LASERING

Just a nice pic by, I believe, our BMW ORACLE Racing team photog
Gilles-Martin Raget that I lifted off the excellent online sailing
magazine site The Daily Sail. GMR is no doubt one of the best in
the biz. TDS is a subscription site, but well worth the annual fee --
especially if you are following the UK yachting scene.

SAY CHEESE

Grandma Jan, if you email Meg and ask her to write a caption for this pic maybe you will have better luck than I getting one out of her.



As usual, click to enlarge.

TURKEY DAY

Today was a work and school day in Valencia. Our "real" Thanksgiving will be Saturday when we are hosting at the house 40+ expat Cup friends, mostly from BMWOR but not exclusively, for a pot-luck holiday dinner. Leslie and a number of the other ladies are cooking turkeys and everyone is bringing a dish or two to pass. Hope the weather is nice so we can also hang outdoors -- the house is good-sized, but sit down dinner for 40?

Nonetheless, today Leslie cooked up a turkey and some of the usual trimmings, more as a practice run with the new oven in the new house. She had a bit of a shock when she unwrapped the bird that she bought last evening at the butcher in Puzol. Unlike those you get in the States, here they come rather more complete. Photo below.

Am reminded by a discussion Leslie and Meg were having earlier abour the origins of Thanksgiving in the USA that I did a post on that on the EFB a year ago.

This is probably the only holiday for which I really miss being in the USA. It's now early Friday morn here, and trust all of our friends and family in the States are enjoying a very Happy Thanksgiving.



Yikes -- what would Martha Stewart do with that!?

DOG HOUSE

JB Braun is a BMW ORACLE Racing colleague from Marblehead, Mass., just outside Boston. We first met in 1979 when he was a member of the US World Youth Sailing Championship squad for which I was the team leader. The event was raced off Livorno, ITA; coincidentally, Chris Dickson won it.

This summer JB, his wife Kelly and kids moved to Valencia for the duration of the 32nd Cup. They have taken a house here in la urbanización not far from us. Their kids are at the American School, which has a four-day Thanksgiving holiday same as in the States. So they have taken off for a few days, and we have their dog, Amber, as our guest through Sunday. Not sure our two cats, Amber (yes, two Ambers in the house) and Bailey, are as pleased about this arrangement as are Leslie and, especially, Meg.



Amber the Dog, with some help from the camera flash, doing her best
imitation of Little Orphan Annie's dog -- this afternoon, with Meg
just back from school. BTW, Meg got her first mid-term test (Geography)
back and graded today -- an A+.

DOCKED AND SHOT

Dinner last evening with an old Formula 1 friend, John Chambers (left), and three of his Haymarket publishing colleagues down from London. Of course we went to our favorite VLC restaurant, Lambrusqueria, a.k.a. "The Docks." I have no idea why. No, silly, I know why we had dinner, just no idea why it's also called The Docks. As far as we know it has nothing to do with the sea or sailing, aside from the regular patronage of ourselves and a growing contingent of the Cup community, and it is nowhere near the water let alone any wharfs.

I think it was over the 2000-2001 New Year that John and his partner, Elaine, were in Melbourne for an auto race which Haymarket was involved with. They invited Leslie, Meg and me to fly up from Auckland and join them. Good times.

John & Co. are in town for meetings with ACM today. Haymarket publishes the official ACM magazine 32 (as in the 32nd defense of the America's Cup). They also publish the best F1 magazine, F1 Racing, among many other titles. Nice to see them involved now in sailing.

And as our dinner went beyond midnight, we managed to get today's festivities (Thanksgiving, etc.) going a bit earlier than normal.



Getting the hang of the 2 megapixel Nokia N70-1, which has a lame
little flash but better than nothing. Many of you will know The Docks
is not exactly brightly lit. Nokia's N80 is about to come out, and has
a 3mp cam.

ADRA

Staying in hotels gets old, and it's a nice change of pace to have a "bed & breakfast" in the home of friends like the three nights at "Chez Nicholas" (see posts below) while in San Diego last week.

Likewise, for years any number of visiting sailors and judges have bunked in at the beautiful Kober home in Long Beach. Even though Chuck passed away some years back, Adra (say AY- druh) keeps up the tradition. I booked a night at the Kober "Olde Seaman's Haven" when we were in Long Beach for the LBYC stop on the USA Yacht Club Tour.

Talk about a big heart -- ask Adra about the wedding she "threw" on the spur of the moment one rainy evening, in the middle of an early-80's Congressional Cup, when she insisted that the bride, groom and their 100 guests (none of whom she knew) move their "outdoor wedding" from the adjacent park into the Kober home. An hour later it had come off without a hitch, and the Kobers and the six of us staying with them were only minutes late for the judges' dinner back at the yacht club.



Still going strong after all these years. A welcome sign to many, many
racers, judges and their spouses over the years.



Adra of Long Beach: the face that launched a thousand ships? For
well over 25 years Adra's breakfast and wry sense of humour has
sent many of us off for a long day at the races, whether the 81-83
pre-Olympics, the 84 Olympics, or numerous Congressional Cups.
More than a few major decisions affecting the sport were taken at
the Kober brekkie table, especially in the early 80's when Adra's late
husband Chuck was President of USYRU.



Adra was head of Protocol for the Long Beach Olympic regattas 81-84.
During the same period she was elected Commodore of Alamitos Bay YC,
the first woman to head a major yacht club in the USA. Adra has slowed
down a bit but is still a ball of fire -- the day before I arrived she
hosted in her home a sitdown luncheon for 30.

WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT!?

Have a new 3G phone. The highly rated Nokia N70-1. It takes 2 megapixel fotos. 3G means it has wireless broadband connectivity. In fact, as fast as -- and often faster than -- our ADSL connection at home.









Just got the phone's email set up. Then used the phone to take the photo below and email it to myself. Received it on my laptop and posting now to the EFB. For that matter, can post direkt from the phone to the blog (text and pics). Easy peasy.

What hath God wrought, indeed!



Have taken a number of pics with the new Nokia N70-1 phone cam as
you will have seen on recent EFB and other blog posts. But this is the
first foto taken with the phone then emailed from the phone (3G
connection) to my laptop. Only takes a few clicks. Scary cool technology,
coming soon to a phone near you.

OOPS!

Courtesy of Tom Leweck.

LOVELY IN LONDON

While not quite sunny Southern California, the weather in London for the quick stopover on the way back from the USA (to Valencia) was autumn at its best. Sunny and warm, you would have thought it was early September not mid-November. Could not have been nicer, nor the two events attended....

Tuesday evening was the Royal Thames YC annual prizewinners' dinner at which I was guest speaker (there will be a post shortly on the team blog). Wednesday noon was a small media luncheon, nicely hosted by BMW UK-Ireland, to brief some few Brit journos on the 32nd AC and our team. There is a good story from the latter here.



Jim O'Donnell, Managing Director of BMW UK-
Ireland at the RTYC dinner Tuesday evening.
Jim and his team have partnered with Royal
Thames, and by all appearances it has been
a very successful engagement for both.



After-dinner guest speaker with an update on AC 32
and BMW ORACLE Racing.



Long time NYYC friend David Anderson, and a shipmate on
George Carmany's NY40 Hornet, is living in London with his
wife and kids. He joined me Wed morn at the Royal Thames
for a quick catch-up over breakfast, and checked out the BMW
M6 on display in front of the Knightsbridge clubhouse.



Another friend from way back, Malcolm McKeag, is the Chief
Sailing Officer at the Royal Thames and has been now for the
past 7 or 8 years. Malcolm organized the dinner and luncheon,
both of which were very successful.

USA YC TOUR -- Finally over!

LAX, 1500 Monday

Leslie's vivacious sister Terry Wilson joined us last evening for Stop Eight on the USA YC Tour at San Diego YC. Terry, of course, lives in SD with her husband Adrian Bean and daughter Olivia (a.k.a. "Olivia the Divia"). After the show we had dinner at our favorite Point Loma bistro, Pizza Nova, with Jim and Linda Nicholas, Peter and JJ Isler, Jane Eagleson and San Diego journalist Bernie Wilson who has long covered the America's Cup for the Associated Press.

And my duffel bag is now packed to overflowing with the syrup, coffee and other items Terry bought at Leslie's request for me to pack-mule back to VLC.

So today am finally headed home after three long weeks on the road. But one last stop in London where am speaking tomorrow night at the Royal Thames YC annual prizegiving dinner, and doing a media roundtable with Brit journos Wed noon.

The email said the Tue dinner attire is "black tie, no medals." Good thing -- the only medals I have are from junior high school band competitions!



T-berry looking great at the San Diego YC last evening.

A SAN DIEGO SATURDAY-SUNDAY

Catching up with old friends in San Diego, where we were living when Meg was born and what she still calls her "hometown"....


Brooke, Jim and Lexi Nicholas -- late Friday evening. Am bunking in
at Chez Nicholas in Point Loma while here for Stop Eight on the
USA Yacht Club Tour at SDYC Sunday evening.



Coffee Saturday morn with Chris and Sally Todter.



Lunch at SDYC with Charles Ward, Malin (and Roberta) Burnhan,
John Engle and John Burnham -- then minus Roberta we checked
out spectacular view from Malin and Roberta's soon to be new home
on Trepte Hill in Point Loma.



The view from the front door through the house to SD Bay. Thumbs
up to Roberta's project management.



John Burnham and Laurie Vanden Berg with their nice Point
Loma remodel.



Up to La Jolla for a quick visit. Whose home is a chicken crossing?



Peter Isler, Megan and Marly, at home with the pet chickens. JJ was
opening the wine.



This guy is a two-time AC winner? And our navigator
for the '07 Cup?? Looks more like a rock-star.



Pedro has been a great addition to our afterguard,
and plays a mean guitar -- and piano. I feel a team
band coming on.



And the lady (Jane "tour manager" Eagleson) plays the blues.



Brooke Nicholas and friends at home late Saturday evening.



Sunday morn: beaut Chez Nichholas view of Shelter Island and into
a hazy downtown San Diego.



Nine-year-old William, like his grandfather and namesake, is a real
gentleman. He enjoys some french toast with his whipped cream.



Linda politely declining to be photographed so early in the morn...



...and manages to escape Jim's strong arms...



...only to end up on the floor being licked by the dog. Last
time I will be invited to stay here!