Maine Sailing Partners

More Cow

The purple cow spinnaker we made this summer made the cover of the Williams alumni magazine:

Interested in spinnaker graphics for your boat?  We're here to help.

Yankee Ingenuity

From an Olson 30 customer in New Hampshire:

Rob,

   We finally got the mast stepped and measured. Couldn't get the crane to start , so we used a log truck. American loggers vs. sailboat. I'm not sure who won. Enclosed a pic.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, Maine's own Pete Levesque, nominated for Rolex Sailor of the Year (and former Maine Sailing Partner).

His 2007 accomplishments as listed on the US Sailing website:

- ISAF Team Racing World Championship, Gandia, Spain (1st/17 teams)
- U.S. Team Racing Championship, Oyster Bay, N.Y. (1st/21 teams)
- Road Range Wilson Trophy, West Kirby, England (1st/32 teams)
- Charles River Open Team Race, Cambridge, MA (1st/42 teams)
- V-15 Mid-Atlantic Championships, Annapolis, Md. (2nd/19 boats)
- NYYC V-15 Team Race Championship, Newport, R.I. (1st/15 teams – crew)
- NYYC Annual Regatta, Newport, R.I. (3rd/8 IRC 1 “T-Squared – crew)
- InterClub Midwinters, Annapolis, Md. (1st/18 boats – B Division)
- Halfway Rock Regatta, Newport, R.I. (1st/8 – IRC "T Squared" – crew)
- Antigua Sailing Week, Antigua (2nd/9 Racing 1 “Chieftain” – crew)

I should add that Pete's whole ;Silver Panda  team was nominated.  In addition to Pete the team includes Clay Bischoff, Colin Merrick, Amanda Callahan, Liz Hall, and Lisa Keith (the last three for Yachtswoman of the Year.)  Too bad they can't all win and win as a team, since that is how they sailed.

Marine Industry

Our perennial employee Sam Carter starts his first full day of Marine Corps OCS in Quantico, Virginia, today.  Sam worked at Maine Sailing Partners while on vacation from school at the University of New Hampshire where he was captain of the sailing team.  Provided he doesn't infuriate his drill instructors with his wit, Sam will be commissioned as a 2nd. lieutenant in about 10 weeks.  Click Download sams_email.doc to read part of his farewell email.  Good luck Sam!  Don't laugh at the drill instructor!

Letter from Miami

Former Maine Sailing Partner Pete writes:

So, I am down here in Miami getting ready to sail the Mumm 30 Worlds with Barking Mad.  We were measuring our sails in today and our main and S2 didn't measure in.  So we went to the local UK loft with our coach, Coach Bill Shore (whom we were calling Dad in the West Marine to try and freak him out) and I got a chance to show off my sail making skillzzzzzzz.  Yep, stitch ripping, hand work, seizing, bolt ropes and the lot.  I wasn't able to get on a machine, only the loft owner did that.  There were three of us, Bill, myself and the tactician (who had never been in a loft before).  The loft owner only charged us for 2.5 people and unless Bill counted as 2, I am pretty sure I was not the 1/2 person.  Anyway, just thought I'd check in and let you guys know your patience on the floor didn't go TOTALLY wasted.  Oh yeah, and I'm engaged.  Other than that, not much is new.

 

Pete

Silver Panda

MSP alumnus Pete Levesque and his future sister-in-law Liz Hall (thank you Scott for the correction) helped their team race syndicate, The Silver Pandas, to a convincing win over nine other teams in the NYYC Vanguard 15 Team Race Regatta last weekend.  The Silver Pandas had 30 - 1 record over the weekend and were undefeated in the two gold medal round robins.

Tipsy

Same boat different day.  Thanks again to Liz Hall for bringing this to our attention.  Picture courtesy of The Daily Sail.  Sail fast Pete!

Turkey

The last time MSP alumnus Pete Levesque sailed in Key West Race Week he found himself in the protest room after the J/105 he was riding on broke its bowsprit off in the pushpit of another J/105 at a crowded mark rounding.  The discussion of the incident in Sailing Anarchy's forum was, as you might expect, very entertaining.  To his credit, Pete refrained from joining the fray . . . the skipper of this local boat couldn't resist and paid the price.

Now fast forward to KWRW 2006:

In this photo Pete second from the right and that's a turkey vulture vomiting on the deck.  Thanks to Sailing Anarchy for the picture.  You can read the entire story at Sailing Anarchy.  Thanks to Liz Hall for the tip.

Frostbite 2

While many of our customers have hauled their boats or sailed south for the winter, a hearty few are still racing and sailing here in Maine.  One customer recently tested his mettle on an overnight trip to Jewell Island on his DC-10, Auk:

Rob,

I finally got to head out for a 24 hour cruise in Auk, and have attached some photos of that trip in the cold this past weekend, and of her when I was first setting her up with the reef you created. The reef worked quite well; I was very glad to have it Saturday as there must have been some 25-30 knot gusts that the full sail wouldn't have handled as well. It was certainly a cold trip, and I was thankful for my drysuit since I got thoroughly doused by spray.

I'll be talking to you soon, I'm sure, about my somewhat larger mainsail.

Regards,

Alex Abbott

I'm sure that Alex's other boat, a Paine designed 30-foot Morris Annie, is a little more comfortable in the snow.

Letter from down under

Almost a year ago we built a HydraNet jib for some folks cruising the South Pacific, which we had some difficulty delivering to Pohnpei.  Just received the following update:

Hi Win,
We are in Australia, just finished a two month refit in Bundaberg and are now headed for Sydney. We have done about 4000 miles since leaving Pohnpei, mostly off the wind but have done enough beating with the new jib to see how it performs. So far we are very happy with the shape of the jib and its performance. Going down in size has given us an extra couple knots of range on the top end where we needed it. It does not seem to have lost much, if anything in light air. We had the sail off while we were hauled and the cloth still looks new. From what I have seen I would definitely use this cloth again. In way of comparison, our new North dacron main that has about 7000 miles on it in the last year, is headed for a recut. We had it cut extra flat and it has stretched way out. It does see more use than the jib as we use it alone for running in the trades at deep angles and with the staysail or spinnaker depending on conditions. The size of the new jib allows us to pole it out without having to reef it. Merry Xmas and have a great new year.