Alaska Fast Boats

As we get more serious about racing at the club we need to make sure that those of us who are sailing two-person boats (Buccs, Skips, Lidos, FJs, etc.) are actually sailing with two people.  This is important for several reasons:

1. Sailing with just one person in light air provides a massive, unfair and (in class racing situations) illegal advantage.
2. You put yourself in a risky spot when you go out alone, even when the air is light.  Wind and weather conditions can change suddenly, and if you’re on a boat designed for two people you can quickly find yourself in a massively overpowered position when the wind picks up.
3. Crewing is traditionally how new people are introduced to the sport of sailboat racing.  But “two-people-on-two-person-boats” issue we encourage more people to get out on the water.

In order to make this an easier process, I’m going to compile an “Available Crew List” and post it to this site.  I’ll do it in PDF format so that you can easily print it out and stick it on your fridge for quick reference.  This list will include names, numbers and emails addresses.  Hopefully it’ll make it easy for interested crew to find their way to skippers-in-need.

If you have an interest in being on this list you can post a comment to this story, use the contact form link on the top of this page or simply call me at home at 907-277-9397.  Please include your full name, your best contact number and your email address.  Don’t let a lack of racing experience deter you from asking for a spot on the list.  The very best way start learning about racing is to crew for an experienced skipper!

I’ve been meaning to post more news here, but life has been crazy busy.  I actually have a few more interesting items, but I’ll save them for coming days.  In the meantime please get me your contact info if you’re interested in crewing this year!

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Greetings Buccaneer 18 owners.  Just a quick note on the Buccaneer Class Association.  We have enough boats now in the state to register as our own fleet.  I will complete the process to get our fleet registered but there is no need to wait if you want to get registered.  You can find the registration information at the Buccaneer 18 Class Association website located here:

http://www.buccaneer18.org/bucc_application.asp

We also looking in to forming our own region here in Alaska.  Stay tuned for more information on that.  See you on the race course.

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Heya fellow racers.  I’ve done a little more work on this site, and just finished adding the all-important “email subscription” feature.  This means that you’re be getting notifications of any articles posted to this blog.  I’ve taken the liberty of subscribing everybody who left me their email address from the Bucc 18 class meeting last week, and I’ve also Chris and Kevin.  If you don’t want to receive email when stories are posted here, there’s a handy and easy-to-use unsubscribe feature located in the right-hand sidebar of the site.

We’ll be using this blog to do all of the following:

1. Post generally interesting articles and links about sailboat racing
2. Post race results
3. Post Buccaneer 18 class-specific information and news
4. Keep an updated “available crew” list

I’ve decided to use a “blog format” for sharing information rather than an email address for a couple of reasons.  First, it’s a lot more public.  We’re all trying hard to grow the sport of sailboat racing in Alaska, and in order to do that we have to make it obvious to newcomers that there’s a lot more going on than most people would imagine.  Mailing lists are easy to use and convenient, but there’s also “hidden” to non-subscribers.  A blog is public, easy to view and lets anybody see what’s going on.

The second reason for the blog format is that that we can collectively compile useful links related to sailboat racing and keep them in one place.  You can see what we have so far on the right-hand side of the site.  We’ll keep adding as we grow.

Please note that anybody can post articles, add links and write comments.  I’ll be adding a page that provides a basic how-to for posting, but if you’re feeling technically adventerous in the meantime just Google “WordPress posting” and you should find enough info to get you started.

Stay tuned for more exciting sailboat racing news this week!

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I’ve just finished an agenda for our first class meeting.  You can download it here.  I’ll bring plenty of paper copies to the Thursday meeting.

Also, just saw this gem on the Bucc 18 Yahoo! Group.  It’s a online racing primer, it’s free and it’s pretty good.  It’s targeted specifically at Lasers and 420s, but it’s easily generalizable to any racing dingy.

Here’s the link:

http://www.uiowa.edu/~sail/skills/racing_basics/

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It’s time the first first annual (and first ever) Alaska Buccaneer 18 Class Association Meeting!

We’re going to have eight Buccs on the Lake this summer. This should make for some fantastic one-design racing and hopefully we can get organized as a class up here.  We’re planning to meet 5:30 PM on Thursday, April 10th at the Moose’s Tooth to do the following:

1. Get organized with the national Bucc 18 class so we can report our results.
2. Share knowledge about how to race and tune our new Buccs.
3. Come up with a catchier name for our class organization!
4. Talk about ways we can promote and grow our budding class.
5. Discuss a standard Bucc sail package for the club (Schurr? North? MAC?)
6. Eat pizza.
7. Drink beer.

All current Buccaneer owners are planning to attend, and in addition this meeting is open to any interested people. This includes all of the following:

• Anybody with plans to purchase a Bucc and join the class
• Anybody who thinks they might someday want to join the class
• Anybody looking for a regular crew spot
• Anybody just curious about what we’re up to

Although the Buccaneer 18 class is associated with the Alaska Sailing Club (ASC), you do not need to be an ASC member in order to come to this meeting.  And if you’re going to come, please RSVP.  The Moose’s Tooth is a great place to meeting, but it’s obviously busy.  I’ll need to have an accurate head count in order to get us enough seating.

I should also point out that there are two Bucc for sale (sail) right now. Dave Johnson is selling his trusty old Chrysler Bucc and upgrading to a brand new Nickels. And Tim Gould and I have a brand new shiny red Nickels looking for a new home. (It’s already in state!)  So if you have interest in purchasing a Bucc we’d be happy to talk about at the meeting.

Thanks, everybody! I’m looking forward to a fantastic summer of racing.  If you have any questions regarding this meeting in the meantime, please feel free to contact me.  Oh, and I’ve uploaded a PDF version of the meeting file.  If anybody feels inspired please feel free to download a copy an post it anywhere around town.

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A one-design dingy dealership in Alaska? Really?

It’s true. Alaska Fast Boats is open for business. We are the official Alaskan dealership of the fast and fabulous Nickels Buccaneer 18. We’ve already managed to pull three boats up to Alaska from Fenton, MI — and we have three more on the way before the Spring season. Of the six boats coming up this winter, five are spoken for and one is looking for a good home. We’re looking forward to a fantastic racing season up on Big Lake this summer.

And while we’re in the business of selling Buccs and promoting the Buccaneer 18 class we’re really in love with sailboat racing in all of its glorious forms. To that end this website is dedicated to the broader missing of promoting sailboat racing throughout the Great State of Alaska. We plan to do all of the following:

• Post race results from any sailboat race that occurs in Alaska
• Provide a forum for skippers looking for crew and for crew looking for a ride
• Provide free classified for any sailboat (new or used) being sold in Alaska
• Post general information about sailboat racing and safety in Alaska

We’re just getting started and we’re still filling in site content, but in the meantime feel free to poke around the site. Anybody is free to post, so if you have something to say to the Alaskan sailboat racing community feel free to log in and then speak your mind.

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