The first two rounds of the Louis Vuitton Cup went pretty much as expected. Alinghi and Oracle finished at the top, and Mascalzone Latino went home first. Possibly Stars and Stripes performed a bit worse than expected at 7th and the Swedes a bit better than expected at 5th. Now the “do-or-die” rounds start and every two weeks, two teams will be sent home. I think it will be a bit shocking to some how quickly the end will come. By New Year, there will be only two teams left.

Also, it seems that there are no radically different design ideas that have come to fruition on the challenger side but rather evolutionary improvements on the state of the art. The British challenge has tried a tandem-keel on their newest boat, something like NZL 20 in 1992, but that doesn

The Star World Championship this year attracted 103 competitors from 25 nations including 11 former world champions and seven different nations in the top eight places. To say that the fleet was deep is and understatement. The class is stronger than ever and the promise of beautiful California weather guaranteed a large turn out in Marina del Rey. For the first time that I can remember the highest placing American was fourth. This speaks to the internationality of the class. The new weight limit has changed things a bit. The last two Star World Championships have been won by former Finn Champions, Freddie Loof and now Ian Percy. Is there a message here?

Walking around the boat park in the morning is an interesting experience. Many of the crews who have been sailing stars for 20 years are not recognizable. Most have lost 10-30 kilos due to the weight limit. Not having been one of the proponents of the weight limit, I have to admit: Star sailors in general look a lot more athletic than five years ago and they probably should thank Alex Hagen for prolonging their life by 10 years. The Star is still a very powerful boat and given the lower weights of the crews, both skipper and crew have to hike harder. Enter the Finn sailors. If any group of people knows how to hike it is Finn sailors, right?

Ian Percy, Finn Gold medallist from Sydney 2000, and Steve Mitchell put on a clinic in Marina del Rey. Both were straight-leg-hiking most of the windward legs. Both were extremely fit and once again the bar has been raised on Athleticism in sailing. After a 19th in the first race, they found their stride and never finished out of the top 5. They were in that magical grove where you know you are fast, you relish the conditions, it seems you can

Recently much has been written and said about Kinetics in Sailing. I have read many points of view including an unfortunate comment by one very prominent leader in sailing calling many of our sailors “cheaters”. Here is my point of view.

First of all, this is competition. In any competition, one of the main goals is to win. So people do what they can to win. Like in Basketball for example; have you ever seen how much hitting and shoving goes on under the hoop? That is not legal, by the book. However, the real rules are those that are enforced. When the player gets a foul called on him he backs off

I have done some cross training in sailing before; like in 1978 when I went from crewing to a fourth in the Star worlds right to crewing for a second in the 505 worlds. But I have to say that going from 30 foot waves, icebergs, snow storms, 45 knots of winds and 32 knots of boat speed TO 3 inch waves, 10 knots of wind, 4 knots of boat speed, 80 degree water and 95 boats on the starting line is biggest contrast I have had in our sport in a two week period. And yet, both were fantastic!

When I last wrote in Seahorse, I explained my reason for joining Grant Dalton

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