World Sailing is finally moving to new London premises forecast to provide a saving of £420,000 per annum…
Monthly archives for March, 2022
National Crime Authority seize 192-foot Superyacht in London
Thursday
Mar 31
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 31
2022
Posted by deleteme
The UK National Crime Authority has seized a $50 million superyacht owned by an unnamed Russian…
America’s Cup: ETNZ launch ‘Chase Zero’
Thursday
Mar 31
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 31
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Emirates Team New Zealand launched their prototype hydrogen-powered foiling chase boat in Auckland today with ETNZ team member Andrea Joy christening her ‘Chase Zero’ in front of the wider team…
Sean Herbert wins Inspire WASZP Grand Final
Thursday
Mar 31
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 31
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Sean Herbert has returned to New Zealand with an extra puff in his sails after taking out the Inspire WASZP Grand Final sailed alongside the final round of SailGP in San Francisco…
Jimmy Spithill: Nearly got there
Thursday
Mar 31
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 31
2022
Posted by XS Editor
For the United States SailGP Team, it was one thing after another during Season 2. If they weren’t getting crashed into, they were crashing into submerged objects. They had to replace their wing trimmer when he snapped his fibula.
Yet, they still were in position to win it all, and while they fell short at the final hurdle in San Francisco on March 26-27, skipper Jimmy Spithill looks back at SailGP Season 2 and ahead to Season 3:
The final day of SailGP Season 2 pretty much summed up our whole year, in just a few crazy hours.
We knew going into the US$1m bucks, winner-takes-all final SailGP race in San Francisco, that there would be some unpredictable drama in store – but even I was surprised by what took place in the Bay this weekend.
In the first race on the final day, just an hour before the biggest showdown of the season, we were taken out by Spain SailGP Team, who crashed into us and it left a huge hole in the back of our boat.
It was a challenging situation for the Japanese, Aussies, and ourselves – we all wanted to race hard and push in preparation for the final in the lead-up races, but couldn’t afford a major incident… well, we were almost taken out and not able to race the final.
Another view of Team New Zealand’s exit
Wednesday
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
While New Zealanders feel abandoned by their America’s Cup team, this report by Duncan Johnstone and Todd Niall of STUFF media offers another view:
Kiwi team boss Grant Dalton has accused Kiwi rich-lister Mark Dunphy of “destroying” Auckland’s chances of hosting the 2024 America’s Cup.
Team New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron confirmed their long-held intentions of taking the next defense offshore by announcing the 37th edition would be sailed in Spain’s glamour city Barcelona.
Dunphy hoped to prevent that with his Kiwi Home Defense organization aimed at raising the funds to provide Team New Zealand with the finances to stay in Auckland.
But in a campaign that started by threatening to sack Dalton if his supposed consortium gained control, Dunphy quickly fell offside with Team New Zealand who refused to engage with the Auckland businessmen and his proposal of a $40m – half his original estimate – cash injection to boost the $31m on offer from the New Zealand government and Auckland council.
In a war of words Dunphy even served legal letters on Dalton and Team New Zealand, “requesting certain inaccurate statements be corrected and that apologies be given”.
The Cup defenders didn’t back down and accused Dunphy of an attempted act of intimidation…
Presumed dead, Found alive
Wednesday
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
It is a standard statement made by the U.S. Coast Guard when they have suspended search efforts:
“The decision to suspend an active search and rescue case is never easy, and it’s only made after careful consideration of myriad factors. Our thoughts and condolences are with the families throughout this unimaginably challenging time.”
This is typically the end of a case, except on March 29 when the Coast Guard rescued two Cuban males at approximately 5:00 p.m. near Bimini, Bahamas.
Earlier that day, a good Samaritan reported to Sector Miami watchstanders that he spotted people on a homemade paddle board approximately 10 miles west of Bimini. These men were presumed missing at sea, after the Coast Guard suspended the active two-day search on March 27.
The survivors were brought aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk and are scheduled to be transferred to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force authorities.
Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders were notified by concerned family members on March 25 of the overdue venture which reportedly left Cuba March 22 en route to Key West.
“We are thankful to our fellow mariners,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jason Neiman. “Their actions helped save two lives from the sea. Both men are now safe, but we must highlight trips like this are incredibly dangerous and often turn tragic.”
Since October 1, 2021, Coast Guard crews interdicted 1,067 Cubans compared to:
5,396 Cuban Migrants in Fiscal Year 2016
1,468 Cuban Migrants in Fiscal Year 2017
259 Cuban Migrants in Fiscal Year 2018
313 Cuban Migrants in Fiscal Year 2019
49 Cuban Migrants in Fiscal Year 2020
838 Cuban Migrants in Fiscal Year 2021
Little Nico – Anatomy of a Wipeout.
Wednesday
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
There was a high level of interest and commentary following the images which Bow Caddy Media recently posted of Little Nico’s dramatic wipe out at the Sydney Harbour Regatta…
yeah, but where’s the cup really going?
Wednesday
Mar 30
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 30
2022
Posted by deleteme
Yes, this was written just before the venue announcement, but it is about much more than that. ed.
OK, fair point. Having lambasted current America’s Cup rules and regulations as unhinged from the realities of the sport I should at least have the courage to propose some sensible alternatives. Challenge accepted.
First, let’s get a threshold pedantry out of the way. The “America’s Cup” is not named in honour of the Land of The Free. It is, in truth, a presumptuous invention. The cup itself – the “auld mug” – was originally the Royal Yacht Squadron £100 Cup.
But six years after the schooner America won that first challenge race around the Isle of White, the US syndicate, lead by George Lee Schuyler, donated the cup to the New York Yacht Club under a Deed of Gift, blithely re-naming it the “America’s Cup”.
That rather arrogant act of appropriation was not appreciated by the British. Forty years later their yachting magazines still insisted on naming the event the “America Cup”, with no possessive apostrophe “s” and the yacht’s name in italics. But I digress.
What is clear from the letter and spirit of the original 1857 Deed of Gift (and its subsequent amendments and additions) is that the Cup competition was meant to be a fair and balanced sporting contest that combined sailing skill with yacht design.
Easy to say, difficult to achieve. What the mid-19th Century lawyers who drafted the Deed failed to foresee was that technology would eventually come to dominate the event and relegate the sailors to a minor supporting role.
To my mind, that is the imbalance a revised America’s Cup must correct if it is to retain any relevance to the broader yachting community…
Season Opener: GWA Wingfoil World Cup France
Wednesday
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
The GWA World Tour visited Leucate in 2021 and we had an epic event with top competitors Titouan Galea, Balz Müller, Bowien van der Linden and Olivia Piana battling it out on the final day…
8 MCM superyachts attend St Barths Bucket Regatta
Wednesday
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 30
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Newport-based MCM Newport is celebrating after no fewer than eight sailing yachts in its fleet crossed the finish line at the legendary St. Barths Bucket Regatta, held from 17-20 March…
VIDEO: Rubbing is racing
Tuesday
Mar 29
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 29
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Highlights of the rubbing on the final day of the 2022 Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix held March 26-27 in San Francisco, CA…
NYYC American Magic thrilled with Barcelona
Tuesday
Mar 29
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 29
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Emirates Team New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron announced Barcelona, in the region of Catalonia, as the Host Venue for the 37th America’s Cup to be held in September and October of 2024…
Eight Bells: Gordon Isco
Tuesday
Mar 29
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 29
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Gordon Isco, 86, passed away peacefully early on March 24 at his home in Gulfport, Florida.
Born in Chicago, Illinois on June 6, 1935, he began sailing catamarans in 1977, leading to a lifestyle of racing the Hobie 18, Hobie 20, and A-Class in numerous national and world championships during his 40+ years of sailing.
In addition to competing, he was also a strong supporter of multihull sailing and worked tirelessly to promote it in its early years. In the mid-1980s, he was instrumental in setting up US Sailing’s multihull council and the US Multihull Championship (Alter Cup). He served for several years as the first chairman of the multihull council and continued to serve as chairman on and off over the next 20 years or so.
To promote youth multihull sailing, he started a program with US Sailing called Fast and Fun to expose kids to multihull sailing. Everything he did he did was purely for love of the sport and to support and expand acceptance of and participation in multihull racing. Sailing really was his life…
Global Solo Challenge welcomes the 44th entry
Tuesday
Mar 29
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 29
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Volkan Kaan Yemlihaoglu from Istambul in Turkey has a clear ambition: he wants to become the first sailor from his country to complete a single-handed, non-stop circumnavigation by the three Great Capes…
Surprise . . . Barcelona is venue for 37th America’s Cup in 2024
Tuesday
Mar 29
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 29
2022
Posted by deleteme
America’s Cup: Betrayal, angst, and disappointment
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Before Dr. Hamish Ross became a legal advisor for America’s Cup teams, and completed a PhD at the University of Auckland on the legal issues surrounding the event, he was a Kiwi. And as a Kiwi, he is not liking what the tea leaves are saying:
If the local Spanish media have got it right, it seems that the next defense of the America’s Cup is destined for the City of Barcelona, becoming the first Olympic city (1992) to host America’s Cup. It will join an exclusive list of past America’s Cup hosts: Cowes, New York, Newport, Fremantle, San Diego, Auckland, Valencia, San Francisco, and Bermuda.
I certainly hold no ill-will towards Spain and its people on their good fortune, if they have managed to wrest the America’s Cup hosting rights from New Zealand. Their timing is perfect as the global tourism industry is rebuilding after the effects of COVID and all its associated restrictions. I wish them well and the America’s Cup Event fair winds in new waters.
My disappointment is reserved for those responsible in New Zealand that made this outcome possible, after many decades of assurances of local Cup defenses to support the New Zealand economy to justify central government and local government financial support which amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars of funding and investment…
A Story of Hard Charging
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
by Peter Becker
Last spring, I sailed an amazing race called the Bermuda 1-2. The first leg to Bermuda is sailed single-handed followed by a double-handed return to Newport. The solo offshore part was particularly rewarding and a great awakening to the joys of solo sailing.
Short-handed sailing is so much fun that with the help of the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, and the Cruising Club of America, we started a new race, the Bermuda Short-Handed Return, a single- and double-handed race back to Newport shortly after the Newport Bermuda Race.
Now for the first time, hard-charging short-handed sailors can race to and from Bermuda every year!
The Young American Sailing Academy has two J/105s that are constantly being upgraded and modified for short-handed offshore sailing. I’ve done a lot of sea miles, but I never expected that among the many lessons learned, the one that stood out the most was the importance of battery management and the importance of effective charging.
The power consumption adds up when running the autopilot, laptop, and electronics. Unfortunately, the boats are not configured with amp meters, so, it is hard to know exactly how many amp-hours of power is used per day, but what I do know is that we ran the engine four times a day for two hours each time…
SailGP: NZSailGP win $100k prize for environment
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
The New Zealand SailGP Team has been crowned inaugural Impact League champions at the SailGP Season 2 Grand Final in San Francisco today, winning USD $100,000 prize money for its Race for the Future partner, Live Ocean Foundation…
2022 Swan One Design Scarlino Warm Up
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
The sail-racing year of the Yacht Club has started with a weekend dedicated to Swan One Design, during which ten ClubSwan 50 and five ClubSwan 36 have tested their technical skills in the gulf, in front of the Marina di Scarlino…
Predictwind announce new GPS Tracker -Datahub
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
DataHub by PredictWind has just been anounced. This small but powerful GPS Tracker is custom designed from the ground up, with extra features to make your coastal or offshore tracking, data, and communications easier than ever…
SailGP – Hattie Rogers wins Inspire Racing x WASZP series in San Francisco
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 28
2022
Posted by deleteme
Congratulations to Britain’s Hattie Rogers who hails from Lymington, who won the SailGP Inspire WASZP Grand Final, the culmination of Season 2’s Inspire Racing x WASZP series…
Exe Sails & Covers Starcross Steamer 2022
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
The annual Starcross Steamer took place on the 27th of March on the Exe estuary. With Starcross Yacht Club celebrating its 250th year, the sun shone and the wind blew, creating some very summery conditions for the first day of British Summer Time…
Full range for 48th St Thomas International Regatta
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
St. Thomas, USVI (March 27, 2022) – The 48th St. Thomas International Regatta (STIR) delivered a little something for everyone, from gusts to 25- to 30- knots during the warm-up Round the Rocks race on March 24 to a light 8- to 10- knot breeze today.
In the end, five teams – Fox, Blitz, Chili Pepper, Bill T, and Total Recall – showed their prowess in handing these conditions to top their respective classes – in two classes by a tiebreaker. Each class winner received a precision, Virgin Islands-designed timepiece, The Pirate, from Cardow Jewelers…
Event information – Race details – Results
Source: Carol Bareuther
Rollercoaster final leaves Jimmy Spithill wanting
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
In a season plagued by misfortune, the United States SailGP Team nearly completed the perfect comeback. But, it was not meant to be when during the Championship Final Race Jimmy Spithill’s U.S. team fell into a wind hole and never recovered…
505 class at the Ovington Inlands
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Eleven boats entered the 2022 505 Inland Championships held as part of the Ovington regatta at Grafham Water SC. Pre-event reminiscing saw old timers regale how over 100 boats used to enter a Grafham 505 open in the 1980s!
not always pretty
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 28
2022
Posted by deleteme
Lot’s o trouble on the SailGP racecourse in ‘Frisco. But yes, this boat went on to win…
Zen and the Art of Managing Cats
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 28
2022
Posted by deleteme
Since you’re reading this in a multihull magazine, chances are you’re already a fan of catamarans and are familiar with their advantages. They offer more room than same-length monohulls, they have system redundancy built in, they tend to produce less seasickness because they don’t heel much, and they can be faster since they’re not dragging a heavy keel through the water. At the same time, though, cats also offer a number of challenges that may have you rethinking how you manage a weeklong charter or an offshore passage. The lessons below (some hard won) are my personal tips on becoming Zen with two hulls and getting the best out of whatever multihull you may find yourself on…
Second in San Francisco for GBR
Monday
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 28
2022
Posted by XS Editor
SailGP Season 2 ended on a positive note for Ben Ainslie’s Great Britain SailGP Team with the team finishing in second place both in the San Francisco Sail Grand Prix, and in SailGP’s Podium for the Planet, the Impact League…
SailGP Grand Final – $1 million dollar Thrills, Spills and a Whale on the course
Sunday
Mar 27
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 27
2022
Posted by deleteme
Tom Slingsby and the Australia SailGP Team took back-to-back $1 million dollar Grand Final wins with a runaway victory on San Francisco Bay…
Paris 2024: Back to the Mediterranean
Sunday
Mar 27
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 27
2022
Posted by XS Editor
For the Paris 2024 Olympics, the Surfing events will be held 8000 miles away at the legendary surfing spot Teahupo’o in Tahiti. While not quite half way around the world, it’s pretty far, but that how it goes for a sport that relies on nature as its playing field.
Sailing is another sport that is rarely near the hub of Olympic events, and in 2024 the venue is 400 miles to the south in Marseille. It is a return to the Mediterranean Sea, and while Athens 2000 was held on an embayment of the Med, it hasn’t been since Barcelona 1992 when Sailing was held in the heart of this body of water.
In the scope of Olympic competitions, a sailing venue is not a complex facility, but that doesn’t stop the dollars from adding up with the project’s estimated total cost to be $46.5 million…
Balboa Yacht Club celebrates its centennial
Sunday
Mar 27
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 27
2022
Posted by XS Editor
One hundred years of Balboa Yacht Club history have been captured and uniquely portrayed in a new documentary premiering April 14 for BYC members at a special Thursday Night Dinner Program…
Has the America’s Cup set sail for Spain?
Sunday
Mar 27
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 27
2022
Posted by XS Editor
The loss of the 2024 America’s Cup will deny Auckland businesses a critical opportunity for post-COVID recovery, says the Auckland Business Chamber.
Spanish media have reported that Team New Zealand has chosen Barcelona as the next host of the America’s Cup, saying there was a “verbal pact” that was “pending only its formalization”.
Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympics in which the Sailing events were held alongside the coastal capital of Spain’s Catalonia region. Cronica Global noted how the city had secured the Cup with $70m euros from the Catalan government and Barcelona City Council.
Team New Zealand denied the report when contacted by the NZME media group, and are set to announce the official decision on the host on March 31, alongside the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Last year, Team New Zealand rejected a $99 million (NZD) bid from the Government and Auckland Council to host the next America’s Cup, meaning the event looked likely to be hosted abroad.
But Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Michael Barnett said confirmation the Cup would be hosted offshore would still be “extremely disappointing” to New Zealanders, particular Auckland businesses struggling to recover from COVID.
“There are hundreds of millions of dollars pumped into the Auckland economy as a result of that event, and they’re being denied that,” he said. – Full report
Outteridge and Japan SailGP Team lead after day 1 in San Francisco
Sunday
Mar 27
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 27
2022
Posted by deleteme
Nathan Outteridge and the Japan SailGP Team lead after day 1 of the Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix in San Francisco. Ben Ainslie in third place…
Freeze on Russian yachting activities begin to bite
Saturday
Mar 26
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 26
2022
Posted by deleteme
As part of the sanctions being imposed on Russia by governments for its invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg has reported that Finland has taken legal custody of 21 yachts…
Elan E6 Launched: New E-Line Flagship Model
Saturday
Mar 26
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 26
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Elan E6 Launched: New E-Line Flagship Model With Game-Changing Performance
Elan Yachts reveals its new E6 has exceeded expectations in sea trials after the official launch event with Humphreys Yacht Design and Pininfarina…
SailGP Grand Final – What is it and how to view it
Friday
Mar 25
2022
Posted by deleteme
Mar 25
2022
Posted by deleteme
The upcoming Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix in San Francisco is the culmination of the 2021/22 Season 2, with the $1 million Grand Final…
1995 UK 18ft Skiff Grand Prix at Torquay
Friday
Mar 25
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 25
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Back when the 18ft Skiffs were new to the UK, the UK Grand Prix attracted sailors such as Lawrie Smith, Tim Robinson, Dave Ovington, Ian Southworth and Dave Hall. Gareth Evans presents with commentary by Malcolm McKeag…
FOX, Escapado & Stinger win Round the Rocks Race
Friday
Mar 25
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 25
2022
Posted by XS Editor
A dozen yachts raced around the neighboring island of St. John in a clockwise fashion under a mix of sun, squalls, and wind gusts to 20-plus knots in today’s Round the Rocks Race…
Australia SailGP Team capsize in San Francisco
Friday
Mar 25
2022
Posted by XS Editor
Mar 25
2022
Posted by XS Editor
The Australian SailGP Team capsized on San Francisco Bay during a training session for this weekend’s SailGP season final, the upcoming Mubadala United Sail Grand Prix, March 26-27…
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