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77 Years Later, Yacht Repeats Win in Trans-Pacific Race (2013)

33 points by yachtintransit 12y ago

gonzo 12y ago
This is from 2013.
- dang 12y ago
  Thanks; we missed that one. Added to title.
psophis 12y ago
Photos of her, if you're interested: http://dorade.org/photos/ http://dorade.org/photos/
aidos 12y ago
I did the Clipper Race [0] in 2007 when Hannah Jenner was the skipper aboard Glasgow. I never sailed directly under her but I sailed with plenty of others who did and they had nothing but praise for her abilities. I was also on a boat racing against her's numerous times so I've witnessed the sailing aspect firsthand. At one point her boat had a man overboard in a force 6 in the southern ocean. It's a testament to her skill that he survived. It requires true leadership to keep your cool in those sorts of conditions. [0] http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/ http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/ [1] http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/139315 http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/139315
sdfjkl 12y ago
Alas, she only won due to the massive headstart such a boat is afforded. > Dorade’s finishing time in the Transpac race this year was 12 days 5 hours 23 minutes 18 seconds > Dorade started a week earlier than Pyewacket, which finished the course in 8 days 15 hours 41 minutes 3 seconds. Still, nice to see wooden hulls aren't dead.
- nardi 12y ago
  Yeah, that probably shouldn't be buried near the end of the article. I felt deceived. Obviously I don't follow sailing, but it seems really silly that they could lose by 4 days and still "win."
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    That's not "win", that's simply win. They won by the rules. The rules take into account all kinds of factors and there is nobody from any one of the other crews that would put that win in quotes detracting from it like you did. The whole idea of handicapping is to make the race more fair, not less so.
    - nardi 12y ago
      I totally understand that, and I realize that I sound stupid to anyone who follows sailing. What my comment was intended to do was represent the viewpoint of someone who isn't used to that interpretation of the word "fair." My comment was intended as a critique of the sport—to the layman (by which I really mean "to me") it seems like the fastest boat should win in a boat race.
      - jacquesm 12y ago
        Well, then why bother with just sails? Might as well power up then. The problem here is that no two boats are alike and that sailboats design parameters have a direct effect on their top speed (hull length being the most important one). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_speed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_speed If you want to race two different boats (and they're almost all different) you will have to use some kind of handicap. So any race without a handicap would immediately penalize the shorter boats. And then it becomes a race of who has the most money. The three different kinds of races (handicap, rating, one design) mean that everybody gets to compete how they want. Once you enter a race under those conditions when you win, you win for real. And no-one in their right mind would enter a boat into a race they'd already lost before it started so you can consider any of that very hard fought for, sailing is tremendously competitive. In the late 80's in between a lot of other stuff I did back then I worked for a while for a very state-of-the-art sailmaker in the Netherlands to write CAD software to create sail designs and cut-plans. So I'm not a sailor or anything like that but I've read quite a bit about it and worked with people that spent as much of their lives on the water as off and I know that they would take a remark like that in a very bad way. For two boats that are equal the differentiating factors in actual speed (so otherwise equal conditions) are crew, sails, stays, mast. It's not rare to see a better crew out-sail a much better boat. One boat is a cruise, two boats is a race.
micro_cam 12y ago
For a vaguely startup connection, Matt Brooks is also the founder of Brooks Range Mountaineering a small company that makes high performance/light weight outdoor gear and clothing. They've done some cool/risky/disruptive things over the years including a (now discontinued) winter tent that used a laminated, heat reflective material.
devenson 12y ago
This boat is also where we get the name "Dorade box" which is a design of deck ventilator which catches the wind and directs it through the deck of the ship to the cabin below yet rejects any captured water. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorade_box http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorade_box

gonzo 12y ago

This is from 2013.

dang 12y ago
Thanks; we missed that one. Added to title.

psophis 12y ago

Photos of her, if you're interested: http://dorade.org/photos/ http://dorade.org/photos/

aidos 12y ago

I did the Clipper Race [0] in 2007 when Hannah Jenner was the skipper aboard Glasgow. I never sailed directly under her but I sailed with plenty of others who did and they had nothing but praise for her abilities. I was also on a boat racing against her's numerous times so I've witnessed the sailing aspect firsthand. At one point her boat had a man overboard in a force 6 in the southern ocean. It's a testament to her skill that he survived. It requires true leadership to keep your cool in those sorts of conditions. [0] http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/ http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/ [1] http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/139315 http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/139315

sdfjkl 12y ago

Alas, she only won due to the massive headstart such a boat is afforded. > Dorade’s finishing time in the Transpac race this year was 12 days 5 hours 23 minutes 18 seconds > Dorade started a week earlier than Pyewacket, which finished the course in 8 days 15 hours 41 minutes 3 seconds. Still, nice to see wooden hulls aren't dead.

nardi 12y ago
Yeah, that probably shouldn't be buried near the end of the article. I felt deceived. Obviously I don't follow sailing, but it seems really silly that they could lose by 4 days and still "win."
- jacquesm 12y ago
  That's not "win", that's simply win. They won by the rules. The rules take into account all kinds of factors and there is nobody from any one of the other crews that would put that win in quotes detracting from it like you did. The whole idea of handicapping is to make the race more fair, not less so.
  - nardi 12y ago
    I totally understand that, and I realize that I sound stupid to anyone who follows sailing. What my comment was intended to do was represent the viewpoint of someone who isn't used to that interpretation of the word "fair." My comment was intended as a critique of the sport—to the layman (by which I really mean "to me") it seems like the fastest boat should win in a boat race.
    - jacquesm 12y ago
      Well, then why bother with just sails? Might as well power up then. The problem here is that no two boats are alike and that sailboats design parameters have a direct effect on their top speed (hull length being the most important one). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_speed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_speed If you want to race two different boats (and they're almost all different) you will have to use some kind of handicap. So any race without a handicap would immediately penalize the shorter boats. And then it becomes a race of who has the most money. The three different kinds of races (handicap, rating, one design) mean that everybody gets to compete how they want. Once you enter a race under those conditions when you win, you win for real. And no-one in their right mind would enter a boat into a race they'd already lost before it started so you can consider any of that very hard fought for, sailing is tremendously competitive. In the late 80's in between a lot of other stuff I did back then I worked for a while for a very state-of-the-art sailmaker in the Netherlands to write CAD software to create sail designs and cut-plans. So I'm not a sailor or anything like that but I've read quite a bit about it and worked with people that spent as much of their lives on the water as off and I know that they would take a remark like that in a very bad way. For two boats that are equal the differentiating factors in actual speed (so otherwise equal conditions) are crew, sails, stays, mast. It's not rare to see a better crew out-sail a much better boat. One boat is a cruise, two boats is a race.

micro_cam 12y ago

For a vaguely startup connection, Matt Brooks is also the founder of Brooks Range Mountaineering a small company that makes high performance/light weight outdoor gear and clothing. They've done some cool/risky/disruptive things over the years including a (now discontinued) winter tent that used a laminated, heat reflective material.

devenson 12y ago

This boat is also where we get the name "Dorade box" which is a design of deck ventilator which catches the wind and directs it through the deck of the ship to the cabin below yet rejects any captured water. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorade_box http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorade_box