Steve Fossett

Steve Fossett is one of the greatest sailors alive today.

Speed sailing was Fossett's speciality from 1993 to 2004, and he dominated the record sheets, setting 23 official world records and 9 distance race records. He also holds numerous other
records in ballooning, gliding, and aviation.

He is the current President of the National Eagle Scout Association .

Sail TV

There is a 24 hour internet TV website called
Sail TV

This is a cool sailing video on YouTube. Notice the boat is sailing downwind at over
24 knots.....
This is sailing...

The Rolex Fastnet 2007 starts on Sunday.
I like this online Rolex commercial

And this Union Bank of Switzerland commercial

Sort of interesting that the rise of the Euro corresponds to the rise of Alinghi in the America's Cup sailing.....

And Trimarans

Someone needs to bring a video camera on one of our trips.....

Sailing Resources on the Internet

While reading in Chapman's Piloting I came across some good resources that I thought I would search out on the Internet.

The first is the Atlantic Coast NOAA Nautical Charts

The second is the Light Lists that correspond with the various charts. The Light Lists give a brief description of all of the navigation markers that are shown on the charts.

The third is the Coast Pilots which is a series of nine nautical books that cover important information important to navigators of US coastal waters. Coast Pilot 4 is for the North Carolina coast.

I like the cut of your jib

I ordered a cinnamon roll and vanilla Caribou cooler this evening and a friend said "I like the cut of your jib". I found that humorous since I had been doing so much sailing. As this means:

the cut of one's jib (colloq.): one's personal appearance, countenance, or demeanour Orig. a sailor's figure of speech, suggested by the prominence and characteristic form of the jib of a ship.

The phrase became used in an idiomatic way during the 19th century. Sir Walter Scott used to it in St. Ronan's Well, 1824:

"If she disliked what the sailor calls the cut of their jib."

I think more recently the term was used in a beer commercial but I'm looking to verify that...

Yes, I'm a total geek, but in a nice way.....

Still More pictures from the June 24th trip

OK. The last one I actually drew in Microsoft Paint.....

Be on the lookout for this Jellyfish....

The jellyfish that attacked Scott?

Sailing - July 21st

We had another great sailing adventure this Saturday. The crew consisted of Antonella, Becky, Andy, Bill, Elaina (spelling?), Dan, Tony, Mark, Tom, Joe, Gregory, Scott, and myself. We took out the 42' Beneteau from Oriental Sailing School again. This is a nice boat with a new scratch on the side that cost a previous charterer $800 in deposit. Ouch!

Upon arriving in Oriental we had lunch at the Oriental Deli and Bistro. I thought their Two Eggs breakfast was excellent.

I backed the Beneteau out of the slip. I misjudged the position of the bow slightly and had to backup a second time, but luckily we didn't come close to hitting a piling. The wind was excllent at around 20kts. With full sails and Dan had the helm we made 7.6kts SOG (speed over ground). After sailing out the Neuse in the heavy wind some of our crew was not feeling so
well so we turned around toward Oriental. Downwind sailing usually makes people feel worse and sure enough one got physically sick over the side. We cleaned up the side of the boat and continued on toward Oriental. After tying up next to the end of Dock A, six of our crew decided to hang out in Oriental and get some ice cream at The Bean. The rest of us headed out for some
more sailing in the 20+kt winds.

We practiced man over board drills when Scott's and Gregory's hats blew off. But alas, they are now both still adrift or sent to Davey Jones' Locker.

After cleaning up the boat and ourselves we headed over to M&M's for a great dinner. The Cajun Tuna, with shrimp, and Adouille sausage was excellent.

The trip back was smooth sailing and I remembered to open the moonroof to enjoy the clear cool night air.

I can't wait for the next trip!

Another Great Saturday Sail - July 14th

This weekend eight of us (Laura, Jennifer, Sherri, Jessica, Elaine, Tim, Scott, and Steve) took out the brand new 34' Beneteau 343 chartered through Oriental's School of Sailing. The weather was excellent. Jennifer took the boat out of the slip and out the channel. The wind was from the northeast initially at about 8 knots. After sailing about 3 hours out the Neuse we turned around and the wind promptly died. However, Providence was with us and the wind shifted to the south at about 12-14 knots and we were able to sail upwind back toward Oriental.

One point of interest, Scott saved the boat by throwing himself in front of a killer jellyfish while he was swimming. Thank you, Scott!

After bringing the boat back in the slip we headed over to M&Ms for a delicious meal.
Tim was kind enough to part with his ABBA CD so the other car could sing along on the return trip. Pretty scary!

Well it is Monday and back to work.
I miss the coast already.....

July 7th - 20% chance of rain

Saturday July 7th a group of us took out the 42' Beneteau from the Oriental School of Sailing. The National Weather Service website listed a 20% chance of rain all day. The crew consisted of Bill, Barb, Greg, Leeanne, Kevin, Andrea, Dave, Fadi, Jared, Scott, my Dad, and myself.

Scott and I checked out the brand new Beneteau. This was the first time I had been sailing on it. I walked back down the the long A dock to get 8 more life jackets so we would have enough for the entire crew. I took the boat out of the slip. It was relatively easy as the boat had been backed in the slip. We motored out the Oriental channel and turned up the music. As we got to the end of the channel a Coast Guard RB-S "Defender" pulled along side us. The said they wanted to check out our boat and asked me to put the Beneteau in neutral. They tied up along side and asked to see the paperwork for the boat. They never actually boarded but had us show them the safety equipment that was on board. Good thing I walked back to get those life jackets! They asked to see the fire extinguisher, noise signalling device, and throwable floatation device. We checked out fine!

The Coast Guard was with us about 20-25 minutes. All the while we could see a large thunderstorm growing south of the Neuse. As the CG boat pulled away we asked which way we should head to avoid the storm and they pointed out the Neuse, so we headed that direction. Well within a short time we were in pouring rain with lightning a few miles a way. The wind picked up to 30kts! We had no sail out and just motored near some other boats. After an hour of so the wind and rain died down and we put up some sail. We had some nice sailing while it continued to drizzle.

After the sail Bill, Barb, Scott, my Dad and I all went to the Oriental Steamer as M&M's was a 30+ minute wait due to the Croaker Festival. At dinner Barb gave us a nice complement saying that even in the thunderstorm she felt safe the entire time.
We talked to the waitress who was a college student in town for the summer. We offered to let her sail with us one weekend, but she hasn't taken us up on the offer. My Dad and I had a nice drive home. This was probably the most fun I've ever had in the pouring ran.

More pictures from the 42' Hunter Passage Trip

Pictures from our 42' Hunter Passage Trip on June 24th

On Saturday June 24th we sailed the "Champagne Sunset" a 42' Hunter Passage from Whittaker Creek Marina. The Whittaker Creek channel is a narrow one and I promptly ran aground, WELL WITHIN the channel I might add. Someone else at the helm also ran aground IN the channel (no names to protect the innocent). As best I can find out the channel was dredged in 1997 to 9 feet. The "Champagne Sunset" has a 5' draft. I'm sure there has been much shoalling in the channel in the past 10 years.

It was a beautiful day for sailing! Winds were moderate to light. At one point we "hove too" and parked the boat so everyone could just relax for a while. This was probably on of the most relaxing sails I've ever had in the Oriental area.

We had Claudia, Jessica, Stephanie, Shanna, Amy, George, Tim, Scott, and me as crew on this trip. George at one time had an actual captains license from Greece where he used to work on a tourist sailboat in the summers. He was a big help with the dock lines leaving and entering the slip. One thing that I'm learning is that the crew on the dock lines is probably more important than getting the boat in the slip. The "Sunset" is an 1997 boat and shows its age. Some of the electronics don't work and the sails look a little aged. Perhaps I'm getting spoiled after sailing on the brand new Benateau's from the Oriental Sailing School.

After the sail we had dinner at M&M's. The crab cakes with remoulade sauce were delicious. I was thinking how perfect the day had been when Bam! the mosquitoes attacked. In the the hasty retreat inside, I left the extra remoulade sauce that I was going to take home on the table. Rats! We had a nice drive home as the temperature dropped into the 70s and I opened the moonroof. Very relaxing trip. Trips like this one make me want to sail every day of the year.