It’s not often that a VPLP architect gets the chance to sail an IMOCA designed by the firm over a great distance. But that’s just what Antoine Lauriot Prévost did when he seized the opportunity to crew HUGO BOSS on her 8,000-mile return trip from Cape Town to Gosport, following her withdrawal from the Vendée Globe.

Under the remote supervision of Xavier Guisnel, who coordinates the engineering team at VPLP Design, Antoine harvested precious information on how an IMOCA behaves on the open sea. The resulting data will contribute to improving the firm’s tools for analysing performance.

Antoine’s experience will also bring to the table a greater appreciation of the “feel” of the vessel, knowledge which can be leveraged during the preliminary design phases of future IMOCAs. Antoine and Xavier told us about their experiences…

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Steve Hunt applies his self-help skills to his Sabot. His methodical approach to understanding the nuances of the classic Southern California dinghy allowed him to better understand what is fast in certain conditions. (Stacy Childers/)

This past spring, I started ­sailing a Naples Sabot, which is a Southern California kids’ boat, somewhat like an Opti. There have always been adults, as well as kids, in this class, but when the pandemic hit, a lot of other adults jumped into the class, if nothing else, just to get on the water. As a result, San Diego YC’s Monday night fleet ­rapidly grew to around 25 very ­competitive boats.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Sabot, it’s an 8-foot, 95-pound cat-rigged dinghy, with a leeboard hanging off on the starboard side. They’ve been around since 1946. I didn’t sail Sabots or Optis growing up, so this was new territory for me—and light-years from the big J/70, Etchells and Melges 20 programs I’ve been involved in lately…

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The start to the second leg of the Sardinha Cup, which leads over 800 miles to the Scilly Islands in the south of England and back, takes place today in St.Gilles. The fleet of 21 two-person teams is expected back in France on Friday. Given the small margins in the first stage – Xavier Macaire/Morgan Lagravière FRA won by just 5 minutes from Alexis Loison/Guillaume Pirouelle FRA – the final decision will be made in this leg. —– The preview.

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Looks like big fleet racing in the US is starting to pop. 

For the Melges 24, there is nothing quite like the anticipation of Charleston Race Week. It has become a massive, highlight event that elevates the level of fun and competition so high, it is powerful enough to set the momentum for the entire racing season. Read on.

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Yesterday afternoon, the start to the first leg of the Sardinha Cup was given in St.Gilles (north of Les Sables dOlonne) in light winds. —– This morning UTC, the two-person teams had covered about half of the distance, with 160 miles to go to the finish. The gaps are very small, as always with the Figaros. Xavier Macaire/Morgan Lagravière FRA are leading with one mile ahead of Elodie Bonfous/Corentin Horeau FRA. Alexis Loison/Guillaume Pirouelle FRA are in third place 1.1 miles behind. —– The race-tracker is unfortunately not (yet) working, but it offers at least an up-to-date intermediate classification. The report and the video of the start.

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Loss of satellite signal is a well-known operational risk, but few mariners are aware of the threat of GNSS providing a false time, position or direction even when still available.

When these position errors exceed a safe margin of error, they can cause ships to derive and transmit dangerously misleading Information. GNSS is not designed with inherent real-time integrity, which refers to the users’ ability to trust the data and receive timely warnings if it is unreliable…

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With a cloud of uncertainty still looming over the 2020 – now 2021 – Tokyo Olympic Games due to the Coronavirus, many are already looking towards the 2024 Games in Paris as the next time that the best athletes in the world can get together and compete in a safe and inclusive environment. Generally relegated to sailing small dinghies that are the recipient of little to no media coverage in the United States, the excitement surrounding the first inclusion of proper offshore keelboat racing is palpable.

Sailing roughly 10-meter keelboats up and down the coast with two adults onboard is, generally speaking, much more relatable to the average adult sailor when compared to donning a wetsuit and racing a dinghy, skiff or foiling beach cat around the harbor. Combining this upcoming revolution in Olympic sailing with the pandemic itself and other shifts in the marketplace for new boat builds, doublehanded sailing has been booming as of late, as evidenced by huge increases in participation numbers for many of the offshore classics…

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A weather forecast—like an old-school dead-reckoning plot—will decrease in certainty with the passage of time. Over the past five years of arranging offshore charters aboard our Swan 48, Isbjørn, and our Swan 59, Icebear, we’ve tempted the gods by consistently breaking the cardinal rule of cruising—sailing to a schedule. However, thanks to a fundamental understanding of big-picture weather patterns and a willingness to be flexible once underway, we’ve learned that even the toughest passages can be made comfortably. In this article, we’ll look at how we plan our passage calendar and the tools we use to forecast the weather. We’ll also analyze three difficult passages—Iceland to Ireland; a Bermuda-Azores Atlantic crossing; and a southbound migration from the Chesapeake Bay to the Eastern Caribbean—to see how these things all work in practice.

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In profile, the Oceanis Yacht 54 is a handsome, purposeful-­looking craft. (Jon Whittle)

The executives, design team, and craftsmen at the sailing division of Groupe Beneteau have made some interesting, innovative, and even surprising decisions ever since a regime change took place in the marine conglomerate’s upper-management ranks a couple of years back. This was clear from last year’s launching of Beneteau’s First Yacht 53, a sleek and powerful performance cruiser with the contemporary lines evident in the latest offerings from the top European naval architects. Now the company is continuing its ongoing design evolution with its latest dedicated cruising boat, the Oceanis Yacht 54. We tested the boat this past fall on a gorgeous day on Chesapeake Bay with a Beneteau team that couldn’t have been more excited about its potential, and deservedly so. It’s a rangy, clever, impressive yacht…

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After a one-year Corona break without any major series, World Rankings have been published again in March for the first time since long, but with the different travel and domestic restrictions in force around the world, the significance is relative. Please find hereafter a summary on the best North American ranks: —– Lasers: Charlie Buckingham, Newport Beach, CA, 2nd Standard; Sarah Douglas, CAN, 21st Radial; Paige Railey, St. Petersburg, FL, 28th Radial; —– Finn: Tom Ramshaw, CAN, 5th; Luke Muller, Ft. Pierce, FL, 34th; —– 470: Stuart McNay, Providence, RI and David Hughes, Ithaca, NY, 22nd men; Nikki Barnes, St. Thomas, USVI and Lara Dallman-Weiss, Shoreview, MI, 26th women; —– 49ers: Andrew Mollerus, Ithaca, NY and Ian MacDiarmid, Delray Beach, FL, 20th; Stephanie Roble, East Troy, WI and Maggie Shea, Wilmette, IL, 9th FX; —– Nacra 17: Riley Gibbs, Long Beach, CA and Anna Weis, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 17th; —– RS:X: Pedro Pascual, Miami, FL, 39th men; Farrah Hall, Annapolis, MD, 50th women. —– All ranking lists.

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Pretty great see almost all of the Vendee Globe female skippers get together. Sailor Chicks of the Mountain! Read on.

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