If you have a fast connection, check out this video of Hans Wallen. Definitely the best sailing clip i've seen!!!



http://www.wallen.se/files/wallen2.mpg

Todd-

Hey, great clip. My only problem now is trying to refocus on the work in front of me!! Anyone have other links to similar clips?

Troy

Todd, great clip. We need a full-length movie. Who said Cat racing couldn’t be a spectator sport?

Awesome. Heck of a lot more exciting than watching the America's Cup matches! Anyone got connections at OLN? The public needs to see this stuff.

Wow, watched it 5 times in a row. Be sure to let it buffer the video before you watch. Now I can show people what life on a Tornado in 20 something knot winds is like.

theres a couple clips on the A-class -tornado worlds site http://www.aclass-tornado-worlds2002.org/

I emailed OLN a few months ago and they said that there was no demand so they wouldn't show any sailing. What's going on with this sport? Is surfing REALLY more popular than cat sailing? I would even be happy to see an hour a month of coverage of the world championship events...Is anyone here involved with this industry?

Dave

N6.0na #325

I may have a response to that question. As a crew involved in the mid 80s and now just getting back into the sport, I have a slightly different perspective. I don't think you'll find one person on this forum that will say that surfing OR the LV Cup is more exciting than cat racing. Cat racing is extremely exciting........for the racers. My wife attended a regatta early in the year and the only time she went again was as a crew. Why? Because for a shoreline spectator, it is more exciting to watch the trees or go for a walk. You can't tell how your friend/family member is doing and it's hard for a non-cat sailor to tell what is going on from the shore. I have had friends who have wanted to come and watch and I have honestly told them there isn't much to see from shore. That may not be the right answer, but it is the truth. One thing we can do to help this become more of a spectator sport is by moving the courses closer to shore. Why not have the start/finish close to the launch or one of the marks? That way at least the family members can see you and maybe even wave. Whatever disadvantages there are to bringing the marks in closer is a disadvantage to everyone.



I think the Worrell is a wonderful event and is prime for TV, much like other events like the LV Cup. As a racer, I was interested when the world cup of match racing was on OLN earlier this year. Again, being honest, I turned it off after 5 minutes (very boring) and this is from a sailor! Imagine the non-sailors out there.....yawn!! Maybe we should inundate OLN with emails requesting coverage of catamaran racing. If they say there isn't interest, maybe we can make our voice heard.



Kip

TheMightyHobie18

Anyone got the OLN email address? Someone post it and lets all inundate them.



The name of the game is making an event spectator friendly. But the power of TV can follow a race anywhere with camera boats, helicopters, bios, etc. If OLN could sell ads for it, they'd cover it. I happen to be former surf bum and I can tell you that surfing well is as challenging as any sport I've done and IS as exhilarating as cat sailing. But I can envision a lot more TV potential for cat racing, especially given the big billboards (sails).



If someone's got the OLN email, post it and lets inudate them! Maybe there's still time for them to plan to cover the Worrell.

Hi Guys,



Loved the clip, looks awsome.



Are any of you guys from Australia.



For many years we had an 18 foot skiff circuit televised in the lunch breaks of the cricket. This was a huge hit for sailors and non-sailors alike and you regularly heared non sailors comenting about it and how crazy it was. The footage was shot from helicopters and chase boats. The comintators were ex sailors that spoke both sailing lingo and laymons talk. They also explaned the technical side of the race eg what they were doing zig-zaging everwhere.



Just in case any of you do not know what an 18 foot skiff is, it is an 18 foot monohull with a bowspit, asmetrical kite, 3 crew on trapeze at the end of wings with tramp mesh and are the fastest sail boat in the world behind the Tornado, capable of in excess of 30 knots.



Would love to seethe same thing done with cats



Regards

Stephen Medwell

Team Tornado 'ALIVE'

Go to: http://www.olntv.com/GIGet_GetOLN.cfm and click on "Join OLN" and register and in the "What do you want to see more of", type beach catamaran sailing or racing. If they get enough replies, who knows, they may start airing what we want. Do the same for ESPN.

Don C.

Post this as a separate thread, entitled "How to get cat sailing more coverage in the media", or some such and urge every sailor to get all their sailing buddies to do it, too. They'll know it's organized, but if enough of us do it, they'll possibly consider that if that many folks will write a letter... etc...

My .02

Ed Norris

OK, I sent my message to OLN, (beach catamaran sailing or racing). Post if you have, let see if we can push the interest over the top.

Very cool. Compares favorably to the coolest clip ever:1-2capture by John Roberts, a clip of the 1999 Ruff Rider shot from the trimaran Little Wing as the cats blew past, despite their speed of 10-15 knots!



Too big to attach a copy of the file, but find it on the web, if you can, for a feel of what the RuffRider was all about!

nacraphiliac,



Thanks for the pointer. Its a nice clip. I did a search, and it is at:



http://members.tripod.com/john-roberts/1-2capture.html



Also there is a link from John Roberts home page at:

http://home.satx.rr.com/jroberts/



It is 7 MB so could take 30-40 mins on a dial up modem.

It is in Real Video format.



It says now says Temporarily Unavailable, The Tripod page you are trying to reach has exceeded its hourly bandwidth limit. The site will be available again in 2 hours!



So I put a temporary copy at:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ragenpl3/1-2capture.ram

I'm sorry to inform you that Real Media is simply the most horrible format ever created

Stephen, I'm also sorry to say, that the 'nado is NOT the fastest sailboat! Nice boats, yes, fast, yes, THE fastest?-not.



'the fastest sail boat in the world behind the Tornado, capable of in excess of 30 knots.'

Howdy Todd,



Sorry, I ment to say one design. To the best of my knowlege the quickest is the Australian Cunningham designed 'Yellow Pages Endeavour' wing rig trimaran that set the world sailing speed record in October 1993.



It set an average speed over a 500 meter course off 46.02 knots. It left the course on a previous run at 51 knots. This was done in an average of 18 knots of breeze.



Yellow Pages Endevour was a purpose built record breaking boat and could only travel in one direction - starboard reach. They have built another boat that is very simular and are trying for a 50 knot + run.



If the Tornado is not the fastest one designed sailboat in the world, please let me know - curious.



Sail hard, Sail fast

I'll stick my neck out a little here. I am involved in the TV industry in a small way and I have a couple of ideas why we don't see much sailing on TV.



1-From a production standpoint sailing, especially WET sailing, is very expensive to cover well. The story, for those not obsessed like us, is not directly in the speed of the boats. It is in the drama of stories of indavidual people and teams. All good sports TV centers not around the objects of those sports (cars, footballs, pucks, sticks, BOATS), but rather around the people. This means a lot of waterproof cameras on as many boats as possible to see the faces and the indavidual struggle to win. I'll personally watch an unedited tape of a boat sailing by...no one else will, and there arenot enough of us to get the rateings even an OLN show needs to attract sponsors.



2-We as a group have to not have our act together. If you aproach a programmer or sponsor with an idea, they have to see a professional situation. Cat sailing above all has struggled with this. We are generally not conformist yacht-club types and it shows. There are many factions within our small group and we do not speak united. Untill that happens sailing on TV will be limited to the well organized and big sponsored (read:America's Cup)



If you want to work on someone work on attracting intersted and involved sponsors to the sport. One good sponsor could make all your dreams come true. If a sponsor sees that we have an audience they will invest in us.



Tom Leobold

Lets forget about TV.



Even the round of Texel got a bad showing and with a 750 cats on the startline is the best attended sailing race. Not to mention the amount of spectacle and personal drama as a result of the challenging conditions.



No TV is never going to work for us but Internet and the new media are !!



I watched the entire race LIVE on internet this year.



I also watched the OCRA 60 ft tris a few times as well as the movie "wind" (of around 1990) and there is saw something else that is interesting.



Simulations representing the actions and events of the real race. With included windshadows and windidicators so viewers understand why a boat tacks away or how it covers the field.



The needed data for such a graphic display is also alot smaller to transmit through the net. Maybe the display is clickable and a few movie shots of tack, pitchpoles and roudings can be requested.



I've been thinking of this option for several years now, even before the F16 class project and I think we, the catsailor forum members, can make it work.



I've already seen GPS map printouts of several sailors on this forum. Made by just handheld GPS with are affordable.



I feel this effort should be a class transcending initiative and would like to form a group that sets itself the goal of achieving this.



A few programmers and people with connections should do the trick.



Please mail me.



Wouter