2008 Chandler Hovey Race - EASTERN YACHT CLUB - Sunday, August 17th

Howdy from Bob Duff, August 17, 2008, 2250 hours,

On the right is Jim McCully hauling inflated marks out to the race course earlier this week.  Jim, Susie and Rebecca Bennett had motored  our boats to Rockport last weekend for the Junior Olympics Regatta.  This makes an unusual picture taken by J. P. Dunn of Eastern Point Yacht Club while at Sandy Bay Yacht Club in Rockport for that regatta.

It was another beautiful day on the water for eighteen "big" yachts racing a 10 mile long course starting near TINKERs gong.   Weather could not have been nicer with wind at around thirteen knots from a little south of west and temperature in the mid 80s.  The corrected handicap results below are "provisional and subject to modification" for these PHRF Divisions:

3  Multihull starters  - winner Ted Grossbart in SUI 27 - AUDRA  ;second #7 TRIAD for

 Tom Cox.  It was a rare site to see them and their exciting speed.

3 Class "A" yachts - winning in 2 races was Tom Linkas  with # 52354 INDRA: second #9393 KATABATIC for Gordon Hall.  Third was Seamus Hourihan in RUFFIAN #51373. 

For 7 Class "B"s - Ward Blodgett #29 SIROCCO  finished first but dropped to second on corrected time by about 1 minute behind Vern Polidoro in VIGILANTE #51563. Third was Gary Weisberg in #144 HEAT WAVE.

Jack Cochrane of EYC race committee had two other RC people, Joel Kinney and Russ Wells pulling strings to help him take home a couple of trophies which went with a first for #157 Class "D" FALL LINE.   Jim Hosking got a first place gun in class "F" Cruising #30078 ARES.

Susie Schneider was her usual calm and effective PRO person.  She squeezed in a second race for the big Class "A" boats and would have done that for Class "B" but their radio-con failed to get agreement.   They just sailed home for the "prize giving".

Susie, Brad Marvin and I scurried around doing lots of jobs at once.  Ross Peterson was our operator/gunner and will be with us for the rest of the season.  Rebecca Bennett leaves tomorrow for freshman year at Arizona State.  

Cherly Byrne was with Bill Schoenberg on the pin boat.  Todd Sparling  and Michael Costello handled the mark boat.  The "lifting was quite light" for most of us.

Many of us will rturn next Fridayfor the three Day New England PHRF Championship.  We expect most of today's yachts with an additional number joining in.  We will run Line #1 which means that we get all the bigger boats.

I am calling it a day before midnight.  See you back here Friday night!

    

MRA Series #3 Day #6 BRIMBLES Line & Comments - SATURDAY August 16, 2008

Howdy from Bob Duff Saturday August 16, 2008, 2345 hours,

No photographer today and my scanner does not want to work.  So, without too much choice I decided on a J. P. Dunn picture of  yours truly making like Brad Marvin. In his absence I did Brad's timer job at the Junior Olympic Regatta in Rockport earlier this week.  We had 34 individual race starts (including those recalled or postponed before the last minute horn) in three days with six "Black Flags"  by Susie Schneider, PRO.  I am still hoarse!  I do not know how Brad does it day in and day out.

We had seven starts today (no "Black Flags") for seven TOWNIES and two LASERS.  We will be out there again for the CHANDLER HOVEY big boat race tomorrow.  We will have fewer than seven starts for as many classes and Susie may elect to run them a second race which would be a total less than fourteen starts.  Then next Friday, Saturday and Sunday we run the PHRF New England Championship for a greater number of big boats.   Brad will be a little tired and hoarse before heading back to New Hampshire after Sunday's races.

The other picture above is from a rather peaceful day when Jim Ayer's camera caught  "Questie" Gring and Steve Jeffries  waiting for action in our pin boat.  Today Bill Schoenberg did the pin alone while Brad, Susie and I ran the signal boat for the eight races.  We three may do that again tomorrow unless some lonely nice person shows up to give us a hand.

For the seven TOWNIES today, David W. & Tracy Anderson had what looks like the best performance in WABI SABI # 2091 for a first and two thirds.  Arthur O'Neil & Bob McGillivray had two seconds in FROLIC #2049.  Martha and David Martini had a first and a third in PATIENCE #558.  David Cooke(I think) got a first in AUF BLITZEN #3 without his mom, Jane.  JEAN #77 took a second for Peter and David Maitland.

The two LASERs matched each other in four races with Wayne Colahan victorious each time in noname #192032 over Adam Dubitsky sailing close seconds in ICE PLANTER #154091.

All in all this was a delightful day getting most everyone back on shore before the storm rolled in.  Sheila Widnall did not quite make it.  She came in soaking wet with a great big smile after taking two firsts in their #130 IOD JAVELIN.  Sheila was particularly proud of her husband Bill's two port tack starts getting them exactly where they wanted to be.  They liked especially the victory over Bruce Dyson and Norm Cressy in #7 GYPSY.  The Widnall's are heading for San Franciso this fall for the IOD World's Championship if I have the stories right.  It also looks like the GYPSY crew will be going to Sweden for the 2009 World's which will be in the Spring.  Wow!  What a wonderful sport this is!

See you again tomorrow night!

USA JUNIOR OLYMPIC SAILING FESTIVAL-Massachusetts Bay Junior Championship-August 13, 2008-SANDY BAY YACHT CLUB, Rockport, MA

Howdy from Bob Duff August 14, 2008,

I waited overnight to get regatta pictures from  Jim Ayer and J.P. Dunn who worked this event on ETO along with J.P.'s daughter Mariah and her mom, Andrea.  Son Jared is one of triplets with Mariah and was sailing a Championship 420 in the regatta.  His dad and I teased him about "I PROTEST THE RACE COMMITTEE" quoting him from Marblehead Race Week. He was caught over the start line under Susie's BLACK FLAG; he protested and was thrown out a second time. No Dunn protests were logged in this regatta.   Susie used so many Black Flags that I lost count.  (I really know the exact count,  but I am humble tonight!)

 

For some unspecified reason Susie withheld my access to scratch lists; so I cannot identify any names of sailors or pick out Jared among the fifty-three Championship 420s in 88 pictures given to me by our "flag man" Jim Ayer and those from J.P..  Jim did that remarkable series above of the capsized 420.  Notice the water spray as the boat was righted.  These shots are not in exact sequence so you can "puzzle" about Jim's "puzzling" pictures.  Would anyone like a custom wooden jigsaw puzzle?  I believe the top picture should be second, but the blog software is very stubborn! 

  

J.P. sent many nice shots including those above of the Optimist Prams and the one of our RC group waiting in the barn at THE WHARF RAT YACHT CLUB.  It is a VERY VERY exclusive private private club owned and operated by Mary Ann and Ken Novak next to their beautiful home.  A giant rat shape with big tail perches on top of the barn cupola. 

We rafted our RC boats on the Novak's dock. This picture from there shows Susie interrupting John Rando, Andrea Dunn, Alison Becker, Jim Ayer and me who were looking at my blog on the new APPLE.   If  I did not know better, I would think that Susie does not appreciate my writing about her committee.

I somehow lost a  picture showing me shouting my throat raw as timer imitating my old friend Brad Marvin.  Brad had another commitment when we found out about this regatta.  We really missed his presence.  

Since I have only finish numbers, I will forgo listing scores for this JO.  It would have been fun showing their names, but I could not get them.  Wind was light and current very strong.  Only one race could be started prior to the 1330 hours deadline.  First placers were #5731 in 420 Champs, #94 in 420 Green, #185517 in LASER Radials and #175101 Full LASERs.

We heard today from Charley Cook at the Olympics canceling his promised blogs.  Charley cites problems with people showing links to his stuff.  Jim Ayer called to guess that Charley was referring to me.  I removed my two links and added one recommended by Charley for the ISAF site.  My many yachting links are shown at the bottom of each DUFFSTUFF blog.

We will work the BRIMBLES line Saturday if any racers show.  The CORINTHIANS have not raced this summer to my knowledge.  TOWNIES were somewhere else last week.  One rumor has the LASERs being sent to TINKERS as was done last weekend.    Cheryl Byrne is seeking a PRO so we do not know much.  Brad and I plan to be there Saturday and again on Sunday for the Chandler Hovey big boat regatta.  Joel Kinney tells me that he plans to see skipper Jack Cochrane's name on the big Sunday trophy.  They race Jack's FALL LINE Colgate in Class "D".

See you Saturday night or Sunday!

 

USA JUNIOR OLYMPIC SAILING FESTIVAL-Massachusetts Bay JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP-AUGUST 12, 2008-SANDY BAY YACHT CLUB, Rockport, MA

Howdy from Bob Duff August 12 about midnight,

Another rewarding day on the water where drizzle fell and weather did major ups and downs.  The wind was strong and seas were choppy in the morning.  Decisions were made to hold Green 20s and Green Optis on the beach for the day.  I personally doubted the wisdom of sending sixty-six other little boats into such challenges.  Susie pulled off four competitive races which ended up in a foul current with little or no wind.  A fair number of boats were scored Did Not Finish (DNF) because the specified time limit expired.  My caution was wrong!

The first scheduled warning gun at 1100 hours was postponed until just after 1145.  Some aggressive Green 420s were caught and sent home after they tried to sneak in with the "bigger kids".  We ended up with a count of fifty-one Champion 420s and fifteen LASER Radials.  The full LASERs chose the beach over the blustering wind and seas.

 

420 #5731 took the first day 1st and 2nd into a 5th, 1st, 3rd and 5th. Pretty good in a rather big fleet.  #4647 also scored a 1st and 2nd in the three races Monday. They got a 5th and a 3rd before fading from the top boats in the 6th and 7th races.  #4589 started with a 1st and bounced around  behind the top leaders.  Again, things were organized to preclude my getting even a soggy scratch list to show names with sail numbers.

In LASER Radials, #175930 dominates with six wins and a second in seven races with the prospect of more glory in the two additional races hoped for on Wednesday.  After that the USA JUNIOR OLMPMIC SAILING FESTIVAL fades into history.   The top scorers so far lack evidence of candidates for the 2nd and 3rd overall for the fifteen competitors.

The same race committee crew worked well with J.P. Dunn replacing Patti Page who is expected back Wednesday.  Jim Ayer came aboard to do the flags in place of Mariah Dunn, daughter of J.D. and Andrea Dunn.   John Rando came to add another level of "chiefs" over all of us "indians".

We all hope for better weather so that the "green team sailors" can get more racing.  Green 420s need two more races to qualify for throwing out their worst score.  That often yields some new surprises.

Come back after my Wednesday night blogings when I hope to have names to go with numbers.

 

USA JUNIOR OLYMPIC SAILING FESTIVAL-Massachusetts Bay Junior Championship-August 11, 2008-SANDY BAY YACHT CLUB, Rockport, MA

 

Howdy from Bob Duff about August 11, but it is now August 12 at 0230 hours,

We had a delightful time for the opening day of the JUNIOR OLYMPIC SAILING FESTIVAL.  I will be brief tonight (this morning!) as it is very late and I have had a nice experience (in the drizzle) timing  three full races for three starting fleets, 4 finish guns each and a total of about 80 or so little yachts.  That would tally to about 143  youngsters on our line for forty-eight 420 Champs, fourteen 420 Greens and nineteen LASERs mostly Radial with  3 or 4 "full" types.   I have not got a count of what looked like 100 plus Optimist Prams on the other lines. 

My numbers and names today are vague or missing because of a large/lovely signal boat crew and a leader who seems to go out of her way to impede my  writings.  She says she never has time to read anything I write.  Maybe it is just my imagination.   I do not suffer from paranoia as far as I can tell.

 

My friend Brad Marvin was not here for this 3 day regatta and I was told to do his timing job.  It went pretty well except for two mistakes made by me for which I was soundly scolded in many more words than "Duff, YOU ARE A BAD CHILD".  The message is familiar.

I really enjoyed timing and coaching Mariah Dunn doing flags which is my regular job.  I joked with Mariah about the dangers of hoisting a class flag upside down which does happen in the heat of battle.  I said that if she did that, the entire fleet starting would have to capsize.  Those of us downstairs were enjoying a chuckle at my silly joke when "someone" upstairs commented with authority that this was only DUFF's rule.  No smiles from upstairs where the burden of leadership seems to take its toll.

I was denied access to scratch sheets so I have no names to report.  In Champion 420s out of about 48 boats #4589 had one first and #4647 and #5731 each had a first and a second.  Out of about 14 Green 420s we saw firsts for #15, #2559 and #94.  #5082 had a second and a third.  In LASER Radials, #175930 had two possibly three firsts.  The scorers were using all of the data sheets so I gave up on my low priority interest. #180082 and # 190457 each had a second and a third in the data I could collect.  My timing sheets were soaked beyond recognition.  I "invented" a plastic covering sheet tonight to try out tomorrow.

 

We had Emerson T. Oliver (ETO) signal boat which Susan Oliver Schneider drove up to Rockport  as her Principal Race Office (PRO) platform. Our regular operator/gunner Rebecca Bennett drove up with Susie. We had Andrea Dunn (EPYC & SBYC) as an assistant PRO ,  her daughter Mariah on flags, Patti Page doing auxiliary flags and Alison Becker (CYC) also assistant PRO.  Andrea & Alison were with us in Marblehead for Junior Race Week and it was a pleasure working with them again. 

 

Our Stephen Jeffries came as a Judge for the regatta on his rib M-JULIP which is the creative composite of his childrens' names.  Jim McCulley had his wife Gaele's boat for mark duty assisted by a Rockport local  Alexa Jorgensson.  Anthony Santos of SBYC served as the second mark boat on the trapazoid course designated here as "F" which is "J" at Marblehead.  We did not post directions or distances since the kids have no compass and can see the marks on the relatively short course.

Tuesday's racing call is 0900 hours for Race Committee.  Jim Ayer is coming with his camera and Patti Page will sing at home and maybe rejoin us on Wednesday. 

See you again tonight!

 

MRA Series #3 Day #5 TINKERS Line & Comments - SATURDAY - August 9, 2008

Howdy from Bob Duff - August 9, 2008, 2350 hrs, and again Sunday PM when by wireless router came back up,

 This is a new challenge as my old DELL computer developed a terrible virus and I am trying to create this blog on a new APPLE MacBook Pro.  It is different and quite a challenge.  So far I am impressed with APPLE.  Time will tell if the Spyware/Malware follows me in this happy journey away from Bill Gates.

We ran the TINKERS Line Saturday where two late arriving Vipers joined four others for a total fleet of thirty boats.  Six Sonars, six J-24s, ten Rhodes 19s and two Lasers raced in individual fleet starts under PRO Rick Myers' leadership and Rebecca Bennett's cannon blasts. Assistant PRO was Alex Myers, Rick and Tracey's 11 year old Opti racer son.  Mom did check-in, recording and helped with finishes.  Niece Elizabeth Myers(age 10) and Alex's 9 year old sister Anne Myers kept Brad Marvin, Jim Ayer and me on our toes with questions. Jim Ayer's picture here is Anne on the left with Elizabeth.  One question was, "Mr. Duff, why do you wear that blue blazer out here on a beautiful hot day like today?".  My traditional answer was "breeding" which no one seems to understand.  Another part is being a Texan who seldom feels the heat. Finally,  I have worn a jacket since my military training in uniform beginning at age 13 during WWII. 

"Chuck" Angle and Russell Wells ran the pin boat like old pros.  Roger Drumm had the mark boat with three teenagers who showed him a few tricks known only to very experienced young Opti sailors. These kids were Christopher and Michael Drumm with Ian Barrows on a visit from the Virgin Islands. I met his mom who talked a little about an older brother, Thomas Barrows. He is in China racing a Laser for the USA in the Olympics.  All four of these outstanding young sailors are products of Marblehead's PLEON YACHT CLUB.  

Before leaving talk of the Olympics, "Chuck" Angle is traveling shortly to watch his son race n a Sonar in the para-Olympics next September.  WOW!

The VIPERs had a disastrous 3rd race with three boats over at the start.  All were disqualified as they failed to come back for a needed re-start.  One was #55 PLAYSTATION Paul Zimmermann who had a 1st and 2nd before the DSQ.  #60 noname John McCormack had a 2nd and two 3rds.  #74 TUSKER Justin Scott had a 3rd, 1st and DSQ.  #50 RATTLER Michael McCloskey got 1st after the 3 DSQs in the last race.  #41 GERONIMO Duncan Mcintyre picked up a 2nd place.

Peter Frisch took the day for Sonars in #547 PENN PACKET with 2 firsts and a second without his regular super-helm Dru Slattery.  Very well done!  Larry Ehrhardt took a 1st and a 2nd in #690 RALLIE.  Tyler Doyle #564 had a 3rd and a 2nd and did not finish the last race in noname.  Sarah and Jon Sheldon recorded a 2nd and a 3rd in SHEARWATER #566.  A 3rd each went to #362 BLUE STREAK for Miriam Jaffe/Marty Browne and for #374 PDsquared Peter DeWolfe/Bill Kauff.

J-24 #3525 VITAMIN J dominated the class with three firsts for Ted Johnson.  Jeffrey Earl got a 3rd and two 2nds in #4119 USUAL SUSPECT.

The two Lasers got three minute dinghy starts with Wayne Colahan winning all four close races with noname #192032 over Adam Dubitske in ICE PLANTER #154091.

On Monday a group of us journey to Rockport Massachutts to manage a 3 day Junior Olympics Regatta.  We will have our own ETO signal boat for PRO Susie Schneider, Andrea Dunn (EPYC), Rebecca Bennett(EYC-O/G) and me.  I probably will be the timer since our regular Brad Marvin has another commitment.  Jim Ayer will join us for Tuesday and Wednesday. John Rando will take over as PRO Tuesday afternoon when Susie rushes back to run the Betty Pleasants Memorial Women's Race.

Jim McCulley is taking Gaele's fancy motor boat for doing marks all three days.  We will use regular 5 minute start sequences and run as many races per day as weather permits. 

 

We anticipate about sixty Championship 420s with about forty Green Fleet 420s.  The Lasers will be somewhere near that number. A couple hundred Optimist single hander prams will be managed by other people on other lines.

I plan a blog every night.  Maybe my APPLE printer/scanner will be working for more of Jim Ayer's pictures by Monday night.

The APPLE gets better and better with a little practice.  Do not forget to check the two Olympic links at the bottom of this blog!  Charley Cook had a publication waiting for us when we got home from racing on Saturday.

See you all again Monday night!   

MRA Series #3 Day #4 MIDWAY Line & Comments - SATURDAY August 2, 2008

Howdy from Bob Duff Saturday August 2, 2008, 2350 hours,

Above right is Bermuda's Bob Duffy next to his IOD ENCORE surviving hurricane FLORENCE in Bermuda 2006. Bob's picture came from PLAXO. The two photos of ENCORE are from Bob's International IOD Webb site. The boat was knee deep with water. Sinking was a constant threat. ENCORE survived.







Bob and I met many years ago when my racing leader Thornton Clark, my wife Debbie and I were hosted at the BERMUDA INVITATIONAL RACE WEEK. Champion calibre IOD racers came from Europe and all over the USA to race against Bermuda's best. They provided the boat, housing, race management and lots of parties. Thornton was my friend and enduring benefactor. He paid most of the boat bills and made us go fast all over the western world.


We three went to Bermuda several times over the years. Bob Duffy raced with us that first week as "owner's rep". We remain friends through all these years.


I used to say that Bermuda would be a very nice trip if we did not have to race those G.D. boats. That's just a joke! Please! Please! One of my "friendly associates" here in Marblehead may now write e-mails to everyone saying that I cussed and said naughty things in print.



Bob is an International Yacht Racing Judge now. He goes all over to help manage big yachting events. I ask his permission to use these pictures, but he has left the island for parts unknown with a visit to Pat and Hal Nesbitt who now live in Washington state. Hal raced together with us almost everywhere. We became friends when he lived and raced IC's in San Franciso. That is what they are called there. In Bermuda they are "One Designs".

LATE RE-PUBLISHED UPDATE WITH PERMISSION FROM BOB DUFFY AT HAL'S PLACE IN WASHINGTON STATE:

Hi Bob: (that is me Bob Duff)

My pleasure - go ahead. ENCORE derives from 'applause' go around again - that sort of thing.......and you re right, everything is the same color concept as the original #5 'COQUETTE'. We got permission form the Class to rename her and go back to the old number for COQUETTE. She was originally Bud Litchfield's number 13 BLACK MAGIC which was hit by lightning and the hull and deck melted.

Hope all is well.

Bob - sending this from Hal's house. I still have not been able to open your blog site. (This 'Bob' is Bob Duffy)

Needless to say, I am on line now to get Bob and Hal up to speed on this blog at :

HTTP://DUFFSTUFF-DUFFER1.BLOGSPOT.COM

Norm Cressy met Bob Duffy in Marblehead one year at an IOD World's Championship and asked if Bob was my father. Bob now claims that I am his grandfather.

One little observation from the pictures is that mast mounted compass on ENCORE. We had heard way back then that Bermudians never used compasses. One of their boats had hers mounted way up in the bow where only the "coast guard" could find it during a crawling safety inspection.





Knowing this and preferring to race "our way", I always carried a 5 inch DANFORTH on the plane and used it for "wind navigation" during races. Sheila Widnall had taught me this technique in our Worlds Championship bid in Scotland - 1975. Maybe I learned it from her or Pieter Mimno earlier. That was a while back. The Bermudians watched several of us race this way and learned over the years the potentails for a compass. Noting the mast mounting, I still prefer watching the wind from below in the cabin and talking about wind with the person on the helm. I noted that Sheila was doing just that today as she, Bill and crew took second in a fleet of 10 IODs.







Speaking of that, we only had one race at MIDWAY today because of a serious threat of weather. This developed later than expected, but PRO Jack Cochrane made the wise call to get everyone on shore before the threat could cause damage. Earlier he shamed CYC into running their TINKERS races. They did not want to go out at all because of the radar evidence of a bad storm. IOD skipper Greg Mancusi-Ungaro criticised our decision saying that we now have too much potentially bad information compared to the good old days when men were men and storms were fun racing at sea.



Brad Marvin, Arthur Saulsberry and I did the signal boat for Jack with Rebecca Bennett operating and manning the guns. Fritz Koopman ran the mark boat with help from Becky Wheatland. Frank "Questie" Gringe had the pin boat with Michael Costello.



You can see the timing details here on my

worksheet. Click on it to enlarge the view. Nine ETCHELLS started the
sixth race of their Series #3. "No show" today was series and summer leader #1105 CHEMICAL IMBALANCE Gregory & Hannah Hefler. RIVA #1221 was first for Wade Edwards and Justin Muller. Second was Mark Luckes in #575 PEREZOSO. Don Miller and Bill Douglas won third in VALKTRIE # 63.



As noted above, Sheila and Bill Widnall took a second in the 5th race for IOD series 3 in #130 JAVELIN. They were beaten out of first place by Bob Lyons and Fred Callori in #45 POMPANO. Third was #4 KALLISTE for Api Rudich.
Bruce Dyson was a "no show" for #7 GYPSY after winning IOD NOOD race week with a big help from Norm Cressy. Bruce was probably down east Maine today with his 8 meter PLEIONE after taking second in the MARBLEHEAD to CASTINE Classic Race.



Results from the Marblehead to Castine Race started by EYC off Marblehead on July 27th are available by clicking:

http://visitor.easternyc.org/files/Marblehead%20to%20castine%20results.2008.xls






The new seventy-six footer WILD HORSES owned by Donald Tofias took 20 hours 21:05 minutes to cross the finish line winning class "A" by 4 hours 20 minutes ahead of EYC's Bruce Dyson with his rather new 8 meter PLEIONE. EYC's Gary Gregory was third in 12 meter VALIENT. Interesting to note that Bruce left his IOD #7 GYPSY for Norm Cressy and crew to secure IOD first place in the NOOD Regatta.




Class "B" found Elizaeth Meyer winning with SEMINOLE built in 1916. She finished one minute AFTER Brooke Parish's MERMAID but got victory on corrected time.









Next Saturday takes us to the TINKERS line with crew call at 1000 hours. Then on August 11, 12 & 13th a few of us were invited to race manage a JUNIOR OLMYPICS REGATTA off Rockport, MA. These four days show only Brad Marvin, Jim Ayer, John Rando and me for the race committee. CORRECTION, it seems that the EASTERN YACHT CLUB ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE resists management and apparently is not able to show the Rockport days. Brad, Jim, John and I are shown as scheduled on my personal spreadsheet which, for some reason, is of no interest to "management". I could say a bit more, but my well intentioned friends tell me to "SHUT UP". I have said too much already! I plan to be there all four days. August 11 is the "BETTY PLEASANT" regatta for women. I was told that this is a "ladies only" event but the "information manager" shows me scheduled there too. I think--------------okay Duffer, like they said "SHUT UP"! I will be in Rockport on August 12th.





A new feature for your convenience is a long list of FAVORITE YACHTING LINKS to be found at the very bottom of this blog. Scroll down there and prowl around the yachting internet. The AMERICA'S CUP MOVIES - 2007 offer several 20 minute noisy yachting excitements without commercials. I would love to add other good links. Please let me know about them.