A little bit of everything

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 26 Oct 2010 In most sailing communities, fall’s arrival blows a bittersweet breeze: Sure, the typically light summer winds will be replaced with big-grin sailing days, but so too does it mean that the season is winding down. Not so here in Seattle.

Sure, we commonly suffer through frustratingly windless summer spells, but come fall, racing heats back up as the winds return, mostly. Take this weekend’s 2010 Grand Prix.

Crews were treated to everything from big breezes to light zephyrs, with some rain (we might enjoy a full winter racing calendar, but Miami this ain’t!) and lashing winds thrown in for good measure.

Meanwhile, it has been a weekend of clash of the maxis in the Rolex Middle Sea Race as Mike Slade’s ICAP Leopard and Flavio Favini’s Esimit Europa 2, both 30-meter supermaxi’s, drag raced for line honors, with Esimit Europa 2 leading for most of the weekend. Be sure to check out the event’s struggles and dramas in this issue.

And in the Velux 5 Oceans Race, competition remains red-hot between race veteran Brand Van Liew and Polish ace Zbigniew 'Gutek' Gutkowski. Van Liew is currently leading the chase, but no doubt our man would like a thicker margin of error (read: sleep opportunities) than 'Gutek' is affording him. Stay tuned.

Richard Gladwell has more from the AC scene.

Lastly, US SAILING Membership has elected three distinguished sailors to their Board of Directors. Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.), Ed Adams (Middletown, R.I.) and Susan Epstein (Sharon, Mass.) all bring huge strengths to the table and will no doubt help make this organization even stronger.

May the four winds blow you safely home,