38 replies to this topic

[MR.CLEAN]

After two races, Claudio Recchi's Team 93 has proven loose and quick and sweet off the line to lead the 2009 Melges 32 Worlds by 4 points. Jonathan McKee is on his game, main trimmer Flavio Favini is working well with Recchi to pass boats when possible and hold lanes where necessary, and of course, the SAYC burgee on their boom doesn't hurt!
Recchi's leading the event by 4 points over Joe Woods' "Red" and Pieter Taselaar's "Bliksem."

Despite big, sloppy waves driven by up to 19 knots from the open sea, carnage was minimal - in fact, the only real drama on the day resulted when Sei Tu and Hublot locked rigs, with both finishing their race, though both rigs needed extensive repair work and when we left the dockyard the jury was still out on whether one needed replacement. There was another mild fender bender when Highlife's spinnaker pole hit Janas pushpit, rapping the GBR boat's kite all up in the Sardinian entry's shit - but no major damage resulted.

As we noticed yesterday, this event definitely has a different vibe than most big boat regattas. You don't often see two crews lined up in the Yacht Club Costa Smerelda piazza chugging beer in Boat Race in between bouts of rugby like they did today, though to be fair, much of that is due to the wacky American and Aussie crews on Bliksem (sail number 69) and Argo. Time to step up to the party plate, Italians. We know you have drinking games too.

You can of course check out all of Day 1's shaky video action (those nasty waves again) organized in order in the thread, as well as Mer's excellent slide show and gallery and other info from around the course and around the world. Results are here, crew lists are here - it seems this class is where the Olympic, VOR, and AC sailors go when there's no Olympics, VOR, or AC to sail. And they seem to be having a ball.

The forecast calls for 20+ knots tomorrow, with clouds and possibly rain. Not so nice for our heads or our cameras, but great for spectating and for the racers' adrenaline levels, and we hope you join us for some fun on the water. We made some calls and got a bigger hamster for the wheel that runs our wireless connection too, so we should have near-live video from all the action tomorrow - when we're not ducking waves and rain. The organizer's blog is also informative if quite dry, and Offshore Rules and Adesso Vela have good coverage as well. If you love this shit, you can't get enough of it, and there certainly is plenty of media attention at this big event.

Below you can watch the three archived clips of today's live OTW Anarchy "Cocktail Hour," where we talked to Argo's Molly Baxter, Bliksem's George Peet, Highlife's Chris Dorey, Team 93's Andrea Vigoni, Matalan's Enrico Menno, and Uka Uka Racing's Paolo Mangialardo about all sorts of cool shit. This is a fun format and we're going to do more of it in the future.

Part One:


Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv

Part Two:


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Part 3:



Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv

[MR.CLEAN]

It's gotta be the boom:

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[MR.CLEAN]

Mer's favorite shot of the day and some halyard swapping:

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[fan]

Clean are you able to archieve any of the on the water footage to justin tv? I am stuck in Shanghai and the Chinese goverment doesn't like youtube so it is blocked.

[MR.CLEAN]

I think I can do that fan. But it might be easier via facebook. Is that blocked?

WE are sitting on our porch looking at the rain, the AP was just dropped and we are in no way looking forward to going out there. It is fugly, breezy, pissing down rain, and I'm tired and hung over. We overslept like a motherfucker, and I went down to clean Barbarians and Shakedown's bottoms (they hired me as "the italians charge too much and never do the keel"), put on my wetsuit, walked on the dock, put on my mask, grabbed a sponge, and jumped in. And then I realized my car keys were in my hand.

Nice.

On a positive note, I ran into Vincenzo Onorato and he loaned me a full set of Mascalzone foulies. So there's that!

[Justin Chisholm]

I think I can do that fan. But it might be easier via facebook. Is that blocked?

WE are sitting on our porch looking at the rain, the AP was just dropped and we are in no way looking forward to going out there. It is fugly, breezy, pissing down rain, and I'm tired and hung over. We overslept like a motherfucker, and I went down to clean Barbarians and Shakedown's bottoms (they hired me as "the italians charge too much and never do the keel"), put on my wetsuit, walked on the dock, put on my mask, grabbed a sponge, and jumped in. And then I realized my car keys were in my hand.

Nice.

On a positive note, I ran into Vincenzo Onorato and he loaned me a full set of Mascalzone foulies. So there's that!

Just get out here Alan. Lumpy as hell and pouring with rain. You are gonna love it!

[MR.CLEAN]

Christ thiss is fucking brutal. BRUTAL. Waves up to 8+, plenty of breeze, and it looks like Team 93 in the lead. God this is painful in a RIB.

[MR.CLEAN]

Race 1 Top Mark Bliksem, Malcazone, Mataran, 93, Matrix, Pilot Italia, Uka Uka, Barbarians, Fantasticaaa, Teasing Machine, Argo...

All sorts of wild action here.

[Advil]

Race 1 Top Mark Bliksem, Malcazone, Mataran, 93, Matrix, Pilot Italia, Uka Uka, Barbarians, Fantasticaaa, Teasing Machine, Argo...

All sorts of wild action here.

Any chance of them calling the race for wind speed? I am assuming that they still have that in the class rules that a race can be called if winds stay about 25knts. Is that breeze holding or building?

[MR.CLEAN]

I honestly don't know how I can even type right now. Boats wiping out across the course, Matrix (Luigi Melegari with Ray Davies on tactics) with a nice one,dropping thte kite and wrapping the jib round itself well. Barbarians wiht some serious broaches, way, way behind now. Video is ridiulous, but there is no way in hell that my poor computer can handle. UPDATE: It looks like Brantolo has rudder issues, awaiting a tow in with no sails up.

Bottom MarK:

Bliksem
Matalan
93 Mascalzone
Pilot Italia

TEasing Machine
Argo
Fantasticaa

[MR.CLEAN]

And with increasing breeze and simply torurous waves, Luigi has put up AP over A, which means you'll see this footage VERY SOON. So good, so wild, so happy to get to land!

Finish:

Bliksem
93
Mataran
Pilot Italia
Mascalzone
Argo
Teasing Machine
Janus
Bitipi
Torpyone
Red
Highlife
Fantasticaa
Calvi
Sei Tu
Matrix
Bagua
Blak Mamba
Uka Ula
Joe Fly
Framartina
Opus One
Rush Diletta
Barbarians
Shaekdown
And a few more...

STay tuned for video and interviews, and don't forget live sailor chick TV at 1730 local, 1630 GMT, 1130 EST, 0830 PST

[bgulari]

Hell yes bliksem!

[RacerX]

Clean...total disappointment, where are the italian hotties at??? I take it no Highlife girls today???

[El Chupacabra]

Clean...total disappointment, where are the italian hotties at??? I take it no Highlife girls today???

word-

[Ralph M]

*pushing the F5 button untill the videos show up*

Excellent coverage Clean, thanks!

[MR.CLEAN]

Videos loading now, surprise party for Jason from Argo starting now, great shit all around. Chicks on vid in an hour and change.

[Two Tone]

Make sure you get the Highlife Chicks on, and embarrass Kirsty by telling her lots of people are watch it in the UK!

[MR.CLEAN]

Click on HQ to check it out for real. Just sick waves.

Race 3 Start:




Race 3 Top Mark:




Look at these monster waves:




Race 3 Finish:

[MR.CLEAN]

Jason Carroll's surprise birthday party:

[MR.CLEAN]

Melges 32 Sailor Chicks Cocktail Hour is LIVE in just ten minutes! Check it out.

http://www.justin.tv/onthewateranarchy

Or watch this box:

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="300" width="400" id="live_embed_player_flash" data="http://www.justin.tv...hewateranarchy" bgcolor="#000000"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.justin.tv...bed_player.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value="channel=onthewateranarchy&auto_play=false&start_volume=25" /></object><a href="http://www.justin.tv...hewateranarchy" style="padding:2px 0px 4px; display:block; width:345px; font-weight:normal; font-size:10px; text-decoration:underline; text-align:center;">Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv</a>

Melges 32 Sailor Chicks Cocktail Hour is LIVE in just ten minutes! Check it out.

http://www.justin.tv/onthewateranarchy

Or watch this box:

Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv

[Bmajor]

Clean,

Great stuff! Except the part where I get woozy just watching your vids. How do you not get seasick out there? Keep up the great work!

[obelix]

Clean,

Great stuff! Except the part where I get woozy just watching your vids. How do you not get seasick out there? Keep up the great work!

Great videos!! Lets all chip in so Clean can get a better anti-shake system on the camera.

We had the BBC come down to Weymouth last week for last day of the Sail-for-Gold regatta with £250,000 camera systems, but there was no wind at all!

[MR.CLEAN]

That was great - I got to use a reference to jesposito since one of the sailor chicks races J/29s out of Raritan Bay NJ. Clips of the chicks are archiving now, and we are rushing around like mad people getting ready to go to dinner with Mascalzone Latino. The cynic in me thinks that it is just wining the press dude, but I've met Vincenzo a few times now and he is a great guy to talk to and very honest and genuine, and he certainly seemed sincere when he invited Mer and I. And these people know how to eat. The house is steps from the YC on the rocks overlooking Porto Vecchio. It should be fun.

[Jambalaya]

"we need a bigger boat"

[MR.CLEAN]

Sailor Chicks Sound Off!

Part 1:

Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv

Part 2:


Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv

Part 3:


Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv

[MER]

Yay! I can embed!

Here's the latest slideshow, MELGES 32 WORLDS - DAY TWO. Rough day. I almost didn't make it...

Link to my Printroom Gallery with today's photos.

Thanks for watching y'all. And thanks for all the nice comments. Let me know if you have any ideas to improve the slideshow or any other ideas for me...be careful!! Well, I guess I am opening myself up with that question. Go for it.

[marian]

Carlo has been off on other business today, but his guys Stefano Gattini & Guido Trombetta have been keeping up the flow of great pix, so there are a ton here, if you haven't seen enough!

[sail fast drink rum]

Sick Stuff thanks Clean!!!!!! God i wish i could be there that is the stuff those boats are made for.

[Downtown]

Nice Job Clean, keep it up.

Great shots from Mer.

This is perfect stuff since I am stuck in the cubicle for the next couple of hours. We are in lock down b/c some real Anarchists have taken over some streets in Pittsburgh.


Later.

-Downtown

[MER]

Glad we can cheer up your day, dt. That sounds like hell.

[Boats13]

Mer's favorite shot of the day and some halyard swapping:

Woke up from a bit of repair surgery, logged in and....... well......... Damn, Great Shooting, Mer!

[fan]

Clean, no facebook is also blocked here in China.

[MR.CLEAN]

Fan, I can definitely do it, but you'll have to give me a few days. And I'll just load entire races and stream them on Justin.TV. You'll be able to click "start from this point" and stop and start them as you like. But it'll take a bit of time, something I DO NOT have right now...and I'm losing my mind...and it's 2:11 AM, and I've got another 90 minutes of work before I go to sleep...and I wake up at 7 AM to go and get SCUBA tank and regulator, then buy a new interview camera, then clean bottoms, then...


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


That felt good.

[MR.CLEAN]

I don't even know if I'll have time to write a daily report, but Luigi was at dinner and he told me they intend to race 3 races tomorrow, in a 15-20 knot forecast with blue skies. I am definitely going in the water and if this GoPro camera doesn't leak, I'll get some really special footage. With this visibility and these boats, it should look amazing.

And even more amazing is our guest list for Cocktail Hour tomorrow afternoon. And then Saturday we'll have the baddest owners on the block - and likely the winner of the event, but I'll share that news with you tomorrow after racing. Check our tomorrow's lineup on the live report:

Freddy Loof
Jonathan McKee
Adrian Stead
Nigel Young
Ray Davies
Jeremy Wilmot

[Sideline]

Gotta love the pic I saw of CLEAN with a beer in hand next to Teakys brother in law!

[R'n'R]

Hi Clean.........great coverage

What happened to the AUS 207 a boat called Indeed with Steve Peel and Barney Walker on board?

I know they entered but don't seem to be racing in their new boat. Can you shed some light on where they have gone...........

cheers

[Ralph M]

Fan, I can definitely do it, but you'll have to give me a few days. And I'll just load entire races and stream them on Justin.TV. You'll be able to click "start from this point" and stop and start them as you like. But it'll take a bit of time, something I DO NOT have right now...and I'm losing my mind...and it's 2:11 AM, and I've got another 90 minutes of work before I go to sleep...and I wake up at 7 AM to go and get SCUBA tank and regulator, then buy a new interview camera, then clean bottoms, then...


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


That felt good.

aaargh, you have a terrible job down there at the worlds! NOT! do you want to change with me? (graduating in a boring office, doing CFD calculations for sailing yachts...)

Anyway, the pics and the movies are really cool!

[BULLET TRAIN]

Awesome slide show, Mer.

[jassaal123]

I had checked your posts and links very nice dear friends..