American Magic is pleased to confirm that it intends to compete in the 37th America’s Cup and represent the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) against the field of challengers and the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand for the most coveted prize in sailing…

Read more on Sail-World

Young girls in the United Kingdom, and far beyond those shores, will bear witness as two of Britain’s most decorated female sailors will be teaming up for the 2022 UK Double Handed Offshore Season.

Racing a new Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300, the pair will be entered in seven offshore races throughout season culminating in the grueling 1,805nm Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race.

One of the sport’s most accomplished offshore sailors, Caffari boasts a remarkable career that includes six laps of the planet, three of them solo. A maiden solo circumnavigation against the winds and tides preceded the Vendee Globe and the double handed Barcelona World Race. As the only woman ever to have sailed non-stop around the planet three times, she twice completed the Volvo Ocean Race…

Read more on Scuttlebutt

The PHRF rating system is unique to each local area as it seeks to fairly rate boats that frequently compete against each other. The rating numbers are derived by observation of boat performance, with race results ultimately used as evidence.

In theory, when dissimilar boats frequently race against each other, their rating numbers are refined to provide fair racing. But do these observations change if the format for racing changes?

Do PHRF ratings derived from observations based on race results using the Time-on-Distance (ToD) method of scoring remain theoretically correct for races that use Time on Time (ToT) format? Christopher Cole doesn’t think so as he shares in WindCheck Magazine:

I’ve noticed that a lot of races recently seem to be using Time on Time (ToT) instead of Time on Distance (ToD) to correct time. I have a problem with that. ToT greatly favors the boats with higher PHRF ratings in every condition.

In a fairly average race in average conditions that went a very typical eleven miles in a quite common two and a half hours, we recently beat the second place boat by over ten minutes on actual elapsed time (00:10:28). Using the standard ToD formula, we would have won by 00:02:24 on corrected time. Under the ToT rule, however, in average conditions, we gave up another two minutes (00:10:04 total) and won by a mere 24 seconds!

I would think that in average conditions, a boat’s standard PHRF would be as close to fair as possible. But that is not the case. In fact, every commonly used “B factor” gives a significant advantage to boats with a higher PHRF!!

In light air under the ToT rule, with a B factor of 600, we would have gained only about half a minute and would have beaten the second place boat by about only one minute! And that’s in conditions that greatly favor the smaller boats! Again, under ToD, we would have won by about two and a half minutes, light air or not…

Read more on Scuttlebutt

Victory in the inaugural Two-Handed category by Jules Hall and Jan Scholten on J/99 “Disko Trooper-Contender Sailcloth”, for all three handicap systems IRC, ORCi and PHS…

Read more on Sail-World

The Jules Verne Trophy is awarded to the team which sets the fastest time for a crewed, unassisted, round the world under sail effort. It has been held since 2017 by Francis Joyon and his crew with a time of 40:23:30:30, but Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard want it.

However, this duo hasn’t had much luck. They’ve made three previous attempts at breaking the record, posting the third best time in history in 2016, and have been on standby since November 1 to try again with the largest racing multihull ever built at 37 metres…

Read more on Scuttlebutt

Bernasconi said there had been some unease about putting all the teams secrets into the AC40. In the end the decision was made to trust that the team would stay ahead of its rivals by continuing to innovate throughout the AC37 cycle…

Read more on Sail-World

World Sailing provides some epic moments on the water in 2021.

Video uploaded Jan 4, 2022.

Read more on Scuttlebutt

Jerome H. Milgram, age 83, passed away December 20, 2021, at his home in Winchester, Massachusetts, with his family by his side.

Jerry was the W. I. Koch Professor of Marine Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he taught since 1970. Jerry was a member of the National Academy of Engineers and recipient of the 2017 Gibbs Brothers Medal (awarded for outstanding contributions in the field of naval architecture and marine engineering).

Jerry contributed to the development of many technologies associated with oceans: boat design, oil spill clean-up, tug and tow technology, underwater submersibles, and even holograms that detected plankton. He often worked closely with the United States Navy and the Coast Guard.

Jerry was the design director and chief computer modeler for America³, which won the America’s Cup in 1992 by using a more scientific approach to the design of racing yachts. To watch a video about this involvement, click here…

Read more on Scuttlebutt

Without doubt, the 76th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race delivered on the event’s formidable reputation. It was a race of two decidedly different halves. The first was a punishing test of physical endurance and perseverance…

Read more on Sail-World