The 2023 WASZP European Games has successfully concluded its qualifying round with an additional four races held in perfect medium conditions and flat water. The results have brought forth some exciting developments in the leaderboard…
VIDEO: The Ocean Race 2023
Relive triumph and disaster, experience joy and despair and the highs and lows of a round-the-world adventure in this epic impression of The Ocean Race 2023.
This 50th year of the Race was the first edition to feature the foiling IMOCA class, and boats and sailors were pushed to their limits and beyond in a classic edition full of emotional drama and spectacular images of extreme sailing…
Contenders Worlds at Kerteminde, Denmark
The 2023 Contenders Worlds at Kerteminde in Denmark would be the first return to the sort of multi-nation, international completion that keeps the Contender class so strong in the face of global pressures…
Golden Globe Glory
When he competed in the first Golden Globe Race in 1968-69, French sailor Bernard Moitessier achieved legend status not for winning, but rather for precisely the oppositeâopting instead to keep on sailing, âbecause I am happy at sea, and perhaps to save my soul.â
Itâs a sentiment that Kirsten NeuschĂ€fer understandsââMoitessier just kept going and became more esoteric. I liked that aspect,â she said. Some may have wondered whether the adventurous South African would consider the same, but in the end, her history was made in another way, by becoming the first woman to win a solo round-the-world race when she crossed the 2022-23 Golden Globe Race (GGR) finish line in Les Sables-dâOlonne, France, on April 28. After 30,290 nautical miles and 235 daysâa course recordâshe and her 36-foot Cape George cutter, Minnehaha, won without needing the 35-hour time allowance she earned by rescuing fellow sailor Tapio Lehtinen when his boat sank south of Cape of Good Hope.
As she edged her way to the finish line in excruciatingly light air, NeuschĂ€ferâwho didnât even know sheâd won until she was within hours of the finishâlaughed and talked with the sailing luminaries, journalists, race officials, and well-wishers whoâd come out to greet her. âI want to walk on solid ground,â she said in her calm and commanding voice when I asked her what she wanted to do when she touched land for the first time in nearly eight months…
Cup Spy July 19: Key testing time for all teams
Three teams conducted testing today, using three different types of test boat. Two of the teams tested foils using different methods, in 40fters. The third (ETNZ) tested light air capability in their AC75…
SailGP on the move to Los Angeles
The second installment of Season 4 for SailGP will be at a new venue as the 10 F50 teams adapt to a small course within the Port of Los Angeles on July 22-23, navigating the thermal afternoon breezes across six fleet races and a three-boat Final.
Peter Burlingâs New Zealand will be looking to defend the top spot of the leaderboard from rivals Australia while Canada will aim to continue its promising season start. As for the USA team, skipper Jimmy Spithill seeks to improve on finishing second to last in Chicago.
While the venue is known as âHurricane Gulchâ for its strong winds, the PredictWind forecast is presently calling for milder westerly conditions of 9-14 knots on day one and 6-8 knots on day two. More so, the wind will be coming from the hills of Palos Verdes which could offer significant lulls and puffs.
The Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix will take place between 4:00pm-5:30pm PDT.
SailGP information â Los Angeles details â YouTube â How to watch
Cup Spy July 18: Luna Rossa resumes testing
The Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli resumed training out of Cagliari in their LEQ12 under grey skies and a blistering 38°C. Three other teams sailed on Tuesday out of Barcelona, on a “glamour” day for the AC75 and AC40 foiling monohulls…
top five
When it comes to the quality of sailing life, bigger is not always better. What really counts is getting time on the water, comfort, convenience, and having fun. And for many, the daysailer provides the perfect panacea to the landlocked blues.
Unlike many of the larger boats we design, daysailers provide a lot of advantages when it comes to maintenance, ease-of-operations, and access to smaller bodies of water including lakes, near-shore waterways, and shallow bays. Read on.
Global Solo Challenge start dates announced
The Global Solo Challenge (GSC), the unique around-the-world, non-stop, solo sailing event, is pleased to announce the start dates for all participants…
to infiniti and�
How much demand can there really be for such a boat? They need breeze to really make it work, but we hope they both have success in this endeavor. And promoting one sailmaker as part of the deal is a big mistake. Iâm sure the other sailmakers are just thrilledâŠ
McConaghy is delighted to announce its appointment as the exclusive build partner for the next generation of Infiniti 52 racing yachts.
The Infiniti 52 is designed and engineered to deliver next-level offshore racing performance. Built around a highly efficient transverse DSS foil, the Infiniti 52 provides proven performance without the risk and cost of more complex class-driven foil solutions.
The 52ft yacht has proven to be an ideal size, performing successfully both inshore racing and offshore, regularly achieving 30-knot speeds. It is large enough to sail comfortably for an overnight, but light enough to exhilarate and excite. The DSS foil provides the Infiniti 52 significant righting moment allowing the yacht to be sailed with a smaller crew, sometimes half the number of a comparable yacht, increasing competitive efficiencies. More here.
British Classic Week 2023 Day 3
Day three at British Classic Week saw round the cans racing sponsored by OneSails GBR for Classes 1-3 and the 6mR class…
WASZP European Games at Quiberon, France day 0
The WASZP European Games are taking place at ENVSN, located at the Bay of Quiberon in the north of France. This location is known as one of the most spectacular foiling locations in the world…
ACO 12th Musto Skiff Worlds at Lake Garda Day 2
Once again, we have two perspectives on Monday’s racing, starting with Brennan Robinson’s viewpoint from the middle of the fleet, followed by Jamie Hilton’s from the front of the fleet…
A Rookie on Rio 100
âWhat? Are you kidding me? That never happens!â
Such was the response from a sailing buddy when I told him I was joining the Rio 100 crew for the 800-mile Newport to Cabo race.
His reaction was certainly justified. While Iâve sailed off and on my whole life, my racing experience is limited to some fun times I had on an old 39-foot R-Boat back in the 1970s. So how did I come to be a walk-on to Rio, a 100-foot super maxi and the favored monohull to win?
Hold that thought and let me start with three things you must know about racing on a rocket like this. First, there is a world of difference sailing with a professional crew. Itâs akin to a high school football player suiting up and playing in an NFL game. Second, itâs off-the-charts exhilarating to be ripping through the dark of night at 24 knots. Third, youâre almost always nanoseconds away from a catastrophe.
Rio 100 is a custom Bakewell-White specifically designed to win downhill races like the Transpac, Pacific Cup, and Newport to Cabo. It set the record for the Pacific Cup in 2016, won the prestigious Transpac Barn Door first to finish in 2015 despite breaking one of its rudders early on, won it again in 2017, and won the Merlin trophy in 2019.
The crew nicknames her âthe aircraft carrierâ for good reason. So beamy is the aft deck you could probably land a Harrier jet there. At 145 feet tall, the mast towers over anything in the harbor. Indeed, when bowman Ben Bardwell gets hoisted to the top to check things out, you can lose him in the fog. The main is so large it takes six guys on the grinders to raise it.
Because Rio 100 will often run two jibs plus a kite or reaching jibâplus the main, of course, and running backstaysâthere is a complicated plethora of lines on deck at most times. After five days of practice and three days of racing, I still only had a rudimentary idea of which sheet and line did what. Belowdecks, you can see straight down 100 feet from bow to stern. Aft of the galley I counted 14 pipe berths, but it was always darkâalmost pitch blackâand I may have missed some.
Surprisingly, the boat has a commercial kitchen-sized grill. While most maxi crews get a pouch of freeze-dried mystery and a cup of boiling water, we ate well on Rio 100. One night the crew even dined on grilled rib eyes…
captains oblivious
Yâall remember the Etchells Creep Show at their Worlds a couple months back, right? Of course not a single offending creep has ever been named, outed, or in any other way been held to account. The Good âOl Boy network, donât ya know?
But now the Etchells class wants you to know that they have a new Cod of Conduct document out and we are certain that it will fix everything. Oops, we meant that it will fix nothing.
A whopping two-page manifesto that simply regurgitates the obvious, yet the class wants you to know that they have Really Done Something. Have they? Weâd say no, and you can bet your ass that when something like this happens again, and it will, that no names will be named and no real consequences will be rendered.
O’pen Skiff Worlds at Rimini, Italy Day 1
The Open Skiff World Championship, which boasts the highest number of participants ever with 286 competitors from 17 nations, commenced with an opening ceremony that celebrated the rich history of Rimini…
fight the power
A group of climate activists vandalized the $300 million superyacht of Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie in Ibiza on Sunday, drenching the craftâs stern in black and red paint shot from fire extinguishers.
Two demonstratorsâfrom the Spain-based Futuro Vegetal environmental groupâthen displayed a sign that read âYou Consume Others Suffer,â which they proudly posted to their Twitter account. More here.
Helicopter rescue in Pacific Ocean
A Sydney man, 51, and his dog have been rescued after being stranded at sea for months, surviving on a diet of raw fish and rainwater.
Tim Shaddock and his dog Bella had been floating in the Pacific Ocean for two months after a storm damaged his catamaranâs electronics and communication system, just weeks after they had set off.
Shaddock left La Paz in Mexico in April and was attempting to reach French Polynesia, more than 5,000km (2700nm) away, when his boat was damaged by the storm.
The pair were rescued after a helicopter conducting surveillance for a Mexican fishing trawler found them on July 12. â Full report
Americaâs Cup yacht poses risk
Locals say a historic Americaâs Cup yacht found washed up in North Auckland is an âenvironmental risk waiting to happenâ.
NZL20, the vessel used by Team New Zealand when they competed in the 1992 Americaâs Cup, was found stranded on Monday at Tindalls Bay, in the North Auckland suburb of WhangaparÄoa.
âI donât care about Americas Cup history. What I care about is the environment. No one wants to see carbon fibre and kevlar across the beachâŠitâs a big issue,â said local Graeme Salmon.
NZL20 lost the Louis Vuitton Cup to Italyâs Il Moro di Venecia, who in turn went on to lose the 1992 Americaâs Cup to the United States. â Full report
Following the publication of the AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule on November 17, 2021, the AC75 Class Rule and AC Technical Regulations were finalized on March 17, 2022. The entry period opened December 1, 2021 and runs until July 31, 2022, but late entries for the 37th Americaâs Cup may be accepted until May 31, 2023. The Defender was to announce the Match Venue on September 17, 2021 but postponed the venue reveal, confirming it would be Barcelona on March 30, 2022. The 37th Americaâs Cup will be held in September/October 2024.
Teams revealed to challenge defender Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
âą INEOS Britannia (GBR)
âą Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI)
âą Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA)
âą NYYC American Magic (USA)
âą Orient Express Racing Team (FRA)
Preliminary Regattas
September 14-17, 2023 (AC40) â Vilanova i la GeltrĂș, Spain
November 30-December 3 (AC40) â Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
August 2024 (AC75) â Barcelona, Spain
Additionally, 12 teams will compete in the 2024 Youth & Womenâs Americaâs Cup.
Noticeboard: https://ac37noticeboard.acofficials.org/
Additional details: www.americascup.com/en/home
Cup Spy July 15: Kiwi Cup testing starts
Emirates Team NZ sailed at Barcelona, for a second day on Saturday. After the session, co-helmsman Nathan Outteridge – an Olympic Gold and Silver medalist, who is on his third America’s Cup campaign, explained their initial objectives in Barcelona…
Dutch F1 director praises sailing’s need for speed
In the episode 2 of ‘Get Ready for the Best’, looking ahead to August’s Allianz Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Watersportverbond director Arno van Gerven and Dutch GP director Jan Lammers talk about the parallels between motorsport and sailing…
Cup Spy July 14, 2023: Kiwis on debut
Emirates Team New Zealand became the fourth team to begin sailing from Barcelona, the venue for the 37th America’s Cup. The team sailed theirAC75, the current America’s Cup champion…
America’s Cup: Defender sails in Barcelona
Emirates Team New Zealand, the Defenders of the America’s Cup, wasted no time getting âTe Rehutai’ out sailing on the waters off Barcelona on Friday, a day earlier than scheduled thanks to a favourable forecast…
Paris 2024 Olympic Test Event Day 7
Olympic champion Matt Wearn (AUS) snatched gold from under the nose of Micky Beckett (GBR) in a dramatic medal race at the Paris 2024 Test Event in Marseille…
Class of 2023
The National Sailing Hall of Fame (NSHOF) has announced this yearâs class of inductees, people who have contributed to the world of sailing through education, innovation, and advocacy over the past decades.
âWeâre immensely proud of our inductees this year, as they represent everything we love most about the sport,â said Gary Jobson, NSHOF co-president. âTheir contributions to the world of sailing have deeply impacted and touched all of our lives, and each of them has created a hefty legacy for the rest of us to live up to. We are delighted to honor their accomplishments and welcome them into the Hall of Fame.â
Nominees must be American citizens at least 55 years old who have made a âsustained and significant impact on the growth and development of the sport in the United States at a national or international levelâ as a sailor, technical innovator, or cultural contributor.
Americaâs Cup club in financial trouble
The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, holder of the Americaâs Cup, estimated trading loss for the last financial year has risen to almost $2 million. It blamed the loss on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and stormy weather in early 2023 while unnamed sources suggested the club had also suffered membership losses because of its decision to host the next Americaâs Cup in Barcelona rather than Auckland. â Full report
Olympic Test Event â Britain claim two Silver in Formula Kite
The first medals were decided at the Paris 2024 Sailing Test Event taking place in Marseille, France…
DEBRIEF: The Ocean Race 2023
Ken Read connects with The Ocean Race winning skipper Charlie Enright (11th Hour Racing Team) and The Ocean Race VO65 winning skipper Pablo Arrarte (WindWhisper Racing Team) for a debrief of their events.
Race details â Route â Tracker â Scoreboard â Content from the boats â YouTube
The Ocean Race IMOCA Final Results
1. 11th Hour Racing Team â 37 points
2. Team Holcim-PRB â 34 points
3. Team Malizia â 32 points
4. Biotherm â 23points
5. GUYOT environnement â Team Europe â 2 points
The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Final Results
1. WindWhisper Racing Team â 18 points
2. Team JAJO â 14 points
3. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova â 10 points
4. Viva MĂ©xico â 8 points
5. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team â 7 points
6. Ambersail 2 â 3 points
Who will top the Musto Skiff Worlds podium?
With just two days to go until the start of the ACO 12th Musto Skiff World Championships in Torbole, thoughts are focusing on who will be walking away with the prestigious trophy for 2023, and how will the rest of the fleet perform…
whoâs counting?
Because a 3300 and a 3600 werenât enough, Sun Fast is now offering the Sun Fast 30, with an emphasis on one design short-handed sailing. But not so fast, you clever marketing geniuses â this ainât no 30âČ it is actually 34âČ!
Why they donât just call it what it is is anybodyâs guess, but in truth, an actual 30âČ boat is just too small and not fast enough compared to a boat just a couple of feet longer. And they claim that this is the first production model sailboat built from a recyclable composite material. More here.
Racing: Shooting the Tiger
So much goes into preparing for a big regatta: finding reliable crew, boat repairs and maintenance, practice, time, money. But often itâs the simplest things that make or break a great day on the racecourse, as I learned recently at St. Augustine Race Week.
Normally Iâm on the race committee boat for this event, snapping away on my Nikon. But as a change of pace, I signed up to crew on a friendâs Beneteau 361. Georges and Erna had recently purchased the boat, christening her Paloma, and entered the cruiser, non-spin class.
As the date approached, we spent time practicing, getting to know the nuances of the boat and gelling as a team. Georges did a great job organizing the crew and soliciting suggestions for improving our chances of winning some hardware. The crew trained rigorously, going through every point of sail, grinding winches, taking turns at the helm, and carefully reading the notice of race instructions until we were ready. And off we went to the Old City.
Day one greeted everyone with cold, blustery winds and large, unruly waves that frequently washed the deck. Heading through the Bridge of Lions we put a reef in the main, confident that weâd planned for every contingency and that we would come through with a solid performance.
Boy, were we wrong. But it wasnât for the reasons you might think…
Ocean Globe Race: Calling all Whitbread veterans!
A Whitbread Veteran Reunion celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Whitbread Race is planned for the Ocean Globe Race Village, in Southampton…
Cup Spy – July 12: Doing the ‘Break Wall Bounce’
American Magic sailed a short lived two boat session, which ended a few minutes after their test boat (LEQ12) suffered a break down, believed to be wing foil/foil arm or foil cant system related. Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Luna Rossa both sailed…
old birds
The 10th edition of the S&S Rendez-Vous brought together 44 Swan sailboats, all designed by the architecture firm Sparkman & Stephens.
This international presence made it possible to race for 3 days off the island of Elba, to admire the boats from this renowned firm, and to pay a last tribute to Lars Ström, friend of yachtsmen and manager of the technical office of the construction site for more than 30 years. More here.
Sailors descend on Long Beach for US Open Series
Over 160 boats in 11 classes will take to the starting line this weekend at the US Open Sailing Series Long Beach, July 14-16, hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, Long Beach Yacht Club, and the US Sailing Center Long Beach…
Olympic Test Event â Day 4 Results before the weather change
Wednesday day 4 of the Paris 2024 Sailing Test Event taking place in Marseille, France and conditions made life tricky for plenty of classes…
On Watch, Cole Brauer
An offshore and inshore sailboat captain and professional sailor with dreams of being the first American woman to race solo around the world, Cole Brauer made history last month as the first female sailor to take line honors in the singlehanded first leg of the Bermuda One-Two Yacht Race.
âI grew up in a small town called Springs, which is a hamlet of East Hampton on eastern Long Island, New York,â says Cole. âMy first boat was a kayak that I used to paddle to Springs Middle School in the mornings. I started sailing very late, at 19 years old when I moved to Hawaiâi for college. The first boat I sailed was a CFJ, as part of the University of Hawaiâi Sailing Team.
âI loved the University of Hawaiâi. What a wonderful experience! I have my degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition with a focus in Medicine. I worked quite hard to balance my sailing offshore and inshore with getting good grades in my degree program. I loved to study and learn new things, whatever it was!â â Full report
Dufour 41: New Boat Review
You can take the sailor out of racing, but you canât take racing out of the sailor. So, when Nicolas Berenger, product and commercial director of Dufour Yachts, tells me that we might have to tuck in a reef as we head out for the afternoon on the new Dufour 41 on the Bahia de Palma in Mallorca, Iâm not holding my breath.
Berengerâs rĂ©sumĂ© includes seven Figaros and multiple French national championship titles. And all morning, as we enjoyed a shifty breeze around 12-14 knots, I had watched how he kept asking hull No. 1 of Dufourâs new model to do little more. Making 7.6 knots of boat speed in 13 knots of wind with the full main and the 108% genoa, he looked at the true wind angle (TWA) of 64 degrees and politely took the helm to push her up to more like 50 TWA, where we maintained 6.3 knots with little effort in the sparkling, flat water. Another 5 degrees up and we were still making good 6 knots, and as the breeze puffed up another knot, we lifted up to 41 holding on to 6 knots.
He seemed satisfied, and even more so when we bore off, set the bright gold ElvstrĂžm asymmetrical chute, and rocketed at 9 knots in 12 knots of breeze back to La Lonja Marina for lunch.
But now itâs afternoon, a spirited sea breeze touching 20 has filled in, and Iâm thinking about what Berenger had said earlier, that in 18 knots true, it might be time to reefâif he were cruising. He mentions it again after we extract ourselves from the dock where the breeze had us pinned (a bow thruster is optional, and Iâd get one) and motor into the wind leaving the harborâ7.3 knots at 2,400 rpm on the 50-hp Volvo with a folding three-blade prop on a saildrive. But in the endâno surpriseâitâs the full main that goes up on the deck-stepped, 56-foot Z Spars aluminum mast, and we charge off into what is now a short chop with some whitecaps…
desperation
Not Sailing
The Spanish Coast Guard and police in the Canary Islands found two stowaways perched on the top of the rudder of an MSC containership arriving from Africa. The two young men had been aboard the vessel for six days in a position where they were unable to stand up and had no shelter in an attempt to reach Europe.
The MSC Marta (72,000 dwt) arrived in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on Monday, July 10, after a voyage of more than 2,700 nautical miles from West Africa. The vessel docked after 10:00 p.m. local time at the container terminal on its normal route in which the Canary Islands are an interim stop between Africa and Europe.
In a routine inspection, Salvamento Maritimo reports its patrol boat Nunki spotted the two individuals lying atop the 901-foot containershipâs rudder on feet above the water. They launched a zodiac boat and were able to retrieve the two individuals who turned out to be young men from Nigeria age 18 and 22. The local police were on the dock to take custody of the men. More.
GWA Wingfoil World Cup Gran Canaria day 1
Teenage wingfoil stars, Chris MacDonald and Malo GuĂ©nolĂ©, threw down the gauntlet to their seasoned rivals in the opening clashes of the GWA Wingfoil World Cup on Gran Canaria, Spain…
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