'Where the Wind Blows… January 2009'
by New Zealand Marine Artist Jim Bolland
Samantha at Fifty South! Photo © Samantha Davies/ROXY
I wish you all greetings for the festive season and the very best for the New Year, 2009. I would also encourage you to ignore the doom and gloom merchants, particularly those writing in the popular media. Sure, it will be a tough year, but remember the press sell a product that has to be inflamed to warrant an eye catching headline, so ignore the editorial drama, read the rest with caution and get on with business!
No excuses for running Samantha Davies as our cover girl for the second month in a row! Along with Dee Caffari on Aviva, she is displaying courage and skill in racing the great Vendee Globe round the World event and a superb appreciation of the art of looking after her sponsor! The photo also shows how clothing needs change as the race progresses into the Southern Ocean.
This is the last edition of ‘A BRUSH WITH SAIL’ in its present form and as a monthly production.
I started this journal about four or five years ago as an, ‘occasional’ newsletter with the main objective of keeping in touch with my marine art clients. My lifelong interest in yacht racing and penchant for writing about that subject, rapidly increased the mail-out of ‘A BRUSH WITH SAIL’ from the original 35 to 2000. With the cross-pollination that occurs in e-mail transfer and the fact that I receive communications each month from dozens of sailors whose addresses are not in my system, it’s estimated that I may have at least 50,000 readers in the Northern Hemisphere alone.
It is very flattering that many sailors in many lands, enjoy reading ‘A BRUSH WITH SAIL’, but it takes ten or more days of each month to put ‘BWS’ together and I am now in a situation where my shortened time working at my marine art projects is seriously restricting output.
‘A BRUSH WITH SAIL’ will continue, but in what form or number of editions annually, I am yet to decide.
Kind regards to you all, Jim.
NOT QUITE A RECORD… BUT, A GREAT BLAST TO HOBART!
On December 28, 2008 Wild Oats XI strode majestically up the Derwent River to beat Skandia by one hour seven minutes and score a record fourth consecutive line honors victory in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, after one of the best tactical battles seen at the head of the fleet in the race's 64-year history.
Lighter winds off the Tasmanian coast in the last 18 hours of the race robbed Wild Oats XI of the chance of beating the race record of one day 18 hours 40 minutes and ten seconds she set in 2005. The drop in wind strength did give Mark Richards and crew the opportunity to make use of Wild Oats XI's bigger wardrobe of headsails to catch and pass Skandia which had led her with better speed and sound tactics for the first 22 hours.
‘WILD OATS XI.’ Fast reach, to Hobart. Photo © ROLEX/Daniel Forster.
For the complete article, including the SYDNEY-HOBART Race, a TP52, Melges 32 Gold Cup Regatta, the first World Yacht Racing Forum and much more, click here.
Visit Jim's website to see his paintings of the America's Cup as well as Commissioned works he has painted.
