tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84027847644819306622024-03-12T21:07:57.383-03:00FreshieBlogDouglas De Couto's blog on Bermuda, including race and politics. For more from Douglas's Bermuda <a href="http://decouto.bm/library/">library</a> and collection of Bermuda <a href="http://decouto.bm/data/">data</a>, visit <a href="http://decouto.bm">decouto.bm</a>.Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-37108199402747384142011-04-08T13:27:00.002-03:002011-04-08T13:28:59.902-03:00Island-wide WiFi?Today I saw some guys on a big lift in town attaching what looked like WiFi base stations to light posts on front-street. The the following press release came across my newsfeed: http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/smart-grid-news/2112-infrax-supplying-wireless-infrastructure-to-bermuda.html. But it didn't say who the client is. City of Hamilton? Government? Belco for smart meters?<br /><br /><blockquote>Infrax Systems is supplying the wireless broadband infrastructure that will enhance security and communication measures on the Island of Bermuda. The infrastructure will be comprised of approximately forty-five Infrax, TMAX 2000 modular base-station routers that will be used for multiple services including wireless Internet access for the residents and visitors.</blockquote>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-88097036599858669262011-03-17T22:13:00.003-03:002011-03-17T22:22:44.791-03:00Thank You Survey SectionIn a previous post, I wrote about <a href="http://decouto.blogspot.com/2010/12/bermuda-aerial-photos-1940-1973.html">aerial photos of Bermuda</a> from <a href="http://decouto-aerial.s3.amazonaws.com/tiles1940/googlemaps.html">1940</a> and <a href="http://decouto-aerial.s3.amazonaws.com/tiles1973/googlemaps.html">1973</a>. <div><br /></div><div><b>However</b>, I neglected to give the appropriate credit and thanks to the <a href="http://www.gov.bm/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=220&&activetab=TabCTRL_DropDownTabsGovernment1&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2&cached=true">Bermuda Government Survey Section</a>, which created the georegistered imagery. They did a lot of work to put that data together in a high-quality fashion. The Survey Section and their colleagues have done a superb job of making really good data available to Bermuda; it is an invaluable resource that can help us better understand our tiny coral outpost. I have to apologize to them for this omission!</div><div><br /></div><div> The aerial photos and metadata are made available courtesy of the survey section, and are copyright the Bermuda Government. The photos and data may not be reproduced, etc. without their prior permission.</div>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-24930665209740426862011-03-11T07:48:00.001-04:002011-03-11T07:51:28.725-04:00Island-wide CCTV?I've recently noticed CCTV cameras going up island-wide at key traffic junctions, e.g. Barnes Corner, foot of Trimingham Hill, etc. You can detect these by the appearance of a brand-new telephone pole with power lines running to it, and generally some sort of communications equipment: dish, directional antenna, etc. Invariably they all have a video camera attached, which is generally the smallest piece of all the equipment. And I don't think there has been any mention of this in the press or from the Government. Saw this today over the wires: (from <a href="http://www.equitybulls.com/admin/news2006/news_det.asp?id=88679">this link</a>)<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'MS Sans Serif', arial, verdana; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: x-small; "><table style="font-family: 'MS Sans Serif', arial, verdana; font-size: x-small; "><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="font-family: 'MS Sans Serif', arial, verdana; font-size: x-small; "><b>Micro Technologies to install surveillance systems in Bermuda</b><br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="font-family: 'MS Sans Serif', arial, verdana; font-size: x-small; ">Micro Technologies India Limited will install surveillance systems in Bermuda to cater for security through Micro ICCS International Command Control System including CCTV Cameras with 24/7 surveillance monitoring from a common centre point. This system will combine custom built hardware and a security system for the control of an unmanned location.<br /><br />Bermuda is a group of beautiful islands flocked by tourists. The island will be much safer and secure with the implementation of this surveillance systems by the company.</td></tr></tbody></table></span></div>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-78231702164550012312011-02-08T00:15:00.006-04:002011-02-08T00:50:01.284-04:00Bermuda Entrustment: 1968, 2005, and 2009<blockquote></blockquote><div>This blog entry summarizes the Bermuda Entrustment with the UK and provides download links to current and historical versions of the entrustment. These documents were provided by the <a href="http://www.fco.gov.uk/">UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)</a>, and are provided on this blog under the <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/open-government-licence.htm">UK Open Government License</a>.</div><div><br /></div>The Bermuda Entrustment (sometimes called the Deed or Letter of Entrustment) is the memo that describes what powers the UK Government has delegated to the Government of Bermuda. Bermuda is a dependent territory of the UK (formerly known as a colony), and as such, the UK is in charge of all of our external relations. However, when the current constitution was created in 1968, the UK delegated certain authority to the Bermuda Government, mostly around trade and commercial agreements. <div><br /></div><div>Specifically, the entrustment states (shortened for this blog entry):</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><blockquote><div>"In addition, ... the United Kingdom Government hereby delegate to the Bermuda Government ... executive authority to conduct external relations on behalf of the United Kingdom Government as follows:-</div><div><br /></div><div>(a) Authority to negotiate and conclude trade agreements with other countries, whether bilateral or multilateral, relating solely to the treatment of goods.</div><div><br /></div><div>(b) Authority to arrange or permit visits of up to thirty days for trade or commercial purposes ...</div><div><br /></div><div>(c) Authority to negotiate and conclude agreements of purely local concern with any independent member of the Commonwealth or the United States of America...</div><div><br /></div><div>(d) Authority to negotiate and conclude agreements for technical assistance or of a cultural or scientific nature with any independent member of the Commonwealth or the United States of America...</div><div><br /></div><div>(e) Authority to negotiate and conclude agreements with other countries, whether bilateral or multilateral, relating to emigration from Bermuda to those countries and to emigrant labour schemes."</div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div><b>Download</b> the full <a href="http://decouto.bm/reports/Bermuda-Entrustment-1968-09-12.pdf">1968 Bermuda Letter of Entrustment (PDF)</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Entrustment was updated in 2005 to specifically add authority for Bermuda to negotiate bilateral agreements about Tourism. <b>Download</b> the <a href="http://decouto.bm/reports/Bermuda-Entrustment-Amendment-2005-07-27.pdf">2005 Amendment to the Bermuda Letter of Entrustment (PDF)</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>In 2009 the Entrustment was replaced with a new version, which tightens the UK's leash on Bermuda. Specifically, it removed the paragraph (c) authorizing Bermuda to make agreements of "purely local concern". </div><div><br /></div><div>The original Entrustment requires Bermuda to inform the UK of Bermuda's activities under the agreement and provides that the UK may not permit it. However, the 2009 version is much more explicit about this and seems to put Bermuda on a tighter leash. The new version requires Bermuda to provide written reports of all activity under the Entrustment, and requires Bermuda to provide written copies of all agreements to the UK for approval before they are signed.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Download</b> the <a href="http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/travel-advice/bermuda_entrustment">2009 Bermuda Letter of Entrustment (PDF)</a> [<a href="http://decouto.bm/reports/Bermuda-Entrustment-2009-09-01.pdf">mirror</a>]</div><div><br /></div><div>You can find more reports and data like this at the <a href="http://decouto.bm/">decouto.bm</a> <a href="http://decouto.bm/library">online Bermuda library</a>.</div>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-76312522398325172912010-12-27T14:14:00.024-04:002011-03-17T22:28:50.780-03:00Bermuda Aerial Photos 1940 & 1973<div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><table><tbody><tr><th align="center"><b>1940</b></th><th align="center"><b>1973</b></th><th align="center"><b>2010</b></th></tr><tr><td valign="center"><a href="http://decouto-aerial.s3.amazonaws.com/tiles1940/googlemaps.html"><br /><img height="180px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_wcSiCy56d_IytXiNT17p_bUoOomI9gtdOsT3DAiedgBwHwRTm4d_1Y35ecQV6mTg2Td6LAvTZ1AvcEsAJbYXLBJ7-DevIue_MHuXCaajM_op3S5JAqZQLg3jcHd2rGp5peAWt-CyKE_/s320/Bermuda+1940.jpg" /><br /></a></td><td valign="center"><a href="http://decouto-aerial.s3.amazonaws.com/tiles1973/googlemaps.html"><br /><img height="180px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fM6FZQ85R8DQNRFCB5HfKtbpvPGmKZdzbfb7rx940VtDCxwpTN4R1iUVNM_9LoLZfeZGGnH5jjBuXXbzNkbCyHrnSkpBXE3Rao6wsIYc_mJFwwYNI2WXFNZLi0UxChvzRHgVuWj3KmQG/s320/Bermuda+1973.jpg" /><br /></a></td><td valign="center"><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=bermuda&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.902929,102.919922&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Bermuda&ll=32.321374,-64.757366&spn=0.11141,0.201015&t=h&z=13"><br /><img height="180px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim-rC7uEK5N4Ox_2zSceJ6krrKJex892ctHxDwFsizRSrpE-AxAjPhZM6uMbFFA9UROsAepm6c66nSUkMqP7D36vLj1t9jPs_2lrHSvy-P-PQSiKw9247Rtu0S2isNuBfwFTcMH9sHR1SO/s320/Bermuda+2010.jpg" /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></a></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Happy New Year (almost)!</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Thanks to the <a href="http://www.gov.bm/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=220&&activetab=TabCTRL_DropDownTabsGovernment1&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2&cached=true">Bermuda Government Survey Section</a> and the <a href="http://www.bmm.bm/">National Museum of Bermuda</a>, I've been able to obtain and put online high-resolution aerial photographs of Bermuda from <a href="http://decouto-aerial.s3.amazonaws.com/tiles1940/googlemaps.html">1940</a> and <a href="http://decouto-aerial.s3.amazonaws.com/tiles1973/googlemaps.html">1973</a>. I've converted them into <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/">Google Maps KML tiles format</a> which allows you to use a standard web browser to pan and zoom into the highest level of detail. In some cases this is under 1 meter (more detail than the Google satellite photos, for example). These photos, in combination with today's satellite imagery, are a valuable tool for seeing how Bermuda has developed over the past 70 years. All you have to do is count the numer of white roofs, and the amount of open space available.</span></div><div><br />These aerial photos and metadata are made available courtesy of the survey section, and are copyright the Bermuda Government. The photos and data may not be reproduced, etc. without their prior permission.<br /></div><br /><div>Access the photos here:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://decouto-aerial.s3.amazonaws.com/tiles1940/googlemaps.html"><span class="Apple-style-span">1940 Aerial Photos</span></a></li><li><a href="http://decouto-aerial.s3.amazonaws.com/tiles1973/googlemaps.html"><span class="Apple-style-span">1973 Aerial Photos</span></a></li></ul></div><span class="Apple-style-span">The page allows you to fade between the historical view and the current Google Earth satellite view using a slider in the top right-hand corner — to view just the historical aerial photo move the slider all the way to the right, like so: <img valign="bottom" height="15px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-3FqpgVv-qg04olJAyNZWSyzRQ1pTHwaNRfNpcNE8XInX5exs5MHKGQkltHdee_rsJdt7S041KmIWC7-NWis9zn3zwBANrTWfG2g4L_Z1vJ57zDkX3Ngj3MEXN9VZfQMjgQcd-XcO8ocD/s320/slider.png" border="0" /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span">For the technically curious, the original data was in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrsid">MrSid</a> format, I used <a href="http://www.maptiler.org/">MapTiler</a> to convert the data, and the converted data is made available via <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/s3/">Amazon S3</a>. The converted data uses about 8 gigabytes of space (1 gigabyte for the 1940 data and 7 gigabytes for the 1973 data), and was converted and uploaded over the course of a few weeks using a great deal of patience.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Visit my website <a href="http://decouto.bm/">decouto.bm</a> for more <a href="http://decouto.bm/data">Bermuda data</a> and my <a href="http://decouto.bm/library">library of Bermuda documents</a>.</span></div>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-89958393069677436602010-12-20T21:10:00.006-04:002010-12-20T21:17:28.872-04:00Bermuda Election Data On-line, updated<a href="hhttp://webapp.decouto.bm/elections/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 247px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42DUfcdJjCdmoyA-TRKNeonLL0JXjbH0TpckFU03bD6SWPFJDXoxlHVMo4ioLq_mfpSrIkKzseUjM6wY33alGEBMSfKxUs0SAsYszTUavOypTJUvCbiGcYWJjLnqHI0L8BeOg9FHRoPjy/s400/elections.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552938227008951474" /></a><br /><br />I've updated my <a href="http://webapp.decouto.bm/elections">on-line Bermuda elections data</a> to include the <a href="http://webapp.decouto.bm/elections/18/">15 November 2010 Bye-Election</a>. There you can browse elections results by date, constituency, or candidate, back to 1989.Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-27392517962152626032010-11-29T19:04:00.007-04:002010-12-27T14:59:00.850-04:00Frank Manning: Bermudian Politics in Transition<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/decouto/Manning-1978-Complete-OCR-Optimized.pdf"><img src="http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/decouto/Manning-Cover.jpg" border="0" alt="Manning book cover" width="200"/></a></div><br /><p>I've scanned and uploaded a copy of Frank E. Manning's "Bermudian Politics in Transition:Race, Voting, and Public Opinion", from 1978. It is a study of Bermuda politics after the 1976 general election by Manning, a Canadian anthropologist who has written widely on Bermuda and the Caribbean. Download the PDF <a href="http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/decouto/Manning-1978-Complete-OCR-Optimized.pdf">here</a></p><br /><br /><br /><p>From inside the front cover:<br /><br /><quote><i><b>Bermudian Politics in Transition</b> explores the complex process that gave Bermuda's black Opposition a fifty per cent gain of parliamentary seats in 1976, split the ranks of Government, toppled the Premier, sparked a major race riot in 1977 and generated a mass momentum that endangers a white- controlled colonial order that has endured for more than three centuries. Based on survey research as well as intensive fieldwork, the book focuses on two areas: 1) trends in voting and party preference; 2) public opinion on the principal issues that have occupied Bermudian political attention since the inception of party politics in the 1960's.</i><br /></quote><br /></p><br /><br /><br />FOREWORD<br /><p>Frank Manning has given us a book that has been long overdue in Bermuda: A detailed analysis of contemporary political thought and action.<br /><p><i>Bermudian Politics in Transition</i> will be compelling reading for anybody who is the least bit interested in Bermuda politics (and that seems to include everybody these days!), and who wants to learn more about what's what and why.<br /><p>It will also be an indispensable tool for political strategists and pundits alike, unearthing some interesting, occasionally startling, but always enlightening insights into where Bermudians, the voters, stand on the issues of the day.<br /><p>This book could literally prompt significant changes in party platforms before the next election.<br /><p>It contains a veritable gold mine of information which goes a long way to explaining why the PLP picked up five more seats and increased its popular support in 1976, and conversely why the UBP lost those five seats and slipped in popular support.<br /><p>Frank Manning's most fascinating find - and his surveys uncover plenty - has to be the pivotal role black women played in the PLP's stride forward.<br /><p>His surveys also put paid to the popular notion that increased support only came from young blacks who were voting for the first time.<br /><p>They also reveal long-suspected discontent among the white middle class with the direction in which the UBP appeared headed going into the '76 election: background to the movement within the party that toppled their leader, and Premier, Sir John Sharpe.<br /><p><i>Bermudian Politics in Transition</i> sets an exciting stage for the next election which could make or break the PLP .<br /><p>As Frank Manning details, it was their shift to a more 'respectable' image in 1976 - toned-down socialistic rhetoric and emphasis on spiritual values and family life - which won them support from new places.<br /><p>On the other hand, all is not lost for the UBP. Mr. Manning's book also clearly documents how they can shore up initial support and make inroads into growing support for the Opposition.<br /><p>It may be, as Mr. Manning's surveys show, that voters believe their Government is only as good as its Opposition and they only wanted a more competitive Parliament.<br /><p>And, after all, it is the voters of this country who will ultimately decide; and it's refreshing to see what they think for a change - which is what this book is all about. <br /><p><i>Bermudian Politics in Transition</i> is a welcome addition to any bookshelf of Bermuda history and the first in what I hope is a long line of its kind.<br /><p>It also represents a great deal of hard work by an independent outsider whose objectivity makes this work that much more valuable.<br /><p>John Barritt <br>Editor, Bermuda SunDouglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-83292265070905492662010-06-10T17:45:00.002-03:002010-06-10T17:47:55.012-03:00Stem Cell Tourism, platinum styleI think this is what Ewart Brown is aiming for with his <a href="rmudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=24&SubSectionID=270&ArticleID=34993">Brown-Darrell clinic</a>, stem-cell tourism with platinum leaf: <a href="http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-06/offshore-operations-crossing-atlantic-pursuit-stem-cells">http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-06/offshore-operations-crossing-atlantic-pursuit-stem-cells</a><div><br /></div><div>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; ">It’s 2:30 in the afternoon in the Dominican Republic, and Karen Velline, a 66-year-old grandmother from Cold Spring, Minnesota, is lying on an operating table, swaddled in sterile surgical sheets. She’s just moments away from a<b> procedure so experimental that no doctor will perform it on U.S. soil.</b> Yet she calmly stares up at the ceiling, more excited than anxious. Despite the controversy surrounding it, Velline believes that this procedure—which she has paid Regenocyte Therapeutic, a stem-cell company in Bonita Springs, Florida, <b>$64,000 in cash</b> to perform—could save her from a debilitating lung condition. After months of anticipation and planning, she’s ready for things to get under way."</span></div>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-82603282787756124002010-02-09T17:04:00.002-04:002010-02-09T17:12:48.731-04:00Valencia Progress Report Day 2Reminder: live updates at http://twitter.com/decouto<br /><br />On Tuesday we got up late and took the bus to Valencia's old town, a charming district of old buildings, churches, squares, and yes, tapas bars. We walked up into the tower of the cathedral, which treated us to a magnificent view of the city, straight to the ocean. We could see the wing of the BMW/Oracl boat looming over the top of the container port's derricks. It's bloody big!<br /><br />Another highlight was the central market, full of gorgeous looking fresh produce, cheeses, and of course, the ubiquitous jamon hanging everywhere. We strolled the aisles of the fish section: live eels & lobsters crawling around, fish, squid, whatever you wanted, all laid out on ice. I only felt a little queasy...<br /><br />It was a beautiful crisp days under a clear blue sky with a fresh breeze, so after lunch we walked back down the old river bed. At some point they diverted the river around the city, and created a park with trails, trees, and sports fields in the old river bed. It's a little warmer than the street as it is sunk down out of the breeze, with the old walls of the river banks forming the sides, and criss-crossed with traffic and pedestrian bridges. The park ends at the palace of arts and science, a stunning collection of way-out buildings rising out of cool blue pools and covered in shiny white tiles. The future is now! Claudio's apartment's balcony looks out over the park, and I am looking at the Opera House all lit up as I write this. <br /><br />Tomorrow's start is delayed by at least two hours until noon due to weather, so we'll get a little more sleep tonight.<br /><br />Stay tuned!<br /><br />http://twitter.com/decoutoDouglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-61558133118695779182010-02-09T16:32:00.008-04:002010-02-09T17:26:21.034-04:00Valencia Progress Report Day 1Reminder: get live updates (sort of) at http://twitter.com/decouto<br /><br />What do tax attorneys, NASCAR, and stunt planes have to do with each other?<br /><br />The answer is, of course, the America's Cup.<br /><br />It's been a long two days since Somers and I arrived in Valencia, and despite the lack of racing it's been eventful nonetheless.<br /><br />We woke up at 5am on Monday to watch the BMW/Oracle boat leave the dock, and participate in a bit of a pump-up ceremony. Loud rock music, floodlights, and air-horns all at 6.30 in the morning: bra bra brap braaaaaaaaaaa...... I am not sure the boat's crew appreciated all the excitement as they might have wished to build up to their 10am start more slowly. But the 'Family and Friends' spectators enjoyed it, as long as they didn't get an airhorn in the ear.<br /><br />From there we bused back to the base in the AC harbour, and then another short bus ride to get on the fast ferry that served as the spectator boat at around 8.30am. However, due to the lack of wind and the delayed start, we sat at the dock until around 9.30. We finally left and went about 20 miles out to the start line, where Alinghi and BMW/Oracle were drifting around. The oat driver did a good job of maneuvering the ferry so everyone got a chance to view the boats up close from either side, as there wasn't a lot of external deck. We even got a 'drift by' from Oracle, so everyone was whipping out their cameras. And of course, Larry's big boat was out there along with a flotilla of very wicked looking RIBs tooling around full of very fashionably dressed crew and support. Apparently this season the fashionable AC crew are wearing all white. Not my first choice in foul weather gear colour, but I guess they can just get new kit if it gets dirty.<br /><br />At 2pm racing was cancelled for the day and we all raced back to the dock. By this point Somers and I had already been getting familiar with the Coronas, and back at the base there was more open bar to be had, including Mojitos. Many of them. I met a few interesting people, including the team's tax attorney. Apparently he was instrumental in helping them save a lot of money on sales tax when they had their boat built in the US. I also met a NASCAR technician -- he knows nothing about sailing, but was brought in to build the wiring harnesses. I asked him what the difference between NASCAR and the boat was, he said nothing... it's all aviation technology brought to other applications.<br /><br />After a few more mojitos, it was off for tapas down the street. The bar was empty except for two Kiwi gentleman. We eventually started talking with then and it turns out they were Sir Michael Fay, and his partner from the 1980s Kiwi 'big boat' campaign against Dennis Conner's cat. So we had quite an interesting conversation with him -- he was the financier and motivation behind that campaign, I enjoyed his perspective. He referred to himself as a farmer... Many people knock the America's cup since it is so different from normal sailing, wiht all the drama, legal hijinks, loads of money, and the chase for technology. But as Fay said, if you want a regatta, go to a regatta... this is the America's Cup, and is its own beast. Remember that it predates the modern organization of sailboat races by many years.<br /><br />Finally off to another tapas bar, where we crashed a birthday party ('Pimps and Hos') full of AC people and hangers-on. And lots of good food! They had a vat of sangria, and a 1-metre diameter paella dish that sits on its own propane-powered burner. Wicked good food, wicked good drink.<br /><br />And stunt planes? That's some guy I met at the last bar, he comes from stunt planes and worked on the film that covers the wing. He was pretty passionate about it. Or maybe just drunk....?Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-53803764223315821732010-02-07T13:19:00.001-04:002010-02-07T13:19:24.135-04:00BMW Oracle getting readyBMW/Oracle getting ready for tomorrow's first America's Cup race. They are changing up their daggerboards. Go USA!<br /><br /><center><a href='http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/02/07/595.jpg'><img src='http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/02/07/s_595.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Valencia&z=10'>Valencia</a></p>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-79433368180591884952010-02-06T08:50:00.001-04:002010-02-06T08:50:13.113-04:00On my way<br /><br /><br />I am now on the plane waiting to fly to New York and then Valencia to watch the America's Cup. I am trying out my new iPhone so look for me on Twitter as well as this blog. My Twitter name is decouto. <br /><br />Away we go!<br /> <br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bermuda&z=10'>Bermuda</a></p>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-84632488047244336292010-01-26T20:44:00.004-04:002010-01-26T20:48:56.659-04:00Bermuda and the Next Millennium: a view from the past!Another addition to the <a href="http://decouto.bm/library">Bermuda Library</a>:<br /><p><a href="http://decouto.bm/reports/Astwood-Bermuda-and-the-Next-Millenium-1997.pdf">Bermuda and the Next Millenium, by Kit Astwood (1997)</a></p><p>A think piece by J. Christopher "Kit" Astwood, OBE, JP. He lays out questions about the future of Bermuda, using a few bits of data to provoke thought. It's interesting to see how many of today's issues were starting to take root in 1997. <a href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t0h12g3GSp2QuyLOQvBy8Nw&output=html">View the accompanying data in a spreadsheet</a>. He also wrote a follow-up piece in 2000: <a href="http://decouto.bm/reports/Mid-Atlantic%20Economic%20Miracle-Astwood-2000.pdf">The Mid-Atantic Economic Miracle: Bermuda</a>. Both documents Copyright J. Christopher Astwood and posted with his permission.<br /></p>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-49546248641877773952010-01-24T10:56:00.004-04:002010-01-24T11:01:42.145-04:00Browse Bermuda Election Results On-lineI've just finished the first version of a simple website which lets you <a href="http://webapp.decouto.bm/elections">browse Bermuda election results on-line</a>, by election, constituency, or candidate. Visit the website at <a href="http://webapp.decouto.bm/elections">http://webapp.decouto.bm/elections</a>, and let me know what you think.<div><br /></div><div>(This is a newer version of something I did year before last: <a href="http://decouto.blogspot.com/2008/09/bermuda-election-data.html">old blog post</a>)</div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div>From the <a href="http://webapp.decouto.bm/elections/about/">'about' page</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><a name="about"><h2>About this site</h2></a><p><a name="about">This site was created by </a><a href="http://decouto.bm/">Douglas De Couto</a> to make available historical Bermuda election data. It uses data pulled from the <a href="http://www.elections.gov.bm/">Bermuda Parliamentary Registrar</a>, which has then been cleaned up and cross-referenced (e.g. the same candidate sometimes appears in multiple elections but under slightly different names).</p><p>It was created using <a href="http://djangoproject.com/">Django</a></p><a name="help"><h3>How you can help</h3><p>If you like this site and would like to contribute, I welcome collaboration in the following areas:</p><ul><li>Getting pictures for more candidates.</li><li>Biographies for candidates.</li><li>Catching any errors in names, dates, etc.</li><li>Finding and entering election results from before 1989.</li><li>Site design... as you can see I am not much of a designer.</li></ul><p></p><p>If you'd like to help, or just make a comment, contact me by emailing decouto -at- alum.mit.edu. (substitute '@' for '-at-')</p><p>Thank you to the Registrar for making the original data available online.</p></a><a name="problem"><h3>Reporting problems</h3><p>If you see a problem in the website or with the data such as a misspelling or incorrect election result, please email me.</p></a></span></div></div>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-12983503824011154772010-01-16T08:02:00.004-04:002010-01-16T08:07:11.853-04:00From the "Bad Ideas" Category<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In today's New York Times:</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><ul><li><h1 style="color: black; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/health/16skin.html?hp">Creams Offering Lighter Skin May Bring Risks</a>: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; ">For years, Allison Ross rubbed in skin-lightening creams with names like Hyprogel and Fair & White. She said she wanted to even out and brighten the tone of her face, neck and hands. Mrs. Ross, 45, who lives in Brooklyn, also said that she used the lightening creams “to be more accepted in society.” After months of twice-a-day applications, her skin was not only fairer, it had become so thin that a touch would bruise her face. Her capillaries became visible, and she developed stubborn <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/acne/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Acne." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">acne</a>. A doctor told her that all three were side effects of prescription-strength <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/steroids/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about steroids." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">steroids</a> in some of the creams, which she had bought over the counter in beauty supply stores..... <i>I'm sorry for her, but doesn't this seem like a bad idea just by thinking about it?</i></span></span></span></nyt_headline></h1><h1 style="color: black; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></h1></li><li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/us/16tour.html?hp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A Gangland Bus Tour, With Lunch and a Waiver</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">LOS ANGELES — The tour organizer received assurances, he says, from four gangs that they would not harass the bus when it passed through their turf. Paying customers must sign releases warning of potential danger. And after careful consideration, it was decided not to have residents shoot water guns at the bus and sell “I Got Shot in South Central” T-shirts..... </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Sign me up!</span></span></i></span></li></ul></div>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-61226768183001114232010-01-03T13:43:00.006-04:002010-01-03T14:24:06.987-04:00Headline: "UK Has Trust Issues with Bermuda"Just saw this headline: <a href="http://www.caribbeanlifenews.com/articles/2010/01/02/news/caribbean/doc4b3fe28b10817180506028.txt">"UK Has Trust Issues With Bermuda"</a>, from <a href="http://www.caribbeanlifenews.com/">Caribbean Life News</a>. I am not sure what kind of outfit that site is: for example, they write that "half the citizenry is expatriate", which is wrong, as a simple web search for "Bermuda Statistics" shows the answer is 17,675 out of 62,059, or 28% according to the 2000 Census. Regardless, this is an example of how Ewart Brown's actions have tainted Bermuda's reputation internationally.Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-87399242458121256092009-10-21T08:41:00.003-03:002009-10-21T08:43:59.763-03:00Lovely MomentIn the morning when the rising sun first reveals the turquoise and purple in the water on the south shore, but it is still slightly translucent.Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-33957346636933284402009-09-19T09:07:00.004-03:002009-09-19T14:09:15.394-03:00Racism: it's not black and whiteThis is a nice article by Charles Blow of the New York Times: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/19/opinion/19blow.html?hp">Here We Go Again</a><br /><br />In the "political discourse", too many people are focused on blaming everything on racism, <i>or</i>, refusing to acknowledge the role of racism. <br /><br />Blow writes:<br /><br /><blockquote>A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted in January of last year found that 60 percent of whites agree that they underestimate the amount of discrimination that there is against blacks and 59 percent of blacks agree that they overestimate the amount of racism against them. How can we measure truth when everyone’s twisting it? A better question might be how much racial prejudice are people aware of and willing to acknowledge.<br /><br />An ABC News poll released in January asked, “If you honestly assessed yourself, would you say that you have at least some feelings of racial prejudice?” Thirty-eight percent of blacks answered yes, as did 34 percent of whites.</blockquote><br /><br />Update: check out Bob Herbert's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/19/opinion/19herbert.html?hp">counterpoint </a>in the same paper:<br /><br /><blockquote>Did we really need Jimmy Carter to tell us that racism is one of the driving forces behind the relentless and often scurrilous attacks on President Obama? We didn’t know that? As John McEnroe might say, “You can’t be serious.”</blockquote>Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-72842111670508515572009-09-17T21:26:00.003-03:002009-09-17T21:37:34.210-03:00R.I.P. Keith Young<a href="http://www.royalgazette.com/rg/Article/article.jsp?articleId=7d998d630030000§ionId=60">Keith Young has just passed away</a>.<br /><br />I knew Keith as a fellow candidate for the UBP, during the slog up to the 2007 election and the time since. I will remember Keith for his warmth, infectious positive attitude, and his low-key but unmistakable passion for making Bermuda better. <br /><br />In Bermudian politics, which is filled with self-interested egomaniacs and tired old blowhards, Keith stood out for his genuine commitment to his family, his neighborhood, and his Island.<br /><br />We need more people like Keith, not fewer.<br /><br />My deepest regrets to his family.Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-7810318815287137132009-09-10T07:40:00.003-03:002009-09-10T07:42:15.277-03:00"Bermuda Night Sold Out"From the <a href="http://plp.bm/node/2136">PLP Blog</a>, we learn that "Bermuda Night" at Fenway Park in Boston was sold out. That's great news, and it sounds like it was a good event.<br /><br />But, if you know anything about baseball you'll know that every night is sold out at Fenway park well ahead of the baseball season, regardless of what the event is.<br /><br />Love the spin ball...Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-20428306121531118012009-09-09T21:44:00.005-03:002009-09-09T22:44:53.844-03:00505 Worlds Wrap-up: 68 out of 99.Well, as they say, better late than never. I<br /><br />To jump to the chase, here are our finishes in the 9 races. Bracketed finishes are discards:<br /><pre><br />68 9005 BER Douglas De Couto Gareth Williams 67 [99/DNF] 59 77 [99/DNF] 41 79 52 45 total points: 420.00<br /></pre><br />We lost a tie-break for 67th. Full results available <a href="http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/decouto/SAP5O5Race1-9.htm">here</a>. (sorry for the strange link, I couldn't figure out how to link from the official site as it's a pop-up).<br /><br />Net-net, it was a grueling, tough regatta that tested us mentally and physically. Although I can't look back and say it was 'fun', like a 'vacation' is 'fun', I have to admit that I achieved my goal of 'mid-fleet', without completely embarrassing myself. And, there were a few hoots and hollers. Importantly, Gareth and I were able to make a strong finish that popped us up into the 60s, and put us ahead of some competitors I was targeting in the boat park -- people about whom I thought 'we can beat them', which is satisfying. That result is in no small part to taking some of Gareth's advice on starting. As someone told me, as is always the case, now we are ready to do a worlds in San Francisco. Maybe next time...<br /><br />It is over a week and a half since the last race and the last day of the worlds, and it feels like forever. Being back in Bermuda and in the office is a whole different world. Too be honest, it's been a bit of a relief: I get a full lunch every day, I don't have to put on a wetsuit, and my arms are not nearly as tired. Oddly enough, my back seems more sore now!<br /><br />So let's see what I can remember -- in our last installment, I left us at the beginning of the second last day: two races & one night to go until the end of the regatta, a Friday and a Saturday.<br /><br /><h2>Friday</h2><br />Friday was forecast to be a light air day, so they pushed the start back to 1:30pm to give the breeze time to come in. It turned out to be a hot, clear day on the beach, an everyone was lounging around, waiting for an AP, and delaying the awful act of putting on the wetsuit in the hot sun. The committee boat was hanging around off the beach, and as they looked like they were ready to go, parts of the fleet started suiting up. Old pros that they are, the RC popped the AP from the committee boat once about 1/3 of the sailors had suited -- those wiley coyotes! If they had raised the AP on shore, they would have to give a 2 hour gap between lowering it and starting the race; by raising it on the water (but while floating off the beach where all the sailors could see it), they only need to give a few minutes. Sure enough, the breeze started filling in <i>verrrrrry</i> slightly, the RC put up the 'Follow Me' flag, and the fleet went into the water for a 45-minute tow out to the course.<br /><br />Wise skipper that I am, I neglected to tape up the transom flaps before launching. Typical M.O. in SF had been that taping them up was unnecessary, as a) we'd spend most of the time with water sloshing into the boat anyway, and b) we'd be planing most of the time as well. Of course, that was not the case on this day. The end result involved Gareth in a compromising position straddling the bow of the boat while I tried to recycle some used tape to seal up the flaps -- which of course were now wet. Lesson learned... <br /><br />To be honest, I don't remember most of the race, but here goes. I believe this was the day I said to Gareth, 'If anyone hits the gatekeeper launch, it's going to be us'. Luckily, it wasn't us, but we had an awesome front row start, lots of speed, some space to leeward, etc. One <i>minor</i> problem: the boat to leeward of us was my sailmaker (Ethan Bixby, finished 14), and the boat above us was Mike Martin, you know, they guy who won 6 out of 9 races. Plus he had a 2nd. So, although it was a great start, it ended up being a you-know-what sandwich, with us as the you-know-what. After falling back 15-20 boatlengths, we finally bailed out and tacked to the right about 1/3 of the way up the beat. From that point on, it was simply a question of trying to sail fast, execute maneuvers, and get around the course. This was a 52.<br /><br />This race had actually had a great moment on the first downwind mark rounding. We came in a massive pack but managed to find a slot inside for the mark to our left, and zoomed around with a great lane while the pack wallowed in a lull. Unfortunately, next time around this was not the case... we touched a boat that had somehow gone from our inside to our outside and then magically appeared right in front of us as i was rounding. I thought they had been gone, but apparently not.... anyway, a few strong words, a 720, and we ended up heading the other way with no wind, no lane, no speed, and very bad karma. Actually, maybe that was another race or rounding -- I can't really separate them all out anymore.<br /><br /><br /><h2>Saturday</h2><br />Now on to the last race, on Saturday. I had almost decided to blow off the race, and spend the day being relaxed & derigging early; but, I am glad I did not as it was probably our best race. In keeping with the "let's hit the gatekeeper" starting M.O., we had a great start in just-starting-to-get-windy conditions (of course, after SF, my whole definition of 'windy' has now changed). Funnily enough, it always seems to pick up about 8 knots between your upwind tuning checks and the first gun, leaving you to pull on a lot of strings without getting to try them out. Great suggestion from Gareth: put on the flattening reef. This was good and saved us a lot of grief later. <br /><br />After the start, we were neck and neck with the boat underneath us for a very long time. However, despite a slight lift, the other boat was better at the speed/point tradeoff, and we were forced out. This time, however, we made it much further, and had much better lanes. After we tacked for a clear lane, we headed right, with the strategy of leading other right boats back. When we finally did this, it was magnificent to be sailing on starboard tack, looking up at the top mark, and not seeing any boats in front of our bow. This was not a sight we enjoyed very often. Sure enough, they did all eventually come charging out of the left, but apparently we rounded the top mark in the 20s. From then on, it was our race to drop places. The usual suspects prevailed: a place or two at the hoist, a slow reach, a missed jibe or bad jibing angle, extra tacks to clear for a lane at the mark, missing a shift, not concentrating, etc. For most of the race (and others) we could count on ok boat speed, probably at the 50th percentile level, meaning I think we were faster than at least half of the boats there (weight & new boat & sails helped). Of course, we didn't have the best height. This meant that with enough runway & assuming we didn't pick the wrong direction too badly, we could pick up a few places upwind if we fell too far back into the pack. However, for this last race, we didn't have it for the last beat - I couldn't quite find the grove steering, with the right balance of being powered up, yet not forced into pinching and having to jerk the tiller around. Anyway it still ended up being our 2nd-best finish, 45th, plus we had the experience of being able to look back at big packs of boats for lots of the race, and actually racing in the pack with boats around us. Exhilarating! <br /><br /><h2>The End </h2><br /><br />The rest of the day was a blur. Gareth had brought Heinekens out to the race course for a celebratory drink on the way home (props to Gareth), but it was too windy to really enjoy them and actually make any progress to windward. At the beach, we rushed to derig, and I was stressing about getting derigged and the boat cleaned up in time to load the truck with the other East Coast teams. I needn't have worried. Loading the truck was a long painful process that meant most of us were very late for the banquet & prizegiving. In fact, Sarah and I weren't even able to attend as we had to leave the city at 8.30pm to head to the airport, return the rental car, and get organized for our flight.<br /><br />The boat is now sitting at the American Yacht Club in Rye, NY, thanks to the hospitality of the local fleet, and I am figuring out what to do next.<br /><br />Thanks for reading,<br /><br />DougDouglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-68517487667576821002009-08-28T12:17:00.005-03:002009-08-28T12:47:38.637-03:00"One More Night"Today is the second last day of the worlds, and we are flying out tomorrow night at midnight. One race today, later start at 1.30pm due to reduced wind, and one race tomorrow.<br /><br />Yesterday was a light day, with racing not starring until 1.30pm and boats having to be towed out to the starting area-- it's a long tow!<br /><br />The first race was one of our best, and the second race was one of our worst, full of unforced errors by the skipper (that would be me). Due to the light wind and the fact that our dacron jib has been repaired with a piece of webbing on the leech, we took our new, never-before-used, mylar jib. Very sexy.<br /><br />Race 1 started in about 10 knots with a 1.5 mile beat. I don't recall what our plan was, but we ended up blowing the start and had to tack and clear to the right, taking a lot of sterns. We must have been sailing pretty well as we ended up lifting above the rabbit. I think we had much improved boatspeed against the fleet, and we were working very hard to keep moving fast without giving up too much leeward distance. Certainly the new jib helped... We rounded in a big middle pack, managed to successfully set the kite & execute our maneuvers, and even could figure out the lifted tack. Short of calling the favored end wrong on the reaching finish & giving up one boat, we had a great race and finished 40th. Imagine if we had a front row start... w.r.t. the finish, we finish through a gate to leeward and then reach on port to the finish. We followed the fleet up to the windward end of the line, but it would have been faster to reach straight to the middle -- less distance & faster speed too. <br /><br />Gareth and I worked well as a team that race, no doubt the fact that we were not physically at our limits really helped. Gareth was really great at giving info so we could cut through the fleet on port at the start.<br /><br />For the second race, I managed to blow that start as well. Still setting up too early but not pulling the trigger until it's too late & other boats are giving us bad air. Mike Martin setup to leeward of us, reminds me of the old adage, if you don't know who the marshmallow is, it's you... For those who don't know, the marshmallow is the bad/slow sailor you like to start next to who makes it easy to sail past/over/under/faster than into clear air.<br /><br />The plan for this race was go right for reduced flood current. In retrospect this was wrong, the play was go for velocity which by now was finally starting to increase, and the pattern is that it gets strongest between Alcatraz & Treasure Island first... that is the left. So we rounded in the bottom third, with a not very great run... In fact there was a huge hole at the leeward gate & I managed to do a very bad mark rounding, forced outside, and giving up 10 boats or so. We did work left here, out of necessity, but that meant we went up the port layline through the boats reaching down. Awesome. Managed to touch a boat at the jibe, so that was a 720. More boats passed. I think we may have salvaged something on the beat, again coming up through the port layline with boats bearing down on us with spinnakers up -- awesome again. This time I miced on the offset mark while setting up controls for the down wind (ram off, trap twings off, vang off, board up a touch), and we touched the offset mark. So... 360, see you other boats later. All the time the breeze was slowly building, and I was getting a little bit tired & making bad decisions. For the last beat, it had filled right in to 15-18, and although I had dropped the rig back a bit on the run in anticipation, it wasn't quite enough. Gareth made the call for us to drop back more, which was a great idea, as we were now zooming along, and this helped us catch some tail-end boats from the right due to good speed.<br /><br />Unfortunately, with the tide I mis-called the layline for the finish, had to throw in an extra two tacks. Twice. The second time I tacked right in front of a ducking port-tacker and fouled him. This was as he was trying to duck us & cross another starboard tacker, who was fouled. We crossed the line, jibed for the 720, capsized, finished the 720, and refinished, losing about another 6 boats, Total cluster. Total circles that race: 5. Awesome. And, the third boat insisted on protesting the second boat (the one I fouled), so they had to protest us, which meant hanging around at the club until 8pm and missing dinner with our hosts. The protest was thrown out because we did the 720s. Feeling bad about my shitty sailing, I gave the guys I fouled some rum. They are young guys who will know what to do with it.<br /><br />My one main lesson from that race is to not try to make aggressive shortcuts when the downsides are so big with a large fleet. Instead, focus on getting a good lane for yourself, and setting up well ahead of time for roundings & finished. Net result, 79 or something stupid like that.Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-73387825834006328122009-08-27T11:23:00.003-03:002009-08-27T11:52:10.342-03:00Worlds Race Day 4: previewToday is worlds race day 4, the last 2-race day on which to attempt to achieve our goal of finishing both races.<br /><br />Yesterday was the lay-day, where all we did was relax & rest, didn't even look at the boat. Sarah and I planned to head out over the Golden Gate bridge & see some natural beauty, etc., so long as it wasn't windy & it was warm.<br /><br />However, the day was a lot like our sailing days: we got around the corner from where we are staying and clutch failed on the 20-year old Jeep we are borrowing. Can't blame the truck, we've been driving it pretty hard over the hills the past 10 days. So... the first half of our day off was spent hanging out with the tow-truck driver, a very nice guy who gave us a guided tour of the city.<br /><br />Eventually we rented a new car (silver Dodge Charger, now we ride in super-style), and made it out to Sausalito for a relaxed lunch, followed by a walk in the Muir Woods. Stunning redwoods, I recommend it if you ever get the chance & desire to commune with nature a bit. We topped the day off with drunks & burgers at the St. Francis with my shore team who were doing the Wednesday night racing there.<br /><br />What's on for today? According to Sailflow, not too much wind until later in the day, so we will likely have problems with boat speed & will need to work hard to keep the boat moving & pointing. It actually helps to have other boats around as they 'keep us honest' & motivated.<br /><br />Other issue is the start. Early on I was setting up to early & being jammed up above the gate launch, with much maneuvering to try & slip in behind. Recently I have been setting up with a good hole, but not going early enough & boats are swooping down over the top of me. I think I need to punch out more and reach down under the gate launch to achieve max speed.<br /><br />We will also seek continuous improvement on downwind crew work -- we are finally getting the kite up quickly thanks to new halyard setup (5th time lucky), and I will work on steering & keeping the boat stable during hoists, jibes, and douses.<br /><br />I've learned to put more board up & let off a lot more vang on the downwind to avoid being overpowered & to stay in control. But, I feel I may be doing too much of it as we are not as powered up as much of the time as I would like. Like everything else, not too much, not too little, juuuuust right!<br /><br />That leaves tactics & strategy -- going the right way -- which we have undoubtedly not been paying attention to here. Maybe if it's less crazy today I will get some of the numbers to make sense.<br /><br />Wish us luck!Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-14612189146147519392009-08-26T13:15:00.003-03:002009-08-27T11:40:54.375-03:00Worlds Lay DayToday is the lay day. That means no racing and a break.<br /><br />My main goal today is to relax, not see the boat, and spend time with Sarah who flew out here last night. We hit the sack early, slept 10 hours. Left Gareth at the club drinking with other sailors. He's earned it!<br /><br />Today's blog post is in multimedia format, brought to you by by <a href="http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/235516-505-world-championship">Sail Groove</a> and Marine Media Alliance.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X5qY7FM1Lao&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X5qY7FM1Lao&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /> This below video is me taking about how yesterday went.<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.sailgroove.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf" width="480" height="312" bgcolor="#" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="&image=http://s3.amazonaws.com/flocasts-user-videos-images/74543_TwoShreddedSailsforDouglasDeCoutoonDay3_1251249455677_l.jpg&logo=http://www.sailgroove.org/assets/portal/simple30/images/video_overlays/sailgroove.png&file=http://s3.amazonaws.com/flocasts-user-videos/74543_TwoShreddedSailsforDouglasDeCoutoonDay3_1251249455677.flv&frontcolor=000000&lightcolor=cc9900&controlbar=over&stretching=fill" /> </embed><p><a href="http://www.sailgroove.org">Sailing Videos on Sailgroove</a></p><br />The basic theme is that we are essentially last, the exact details will depend on how many races we actually finish. But, no major damages.Douglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402784764481930662.post-21327576252083202252009-08-24T02:29:00.003-03:002009-08-27T11:41:14.301-03:00Worlds Day Whatever: Worlds Race Day 1Today was worlds race day 1. We have yet to meet our goal of finishing both races on a two-race day, but are getting further down that course on the second day before wiping out for good.<br /><br />It's been a few days since I last blogged, here's what happened.<br /><br />3rd and last day of NAs: not good. Flips, bad starts, slowness, strong words, etc. Plus, not being able to finish the last race. But we've moved on...<br /><br />Next two days: free. Gareth off to SoCal to see friends, I was domestic: paperwork for worlds, housekeeping, saw a movie, etc. Went sailing with my friends Jeff & Danielle. You'd think I'd be done with that, but it was easy: hardest part was keeping one hand on the boat and one hand on my beer. It was a Friday night beercan race out of San Francisco Yacht Club, which is, oddly enough not in San Francisco: it's on the other side of the bay. Very beautiful place, if you get a chance to visit or sail there.<br /><br />I thought I'd give a short picture essay of what's been happening.<br /><br />Even though we have eaten a lot of food like this:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouto/3851616632/" title="DSC02842.JPG by decouto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2444/3851616632_c84d5d4b89.jpg" width="250" alt="DSC02842.JPG" /></a><br /><br />we've seen a lot of this:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouto/3851616214/" title="DSC02839.JPG by decouto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2615/3851616214_5d4c5f3cd5.jpg" width="200" alt="DSC02839.JPG" /></a><br /><br />That's the centreboard & bottom of the boat. Note the Sharpie marker for size comparison. Now imagine 2 x 200+ pound guys on it righting the boat. Scary. Because the blade is so high aspect ratio, it needs speed to work. If not, you just stall and go really slow. So the key is to bear off even if you think it's the wrong thing to do: you will go faster, the blde will work REALLY WELL, and you will magically start pointing higher and going faster.<br /><br />At least we haven't done something like this:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouto/3851617750/" title="DSC02850.JPG by decouto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2098/3851617750_0c7f7269a8.jpg" width="250" alt="DSC02850.JPG" /></a><br /><br />or this:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouto/3851617984/" title="DSC02851.JPG by decouto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2669/3851617984_01ea01fce2.jpg" width="250" alt="DSC02851.JPG" /></a><br /><br />There are several masts broken like that, including Mike Martin who won the NAs and race 1 of the worlds. So no-one is immune, but we are working on staying safe & sound ourselves. Between today and the first day of the NAs there are probably no more spare masts left in the boat park.<br /><br />The good news is that there is only one race tomorrow, at 2pm. The bad news is that there is only one race tomorrow, at 2pm. The wind builds all day, until by 2 it's cranking pretty hard. So we will get to head out in the thick of it.<br /><br />So, final synopsis of our situation is:<br /><br />* Sometimes we can go fast upwind, enough to be in the top half pack, when there are boats around to keep us focused and honest and we aren't too tired<br /><br />* We have good starts 2/3 of the time<br /><br />* We have a lot of downwind work to do. At least we have decided to remove the spinnaker halyard/ram puller concoction, and I can actually pull up the chute right away. That eliminates a lot of time in the 'death zone': running downwind in waves with the tiller between my knees.<br /><br />* This event is physically grueling.<br /><br />* We are having fun, even if we feel like we've been in a salt-water washing machineDouglas S. J. De Coutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151448928608701013noreply@blogger.com1