Napa Valley Vintners & America's Cup: The thrill of a lifetime

Saturday June 30

When Eric Sklar, Will Smith and I arrived at the America’s Cup Village Saturday morning, we were looking forward to another enjoyable afternoon watching the America’s Cup World Series from Club 45, just a few feet from the shore.  Eric was still pumped with excitement from his ride as a guest racer with Emirates Team New Zealand on Friday – if you want to know how exciting these 45-foot catamarans are, ask Eric or Clay Gregory to tell you about their guest racer rides – but we all expected a more laid-back Saturday.

We were wrong.  I was just sitting down to enjoy an iced tea and the view of Narragansett Bay, when Eric walked up to announce we had been invited to spend the afternoon out on the race course.  No one ever said yes faster than Will and I.  We all promptly gathered our belongings and headed to the dock to meet our boat.

I should explain that in order to make the most out of the relatively small areas within which the races are run, and to aid in the effort to keep as much of the action as close to shore as possible, the America’s Cup World Series uses boats – referred to as “mark boats” – to set the turning marks for the race.  This enables the race directors to move the marks as needed to adjust to changes in wind speed and direction over the course of an afternoon, and to have a finish line that is different from the starting line.  Our seats for the afternoon were on the twin-hulled power boat America, which would set up at one end of the starting line for the speed trials, and at the leeward (downwind) mark for both the fleet races.

Which means that when those 45-foot catamarans came sailing by, we were close enough to hear the singing of the wind over the sails, the voices of the crew as commands and responses were called out, the grunts of exertion as they trimmed the sails – well, to be more precise, the boats sometimes passed within just a couple of feet of America.  Watching a sailboat race simply doesn’t get more exciting than that.  It was the thrill of a lifetime.

Once again, the racing was fantastic.  Jimmy Spithill, skipper of the number one boat for Team Oracle USA, won the time trial with an average speed of 24.77 knots, which works out to 28.5 miles per hour.  I checked the true wind speed on America’s instrument panel, and I’m pretty sure it was no more than 15 knots, if that.  In other words, Spithill was sailing at least 1.65 times faster than the wind. There are limits to how fast these catamarans can go, but I’m pretty sure that when they come to San Francisco in August we’ll see boat speeds at 30 knots or better – on San Francisco Bay in the summertime, 15 knots of wind is a pretty light day.

So, if you haven’t already made your plans to be there in San Francisco in August and October, don’t delay.

Cheers!

Lester

Lester Hardy, lawyer by day, author by night, is the husband of Janet Pagano, Managing Partner at Ovid Vineyards.  An avid sailor, Lester crews for vintner Eric Sklar on Spindrifter at the Sausalito Yacht Club's Tuesday night races, and is currently working on a biography of Tom Blackaller, a San Francisco sailing legend who competed in three America's Cup events. You can reach Lester at ltrainhardy@yahoo.com

Napa Valley Vintners & America's Cup: The excitement begins!

Friday Morning, June 29

Yesterday the racing began. I had read about the NASCAR-like excitement of the America's Cup World Series, but now I've experienced it.  Wow!

The Emirates New Zealand team capsized in their match race against Luna Rossa Piranha, only to have their gleaming high-tech catamaran turn onto its rudders in a failed attempt to right it. By the time the boat was back on its hulls an hour later, the carbon fiber wingsail was severely damaged, and official reports were that the crew would be working all night to make the repairs necessary to get Emirates New Zealand back in the water in time for today's races.

Destination Napa Valley Council President Clay Gregory experienced the excitement first hand during the fleet race, as guest racer on Team Korea's catamaran. Clay told me afterwards that he got an aerobic workout while sitting still. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure he was referring to the fact that his heart was racing the entire time. One thing for sure, he looked like a guy who had never had such fun in his life.

And this, for me, was the greatest part of the day: the excitement of the day's races was shared by everyone from the Napa Valley Vintners and Destination Napa Valley who came out to Newport, regardless of whether they were sailors or non-sailors. The organizers of the 34th America's Cup competition have long said that their goal was to create an event that was accessible to everyone - to create a spectator-friendly arena on the water - and if the event here at Newport is anything to judge by, they have succeeded in a big way.

Just ask Linda Reiff, Eric Sklar, Clay Gregory, Will Smith, Allison Simpson, George Peterson or Darcy Tunt.

Or me, for that matter.

Cheers!

Lester Hardy 

Lester Hardy, lawyer by day, author by night, is the husband of Janet Pagano, Managing Partner at Ovid Vineyards.  An avid sailor, Lester crews for vintner Eric Sklar on Spindrifter at the Sausalito Yacht Club's Tuesday night races, and is currently working on a biography of Tom Blackaller, a San Francisco sailing legend who competed in three America's Cup events. You can reach Lester at ltrainhardy@yahoo.com

Napa Valley Vintners & America's Cup: The excitement is building here in Newport…

The America’s Cup race park opened this past Saturday to curious spectators looking to see what all of this “new racing” was about.  Sitting in our Napa Valley Wine Lounge, you could hear the excited buzz. “The boats are racing so close!” “Look at how they turn on a dime!” “These wines are great!”  I have to admit, this was my first chance to see the boats up close, too, and watch how they perform on the water - I am getting excited to see the races myself. 

The whole experience draws you in.  As you file past the team bases, technicians are assembling the massive but beautiful catamarans. After the pontoons are fixed together, then the mast is secured, and a crane lifts the boat into the air overhead and gently puts it into the water to wait for the crew.  

Time to get to the Napa Valley Wine Lounge, to get a great viewing spot!  From our lounge, glass of Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc in hand, I start to see one, then two, followed by the other three boats practicing today making their way to the course, gaining speed…gaining tremendous speed.  I can honestly say that I have never seen anything without a motor move that fast.  Because it is not an official race day, the course is not closed to other boating traffic, and as much slower boats are swerving out of the path of these boats that they came to see, I am pretty sure they are thinking the exact same thing that I am.  The boats practiced for a few hours, their colorful sails zipping back and forth across the bay before once again being lifted out of the water to be disassembled and cleaned for the next day.

I’m officially hooked! It didn’t take long watching the boats on the water this weekend to say that.  Unfortunately, I’ll be back in the Napa Valley for the official race days, starting this Thursday, but I can guarantee that you will see me on Sunday at one of our local viewing parties, glass of Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc in hand, cheering on the boats.

Suzanne Gay

Napa Valley Vintners

Napa Valley Vintners & America's Cup: Newport is a revelation

Thursday Morning, June 28

My first visit to Newport is a revelation.  I have never seen a harbor packed with so many beautiful boats, from super yachts to 12-metre race boats, and every sort of sloop, schooner, ketch and yawl, modern and classic, large and small, wood and plastic - Newport has them all.

And the setting is no less impressive.  Storied mansions line the waterfront, telling tales of the glory days of yachting - long before corporate sponsors and helicopters - of tycoons and times gone by.

Downtown Newport speaks of east coast summers, with ice cream shops, t-shirt stores, pizza places, beer joints, and everything else that caters to youth on vacation and to sailors on shore.  But there, too, one has a sense of the past - that this summertime enterprise has some history behind it.

The America's Cup Village is located at Fort Adams, an old naval defense installation that once protected the harbor at Newport.  The naval artillery is long gone, but the fort's location on the waterfront couldn't be better for the kind of spectator-friendly action that the current America's Cup organizers aim for.  In every direction the view is fantastic, and entire race course is visible from the public viewing area.

Last night the Napa Valley Vintners and Destination Napa Valley sponsored a wonderful wine reception for VIPs at the Club 45 VIP lounge at Fort Adams. The Club filled with sailors and sailing dignitaries, Linda Reiff and Clay Gregory gave an outstanding presentation on the Napa Valley to the guests, and wonderful wines from more than a dozen Napa Valley wineries were poured to an enthusiastic group.  As the tasting wound down, the sun slowly set, and we were treated to a magnificent example of the beauty of the Newport skies.

Newport is a revelation.

Cheers!

Lester

Lester Hardy, lawyer by day, author by night, is the husband of Janet Pagano, Managing Partner at Ovid Vineyards.  An avid sailor, Lester crews for vintner Eric Sklar on Spindrifter at the Sausalito Yacht Club's Tuesday night races, and is currently working on a biography of Tom Blackaller, a San Francisco sailing legend who competed in three America's Cup events. You can reach Lester at ltrainhardy@yahoo.com

View from Spring Mountain Vineyard by Ron Rosenbrand, Vineyard Manager

May 2012 Vineyard Update After a very wet and cold March and April, May was beautifully warm to hot. Day time temperatures were mostly in the 80’s and 90’s. We only had one rainy day with only 0.25 inches of rain. This brought the season total to 37.30 inches. This is some 9 inches below normal for the season, but we are in good shape for irrigation water for this year. The warm temperatures pushed vine growth along tremendously. Bloom started two and a half weeks earlier than last year and the year before. The entire bloom process went from start to finish in about 12 days. We are checking fruit set currently and should have a good feel for the degree of success soon. Early indications are quite positive. This earlier bloom puts us on a much more normal pace. If the summer temperatures are fairly normal, harvest times should do the same and we could expect to complete harvest by the end of October. How nice would that be for a change?
Another very noticeable thing in the vineyard is the increase in the number of clusters on the vines this year. We expected an increase in the trellis-converted blocks, but we are also seeing increases in Vertical Gobelet blocks. As always, as long as the weather doesn’t create a major problem, total tonnage this year should be up from the past 4 years.

May has been a very busy month out in the vineyard as is the case every year. But when you have warm weather it pushes us along even faster. During the month, we completed all the suckering and have been very busy mowing down cover crop, undertaking mildew control, tying and training of the vertical gobelet vines, shoot tucking and positioning in the vertical-shoot-positioned trellising, field-grafting some 7000 vines to Malbec, Chardonnay and converting clones in Pinot Noir. The warm weather has helped those grafts take successfully and they are currently taking off. Soon, we’ll start working on leaf removal to get some sunlight on those developing clusters and help get them acclimated to direct sun exposure before the real summer heat begins.
We have begun our insect releases for various vineyard pests including releasing lady bugs for leaf hoppers. The bluebirds have once again taken over the bird houses along with the swallows. There are many, many babies out there which have a tremendous appetite. We have a researcher from UC Berkeley working with the bluebirds. She is doing extensive studies on insect populations and the blue bird’s diet. We will have some great information when she completes this 12 week study. We also have another group of researchers from UC Berkeley studying three different flowering cover crops and the beneficial insects that are attracted to these flowers. This study is in the second of three years. They are also studying bat populations, the species of bats that we have here at SMV and their diet. Interesting stuff. We’ll keep you updated on the results.