Following a calamity of issues during transport, Daniel and Rayleen Thielman took delivery of their new-to-them Reichel Pugh 44’ sailboat named ‘Tai Kuai’ this past January. The boat name which means ‘Too Fast’ in Mandarin Chinese aptly describes this race machine that is made entirely of carbon fiber and capable of speeds exceeding 20 knots.

The Thielmans moved quickly to purchase this famously well built boat back in October 2011 when they got a heads up that the boat was about to come onto the market. The only catch was that the boat was located in Trinidad, an island off of South America approximately 4200 miles away from the Bay Area.

After seriously considering sailing the boat to the US themselves, the Thielmans decided to hire one of the largest shipping logistics companies in the world to let the supposed experts handle this potentially complicated delivery. Unfortunately, they would later regret that decision.

The first sign of trouble was in November when the boat was held up for 2 weeks by customs officers in Trinidad because the mast was packed in a wooden crate that needed to be treated with pesticides before being allowed to leave the country. The next issue arose when the boat arrived in Houston where it sat in a shipyard for 3 weeks while the Thielmans waited for US customs officers to conduct an “intense inspection”.

After much consternation the boat was finally released and loaded onto a truck bound for the Bay area and on January 6th the boat arrived at Berkley Marine Center. She looked beautiful coming in on a big tractor trailer truck except for a few small missing items like a 7500lb keel, a 70’ mast, and a 7’ steering wheel. The keel and mast were quickly located back in Houston and dispatched on another truck, but the custom steering wheel was never recovered.

The final incident came when the keel showed up a week later. Prior to this point, everyone was working feverishly to get the boat ready for the CYC mid-winters. Then the keel showed up heavily damaged and that was the end of their chances to race the boat in January.

In total there was $40k worth of damage and lost items for the insurance company to reimburse. With the repairs to their new boat now complete, the Thielmans were happy to be on the race course for the February mid-winters.

This is a follow-up to the survey from this past December where San Francisco, CA was voted the top choice to host the 2012 Melges 20 Nationals. Below you will find the hosting proposal put together by the West Coast owners.  Please email Daniel Thielman with any questions or concerns.

Dates and Venue:

- The proposed date for the Melges 20 Nationals is October 5th – 7th.

- A west coast circuit of regattas will be established for dates before and after the Nationals for those who want to extend their campaign to include other events.

- The Corinthian Yacht Club will host the event.  The Corinthian is located in beautiful downtown Tiburon, which is just across the Golden Gate Bridge with a direct view of San Francisco.

- This venue offers many exciting activities to fill your days surrounding the event.  For example, you can tour the world renowned Napa and Sonoma Valley wine country, spend a day at Alcatraz, hike the redwood forests, visit the many iconic sites in San Francisco (e.g. Painted Ladies, Fisherman’s Wharf, SF Giants, Lombard Street, Cable Cars, Haight/Ashbury, SF Ballet, Opera and Symphony), watch the America’s Cup teams practice in the 72′ catamarans for the AC34 World Series, or just spend the week practicing for Nationals.

Logistics: 


- Dry storage spaces will be provided by Clipper Yacht Harbor in Sausalito, CA at a rate of $210 per month and the North Sails loft in Sausalito will provide mast down storage at a price of $100 per month.

-The host yacht club will provide boat docking slips free of charge for the week of racing.

- LATIS & Layline Services have both provided estimates on the cost of transporting boats: LATIS plans to move the boats by flat bed trailer from Toronto and 1 east coast staging location such as Newport, RI at an estimated one way cost of $3k, and boats staged in Zenda or Michigan at a cost of $2.5k; Layline Services plans to move the boats by train in shipping containers from 1 east coast staging location such as Newport, RI also at an approximate one way cost of $3k.

- Discounted group hotel rates will be available at the following local area hotels: Tiburon Lodge, Larkspur Hotel, and Water Edge Hotel. Tiburon also has a daily ferry service to and from San Francisco for those looking for alternative transportation options when visiting or staying in the city.

Racing:

- There are currently 5 west coast boats with enthusiastic owners that are guaranteed to be on the starting line and from talking to other active owners in the class, we are confident that we will get a big turnout because San Francisco is both an awesome sailing venue and global tourist destination.

- San Francisco’s consistent winds and late summer warm weather will provide fantastic race conditions. The racecourse will be positioned in the vicinity of South Hampton Shoals/Berkeley Circle where it can be moved to the North or South to control wind speed, currents, and sea state.

Sailing the Bay, by Kimball Livingston, is an overview of the key concepts and appeals of sailing applied to the San Francisco bay with a touch of humor, a plethora of anecdotes and nuggets of information for any sailor who wants to call the bay home.

As a fairly new sailor, both to the sport as well as to the bay, the book was a fast read that explained why you sometimes sail up the cone whereas other times its better to go up the city front during a strong flood; variables that affect currents in the bay (its not just the tides!); places to visit all around the bay and into the Delta; and generally how to get into good, fun mischief on the water as a racer or cruiser. Anecdotes about sharks jumping into dinghies, oil tanker collisions and doctors raising an eyebrow at sailing bruises brought a good blend of stories into the lessons. And throughout it all, it is evident that Mr. Livingston loves the bay, loves sailing and loves sharing.

The book can be purchased by contacting Kimball Livingston through his Web site:
Blue Planet Times >>

For the first time since 2003, the NOODs returned to San Francisco with a record number of entrants (156 boats) in 18 different classes.  The action was spread over 3 central bay courses that split up dinghies, multi-hulls, keelboats, and kite surfers.

In race area 3 between the Berkeley Pier and Treasure Island, the Melges 20s made their San Francisco debut as a one-design class with 5 entrants. These high-powered sport boats were the course menaces weaving in, out, and literally through the Laser, Finn, Weta, and Flying Dutchman fleets that shared the race track.

With 25 knots of breeze and 3 to 4 foot chop by 2pm, the M20s were hitting speeds of 15 knots while avoiding the turtled dinghies that littered the race course. Another big challenge the M20 fleet faced in each race was crossing a ridiculously small 50ft downwind finish line, while other fleets in starting sequence crossed their bow on a starboard tack.

Joe Williams from Seattle, WA took top honors aboard Habit in the M20 class with 8 first place finishes and 1 third place finish in 9 races.  Bay Area local Sid Gorham finished in 2nd place aboard Funner.

Auric Horneman reports on the FD fleet: The Flying Dutchman fleet had a weak turn out, but that did not deter the carnage that follows the fleet. What excitement was lacking in the racing was made up with the normal hardware and rigging failures. For spice one of the FD’s found itself trying to tango with a Melges 20. Nothing a bit of carbon and epoxy won’t fix. Just another regatta in the Fix Daily fleet.

Pictures, News Stories, and Results can be found at the following link:
Sailing World’s NOOD Coverage >>

On June 16th, 2010 the new SailGoldenGate.com Web site was launched. This site will report on Bay Area sailing news and looks to solicit article and photo contributions from racers and industry experts. Subscribe to the RSS feed to receive the latest updates and check back soon for a photo contest update!

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