Here is the article that appeared on the front page of the Whig on Friday. 

Pretty exciting to be on the front page!

Andy Abel is an American that is campaign for this 2007 Mini Transat.  He’s sailing a brand new Zero and he’s been working hard on the boat for months in Spain.  Check out his build photos here. 

I’ve been following Andy’s campaign closely as his campaign is a lot like mine and it is nice to be able to follow what race year is like for him.  Andy has just started is 1000nm qualifying sail, he’s doing the Atlantic course and just left La Rochelle last night.  You can track his progress here. 

It’s an exciting time for mini sailors, as racing has started and many skippers are pushing hard to get the qualifications sorted out.  It’s great to watch their progress and problems as this will definetly help in my preparations.

I think I have linked to these pictures before, but I keep coming back to them as a reminder of what can happen.  If ever their was motivation to have totally solid systems, these pictures demonstrate the need to make damn sure your autopilot is really solid…

The second qualification race for the Mini Transat just finished, the Select 6.5. This is a very tactical course on the French coast.

Isabelle Joschke is doing really well this year in her new Finot proto. She’ll be one to keep on eye on in this years circuit.

Check out some pictures from the event here.

Bonus Pics: Check out this series of photos from the Mini Pavois. Thierry Martinez is the man.

The Classe Mini posted a questionaire today regarding the qualification process for the Mini Transat.  The class is experienceing the enviable problem of having this race be WAY oversubscribed.  (130 applications this year for 86 spots!) The current system heavily favours Europeans that have a sailed an MT before and also makes it very uncertain for competitors trying to qualify with the calendar exemption, as the number of spots is very limited.

The problem has been discussed at length on the forums and a number of solutions have been proposed.   Talk is cheap though, and I think this is a very responsive move from the class to discuss other options for dealing with the problem.  As a potential competitor in 2009, this could have big implications on my program.

Check out the english news item here, and read the questionaire here (PDF).

If you get a chance, pick up a copy of Ontario Sailor this month.  There is a good article on the campaign.  (The lead article I might add…)

This is the first interview I had with the “yachting press”, so I was a little nervous about how it would come out.  Greg did a great job communicating the challenges I face personally as well as from a competative standpoint. 

Things are starting to get rolling!

This post is a bit late, but I wanted to thank everyone for coming to the Extreme Sailing event that we held at KYC on Tuesday.

Brian is a marvelous speaker and a very dynamic individual.  We had a bit of scare mid-afternoon as Brian ran into a little trouble in upstate New York.  I won’t tell the story here, because I really don’t want him on some terrorist watch list,  but ask me to tell you the story the next time I bump into you…
We managed to raise a good bit of money toward the boat, and I am still overwhelmed by the generosity of folks donating without taking the tax deduction.  It means so much to me that people want to contribute to this dream.   It totally reinforces that this is a team effort and I just hope that I can live up to the challenges ahead.  We’ve got a long way to go, but I’ve taken Derek Hatfield’s tag line to heart:   “NEVER GIVE UP!”

I also wanted to send out a huge thank you to the team that made it all happen: Megaera, Lana, Liz, Brandon, Peter K: you helped make this a great event.  And of course Brian, who demonstrated his amazing ability to role with the punches and make it work with cards he’s dealt.  Brian’s generosity and kind spirit came through to everyone who attended.

Yes Sailing Anarchy can be a rough and tumble forum, with some people who will jump down your throat without much provocation, and some people tend to shy away from the site this reason.

But every once in a while a jem pops up…

Bruce Schwab, aka haji, is an Open 60 skipper and very famous american sailor who drops into SA every once in a while. Bruce dropped this Josh Hall story into the thread. Really great story.

Any Sharkies reading this may be interested to know that the 2007 North American Championships NOR has been posted you can find it here (direct link to PDF).

I’m happy to let everyone know that Brandon Tattersall will be working with the MST over the next six weeks.

Brandon is a marketing student at St. Lawrence College and will be spending some of his CO-OP placement working on the marketing for the team.   Brandon has been a keen sailor for years, sailing on top teams out of KYC.  This knowledge combined with his marketing training will be a huge assett to the team.

Happy Monday Yall!  (Just to keep things in perspective it could be way worse…)

I am very pleased to announce that world famous sailor and author, Brian Hancock will be coming to the Kingston Yacht Club to give a talk on his experience sailing offshore in numerous high profile and very extreme sailing events.  This multimedia presentation will be a fundraising event for the Minimus Sailing Team and my campaign for the Mini Transat.

Brian is a veteran of three Whitbread round the world races, has participated in many high profile campaigns including record attempts on maxi catamarans and campaigned an Open 50 for the 2001 Around Alone race.  So Brian is no stranger to single handed sailing.

 Brian Hancock aboard his Open 50

Brian is also one of the co-founders of the Global Ocean Challenge, a single and short handed race around the world race.  The race will be sailed in Open 40 and 50s. 

Brian has graciously offered to help the Minimus Sailing Team raise funds for the 2009 Mini Transat Campaign.  Brian will be donating some books and such for door prizes and raffles, so you will not only get a chance to hear a great sailor talk  about his experiences, but also get a chance to walk away with some great reading.

The event will be held on April 3 at 1900, at the Kingston Yacht Club in the Partridge room.  Tickets will be $10 at the door.  Donation towards the Mini Transat campaign will be greatly appreciated.  More event details can be found on the KYC site.