Are you planning to do any offshore racing in the next year or two? Do you want to increase your proficiency, safety skills, and confidence on the water, even if you’re not racing offshore? Then the Safety at Sea seminar is for you. For boats competing in the Newport Bermuda race this summer, it is required that 30% of the crew have completed this course within the last five years. But, all the rules aside, I have a lot of really […]
North Sails has a series of books, CDs / DVDs, and seminars in their North U. Series. I have found two books particulary useful. They are Racing TRIM and Racing TACTICS by Bill Gladstone. For a winter refresher, I thought it would be good to go through each of these books. I’ll start here with the Racing TRIM book. Every few days, I’ll post about a chapter or two. This will be my short summary of what I’ve read. You can […]
First, let me say that I have been fortunate enough to work out with many different personal trainers over the past ten or fifteen years. If I had infinite time and money, I would always work out with a personal trainer. However, reality set in and I make a finite salary with only twenty four hours in a day. iTrain is a web site that offers downloadable audio and video training programs. I was pretty excited when I heard […]
Different skippers and crews have different beliefs about what and how much gear should be brought onboard for a race. Here, I’m going to talk about a typical windward / leeward racing on a keel boat and what I put in my gear bag on any given day. Overall, I try to keep the gear as light as possible. But, I also want to know that I have enough with me to feel prepared and have a comfortable day […]
You may be wondering where the Race Girl Talk and Race Girl Race logos have come from. Well, here’s the story just in case you need to put your mind at ease. RaceGirl partnered with Shaun Boland for creation of the RaceGirlTalk and RaceGirlRace logos. Shaun is a talented graphic designer and cartoonist who writes the cartoon Bol’s Eye. It’s pretty hilarious – if you want some light hearted humor, you can check it out at www.bolseye.com. Shaun took time […]
The figure eight knot is a simple knot that is easy to tie. It’s incredibly useful at the same time. This is a knot that I use to prevent losing the end of halyards ort other lines through blocks or clutches. I also use it to tie my harness on when I go up the mast. But then, I trace the tail back through a second time. I’m going to show you the simple figure eight here. If you want […]
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Harry Legum, owner of Annapolis Sailing Fitness, for a discussion about just that — sailing fitness. So, you may be asking yourself why this guy is qualified to comment on fitness – especially sailing fitness. During the conversation, I learned that Harry spent time as a lifeguard, in the army and as a paramedic, and training in martial arts before he became a personal trainer. For him, it all connects through […]
The bowline is one of the most used knots in the time I’ve spent on the water. On many racing boats, it is ued to attach halyards (the lines that raise the sail) and sheets (the lines that trim the sails) to the sails. Often, it’s just assumed the people know how to tie this knot (read as – tie it quickly and confidently in a fast moving race situation). When I started racing, I had tied bowlines many times – […]
I first came across the Sailing Angles line of products at the boat show shortly after I had started racing. Honestly, there were two things that attracted me initially. First, they were having a great boat show special on the rugged shorts & trousers. That drew me into the booth. Secondly, they offered a lot of different colors and patterns of fabric in the women’s products. So, I snatched up a pair of shorts and trousers from that boat show venture. […]
Volvo Ocean Race
I have always liked the Volvo Ocean Race — it’s the first race that I really remember following myself. I started racing during the summer of 2006. At that time, the Volvo Ocean Race was well under way. I remember being so excited when I found the web site and realized that I could get a regular fix of information about racing. The boats were new and fast Volvo Open 70s. Canting keels came into use in this round of […]
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