Capt. Ron Goes to Court

Plus a snapped sail, and the Ocean Globe Race kickoff

Ah, sailing. The playground where bums and billionaires collide and thrive, all chasing the same priceless sunsets. To be clear, I’m usually one shower shy of Bum Mode while sailing, but darned if I don’t feel like two million bucks. Anyways, welcome to I’dRatherBeSailing. This week has been nothing but entertaining, so let’s get into it.

In today’s update:

  • Capt. Ron Goes to Court: Stranded in bare feet & doobies.

  • Race Updates: SailGP wing snaps, OGR kicks off.

  • Sailing Snippets: Concept Inception, La Bella Classe, Delicious Daggerboards, and a Mast Backwards Bateau.

Reef-er Madness

Capt. Ron Goes to Court

This week’s Captain Ron Award goes to…Logan Walker, who lit up a doobie on the court steps, then walked barefoot into the courtroom to defend his sailboat from being demolished. Back in July, Walker was out for a sail, and was rudely awakened from his nap at the helm when he ran aground on Stinson beach. His boat, Chandalar, has been stuck there ever since.

Chandalar was no less stuck in the sand than in the Marin County bureaucracy, with the community pitching in to help refloat the boat, even starting a GoFundMe, and the bureaucrats doing whatever it is that they do. Some people were bothered that he was living aboard his stranded boat, but some people are always bothered by boat people. Perhaps they were just jealous of his newly found premium beachfront real estate.

The County set a date by which Chandalar must be removed, or she was going to be destroyed. Walker went to court and assured the judge that he would be able to remove her before the deadline. Unfortunately, she was not able to be removed by the deadline, despite dozens of community members showing up in the middle of the night at high tide and successfully rotating the boat, so demolition began on Wednesday.

And as for his shoes, he told the judge he “couldn’t remember what happened to them.”

Global Gilded Gals

Race Updates

SailGP: This weeks Saint-Tropez race served up some nail-biting action and leaderboard surprises, with Emirates GBR winning Season 3 in a last minute sprint to the finish line. Australian Flying Roos still stand in first place. In case you missed it, here are the highlights:

  • Snapped Wing: Shortly after crossing the finish line on Day 1, New Zealand’s 29m wing dramatically snapped, in what the crew said sounded like an explosion. They’re unable to get a replacement wing in time for the next race, so they are out of the running. NZ has been dodging bad luck, having already lost wings to a lightning strike in Singapore, and the wind event in Sydney. No crew were injured. Watch the video of the wing collapsing here.

Ocean Globe Race: 14 teams racing in 3 classes set out from Cowes, UK, in the latest homage to the Whitbread Round the World Race, crewed by old hands of the race and young history making-hopefuls. Some notable highlights about the race:

  • The OGR is a crewed, round the world race with stops.

  • Organised by Don McIntyre, the same man behind the modern Golden Globe Races.

  • Tracy Edward’s Maiden: The only all-female team in the race is skippered by Heather Thomas. The 58 foot boat competed in two past Whitbread races, and was fully refit in 2018 after falling into disrepair. No all female team has won a round the world race, so this team is hoping to make history.

  • Tapio Lehtinen: Is skippering the smallest boat in the fleet, crewed with young Finnish sailors he personally selected. It was barely a year ago Lehtinen’s boat sank during the Golden Globe Race - the nonstop solo version of the same race.

  • Godspeed: The only american entrant is a 51 footer crewed by US Military Veterans.

  • Follow the ORG from their official page here.

Sailing Snippets

Conception Inception: For when you need to break ice, but also get under bridges. And also need a submarine and a helipad. And also want to 2 hand the whole shebang. This concept explorer yacht does it all, and even has a mast that can tilt down to get under those pesky bridges, so you can go almost anywhere in 134’ of well tendered style. Check out the concept here. 

La Bella Classe: They’re big, they’re beautiful, and their polished wood decks gleam in the sun and wink at you with an old money grace like only classic yachts can. Check out the enviable lineup from the largest yachts racing in Monaco Classic Week, along with their history, here.

Delicious Daggerboards: It’s well known that Orcas off the coast of Spain have a taste for Sailboat rudders, but this latest attack looks like they’ve added daggerboards to the menu. The boat was towed to port for repairs, and all crew are safe. Check out this latest report here.

Mast Backwards: The mast is in the aft on this most backwards bateau. No idea what’s going on here, but it was a fun head scratcher, and I thought you’d enjoy. Check out the Reddit post here.

OK, that’s enough for today, I’ll Ketch you next week!

P.S. I’m figuring out this referral program thing, so bear with me. When you refer your sailing buddies to the newsletter, I’ll send you awesome sailing stuff as a thank you. And by awesome sailing stuff I mean Beneteau stuff.

-Ben, Editor (who really likes Beneteau stuff)

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