What’s the difference between a spinnaker pole, a jockey pole, a whisker pole, a reaching strut and a jib stick? If you thought defining those distinctions was no more than yachting pedantry then think again. Using a whisker pole could now cost your boat up to a half-point penalty on IRC handicap.

The IRC published a Q&A paper in late April backgrounding that decision and say there was no negative reaction from Northern Hemisphere owners. But it seems to be a different story Down Under where the ruling comes into effect on June 1. A forum of owners convened yesterday by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia heard some powerful arguments against the rating change.

There was rebellion in the air, and this disquiet among the owners of competitive offshore yachts in Australia may even lead to a push for the overall prize in the Sydney-Hobart race to switch from the prevailing IRC rating system to ORCi…

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The new 2767 car has no stainless hardware other than the ball bearing retainers—no shackles, pins or ring-dings. Everything’s meant to be soft-tied. (Courtesy Harken/)

An evolution of Harken’s 2700 series of small-boat cars, the new 2767 car has no stainless hardware other than the ball bearing retainers—no shackles, pins or ring-dings.  Everything’s soft-tied.  In fact, there are just three main parts: an aluminum body, ball bearings and the two-ball bearing retainers. As a result, the car weighs in at an amazingly light 1.48 ounces.

The design was inspired by Adam Palfrey, who had been using the 2702 cars on the athwartship jib tracks he designed for use in the Etchells class (“A Sheeting Angle Solution”). For Palfrey, they were good, though not quite perfect, as he had to hog out a small section of aluminum on each car to allow the up-down line to work without chafing, plus they had stamped stainless control tangs with somewhat squared-off corners—ok, but not optimum for a spliced traveller control line…

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Andreas Heide and the crew of <i>Barba</i> are heading back to the Arctic this summer to study whales. (Peter Svanberg/)

The crew aboard sailing vessel Barba is preparing to set sail again to return to the far north in search of whales. This summer’s expedition, dubbed Arctic Sense, will see Barba’s owner and captain, Andreas B. Heide, welcoming researchers aboard his Jeanneau 37, this time bound for Svalbard, Jan Mayen, the Faroe and Shetland Islands and London before returning to their homeport of Stavanger, Norway. The goal of the 3,000-mile research voyage—Barba and Heide’s fourth—is to explore the polar Atlantic ecosystem, including its whales and other sea life. They will depart June 1 on the four-month adventure.

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A new book about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos appears to have confirmed long-standing rumours that he is the owner of a secretive 127-metre sailing yacht currently under construction at Oceanco in the Netherlands. The project, known as Y721, is understood to be a three-masted schooner that will become the world’s largest sailing yacht when delivered…

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With only six races, the elimination of one challenger from the Prada Cup Series was bound to be swift. For the New York YC’s American Magic challenge, the ending came too soon. (Sailing Energy/American Magic/)

As American Magic towed its AC75 Patriot to the racecourse on the afternoon of January 29, everyone with a hand and heart in the New York YC’s 36th America’s Cup campaign knew the situation was dire. They were already down two races to Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the best-of-seven Prada Cup semifinal eliminations, their beloved Patriot had been to hell and back, and the Italians were on a roll.

Cue the sporting cliches: chins high, game faces on, business as usual, one race at time. Win one and live to fight another day.

But no amount of positive spin from within the organization could change the fact that the boat was not the finely tuned racing machine it was before it capsized and sank on January 17. Gremlins were lurking inside Patriot’s dark blue hull, and so it was no surprise when the boat started acting up during pre-race warmup laps for Race 3 of the series. The American Magic support RIB pulled alongside and sent technicians through a watertight hatch in the deck to troubleshoot the boat’s foil-cant system. With the scheduled race start fast approaching, they emerged, sealed the hatch, and hoped for the best. Everyone on board knew the boat’s mechatronics weren’t right—not as right as they needed to be when facing an aggressive and confident opponent. Indeed, before Patriot even entered the starting box for Race 3 of the semis, fear of an FCS failure was very real. It would end the day, and the campaign.

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Yachting journalists keen to get a jump on their rivals in reporting the next America’s Cup are no doubt already checking accommodation options in Cowes and Auckland. They would do better to start looking for a decent hotel room in New York state.

When the INEOS/UK team lodged their “Challenger of Record” paperwork a nanosecond after New Zealand retained the Cup on March 17, they claimed to assert a right to host a “Deed of Gift” challenge, presumably sailed on an appropriate stretch of the Solent. This seemed to be a transparent ploy to grab a home-waters advantage and thereby become the defender rather than the challenger for the next full series.

Now, the New York Yacht Club is attempting to muscle themselves into their own seat at the table by submitting a separate challenge to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, complete with a 150-page draft Protocol. NYYC Commodore, Chris Culver, proclaimed that the Protocol “includes the tools necessary to improve the long-term commercial viability and global reach of the competition, while remaining true to the Deed of Gift and to the spirit of one of international sport’s oldest competitions.” Ho hum. There’s also the usual pious piffle about reducing costs, more one-design components, limiting the size of the teams, crew nationality requirements, a one-boat-per-cycle limit, etc etc. These are lofty ideals that nobody involved has, in the past, shown the slightest intention of honouring.

So where is all this headed if – as is likely – the Kiwis, British and Americans cannot agree on conditions for the next Cup? The New York Supreme Court…

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Helmut Jahn, 2012 Farr 40 World Champion and world-renowned architect, was killed when two vehicles struck the bicycle he was riding outside Chicago on May 8, 2021. Having competed with his Flash Gordon team in the Farr 40 class since 1999, Jahn was also the 2015 Farr 40 North American Champion. —– The news.

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Even though it’s portable, the Reverso Air doesn’t lack in performance. (Courtesy Reverso/)

Do you have big sailing dreams but not a lot of room for a boat? Check out the Reverso Air, a 12-foot sailing dinghy that can be disassembled into four pieces that will fit in the trunk of a car. A company release includes a video of two people fitting and latching the hull pieces together and assembling the mast and single sail in under two minutes. The Reverso Air breaks down into four pieces and can fit in the trunk of a car. (Courtesy Reverso/)

The four hull sections range in weight from roughly 4 to 35 pounds. Sections of the rigid hull are made from vacuum infused fiberglass with a foam core; the mast is carbon fiber. Carrying weight is up to two adults or roughly 350 pounds. The boat comes in four models, with pricing, delivered to the US, starting at just under $13,000.

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Grand Poobah, Richard Spindler, wrote to announce the opening of the 2021 Baja Ha-Ha:

Why sign-up right away? The earlier you sign up, the higher you are on the list to get a berth in Cabo San Lucas at the end of the Ha-Ha.It may not seem like a big deal now, but for a lot of folks getting a berth after nine days ‘out there’ is an attractive proposition. Particularly for women.

The Ha-Ha, as you probably know, is the 750-mile cruisers’ rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas that will start on November 1. Since it is a cruisers’ rally, participants can use their engine whenever they want, be it for safety or convenience. There are R&R stops along the way at Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria, as well as social events before, during and after the fleet reaches Cabo. Boats must be 27 feet or longer and have been designed, built and maintained for offshore sailing. There must be at least two crew. There are daily roll calls and weather forecasts…

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