Sailing Anarchy Podcast #61. Sydney to Hobart, Admiral's Cup, Selling my boat!

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Sure.
Good morning everybody.
It's me, Scott Temp Pesta.
It's our 61st podcast, whichdoesn't seem like that many, you
know, in the context of peoplepodcasting, you know, you see

(00:28):
some of these.
They're on their 9000th podcastsover the last six months.
Yeah, we're a, we're a slow andsomewhat steady delivery here at
Sailing Anarchy.
Um, hey, thanks for listening asalways.
I appreciate it.
I got a couple things I wantedto get into, um, three topics

(00:50):
actually.
Um.
And they all involve me.
Shocking.
Um, the first thing is I gotasked to do the Sydney to Hobart
race.
Okay.
Um, you know, oh, there's somany angles to this.

(01:11):
Um, you know, the, I I won't gointo any details yet about who
asked and what the boat is and,uh.
Other than to say that I really,really, uh, like the skipper and
the various programs that he'sbeen involved in, and, um, so
there's double thumbs up onthat.

(01:32):
Um, and my first reaction was,yeah, hell yes.
Oh my God.
Fuck yes.
Sidney Hobart.
Yes, yes, yes.
Um, you know, weighed allweighing, I should say.
I'm still weighing and waffling,um, about it all, primarily
because.
Dudes.
I'm 68.

(01:52):
I'm fucking 68 years old.
I know I sound like, you know, achild adolescent.
Um, you know, but, um, I'm oldand while I'm in reasonably good
shape and I am hitting the gymagain and, you know, I am really
being careful about what I eat.
Um, just on a generalperspective, you know, I'm sort

(02:14):
of at that age point where.
You know, if not now, when, ifnot now, never is really the
answer.
Because if I don't start gettingin shape now just for, just for
life, for going forward, thenyou know, you could get to the
point where, I mean, I don'tknow what if I need a hip
replaced or I, you know, tear anACL or whatever, you know, the,

(02:37):
the myriad of things that canhappen.
Um.
You know, then I'll, I might notever be able to get in the
position to like get in shapeand stay in shape.
So I'm doing that for justgeneral purposes going forward.
I'm a little flabby and, uh, youknow, I'm weak.
Definitely lost muscle mass as Igo forward.
But, uh, or I should say, asI've gone forward, as I go

(03:00):
forward, I'll be building musclemass slightly, slowly.
You know, it doesn't happenovernight for.
Old son of a bitch like me.
But the other thing is, I, Iwanted to do it to start to get
in shape for Sidney Hobart,right?
I mean, it's a brutal race byalmost any reckoning.
It can be, you know, lifechanging in terms of how

(03:23):
incredibly rough it can be.
Um, and so, you know, if you'regoing to be 68.
As I am, and you're going to dothis race as I might, you better
be in frigging good shape.
Uh, just I have to be, I mean,there's just no way I could, I
couldn't show up now as I am nowand think that I'm gonna make it

(03:45):
through this grueling affair ona relatively small boat.
Um, so, you know, I've kind ofgot those things that, that I'm
doing and that I'm weighing and,and considering.
I'm, I'll be, I'll be brutallyhonest here.
I'm not sure I wanna do it.

(04:06):
And I know that sounds like awhat?
A pussy and oh my God, you havethis one time, bro.
Bro, if I had the chance to go,I'd go, oh, would you?
68, would you?
Soft, weak, virtually, you know,no spine.

(04:26):
I mean, some of those things aretrue.
You have to guess which ones allof them.
I just don't know if I want todo it.
I just, and I am waffling, likejust the, I'm the worst, you
know?
This is very stream ofconsciousness.
You know, I don't plan onanything that I'm going to say
other than I might have a topicin mind.
Uh, but you know, I don't scriptit.

(04:46):
Oh, I'll hit the highlights.
Here's the pluses and here's theminuses.
No, no, no, no.
I just say them as they comeinto my head, you know, and they
bypass the filter completely.
Um, when they get to my mouthand out these words come, as you
well know, I don't know what todo about this.
I just don't.

(05:08):
It's a tough one.
Um, you know, on the one hand.
It could be a really cool race,a really great race.
Maybe not all that gnarly.
Not that I'm afraid of.
Gnarly.
Uh, I've sailed.
Listen, when you've beensailing, as long as I have
anybody who's been sailing aslong as I have, you know, you're
going to run into what would beconsidered rough conditions for

(05:29):
you or, you know, for the areathat you sail in.
Hell, even some of you lakesailors.
And pri primarily the, you know,the Great Lakes that I can think
of here in the States, but itcan be really, really, really
frigging rough out there too.
So, you know, I've been in thatstuff.

(05:50):
If I encountered a city toHobart, like it's capable of
being, uh, in terms of itsworst, no, I probably have not
actually sailed in that, andcertainly not for.
As many miles and, and on such asmall boat.
But anyway, that's, I did getthe invite, which is cool.
It's much appreciated.

(06:10):
I'll feel douchey if I say no.
I'll also be realistic about itif I'm going to say no.
Uh, and on the other hand, whatthe hell do I have to lose?
You know, this opportunity ain'tcoming around again.
So, uh, just, I just have tothink about that.
And, um, you know, if you gotany comments on that, you can

(06:30):
always drop me an email [e-mail], um,
anytime.
Always like to hear what youguys have to say.
Um, the other thing that I wannajump into today is the Admirals
Cup.
I know you hardcore sailors, youknow, are following this.
Um, you know, it's a, it's arebirth, if you will, of a

(06:53):
series that was once just likethe premier sort of big boat,
uh, you know, inter nationrivalry slash regatta slash wow.
Um, and you know, it, it died.
A number of reasons why it died,but I think primarily sort of
rule changes and, you know, allthat kinda stuff.

(07:16):
And so it, you know, it's rebornand it's underway and it's done.
I mean, I think that maybe thelast finishers of the facet are
coming across and, you know,we'll determine who wins the
whole thing.
I, I don't have the exact up todate result information for you.
You can easily find it online.
Uh, I'll be posting something onsailing anarchy this morning
about it.

(07:38):
But, um, I, I don't, I, it just,yeah, the boats, I mean, I, if
you haven't seen pictures of theboats, you should check it out
because the boats are, I mean,everything is modern up to date
and, you know, very cool boats,really, really nice stuff.
And, you know, some of thecountries really came to play.

(07:58):
Um, and, um, and it, you know,it's a serious regatta in that
regard, but like.
Okay, so, I mean, I don't know,does any, does anybody really,
really care except thehardcores?
I mean, I don't, I don't know.
I don't, I don't think so.
I don't get that feeling.
Let's just say that.
Um, I wouldn't say there's muchof a vibe about it here in the

(08:21):
States.
You know, probably for goodreason.
Um, but it's, it's great.
But is it, I think they'rereally trying hard to reclaim
lost glory and I don't thinkthey're doing it.
Um, once something tends to fallout of, uh, the sailing audience
consciousness, um, you know, youcan bring it back for sure, but

(08:44):
will it come back in the waythat.
You wanted to like it once wasonly better.
I don't think, I think it's onlybetter in regard of how cool the
new boats are.
I mean, listen, this latestgeneration of, you know, TP 50
twos and, you know, some of the40, 46 footers and I mean,
they're just, they are prettyamazing for sure.

(09:05):
Um, but okay, we see these boatsin a lot of other regattas.
I'm just, I just don't know thatI feel that this has reached any
sort of.
Peak.
Um, we, we'll see.
I mean, you know, it's probablytoo early to call.
I think the, excuse me, theultimate, you know, decider
would be, uh oh, what are thenumbers?

(09:26):
You know, how many people arewatching and you know, how many
people are clicking here andclicking there?
I don't have that data.
Um, but you know, I think that'sreally the only way to determine
if people care about stuff.
And so for sure, the raceorganizers and whatever sponsors
there are.
For sure they're paying reallycareful attention to that

(09:49):
because, you know, it's just,it's just a big deal in terms
of, well, do we have somethingthat's, that people are really
interested in, or do we havesomething that, you know, the
fringe dopes, you know, like meand you, uh, you know, are, are,
are looking at, I, I thinkthey've done a good job
presenting it today.
They, they released a pressrelease that was just.

(10:11):
Really excellent.
I mean, it was basically, it wasabout blackjack 100, you know,
they, they were the first monohole to finish.
And, uh, I, I think to nobody'sreal surprise, the boat's a
rocket.
Um, and under the new ownership,they don't seem to, they seem to
have gotten, actually gottenbetter.
But, um, it's, it goes intoreally good detail and depth.
A lot of quotes from navigatorsand sailors and skippers and

(10:33):
owners, you know, and that sortof stuff is interesting for
sure.
I mean.
You know, it's, it's like anysport, okay?
On the surface, the sport iswhat it is.
It doesn't matter the sport.
It could be hockey, it could besoccer, it be any number of
things, but it's really notuntil you get to know the people

(10:55):
behind the sport.
That you can feel like, Hmm, Ihave, I have a real, not, not
necessarily just a connection,but I have like, Ooh, somebody I
really like, or, oh, somebody Idon't like.
I mean, I don't know about how,how you are, but I need enemies
in my life and God knows I'vegot a few, um.

(11:18):
Some, um, just natural and somejust created, you know, and so I
like rivals, right?
We every who doesn't love, likeif you go to a pod San Diego
Padre game and the Dodgers arethere, who doesn't love to yell
at the Dodgers and say how muchthey suck and, you know, so just
fill that in with any team, anyrival, you know, and everybody

(11:40):
feels pretty much the same.
Um.
Uh, IE even your own team.
It's fun to yell at your ownteam.
You know, I, I went to a Yankeesgame a couple months ago, uh, at
Anaheim Stadium here in, uh, inSoCal to see them play the, uh,
the angels and the Yankees wereplaying really good ball, but
they.

(12:00):
They left, they left a relieverin for way too long.
And I just stood up and I justgo, oh, for fuck sake, how long
are you gonna leave him in?
And we, we were sitting rightbehind the, the Yankees dugout,
you know, and.
You know, I don't know.
My son who I went with said thatAaron Boone turned around and

(12:21):
looked directly at me as I wasscreaming at the Yankees, and
I'm a huge Yankees fan.
So, you know, part of that is,is fun and part of the reason
why we can get.
That emotionally invested insomething that ultimately really
doesn't matter.
Um, it's just one of life'sdistractions, although many of
us, like our lives become partof these distractions.

(12:42):
Uh, and because we like them, welike to watch Formula One.
Just go down the list ofsporting events that you like,
love, and we'll do anything towatch.
I mean, I miss no F1 race ever.
Of course I record them all, butI try to watch'em the same
morning, you know, that theyhappened.
Um, but so it's getting to knowthe people.
Uh, the race car driver with hishelmet on and his tinted mask

(13:05):
on.
You don't know who he is untilhe takes it off and somebody
puts a microphone in his grilland starts talking and you're
like, oh my God, this dude isawesome.
Oscar Ptri comes to mind for me.
He's my, my new favorite in F1and has been for a few years.
I remember when, you know, hewon the f there's not a lot of

(13:25):
press about this and you have tobe a real geek fanboy to find
out.
But, you know, he won the Fthree and the F two, uh, world
championships and then waswhisked right into F1.
And now what he's doing isnothing short of phenomenal
because he is nothing short ofphenomenal as a driver.
But then you get to see, see thekid, right?

(13:46):
Handsome young man, like so manyof these F1 drivers are, but you
know, a really nice kid.
Really sort of genuine and, andhumble and likable, you know?
And so it's easy to gravitatetowards.
Being an Oscar Piore fan or, or,you know, whoever it might be.
Once you kind of get to seethem, know them, hear them,
you're like, okay, I like thisguy, or No, I hate this guy.

(14:09):
Um, and sailing is like that toa large degree.
Sure, the boats are bitching andyes, there are names, but until
you actually, you know, hearfrom them, uh, read quotes from
them, you know, it's hard to, toget a real.
Firm connection with them.
And the Admirals Cup, I think,has done an okay job with that,
the O-R-O-R-C.

(14:32):
And, um, so I, I don't know.
I, I do enjoy it, but I'm notsure it's.
That big of a deal.
Does the Admirals Cup reallycarry any, carry any weight in
2025?
Yeah.
I, I, I don't know.
I really don't know.
Hey, I wanna talk to you aboutsomething else before I get to

(14:52):
my final topic today.
Let's talk about Tajima Direct.
Do you know who they are?
I mentioned them before, butthey make custom polarized
lenses for your glasses.
You got some frames, you dig,you want to have some
prescription?
Uh, lenses made.
They can do it.
There, it listen.
Polarized lenses are great.

(15:12):
Everybody makes them.
Nobody does it quite like theseguys.
I mean, these are specificallydesigned and made with sailing
in mind.
And you know, it's because ofsailing has a really, really
unique relationship with oureyes.
Uh, and, and what we do outthere, right?
It's not just the water, it'sthe wind on the water.

(15:33):
It's the currents, it's thepuffs, it's the lulls.
And when you slap on a pair ofreally high quality polarized
lenses, you can see these littledifferences out there.
Um, it really helps a lot ofreally, really good sailors use
them.
Uh, John Cast Stacky won theStar Worlds.
He uses them.
Olympians, Dave Hughes Do McNay.

(15:53):
They doom.
Cam Lewis, Steve Benjamin.
Scott Tempesta, we all wearthem.
Uh, they're great.
If you wanna find out more, goto to jima direct.com.
It works for me and it can workfor you.
Okay, final topic today.
I mean, I, I think I've hintedat this before, but excuse me.

(16:17):
I'm selling my boat.
Um, uh, that Hobie 33 that spenta lot of effort.
And money on making it reallynice.
Um, yeah.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna dump itand, um, for a couple reasons.
Uh, and I mentioned this before,I don't wanna go too, too far

(16:39):
into it, but it's the, you know,it's the fact that for some
reason the people in charge, oneperson in particular who has
decided.
We're only gonna do ORC.
That's it.
Nothing else.
Oh, there can be PHRF cruisingclasses, but there's no actual
PHRF racing anymore under this,under really any yacht club.

(17:03):
The two primary yacht clubs inin San Diego.
San Diego Yacht Club.
Hardly, I don't think there'sany PHRF racing.
It's all, it's always been ahybrid and now I think it's
straight ORC and then the other,uh, Cortez Racing Association
here in San Diego.
You know, they do the most ofwhat used to be PR races, and
now they're all ORC, and that'sjust dandy.

(17:23):
If you have a boat that's ORCfriendly, and if you don't,
you're fucked.
And I'm fucked.
Hopi 33 does not rate good inORC.
Zero chance around the buoys.
Um, you know, we've got our hathanded to us.
I will say this, had had all theraces that we've done been in
PHRF, we win most of them.
Guaranteed.

(17:43):
We win the yachting cup,guaranteed we win.
Beer can races guaranteed.
Um, but instead, you know, justgetting my ass kicked.
We had a lot of problems outthere too, crew wise, et cetera,
et cetera.
What, let's just say this, thiseffort was not like my past
efforts in terms of, I kind ofhit the, hit the ground running.
With the boat that was, youknow, good to go.

(18:04):
Like I've done with virtuallyevery single one of my prior,
like eight boats.
I always make sure that when wehit the race course for the
first time, God damn, the boat'sready to go, man.
I got new crispy sails.
The bottom's good.
The crew is, you know, veryoften I carry over from the
boats that I had before.
'cause I usually go bang, bang,bang, bang.
Right?
I sell one, buy another.

(18:25):
Someone by another.
I don't wait too, too much timein between because I, you know,
like everybody, I love to race.
Um, but I gotta say, man, afterjust getting punished by ORC,
getting no relief in terms oflike, wanting to say it, wanting
to get A-P-H-R-F thing going?
No, there's, I don't know ifthere's any momentum, but it's
been effectively killed by ORC,Uber Alis, and, you know, that's

(18:49):
just not right.
And then there's a, there's aso-called ORC Sport boat class.
That I tried to, tried to join,but the wing nut that runs it
down here, you know, haseffectively made sure that I
couldn't, and boats like minecouldn't.
It's, it's ridiculous, you know,it's when people are in charge

(19:10):
who just don't understand thebigger picture.
This is what you get dwindlingnumbers for turnout.
I mean, I, I, I'm going to takea look closer at the actual
numbers, uh, between last yearand this year, some various
regattas.
Curious to see ORC inspires No,uh, uh, sort of.

(19:32):
Okay, let's go ORC racing, goshdarn.
Can't wait to get my boatmeasured and, and see which one
of the nine course, uh, coursesthey're gonna choose in terms of
win strength.
And win direction and point ofsale.
Ooh, isn't this gonna be great?
We're either first or we'reninth.
You know, it's like, and who,who makes those decisions?

(19:52):
Well, it's the people that runthese things.
They make the decisions.
Uh, I got really screwed in thefirst beer can race.
It was an easy second for us.
Would've been an easy first inPHRF instead, we got fourth
because they chose the wrongcourse to use.
Okay, so.
You know, people complain aboutPHRF being arbitrary.
Jesus Christ.

(20:12):
The application of this ORCrating rules is really
arbitrary.
It's worse than PHRF becausePHRF, at least, if your number
is not right, you can go in andmake a case for it.
And I know this is part of theproblem.
You know, a lot of politics.
Oh yeah, we'll give you a ratingbump, we'll give you a hit.

(20:32):
You know, how are thesedecisions made?
They're usually not done.
Very well.
There's al almost always aself-interested person making
decisions that aren't right,that that's enough.
I don't want to get too far intoit, but for us, for me
personally, and this boat here,the boat, you know, most of what
we do is inside the bay.
There's very few point to pointraces, um, which the boat would

(20:56):
really do well in, but also berated very harshly for it under
ORC.
So I'm, I'm selling the boat.
This isn't fun.
I had crew issues, a personalissue, uh, and um, so involving

(21:16):
the crew and one of the crew.
And so I'm not, uh, I'm notmotivated.
I, in fact, I'm unmotivated.
I'm demotivated.
I'm Devo.
I'm de evolving.
I just don't want to do it.
It's not worth it.
It's been too much, too muchdifficulty for me to get crew
and it's been a situation whereracing under ORC sucks.

(21:41):
With no other alternative.
I mean, I don't know why theycouldn't have just done it,
offered A-P-H-R-F.
Here's what you do for fuck'ssake.
Here's what you do.
Gee, hmm.
We think this or thing isworking or see things working.
But why don't we go ahead andoffer PHRF as well?
Let's see how many people signup with each.
Fleet and then you could get anidea of like, oh gee, there is a

(22:02):
real interest in people sailingPHRF, so let's offer them the
opportunity and the option tosail in PHRF.
Oh, no, let's not find out.
Let's just.
Foist, ORC, right down yourthroat, whether you want it or
not.
That's what's being done hereand it's bullshit and it's
driven me out of the, out of thesport.
Seriously.

(22:22):
I'm dumping the boat and I don'tknow if I'm gonna get something
else.
In fact, I would tell you theodds are extremely, extremely
high that I won't be comingback.
I mean, again, as I mentionedearlier with my Sydney, the
Hobart rant, I'm, you know, I'm68.
Like I, I've, I've lost touchwith a lot of people that used
to sail with me.
Other people are off doing otherthings, you know, and it's, it's

(22:46):
been difficult to get crew.
I mean, people have stepped upand wanted to sail with me, but
almost everybody that's come onthe boat has been terrible.
I'll just tell you, that'sstraight up awful.
And, uh, you know, I'm just notgonna lower myself to thinking
that those substandards areacceptable.
They're just not.
I mean, my game is okay.
It's better than most people'sgame, even still even being 68.

(23:09):
Uh, that's for sure.
But it, you know, I've lost astep.
I'm not what I once was, but youknow, I'm still pretty decent.
And alls I wanted was decentpeople.
And listen, I've got a couplepeople who sail with me, excuse
me, religiously.
And they're good and I likethat.
And they've been the only reasonthat.
We've been able to do anythingat all, but some of these other
people, oh my god, no offense,but y'all blow and I'm just not

(23:32):
going through that painfulprocess again.
So the end result is I've got areally, really, really nice
Hobie 33 for sale.
Um, it's in the sailing anarchyclassifieds, if you wanna take a
look at it.
You know, everybody knows whatI've done to it.
If you've listened to thesepodcasts, I've done a fair bit
to it.
And the latest thing is a reallynice white antifouling bottom on

(23:53):
the job.
It looks great.
It's smooth, and um, so you knowwhat?
The boat is good to go.
I mean, it is turnkey in everyway, and I helped a lot of the,
uh, cosmetics on the boat.
Primarily inside.
And you know, it's got neweverything.
And Christ, it's a good thing.
People love Hobie 30 threes.
It's a real cult boat, no doubtabout it.

(24:15):
And, uh, most of'em are beatersthough really and truly most are
beaters.
This one is not a beater this'scherry.
Um, and I actually, I'm going todo a.
Um, a retro video on it.
I did one earlier and it was upand it got, you know, a thousand
views like right away andclimbing, but there was a

(24:36):
technical issue with the thing,so we had to make, we had to
remove it.
And, um, I'm gonna do anotherone and I may even do it today.
So, um, so look for that, alittle, uh, short version of the
retro video on my Hobi 33.
And, uh, yeah.
So listen, that's it for today.
I wanna thank you all forhanging in there with me.

(25:00):
Sidney, Hobart.
Mm, probably not Admirals Cup.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
But, but, okay.
So what.
I don't know.
And yeah, selling the hobie,this isn't how I had things
pictured at all, like in anyway, shape, or form.
I thought we were sailing underPHRF when I got the boat.

(25:22):
Did not know they were doing amidstream switch to ORC
exclusively.
So fuck that.
Fuck them m fuck it.
All y'all, Scott Tim Pesta,Audi.