Episode #190: Rolex Los Angeles SailGP — Behind the Scenes, Part 2

This week’s host, Ryan Foland, joins us from the Rolex Los Angeles SailGP on March 15-16, to wrap up his behind-the-scenes coverage of the world’s most exciting race on water.

Hear a fascinating interview with Australia SailGP Team CEO and driver Tom Slingsby, hot-off-the-press interviews with new and longtime SailGP fans, why this was one of the most exciting races in SailGP history, how they’re working to make the sport easier to understand for viewers, and the rest of the unparalleled energy from an epic day of high-speed racing.

Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear:

• Post-race interviews with competitors
• What to look forward to in the May issue of Latitude 38 Sailing Magazine
• An Interview with Bob Steel
• Competitors’ hot takes on how the competition could be better managed

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast spots — follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re feeling the Good Jibes! Learn more at SailGP.com and connect with Ryan at Ryan.Online.

Check out the episode and show notes below for much more detail.

Show Notes

• Part 2: Rolex Los Angeles SailGP with Host Ryan Foland & Friends
  • [0:21] Welcome to Good Jibes with Latitude 38
  • [0:34] Who comes in first at the Rolex Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix?!
  • [2:36] Are you here for this?
  • [4:24] Interview with Bob Steel
  • [10:32] Are all the boats using batteries instead of grinding?
  • [16:44] Is SailGP an intimidating entry point for people new to sailing?
  • [20:06] Are the split decisions instinct or instruments?
  • [23:05] What would Bob ask the competitors about the race?
  • [27:49] Are you thinking of sailing to Mexico or across the Pacific? Latitude 38 has a resource page called “Heading South” & the “First Timer’s Guide” to help you prepare
  • Interview with Tom Slingsby
  • [28:42] Tom Slingsby Interview
  • [31:24] Managing chaos, and keeping the boats apart
  • [34:12] Flirting with danger and how to fix it
  • [37:12] Did Tom have fun out there? And what does he say to the youth and veterans?
  • [38:32] Check out our Classy Classifieds at latitude38.com
  • Interview with Mark Reid
  • [39:24] Mark Reid Interview
  • [40:11] What to expect from Mark’s article
  • [42:16] Ryan’s closing thoughts
  • Make sure to follow Good Jibes with Latitude 38 on your favorite podcast spot and leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts
  • Check out Mark Reid’s story in the April issue.
  • Check out the May 2025 issue of Latitude 38 Sailing Magazine
  • Theme Song: “Pineapple Dream” by Solxis.

Transcript

Note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.

00:03

What do you say to the kids out there?  sailing.  right, what do you say to the veterans out there?  Keep sailing.

00:14

Ahoy and welcome to a very special episode of Good Jibes, podcast brought to you by Latitude 38, a West Coast sailing magazine since 1977. Here we are at the final race of the day. Looks like we’ve got France coming in first across the finish line. Sponsored by L’Oreal. Oh yeah. Looks like between New Zealand and Australia for second and third. And you see USA’s in a fifth spot.

00:43

I don’t know how much it’s gonna change here. Pretty on each other. All right, New Zealand definitely looks like coming in and New Zealand’s got number two.  And then wow, quickly behind. Wow, Australia just blasting through. Top three in. It looks like we’ve got  USA has a chance here. They are in fifth, can they make it to fourth? And this final run.

01:16

All right, USA is coming in at fifth. Good job, gentlemen. Good job. Gentlemen and ladies, I presume, actually. Sorry about that.

01:31

Good jibes and good vibes here. Canada, the sovereign state, sovereign nation coming through Canada. We appreciate you.

01:43

Nice.  like,  oh, Great Britain looks like they’re, well, it’s between Great Britain and Switzerland for the seventh and eighth place.  Oh, and a few of them have lost their foils. Looks like Great Britain is coming in. Yes, there we go.  I studied at the University of Reading.  I’ve got a distant tie to them. Good job, fellas. Oh, wow, this is pretty neck and neck coming in here. We got Brazil and Switzerland, oh my gosh!

02:17

Wow, who got that? That was close. That was as close of a horse race as we’ve seen yet. Wow.  Okay,  final results.  I’m looking at the TV. It’s not showing it. Wow. We need a picture for that last one.

02:36

You guys enjoying the race? I’m here with the Good Drives podcast. Are you sailing? Is this something that you guys have, did you come out last year? This is our first time. First time sailing, seeing sail GP or a sailboat race? That’s right. Are you from Los Angeles? You’re actually from Tennessee. You’re from Tennessee. You came all the way out here for Tennessee to see this? Yes. I don’t know. Are you here for something else and this is just a part of the process or is it really you’re out here just to see this? Yeah, this is our first time checking it out.

03:05

We’re here for this. Yeah, we’re here for this, yeah. Well, welcome to town. Are you here at least for a little bit? You’re going to hang out tomorrow, then I take it? Yes. We’ll be back tomorrow. So have you been following the SailGP? Kind of. I’m new to this sport, so I’m trying to learn as much as I can. Are you a sailor? Have you been out there? No, I’m not a sailor. It’s a great way to start. Surround yourself with other sailors. Well, have you ever heard of a magazine called Latitude 38? No, I haven’t. Well, my friend, if you are into sailing, this is what you need. I’ve got one right here for you.

03:34

It’s a sailing magazine  in the West Coast sailing since 1977.  And a print magazine.  You’ve got all kinds of sailing stories, sometimes a favorite part of the classy classifieds at the end where you can find a boat.  But  this is an amazing resource.  And even though they’re not in Tennessee, you can actually have them mailed to you.  But yeah, check it out. That’s for you.

03:56

Glad you guys came out. Sorry to just sort of like shout here in that final, but  welcome on behalf of  California and San Pedro and Los Angeles and Long Beach.  Have a great time out there. Thank you so much.  All right, we’ll see you around.

04:10

The races are done.  It was pretty exciting stuff.  Would you like to introduce yourself again? The last time I saw you, I’m not even sure if the audio works because we were in the bandstands and it was before the races. It was pretty crazy.  Wild and crazy day. Who are you? You’re  man, the myth, the legend.  Yeah. So Bob Steele. I’m  Australian originally and  then Newt Kiwi  and now  Pat Yank. So I’ve been in the sailing world for

04:40

a good part of my whole life racing ocean racing boats all around the world and fit out boats, rig them, do safety at sea and I do weather from a company in New Zealand, PredictWin.

04:54

You’re the man of many talents, sir. Man of many talents. lot of hats. I’m buddies with your son, who is awesome. And you do all kinds of great work for the retreats that you do and stuff like that. But right now, let’s talk real quick as a debrief. Let’s pretend like this is the professional after the basketball game. And they’re in the studio. They’re like, let’s break it down. Now, how do you think the races went today? And it’s OK if you don’t know who’s who or if you’re not following the race. We’re all friends here. And I’m not really sure. I’m kind of new to this, too. Right. Now, this, I watch most of all. It’s LGP.

05:24

They broadcast it globally around the world live, so next week it’ll be in San Francisco.  This was incredible because of  such close-up  action and activity with the boats, really close.  Sometimes they’re  quite a way away. There’s not as much contact, or not contact,  There were some close ones. I was over here in this other section with this final one, and the final three were within like,  I mean they were all within a foot or so of each other crossing the line. It was crazy.

05:52

Right, really, mean the skill level of these guys because you cannot crash and burn on these boats. mean, one little mistake and you are going to have a major, major  collision with major problems. these guys are incredible. They are the best sailors in the world  of these boats. Now have you seen them up front like this before? Is this your first sail GP race? I was here last year, right in the same spot. We  had the box seat right by the start finish and we were lucky to get,  think.

06:22

really probably the best  position here. I’ve sailed in this harbor in a lot of different boats, big boats, little boats,  mostly big boats. It’s an awesome place to sail  and it lived up to a little bit better wind than was predicted.  Yeah, it was windy and stormy yesterday and  this week and then all of a sudden the rain went away, which is great, but the wind maybe wasn’t as hootin’.  It’s perfect. It’s perfect conditions for the whole event. I mean, to be sunny and nice like this and…

06:50

And it’s probably blowing about eight to nine knots of true wind, and these boats are doing 45 to 50 knots, which is amazing. crazy. It’s really amazing, the technology. It’s incredible. Yeah, I was saying I want to slap one of these foils on my laser. Everyone’s foiling now, moths, dinghies. But foiling’s not necessarily new, correct?

07:15

It’s not new, no it’s been around for long time, but this is more refined foiling and also too with the development of carbon fiber being able to make all the structures lighter, stronger. It equates to the boats being faster, lighter is better. So in the sale, the development with the sails and the not even sails, Bob. They’re they’re airplane wings, right? Everything’s foil shaped and now they’re using

07:45

Down below the water in the high strength  components if you go into the shed there’s a lot of titanium being used  for the mast  Bearing for the mast there’s a huge amount of compression there So it looks like a trailer hitch, but it’s actually machined out of titanium,  which is an incredible  Machine in itself, but you saw in the first race  what happens if you get anything on those foils  Like the Australians did you just stop because it it slows the whole  flow down

08:14

Yeah, when I was hearing the announcers, they were talking about the percentage of time that they were lifted as an indicator of their overall performance.  once they go down, it’s just so hard to get them back up.  It’s almost like if you go down, you’re kind of down for that race, right? If you go down, you’re down. I mean,  the level of  sophistication in the way these guys are trimming everything,  adjusting to not only to wind direction, but wind speed  is  incredible. And they’re sailing in a rectangular box, basically.

08:43

But this was,  I’ve seen a lot of the events and this was  really  very spectacular. The last one in Auckland where I lived for quite some time and sailed  was a great event too because it was  upfront, close and personal.  So we’re in a good spot because we’re out in the open air and  got a lot of good crowd.  Yeah, the stadium was full. I mean, it felt like it was very full and grandstand full, great energy. And I met a lot of people who…

09:11

just are from LA and they heard about this and they decided to come down because it looked interesting.  it’s the events growing and I don’t know Russell Kutz but I did actually see him yesterday.  saw him, I said hi to him in the the in the media room and I was just like hey you have a couple minutes to talk and he’s like no you need to talk with my person.  I saw him yesterday he was looking very hairy but today he’s got to be really really happy  for the you know the beautiful venue. Great. You can have too much wind.

09:40

and you can have two little wind and this was almost perfect. Yeah, and you had mentioned about last night, I wasn’t able to make it, but you said for the pre-runs it was like blowing 20 knots and it was raining. What a difference. It was blowing 20, it was really cold  and the boats were ripping around probably doing 50 with smaller,  with their smaller  sails up.  Wait, they’ve got multiple size wings? Yeah, they can actually reduce the wing size on the main wings down  by taking slabs out of it.  Oh wow.

10:10

They are,  yeah, they’re really a truly amazing,  amazing So they’re adjusting the height of their actual  wing sail  in accordance with everything. it’s just…  It’s fully full on adjustments all the time. mean, it’s,  it’s  and you probably remember when the America’s Cup where they had  a lot of  like six guy bicycle guys grinding. These, these boats are all  driven pretty much all the way around just with a small battery, with battery packs. So they’re not doing the grinding anymore? There’s only one.

10:40

one trim grinder on there and he  adjusts the traveler.  Now are you familiar with the race course because there was somebody I talked to today and he was just like I am so confused  just how the race is set up and it’s just hard from a viewer perspective if you don’t know it’s kind of hard to tell who’s in the lead and what’s happening like is that  is that something even if you understand what’s going on that’s kind of the case? Yeah you’ve got to get the overview that’s why the helicopters up above and then

11:07

a gentleman who invented the Delmarca  for NFL and  ice hockey Delmarcas  and also the GPS, his name’s Stan Honey.  So that overlay of the course, the box  over the top, with limits, they can’t go outside of that rectangular box.  So they’ve got very  limited area  and then there’s different velocities within  that rectangle that they’re sailing in. So there’s a lot of it’s sailing skill.

11:36

It’s not just point the boat and go. It’s a  lot of  skill  sailing around the course.  And I’d assume that all of the official sailing rules are part of it. I didn’t see anybody throwing any red flags. How does the conflict work out there if something goes a little bit wrong or somebody…  How does that work? Is the same set of official rules? No, to  keep the flow going. Actually, the judges are in London looking at…  Are you serious? No,  they do the umpiring from London.

12:05

The situation is at the start when you see them wind up  if a boats over early at the start they don’t have to go back and  Restart they didn’t see anything, but I it seemed like a couple people might have been over so they’re just penalized How does that work what they do is they drop back behind the boats that were  that they were ahead of they have to drop back behind all the boats they were ahead of till  they Behind all  say they’re behind all boats are just the boats that they are. It’s just the boats. They’re ahead of some very if

12:33

they were ahead of four boats and they were over early, then they need to drop back  behind those four. And the same thing with  the penalties is that  if they have a penalty,  like a port starboard situation, then the judges rule on that,  red flag them, and once again, they gotta fall back behind the boat.  They… So there’s no adjusted time. It’s whoever crosses the line wins, and it just…  But are they told, like, hey,  from London they patch in and tell them that they made a mistake and they have to come back?

13:03

There’s as you probably know this is a red light and a green light if they get her I don’t I don’t know  obviously  So there’s a red light in a green light and that’s triggered by the umpires  in in London Where is this light on the boat in the console?  It’s  it’s on them.  It’s a flashing light  on each boat. Yeah, you can see it’s like  on a a  Standard and is a light there and it starts flashing on to let you know you found if it’s red. Oh my gosh Okay, then you’ve immediately got it

13:31

fall back behind the boat that you found. then  does the red light turn green once you’ve gone past those boats, like somebody’s actually waiting for it? Because I was going say, how do you know or judge that?  Well, they’re doing it all with computers controlled and precise GPS locations. That’s what’s remarkable about the technology. Sorry, sorry. Look at this thing. This thing’s coming in hot right here. This is France. They’re just doing some speed runs or some trial runs. Yeah.

13:57

If the foil is really helping it to bring up out of the water, is it that important of the weight on the boat as well? Because  I see people transferring, but there’s still people on both sides. Again,  I’m super  ignorant about this, but just curious. Absolutely, yeah. The weight transfer, the weight transfer, but also more importantly, the helmsman  changing from  the leeward side  to the weather side is really critical.  They always drive the boat once they

14:25

Once they’ve tacked our drive, they’re driving it from the weather side, not from the leeward side.  And then getting really the helmsman that’s kind of running across importantly and everybody else stays? Yeah. One helmsman will stay with the helm and then the  new helmsman will cross over once he’s got the wheel,  then they switch off.  So the weight’s important because  even 150 pounds or 200 pounds  is  critical. You don’t want that weight down on the leeward side. It’s totally different than having

14:55

weight on the side to counterbalance the boat.  It’s not even that at all. For some reason, I wasn’t even thinking. I was just thinking, oh, they’re on one side for efficiency. But they’re probably more balanced just to keep the boat  how they want, right?  Keeping it helps to keep it level for enough,  for enough pitch.  And they can do that with the foils. But it’s really sort of  getting the boat  settled down so that the helmsman always knows precisely what the weight distribution is, where it is.

15:25

And then he’s got to, does somebody else have a run across at the same time that he does to counterbalance or they have enough to?  Well, two helmsman, one stays with the Lured helm till  the  primary helmsman goes to the weather side and then he takes it, they switch off.  Why wouldn’t they just have two helmsman, one on each side and not switch? Well, they do that sometimes depending on the team and who’s working together.  typically like the New Zealanders,

15:55

Peter Billings is going to be the primary helmsman all the time.  Other than when they tackle jive,  then he’s going to pass it off to his  co-helmsman and they’ll switch off.  you want, it’s not like he’s the quarterback. You want the best quarterback  on, you don’t change quarterbacks  when you  hike the ball.  we’ve got, oh my gosh, is somebody skiing behind this? Or is that like somebody’s wakeboarding?  Are they towing somebody? Yeah, oh my gosh, somebody just did a flip there.

16:25

I’m jealous. I’ve been wakeboarding recently and somebody’s just wakeboarding behind.  Is that  Italy?  Yep, that’s Italians.  Italians. Crazy Italians.  Yep, they could do that. Now,  just even from like, know, this  is a sport and I was talking with  a broadcaster who was  talking about this being like, you know, we’re going from sailing to sporting here  and  it’s almost like…

16:53

a new opportunity for people to get engaged with sailing at a level where they don’t have to be on a boat, where they can be excited about the technology.  I was talking with somebody about sustainability and how this whole traveling circus is, you know, carbon neutral.  And there’s just so many things that are piled into this. think it’s cool to just draw people out to the water and get them out here.  But there still is, like, I think a number of people that if they don’t know anything about it, it’s kind of intimidating.  Well, it is, but they the commentators are good. They put it into plain.

17:22

They’re plain English and they make it so that the average person can understand.  In the past it was too complex,  but they make it fun, they make it very  vivid. And the graphics from up above on the helicopter  put very specifically where the boats are  every second.  And it has the miles per hour up at the top and then even the placement so you can kind of see. So you can look on that chart on the…

17:50

on overlay and see some boats doing 54 knots and some doing 48  and  quite rapidly  the  difference with a little bit of  additional wind speed, maybe that’s only two  knots of additional boat speed  will  generate potentially another five or six knots of boat speed. And you know it’s funny Bob is that that’s almost sometimes my.

18:16

I wouldn’t say my max speed, but I’m cruising on bingo at like six knots. if we’re ripping things apart, we’re like at nine, maybe a big wave behind us. I’ll hit 10, maybe 11.  But yeah. it’s all  true wind speed is very important. It’s not apparent. can’t recalculate apparent wind quick enough to react. But true wind speed is the real  guide. It’s like you look out on the course, and now there’s some areas that are probably. And we are looking out on the course right here, which is pretty cool.

18:45

There’s more wind than was forecast by  my  source in New Zealand, predict when they’re  incredibly accurate  with a forecast. So we’ve got around 12  knots of true wind speed  in  the gusts.  So the average is about eight to nine and the boats still rip around here. mean, they just rip  getting around here in this much wind.  And that’s what makes it exciting. the close contact in this…

19:12

in this regard it was more than I’ve seen I think in  most all of them.  Now like sporting teams they have coaches I assume and on there are headsets with coaches and like how much involved is the coaching or is it just  coaching beforehand you get out there and then that’s it you’re out there in the middle of coaching beforehand and the reaction time is just  split second you’ve got a tactician and a helmsman  and  those two people communicate instantly because just one

19:41

fraction of a second  that you don’t respond to  like a duck or  avoiding a collision is could be catastrophic. I know that  a lot of the stuff  that we talk about is this technology and all the advancements  but from electronics devices  are they still are they super dialed in or is this really just somebody moving a dial are these really human powered are the decisions in the split second being made  or are there

20:07

algorithms and sensors and different things. There’s algorithms and sensors but I’ve been doing marine instrumentation for know wind instruments and boat speed but  this happens so instantly and once you dialed in it’s really all about  sailing it’s you know you  it happens so quickly with one differential or say an additional two knots of boat speed. So it’s not really instrument sailing is it more just  is it more in  instinctual? Oh yeah yeah it’s definitely it’s getting its grassroots.

20:35

sailing at a much faster pace and higher speed  than there’s been in history, actually. no crashes today, but I’m sure the crashes and excitement and highlight reels, you always seem to see that,  which brings the crowds to some extent. That  adds to the stakes. Well, it’s like NASCAR. You probably saw the last big  there. But any kind of  a collision on those boats,  on these boats, because you don’t have all the protection like a NASCAR does.

21:03

It could be very, very life-threatening, serious. mean, your collision, you’ve got closing speeds of 50, 60 knots. Yeah, and then he times that by another boat that’s coming in at the same heat, then mass times force times speed or whatever. Yeah, these are just carbon shells. So, I mean, the skill level of these guys, what we saw today was just some pretty close misses, but the skill level from everyone on board, it’s critical. I mean, you know, just one flinch and you could have a major,

21:34

uh… situation one thing that’s interesting for people who like to follow this it’s a great tour it’s a great uh… tourist uh… promotion like in this case met somebody from tennessee who came out here just to see this right well if you watch uh… well i’ve lived in a little bit in sydney i was born in sydney i lived in a little bit so these are great panoramas of the cities for you it’s like a travel but but the uh… it’s really and it is more than a sport this is big big big business

22:03

This is Yeah, look at these sponsors. You’ve got Rolex. You’ve got  DP World. Everybody  is from Ralph Lauren to L’Oreal. They’re just  covered in sponsorship. companies. And the primary sponsor and owner of all the boats is Larry Ellison,  along with Russell Coot’s Larry Ellison being Oracle.  He owns all the boats, so there’s no  kind of fudging having a  NASCAR team that might have a So you don’t have to worry about trusting the country.

22:31

that you trust the boat and try larry the barry and russell larry and russell we trust the boats at the boats are maintained they’ve owned and maintained  at the same level so if there’s a problem they fix it but it’s like a nascar team where raja pensy comes in and  he’s  a genius at  tweaking things this is all about giving everyone  a level playing level boat  and then let them  out sail each other  that’s it was really the key to it

23:00

Well, two more things, and I’m going let you go on your way here. appreciate your time. Number one,  I am going to head over to where I get to likely talk with some of these  athletes and sailors.  And  I would be curious what you would ask them, Bob, because I’m not sure if what I would ask them would be as good as what you would, being a fan.  Any questions or topics that I could roll in with or insights that you’d want to hear back when this episode goes live?  I would just say ask them if did they have fun sailing here.

23:26

I mean,  it’s got to be a good amphitheater,  this place here.  And so  very competitive sailing. And  you see the fluctuations. And the Kiwis  have won bad race, and then the Aussies have won bad race. But  it’s being consistent  and  being prepared. So ask them if they had fun. Because everybody else would be all technical and this would be like, how what? Did you have fun out there today? Right. And then they’re going look at me, and they’re going to go, yeah?  So what would you ask next?

23:53

Well, behind the scenes, money is at Sutter Lake  Pro Golf, not anywhere near  the rewards of Pro Golf, it’s now providing a lot of work for lot of  people from top to bottom, whether they’re  launching the boats, putting the mast in,  repairing things,  shipping them. It’s incredible venue  for young people to get involved in  sport and sailing. I’ve been pretty blessed.

24:22

I’ve been making my living running boats for 45, 50 years, mostly ocean racing boats, I’m probably pretty rare in that respect. But it’s good to see so many young people involved in the sport and the industry, and also to the veterans. Pete Billing and Tom Slingsby, they’re veterans, but they will eventually be, young people will come up and then…

24:51

Then the other really thriving thing about this board is there’s a lot of gals.  The Brazilian captain,  Skipper, is a  woman. And if you look across the board in any sailing event now, you’ll see  a  good multitude  of  gals sailing and  sailing now, which wouldn’t have been the case  20 years ago. All right. So you help me out, Bob. I’m going to ask them, first of all, if they had fun or not out there. Right.

25:15

And then I’m going to follow up with, what do you want to say to those who are younger that are coming up and that are looking up to you  about  this as  maybe something they want to have fun and get paid with? I’m going talk about that. And then I’m going to talk about the elders and say,  how  are, well, I shouldn’t probably call them elders, huh? That’s not good.  Well, I think I’ll ask them if they have fun and then I’ll ask them what they would want to say to,  I don’t know if I call them youth.

25:42

Yeah, well, think that the kids in Sabbath and stuff there, I mean, is this something that they’re super into? And is this like a pinnacle of like, it’s a stepping stone. I mean, they’re they’re doing their foiling now in in dinghies. They’re doing Sabbaths. They’re doing up opti’s. They’re doing all kinds of sailing, but they want to go faster. They want to go  have more fun going faster. That’s really the bottom line.  And then there’s a there’s a lot of  veteran sailors who are veterans. They’re better. Better than great mentors. They’re great mentors. A lot of them.

26:11

You know what’s kind of what I do is I coach safety. I help young people. encourage them to get into sailing. It’s a great sport. Well, Bob, did you have fun today? And look at this. I’m also going to record on my phone here so we can say hi there. this is a little… We’re here at Sail GPT. I always say Sail GPT, by the way. Sail GP. I know, because of Chat GPT. But we’ll share this with everybody. We’ve got a little behind the scenes up here in the media room.

26:39

And I appreciate it. And I have a couple questions for you to finalize.  Did you have fun today?  Oh, yeah. We had a blast. We’re sitting in the same spot I sat last year. So we’re in the bleachers. We’re  front and center  with the meteor and a lot of  just  nice,  great people.  And we’re right at the start finish line where all the action was. Nice. And what do you say to the kids out there?  Go sailing. All right. What do you say to the veterans out there?  Keep sailing.  All right. Well, with that, we will.

27:08

This is shut down, but I’m gonna go see if I can talk with some of these athletes and ask them those three questions and then get in, get out, and then probably go down to my boat tomorrow and start to clean her up so she can. If you need any help of any kind, let me know. Thank you, Bob. All right, I appreciate it. I’ll give you my updated punch list that’ll give you a checklist to do. Section one, hull, section two deck. Wait, wait, say that again? You’re gonna do what? Help me. gonna give you a master punch list for putting work work list together.

27:35

I need this because my boat looks like a hot mess because I’m always working on something. follow it,  you’ll succeed. All right. If I find that, I’ll see if I can put it in the show notes. All right. There it is. Mr. Bob Steel, the man, the myth, the legend.

28:03

They went on to say they’re headed to Mexico in the fall and will continue across the Pacific to Australia. However, they’re looking to simplify all the choices they need to make to prepare. Of course, there’s tons of resources out there, but Latitude 38 does have a page in our website called Heading South. And we also have Latitude 38’s First Timers Guide to Mexico available to read online on the Heading South page or a printed copy that is available to purchase in our online store. There’s a lot to know.

28:32

But Latitude38.com is a good place to start. I’m headed down to see if  I can find where the  athletes are so I can ask them  the questions that I’ve got  with Bob’s help.  Oh, I see Mark Reid down there.  He’s doing a little interview. I’m going to go see if I can sneak in. Oh, I’m sorry.

28:58

I’m currently listening to Mark from Latitude 38 make his interview.

29:10

get a penalty there and I thought okay

29:14

we might have an opportunity here to  when a boat is tied on ley line like that they can’t turn down very sharp once they pass the mark  and I thought there might be a  gap there, sorry. yeah, fortunately for us it was probably just enough gap  and yeah, we’re able to slingshot through there and  yeah, I know that a lot of people will be upset with me for taking away that win from my team but  her wins are coming soon.

29:44

you didn’t know yesterday other than kelp you can’t say kelp.  What did I learn today?  That was probably one of the craziest race days I’ve ever had. We had so many incidences with other boats where I just  I’m like okay there’s this much room and there’s

30:01

and there’s this many boats, it doesn’t add up what’s going to happen here. And we had many situations like that where I just saw, I don’t know how the boats kept apart. We had in that last, on that last reach, we almost hit, I think it was Canada or someone on Mark 1 reach. That was super close. We had an incident with France, a port starboard, and that was so close. Oh, just…

30:25

I don’t know, somehow,  I guess my hat’s off to all the sailors out there. The way that we’re able to keep the boats apart on such a tight racetrack  with so many boats is, it’s impressive. You’ve got two additional boats, right?  And so you’re really noticing the difference with that number of boats on the course? I didn’t think you’d notice that much because I thought that  you’re only racing the boat ahead of you, behind you.  But coming out of that first  reach and then onto the first jive and coming into the bottom mark, it just feels like  there’s ants everywhere sort of thing.

30:55

scurrying for a mark and  you just don’t really know what’s gonna happen. There’s times where I don’t know what’s gonna happen here but we just gotta try to keep the boats apart  and  yeah. Tommy, good luck tomorrow. Let’s see that podium. We’ll see you then. Take care. you very much. People who are new, I mean they’re just doing such a good job. I mean  it’s chaos out there and  just keeping the boats apart is just so tough and then when you got  such strict penalty points it just feels like you can end your season.  It’s gonna be a battle of who doesn’t have crashes all year and they’re

31:25

going to be your top three. Do you think this is going be problem going forward maybe? After today I’m concerned about it for sure. That was very dangerous at times. Do I think they’ve overstepped the mark? I don’t know. That’s the first time we’ve done it but that was more chaos than I thought, chaotic than I thought it would be. So you’ve been with this game since day one pretty much haven’t you? So what do you think has been the biggest change as this whole SouthGP thing’s evolved?

31:55

I mean you look at it and  the courses are getting smaller and we’re getting more boats involved.  Something’s got to give soon.  I mean we’ve been fortunate where we haven’t had crashes where there’s been serious injury but  like I  don’t know if I’m talking to  the people who run SailGP I’d say look we’re starting to flirt with  that line  like and don’t be surprised if there’s  a serious crash here soon because  you add more boats and you reduce

32:25

the size of the race courses and  like… Is the reduction of the size of the race course really due to  the different locations that you’re in? I think it’s yeah just we’re just opening up the door to be closer to spectators, new venues, we don’t need as much room as we thought we did and  it’s just getting pretty chaotic. So what do you love it what are you still loving about it?  Oh I still love it it’s amazing it’s a huge adrenaline rush I do love the racing I’m not saying that in any way I just say  maybe we’ve got to talk about it more because

32:55

We don’t want to have a serious crash and then say, oh, let’s change now.  We want to make the changes before that happens.

33:04

And I just feel like we’re flirting with disaster a little and so maybe as an organisation we need to just take our foot off the gas pedal a little here and just, I don’t know. I don’t know how you do it. Do you make a longer start line? Do you make a longer first reach? I don’t know the answer but we should have a discussion about it. Yeah. And so just in terms of your team, are you pretty much sailing with the same group of people you’ve sailed with since? Mostly, yeah. And that’s got to be super helpful, that’s the golden rule of sailboat racing. Yeah, exactly.

33:34

Exactly, that’s a huge advantage for us as we all know each other so well We’ve got Chris Draper on board, but I’ve known Chris for 20 plus years, but sailing with him  We’re gelling really well and yeah, but there’s still plenty to learn. Yeah  Sounds great. Thanks. Okay. No worries. guys. Sounds super interesting. You obviously got a point to make about safety.  Oh, I’m not trying to be the spokesman or anything I just said  it’s getting pretty chaotic there and yeah, you add more. At which point?  I mean you just  there’s a lot of boats on

34:04

on the race track and it’s a very tight little course. It’s a  tight start line. It’s a short first reach and  yeah, we’ve got new foils that people haven’t really got a handle on.  It just feels  like we’re flirting with a  potential big crash here soon and I hope that,  I think we should just be careful.  So what would you do? How do you change that?  I mean, we’ve got 12 boats, that’s not changing.  But  I mean, I’d be very cautious to add any more. I’d be…

34:33

checking the size of the race tracks.  For me, I’d be  increasing the start line length, I’d be  increasing the distance to mark one because boats sort of sort themselves out more. If it’s a longer  reach to mark one,  wherever you can,  add width to the boundaries maybe.  By doing that, just  generally have less interactions with the boats.  I don’t know if we were just in that wrong spot today, but we had a lot of close calls.  This is the problem, Tom. You haven’t been stuck

35:03

starting today as well as you’ve been amazingly starting so you’ve seen the real world today. Yeah,  we had our sword and shield out today, we’re in the middle of it, we’re  in full battle mode today.  Have you been staggered by your own starting statistics? mean they’ve been amazing, the previous events,  know, mean absolutely blow away amazing.  Not so much today, where did it go wrong in that sense? Yeah, I ruined our start stats today.  Yeah, the first race we

35:33

couldn’t even foil. We  had weed on the foils and we  weren’t even in the game. Basically we were just trying to get across the line and get  weed off the foils.  So that one, we’re always going to be last  off the line.  The next three, that’s just on me. It’s just not picking good positions. It’s  just getting boxed out. Other people taking the spot I was aiming for. And  just a couple of times there we thought we were in good position. We said, okay, let’s go. Let’s pull the trigger here and get going.  And we took too long to get on the foils.

36:03

For whatever reason the boat didn’t pop up like we thought it would and  we’re late late for the start and  yeah That’s on me. The starting is my area and  I’ve got to do better  Okay, but the climbing through the overtakes were pretty good today.  Yeah, what’d you put that down to? Yeah, we we sound really well after the starts  Yeah, look we  we’re sailing good We’re a quality team and we’ve been sailing so well this year and even though  we’re sort of a few points off the lead It feels like we’ve been a top team

36:33

in the last few events for sure.  So I think we’re sailing well, we’re gelling well, Chris has been amazing and  the whole team’s doing a good job.  for a while you did hold the dubious record for the most penalty points in a day, but that was taken away from you in Sydney, you’d have been very pleased.  Now we see more today  with Denmark. mean,  these penalty points, they’re easy to pick up and they’re,  mean, tell us about that.  Yeah, mean, these points,

37:03

It’s very hard to keep boats apart, we’re just sort of working as best we can. And  if you get penalty points, they’re so severe now.  If you have a small collision, it’s pretty serious. So yeah, all of us need to keep our noses clean somehow.  Tom, thanks very much. a great day tomorrow. Hey, Tom, real quick. Real quick, I’m not going to talk about all that stuff. But  I’m Ryan from Good Jibes. We’re a podcast for West Coast sailors. And did you have fun out there today?  I had fun.  If I’m honest, I was a little scared at times. It was pretty chaotic.

37:33

And then what would you say, I’ve been waiting just to, what would you say to the young guys? What do you say to the young gals? What do you say to the kids?  Yeah, I mean,  it’s an amazing league. mean, keep working your ass off and you’ll get here.  I  remember I wasn’t the most talented young sailor, but I worked super hard.  I tried to learn every day  and that put me in a position where I  can be part of this league and  keep pushing and you’ll be here too. And what do you say to the veterans?  The veterans,  ah.

38:03

I wish you guys got to experience this.  It’s redefined sailing. I’ve been so fortunate where I’ve sort of got the whole curve and the journey of  traditional sailing and I got this foiling stuff. I’m very lucky.  Awesome. Well, thank you. Do you mind if I get a photo with you real quick?  All right. Thanks, dude.  Appreciate it. No worries.

38:25

Hey good Jibes listeners and Latitude 38 readers. Have you looked in our classy classifieds lately? It would be impossible for us to know how many boats have sold to new owners over the last 45 plus years of publishing Latitude 38. But we’re sure they have helped countless people realize their sailing dreams. Every month there are new boats listed that will fill someone’s sailing adventures. If you have a boat you want to sell or are looking for that next boat in your life, the pages of Latitude 38 will surely have something to suit your fancy.

38:55

pick up a magazine at a local marine business  or visit our classy classified pages at latitude 38.com to find boats, gear, job opportunities and more.  Then tell us your next sailing story.  And ahoy Mark Reid, the one and only man you are legend in the latitude 38 nation. How are you doing today and how was sail GP? It was an epic day today in LA. I mean the weather  was almost optimal.

39:22

perfect for these  boats.  Flat water, like San Diego, little bit of kelp made its way to the course, which was a challenge, but probably some of the best racing that we’ve ever seen in Sail GP. Race three, specifically when Tom Slingsby on Australia passed Martin Grail right at the finish line, it was, I think, broke the hearts of every lady that was in the grandstand, but it was an epic day and definitely a win-win for Sail GP.

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Yeah, and I rolled up while you were talking with Tom and I got to speak with him little afterwards and you’re here for Latitude 38 to write up an article so that they can experience this experience through the eyes of your pen. Tell us about maybe what do they expect in this article because I want everybody to grab the next Latitude 38 magazine so they can get this thing. Well, the article and John has given me kind of an epic assignment so there’s going to be a lot of words. It’s going to encompass all the excitement that we had here in LA.

40:19

In addition, it’s going to be everything that’s going to happen in San Francisco next weekend.  so it’s a double deal. It’s a double header. And San Francisco, as we all know from the Bay Area, has the best sailing conditions in the world. But boy, they’re going to have to top what just happened here in LA. This was an epic day. But I think the next weekend  in San Francisco on Saturday and Sunday is going to be one for the books. Well, I’m looking forward to the article because I’m not going to be up in San Francisco. I may watch it live.

40:47

It’s just great to have dedicated experienced journalists like you that are creating the beat so that you can be here so that everybody can be here.  Well thank you so very much. I’m proud to be able to be part of the Latitude 38 team and we’re going to be bringing you the most exciting print coverage of these weekends.

41:04

in the  April edition, so keep your eyes out. John’s got me on a tight turnaround.  You’ve heard it here first. Get your April episode and you not only get to read all of the grimy stories of sailors from around the West Coast who are doing their adventures, but you’ll be able to get the adventure of SailGP here in your grubby hands. Now,

41:25

I have a few Latitude 38s around and I don’t know about you but I’m going to pass them out like hotcakes because everybody I’ve talked to so far, they’re like, oh yes, and I see a magazine that just saves them a trip to the store. I’ve given away about half of them and I’ve got another half I’m going to give away tomorrow and I’m seeing everybody’s reading them. There’s a great  article about the SailGP  events leading up to this one today  and grab that print edition and it’s a privilege to be able to share them down here in LA because I know that we take them for granted up in the Bay Area.

41:55

Grandmweller hot. All right. Well, have fun getting packed up and it was an awesome day. I’m glad that we were fighting for the same sort of footage and I love that we’re just delivering it all to the same Latitude 38 community. Rock on, dude. Thank you. Yes, sir. Everybody’s kind of getting organized and on their way out. The wind seems to be picking up, which I guess is a good sign for tomorrow. Now, I’m excited that you were able to join me on this very special edition of Good Jives.

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on location here in Los Angeles, San Pedro, bringing it to you live, talking to people, learning about how this experience was for them. I sure had fun. It’s exciting to see these boats. It’s exciting to see the closeness. And as one of the reporters that was talking with Tom before me said, this might have been one of  the most intense races  ever.  And I’ll have to go back and relive it as I listen to this podcast. And if you are a subscriber, that is awesome.

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We love you guys and gals. And if you’re not a subscriber, well, hey, why not subscribe to the Good Jibes podcast coming to you every Tuesday? Feel free to connect with Latitude 38. Be part of the Latitude 38 Nation. Follow us on social  and  spread the good word  about the Good Jibes. My name is Ryan Foland. You can learn about me on my website,  Ryan.Online. Love to connect with people who are into sailing. And if you’re in Long Beach, hit me up.  I’m…

43:19

I’m constantly posting stuff on social. It’s either stick figures or something about sailing.  And I’ve also got a book coming out  called Speaker’s Ship,  How to Get Your Ship Together.  And  I want to go  and hang out on my boat  and get her ready in ship shape  because there’s nothing like wanting to be out on the water,  especially after a day of seeing all these high performance  boats.  I go a little slower than they do, but  that’s okay.  It’s not  about  the speed.

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It’s about the experience.  And hopefully you get a chance to come out and see these things in person sometime.  I don’t think I’m gonna make it to San Francisco, but  maybe I’ll make it  to the grand finale in New York. Who knows, if I do, I’ll broadcast live there too.  All right, on behalf of  everyone here,  I’m  out!