Just one week after a major oil spill off the coast of Orange County, local and state officials have fully reopened most beaches to the public. Coastal water testing along the shore of popular Huntington Beach found no detectable toxins.

“Currents kind of drove the flow of oil away,” Huntington Beach spokeswoman Jennifer Carey told the OC Register. “There was much less oil than we originally thought. Estimates of the spill have gone down significantly, which is great news.”

An ongoing advisory notice remains in effect, and responders still expect that tarballs and oiled material will wash up periodically. To date, skimmers and cleanup crews have picked up more than 5,500 gallons of oil out of a total of 25,000 to 130,000 gallons spilled. 68 oiled birds have been recovered, including 38 which were deceased…

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The ClubSwan 125 takes Nautor’s Swan well into the high-performance superyacht realm. Its rotating C-foil ­reduces the boat’s displacement to a skimming attitude. (Eva-Stina Kjellman/)

More than four years since work began on the largest-ever creation from Nautor’s Swan, the ClubSwan 125, Skorpios finally launched for its Russian owner, Dmitry Rybolovlev, and by the time you read this, the giant new craft will have competed in its first event, the Rolex Fastnet Race. The Italian-owned Finnish builder claims it to be the fastest monohull ever launched. This was further confirmed when the RORC Rating Office awarded the boat its highest-ever IRC TCC of 2.149.

Seeing the yacht at first glance, aside from the striking yellow scorpion design that extends from its black carbon sails down to the black carbon hull (a trust associated with Rybolovlev owns the Greek island after which the yacht is named), Skorpios resembles an elongated VO70. It feels like one too, from the moment you step on board. It’s lightweight for its size, rocking around in waves unlike a more displaced superyacht. This is less surprising given it was designed by the doyen of the VO70, Juan Kouyoumdjian. However, since then, Juan K. has designed George David’s Rambler 88 and even the ClubSwan 36 one-design, of which both have very different hull forms…

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Of the three offshore venues under consideration for the 37th America’s Cup, the Spanish option of Valencia makes the most and least sense of them all. As host of the 32nd edition in 2007, its sandy beaches and sunny days found a massive audience but its unprotected sea can throw a spanner into today’s foiling boats.

Remembering back to when the Swiss Alinghi team first put the venue out to bid following their win at the 2003 America’s Cup, Fare Vela media offers this update:

Valencia’s candidacy resumes as an option to host the next edition of the America’s Cup in 2024. According to the Spanish national media, Valencia is the subject of advanced negotiations between the defender Emirates Team New Zealand and the Madrid government…

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Arapahoe, NC (October 9, 2021) – A rainy start did nothing to deter the excitement of the 156 young sailors competing in the 2021 U.S. Youth Sailing Championship. All 19 years old and younger, the sailors raced across five fleets: 29er, International 420, ILCA 7 (Standard), ILCA 6 (Radial), and Nacra 15.

The event kicked off today in wet and windy conditions, and all fleets completed at least one race. “It was definitely a physical day today,” says Mitch Brindley, US Sailing Fleet Coach. “We had great wind, big waves, and plenty of rain.”

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Darien, CT (October 9, 2021) – A shift in conditions at the 2021 Viper 640 North American Championship delivered strong winds for the third day, allowing for one race before 30+ knot gusts sent the fleet back to the barn. Lee Shuckerow with Brad Boston and Eric Vigrass took the win while overnight leader Mark Zagol with Tim Desmond and Drew Buttner posted a second to stretch their lead with one day remaining…

Race details – Results – Facebook

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Scarlino, Italy (October 8, 2021) – After 30 knot winds prevented any racing on day one of the 2021 44Cup World Championship, three races were successfully held today in the bay off Marina di Scarlino in a northerly that built to 20 knots gusting 25.

Partly due to the difficult-to-read conditions, partly due to the intense competition between the nine boats, it was a high scoring opening to the 11th edition, but just one point separates the top seven boats and two points the top eight in the nine boat fleet.

The first race was the hardest fought with Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing doing well on the upwinds and Nico Poons’ Charisma edging ahead on the runs. The Dutchman’s team was first home as the Swedes dropped to fourth…

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There remains one year before The Ocean Race 2022-23 (formerly Volvo Ocean Race) gets underway, and the US-sponsored 11th Hour Racing Team is on their new IMOCA 60 for the longest offshore outing yet since the boat was launched in August 2021. Charlie Enright and Pascal Bidégorry embark on their 750-nautical mile qualifying passage for the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre which starts November 7 for the 5800 nm course from France to Martinique…

Race details – Route – Teams – Facebook

Source: 11th Hour Racing Sailing Team

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Bruce Goodwin’s ocean crossing with friends was nearing an end when they encountered a storm; the liferaft was lost, the yacht sank. Skipper Stuart Pedersen tragically died just as he was being plucked to safety. Here’s Goodwin’s story:

Sailing is one of my passions, so I needed little persuasion when my good friend Stuart Pedersen asked if I could help him and his wife Pamela sail their yacht Essence back to New Zealand from Fiji.

I flew out on Sunday 6 October 2019 and joined the boat’s crew, which also included Pamela’s brother-in-law, Steve Newman.

The next morning we motored down the coast of Viti Levu island to Denarau to clear customs. While waiting for Customs, Stuart and I worked through the pre-voyage job list while Pamela and Steve went to the Nadi market for fresh food…

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This is a cool story. Kid’s got some balls, no doubt!

This Thursday at 16:05, Melwin Fink crossed the finish line of the first stage of the 23rd Mini Transat Eurochef, completing the 1,350 mile course between Sables d’Olonne and Santa Cruz de La Palma in the first position in Series boats. The skipper of the Pogo 3 in the colors of SignForCom who took control of the fleet on October 2, south of Cape Finisterre, has shown daring by continuing his race when his competitors have made the choice to collectively take shelter to avoid the passage of an active front off Galicia. From then on, he gained a more than substantial lead over his rivals before achieving a remarkable trajectory at the end of the race. The young German sailor, only 19 years old, certainly struck a big blow and took a good advantage before Act 2 of the event.

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A bit o’ history from Camper and Nicholson

On January 15, 1906 the YRA (Yacht Racing Association) organized an international meeting in London between the heads of the associations of the various European countries that had established regulations for the rating and construction of racing yachts. The purpose of the meeting was to agree on a single international rule.

Following this important meeting of the most famous naval engineers and yacht designers, the basis for an agreement was established. On October 14th, 1907 in Paris the representatives of European nations interested in yachting unanimously approved the results of the International Conference and created the IYRU (International Yacht Racing Union) and the international racing rules. Ratings were expressed in metres, so the new racing yachts would be called Metrics, and classes of fixed ratings were established. The most successful classes, some of which are still in use today are the 5.5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15,19, and 23.

In 1906, Charles Ernest Nicholson designed Nyria (C&N Newsletter N°4), in accordance to the Lloyds Register for yachts. Formulated a few years earlier, the rules define specifications for materials and have since proved to be a great guarantee in creating standards for racing yacht construction…

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