San Francisco Bay Slide Show

Thanks to our uber helpful webmaster, who is also my brother law and doesn't mind working into the night for only food and pocket change, we now have a slide show up on our site using Peter Lyons pictures taken earlier this week right after the boat show. Looks like fun! Click here if you haven't already seen them - or want to see them again!!

The Rocket on SF Bay Part 2

Here area few more shots taken of the Rocket by Peter Lyons on San Francisco Bay earlier this week. Al said it was an absolute blast with the breeze kicking up to 25 knots. He should be home by tomorrow and I expect he'll be uploading his longer road report sometime next week. I will also have all the pictures taken in this series up on our main website very soon.

Strictly Sail Update

The show has now wrapped but Al will be staying in San Francisco for a couple of days before heading home to Penticton. It was an excellent 5 days in spite of some crazy weather on Saturday. Sunday was perfect with sun all day and a strong NW breeze coming straight down the estuary by early afternoon. Al and Jonathan sailed all day with one interested buyer after another and I dealt with the constant buzz on the dock. It was an excellent show and I'm glad that we made the decision to have the boat on the water. The Rocket begs to be sailed and after popping the asymmetrical and blasting off everyone we took sailing was converted. The highlight of Sunday was seeing the Rocket hitting 14.8 knots with the asso and Al, ever the showman, buzzing the dock and demonstrating perfect gybing technique. I've seen it all before but even so, I was impressed!

These great pictures were taken by Peter Lyons from Lyons Imaging who we first met last year at the Montana Cup. Peter is based in San Francisco and works as as marine photographer primarily in the the Bay Area. Al is taking the Rocket out to the Berkeley Circle on Tuesday with a couple of M24 guys and Rusty Canada from Doyle Sails who are building the next set of Rocket sails for our newest owner in New Mexico. Check back here as I hope to have some shots from their sail later this week.

Strictly Sail Day 3 - Can it get any better?

Sun, sun and more sun today. My ears are sun burned! Oh yeah, and there was a great breeze to boot. An essential ingredient for a good boat show where sailing demos are the order of the day. All in all today was perfect. Al did an excellent job of spending as little time as possible at the dock and was out on the water with prospective buyers virtually all day. And there were a lot of them. So far we know of at least two orders that we can count on and I'm sure a few more will come as a result of the show. Al was joined today by Jonathan Little, one of our Seattle owners, who flew down to help us out over the weekend. It is always good to have an owner's perspective nearby and Jonathan is an fantastic ambassador for the Rocket 22.



We also owe a big debt of gratitude to Mike Seth, the owner of the show Rocket, who has so kindly let us use his boat for the duration of the show. It is owners like Mike and Jonathan that remind Al and I why we do what we do. They are great, supportive, generous with their time and boats and Al and I are both very grateful to them as well as all our other owners who have all helped us get to where we are today.

Scot from Sailing Anarchy also dropped by today with his son Tracy who happily walked off with a Rocket hat. Scot has also been a big supporter of our project from the very beginning and it was good to have him see the boat finally sailing. He said he was impressed and I believe him. After all, isn't everything on Sailing Anarchy the gospel truth?!

We're also getting a lot of interest and a few early sign ups for our Summer Sailing Clinic Program that is basically all about sailing and booze. We use all kinds of correct language like "gourmet", "sailing clinic" and "winery tours", but lets face it, it is really about sailing all day and drinking at night. What more could a sailor ask for! For anyone who doesn't know about this program click here.

Apparently the weather is supposed to change tomorrow with a bit less sun but I'll be dockside and looking forward to getting anyone interested out for a Rocket Ride!!

Anthony

A Cold Thursday in Oakland

For a total of 8 hours today I don't think Al was on the dock at Strictly Sail for more than 15 minutes. We had a steady stream of people out sailing the Rocket on a cold and overcast day at the Thursday of the boat show. Wednesday was a bust for all the exhibitors with pitiful attendance and to be honest I haven't a clue why they even open for Wednesdays. All the Sail America folks are great and cheery trying to tell everyone that we're on our way to another record attendance, but I don't think so. The day was basically one exhibitor talking to another and moaning about the lack of traffic. At least all the exhibitors are great and there is always something to talk about.


Today was another story though. The line ups to go Rocket sailing were great with a couple of guys coming back for more and I expect tomorrow and the weekend to be even better. That is if the weather holds out. It is pissing with rain right now and cold. I thought this was California not British Columbia. Ah well, sailors are a hardy bunch and I doubt a little rain will put them off. At best it will keep the tire kickers at home.

On the dock today I had a chance to talk with a lot of people and was pleased at how many knew the Rocket and have been watching our progress. It was great to know that our Newsletters are being read and that people are taking a real interest in what we're up to. Al and I knew since the start that we had to prove ourselves in the market, both from a boat performance standpoint, but also from a "corporate staying power" point of view. No one wants to buy a boat only to find they've been orphaned by a company gone under. Sadly there are ample examples of this, but I think that now after 2 years and 14 boats we're well on our way to proving the skeptics wrong. We're going to be around for a while!!

I'm exhausted after a very busy day, but I'll try and get some more photos up tomorrow and let everyone know what Friday may bring. Thanks to everyone who came by today and we're looking forward to meeting more of you tomorrow.

By the way, if you haven't yet read the recent Rocket review in the April issue of SAIL Magazine please click here.

A Family Day on the Rocket

This is the kind of sailing story we love to get as it shows the other side of Rocket sailing when a family can go out and enjoy racing together and even kick some butt at the same time. Well done Jim! Looking forward to getting the pictures.

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Hi Anthony,

Here’s a story for you.

This past weekend our club, the Grapevine Sailing Club, held its annual Mayor’s Cup Regatta which typically brings boats from neighboring lakes to compete, so for our club it is a fairly big event. This year we had a number of sailors from the Fort Worth Boat Club and surrounding area join us for the event. We registered, and were put in Division 1 which would be the fastest handicapped boats (boats with ratings of 105 to 120).

As the weekend approached, I had two sets of crew bail on me for several reasons which left me in somewhat of a bind. As of last Friday, the boat crew remaining was me and one other person. With winds forecast for Saturday in the high 20s to low 30s and cold temperatures that wasn’t going to work. Having exhausted my search for crew, I decided not to race on Saturday so I could attend my kids’ volleyball and baseball games. I also decided that since the forecast for Sunday was for light winds and mild temperatures, we would just race that day with me, Allison, and our two kids, Amanda and Jonathan, on the boat. I figured it would just be for fun and that we would not be competitive against fully crewed boats, but Amanda really wanted to get into a race on the new Rocket.

We went to the lake later on Saturday afternoon to attend the dinner and Saturday night party to find out that all races scheduled for Saturday had been cancelled due to the high winds (mid 30s) and low temps (low 40s). All of a sudden we were in contention for first place!

Sunday morning rolls around, and we get on the water. The winds start out in the low to mid teens, and we sail upwind and down with the asymmetrical with no problems. By race time the wind has dropped down to just under 10. Our crew positions are Allison on jib and spin, Amanda (age 10) on foredeck, Jonathan (age 8) on the sprit and tack lines, and me on helm, main and spin halyard. The course was a three leg windward/leeward. We got upwind nicely, round the windward mark and hoist the asymmetrical. We had a fouled lazy sheet on the spinnaker so I handed the helm to Amanda while I cleared the foul, and she drove most of the downwind leg. At the upwind finish, we are in third place and watch the boat behind us fail to correct over us. We were all excited that we finished that well since it was our first race as a family, and being able to race together was one of the primary reasons for buying the Rocket.

The second race scheduled for Sunday was abandoned because the wind went to essentially zero at the weather mark, time had run out, and the wind shifted about 180 degrees when it filled back in. We were all stoked with our third place trophy, and the kids were on top of the world. We were beat by an Olson 30 and J80, and finished ahead of a Santana 30/30GP and Olson 30.

Now, this was not an important regatta in the sailing world, but it was important for us in that it proved that in light to moderate winds the four of us can take the boat out and race it easily and competitively in our club with the kids having an active role. We found that our primary purchase criteria for this boat had been met. The kids are not relegated to fetching drinks (we get our own now that they are at our feet!), but are actively involved in sailing the boat. We all love the speed, acceleration, responsiveness, and stability of the boat. Sure, we made mistakes Sunday, we were conservative on hoists and drops, and need more time on the boat to smooth things out (this was the first time just the four of us sailed the boat), but we had a blast.

I should be getting a picture of us receiving our pickle dish, and I’ll forward that to you when I get it.

Jim

From our friend Kristen at Gale Force Sailing

Here are a couple of good links for anyone in the Annapolis area. Kristen and Gale Force Sailing are big supporters of the Rocket 22 and are doing a great job of representing us on the east coast. Kristen began his venture earlier this year but is already booked out through to the end of May and is working on his schedule for the summer. He has also been sailing the Rocket regularly on the Chesapeake and turning heads on the water. Here is a link back to his site about the Rocket specifically. Make sure to get in touch with him if you are in the Annapolis area. He'd love to get you out for a Rocket ride.

There are also rumors that we may have a Florida representative in the not too distant future. We've had a huge number of inquiries from Florida and would like to get some early action going there soon. If we move ahead with our plans you can expect to see us at Strictly Sail St. Petersburg in November. It is early days yet, but I'll keep everyone posted.

And for everyone on the West Coast, be sure to drop by and see us at Strictly Sail Pacific beginning April 18th at Jack London Square in Oakland.

California Update

Al has been busy doing the rounds in Southern California sailing in Marina del Rey, Long Beach and everywhere in between. I get these periodic sunny sailing pictures and have to remind myself that he is actually working! And doing a great job I should add. He has been meeting a lot of good people on this trip who are showing fantastic interest in our little boat. We actually sold another one yesterday and we know there are a couple more not far behind.

This shot is the Rocket off Long Beach with Bob Kettenhoffen from North Sails and friends on board. I spoke to Bob yesterday and he said they had a great afternoon and were very impressed with the boat. Always nice to get positive feedback from guys that have been around for a while. Bob is actually taking over the boat this weekend for the Ensenada Tune Up race which is sponsored by the Dana Point Yacht Club and the South Shore Yacht Club. After the racing Al will once again pack up the boat and start up the coast for a leisurely drive to Oakland for the Strictly Sail Pacific boat show which begins on the 18th of April at Jack London Square. We've been given an outside berth and will be able to get folks out for rides during the show and look forward seeing everyone then.