Abilyn Sailing

08/30/2023

Replacing displays above companionway. New footprint. Made a carbon plate to accommodate any footprint when I decide to install the displays.

Laminated with 4 layers of twill (should have been 5). Templated the companionway “display center” with templating film. Dremeled out the shape using the template. Sanded for days. Spent way to long trying to get the clear coat right. Chose satin to hide all my mistakes.

But as Tom Hanks said in Castaway, “LOOK AT WHAT I CREATED!!!”

05/30/2023

Singlehanded. But never alone.

A few helpful reminders to make reasonable choices offshore—ie, don’t be stupid. T-2.5 to the start of the 1-2.

05/29/2023

The good part of the Block Island Race: Hugging the CT coast as the sun died and making forests over the boats that chose the Long Island side. But the glee soon faded as the southerly filled in and the boats to the south took off and rounded the mark first, getting richer with the flood current while we fought the current in a dying breeze. We never recovered, and ended up retiring after deciding that we were successful at achieving our primary goal—preparing for the Bermuda 1-2, which starts this Friday.

Thanks to for making the trek down I-95.

05/05/2023

-2 planning.

While work continues in the yard, the Gulf Stream analysis continues at home. If the race were today, I could go east of rhumb to have a more favorable downwind angle. But I run into the wrong side of some not insignificant eddies—which also would create wind against current.

Or, I go west and sail a longer distance at a less favorable angle. But I’m in favorable current the whole time.

Split the difference? Nah, I’d go west.

03/25/2023

I too was wondering what Alex Thomson Racing was up to with the purchase of the BP IMOCA. This makes me so happy. Clarisse Crémer has every right to be on the VG starting line!

So there are two parts to this story. I love a good story and this is a good story so stick with me. There was a lot of hullabaloo a few weeks ago when Banque Populaire, one of France’s richest banks, abruptly dropped their sponsorship of Clarisse Crémer, one of France’s most talented solo sailors.

By talented I mean she finished 12th in the 2020/2021 Vendée Globe, was the first female, and set a new record time for a female in the race. Quite an accomplishment in my humble opinion.

So why did the suits at Banque Populaire drop their sponsorship of Clarisse? Because she had a baby. You can read that twice because it’s true. Clarisse had a baby and the suits deemed her not fit for the Vendée. Now in their defense, and there is very little to defend here, Clarisse needed to do a certain number of qualifying miles by a certain date in order to qualify for the race even though she had already done a Vendée, albeit on a different boat. In October 2021, the race organizers announced a new, unprecedented qualification method that no longer allows previous Vendée finishers to be directly qualified for the next edition of the race.

Then Banque Populaire really stepped in it. First, they put out a milk toast public announcement. “Committed to this sport for 34 years, Banque Populaire is committed to the values ​​of diversity and equal opportunity and is determined to participate in the work necessary with the various players to help it progress.”

Then they announced that they would find another skipper for the boat who, by my estimation, would not have the requisite qualifying miles either. Clearly, they were dropping Clarisse because of the baby. So much for their pathetic statement.

Thankfully there are times when the Internet is a good place and there was a bit of a firestorm over all of this and the (did I mention one of France’s richest banks) slunk away stating that they would not be sponsoring anyone in the ’24/25 Vendée Globe. Shame on them.

Now for the second part of this story. Many of us have watched the spectacular career of the British sailor Alex Thomson. Aside from his amazing accomplishments in the Vendée Globe - a third in the 2012 Vendée and second in the 2016 Vendée - say nothing of his amazing publicity stunts like walking up the mast and diving off in his Hugo Boss suit.

A few days ago there was an announcement that Thomson had bought the same boat that Clarisse had planned to sail in the upcoming event. I, like many others, wondered what he was up to. Thomson had publicly stated that he was done with the Vendée and would not be racing the 2024 edition. Fair enough, but today he announced that the new skipper of the boat will be (drum roll please) Clarisse Crémer.

There are some wildcard slots for competitors in the next Vendée and I am sure that Alex and Clarisse have explored their options with the race organizers. To my mind, it was yet another brilliant PR stunt by Thomson and a superb way to right what was clearly wrong. Where things go from here I don’t know but watch this space. Alex is a person, not a billion-dollar bank. He is also clearly smarter than the suits. - Brian Hancock.

06/07/2022

In Theory, we should do really well. In reality, we should also do well. Peter McWhinnie Doug Lynn Roland Schulz Simon Karstoft Jensen Pat Slattery

The 2022 Crew List is published. 1,765 sailors plan to embark on the Thrash to the Onion Patch next Friday, June 17th: https://buff.ly/3tiUMDT

📸: Lisa Stuart from White Rhino in 2018

02/11/2022

Well this new wind farm off MV south of RI Sound isn't gonna be fun for single-handers. Construction on the area shaded in red has begun.

11/23/2021

Now this is a reason to enter the Newport-Bermuda Race--a singlehanded race back!

A new event will follow the 2022 Newport Bermuda Race as the New York Yacht Club has joined forces with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the Cruising Club

11/04/2021

That's a loooooooong Southern Ocean leg. Stuart Bannatyne, thoughts?

The race course for the 14th edition of The Ocean Race around the world has been updated due to continuing complications involving the pandemic, which has

08/30/2021

Offshore with only an iPhone 13?

Shares of Globalstar, a satellite services provider, surged following a report that the newest iPhone will have the ability to utilize satellite communications.

07/21/2021

Turned out the pin end was favored anyway!