REGATTA GEAR

The Regatta Gear team would like to extend our condolences to the families of the fine crew of the vessel Low Speed Chase, slammed by waves and pushed onto rocks during a race around South Farallon Island off San Francisco, Sat., April 14.  Five of the eight-member crew perished in the accident.

The boat’s owner, James “Jay” Bradford, 41, of Chicago, survived along with Bryan Chong and Nick Vos, who suffered a broken leg.  Rescuers recovered the body of Marc Kasanin.  The missing sailors – Alan Cahill, Alexis Busch, Elmer Morrissey and Jordan Fromm – are all presumed to have drowned.

(more…)

There was plenty of action at the Farr 40 Australian National Championship, which took place March 2-3, 2012, at Sydney Harbour, and the Regatta Gear team was there to soak up the fun.

The Farr 40 Australian National Championship was hosted by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (RSYS), based out of Port Jackson, the natural harbor of Sydney, Australia.  The Farr 40 is a 40-foot one-design sailboat.  One-Design is a racing method in which all boats have identical (or very similar) designs or models.

At the Farr 40 Australian Nationals, Regatta Gear sponsored and outfitted the entire crew and dockside support team of “Forty,” raced by good friends Sam Hill and Steve Barlow.

In their first major competition, the “Forty” crew did extremely well up against two world champions, finishing fourth out of a field of 10. The sailors were competing for a chance to race in the 2012 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship to be held at the Chicago Yacht Club, September 17-20.

Forty got away to a great start in Race Two, leading the fleet off the line.  Thundering downwind in the building breeze, boats were skating across the course and zigzagging to avoid the fleet of 18-foot skiffs that were making their way up the Harbour in the opposite direction. A big gust hit the fleet and caused “Kokomo” to do an involuntary gybe, forcing “Forty,” which was planing alongside, to make some fast maneuvers to narrowly avoid their stern.

The reigning World Champions aboard “Transfusion” (Guido Belgiorno-Nettis) sailed their boat flawlessly to win the Championship with a near-perfect scorecard.

The Rolex Farr 40 World Championships is the pinnacle event of the calendar with the highest level of competition – the Olympic, America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race Veterans are among this strictly Owner/Driver Class.  The Farr 40 Class maintains an extensive international schedule that revolves around regional fleets in the U.S., Australia, Southern Europe and the Nordic region.

Check out our video to see some of the action.

The Regatta Gear team likes to look over the best venues for crews who might sport our line of sailing gear, and what would be more appropriate than Eos, the 305-foot (92.92m), three-masted Bermuda rigged schooner owned by movie and media billionaire Barry Diller, husband of fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg?

The ship is one of the largest private sailing yachts in the world.  According to a 2007 article in Harper’s Bazaar, Eos features a figurehead of von Fürstenberg sculpted by Anh Duong.

Eos was launched in 2006 in Bremen, Germany, from the Lürssen yard. The ship took three years to build.  When launched, she took over the number one spot for world’s largest sailing yacht from Athena – a 295-foot clipper-bowed three masted gaff rigged schooner built by Royal/Huisman in 2004 for Internet entrepreneur James H. Clark.

Eos was designed by the late Bill Langan, Rondal/Huisman supplied the rig, and the remaining naval architecture was completed by Lürssen. The interior was designed by François Catroux. The 200-foot (61 m) tall masts are the maximum height allowed to enable the craft to pass underneath bridges across the globe.

(more…)