Stars and Stripes USA 11 – A Unique Experience
A few years ago, I was visiting family in the Los Angeles area. I took advantage of being close to San Diego and reserved a spot on Stars & Stripes. This retired America’s Cup boat is berthed at the marina at Kona Kai. It was an exciting day.
Crew and passengers were just boarding the boat. As you can see the deck is not high off the water. Each of us was checked to see what kind of shoes we were wearing. Don’t want to scuff up or mark the deck. A crew of seven were required to handle the mainsail. Huge-ah!!!
When cranking this jib line winch, the attender stood down in the ‘pit’ where the line (rope) was stacked as more line was pulled, placing the jib where the skipper wanted it to be. This winch was manned by regular staff, which by the way were regular volunteers. Nice way to get a free ride on a big boat.
Passengers were permitted to help by cranking the two-handled grinding stations. Yours truly cranked. Commands were given for when to start and when to stop, - start – stop – tweak. When two people were cranking it was something I could handle. It was invigorating.
All the equipment on this boat was huge compared to any other boat I had sailed on. And there were a lot of mechanical advantages designed into the equipment. When the mainsail was mounted on the boom and mast it was accomplished by a crew of seven. When the sailing was over these seven-crew flaked (stacked) the mainsail perfectly. I don’t recall the weight of the mainsail but the mast is 100 feet tall so there had to be a heavy load that was coming down. Fascinating for this everyday sailor.
Skipper at the helm moving the boat out of the marina into the bay. While sailing in the bay it was possible to get some helm-time – provided the water was not too frisky!!
This would be too frisky. Exciting at every moment when the wind is up!! Just saying. (This is a Stars & Stripes photo.)
While Stars & Stripes is a big racing boat, this carrier is beyond HUGE !! when you sail by.
I bought this duffel bag from the gift shop. It was made from scraps of a mainsail that was made of Kevlar and Carbon Fiber. The racing vessel, Oracle, based in the San Francisco Bay area, installed a new mainsail. Stars & Stripes USA 11 bought the retired Oracle sail and had it fitted to their mast and boom. The scraps left over were made into various size duffels. I used this duffel on my boats when I was still sailing. Now I just use it for informal travel. Smile every time I see it.