From our friends at Failblog.org.  It’s so sad.  I used to lower boats slightly smaller than this one, luckily I never lost one.  Can’t imagine what that operator must be feeling…. probably jobless.

February 2010 in Valencia, Spain the Swiss boat Alinghi 5 will attempt to defend the America’s Cup against challenger BMW/Oracle.  Gone are the days of mono-hull sleds with their awesome tacking duels on the upwind legs.  These new multi-hulls are fast, cool, and look like they just stepped out of science fiction.  They have one huge draw back though,  they maneuver like slugs.  So what is going to become of the jockeying at the start, the upwind duels?  Will it just be a extremely expensive drag race?  We’ll see on February 8th.

A Catamaran (two hulls) vs. a Trimaran (three hulls).  My money is on the tri.

I’ve posted before about Byrner’s love for the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest.  Recently I got a chance to experience a trip to the US and British Virgin Islands.It is amazing and almost as good,…  okay, it’s better than the San Juans, I’m forced to admit that the VI’s have everything the NW has including 74 degree water, and amazing snorkeling.

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Ten days sailing from island to island resulted in several amazing sunsets,  sunny days sailing,

beautiful scenery,

Even with a bit of rain everyday we were blessed with a strong wind and 5 to 8 knots of sailing every time we pulled out the canvas.

This was one of the best sailing trips I’ve ever done, even the scotch was cheap!

Ok…here’s a real sailboat.

...but it could be.

The post is being advertised as "caretaker" on Hamilton Island in Australia's Whitsunday Islands.

The new recruit will work for just 12 hours a month. Duties include feeding some of the hundreds of species of fish and collecting the island's mail.

They will also need to prepare a blog, a photo diary and video updates to attract tourists to the area.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7823812.stm

Andy?  You up for it?

Just cool. Here's a story about it: [linky]

We at Byrner love sailing.  We just had to post these images and video of BMW/Oracle's newest boat, designed and built for a possible America's Cup challenge.  The decision to race vs. Switzerland's Alinghi hasn't been decided, there is a lot of legal issues, among those one being the right to use a boat like this.  Here's hoping they get to race it.

One thing to note:  If you notice the water while BMW/Oracle 90 is moving you'll notice very little wind.  Also listen to the speed of the motor from the chase boat.  This thing flat out flies.  It is definitely moving faster than the wind.

90 feet long, 158 foot tall mast.  It has been recorded at 20 knots in only 7 knots of wind... upwind. Wow!