by Peter Swanson, Loose Cannon
The sailing world was abuzz with skepticism recently as the U.S. Coast Guard reported rescuing three men in a sailboat that wasn’t sinking. Why? According to the Coast Guard, they were experiencing up to 20-knot winds and 10-foot seas and feared the boat would capsize.1

On December 12, the trio abandoned a 2005 Beneteau Oceanis 523 that was 150 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras—sails furled, a $225,000 purchase left to drift toward Scotland.

The wind and seas were as reported by the Coast Guard at the time of rescue.

“Capsizing seems unlikely in those stated conditions, but we weren’t there,” wrote Tad Roberts, a Canadian naval architect. “Cape Hatteras in December is too late in the year. Big, fat, snap-rolling boat with short crew, the one experienced person gets exhausted after four days, and they give up.” – Full report

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At six weeks into the Vendée Globe, with the leading duo Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) and Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) set to round Cape Horn late tomorrow, fatigue is the constant, gnawing, universal presence..

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Because of irreparable damage to the D2 shroud on his IMOCA, New Europe, Hungarian skipper Szabolcs Weöres has made the difficult decision to retire from Vendée Globe 2024-25…

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On this 32nd day of racing, the skipper of MACIF Santé Prévoyance continues his express ride on the Vendée Globe after having engulfed the Cape of Good Hope / Cape Leeuwin section in 9 days and 22 hours. A record!

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I need to start with an admission… I’m addicted to the Vendée Globe. When I wake in the morning, I look at the tracker, and at each sched (it updates every four hours) I take a look…

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(December 5, 2024; Day 26) – The Vendée Globe story continues to be how the leaders in the Indian Ocean – Charlie Dalin and Sébastien Simon – are outrunning a monster low pressure system as they pass the Kerguelen Islands. While Louis Burton’s issue has proven race ending, Dalin and Simon are thriving where others dared not.

Dalin seemed to be almost enjoying his race which right now is not against his rivals but against the low pressure system. At the back of the center of the low there are ten metre waves and brutal 60 knots gusts, but if he and Simon can succeed in staying ahead of the worst of the voracious system, the gains will be significant.

“I am feeling a bit tired, I need to get a bit of rest,” admitted Dalin. “But apart from that I am all good. I am racing this monster of a low pressure. It is not going too bad and I am managing to keep up with my routing, which is good.

“I am in a pretty good place right now, making good progress towards the east, every little gain towards is pure gold, it means we will be caught by the low pressure further east which means I will have a smaller sea state and less strong winds, which is good. So I am fighting hard to stay ahead for as long as possible. I will get caught eventually that is for sure. But the later, the better.

“The GRIB files are working pretty well, at the moment regarding wind speed and direction and then I am looking at satellite imagery through Windy (weather forecasting website) and so I am monitoring the progress of these two weather systems in these two ways.”

He describes the process which brought him to decide to stay south and challenge the big system.

“It is true I was the south most boat at the time but nonetheless I still had an opportunity to shift north, but it would have cost me, it would probably have been more costly for me than the others. But in terms of decision making, I spent ten hours in front of the computer, running hundreds of routings, trying to work out what choice was good and for what reason.

“I still don’t know if it is a good choice. We will find out in a bit more than 24 hours. But it took me a long time to come up with this decision. And it has been fun, it has been fun to sail against this monster. I try not to watch “him” too much on Adrena (routing software program) because if you look too much you see the red arrows of 60kts and I say to myself ‘I don’t want to be there’. I am like a horse only looking forwards at the course with the blinkers on.

“I try to sail fast to the east, every metre is important. What is great is these fast foilers are letting us do new things which before you could do only with multihulls.”

Race updates – Tracker – Ranking – Facebook

Attrition:
Nov. 15: Maxime Sorel (FRA), V and B – Monbana – Mayenne – ankle injury, mast damage
Dec. 4: Louis Burton (FRA), Bureau Vallée – rigging failure

The Vendée Globe, raced in the 60-foot IMOCA, is the elite race round the world, solo, non-stop, and without assistance. On November 10, 40 skippers started the 2024-25 edition which begins and ends in Les Sables d’Olonne, France.

Armel Le Cléac’h, winning in 2017, holds the record for the 24,300 nm course of 74 days 03 hours 35 minutes 46 seconds. Only one sailor has won it twice: Michel Desjoyeaux in 2001 and 2009. This is tenth running of the race.

Source: VG2024, SSN

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CBS Sports will have a record 54 hours of television coverage for the fifth season of the SailGP sports league set to air across its platforms during the 2024-25 season. The first event of the Season 5, which was held November 23-24, will be be broadcast on December 7 at 2:00pm ET.

“We are thrilled to make history with the largest-ever U.S. broadcast deal for SailGP as the appetite for the most exciting racing on water continues to grow in the U.S. market,” said Russell Coutts, SailGP CEP. “Coming off record-breaking audience figures from last season, CBS Sports’ expanded commitment to our league provides another proof point that SailGP is one of the world’s fastest growing sports and entertainment properties.”

Greg Trager, CBS Sports’ vice president of Programming added, “SailGP is high-octane, dynamic racing against the backdrop of the world’s most beautiful vistas. They have a growing fanbase and we look forward to welcoming them back for another exciting season.”

The 2025 SailGP schedule features three event in key United States markets – Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

SailGP information – YouTube – Facebook

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At 02:27 UTC on December 2, a crew member went overboard from Johannes Schwarz’s Ocean Breeze, a Volvo 70 competing in the in the 2024 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, an annual event from Gran Canaria to Saint Lucia.

Starting November 24, Ocean Breeze is one of 11 yachts in the IRC racing division of the rally which also included 45 entrants in the multihull division along with 83 cruising yachts. The rescue operation is being coordinated by MRCC Norfolk USA.

MRCC (Marine Rescue Coordination Centre) Norfolk issued an emergency alert to all shipping for assistance, and ARC yacht Leaps & Bounds 2 and motor vessel Project X are now involved in the search. Air cover is not possible due to the distance of the incident from land.

Event organizer World Cruising Club understands that the casualty was wearing an automatically inflatable lifejacket with a personal AIS beacon attached. Conditions on the course were reported to have squalls with 35 knot gusts and a base wind of 22-30 with big swell.

The casualty’s next of kin has been informed.

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Less than 9 miles separates the top three Vendée Globe competitors after 20 days of racing, while fourth-placed Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) is only 20 miles adrift of the leading trio as the fleet heads south and west into the roaring 40s.

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Anthony Marchand gives his take on the current situation in the South Atlantic and more generally on this tenth edition of the Vendée Globe…

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Just one month to go until the 48th edition of the Palamós Christmas Race, a benchmark regatta for both Olympic and dinghy sailing in the winter season, to be held in the waters of the Bay of Palamós (Girona)…

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(November 21, 2024; Day 12) – Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) took over the lead of the Vendée Globe solo race round the world very early this morning benefiting from his position to the west of his rivals which include his teammate British sailor Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) who holds second place.

Ruyant was first to emerge from the Doldrums and after a spell at more than double the speed of his British counterpart is about 6.5 miles ahead this afternoon.

The other skipper to have made a notable gain is Pip Hare (Medallia) who has profited from her position to the west also and over recent days has worked her way up to 13th, reducing her deficit of 250 nautical miles yesterday morning to be about 80 miles behind the leading duo this afternoon.

Crucially for the British skipper her gains might now possibly give her a chance of hooking into the first low pressure in the South Atlantic along with the main peloton but the actual time window to catch this system are not very clear.

It is now the first time that Ruyant has led this, his third Vendée Globe. Four years ago he chased British skipper Alex Thomson across the Equator about 80 miles behind. Both gained an immediate jump on the fleet in the South Atlantic when they caught a low pressure in a scenario which very much mirrors this year’s, and indeed 2016-17 when Thomson and Armel Le Cléac’h escaped the pack.

Although he blitzed a new 24 hour solo monohull distance record yesterday morning Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) has not been able to wriggle out of the Doldrums as efficiently as the likes of Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef) who is up in fifth now less than 40 miles behind Ruyant.

“It seems that we are now out of the Doldrums. It looks like it because everything is stabilizing! We were in there for 24 hours. For 12 to 15 hours, we were in a bit of a tough spot. We were really stuck but we have already all seen much worse scenarios than this one,” Richomme said this morning,

He added, “I had 12-15 hours in the hard stuff yesterday afternoon. It was really slow. We didn’t make much progress but last night it was good. It was quite a nice Doldrums in the end. There was just a big squall that came through yesterday afternoon. By tomorrow morning, we will have crossed the equator: it will be my first solo. Apparently that’s quite something!

“I’ve crossed it three times racing. It will be almost a formality. My team must have provided me with a small bottle of champagne. I have to see what day they had planned it for me because I haven’t eaten much since the beginning and I’m on day 5’s food bag. I’m 4-5 days behind. In the South Atlantic, it could be very fast, without being very violent.

“The situation allows us to cut across the South Atlantic fairly quickly. We could pass the Cape of Good Hope, which would put us back in slightly better timings compared to the reference times, which wouldn’t be bad. It’s a good prospect. It will work for a lot of people. We will break with the group behind of course but the whole group in front risks leaving with it.”

Ruyant’s gain may stabilize as Goodchild should initially have a faster angle to the wind and the sailor from the North of France is converging back east to his team-mate who sails his previous, older generation boat on which he finished sixth on the last Vendée Globe.

But the biggest gain has been to Hare, who enthused this morning, “I had quite a good night which I was kind of not expecting so much, I can’t touch the others on speed at reaching angles, I just can’t stay with any boats 2020 and newer I just can’t touch them in a straight line. So I need to take the opportunities to ‘think’ my way up the ranks, and I think last night was pretty good for me.

“Being in the west is the better option and yesterday all day I was really, really vigilant with clouds. I had a satellite image up all the time. It is incredible how accurate it is on my computer screen and then it would pop up on the radar and then I could skirt my way around things. And so I think that really helped me. I am feeling pretty good and am about to have a cup of tea this morning, which is often short lived as all hell will likely break loose.

“All I need to do is keep in touch, keep in touch as long as I can and then when there is an opportunity to ‘think’ my way through things I will give it my best shot. But I am feeling pretty pleased this morning, it is good!”

Not quite the same story from the winner of the last race, La Rochelle’s Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ V). “The Doldrums were intense, with quite a few squalls and very unstable winds, both in strength and direction, but they were relatively short lived. What was good was that there were several of us who saw each other at the AIS, which allowed us to understand a little bit what was happening, now I almost feel like it’s a new start!”

Next up? Crossing the equator tonight. From then on it is very much a drag race down the South Atlantic in the SE’ly trade winds, all the time eyes on the prize, a depression that they could catch a little to the north of Rio de Janeiro. The low pressure would be ideal to let them put the foot down and go full throttle to the south of the African continent.

If this scenario plays out it would similar to the system which propelled Alex Thomson and Armel Le Cléach’ to the Kerguelen Islands at full speed during the 2016-2017 edition. “It’s a good prospect. It will be a chance for a whole group of people but it will cause a real break with the group behind,” analyzed Richomme.

Meantime the entire fleet, with the exception of Oliver Heer (Tut Gut), Denis Van Weynbergh (D’Ieteren Group), Jingkun Xu (Singchain Team Haikou) and Szabolcs Weöres (New Europe) who also burned his hand yesterday while heating water, will only be out of the Doldrums in in about 36 hours.

Race updates – Tracker – Ranking – Facebook

Attrition:
Nov. 15: Maxime Sorel (FRA), V and B – Monbana – Mayenne – ankle injury, mast damage

The Vendée Globe, raced in the 60-foot IMOCA, is the elite race round the world, solo, non-stop, and without assistance. On November 10, 40 skippers started the 2024-25 edition which begins and ends in Les Sables d’Olonne, France.

Armel Le Cléac’h, winning in 2017, holds the record for the 24,300 nm course of 74 days 03 hours 35 minutes 46 seconds. Only one sailor has won it twice: Michel Desjoyeaux in 2001 and 2009. This is tenth running of the race.

Source: VG2024, SSN

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Nicolas Lunven, the skipper of the IMOCA Holcim-PRB, broke the outright solo monohull 24-hour record on the second day of the 2024-25 Vendée Globe. Opting for a more westerly route than the fleet, he covered 546.60 nautical miles in 24 hours (pending official ratification).

Lunven’s pace would surpass the same record set by Thomas Ruyant during the 2024 Retour à la Base event (539.58 nm/ 22.48 knot avg.).

This boat also holds the outright monohull 24-hour record, with skipper Kevin Escoffier and crew covering 640.48 nm in the 5th leg of The Ocean Race 2022-23, with an average speed of 26.68 knots.

Race updates – Tracker – Ranking – Facebook

The Vendée Globe, raced in the 60-foot IMOCA, is the elite race round the world, solo, non-stop, and without assistance. On November 10, 40 skippers started the 2024-25 edition which begins and ends in Les Sables d’Olonne, France.

Armel Le Cléac’h, winning in 2017, holds the record for the 24,300 nm course of 74 days 03 hours 35 minutes 46 seconds. Only one sailor has won it twice: Michel Desjoyeaux in 2001 and 2009. This is tenth running of the race.

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Racing yachts are meant to be raced, so rather than strapped to a shipping cradle for a trip to North America, the 2025 RORC Transatlantic Race departs from the Canary Islands on January 12 for the 3000nm course to Grenada, West Indies.

After competing in the 2024 Rolex Middle Sea Race in the central Mediterranean Sea, USA’s Bryon Ehrhart’s 88-foot Lucky will contend for monohull line and overal honours. The Juan K designed Lucky will have a stellar crew which includes navigator  Juan Vila (ESP).

The Spaniard is one of the very few sailors to have won the Jules Verne Trophy, the Volvo Ocean Race, and the America’s Cup, yet this will be his first RORC Transatlantic Race.

“This is a race that I have always liked to do,” commented Vila. “I have done similar races in the past but a trade wind race in January across the Atlantic is very special for any navigator because it is always challenging; you have to adapt and use all your knowledge for this race. This is a very fast route across the Atlantic and Comanche’s record from 2022, at nearly 16 knots average, is very impressive.

“At the beginning of the race, we have to navigate through pretty much the whole Canary Islands, especially the lee of Tenerife. It is an early call in the race to decide whether to sail in the lee of islands or sail the extra distance to avoid them.

“In the open Atlantic, ideally for Lucky we will need broad reaching conditions; that is the boat’s fastest angle. Even with the huge improvement in satellite communications and accuracy of weather models, for forward planning you have to decide how long you can trust the weather model for.

“Maybe the routing is made because of a situation in the future which is not going to happen, or maybe the routing is not taking into account local affects; you have to adapt it. Local factors such as trade wind showers can be used to advantage to gain miles but they can be quite tricky. Overall, you have to make up your own mental picture of what is going to happen.

“The race starts in higher latitudes and goes to lower latitudes at the end, so transitions are very likely and dependent on how the Jet Stream is running. Getting the transitions right is where gains and losses can be made. The timing from where you jump from a North Atlantic type system to trade wind weather is crucial. If you delay too much the door closes, if you go too early, you might make a longer course.”

Details: https://www.rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/

The RORC Transatlantic Monohull Race Record was set by Comanche, skippered by Mitch Booth in 2022: 07 Days 22 Hrs 01 Mins 04 Secs.

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The official start of the Vendée Globe took place today at 13:02. The skippers have now set off on the most famous and challenging of circumnavigations, with more than 24,000 nautical miles (45,000 km) to cover solo, non-stop, and without assistance.

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Another impressive performance by the talented Rag & Famish Hotel 18ft skiff crew of Harry Price, Max Paul and Finn Rodowicz secured the team their second win of the series when they took out Race 2 of the Australian 18 Footers League’s Club Championship…

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Peter Swanson’s Loose Cannon blog has been reviewing the Perini Navi built 184-foot luxury yacht which capsized at anchor, leading to seven of 22 people on board perishing. Here’s his latest report:

In an extraordinary effort, The New York Times has made the case that blame for the Bayesian disaster was not so much crew error—as alleged by the builder—but a massive design flaw that begat other design flaws.

You guessed it: The root of all evil was the boat’s 237-foot aluminum mast.

“The sheer size of the Bayesian’s mast and rigging made the yacht a wind-catcher even with the sails down,” The Times said in an October 30 article written by seven top-knotch reporters. – Full report

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With the privately owned teams cherry picking talent from the established teams and others, it is clear that the SailGP team rules have been amended since Season 4. The League explains the new nationality rules…

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Foiling Week, which hosts events dedicated to foiling boats, their sailors, designers and manufacturers, will be coming to the USA in 2025 for Foiling Week Pensacola on February 24-March 2 in Pensacola, FL. The event coincides with Pensacola Mardi Gras festivities – with over 100,000 people expected to be in attendance.

For the 12th edition of Foiling Week, anticipated participation is from Moth, WASZP, A-Class Catamaran, BirdyFish, and Nacra 15 FCS. Other boards, mono and multihull foiling classes will be announced soon. For the Moth, WASZP, and Nacra 15 FCS, the regatta will be their North American Championship.

Sailing races will take place on the Bay, while boards will foil the waves of the Gulf of Mexico in front of the Pensacola Beach Hilton Hotel. On-water organization will be managed by Foiling Week Principal Race Officer Tim Hancock and supported by both the Pensacola Yacht Club and Pensacola Beach Yacht Club.

“Foiling sailors and enthusiasts alike will get to experience what we already know,” noted NYYC American Magic AC Team Skipper and President of Sailing Operations Terry Hutchinson. “Pensacola Bay is a great spot to develop sailboats of all types. American Magic looks forward to supporting this event and watching this development.”

The Public Village at Pensacola’s Maritime Park will give the opportunity to watch close racing, visit an expo showcasing the latest in high-tech nautical equipment and apparel, and listen to discussions on the evolution of foiling. Sustainability, inclusivity, clinics, youth and women’s coaching and technical workshops will be the highlights of the program.

“Foiling isn’t just about the excitement of competition; it’s a symbol of innovation that leads to progress in maritime transport, ecological ventures and our beautiful and very strong bond with the sea,” observed Luca Rizzotti, Foiling Week organizer.

Throughout the event, enthusiasts will have the opportunity to try out boards and boats on the water under the supervision of experienced instructors.

In keeping with the event’s tradition of dedicating each edition to a socially relevant theme, Foiling Week Pensacola 2025 will be inspired by #regeneration, a global approach to sustainability that aims to end the climate crisis by 2030.

Foiling Week Pensacola is supported by: City of Pensacola – Florida, Escambia County, Pensacola Yacht Club, Pensacola Beach Yacht Club, and Sail Pensacola which promotes competitive sailing, technology, and economic development to Pensacola Bay.

Details: https://foilingweek.com/landing/pensacola-2025/

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