthur wrote of ways she wants to improve as a sailor. Among the things she wants to be able to do are: "I want to practice taking an engine to pieces so many times I can do it with my eyes closed." She also wants to "be more competitive in dinghy sailing, fitter and stronger." An "endless but exciting list she says.

With the Northern Winter/offseason approaching what sailing skills might you want to improve?

1. Better understanding of how to use Radar

Radar is increasingly common. Certianly any sailboat over 30 feet I step onto is likely to have it. It's time I boot strapped myself up to the times and learned how radar can help me.

2. Increase the amount of knots I can effectively tie

Not just can I tie a knot sitting in an office with a lot of time to remember. Rather can I instantaneously remember the correct knot for a situation, and execute it in moments.

Certainly there are skills you want to add. I'll suggest some ways to do so.

One, sign up for a Torresen Marine spring seminar. We offer a variety of seminars from engines to docking. Watch for the 2004 schedule. If there's a seminar you wish us to offer let us know.

Two, sign up for a hands on engine class at Engine City Technical Institute

Three, attend a sailing school either ASA Certified like Torresen Marine's or one affiliated with US Sailing or Red Cross.

Four, attend a US Sailing Safety at Sea Seminar. These are required for many offshore races such as the Transpac, Bermuda etc.

I'm sure there are other methods, but the goal should be for all to add skills so we can enjoy our time on the water more.

Dueling Great Lakes Descriptions

Here's a look at how two song writers have pictured the Great Lakes.

In his famous song Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Gordon Lightfoot described the Great Lakes thusly:

Lake huron rolls, superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion.
Old michigan steams like a young man’s dreams;
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.
And farther below lake ontario
Takes in what lake erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of november remembered.

Singer Lee Murdock performs the Great Lakes Song written by Shel Silverstein

Sweet Mother Michigan, Father Superior
Coming down from Mackinaw and Sault Ste. Marie
Blue water Huron
Rolls down to Lake Erie-o, falls into Ontario
And runs out to sea

Two noteable word pictures of the freshwater seas. Lake Superior appears early in both of the lyrics. It sings and it's a father. Lightfoot adds the ice water tag, and yes Superior has a reputation for coldness. Lake Michigan comes off well, it merely steams and is sweet. It has Islands and Bays,pacific sounding.

The bluewater area of Lake Huron gets a mention. In both description Huron rolls, although it can do worse.

Erie is pictured as in the transportation business, sending and rolling water down.

Ontario takes in the water that Erie sends, the water falling into the eastern most of the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes song goes onto mention the St. Lawrence seaway which takes the Great Lakes right to the ocean.

Utlimately Lightfoot's description is part of a tale that ended in death while Silverstein's song is more upbeat.

St. Francis Masters Regatta

The St. Francis Yacht Club Masters Regatta was won by Malin Burnham's team. To compete skippers must be over age 60, with crews need to be 45 or older.

Burnham's Masters status should not be doubted. He sailed his 1st Star Worlds in 1943 and won his first Star Worlds in 1944 on Lake Michigan as crew. In 1945 with Lowell North as Crew he won his 1st worlds as skipper.

Finishing in 2nd by a single point was Bill Buchan. He's also won the Star worlds in 1961, 1970 and 1985. Additionally he was the class medalist in the 1984 Olympics.

Featured Brokerage 1970 Chris Craft Cherokee 32

This is a classic Sparkman and Stephens design with signifigant updates. New in 2003 is an Awlgrip hull paint job along with a completely redone bottom including barrier coat.

In 1999 Torresen Marine installed a Universal M 25 diesel in place of the original Atomic 4.

Radiance's new paint job

For sailing there is both a roller furling jib and spinnaker gear.

This is an excellent opportunity to acquire a classic sailboat that has been thoroughly modernized.

BoatSmart: Taking the Search out of Search and Rescue

Taking the search out of search and rescue

By Senior Chief Tom Rau

The Coast Guard recently awarded General Dynamics of Scottsdale, Arizona a $611 million dollar contract for the development of a state of the art emergency communication system that will provide rescue responders with the capability to more easily locate boaters in distress 20 nautical miles out to seaward.

The response system know as “Rescue 21” takes a quantum leap forward to enhance distress communications between rescuers and those in need on the water. The VHF-FM radio communication system that boaters currently use to communicate with the Coast Guard and other boaters was installed in the early 70’s. Comparing it to the new Rescue 21 communication system it is like comparing a 1970’s computer to a 2003 model. Boaters need not worry either, your existing marine radios will work with the new system.

Under the current rescue response system the Coast Guard and other response agencies primarily depend on vessels in distress to provide their location on the water, which is often sketchy. Too often the burden of finding those requesting assistance is tasked to the Coast Guard when boaters fail to provide a decent position or no position at all.

Although GPS devices have enhanced search efforts, Coast Guard rescue responders often must deal with GPS ignorance with recreational boaters. Moreover, a number of boaters don’t even carry GPS devices. But whether they do or not, I suspect that many recreational boaters labor under the illusion that once they contact the Coast Guard they can magically determine the distress caller’s position. Not so, at least not yet. The new Rescue 21 system, however, will make that possible.

Rescue 21 will arrive on the Great Lakes in 2005/2006 with the first systems to be installed at Group Buffalo, Detroit and Grand Haven in 2005. Rescue 21 will offer electronic Directional Finding Equipment that will help the Coast Guard more accurately determine the exact direction of the vessel in distress within two degrees along a line of position to the radio caller. Now that’s sweet.

The new system offers a terrific featured called Digital Select Calling (DSC) that provides a boat’s position with the push of a button. DSC will transmit over VHF-FM Channel 70, which is an electronic digital form of VHF-FM Channel 16, the voice hailing and distress frequency. In order for a boater to use the DSC, their marine radio must be DSC equipped. Boaters should consult their radio manuals to see if their radio offers the DSC feature or if their radios may be upgraded to include DSC. If DSC equipped, the radio then must be assigned a Mobile Maritime Service Identity (MMSI) number, which can be readily acquired.

The Boat U.S, MMSI Program has been certified by the FCC and Coast Guard to assign MMSI numbers. The DSC number can be easily obtained by logging onto www.boatus.com/mmsi/ and following the instructions. Once properly registered a boater may interface with a GPS unit, which will allow the radio to transmit vital vessel information, position, and the nature of distress (if entered) at the push of button. DSC signals will take effect on Lake Michigan when the system becomes operational in 2005.

A huge advantage of the Digital Select Calling is that the alert will be resent every four minutes until an acknowledgement is received from a rescue station. This acknowledgement will include a working channel, which the DSC VHF will automatically switch to, meaning that once the alert is sent the user is free to deal with the emergency without having to stand by the radio.

Besides communicating with the Coast Guard, Digital Selective Calling will allow boaters to hail other boaters with a DSC equipped radio with an assigned MMSI number. The digital signal transmitted over VHF-FM Channel 70 will include the sender’s MMSI number and also includes a working channel reference that the recipient can switch to for voice communications.

Besides providing DSC position fixes and directional finding capabilities, which by the way will also help track down hoax callers, the system offers other huge advantages compared to the current Coast Guard radio distress system.

Other advantages include the ability of CG radio watchstanders to record communications for instant playback. Even when the Coast Guard receives a garbled call or one with a weak signal, watchstanders will be able to slow these transmissions down and adjust the quality so the message can be understood.

Another advantage of Rescue 21 offers it will provide better geographical coverage, eliminating radio dead spots that prevent radio coverage under the existing system. Even with the lowest-powered (1-watt) radio, the Rescue 21 system can intercept distress calls made from anywhere within 20 nautical miles of shore within an assigned Coast Guard radio net, which currently covers over 95,000 miles of coastline, navigable rivers, and major lakes within the U.S. and its territories.

Can radio calls be received beyond 20- nautical miles? Yes, since VHF-FM is a “line of sight” exchange, radio signals transmitted between the sending and receiving antenna, must be within sight although actually the range is somewhat greater due to a bending over the horizon of radio waves. Also, boats carrying higher radio antennas can receive VHF-FM radio waves at a greater distance than 20 nautical miles offshore as long as the antenna is on a “line of sight” with a Coast Guard high site antenna ashore.

Rescue 21’s initial installation sites will be at Coast Guard Groups in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Eastern Shore, Virginia during 2003. The system will be fully implemented Coast Guard wide by 2006

Rescue 21 promises to enhance the ability of rescue resources to respond to those in need, still the surest line of defense lies with the boater and their ability to intelligently report their position to the Coast Guard during an emergency. Boat Smart- be your own Rescue 21.

Note: For more information search the web under Coast Guard Rescue 21 or DSC marine radios. Other Boat Smart stories may be found on the web at www.boatsmart.net

8 Letter Circumnavigators

A recent crossword clue read as follows: Circumnavigator. The answer was Magellan.

Continuing on this, can you name other sailors who have circumnavigated that have 8 letter last names?

Two recent examples are John KOSTECKI and Emma RICHARDS.

Send your 8 letter ATWERS to ike@torresen.com or enter them in the comment section below.

Linky Sailing News

Races Mumm 30 Worlds Entries and Crew. Masters Regatta. Megles 24 WC Entries Mckee in 2nd.

News Mari Cha ups 24 hour record. Oz Boyz Canada's Cup winner speaks Alex Thomson Racing

Great Lakes 6 miles of the LM 340 remain. Wreck Found. Pollution increases . Ferry splash

College Sailing PCC 1 ups. USC win's Bryson Women's . Wisco takes Carey Price. Navy wins Stern

Linky Sailing News 6 October 2003

Racing Barkow wins women's Rolex. Defiant retains Canada's Cup . Mckee leads . American Team wins Little AC

News The new Mari Cha 4 sets 24 hour record . Peyron's new cat New cat v. Race Class. Master and Commander . Sailing A Mixed Sport

Great Lakes Last leg of LM 340. Water Sale Limits. Oil Spill. No fear? 1913 storm.

College Sailing Dartmouth wins Danmark

7-5 again Canada's Cup Score

As in 2001 Defiant won the Canada's Cup over Heartbreaker by a score of 7-5. This victory retains the Cup for the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and denies Lake Michigan a chance to host Canada's Cup racing.

Going into the final day the score was 6-4. To win Heartbreaker could lose no more, while Defiant needed only a single victory.

Heartbreaker got one of the needed wins in race 11 by 47 seconds. Winds were near 20 knots. This seemed to be Heartbreaker's prefered conditions.

Race 12 was the clincher for Defiant as they dominated the start and led throughout the race. Their final margin was 10 seconds.

Once again, Defiant's superior match racing skills were enough to defeat Heartreaker. Next Canada's Cup is expected to be 2005. Perhaps a re-re match?

Wisconsin Skipper Wins Rolex

Sally Barkow of Nashotah, Wis., and her crew of Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Annie Lush (Bournemouth, England), have won US SAILING‘s 2003 Rolex International Women‘s Keelboat Championship (Rolex IWKC), which began Monday, Sept. 29 and concluded today with two races on Chesapeake Bay off Annapolis, Md. Going into today, Barkow‘s team held a 20-point lead over the 66 teams competing. In light 8-10 knot breezes, the foursome once again showed command of their boathandling skills and the scoreboard. With finishes of 3-8, they maintained a healthy lead on the fleet and became champions in what has become one of the world‚s most prestigious women‚s sailing regattas.

"It feels awesome to have won," said the 23-year-old Barkow, a two-time college All American from Old Dominion University (class of ‘02) who only started sailing keelboats one and a half years ago. "We approached today with confidence just like we approached every other day. We didn‘t worry about the more mature teams, because they can make mistakes just as easily as us. We have learned a ton here, from communications, to boat handling to mentally focusing for five days. They were big lessons. We‘ll take those with us. It was a big step for our campaign."

Barkow, Capozzi and Howe are on the US Sailing Team and hope to be the USA‘s representatives in the Yngling class at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. In fact, the debut of the first-ever women‘s keelboat event at the Olympics inspired several Yngling teams to switch temporarily into J/22s to compete in the Rolex IWKC for practice against the best women sailors in the world.

"We are so young that we just want to do any racing we can for more experience," said Howe, who like Capozzi, graduated from college this past May. "That‘s why we came. It has been really helpful for putting us in different--sometimes tense--situations."

Barkow‘s overall success was due in large part to consistency in her finishes. When wild winds turned a single race on the fourth day into a demolition derby, Barkow sailed steadily to a second-place finish and the regatta leader--five-time champion and five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.)-- fell deep in the standings after being penalized for starting prematurely. (It was her second such penalty.) Though Barkow, too, had suffered a penalty for a premature start in race three, she used that race as her allowed throwout and counted eight other top-ten finishes in her final nine-race scoreline.

Winning a race today and finishing second overall and as top foreign team was Paula Lewin (Paget, Bermuda), sailing with fellow Bermudians Peta Lewin (her sister) and Carola Cooper as well as San Francisco‘s Dana Riley.

"This was a great learning experience for us," said Lewin, who with Lewin and Cooper will represent Bermuda in the Yngling class at the 2004 Olympic Regatta. "Our team doesn‘t have experience together on too many other boats. The Yngling is difficult to sail and sailing the J/22 is easier. It gave us an opportunity to work on things like fine-tuning our trimming techniques."

Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.), Barkow‘s rival for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team and runner-up at the 2001 Rolex IWKC, sailed "Team Atkins" to third overall with crew Linda Epstein (Arlington, Mass.), Elizabeth Filter (Stevensville, Md.) and Kate Fears (Cambridge, Mass.).

"A fourth and a first was a good day for Team Atkins," said Cronin. "The sailing conditions were great today. Sea breeze and flat water, medium breeze and stable. We hadn‘t seen those kinds of conditions this week. It‘s always good to have the full variety of conditions at a championship. Sally sailed really well. They stayed out of trouble. She has learned a lot faster than we hoped she would."

Winning the newly established City of Annapolis perpetual trophy for being the top Annapolis finisher was Nancy Haberland, sailing "Team VC Perfomance Rigging" with local crew Dina Kowalyshyn, Karina Shelton and Aimee Hess.

This evening, Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Dawn Riley emcees a gala Rolex Awards Ceremony at Annapolis Yacht Club, host to the regatta. Barkow will receive the Bengt Julin Trophy for the Rolex International Women‘s Keelboat Championship and a Rolex timepiece.

Note: Sarah Buckley's Chicago team finished in 30th overall with a best finish of 17th in race 2.

Final top-15 results after nine races -- 66 Boats*
Overall Position, Skipper/Team Name, Hometown, Finish Positions, Total Points

1. Sally Barkow/Team Seven, Nashotah, Wisc., USA, 8-10-15[28/ZFP]-1-4-8-2-3-8, 44
2. Paula Lewin/Team ACE Group, Paget, BER, 4-[22]-15/ZFP-13-6-10-5-1-4; 58
3. Carol Cronin/Team Atkins, Jamestown, RI, USA, 5-3-[67/BFD]-23-8-13-3-4-1, 60
4. Mary Brigden/Team San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA, 15-4-3-14-[26]-1-23/ZFP-2-9, 71
5. Nancy Haberland/Team VC Performance Rigging, Annapolis, MD, USA, 10-19-[67/BFD]-5-1-15/ZFP-17-11-2, 80
6. Karleen Dixon/The Lion Foundation, Auckland, NZL, 2-6-4-[32]-18-12-14/ZFP-22-6, 84
7. Dominique Provoyeur/Team Orion, Cape Town, RSA, 13-9-7-[27]-14-25-4-7-21, 1008. Betsy Alison, Newport, R.I., USA, 1-1-67/BFD-12-9-3-[67/BFD]-5-3, 101
9. Lorie Stout/Team Stoutgear, Annapolis, Md., USA, 18-26-1-17-12-[67/DSQ]-11-18-10, 113
10. Phebe King/Team Legal Source, Annapolis, Md., USA, 25-16-6-2-20-[53]-22-20-5, 116
11. Susan F. Meredith/Team Citizens First Financial, Annapolis, Md., USA, 11-8-23-28-2-[38]-9-24-11, 116
12. Derby Anderson/Team Hoyas, Annapolis, Md., USA, 19-12-[25/ZFP]-16-23-6-18-15-7, 116
13. Donna Womble/Team Mo‘ Money, Carmel Valley, Calif., USA, 20-23-10-9-10-14-[36]-16-14, 116
14. Melinda Berge/Team Sundance, Annapolis, Md., USA, 9-21-28-8-30-4-13-10-[53], 123
15. Amber West/Team Latizas, Auckland, NZL, 21-[35]-18.6/RDG-21-16-16-7-14-12, 125.6

ZFP = Z-flag penalty
BFD = Black Flag penalty

Defiant Needs 1 Win to Take Canada's Cup

On a day with light and dying winds, Defiant beat Heartbreaker twice and is within one win of a sucessful Canada's Cup defense.

The first race of the day was the closest of the series. In light air Defiant won by a matter of feet after a fierce gybing duel that saw Heartbreaker come back to almost win.

The day's second race was more straight forward. Defiant scored a possible penultimate victory by 22 seconds.

Defiant needs 1 more win to defend the Cup, while Heartbreaker must win 3 straight to have a successful challenge.

Linky Sailing News 2 October

Races Rolex Women's Race 6. Mckee leads Minis Defiant within 1 win of Canada's Cup

News Larinda Sinks Key West 04. Failed record attempt. Mari Cha to go New Open 50. Woody Trailer Sailor ISAF Rankings

Great Lakes Lights saved. LM 340

College Sailing Rankings . Harvard # 1 Co-ed, Hawaii # 1 women's

The Schooner Larinda, visiting Muskegon in 2001, sank during Hurricane Juan.

Alison Increases Lead

Annapolis, Md. (October 1, 2003) - After six races in the Rolex
International Women‘s Keelboat Championship, Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.)
still leads with Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) in second. The two now have a
five-point spread between their overall standings whereas yesterday they
were tied in scoring with Alison taking the lead due to tie-breaker rules.
Annapolis skipper Lorie Stout won today‘s single light-air race -- her
second victory in six races so far -- to move her team up to fifth place.
Alison and Barkow finished 4-9, respectively. Mary Brigden (San Diego,
Calif.) finished today‘s race in second and improved her overall position
from sixth to third.

Stout did not believe local knowledge helped her, since she regularly sails
in the Severn River just off Annapolis and the fleet sailed in the middle of
Chesapeake Bay five miles south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

"Sailing out there is a lot different than sailing next to the Severn
Sailing Association," said Stout, who nailed the start but fouled someone
shortly afterward. "It was a little tap, and we did our circles and got
started again. We got rocking then."

Fighting an ebb tide and lightening breeze, Stout managed to round the top
mark in eighth position. "We went up the middle when the rest of the fleet
was split to either side, and the middle worked for us. There was a lot of
shifting of weight and shifting gears. We did a great job of that."

By the second windward mark on the twice-around windward-leeward course,
Stout was leading the fleet, with Brigden and Alison following.

"Downwind we only had to jibe and led the whole way to the finish. There was
excellent pressure for us. There was a lot of easing and trimming the whole
time to the finish." Trimming for Stout is Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year
Susan Taylor of Annapolis.

Another local team, skippered by Nancy Haberland, nipped at Alison's heels and
caught her on the final downwind run to the finish. Haberland's third place
would have served her well except that she had started prematurely and
incurred a 20% penalty after restarting. The mathematics of it all added 16
points to her score instead of three, and she sits in seventh overall,
losing two positions on the scoreboard since yesterday. Haberland, a sailing
coach for the U.S. Naval Academy and a 2004 Olympic hopeful in the Yngling
class, is sailing against other Olympic hopefuls, including both Alison and
Barkow, this week out on Chesapeake Bay.

A total of 17 Maryland teams, comprised of four women each, are competing
among the 66 international teams in town. The regatta, the world‘s largest
of its kind for women, has been held every other year since 1985, and this
is the second time it has been held in Annapolis, after having been moved
here from Newport, R.I.

A second race was started but abandoned when it was clear that the fleet
would not finish the race within the two-hour time limit. The Race Committee
will attempt to re-sail the race tomorrow along with two other scheduled
races.

"It was definitely the hardest day we have sailed out there," said Kylie
Jameson, skipper aboard one of three New Zealand entries. "This morning‘s
race had the first few boats crossing the finish line whilst most of the
fleet were still more than a leg behind. The second race saw the first boats
go around the first leeward mark in reasonable wind and then the breeze just
turned off. The Race Committee did the right thing by not keeping us out
there."

The five-day, 10-race series will conclude on Friday and be followed by a
gala Rolex Awards Ceremony at Annapolis Yacht Club, host to the regatta,
where the winning team will receive a Rolex timepiece.

Note: Sarah Buckley's Sheridan Shore Yacht Club team finished 25th in Wednesday's only race.

Day 3, Top 10 provisional results after six races -- 66 Boats*

Overall Position, Skipper/Team Name, Hometown, Race 1-2-3-4-5-6, Total
points

1. Betsy Alison, Newport, R.I., USA, 1-1-[67/BFD]-12-9, 4, 27 points2. Sally
Barkow/Team Seven, Nashotah, Wisc., USA, 8-10-15-[28/ZFP]**-1-4, 9, 32

3. Mary Brigden/Team San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA, 15-4-3-14-[26], 2, 38

4. Karleen Dixon/The Lion Foundation, Auckland, NZL, 2-6-4-[32]-18, 13, 43

5. Lorie Stout/Team Stoutgear, Annapolis, Md., USA, 18, [26], 1-17-12-1, 49

6. Paula Lewin/Team ACE Group, Paget, BER, 4-[22]-15/ZFP-13-6-11, 49

7. Nancy Haberland/Team VC Performance Rigging, Annapolis, MD, USA,
10-19-[67/BFD]-5-1-16/ZFP, 51

8. Carol Cronin/Team Atkins, Jamestown, RI, USA, 5-3-[67/BFD]-23-8-14, 53

9. Donna Womble, Carmel Valley, Calif., USA, 20-[23]-10-9-10-15, 64

10. Phebe King/Team Legalsource, Annapolis, Md., USA, 25-16-6-2-20-[54], 69

**ZFP = Z-flag penalty

***BFD = Black Flag penalty

College Sailing Report

Regattas sailed 27-28 September included the Hood Trophy won by Tufts and the Shields Trophy won by Cal Maritime.

Team and Sailors of the Week: The Keel Haulers of Cal Maritime . Their Shields Trophy winning team consisted of:
Jesse Cartee '04
Peit Van Os '07
Kevin Moyer '05
Wade Poor '06
Erch Krueck '06
Tim Patternaster '05
Bud Mckay '07
Ethan Creps '04

This weekend's regattas include: Danmark Trophy @ Coast Guard, T.S. Stern @ Charleston and Carey Price @ Michigan.

September 2003 Weather Report

September Weather Report

For the second month in a row Muskegon had above normal temperatures. Temperatures peaked at 86 degrees on the 11th, and ended up +1.7° for the month. The monthly low was 38° on the 21st.

This is also the second year in a row September has been warmer than normal. In September 2002, temperatures were + 4.8 degrees.

Although there was no rain for the 1st 13 days, rainfall ended up near normal. 3.08 inches fell, just .44 inches below normal. The rainiest day was the 22nd when 1.22 inches fell.

Muskegon is an extremely cloudy place in the winter and September showed more clouds. The majority of days, 16, were still clear. However there were 8 partly cloudy and 6 cloudy days. Last month there were only 7 partly cloudy days and none that were officially cloudy. Going forward, October 2002 had 14 cloudy days.

Average winds for the month were 8.7 knots. This is + .6 knots from the norm. The windiest day was the 24th when winds averaged 14.8 knots. Least windy day was the 8th with only a 3.5 knot average. October could be windier yet as the average wind speed is 9.2 knots.

Year to date, despite only 2 months of above average normal temperatures, Muskegon is only .12 degrees below normal. However, 3 of the last 4 Octobers have been below normal in temperature.

September is the month the leaves begin to turn. Below see a picture of leaves on the same tree, in the same location, except one is from 9.29.02 and the other from 9.29.03.

2002 Leaves

2003 Leaves which appear to be turning faster.

Winterizing Raw Water Cooled Engines

Winterizing Your Sea (raw) Water Cooled Inboard Engine
by Gordon Torresen

This is to give general guidelines for the winterization of inboard engines that do not have internal heat exchanger type cooling systems. Variations will become evident in different brands of engines, however the principals will be the same.

Engines do not freeze. It is the water within the engine and peripheral equipment that freezes and causes damage. To preclude freeze damage you must either eliminate the water or make it so that the water will not freeze.

Good steps to follow:

1) Shut off the cooling water seacock if the boat is still in the water

2) Open the drains on the engine block and manifold - make sure that water comes out. There is sometimes blockage at the plughole of petcock. If a water heater is involved, it too must be drained.

3) When the water has drained, close the drains.

4) Remove the hose from the seacock and put it in a jug of environmentally friendly antifreeze. If easier, replace the hose with another connection to the inlet side of the sea water pump.

5) Start the engine and run it until antifreeze comes out the exhaust. Most antifreeze will bypass the engine which doesn't matter because it has been drained. A little will go into the engine that will take care of any water
that ran down from the walls inside the engine.

6) When, or if, the boat is out of the water, open the seacock to drain water from it. If the boat is to stay in the water, the seacock must be treated to prevent freezing.

Running the engine to temperature to open the thermostat and then introducing antifreeze requires that the antifreeze be at the same temperature so that the thermostat does not close when contacted by something cool.

It is highly recommended that if the lube oil needs to be changed that it be done prior to lay-up so that fresh oil is coating the innards of the engine. If fuel filters are in the plan, do them first. Then start the engine to check the fuel filters and warm the engine to facilitate the oil change.

Winterizing Fresh Water Cooled Engines

Winterizing Your Fresh (internal) Water Cooled Inboard Engine
by Gordon Torresen

This is to give general guidelines for the winterization of
inboard engines that have internal, heat exchanger type
cooling systems. Variations will become evident for
different brands of engines, the principals will be the
same. Engines do not freeze. It is the water within the
engine and peripherals that freezes and causes damage. To
preclude freeze damage you must either eliminate the water
or make it so that it will not freeze.

Good steps to follow:

1) Check the specific gravity of the internal coolant.
Antifreeze checkers are widely available, and very cheap.
Depending upon your location, be assured that the freeze
protection is adequate. If protection is marginal, either
drain some off and add 100% new or change the whole lot.
Antifreeze should be changed every three to five years,
according to Yanmar and the AF makers.

2) Shut off the sea water intake sea cock, if the boat is in
the water.

3) Take the hose off the seacock and put it into a jug of
environmentally friendly antifreeze. It is sometimes easier
to remove the hose at the pump and use a different hose into
the jug.

4) Start the engine and run it until the antifreeze comes
out the exhaust.

5) Reinstall the hose to the seacock.

6) Reopen the seacock after the boat is hauled. If the boat
is to be left in the water, the seacock may require
winterizing, again depending on the severity of your winter.

If you are not located where winterizing is required, read
this through and purr.

It is highly recommended that if the lube oil needs to be
changed that it be done prior to lay-up so that fresh oil is
coating the innards of the engine. If fuel filters are in
the plan do them first. Then start the engine to check the
fuel filters and warm the engine to facilitate the oil
change.

Water Level Update

Water Level Update

Below you'll find water level info that pertains
to Lake Michigan and Huron.

Reference Point

Difference from Chart Datum -3
Difference from last month -2
Difference from last year -10
Difference from long term average for September -24
Difference from Record High -57
Difference from Record Low +7
Forecast for 26 October 2003 -3

For information on other lakes see:

Rolex Women's: Alison and Barkow Tied

Annapolis, Md. (September 30, 2003) - While yesterday‘s heavy wind with
25-knot gusts showcased boathandling skills, today‘s shifty, light air put a
premium on tactics at US SAILING‘s Rolex International Women‘s Keelboat
Championship where 66* teams are competing in four-person International
J/22s. The critical juncture for the regatta was today‘s second race, the
fifth for the series, which--upon its completion--gave competitors the
ability to discard their single worst race score. With yesterday‘s top-four
overall performers turning in mediocre performances today, the door was
kicked open for Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wisc.), the winner of today‘s first
race, to climb from sixth to second overall behind Betsy Alison (Newport,
R.I.). Alison, the event‘s five-time winner who finished 12-9 today, used
her allowed throwout race to trim off a whopping 67 points (taken yesterday
for jumping the gun on a black-flag start) from her final score. Alison and
Barkow now share a 23 point score, with the tiebreaker going to Alison a
five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. Molly O‘Bryan (Kaneohe, Hawaii)
currently sits in third with 28 points. Alison, Barkow and O‘Bryan are all
US Sailing Team members.

In race one, the current and breeze delivered a double whammy to the fleet.
At the start, many of the boats were well behind the line at the gun, and
those boats that didn‘t head to the left side of the course suffered.
Raising the spinnaker around the first top mark, Barkow‘s foredeck crew
Debbie Caposi slipped and fell into the water.

"Yesterday we were having issues with putting the spinnaker up too fast,"
said Barkow. "Debbie is really strong, so today she got the chute out really
well, but she pulled so hard that she pulled herself off the boat. The funny
part was that she held onto the halyard as she was falling and was able to
get the spinnaker all the way up. I reached over, grabbed her, and pulled
her up onto the boat. The other two crew didn‘t even know she went over. We
had rounded fourth or fifth and by the time we got to the leeward mark we
were tenth or so."

On the next windward leg, Barkow made two quick tacks and cleared out to the
right where she saw pressure. By the second weather mark, she was in the
lead and carried it through to a victory margin of one and a half minutes.
She finished fourth in race two.

"Whoever dove into the knocks lost," said Barkow. "We kept getting lifted
and did well."

Nancy Haberland (Annapolis) won today‘s second race and currently sits in
fifth. At the first weather mark, Alison rounded close behind her into a
void of breeze and later made an error in judgement that took her into even
lighter air.

"It‘s amazing how easy it is to lose it (the lead)," said Haberland. "Like
with Betsy, she jibed and went left, and we realized that wasn‘t going to
work for us, so we jibed back the other way. She got killed fast and
struggled with it.

"At one point on our run we were a quarter of a leg ahead of the fleet, but
we were sweating it out the entire race, especially when the breeze would
drop off. We were racing against the clock to finish within the two hour
time limit. We made it with only nine minutes to spare."

Alison said of her overall lead at day‘s end: "I wasn‘t expecting to be back
on top of the fleet. We had what I thought were two keeper races, but in a
perfect world, we would have liked to be higher.

"We‘ll keep our eyes open for the real players tomorrow but it‘s too early
to start targeting individuals. Tomorrow our plan is to just attack the race
course."

Karleen Dixon (Auckland, New Zealand), who led after yesterday‘s races, fell
to fourth today, counting her 32nd in race one as her throwout and keeping
an 18th. Mary Brigden (San Diego, Calif.) fell from second to sixth, with
race finishes of 14-26, the latter of which she used for her throwout. Paula
Lewin (Bermuda) fell from third to seventh with finishes of 13-6 today.

Note: Sarah Buckley's Lake Micigan team (crew Chafee Emory, Laurie Poppen, and Amy Leenhouts) is in 36th place. On Tuesday they posted finishes of 19th and 24th.

Day Two, Top 10 provisional results after five races -- 66 Boats*

Overall Position, Skipper/Team Name, Hometown, Race 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Total
[with discard]

1. Betsy Alison, Newport, R.I., USA, 1-1-[67/BFD]-12-9, 23.00 points2. Sally
Barkow/Team Seven, Nashotah, Wisc., USA, 8-10-15-[28/ZFP]**-1-4, 23.00

3. Molly O‘Bryan/Na Wahine, Kaneohe, Hawaii, USA, 7-2-[67/BFD]***-4-15,
28.00

4. Karleen Dixon/The Lion Foundation, Auckland, NZL, 2-6-4-[32]-18, 30.00

5. Nancy Haberland, VC Performance Rigging, Annapolis, MD, USA,
10-19-[67/BFD]-5-1, 35.00
6. Mary Brigden/Team San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA, 15-4-3-14-[26], 36.007.
Paula Lewin, Paget, BER, 4-[22]-15/ZFP-13-6, 38.00

8. Carol Cronin/Team Atkins, Jamestown, RI, USA, 5-3-[67/BFD]-23-8, 39.00

9. Kylie Jameson/Team Jameson, Auckland, NZL, 17-7-8-[39]-11, 43.00

10. Dominique Provoyeur/Team Orion, Cape Town, RSA, 13-9-7-[27]-14, 43.00

**ZFP = Z-flag penalty

***BFD = Black Flag penalty

(end)
*Registered entrant Karen Lynch (Scituate, Mass.) has not shown for the
regatta and has been taken off the entry list.

Canada's Cup Still Even

Wednesday saw the International teams split races keeping the overall score even at 4 races apiece.

The first race of the day went to Defiant. They led by 17 seconds at the intitial mark. Heartbreaker's comeback was made more difficult by a problem with their spinnaker pole. This left them unable to gybe. Heartbreaker closed but still lost by 27 seconds.

Spinnaker pole fitting like the one Heartbreaker had trouble with

Defiant looked very good after the first leg of the 8th race, leading by 40 seconds. Heartbreaker then flew back up towards Defiant, with mark roundings delta's measured in the tenths of seconds.

Heartbreaker eventually ground out a 15 second lead on the final upwind leg. This gain was attributed to pointing higher. Sailing in 12-14 knots of breeze Heartbreaker then held the lead downwind and won their 4th race by 8 seconds.

The boats have been sailing 2 or 3 races per day. To win one will need to post 7 victories. This means there are 1 to 2 days of hyper competitve racing left. Once again moderate to heavy conditions are expected

Linky Sailing News 1 October 2003

Races Rolex Women's races 4 & 5. Canada's Cup is even. Mini Transat Mckee leads. Cat teams chosen.

News Mari Cha 4 site is live. Air quality forecasts.

Great Lakes Swimmer on Little Traverse. Point Betsie gets help. Green Bay Channel . Clean Water Corps.

College Sailing Women's Events