Yesterday at about 3:30 p.m. a tug and barge struck a sailboat near the Golden Gate Bridge. The two crew of the sailboat were thrown into the water, rescued by the Coast Guard, and treated for hypothermia. The sailboat itself didn't fare so well, and went to the bottom.

It isn't clear whether it was the tug or the tow that struck the sailboat, and the Coast Guard isn't revealing any other details, nor the names of the vessels, until they complete their investigation. The sailboat was supposed to be a 20-30 footer.

Out my window (I live in San Francisco) the weather was clear yesterday with our usual strong westerly. According to NOAA, the current would have been near max ebb at about 2.6 knots, against the wind, which always makes things wild and wooly in the Golden Gate.

The depth ranges from about 150-250 feet deep along the bridge, and currents reach three knots, so locating, much less recovering the sailboat, would be tough.

SO WHAT do YOU think? Is that ugly box of a houseboat you see there--formerly the home of Fane Lozman, a wealthy South Florida software developer--worthy of the name "vessel"??? I'm guessing a large number of you will say such an abomination is an insult to the very concept of boat. Indeed, even as houses go, it is (or was) pretty damn ugly.

"The Supremes" (as we used to call them in law school) ruled on Tuesday that Lozman's home was not a "vessel" subject to federal admiralty jurisdiction because a) it had no rudder or steering; b) it had a rectangular hull; c) it could not generate or store electricity onboard; and d) it had a "nonmaritime" interior with windows and doors that were not watertight.

Here's an hilarious new take on the classic Drunken Sailor song. I clipped this out of an hour-long episode of 'Adam & Edith', a radio show produced by BBC 6 Music (hope they don't mind a little promotion!), which they turn into a podcast every week, and which I joyfully listen to. You have to like the dry, British humor to appreciate it (the podcast that is), but I think anyone who's ever heard the Drunken Sailor song can appreciate this version of it. If you want to skip the intro bit where Adam and Edith discuss it, fast forward to 2:05, where the song starts. Download Adam & Edith for free on iTunes. Read More

I’ve been grinding on this winch for a long time. I discover that it’s time for a break.

I’ll be back in 2013, but not immediately.

Perhaps I’ll run away away away and find other pursuits . . .

Thanks to Betsy Crowfoot for the find

Wow, this person didn't even ask permission to board:

It seems to safe to say that the 2012 North Atlantic tropical storm season has come to end, so I've been pawing through the sat pix I've collected trying to choose my favorite for the year. In terms of storm intensity, it was a rather poor season, so the pickings are a bit slim. Consequently, my number one choice isn't actually a satellite image. What you see up top, a pictorial rendering of the locations and intensities of all reported tropical storms and hurricanes since 1851, was published by John Nelson of IDV Solutions on his UXBlog on August 20.

When the wind gets up, anything can happen.....

(via Captain Rande)

One of the reasons we go to sea, or spend time on the water, is the chance that something extraordinary and incredible will deliver an experience unlike any you could find ashore, an experience that you will remember forever.

Often such experiences involve marine mammals. I can still vividly recall the memory of sailing down the Portuguese coast on a moonlit night, and being transfixed by the sight of a pod of dolphins repeatedly streaking under the boat, straight at the keel to veer sharply aside at the last moment. They were lit up like otherworldy torpedoes by the phosphoresence, and the show went on for at least 15 minutes, wth the crews' oohing and ahhing punctuated by the huff of their exhalations as the surfaced near the boat after breaking off their runs.

We've all probably experienced sublime moments like that. But have any of you ever experienced this?

"Man is not a camel - he must drink."

That's a sign I saw in a bar in New Zealand in 2004. It's also one of the very first entries in my journal from that trip, the first real length journey I've ever been on. I started reading it today on the plane ride to St. Lucia to work for the ARC Rally finish because I'm doing a 'Voice of Experience' article for SAIL and wanted to refresh my memory of that anchor debacle in Endeavor Inlet.

Okay, so Paul Larsen and SailRocket finally stole the outright speed record back from the kitesurfers, putting sailors back on top. 

But that doesn't mean they will stay there forever, or for long. Because the kitesurfers are down at the Luderitz speed ditch, which is also in Namibia, and the wind is starting to blow. Wind speeds today are 30-35 knots and building, and we're seeing 50-plus knots speed runs. (Best place to follow along is on Facebook).

Larsen is sitting on an outright record of 65.45 knots, so he is probably not sweating as much as he would be if he had just pipped kitesurfer Rob Douglas' old record of 55.65 knots. The game has now moved into the 60-70 knots zone, and we'll see if the kiters can get there and survive. But if they do, it will be thanks to a custom-made speed trench which takes the kiters even further away from what is normally understood to be "sailing."

Regardless, it is pretty cool, and definitely built for speed. Here's an inside look: