June 28, 2018
Welcoming the winners
The moment seven women stepped simultaneous, arm-in-arm, off their Melges 32 to ring the bell of victory for First Federal’s Team Sail Like a Girl on Sunday, 00:17 PST, became the 4th champions of the R2AK – No motor, no support 750 cold water miles from Port Townsen Washington to Ketchikan Alaska . It was clear the spirit of community supplanted individual ambition as the central force carrying this year’s $10k winners into the rare air of R2AK glory. As much as this was a win for any one of them, to a sailor, they said, it was a win for everyone.
Glory shot!
Team Sail Like a Girl was an idea and a 20-year-old race boat purchased based on a single theory: let’s race a team of women to Alaska. The odds were stacked against them: a monohull had never won the R2AK, the pure speed advantage of multihulls loomed large as a forgone conclusion in a race with no handicaps. Beyond the boat, the crew assembled ran the gamut of experience. Captain Jeanne Goussev told CYOnboard that “for us this race was never about winning it was about the human spirit seeking adventure, tackling challenges as a team and supporting each other in our own journeys, together along the way!”.
Visit the following for more information and photography:
https://r2ak.com/2018-daily-updates/2018-day-7-sailing-victorious-on-the-wind-of-together/
https://www.instagram.com/teamsaillikeagirl/
https://www.facebook.com/TeamSailLikeAGirl/
By Andy Adams
The multi-generational island cottagers of Georgian Bay and serious fishermen are just two of the groups most attracted to the new Oakley Boats models.
Brad Oakley has been around the boat business his entire life and he said to me that he has long admired durable, seaworthy welded aluminum boats. His company WMW Vacuum Pumpout Systems in Waubaushene, Ontario on Georgian Bay, builds highly regarded vacuum pump-out systems and Oakley’s equipment is in so many marinas that he knows a lot of people in the business.
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By Katherine Stone
On a beautiful summer morning in July, I hopped aboard a new-owner delivery from the Outer Harbour Marina in Toronto to the Port Credit Harbour Marina in Mississauga, with the President of Navy Point Yacht Sales, Steve McPherson. I don’t know if I have ever referred to a boat as pretty, but this adjective fits the Fountaine Pajot Astrea 42 to a tee.
The transitions and communication from interior to exterior spaces are seamless and well-thought-out with functional ergonomics.
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Following the War of 1812, a battle that Canada narrowly won against the United States, the boundaries of Upper Canada were held and the British army realized that the St. Lawrence River was no longer safe as a supply route. A more defensible route was needed to bring supplies from Montreal to Kingston and on into other Great Lakes settlements.
This new, more secure route revealed itself through the travel and trade of the Indigenous peoples. Surveyors learned that one of the Indigenous trade routes began at the mouth of the Cataraqui River in Kingston (Canada’s first national capital) and connected a series of lakes and rivers all the way through to where the Rideau River meets the Ottawa River in the heart of Bytown (known today as Canada’s national capital: the City of Ottawa).
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Over the last decade, sailcloth weaving equipment has evolved and allowed the production of low crimp warp oriented woven cloth of medium to heavy weights. We have had light weight warp wovens of 200g/m2 (4oz) or lighter for much longer than that, but the finer denier weaves of light sailcloth allowed that with older looms and setups. Why is this important? This new loom technology is very important because it allows sailmakers to make better warp cut woven sails for boats 25-50’ long.
Let’s start by clarifying what a crosscut sail is. The crosscut panel layout aligns the fill (short) edge of the sailcloth roll with the leech edge of the sail. Most of the sail load goes from clew to head up the leech. Secondary sail loads go from corner to corner along the foot and luff edge.
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I filled up last week at $1.90. Pundits are suggesting that prices will stay high throughout the summer. Radio and TV news have been flooded with ‘man on the street’ interviews that show the impact on the average driver. How will these prices affect the average boater this year? Will we see more hours spent on the docks and fewer on the water? Will fuel efficiency become a top-of –mind selling point? Will we see a shift toward electric marine engines?
Time will tell – but for the majority of us, we’ll need to weather the storm as best we can. There are a number of tips and tricks we can employ aboard to make the most of our boat’s fuel. BoatUS published an excellent article this week that I’ll break down...
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