Well isn’t this just f’n dandy…

The government of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati is reportedly in discussions to open up one of the world’s largest marine reserves to commercial fishing.

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA), spanning more than 115,000 square nautical miles adjacent to U.S. waters, could be de-registered as a World Heritage Site and made accessible to commercial fishing if the government’s plan sails through.

According to an article by 1News, a New Zealand news outlet, the Kiribati Cabinet has already made the decision to open up the marine reserve and notified international partners two weeks ago. The cabinet says that the reason behind the radical move is to take advantage of over $200 million that could be generated per year from tuna fishing licenses in the marine reserve. Read on.

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Ship’s cat Leeloo keeps watch as the dingy approaches <em>Pitufa</em>. (Birgit Hackle/)

The profession of ship’s cat is as old as seafaring itself, with a long history of cats on board not just as companions, but also to help protect crew and cargo from any unwanted pests. Our cat, Leeloo, moved aboard when she was 8 years old and cruised with us for 10 years. At first, we worried about how a cat would tackle long passages, and what to expect when dealing with foreign officials, but cruising with Leeloo turned out to be easier than expected. Although she spent her first few days down below deck, Leeloo’s curiosity eventually propelled her into the cockpit, and it was (mostly) smooth sailing from there. We’ve been asked a lot of questions about having a cat on board. Each cat is different; each crew has a different vision of cruising life. There’s no one answer that works for everyone, but here are some guidelines that worked for us.

Safety On Board…

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Some brief comments on the statement by the Sunrise skipper and owner, Tom Kneen.

Firstly he is right to be upset, having a victory snatched away from him and his crew in this manner.

Like most of us, they primarily sail for the pleasure of it but their almost unique double of two classics in the one season must have put the icing on the cake only for it to be taken away some 27 hours later by a Race Committee decision.

The happenings in Malta have done the sport of offshore sailing no favors at all and only time will tell how the reputation of the Royal Malta Yacht Club and the Rolex Middle Sea Race has been damaged.

I am not surprised the Sunrise skipper’s feelings have festered as it is hard to see how those involved can see that their process was and is error-free.

Mr. Kneen’s statement in the last line of Para 3 or “The Story So Far” is perfectly correct that it is up to the competitors whether they continue or not, a fact that is fully supported by RRS Rule 3 which I will quote in its entirety “The responsibility for a boat’s decision in a race or to continue racing is hers alone”…

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On 16 September 2021, the World Sailing Judicial Board handed down the decision in the matter of Mr. Murray Jones v The Race Officials Committee. The Judicial Committee set aside a penalty imposed against Mr. Jones by the Race Officials Committee in January 2021 which adopted the earlier findings of the Investigation Panel.

Mr Jones was exonerated, and the penalty of a reprimand was set aside.

However, the controversy raises important issues as to the conflict between World Sailing Disciplinary Regimes and the Affiliated Clubs administering their own member conduct rules. Central to the controversy was Glen Stanaway who is the Head of Governance, Rules and Safety of Australian Sailing. On 2 August 2020, in a Combined Club Winter Series race organized by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania (RYCT) a collision occurred between the yacht Kraken and another boat.

The other boat took the appropriate penalty by retiring in the circumstances. Kraken at the time did not seek redress.

On 16 August 2020, and shortly after the start of Race 3 in the series, a request for redress was submitted on behalf of Kraken in respect to the incident in Race 2. The request for redress was heard by a Protest Committee on 20 August 2020. Mr. Glen Stanaway represented Kraken in the second hearing…

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Classic yachts on the run along the Maine coast from Camden to Castine. The 2021 Classic Yacht Challenge Series drew classic-yacht owners and fans from across New England. (Alison Langley/)

Few optics are finer than pulling into a quiet New England ­harbor before a classic-yacht race and beholding myriad gorgeous yachts, their lovely sheer lines and gleaming brightwork set against a backdrop of hardwood trees in full summer trim. The tradition of racing classic yachts remains strong in New England, and recently has been bolstered by the Classic Yacht Owners Association and its Classic Yacht Challenge Series, which this summer drew dozens of iconic participants and delivered great racing on some of the country’s most storied waters.

The Classic Yacht Owners Association was founded in 2015, with the aim of bolstering camaraderie among classic-yacht owners. One of the most important ways they’ve accomplished this was by joining existing New England classic-yacht regattas into a greater tri-regional circuit that includes Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. Yacht owners must ­compete in five races across two of the three regions and be CYOA members to compete for the series’ overall awards. These rules encourage sailors and yachts to travel, meet new friends, and share ideas and classic-yacht culture…

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The IRC rating offices have seen a growing number of instances and inquiries about additional cloth set under the boom, known by various names including lazy sweeper, deck sweeper, mainsail skirt, water sail.

In response to this, the IRC Technical Committee has issued IRC Notice 2021/02 which explains that this cloth is defined as a sail and explains how to measure the additional area so it can be accounted for in the rig factor.

Read it. Comment here.

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Now hear this! Now hear this!

This is your captain speaking. At ease.

It has come to my attention that there was a certain amount of disrespectful behavior during a recent presentation given at the Cripple Creek Sailing & Croquet Club by Monsieur Alphonse Onaniste, skipper of the Clean Green Sustainable One Minute to Midnight Carbon Neutral entry in the next single-handed Vendee Globe Race…

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Big Blow in Hamble, UK the other day.

70 knots of breeze blew a Fast 40 blew over, causing the fleet of Cape 31’s to domino, the weight of all that ultimately landing on the previously untouchable fast 40, Ran…

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What has got to be one of the coolest, if not the coolest race of the year is set to kickoff this weekend—on Halloween no less. Known as the Globe 5.80 Transat, the race is the brainchild of veteran adventurer and creator of the 2018 Golden Globe Race, Don McIntyre.

The race will feature a half-dozen solo-sailors—including McIntyre—all sailing a fleet of plywood Class Globe 5.80 meter amateur-built ocean racers. The race will consist of two legs: a 600-mile leg from southern Portugal to Lanzarote, in the Canaries; and a 3,000-mile leg, set to start Nov. 18, from Lanzarote to Antigua. The entire race is also serving as a kind of warmup/proof of concept exercise in anticipation of an upcoming solo circumnavigation of the globe. At press time dozens of other Class Globe 5.80 boats were reportedly already in-build in anticipation of the latter event…

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For all that the pandemic turned the world upside down, the summer of 2020 proved to be a surprisingly good one for sailing. Sales of boats—both new and used—went through the roof, and sailors everywhere found ways of getting out on the water, either alone or with friends and family as part of their personal “bubble.” One kind of sailing, though, that didn’t fare so well was racing. Granted, local sailors did their best to find alternatives. But with the exception of the America’s Cup and Vendée Globe, major regattas everywhere had to be put on hold—which only served to make it that much more fun being able to compete again in 2021.

Thistle Nationals

Hosted by the Cleveland Yacht Club and held on the unpredictable, occasionally tempestuous waters of Lake Erie, this year’s Thistle National Championship regatta also served as the class’s 75th-anniversary celebration. Designed by Sandy Douglass, more than 4,000 boats have gone down the ways since the first Thistle set sail in 1945. In addition to providing great racing aboard a great little boat, the Thistle class is renowned for attracting some of the friendliest, most welcoming sailors around. No great surprise, it looks like they had a pretty good time at this year’s nationals…

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The Swiss-based SP80 speed project aims to reach 80 knots with a kite pulling its surface-skimming trimaran. A ­subsurface superventilating foil counters the lift of the kite, and a mechanical interface aligns the forces. (Courtesy SP80/)

If Alex Caizergues succeeds at breaking the speed sailing world record in 2022, it will be his third time around using a kite, but otherwise completely different from his first two records. Those marks—50.57 knots in 2008 and 54.10 in 2010—were set when foiling boards were continually upping the 500-meter mark, sometimes more than once a year. Caizergues’ 2010 run added 3 knots to what the famed trimaran L’Hydroptere had shown us only a year before. But all those efforts ran into cavitation trouble at about 52 knots, that point when flow over the foils boils into vapor—the point at which control vanishes. For his early records, Caizergues used a hydrofoil to lift him above the water. Now, with his Syroco team based in Marseille, France, he intends to use a hydrofoil to hold him down…

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Now that is a happy boat. Gotta love those smiles! ©Sailing Energy / 69F media

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