Under The Crane | Atlantis WeatherGear Blog

Much to the help from Line Honors Performance Sailing, of Lake Geneva WI, we made our way westward to the windy city, just in time for Strictly Sail Chicago. For those of you who stopped by the booth, thanks for saying hello! Hopefully you didn’t forget to enter our contest to win a Speedpuck from Velocitek! No? Well, there’ll be other times..

And special thanks to Chad and Kim!

Kim & Chad, manning the booth, wearing Grand Prix gear. Microburst and W's Numbers Softshell Jackets in the foreground.

We’ve heard people ask, and we’ve asked ourselves:

The Aegis Hybrid Bib – Gone Skiing?

On December 27^th, the Sunday following Christmas, my brother Pete and I woke up to driving rain on the tin roof of our cabin in central Vermont. The decision loomed: lounge around the fire and entertain numerous relatives another day, or suck it up and ski in the rain.

Some people like to ski in the rain. Others hate it. I’ll go out in pretty much anything.  As long as I can stay comfortable and keep the goggles clear of fog, I’m game. My brother, luckily, shares this view, and as the weather report promised constant rain all day, I knew it was time to fully test the Aegis Hybrid Bibs, in the snow arena. However, it took more than a little convincing to get Pete to shed his top-of-the-line, advanced-tech, hard shell ski pants from a big name gear company, and pull on a pair of Aegis Bibs. Zzzippp!!

As an avid skier and rider, I’ve had my eye on the bibs for some time. The reinforced knees and butt intrigued me, since I tend to annually put a hole or two in the knees of that rip-stop fabric ski brands use. The fit and adjustable shoulder strap construction also had me going: no more snow up the back or down the pants in the event of a sliding fall. Not to mention the waterproof pockets and zips, plus the two-way front zip is all too handy for taking a quick leak trailside.

This much I figured in advance, as I sat on the rail during the summer, longingly waiting for snow to fall.  The only thing I needed to check was the ankle cuff size: would they fit over the tops of my boots?

Pete and I skied all day in our bibs. As the day wore on, and the rain failed to cease, fewer and fewer people stayed out. We did. The bibs worked fantastically. Our leg and core sections stayed bone dry and warm. My arms were a bit wet through my jacket (alas, not Atlantis), but I was – on the whole – dry. The cuffs fit around my boots with room to spare and the Velcro fasteners stayed tight throughout the day. I utilized the two-way front zip several times, found the chest pockets easily held and kept dry a goggle cleaning cloth, mobile device, a Snickers Bar, and several dozen cherry lozenges. Of course, the knees and butt were without a scratch!

Confirmed: Aegis Hybrid Bibs – Great for sailing. Great for skiing.

First Launch (w/ AWG offices in the background)

When we looked out the window at AWG HQ and saw this beauty hanging in the air, we started to drool.  And when the boys came upstairs looking for some gear to wear for the test sail, we saw our chance to make them take us for a spin.

Forget the fact that we all have too much work to do, the temperature was hovering around 35, and that the 10-15 knot northwester made it feel a fair bit colder than that on the water, it was a nice day to be out there in Chris Hood’s new 32-foot daysailer, designed and built for Eastern YC’s Rear Commodore Frank Morse.

Sitting pretty

Known for his pretty power boats, Chris has come up with a winner in the sailboat category as well.  While it may remind us of a Shields-like object above the water, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  It zoomed around in the flat water in Marblehead Harbor at almost 7 knots, and the high-aspect skeg-less rudder gives it a light helm and really responsive handling.  Simple too – with the roller-furling self-tacking jib, you could spend hours sailing around the harbor all by yourself in this boat and look great doing it.

Andrew & Chris toast the new baby

Would make pretty nice deck candy for your super yacht, too.

Billy Black was out taking pictures, so you’ll probably see some nice shots of it sailing soon.

The Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race is one of the all-time great races and, next to the Round-the-World races, pretty much the ultimate test of endurance and equipment. In the past 11 runnings of this race, masts have broken, boats have sunk and sailors have been tragically lost – doesn’t get much more rugged than that.

Team YuuZoo knocks the rust off

If you’re as big a fan of the annual S2H classic as we are, then here’s a bit of timely news:

Atlantis is partnering with veteran ocean racer and 2-time winner Ludde Ingvall and the team on the 90-foot super-maxi YuuZoo (ex-Nicorette) for the upcoming Rolex Sydney-Hobart and beyond. We’ve provided them with a full kit of Aegis jackets, Aegis hybrid bibs and Grand Prix softshells, and based on the current forecast, it sounds like they’re going to need every bit of it. So, this’ll be a pretty good test of our stuff on one of the toughest race tracks in the world, but what’s particularly cool is the approach these guys are taking – totally revolutionary!

The biggest problem with ocean races is that, for those of us who prefer the comfort of the couch and a dry bed to the misery of the weather rail and a damp pipe berth, it’s pretty hard to follow what’s going on. Oh sure, there are some cool web-based tracking systems, but as for experiencing what the boys and girls on the sharp end are dealing with, they don’t cut it.

Ludde and YuuZoo chief Ron Creevey have assembled a “who’s who” of technology companies to provide all of the bits required for each of the crewmembers to be able to record and share a variety of content in real time. For instance, they’ll be able to use their HTC smartphones to shoot video and then upload it to YouTube so that we’ll be able to see what’s going on aboard in near-real time. Their goal is to assemble the largest virtual “crew” in history.

The YuuZoo Sailing site

The Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race starts on Boxing Day (December 26th). To join the team, visit www.yuuzoo.com/jointhecrew and click on your preferred social media tool to get real-time updates. You can also watch live video coverage of the start on Australia’s Seven Network and online at Yahoo!7 beginning at 12:30 PM AEST (about 8:30 PM US EST on Christmas Day).

Ludde and the crew plan a full campaign over the next 3 to 5 years including great ocean races and world record attempts. Should be fun to watch!

We love the entry in Marblehead’s annual Gingerbread Festival from Eastern Waterfront Director Mike Smith and his family: an excellent replica of the Eastern launch Harpoon complete with a gingerbread version of Mike and his wife and daughter. Best part is it was won by an AWG staffer!

Gingerbread version of the Eastern launch "Harpoon" by the Smith family

See America’s Cup winners Russell Coutts and Bill Koch aboard KZ 7!

ESPN Classic presents a world-premier broadcast “The Golden Year of 12-Metres” Saturday November 7, 2009 at 1pm (est). A Jobson Sailing Inc. film, produced and narrated by Gary Jobson.

Gary brings you aboard America’s Cup winners Intrepid, Courageous and Freedom as well as Plastic Fantastics KZ 3 and KZ 7, weaving the history of the 12-Metre Class in America’s Cup action through the exhilarating racing they’re still doing today.

Extensive footage includes the 2009 12-Metre Worlds and interviews with sailors and legends who were in Newport, RI for the 6 day event, showing this historic class is alive and well, and if anything, getting better with age!

Keep an eye out for Atlantis gear on many of the 12-Metre crews!

We know, we’ve been neglecting the blog, and if you’ve been looking for news about Atlantis or pithy commentary on the events of the day, we apologize – we have plenty of both but with the “murderer’s row” of events throughout August, September and the first half of October, we just haven’t had the time to keep up.

Now that the dust is settling, we have a bit more time for contemplation and content generation, and in the spirit of both, here are some pictures we took from the office window.  There’s something about the light at this time of year in New England that’s completely captivating, and when the guys in the boatyard are commenting on how cool the sky looks, you know it’s probably something special.

Standing by on one-six.

So there we were, hanging out in the Atlantis booth on a sunny but slow Saturday afternoon with a couple of good old boys from Marblehead who’d had a couple too many free samples from the gin booth.  We were chatting about PUMA’s VO70 Avanti which was tied to the dock and offering tours of the boat when we decided that the cat needed an eye…

Hey! I can see!

Meow!

Congratulations to the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics’ George Szabo and Rick Peters for putting the US back on top in the Star Class with a well-deserved win at the Star Worlds!

In the 9 years since Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl won the gold star, American Star sailors have cracked the top 5 but haven’t quite been able to climb over the European teams that have dominated the class of late. But this year was different, and with three American teams in the hunt going into the final race, good things were bound to happen. For George and Rick, the best thing happened, and for the rest of us who root for and support our national team, 2 American teams in the top 5 and 4 in the top 15 means there should be bright days ahead and a great shot at the podium in Weymouth.

Go get ‘em boys!