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by Kimball Livingston

All on assignment, Kimball Livingston has sailed the oceans blue. And he's been to Fink, Texas, too.

AC 34: Focus on San Francisco Bay

by Kimball Livingston, Posted July 8, 2010
In a move that is sure to energize and inspire the sailors of San Francisco Bay, Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing team today announced that it is no longer entertaining bids from other US cities hoping to host America's Cup 34. San Francisco, home to the winning Golden Gate Yacht Club, is now the only city in the USA under consideration.The team, with the America's Cup in tow,

Singlehanded Transpac Finishes Up

by Kimball Livingston, Posted July 6, 2010
No matter where you go in the world it’s “never like this” when they switch the weather on. So it goes with distance events as well. The 2010 edition of the Singlehanded Transpac has been slow going much of the time, with difficult seas and opposing sets kicked up by distant storms. A thirteen-day crossing is certainly not the best-possible time for a

RPGs and the Big Ocean

by Kimball Livingston, Posted June 16, 2010
Walking toward his ride for the solo Transpac, Ronnie Simpson slowed us down to point out that the mast of his 30-footer is taller than the mast of the 35-footer next door. I like this guy. He made one fast passage through youth—Enlisted in the Marines. Got blown up by an RPG in a firefight outside Fallujah at age 19. Medi-vac’d out in a coma. Slowly, eventually, recovered (enough).

Long Distance Lasering

by Kimball Livingston, Posted June 8, 2010
Tania Elias Calles is one tough Laser sailor. In March she went to great lengths—about 300 miles—draw attention to the sailing in her native waters, and invite racers from abroad to train with her in Mexico on Bahia de Banderas in the run-up to the Pan Am Games, which will be held there in 2011.Although Calles had a support vessel escorting her, she was otherwise entirely on her own,

Future Sailing: West Coast Wood

by Kimball Livingston, Posted June 7, 2010
Giant, wing-masted trimarans in the America’s Cup, hydrofoilers busting 50 knots in the Med, these innovations open a window onto a gee-whiz future that turns me on. But they don’t answer one question: Will we, or will we not in that future, still have with us the racing classics of yore?For every Dorade that inspires another and then another deep-pockets hero to

A Challenger-Driven New AC Class?

by Kimball Livingston, Posted May 18, 2010
No, you can’t park it in your driveway yet, but the 19 designers who met today in Valencia put rubber on the road toward a decision on what kind of boat we’ll be racing in America’s Cup 34, monohull or multihull. Beyond the tradeoffs, priorities and passions that might pop up in any barside conversation anwhere, these people were concerned with matters such as the ease of shipping these new

What a Long Strange Trip

by Kimball Livingston, Posted May 7, 2010
There were no bombshells in the America’s Cup 34 press conference held today in Rome’s Musei Capitolini, but the hour-long session had its moments. Most of all it got me to thinking how long it’s taken for a familiar idea to take root. That being, to normalize Cup racing, give it a structure, and establish a marketable schedule for an event that long ago outgrew the 19th century vision of a yacht

Go for the Green

by Kimball Livingston, Posted April 26, 2010
I want you to read this book. Even if you already know about Garry Hoyt’s schemes for simplifying sailing, even if you have your own perspective on a timeline for solar-electric conversion, there’s perspective here you need to consider.Hoyt’s overview of the development of sailing, from a critical national technology to “the backwaters and eddies of a rich man’s sport,” sets up a vision of

Turning the Tide

by Kimball Livingston, Posted April 21, 2010
“Pacific Gyre? The problem is not in the middle of the ocean; the problem is in your refrigerator.”It’s been a long, long time since I saw anyone twist up an aluminum can and toss it overboard from a raceboat, or any boat. Yes, people change. And these days I see more and more people showing up for race day with a metal water bottle rather than

Strong Medicine

by Kimball Livingston, Posted April 15, 2010
hat if I told you there is a way to keep post-college sailors in the game instead of letting them drift away? Of mixing generations of sailors? Stirring club spirit? Building relationships between different sailors and regions? Making the game more fun for all sorts of people? Well, I’m telling you.I have to admit I’m not talking about low-hanging fruit. It might be a no-brainer to want it
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