The new Platu 25 World Champions were decided in Lithuanian sailing Mecca – Curonian Lagoon. Despite a year of delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Platu 25 World Championship finally took place in novel, challenging waters…
hey mom…
“Sailing seems like a really bad idea.”
Cascais Vela overall
The 31st Cascais Vela finished today, with the ORC and NHC classes completing the program for the three days of the event…
USA Youth World selection revisions
US Sailing announced important updates to the Athlete Selection Process for the 2021 Youth Sailing World Championships, hosted in Al-Mussanah, Oman on December 11-18. The US Sailing selection process has been updated to a resume selection for the International 420, iQFoil, and Formula Kite events. Applying youth sailors, ages 13 to 18, have until September 1, 2021 to submit their resumes for consideration…
29er World Championship at Valencia day 4
The first day of the final series could not have had a better start. Many changes to the provisional general, good wind conditions and close racing have been some of the ingredients today…
Former IOC President Jacques Rogge passes away
It is with great sadness that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announces the passing of former IOC President Count Jacques Rogge. He was 79 years old…
Melges 24 Worlds scheduled for 2022
After two years hiatus in the schedule of the Melges 24 World Championships, the International Melges 24 Class Association (IM24CA) announced that the Lauderdale Yacht Club, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will host the Melges 24 World Championship 2022. The regatta is scheduled for May 9-15, 2022 with racing May 11-15. The racing venue will be open ocean, a short distance from the docking locations. This coming winter and spring, there will be several class events in south Florida as well as Charleston Race Week that will provide opportunities to warm up skills…
5.5 Metre German Open in Berlin overall
For a second day in a row the wind abandoned the Wannsee in Berlin, Germany. Therefore the 2021 5.5 Metre German Open at the Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee (VsaW) was decided by a single sailed race, the long distance race on Friday…
From Foiling Board to Foiling Boat
by Michelle Slade, St. Francis Sailing Foundation
Inspired by her employer SailGP, Daniela Moroz, 4-time World Kite Foil Champion, and 2-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, has been learning the Waszp, a one design foiler conceived in 2010 and put into production in June 2016 by Andrew McDougall, designer of the Mach 2 foiling Moth.
“In order to do any role on SailGP’s F50 well, you have to know what the other roles require of you – the flight controller needs to know what the wing trimmer and helm are trying to do, in order to do his job well,” Moroz explained. “The best way to understand what each role requires is to do all of them. It turns out that the Waszp and Moth are the best boats to get that experience.”
Moroz recruited St Francis Yacht Club junior sailor Hoel Menard to help her out. Menard, a 29er sailor with plenty of Waszp experience and a RIB at his disposal, was well set up to coach Moroz. That his student is a noted world champion did not faze the 18-year-old…
52nd La Solitaire du Figaro Stage 2 underway
Being as it is, at the epicentre of French solo and short-handed ocean racing it was appropriate that Lorient bid a big, passionate farewell to the 490 miles Stage 2 of the 52nd La Solitaire du Figaro…
Catching up with Joe Harris
Joe Harris sailed solo around the world in 2015-2016 and is continuing to prepare his Class40 GryphonSolo2 for the 2021-22 Globe40, a doublehanded race around the world in Class 40s. In this report, Joe details what he has been up to this year:
It has been a while since my last correspondence. My apologies for the delay. As a result, there is much ground to cover! So going back to the late spring…
Multihull Cup 2021 at Port Adriano overall
The all-conquering Allegra took a clear-cut victory at the 2021 Multihull Cup in Mallorca today after another high tempo performance out on the racecourse secured her third straight race win…
Great day for Quantum Racing
Mallorca, Spain (August 27, 2021) – The 20th anniversary celebrations to highlight the continued popularity and success of the TP52 class were blessed with an appropriate measure of champagne sailing on the Bay of Palma as competition for the 52 SUPER SERIES paused for the day and enjoyed a fantastic day of racing.
The 16 boat fleet which has gathered in Puerto Portals spans the generations from the 2005 Blue Carbon to the newest 52 SUPER SERIES boat, Vladimir Liubomirov’s 2019 launched Bronensosec. And as it was always hoped for, not only was the spectacle of big fleet TP52 racing as inspiring as ever it was, the newer, top 52 SUPER SERIES boats did not have it all their own way…
SailGP making hay while America’s Cup heads for the courts
Upstart AC rival SailGP is making hay while the America’s Cup disolves into its usual in-fighting scenario that is the norm for the old Mug between events…
Global Solo Challenge: Radar on sailboats
The word radar is an acronym coined by the US Navy at the beginning of World War II with the meaning of “Radio Detection And Ranging”. Its application for military purposes has spread over time, also finding diffusion in the civil field in aviation…
Multihull Cup 2021 at Port Adriano, Mallorca day 2
Racing at the 2021 Multihull Cup today saw the level of intensity ramp up several degrees, with a building breeze producing close encounters at several points on a long 23-mile course…
France goes on to dominate the 29er in València
Second day with a weak wind that has allowed only two tests to be completed, after a postponement on land of almost an hour…
Triumph at 52 SUPER SERIES
Mallorca, Spain (August 28, 2021) – Takashi Okura’s Sled team were crowned winners of the first regatta of the 2021 season, the 52 SUPER SERIES Puerto Portals Sailing Week, after conflicting breezes on the Bay of Palma meant no racing could be held on the final day. Sled triumphed by just one single point at an event which saw five different teams win races and only six points separate the top six boats after six races were sailed.
In six boat 20th Anniversary Invitational fleet, racing under IRC, the victors were the Beau Geste of Hong Kong’s Karl Kwok who has a long and proud history with the TP52 class, dating right back to the origins of the class on the Transpac race. Sadly neither owner could be in Puerto Portals to compete.
As a celebration of the longevity and ongoing success of the TP52 class, both since it grew out of the Transpac Race and since it was adopted by the Mediterranean Fleet in 2004, the regatta was a great success, drawing 16 boats to race – nine in the 52 SUPER SERIES and six in the invitational division. The highlight of the week in terms of sheer spectacle was yesterday’s 20th Anniversary racing day when the fleet combined for two great races. But for the 52 SUPER SERIES it was a stark reminder of how close and evenly matched these ultra refined these grand prix monohulls are, and how extremely close the racing is…
Stuart Childerley is 2021 Etchells European Champion
Stuart Childerley, Ben Childerley and Roger Marino are the 2021 Etchells Europen Champions…
Clevedon Channel Race
Clevedon Sailing Club’s annual long distance channel race took place with the promise of strong winds that never really materialized: a race of luck or skill…
wot
You decide if that is the name of your rum you want plastered on the side of this beauty! Title inspiration thanks to Captain Sensible. Thanks to anarchist Phillip.
Birth and survival of the Atlantic class
In 1928, Starling Burgess designed a 30-foot sloop that would become the one-design Atlantic. Fleet racing continues today in the northeast, with yachting historian John Rousmaniere reporting on the birth and survival of the Atlantic class for WoodenBoat magazine:
The 1920s were a boom time for all Americans, but especially sailors. In the thriving economy, old waterfronts were converted from commercial ports to yacht clubs, many of them devoted to the new idea of junior sailing with equal opportunity for girls and boys.
One of the best-known young sailors of the time was Lorna Whittelsey Hibberd. A graduate of the junior program founded in 1924 by the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, in her teens and twenties she won five national women’s championships for the Adams Cup and many other prizes as well against sailors of all ages…
29er World Champs – Day 1 in Valencia
The 2021 Zhik 29er World Championship has started in Valencia, Spain, for the 189 competing teams…
Emotion versus money vie for 37th America’s Cup
STUFF media provide the factual feeling of the Kiwi nation:
A new poll shows Kiwis strongly want Team New Zealand to defend the America’s Cup in New Zealand but are split on extra funding from the government.
Team New Zealand will reveal where the next edition of the Cup will be hosted in an announcement on September 17 with Auckland still an outside chance but battling heavyweight funding from three overseas cities with Cork in Ireland, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and one other venue reportedly on the short-list.
The poll, conducted by Curia Market research involving 1000 people over the age of 18 drawn randomly from 24,000 telephone numbers from August 12-17, shows 72 percent are in favor of the America’s Cup being in Auckland next time…
Xavier Macaire wins La Solitaire du Figaro stage 1
Just as he won the 640 nautical miles first leg of the 2020 edition of the race, so Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) has triumphed on the gruelling 627 miles opening stage of the 52nd La Solitaire du Figaro which started at 1745hrs local time last Sunday…
International Etchells European Championship
In short, a brilliant weekends racing with some very tight and enjoyable competition throughout the fleet. Day 1 (Fri) saw the AP up early on while Peter Saxton, the PRO, waited for the wind to fill in…
Hurricane Henri Pays a Visit to Newport
Henri made landfall along the coast just west of Newport, Rhode Island, during the morning of Sunday, Aug. 22, creating a maelstrom in the crowded anchorage off Fort Adams. (Paul Todd/Outside Images/)
It’s hard to believe, but it’s been a solid three decades since the south coast of New England and Rhode Island—including my hometown of Newport—has been slammed with a direct hit by a major hurricane, so you could say we were overdue. Despite the innocuous name, 1991′s Hurricane Bob was a formidable event, making landfall in Newport as a Category III beast with upward wind speeds of nearly 140 miles per hour. It took me a solid couple of days to clean up my mom’s backyard of the downed branches and debris, and we were the lucky ones in our neighborhood…
Jimmy Spithill on the SailGP Rollercoaster
Sailing legend Jimmy Spithill explains on his RedBull blog how his United States SailGP Team overcame treacherous conditions to salvage fourth place at Denmark Sail Grand Prix in Aarhus…
Hold Fast: An Olympic Sailing Podcast
For a couple weeks every four years, sailors in the Olympic Games light up our hearts with stories of triumph and determination. Yet, the larger part of their stories happen in the years of training and preparation in between each Olympics.
The Hold Fast Podcast hosted by Nathan Housberg showcases United States sailors with Olympic experience or aspirations as they share the parts of their journey that don’t typically make it to press.
Here’s a two part session with Caroline Atwood:
Part 1
For the first time ever on Hold Fast we are joined by a new co-host, Dr Tim Herzog, a sports psychologist and clinical psychiatrist to improve our focus on athlete mental health and psychological performance…
wall of voodoo
The Norwegian startup Wind Catching Systems has a novel concept for deploying floating offshore wind power at scale. Floating wind offers the promise of access to the steadier, more powerful winds in waters further offshore, but it is currently more expensive to install and maintain than conventional bottom-fixed turbine technology.
In partnership with Norwegian contractor Aibel AS and the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), Wind Catching Systems plans to commercialize an entirely new approach to floating offshore wind. Their patented design is a towering multi-turbine platform fitted with small turbines of about one megawatt each. If built out, this gigantic platform would generate the same energy as a conventional wind farm five times as large (by acreage). Each unit would be able to produce enough power to run 80,000 homes.
Stu Bithell adds Merlin National title to Olympic Gold
Stuart Bithell and Tom Pygall were the winners of the Aspire 2021 Merlin Nationals, held at the Eats Lothian YC…
64th Shearwater National Championships
Firstly I would like to say a huge congratulations to our National Champions Nigel and Sarah Stuart on Crowns! I’m sure they would agree this years nationals was definitely not an easy win with the top two boats only one point apart…
Boating banned in New Zealand
A year ago it was so often asked, “Is it 2021 yet?” First we learned the meaning of pandemic, and then we lived it. Brutal is an understatement, but once toilet paper returned to the store shelves, followed by vaccines, it was possible to be optimistic.
But there’s been no unified playbook for this virus, and for New Zealand, which so bravely allowed the America’s Cup to be held earlier this year, they now face the highest number of COVID-19 cases in a single day since last year.
For a sport like sailing, which provides so much relief from the pandemic, the Kiwi nation is now in lockdown. With their spring season to begin September 1, Yachting New Zealand chief executive David Abercrombie delivers the bad news:
This is not a message I am enjoying writing right now, as we contemplate life again at Alert Level 4. It is a massive shame on so many levels but we need to do the right thing and follow the rules because we’ve seen how devastating the Delta variant has been for so many countries.
The Yachting New Zealand offices are now closed and staff are all working from home. All yachting and boating clubs should also be closed and activity on the water is prohibited.
Hopefully this is only a short-term measure. I know this is not easy but we’ve succeeded before and can do it again. Look after yourselves and each other and we’ll hopefully see you on the water soon…
Volvo 70: World’s coolest yachts
Yachting World has been asking top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times, and Kiwi professional Stu Bannatyne nominated the Volvo 70 Ericsson 4. Here’s the report:
“Ericsson 4 holds a special place in my history of boats sailed. I was fortunate to be part of a very talented team that resulted in the fastest Volvo 70 of its era and it gave us many happy moments; along with some very stressful ones too!” The Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed Volvo 70, Ericsson 4 won the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, skippered by Torben Grael. During the very first leg of that race the crew showed her potential by setting a 24-hour monohull record, covering 596.6 miles, something Bannatyne recalls as giving “a great sense of satisfaction, both personally and for the team.” He adds: “The Volvo 70 was the best of all the Volvo Ocean Race classes and the same boats are still very active, and winning races globally…
know your tides
Wow this had disaster written all over it! Of course there is a thread.
This Hydrogen-Powered Chase Boat Is Coming to Make the America’s Cup a Little Greener
After winning the 36th America’s Cup in March, Emirates Team New Zealand has started building a secret weapon to help conquer the next event.
The victorious Kiwis have revealed a new hydrogen-powered foiling chase boat designed to support the AC75 racing yachts in the 37th America’s Cup. The goal is that more teams will jump on board and use support boats featuring this innovative, eco-friendly propulsion throughout the campaign.
The prototype, which is under construction at the team’s facility in Auckland’s North Shore, will be built with help from AFCryo. The Christchurch company is a strong proponent of green hydrogen and currently manufactures hydrogen production systems and composite cryostat in New Zealand. The vessel will be equipped with fuel cells, two electric motors, a battery and the all-important hydrogen tanks. As such, it can carry out support duties, such as schlepping spare sails or equipment, without releasing harmful emissions.
right or wrong?
Please don’t think I am trying to take Mozzy’s thunder at all but he doesn’t often come on here to voice his opinion, which in this case I completely agree with.
The SailGP version of the RRS changes 18.1 but doesn’t change the definition of Mark Room.
GBR allowed more than sufficient room for JPN to a) sail to the mark (she was on the other side the course approaching the mark and b) when JPN actually reaches the point where they would tack to round the mark – all the Mark Room they are entitled to – GBR is sailing a course at 90 degrees to JPN and is not even yet in the zone…
52 Super Series fleet is ready to rumble
After two days of practise races on the Bay of Palma, the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week & 20th Anniversary Invitational fleet is primed for action and ready to start racing for points and prizes Tuesday…
Youth Foiling Gold Cup Act 2 qualifying day 7
This evening, three teams are heading home as the rest of the fleet gear up for two intense days of sailing in the finals. Before the axe fell, it was quite the last day on Lake Garda with 180-degree wind shifts and puffy…
Heated rivalries to help SailGP
Rivalries fuel interest in sport and are founded in confrontation. Somebody says something and before you know it you have fans taking sides. For a burgeoning sports league like SailGP, this is good news.
Spanish team helm Phil Robertson and his aggressive starting tactics has him in the cross-hairs of US team helm Jimmy Spithill who was nearly steamrolled in the UK event. More recently in Denmark, British helm Ben Ainslie accused Japan helm Nathan Outteridge of slimy tactics.
For SailGP to harness broad interest, heated rivalries can help and British fans are massively loyal.
The latest incident occurred when Ainslie and his crew were judged to not have given Outteridge’s Japanese team enough room at the weather mark, and were subsequently given a penalty by the umpire. While it looked like there was plenty of room, the umpires were reacting to Outteridge’s claim that there wasn’t…
To watch the incident, click here.
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