ESCUELAS VALENCIANAS

Leslie and Meg had a look...



...at the private English-language schools while in Valencia a couple weeks ago. There are a number of highly-regarded "escuelas ingleses" in the upscale suburbs in the hilly areas that are 15 to 20 minutes north and northeast of downtown. The homes in these hills have an excellent view of downtown and the sea, and it is as much as 5 degree (C) cooler during the hot summer months.



Football (soccer to you Yanks) is of course the number one sport, and every school has at least one football "pitch." The one pictured below is at a school which did not make Meg's and Leslie's shortlist, as the administration did not seem very level-headed.

CHIM-CHIMINEE, CHIM-CHIMINEE

Who is this man...



... in the basement of our Hamburg home today? No, this is not a Halloween costume contest or joke.









Indeed, twice each year the chimney sweep, resplendent in traditional garb, shows up at each house where, by law, he inspects and cleans the furnace flue. And after a few minutes, he is off with a friendly wave and, with any luck, the words, "Alles in Ordnung" -- music to the ears of any German, meaning, of course, "all is in order."







I might shake his hand ("good luck will rub off, if he shakes hands with you" la, la, la...) if it were a bit cleaner!

VALENCIA FOTOS

Some very nice shots...



...at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/valencia/.

STEERING THE CHRISTINA O

Under the watchful eye of...



...Igor, the Ukranian helmsman on the afternoon watch of the Christina O, and with Captain Stewart Parvin giving the commands, Meg was allowed to steer the 99-metre yacht for a few minutes the afternoon Leslie and Meg were out to watch the racing in Valencia last week (photo courtesy of teammate Karen Brodie).

The ship was built in the 1940s by the Canadian Navy and saw duty in WWII as a convoy escort. Onassis bought her in 1954 for $34,000 and spent close to $5,000,000 million converting it to his floating home, office and entertainment center. After Onassis died, his daughter gave it to the Greek government, but the socialists had no use for it and it languished in a shipyard until 2000 when a private consortium bought and restored it for chartering.

Below, Captain Parvin (GBR) with teammate and good friend Mark "Tugboat" Turner (NZL, head of our boat building department) on the bridge of Christina O during the fleet racing last week.

FATHER-DAUGHTER BALL

Nice to hear from...



...our longtime friend "Buddha" Bob Billingham with whom we have done a couple America's Cup campaigns and who is now overseeing the construction of a large building in downtown San Fran. Buddha was a silver medalist in 1988 at Pusan with John Kostecki in the Soling Class. He built and ran the Base Club for us in Auckland during AC 2003. His daughter, Briana, and Meg were AC mates, as were Leslie and Bob's wife Chris.



The note from Bob, with the photo below, was a bit of a lament about how fast our daughters are growing up -- how true! The handsome couple were attending the recent St Francis YC's father-daughter ball.

CHRISTINA O

Meg having her...



...Jackie O moment on the late Aristotle Onassis motoryacht which served as our team VIP spectator boat during the Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts 2 and 3 that ended Sunday.







The 99-metre vessel is arguably the most famous personal yacht since Cleopatra's Barge. Leslie and Meg were here in Valencia last week checking out the schools and neighborhoods for a possible relocation here from Hamburg perhaps during the summer of '05.



They also took a few of the sites and attractions with Cup friends Fredelle Menin and Jacqueline Bosse (with Leslie and Meg, below). Perhaps we can get Meg to write something for the Blog about this particular old and famous building....

COLORFUL SHOSHOLOZA

Just a nice picture of the...



...most popular team here in Valencia, Africa's first ever AC challenger, Shosholoza, from Cape Town, South Africa. A big step forward for the Cup, and our sport.

KERRY AND THE CUP

Turns out not only JFK...



...was at the 1962 AC in Newport, but John Kerry was as well. He was dating an Auchincloss (Jackie's family) when he met JFK in August that year, and was invited for a sail with the President on the 62-foot Coast guard yawl Manitou.







When the President attended the Cup races in September, apparently Kerry was invited along on the naval vessel, the USS Joseph P Kennedy, that served as the JFK's spectator boat. The other JFK, second from right.







More at http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/index.kerry.html, and my thanks to Peter Huston for forwarding this link.

ROYAL REVIEW

HM King Juan Carlos...



...spent the day yesterday America's Cupping it. Spain's popular monarch, and champion sailor, visited the team bases in the AC Harbour one by one.







Above, our Skipper and CEO, Chris Dickson (far right), escorts HM to our dock. Jane Eagleson, our media relations manager, impressed everyone with her protocol-proper curtsy. Two other good team friends are to her left: marketing director Mirko Groeschner, then logistics manager Grant Davidson.



Below, His Majesty kindly pauses for a quick chat about how similar the AC is becoming to Formula One, and to ask if and when we would be relocating to Spain.







We were the last team he visited. His Majesty then changed into his sailing clothes and raced as "18th crew" with Alinghi in yesterday's first race (AC boats carry 17 crew and may have an 18th, non-racing, guest who rides in the stern and cannot contribute to the racing of the yacht in any way except by moving their weight from side to side).



Unfortunately for HM, Alinghi was beaten rather soundly by Emirates Team New Zealand. ETNZ proved quick in yesterday's light lumpy conditions as they also took a race off us -- but at least ours was a close and exciting match, the best so far of the series. ETNZ, Alinghi and Luna Rossa stand atop the leaderboard with 4 wins each; we have three wins with races against Alinghi and Luna Rossa slated for tomorrow.



Racing for Act 2 concludes on Tuesday. Wednesday is off, then we begin Act 3, which will be seven fleet races over four days.



All told, when Act 3 is done next Sunday, we will have raced 21 races over 15 days -- the most intense period of racing in the 154-year history of the America's Cup.

THE WILSON GIRLS

Was cleaning up my hard drive...



...when changing from the old laptop to this new one (terrific machine -- HP/Compaq nc6000) and found this nice picture with three of the four Wilson sisters taken just before Terry's wedding a couple years back.







Of course that's Leslie on the left, Terry in the middle, and Jonalee on the right. Seemed a good time to run this picture, as yesterday is Terry's birthday, and Jonalee's is coming up on the 25th. Happy Birthday to you both!

JFK -- A MAN OF THE SEA

From a speech given by...



...President John F. Kennedy at Newport, RI on September 14, 1962, the night before race one of the 18th America's Cup:



"I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came."



I have often said that sailing's growth spurt in the 1960s must have had as much or more to do with JFK being an avid sailor -- and others wanting to emulate him -- than all the other reasons often given (emerging affluent middle class, more leisure time, less expensive and lower maintenance boats of dacron and fiberglass, etc.). Images like this were priceless promotion for the sport....











Now comes John Kerry the windsurfer/sailor (see photo in an earlier post below). And, tah-dah, look at this very nice story about windsurfing that the New York Times just ran (thanks, Peter Huston, for forwarding), to say nothing of all those windsurfing ads you in the States are apparently seeing, thanks to Bush-Cheney 04:



The Sport That Has Everything: Water, Wind and Politics

By HARRY HURT III



WINDSURFERS have been hopping mad over the impressions of their sport promulgated by political opponents of John Kerry in television ads and elsewhere. Riding across the water at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour, often outracing the wind itself, windsurfers say, is not an effete activity.



In fact, they say, windsurfing demands a combination of sailing and surfing skills and an acute awareness of the natural elements.



But what is windsurfing really about? The appeal is both primal and subtly complex, said Michael Alex, 45, vice president for news at MTV in New York. "There's the thrill of flying across the water, the speed and the adrenaline rush," he said. "But there's also an aesthetic to it, a beauty, as well as the thrill, that makes people obsess over it. When you get off a board after several hours on the water, you feel like you've done something meaningful."



For Philip Schettewi, 46, a retired money manager in Potomac, Md., the complexity is an integral part of the attraction. "When you're an intense person in the work that you do, you need to find a way to relax that demands total concentration," he said. "I found that when I went windsurfing nothing else mattered. Everything else just went away, whether it was a bad stock market or this or that."



The commercials show Mr. Kerry windsurfing to imply that he changes positions with the direction of the wind. But how does he fare in the sport itself? He earns high marks from veteran windsurfers for both his natural ability and his commitment.



"He's remarkably good, especially given the limited amount of time he gets to do it," said Nevin Sayre, a six-time national champion who often windsurfs with him.

In the summer of 1998, Mr. Kerry participated in the annual Martha's Vineyard Challenge, which involves sailing all the way around the island, a trip that can take up to 10 hours, depending on the wind.



"It is an excruciating race, no matter what your level of sailing ability is," said Eddy Patricelli, a veteran instructor and editor of Windsurfing magazine in Winter Park, Fla.



Windsurfing, after several years of contraction, is booming nationwide, said Nathaniel Siddall, executive director of the U.S. Windsurfing Association, which has 50 member clubs. The latest survey by the National Sporting Goods Association showed that 400,000 people participated in windsurfing at least once in 2001.



Compared with sports like golf or tennis, participation in competitive windsurfing remains relatively small. The association's National Racing Tour draws about 200 participants to each of its 20 annual regattas, while the U.S. Windsurfing National Championships, held in July in San Francisco Bay, drew 80 competitors, Mr. Siddall said.



He and others say that there is abundant anecdotal evidence that recreational participation is on the upswing for reasons unrelated to Mr. Kerry's campaign. Chief among the factors, they say, is a revolution in equipment design that makes the sport much more user-friendly.



A basic windsurfing rig consists of a board, a mast, a boom and a sail. According to Mr. Patricelli, the initial goal for all beginners is to haul the sail out of the water and balance on the board, which he likens to "rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time."



The next goal is planing, he said. "Planing is when you're going fast enough to make the board rise on top of the water so that you're skimming over it rather than plowing through it," Mr. Siddall explained. "Planing is a phase shift in the experience when it gets much more exciting."



As recently as five years ago, a typical windsurfing board measured more than 12 feet long and barely 2 feet wide, dimensions that made it difficult to maneuver, Mr. Patricelli said. The older generations of boards were made of fiberglass and had hard, slippery surfaces. Handling the old aluminum masts and booms required considerable upper-body strength and athleticism.



"When I started in the early 1990's," Mr. Alex said, "you were always trying to pull a very heavy mast out of the water while trying to stand on something not much bigger than a log without breaking your back."



Today, a typical recreational windsurfing board is less than 10 feet long and nearly 3 feet wide, dimensions that enhance both stability and maneuverability; the board often has a padded surface that offers greater traction and comfort. Most fancy new boards, booms and masts are made of lightweight carbon composites, which permit planing in winds as light as 12 m.p.h. Older gear required at least 15 m.p.h.



"The new wider, shorter boards make learning to windsurf ridiculously easy," Mr. Patricelli said. "It's now an enjoyable experience."



Tinho Dornellas, a veteran instructor and owner of Calema Windsurfing in Merritt Island, Fla., says a vast majority of beginners can get up on a board with less than an hour of instruction, and become totally comfortable on the board in three to six hours. According to Jon Ford, owner of Windsurfing Hamptons in Southampton, N.Y., a full package of new windsurfing gear can be bought for as little as $1,200; rentals at his shop start at $40 for two hours. More experienced windsurfers, he said, can expect to pay up to $4,000 for a high-tech rig and a top-of-the-line wetsuit. But he notes that golf and tennis typically require greens fees, court fees or club memberships, while water and wind are free.

Windsurfing instruction is available on many bodies of water across the country. Big Winds Hood River in Hood River, Ore., offers a range of instructional programs for beginners and intermediates, as well as a Kids Camp for children ages 7 to 13 and a clinic for women.



AT Big Winds Hood River, a two-hour introductory group lesson costs $55 a person, equipment rental included; a three-lesson package is $145 a person. Calema Windsurfing in Florida offers a three-hour lesson for $150, including equipment rental; sessions include instruction on a land-based simulator as well as on the open water. Windsurfing Hamptons offers a two-hour private lesson for $125.



The only potential hidden costs, several windsurfing enthusiasts said, are the travel expenses needed to satisfy an almost inevitable wanderlust that comes with proficiency in the sport. Among the more popular windsurfing sites are the windswept Caribbean island of Aruba, Padre Island in Texas, the Outer Banks of North Carolina and a section of the Columbia River Gorge near the town of Hood River in Oregon, where unique meteorological conditions create high winds and big waves.



The New York area also has several windsurfing sites, like Plum Beach in Brooklyn and Heckscher State Park, West Meadow Beach, Peconic Bay and Napeague Harbor on Long Island.



Mr. Schettewi, who spent four months on Aruba improving his skills, says the unique demands of the sport and the variability of wind and water conditions make windsurfing endlessly fascinating, no matter where you are. "There's no such thing as a windsurfer who's learned everything," he said. "You try to master it. You strive for that. But there's always more to learn."