Ricky Craven

Fuck that looks like a fun ride!

Remarkably thoughtful and well-written note from Steve Hayles. Could not agree more with his risk/reward analysis and views on the untimeliness of Brian's rant.

Intriguing. Thanks for flagging that option. This morning I was thinking about what alternatives may be available outside of the traditional sailing/water sport channels given that sailing is often lagging behind and $$$$. Other applications of mountaineering equipment in the sailing context can be extremely useful, will investigate these glasses further.

We need more of that position-specific coverage. Excellent stuff. Good use of pulpit cam.

I like carcrash's approach. Will shell out for good frames (Oakley and Carrera fit me well, Dirty Dogs too) and then have lenses built for day / night. Image is everything.

Jesus. Function over form. Thanks, all.

Too much time spent staring at VOR/Jules Verne/600nm trackers. I recently had to get prescription glasses/contacts so I can see instrument displays and other details at distance. Anybody out there have a good suggestion for what glasses to wear offshore? Contacts are too much of a pain to put in when its rough and can get washed out quite easily. I helm and work on the bow, so I'm hoping for a versatile solution that can deal with harsh conditions at day and night. Should I just get some ridiculous looking sunnies with clear prescription lenses or Horace Grant - type goggles? Look forward to any and all suggestions from my fellow visually-impaired offshore anarchists.

A rather sanctimonious post from Brian. Unfortunately, the footage coming off the boats will now be even more vanilla/censored (if that's possible). I could care less about seeing one more 4m swell roll into the cockpit and splash a grinder, or a sunset... FFS... the colourful personalities, offensive or not, are what made any of the video even remotely worthwhile (and shots of the boat set-up and bow/pit work, I guess). Bummer.

The M2H (Marblehead to Halifax) is clearly the toughest - essentially the pinnacle of yacht racing.

Thanks, all. Will try various iterations. 2mm dyneema cow hitch on trigger seems fine. Will see whether it makes sense to run it down through tack line lead or hard point at end of pole and tie it off on pulpit/elsewhere. Would be rigging it for remote release when forecast calls for big breeze - otherwise Ricky will sort it out sans MB. Charrrs.

I am interested in seeing a few photos of various martin breaker set-ups. Not sure if there are any bowmen/riggers out there who could assist with this. I saw the helpful photos on the Chi Mac MOB forum, but was hoping to see above deck set-up in instances where pole does not have option for internal martin breaker(s). Greatly appreciated.

Excellent. Thank you for the suggestions.

Other than the Middle Sea Race and Giraglia, are there any well-run and well-attended distance races in the Med in 2017? The goal was to do the Middle Sea Race this year, but no such luck. Now shooting to do two+ events in 2017 (incl. MSR) and would like to know what the options are. The boat is currently in Malta and might be in the Adriatic come spring time. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

bucc: Your lack of understanding of offshore racing is such that you have zero grasp on the decisions that are made every hour---think micro, not macro (overall leg strategy). Tack/gybe on this 5 degree shift? No, hold, none of the other boats have changed course, cover. We like what we see over the next 24 hours, we should hold this course... oops, other boats have tacked, let's follow... AIS changes this dramatically. It can be easy to slip away at night from the fleet when position reports are generated infrequently. As the skippers have previously said, such infrequent reports/no AIS allows you to sail your own race. This is undeniable. The "AIS just extends the horizon" argument is complete shit. EXACT SOG, COG and position in the middle of the night... KF cannot comment on the VO65, he hasn't done a leg on one. If the sailors don't like the boat, aren't impressed by the challenge, why should we be? If somebody wants to find out how to make the VOR as appealing as possible to offshore sailors, they should ask Bouwe! What you want is a one-design around the bouys race played out over 3k nm. Fine. What I propose is an ocean race that actually is "life at the extreme" in which skippers, navigators and crew are pushed to the limits of their skill sets and have to exercise the judgment and decision-making that is so integral to offshore sailing. EDIT: I love one design (not sold on the sail framework, though) - just juice up the ride. "Yet because he sailed 7 VORs in conditions that do not relate to what the VOR is today, he does not like it and I understand that, even as I would disagree." You are not allowed to disagree! You are like a child wandering into a theatre in the middle of a movie... you have no frame of reference.

bucc: Bouwe is unimpressed with the boats. The VO70 was a different beast. Enough said. Can you think of any sailor in the world who can provide a more credible opinion? VO65 v VO70 has nothing to do with squeezing the most boatspeed out of either, it is the challenge of managing the raw power that is at issue. Trying to draw some parallel between the VOR and your local 1D fleet of Thistles is absurd. "Predictive software, more than any other technology has been what keeps these fleets together." You're wrong. Have you done any offshore sailing? Do I recall that you are a lake sailor with limited (no) experience on the ocean? Being able to watch your competition's position, SOG and COG at ALL times is vaaaaaaaaaaaastly different than employing the same routing software. I understand that the Atlantic crossing is often straightforward, and (the links to) Campbell's analysis is one of the things I have been enjoying most in these forums, but it is rarely the case that routes do not disagree/change leading up to and over the course of the leg thereby presenting options--regardless, my point is to eliminate the easy choice to just hang with the group. Force a decision to be made.