USA 34

This boat looks fast tied to its stable mate "Abracadabra". Not enough tourists today to race the two boats. Damn!! Gotta come back in the summer.

Great way to spend a sunny Saturday

My biggest sailing thrill has been racing for 18 years with a great group of guys (and a girl) on Jim and Michelle’s “Express Passage”. Until today!!! I have never followed Americas Cup racing very closely and, did not realize that, over the years, the Dennis Connor syndicate has commissioned 11 different “Stars and Stripes” boats in his numerous quests for the Americas Cup (he has skippered 3 winners). Today, we sailed on his 10’th (USA 34); the boat in which the Connor crew won their last cup challenge series. What a machine.

The winds were fluky, with 180° wind shifts being the order of the day but, “Stars and Stripes” made the best of it, posting an 11 knot top speed in light air. With a 114 foot (11 story), 5 spreader mast, the boat picks up any available wind and, has achieved speeds in excess of 18 knots in heavy downwind air. None of that around today. When newly built, for a current race boat, the high-tech, carbon-fibre main sails cost $115,000 each!! The present owners of USA 34 buy second hand sails, once they have been retired from racing. Makes good sense to me!

Sailing around the San Diego harbour triggers one to realize how militarily significant this port is. Warships are coming and going hourly. Small patrol craft with bow mounted machine guns are everywhere, with F-18’s or Blackhawk helicopters often overhead. An AWACS plane took off from the Navy Airbase as we re-entered the harbour, presumably to circle overhead to “spy”. I doubt they were looking down on the sailing!!!