The super-rich have been on a spending spree throughout the covid pandemic that has taken the superyacht business to new heights…
Monthly archives for February, 2022
Cruising dinghies at the Dinghy Show
Tuesday
Feb 08
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 08
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mary Dooley’s Mirror dinghy has been seen at the Dinghy Show before and has generated lots of astonishment that a humble Mirror dinghy can support someone for a blissful few days of camping cruising…
Offshore Passage: Schooled
Monday
Feb 07
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 07
2022
Posted by deleteme
Pre-cook your meals for the first two days. Reef early. Don’t drink too much the night before departure. Don’t expect to poop until the third day at sea. Don’t sail to a schedule. Some lessons are ubiquitous and obvious (including the pooping one, though it might not be as readily apparent at first). Here are a few more I’ve learned in 15 years of ocean sailing.
The 3-day rule:
Any passage shorter than five days is too short. Even during the best of passages, it takes three days for my body and mind to adapt to life at sea. Prior to that third day, I don’t have my sea legs yet, I’m not getting deep sleep, and if the passage is any sort of uncomfortable—upwind, wet, cold, you name it—I question my career choices and wish I was on the couch watching a movie. This never fails.
And yet, by the beginning of day three, I remember why I do this. I’m well-rested. Well-fed. I’ve gotten my sea legs, and I feel inspired again to do “optional” things on deck, like get out the sextant, or make hurricane eggs in the galley. I find myself waking up before my watch starts because I’ve gotten enough sleep.
I read more off-watch, instead of just sleep. I get more creative. In fact, as I write this column, I’m about halfway between the Canary Islands and the Azores, and guess what—it’s day three.
“The more you know, the less you need”
If I could distill my philosophy on seamanship into one bite-sized quote, it would be the one above from famed mountaineer and businessman Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia. He was talking about climbing, but it doesn’t take much imagination to apply it to sailing…
2022 Star Masters Zagarino Cup
Monday
Feb 07
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 07
2022
Posted by XS Editor
The 2022 Star Masters Zagarino Cup was hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club on February 5-6 in Miami, FL. Twenty-five teams, with Europeans and South Americans among the fleet, were only able to complete one race in the extremely light winds on Biscayne Bay. John MacCausland and Arnis Baltins got the gun, also claiming the Master division win. Other division winners included Exalted Grand Master Jack Rickard and AJ Brown, Great Grand Master John Dane and Tim Ray, and Grand Master Scott Barnard with Payson Infelise. – Details
J/70 Midwinter Championship at Tampa Bay overall
Monday
Feb 07
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 07
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Fernando Perez Ontiveros’ Black Mamba topped 62 other boats to claim the title of 2022 J/70 Midwinter Champion…
100th Australian 18 Footers Championship – Day 3
Monday
Feb 07
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 07
2022
Posted by deleteme
Andoo of Seve Jarvin, Matt Stenta and Sam Newton extend their lead to six points after races 4 and 5 of the Australian 18 footer Championship on Sydney Harbour…
2022 J/70 Midwinter Championship
Sunday
Feb 06
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 06
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Tampa, FL (February 6, 2022) – Fernando Perez Ontiveros’ Black Mamba topped 62 other boats to claim the title of 2022 J/70 Midwinter Champion. The team from Mexico, including Gonçalo Almeida, Bernardo Freitas, and River Paquin, won without needing today’s lone race. They finished with 38 net points, four better than Brian Keane’s Savasana. Richard Witzel’s Rowdy placed third with 46 net points. – Full report
Billionaires do what they want to do
Sunday
Feb 06
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 06
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wanted a sailboat, and when you’re one of the wealthiest person in the world, that means it will the largest sailing yacht in the world. But he isn’t making any friends in the process according to this report that’s sizzling the internet:
Construction is underway for Jeff Bezos’ latest billionaire toy, a sail-assisted megayacht that comes with a reported price tag of $500 million, not including the cost of a matching shadow vessel that is, by all intents and purposes, another megayacht.
The problem is that the ship in question, for the time being referred to as Y721 or Project 721, is under construction at Oceanco, at Alblasserdam, near Rotterdam (see video). Once launched, it will have to reach the sea by passing through Rotterdam which means it would have to clear the Koningshaven Bridge, affectionately known to locals as De Hef.
De Hef is not just any bridge, but a historic monument and a local landmark that stands for rebirth. After it was damaged during WWII by the Nazi in 1940, it was one of the first structures in Rotterdam to be rebuilt once the war was over…
100th Australian 18 Footers Championship races 2&3
Sunday
Feb 06
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 06
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Gusty 18-23 knots South-South-Easterly winds produced spectacular, action-packed 18ft Skiff racing for the large spectator fleet on day two of the 100th Australian 18 footer Championship on Sydney Harbour today…
Gilbert and McGrane Tame the Tiger
Sunday
Feb 06
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 06
2022
Posted by deleteme
Overnight leaders Roger Gilbert and Ben McGrane sailing a 505 took overall victory at the John Merricks Tiger Trophy with four points from a 2, 1, 1 score line…
America’s Cup: First look at hydrogen chase boat
Saturday
Feb 05
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 05
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Construction of the boat started in August 2021 at the team’s North Shore build facility, the appendage construction is in its final stages and the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powertrain installation is underway at the team’s base in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour…
Olympics for UK in 2040?
Saturday
Feb 05
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 05
2022
Posted by deleteme
According to the newly published Levelling Up White Paper, Britain could launch another bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games…
Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Awards
Saturday
Feb 05
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 05
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Five men and four women have been shortlisted for US Sailing’s 2021 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards…
100th Australian 18 Footers Championship – Day 1
Saturday
Feb 05
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 05
2022
Posted by deleteme
The 100th Australian 18 Footers Championship kicked off on Sydney Harbour on Saturday 5 February…
VIDEO: The best life on the hard
Friday
Feb 04
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 04
2022
Posted by XS Editor
This video by Sean R. Heavey opens as iceboaters glide across Wisconsin’s Lake Monona with Madison’s skyline in the background, and then picks up the tempo at the 2022 DN US Nationals on Lake Senachwine in Putnam, Illinois.
Tallships: New Age of Sail
Friday
Feb 04
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 04
2022
Posted by deleteme
PHOTO: The good ole days
Friday
Feb 04
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 04
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Carl Sarnoff shares this image from the “good ole days” when IOR designs, such as the S&S 45 Vago, proved hard to control in the high winds of the 1980 Big Boat Series in San Francisco, CA…
big boat energy
Friday
Feb 04
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 04
2022
Posted by deleteme
Energy Observer is a multi-partner project that gathers companies involved in all sectors of the eco-energy transition. Among the Odyssey’s new supporters: Qair, an independent producer of renewable energy, and GUYOT Environnement, a regional leader in waste recovery in Brittany.
That is the strength of this technological, innovative, and human project: cooperating with players who act on all the vectors of the ecological and energy transition, with a wide range of skills, which include hydrogen, green financing, climate risk insurance, hospitality, training for the professions of tomorrow, sustainable mobility, software intelligence, the circular economy, renewable energies, etc…
Giles Scott explains the 37th America’s Cup Protocol changes
Friday
Feb 04
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 04
2022
Posted by deleteme
The 37th America’s Cup Protocol revealed that the AC75 will continue for a second generation with an emphasis on evolution rather than revolution. Here Giles Scott highlights the major changes . . .
A Bridge too Far for Jeff Bezos?
Friday
Feb 04
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 04
2022
Posted by XS Editor
The city of Rotterdam has agreed to remove a section of historic bridge in the Netherlands to make way for a superyacht, reportedly built for Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos…
44Cup announces 2022 season
Thursday
Feb 03
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 03
2022
Posted by XS Editor
For its 15th season, the 44Cup will see ten teams on the start line for the first event of 2022 in Lanzarote, (Canary Islands) over February 9-13. Alongside the long-term regulars within the fleet, the new additions have come about thanks to the 44Cup’s own boat, which was made available last year for teams interested in joining the circuit. Among the enthusiastic group of owners, who remain staunchly committed to the one-design yacht there are a few changes in tactician for the 2022 season that will see fresh challenges for the fleet on well-known race courses. – Full story
One down, the rest of the season to go!
Thursday
Feb 03
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 03
2022
Posted by XS Editor
69F buoyed by a successful participation in the first round of the Bacardi Winter Series the fleet now tools up to welcome the future of sailing in the Youth Foiling Gold Cup (Feb 4-10)…
100th Australian 18 Footers Championship preview
Wednesday
Feb 02
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 02
2022
Posted by XS Editor
When the 23-boat fleet from NSW and Queensland lines up for Race 1 of the 100th Australian 18 footers Championship on Sydney Harbour next Saturday…
Six more weeks of winter
Wednesday
Feb 02
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 02
2022
Posted by XS Editor
At the 136th gathering of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club on February 2, 2022, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow at the annual Groundhog Day event, predicting six more weeks of winter…
2.4 Meter CanAm Series 1 and 2 wrap up
Wednesday
Feb 02
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 02
2022
Posted by XS Editor
The largest gathering of 2.4mR sailors just occurred in “sunny” Florida during the CanAm #1 and CanAm #2 Regattas. 18 boats were battling it out on the starting line with some new faces among the regular fleet members…
puttin’ on the ritz
Wednesday
Feb 02
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 02
2022
Posted by deleteme
A maritime investment company that is helping to launch a Ritz-Carlton brand cruise operation announced plans to expand through the purchase of niche cruise operator Sea Cloud Cruises. Douglas Prothero’s The Yacht Portfolio has entered into a letter of intent to acquire Sea Cloud Cruises of Hamburg, Germany suggesting that it could use the brand to expand its relationship with hotel and lodging giant Marriott International.
Sea Cloud is a unique niche operation in the cruise industry running one of the world’s most famous sailing vessels as well as two newer sail cruise ships. Started in 1979, the company markets cruises and charters of the 64-passenger sailing yacht the Sea Cloud. Launched in 1931 as the Hussar V, the three-masted barque was built in Kiel, Germany for U.S. heiress and businesswoman Marjorie Merriweather Post and her then-husband Wall Street tycoon E.H. Hutton…
Why not AC37, Bermuda?
Tuesday
Feb 01
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Feb 01
2022
Posted by XS Editor
When the 2021 America’s Cup defender plotted out the path for the next edition in 2024, Team New Zealand had a venue announcement pegged for September 17, 2021. However, the riches they hoped would come from host fees lagged, and when more time was needed, the deadline for the Match Venue and approximate event dates became March 31, 2022.
While their home waters of Auckland are an option, the team’s pursuit of greener pastures has them reviewing bids from Ireland, Spain, and Saudi Arabia. Recognizing an opportunity, factions within Bermuda are showing interest. In this opinion column for Bernews, One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) Senate Leader Ben Smith makes his pitch:
If you repeat a lie enough times some people will start to believe it’s the truth. The Progressive Labour Party (PLP) did a great job of repeating to everyone that the 2017 America’s Cup was bad for Bermuda. They continue to repeat this lie every time they feel the pressure or don’t want to answer probing questions…
setting the record straight
Tuesday
Feb 01
2022
Posted by deleteme
Feb 01
2022
Posted by deleteme
It has taken a while – in fact a whole month – for the Chairman of the Sydney-Hobart Race Committee to finally respond to the controversy following his protest against Celestial and the Committee’s grant of redress to Ichi Ban. Perhaps retired Rear Admiral Lee Goddard was hoping that the heat of this incident would cool with time.
Goddard today issued a statement to all offshore competitors via the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia titled “Monitoring VHF and Assistance”. The bulk of his release emphasizes the requirement for continuous monitoring of VHF16 and the specific rules and maritime safety regulations that apply…
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