Three Sheets.ca

It was spectacular….albeit the close of the season.

The boat has seen little action since moving to the South Shore. Brooklyn / Liverpool is an amazing place to sail…round the breakwater and you are in the ocean. Here is a very short clip of how I spent my Thanksgiving. Longer compilation will be posted shortly. It was in the mid-20′s C and blowing 20 + knots…

What did the Great Bard say about the “Best-laid Plans”?

It’s safe to say that I had a crazy busy 2008. I think I maybe met up with Mac five times over the sailing season and only three of those times were at the boat… As you can see from the updates, the Blog fared no better.

I spent a good part of my year crisscrossing the Midwest, far away from my beloved Atlantic. Thoughts of sailing and the blog took a back seat to the pursuits of career and flight schedules… On one particularly long delay in Indianapolis I actually contemplated starting a blog on the Zen of Commuter Airlines – or – the Worst Airline Coffee Blog… Alas, it was not to be.

But last week I ran into my old sailing buddy Mac at, of all places, the airport. I was at Departures, he at Arrivals. He, too, has been totally focused on life and work… It was cold and snowing but we stayed there for a while. We talked about the Boat. We talked about the Blog. We talked about changes and trying to give it a go… Maybe we just have boat fever… Maybe we can make the Blog work this time… Stay tuned!

[photo: ©SkySails GmbH & Co. KG]

Okay, at the risk of this turning into some kind of sailing transportation blog (though I think that would be cool, too) here is another post looking at how our friends in the shipping community are looking back to the future at sail as way to reduce their environmental impact and improve their bottom line.

My previous post featured a French company, while this item comes from Germany (anyone sensing a trend?).

SkySails has announced their first successful Transatlantic voyage of the M/V Beluga SkySails, the first in their fleet of “Hybrid Drive” vessels. The SkySails system consists of a fully automated towing kite propulsion and a wind-optimised routing system. It is used offshore, additionally to the propulsion of the ship’s engine, if the wind conditions allow

We can once again actually ‘sail’ with cargo ships, thus opening a new chapter in the history of commercial shipping,“ was the verdict from Captain Lutz Heldt following his return from the nearly two-month maiden voyage of the multi-purpose heavy-lift project carrier “Beluga SkySails”, which sailed from Germany to Venezuela, the United States and Norway. In even moderate winds, the first flights of an initial 160-square-meter towing kite propulsion system from the Hamburg-based manufacturer SkySails demonstrated how this innovative auxiliary propulsion system was able to substitute for 20% of the engine’s power.

[Gallery after the jump]

Continue Reading »

In a time when it is quite fashionable for companies to talk Green, I think it is really good to see someone putting their money where their mouth is. In this case that someone is Frederic Albert, founder of the shipping company, Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voile, CTMV., who have begun using a sailing ship to send wine from the southern Languedoc region of France to Dublin, Ireland.

The first shipment planned for Dublin currently amounts to about 60,000 bottles, and each bottle carries a label with a stylized ship logo and the slogan, “Carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet”…

Fifty Languedoc wine producers have now been chosen to supply wines, and Albert says he has a waiting list of about 200 others. “We chose the best wine in the area, but it must also be made in a sustainable way, using as many natural products as possible,” he said. Continue Reading »

[Source: Seldén Mast]

Sweden’s Seldén Mast launched a new edition to their line of Furlex jib furlers over the winter. The 50S is a small and light weighing in as low as 7kg in the 4mm (5/32″) version. It’s small too, with the drum coming in at 120mm, which is just under 5 inches.

Furlex 50S has most of the functions found on the bigger Furlex systems. It features stainless steel ball bearings, load distributor in the composite halyard swivel, distance tubes to centre and insulate the forestay wire, stainless connecting plates for easy installation, halyard lead and prefeeder. It comes complete, including a new forestay wire. Easy to buy, easy to install and, most importantly, easy to furl.

Made for boats in the 18-26ft range, the 50S does have a few differences when compared to the bigger Furlex models. Most notably is the fact that it has a single grooved foil and it features a fixed drum. Since Seldén believes that boats in the 18-26ft range normally sail with their jib completely unfurled they sure haven’t sailed with Mac, the Furlex 50S does not have a tack ring to flatten out a reefed sail.

You’ll be able to find the new Furlex 50S at dealers in the spring of ’08. You can read Seldén’s press release here.

Is it just me or does it seem like there is less and less competition are fewer and fewer independent boat builders every year… I was looking to spend some time dreaming about buying one of those fancy Belgium-built ETAP 32s, when I came across this bit of news from late January. It seems that Germany’s Dehler Yachts, themselves makers of high-end regatta cruisers in the 29 to 60ft range, have gone and acquired the ‘Unsinkable’ Belgian company ETAP.

“The merger of the two traditional shipyards, Dehler and ETAP Yachting, will profit both companies. Together with the management behind Wilan van den Berg, we want to create a powerful network of small, boutique shipyards – with the network producing up to 500 high-end boats annually”, explains Peter Blumenwitz, Managing Partner of Buchanan Capital Partners, his strategy for the fragmented sailing yacht industry. “We are more than willing to accompany the successful setting up of a profitable group of shipyards such as this with further equity.”

I have a couple of thoughts on this… First, I hope that by combining their purchasing, marketing, sales and financing the two companies will be stronger and more competitive. Secondly, I think it would be a good thing if they can establish a network of smaller boatyards – as long as they are able to maintain their quality control. Finally, I can’t wait to see how long we have to wait until our local ETAP dealer Shining Waters will start bring in Dehlers… Make mine a 34, please!

[Read the Press Release]

Photo Credit: William Calver, Ocean Photography, New Zealand

After winning Silver at the 2008 Tornado Worlds in New Zealand, Oskar Johansson and Kevin Stittle have secured their place to represent Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Bravo Zulu!

Performance under pressure, on demand performance…. what more can one say, all the chips were on the line and Oskar and Kevin came through and more. Not only did they dominate the Olympic qualification but they came within a whisker of the top step on the podium. The timing could not be better, as each program loads up in preparation for the Games, making this type of statement to ones competitors will be heard loud and clear.

click here to read the full article from CYA

One of the nicest thing about a Boat Show has got to be the people you meet. One such person was Ishbel Munro from the Coastal Communities Network. The CCN bills itself as “A Large Voice For Rural Nova Scotia” and Ishbel took the time to walk me through one of their projects, ‘Close to the Coast‘ an online database for coastal cruising in Nova Scotia.

Close to the Coast is a site that offers detailed information on wharves, marinas and yacht clubs in Nova Scotia. This site also lists the facilities on the wharf or those nearby, as well as restaurants, tourist attractions, accommodations and anything else of interest.

A work in progress, I think that ‘Close to the Coast’ is going to be a great database and planning tool for local and visiting sailors. Take a look around and send them an email if they’re missing out on a service, attraction or great restaurant near your wharf. My only critique is that they somehow missed Armdale! Guess I’ll be the first to email them.