by George Day, Blue Water Sailing
I am planning to sail south to the Caribbean from Newport, RI on a friend’s 47-foot sloop this fall so I got out my offshore gear over the weekend to see if I had what I will need. It’s been three years since my last ocean passage and batteries can expire and things can go missing in that interval.

My three-year-old Gill foul weather gear looks good as new. My sea boots are old and look their age, but I think I can get one more passage out of them. The Musto PFD – harness and tether look fine but I think I’ll replace the cartridge and bring a spare. Wool watch cap and ski gloves for the first few days from Newport when it can be cold, check.

The boat is very well equipped and has many thousands of miles on her and her skipper is seasoned and vigilant. Still, I think I’ll bring my hand-held GPS and download the Navionics charts and a current Gulf Stream chart to my tablet. Redundancy offshore is important. And then there is the personal locator beacon.

I have an ACR PLB that functions on the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system. That means if I go over the side the international rescue network will know where I am right away but the skipper of the boat won’t. The newer AIS enabled PLBs, known as Personal AIS Beacons (PABs), broadcast a VHF signal that can be seen on any vessel’s AIS linked multifunction display within about four miles. It also has a strobe light.

So, if there is one gear item that needs an upgrade this year, I think it will be to add a PAB to my harness. Just in case.

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The Congressional Cup has been regarded as the ‘grandfather of match racing’ since 1965. The event established Long Beach Yacht Club as an innovator in the game of match racing; pioneering on-the-water umpiring and setting a world-wide standard that endures today.

As a paragon on the global match racing circuit and Championship level stop on the World Match Racing Tour, the Congressional Cup is guaranteed the hottest sailing talent and action on the waters off Long Beach each year.

Dates in 2013 have been confirmed for the 58th Congressional Cup on April 18 to 22, preceded by the qualifying event – Ficker Cup – on April 13 to 15, 2023. Both are hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club in Long Beach, CA.

“I am both honored and a bit intimidated to be chairing this esteemed, world-class event,” admits 2023 Chair Bob Piercy. “The Congressional Cup is known as an elite competition and LBYC, the past chairpersons and volunteers have raised the bar even higher. However, after working on the Executive Board for the past four years, I am ready and eager to take on the challenge of the 58th Congressional Cup regatta!”

The format for Congressional Cup 2023 will continue as a 10-team, double round robin series, followed by semi- and petit finals, with a final stage to determine the victor of the trophy and prestigious Crimson Blazer.

In Congressional Cup 2022 Ian Williams (GBR) evened the score on decades-long rival Taylor Canfield (USA) when he triumphed in the finals after a lively five-day series in breezy conditions. Williams now matches Canfield with five Congressional Cup titles each – and hopefully both will return for the chance to get one up on the other.

The 2023 line-up will be announced later this year, with the final two entrants advancing from the Ficker Cup. “We will continue the process we instituted last year of combining the Congressional Cup and Ficker Cup selection committees, to choose the best contenders possible for both events and guarantee the highest level of competition,” explains Piercy.

Congressional Cup is challenged in a fleet of identical 37-foot Catalina sloops designed specifically for LBYC’s match racing series, with racing held directly off the city’s Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier which is planned to also host the Sailing at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

• Congressional Cup: www.thecongressionalcup.com
• World Match Racing Tour: www.wmrt.com

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There was a postponement onshore for the sailors and the committee spent the day sitting on the offshore race course. Ironically, the inshore course, planned for strong winds and big seas had fantastic sailing conditions…

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Charlie Cumbley has taken the lead on the second day of the 2022 OK Dinghy World Championship in Marstrand, Sweden…

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Fifty-two International Fourteen from six nations attended the 2022 World Championships hosted by the FSC Club in Flensburg, Germany…

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It’s been a long time coming, but the skippers are finally sharing the same dock, drinks and stories of their preparations, while helping each other with final tasks. These solo sailors are definitely enjoying their social time in Spain!

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Barcelona, Spain (August 8, 2022) – Replete with new livery, America’s Cup challenger Alinghi Red Bull Racing team today launched the AC75 they bought from Emirates Team New Zealand, and was used by the defender as its first boat in preparation of their 36th America’s Cup victory in Auckland, New Zealand.

“Today symbolizes the adventure that begins in Barcelona,” commented Head Coach Nils Frei. “This first-generation boat will allow us to gain valuable training hours before we have our race boat. We are a new team sailing a boat that we are only just discovering, but to be able to train already this year is highly beneficial.”

The Protocol prevents competitors from sailing an AC75 from March 17, 2021 until September 17, 2022, but an exception to this is if a new competitor purchases an AC75 from the 36th America’s Cup, they can have a maximum of 20 sailing days between June 17, 2022 and September 17, 2022. The new Swiss team is the only challenger that qualifies for this exception.

“If there is one thing that all Cup campaigns have in common, it is that you can never make up for lost time,” said Frei. “And you never have enough of it! The preparations for this launch have given us the opportunity to learn to work together, and it is so important to be united towards a common goal in an America’s Cup campaign…”

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(August 8, 2022) – USCG-licensed captain, instructor and rigging specialist Andy Schwenk (57, Point Richmond, CA) has been brought safely to land by a combination of Coast Guard, Air Force, commercial shipping, and assistance from a fellow yacht. A rapidly-spreading infection required the action.

Schwenk’s Express 37 Spindrift V had completed the 2022 Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Hawaii, finishing first in her class on July 18. Returning to California, the boat faced heavy weather, damaging their mainsail and leading to an injury to Andy’s ankle, which subsequently became infected.

Various elements of Spindrift’s communications tools were also damaged, leading to challenges in getting assistance. A relayed call to Pac Cup race organizers led to the diversion of fellow racer (and division winner) Surprise, a Schumacher 46 owned by Bob and Maryann Hinden and skippered for the return by Robin Jeffers, diverting to transfer antibiotics to Spindrift V…

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You can watch The Marlin Spike Rum UK Snipe Nationals & Open taking place in Plymouth from 12th-14th August with live GPS tracking. There are 28 boats entered from the UK, Belgium, Brazil and France…

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The Long Beach Yacht Club Heroes Regatta will return Saturday August 13, 2022, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic…

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Day 2 of the 505 Pre-Worlds at Cork in Ireland saw the final three races of the six-race series and there was a mighty battle for the title…

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French team Hugo Revil and Karl Devaux have taken the lead of the 29er Worlds in the choppy waters of El Balis after three races on the first day of the final series, although tied on 46 points with the Italian team of Alex Demurtas and Giovanni Santi…

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A thrilling finish for the Grand Prix yachts competing for the New York Yacht Club Challenge Cup at Cowes Week and Keelboat round up…

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A 62-year-old Frenchman survived for 16 hours in an air bubble inside his capsized sailing boat in the Atlantic Ocean before being rescued by Spanish coastguard divers in what they described as an operation “verging on the impossible”.

The 40-foot yacht Jeanne Solo Sailor sent out a distress signal at 8.23pm on August 1, located 14 miles from the Sisargas Islands off Spain’s north-western Galicia region, the coastguard said. Tracking data shows it had set sail from the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, early on July 31.

As a rescue ship carrying five divers set sail, one of three helicopters sent to aid the search located the upturned vessel as the sun went down. A diver was winched on to the ship’s hull to seek signs of life, and the man inside, who has not been named, responded to his banging on the hull by knocking from inside.

With the sea too rough to attempt a rescue, the coastguard attached buoyancy balloons to the ship’s hull to prevent it from sinking further and waited until the morning.

Two divers swam under the boat to help free the sailor, who they found wearing a neoprene survival suit and submerged in water up to his knees…

To watch video, click here.

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Thursday was the first day of Final series racing for the 29er World Championships at Club Nàutic El Balís, Spain…

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Sean Langman’s Reichel/Pugh 69 Moneypenny is the overall winner of the 2022 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race. This is Langman’s third win on IRC in the race which he now sponsors, as Managing Director of Noakes Group…

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Well day 3 was one of the toughest days on the water I have seen for a long time with ever changing breeze strength and direction meaning that the race officers had their work cut out again…

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A solid forecast of gusts of 20 knots was superseded when the RS700 fleet started peeling their covers off Sunday morning. It was averaging 25 knots on the harbour wall and some slightly worried faces set a mood in the camp…

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From the 32 original paid-up entries for the third edition of the Golden Globe Race, 22 had intended to be at the September 4 start in France, but in the past six weeks, six entrants have retired, or been forced out through non-Compliance of the Notice of Race.

Sixteen are now confirmed to start the solo, non-stop 2022-23 race, with two retired skippers fighting to get back into the event. At issue is how the GGR has some of the most stringent qualifications and safety regulations in the sport.

The Golden Globe Race was resurrected in 2018, attracting 18 starters with five finishers. To embrace the original race in 1968, boat designs were restricted to types of the era and sailors used only sextants, paper charts, wind up clocks, and cassette tapes for music…

Event details – Entry list – Facebook

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