Transatlantic Passage - The Movie(s)

Captain Jim has been busy compiling pictures from our transatlantic passage into short slide shows. There are too many pics for one slide show, so he broke it up into four flicks. IMHO - they're all good, but get better as we get closer to Portugal. 

The complete series with his comments and links to his blog:

Morpheus Transatlantic Passage - Chapter 1 - Preparation

"Almost five weeks have past, since we first arrived in Europe.  They have been five busy weeks, but that's no excuse for having not put together an overall summary of the journey....Well, the good news is that I am finally working on getting that massive post written and published..."

Morpheus Transatlantic Passage - Chapter 2 - Saint Martin to Azores:

"...a slideshow covering our journey from St. Martin to to the island of Horta in the Azores.  As previously mentioned, and documented in detail if you followed our daily blog posts, we had a very good trip...."

Morpheus Transatlantic Passage - Chapter 3 - The Azores

"We enjoyed our short stays on both Horta and San Miquel.  If we all had more time, we would have happily stayed in the Azores for another couple of weeks.  But, we didn't have that time and there was a passage across the Atlantic Ocean for the four of us to complete... Our initial arrival came with a bit of "land sickness" as the earth felt as though it was moving under our feet.  14 days at sea gets your inner ears used to constant movement..."

Morpheus Transatlantic Passage - Chapter 4 - Azores to Portugal

 "Other than Mike's injury, the last leg was flawless and we roared into Cascais, Portugal on a broad reach in 20+ knots of wind on a warm sunny day! The perfect finish to a nearly perfect trip across the Atlantic Ocean!"

Morpheus - Atlantic Crossing - Azores to Portugal from Jim Gregory on Vimeo.
Thanks Jim. Great job. Great passage. Great experience.

America's Cup Racing is underway! Sort of.

It's been a long time coming, but America's Cup racing finally got  underway on San Francisco Bay. We have been anticipating this ever since it was announced that San Francisco was selected to host the competition. The excitement was fueled by the knowledge that at least part of the course would be visible from our vantage on Russian Hill.

Over the years we've watched the teasers leading up to this event, including the 2003 Oracle Alinghi Moet Cup Challenge, and the more recent  World Series Regatta.  But today began the real deal.

Emirtates Team New Zealand Kicks Italian Butt

 The competition begins with the Louis Vuitton Cup - a  round robin tournament to determine which challenger will face current champion Larry Ellison's Team Oracle. The first scheduled race in the round robin today was between Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy's Luna Rossa.

 I was ready. Since I am recovering from a recent rotator cuff repair, there was nothing to do but settle into my new recliner, log into YouTube and Twitter coverage on my laptop, orient the recliner to the front window, keep the cold pack on the shoulder, have binoculars and camera standing by, fire up the time-lapse app on the Droid, sit back and enjoy.

Yes - you read that right - a recliner. Since I am in recovery mode Sigrid insisted I get a recliner while the arm is in a sling.  FTW! This is a piece of furniture that was considered an unacceptable mis-match to our decor for the last 20 years of our residence in the condo yet it is here now.  But I digress...

What a race! Emirates smoked Luna Rossa at the start, extended their lead around the first turn and into the downwind leg. By the time Emirates appeared on the portion of the course visible from my recliner, Luna Rossa was nowhere to be seen.  In fact, Luna Rossa was never seen by anyone at anytime during the race. Because Luna Rossa was pouting about a rule decision and decided to not race. Really:

"With a terse announcement posted on its website Saturday, Luna Rossa Challenge wrecked plans to unveil America's Cup racing Sunday on San Francisco Bay by saying it won't take part in the opening race. The Italian team said it would wait until an international jury decides its protest against safety measures introduced by regatta director Iain Murray. The jury is schedule to convene Monday. It is not known how long it will take to decide what has become an extremely thorny issue. Instead of a race Sunday, fans will see only Emirates Team New Zealand on the race course beginning at 12:15 p.m."

So all the Kiwis had to do was complete the course and not capsize the catamaran to win the first point of the tourney.  Whatev.  It was a chance to preview the races that will be taking place all summer leading into the big series for the Cup in the fall.  Some pics and video from the historic first "race" on the bay:

For more reportage on America's Cup Opening Day events, check out the on-the-ground-coverage by The Other Mike blogging at Civic Center:

"The first Louis Vuitton Cup race was set for today, between New Zealand and Italy, but the Italians have just announced they are boycotting today's race because of recent design change demands being made by Oracle USA, supposedly for "safety." An international sailing jury will announce a ruling on the issue Monday, at which point either litigation or racing or both will ensue. So far, this event has been eerily cursed and perfectly bizarre." 

True.