Martha Stewart Loves Sailing!?

(New York, NY)-  Martha Stewart thinks sailing and boating is fun!?  Yes. Martha, the doyenne and fashionista of all things for home lifestyle, design, food, clothes and gardening also happens to be a lifelong boater, sailor herself.  When she heads up to Mt Desert Island for brief moments of respite to recharge her batteries, like many of us do, she relaxes in her beautiful home that overlooks Seal Harbor and the Eastern Way towards Little Cranberry Island (a.k.a. Islesford).  In fact, her self-professed "best lobster roll ever" happens to be at the Islesford Dock Restaurant, who's proprietors are Dan and Cynthia Lief (themselves refugees from the madness of working in New York City and working at Goldman Sachs).  How does she enjoy her time in Maine?  Martha often hops into her 36 ft Hinckley Picnic Boat with a pile of friends and dashes around the gorgeous Maine islands in Frenchman's, Blue Hill and Penobscot Bays, trying the lobster rolls in Islesford, Frenchboro, Stonington and Northeast Harbor-- all of them hard to beat since they're so delicious.  She also hops aboard various friend's beautiful sailboats to go out for daysails around the Cranberry Islands, the Ducks or simply for a picnic on the famous Marshall Island sandy beach or at the famous "Dancing Rocks" on Baker Island.

This past weekend found Martha down in New York city supporting the New York Harbor School.  There she found common ground with long-time J sailors Dawn Riley and local Newporter/ Jamestowner Hannah Swett-- both of whom have cut their teeth sailing J/22s and J/24s for decades as they grew into the talented, world-renown women sailors they are today.  Martha was in "good hands" with Hannah and Dawn and thoroughly enjoyed her weekend with these gals and, most importantly, supporting a wonderful program supporting dis-advantaged public high school kids from New York City's various burroughs- the Bronx, Manhattan, Harlem and so forth.  Here is Martha's account on her "Martha Blog" of her recent experience:

"I have become very interested in The Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, a wonderful small public high school located on Governors Island (in Upper New York Bay just off the southern tip of Manhattan Island), founded by Murray Fisher.

The school partners with New York City's maritime community (such as sailing Manhattan YC's red J/24s) and uses New York Harbor's marine resources to create an extraordinary public high school experience that instills in its students the skills and ethic of environmental stewardship. Harbor School's mission is to graduate students prepared for success in college and who have earned a technical credential in one of the six marine fields: Aquaculture, Marine Biology Research, Marine Systems Technology, Ocean Engineering, Professional SCUBA diving, and Vessel Operations.

Last Thursday I had the thrilling opportunity of sailing in the second annual Harbor School Regatta to benefit the Harbor School. Hannah Swett, one of my Godchildren, who comes from a very famous sailing family in Rhode Island, invited me to sail with her and her mother, Ellie Burgess, upon the historic America's Cup 12-meter boat, Intrepid.

I first met Ellie many years ago when were neighbors in New York City. I had many exciting sails with her and her family and learned what I know about sailing from them. Hannah's sailing credentials include Collegiate All-American, multiple World and National champion, Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, America's Cup Sailor, and was nominated for Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Please enjoy these sailing photos of the Regatta (MYC J/24s and the 12 Meters INTREPID and AMERICAN EAGLE) taken by photographer Lori Hawkins.

J/24 beer can racing- Professional Grade Sailing?

this one falls into the category of "OMG, They Can't Be Serious!"  Nevertheless, this new J/24 "go-fast" equipment shows how Tim Corbett's J/24 has taken summer beer can racing to a whole new level-- if not beyond professional grade, perhaps certifiable?  You can bet this team is pretty popular out on the water, particularly when people start getting thirsty.  Note the meticulous care to use a large overhead 2-ton crane to lower in a full keg of Grolsch beer (this guys aren't skimping on good beer, that's for sure) into the "hold" of a J/24-- substituting the top of the keg most assuredly for the normal companionway steps (the old Igloo Cooler).  Then, in what appears to be extraordinary attention to detail, note how the Igloo Cooler has been converted into a "cold tap" that has immediate access from the cockpit adjacent to the primary genoa winches.  If you want the fancy engineering plans, along with all the CAD/CAM and VPPs and FE analysis that shows how to improve J/24 performance and the PSYCHOLOGY TODAY impact study on crew moral enhancement and the Stan Honey analysis of YACHTING'S GREATEST INVENTIONS SINCE MAN SAILED LOGS and how that applies to the total average overall boatspeed of a J/24 pre-and-post "liquidation", be sure to contact Tim-- he's got all the answers.  We're certain he'd be happy to "convert" other J/24s to a similar point of view.

USCG EAGLE Captain Started on J/24s!

* Sailing the USCG EAGLE with Captain Chris Sinnett is always a joy and a remarkable experience.  Chris was a member of the USCG Academy Sailing Team (and learned the ropes as a J/24 sailor) from 1981 to 84 when yours truly, the Editor, was coaching the Intercollegiate and Offshore programs in New London, CT.  Kimball Livingston had the privilege to experience what few "commoners" ever get to an opportunity to do-- sail on the EAGLE.  Here's Kimball's story:

"What do you do with 22,000 square feet of sail?" The Captain of the US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, Chris Sinnett says, “It’s basic sailing, just a lot of it.”

We were at sea for three days, downriver on the Columbia to salt water at Astoria, then south along the Pacific Coast from Oregon to California and the Golden Gate. Being a small-boat sailor, I had my epiphanies.

Imagine a medium breeze near or forward of the beam. You will see the square-rigger crew “fanning” the uppermost sails—trimming them farther aft—to account for higher wind speeds aloft. (Maxi and America’s Cup crews have a different tool kit but similar challenges.) In light air the uppermost sails of a square rigger are again trimmed farther aft than lower sails, to act as telltales and warn the driver if it’s time to fall off. Aboard the Eagle, however, you will not hear too-cool-for-school racer lingo like “driver.” Before we pulled out of Portland town, the crew was mustered on deck and the cadets were told, “Learn all you can. This is how you become a Coast Guard officer.”

I don’t know what may have been going through the minds of young cadets as they stood straight, listening to those words, but I have a notion of what they were thinking, three days later, as the light failed and the wind rose and there was a bite to that wind, and the ship was flying too much sail and came the call, ALL HANDS!

All eyes were aloft, up up up to the rigging. There’s this other saying aboard the Eagle:  "If you don’t let go, you don’t fall."   Read the rest of Kimball's account on the EAGLE on BLUE PLANET TIMES.

For more J/24 sailboat and sailing information.