Recent Sailing and Boating news articles

Date: 2008-05-16
Views: 8

Category: I

Francis Joyon is back in business! Just a few months after his amazing round the world record of just over 57 days, the yachtsman from Locmariaquer in Southern Brittany is working on his giant IDEC trimaran preparing for some new adventures. Busy in Marseilles and Toulon with commitments with his partner, IDEC, Francis has decided to take a look at the Mediterranean challenges. The historic Mediterranean record between Marseilles and Carthage (Tunisia) is currently in the hands of Bruno Peyron’s maxi multihull and her crew. While not claiming to be able to equal the average 25 knots or so achieved over the distance by the Orange II maxi catamaran, Joyon would like however to place the bar as high as possible for a single-handed multihull across The Big Blue. In September, IDEC will be heading for Cadiz (Spain), in order to go on stand by for another attempt at the Columbus Route between Cadiz and San Salvador (Bahamas). A leopard never changes his spots!

A trimaran in the best of shape
A well-rested Francis Joyon has clearly been thinking about the future, as he has taken care of the IDEC maxi trimaran over the past few weeks. The big red yacht, which holds the round the world record (57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes and 6 seconds since last January) has been the subject of close attention by her skipper, aided by his faithful helper Christophe Houdet, and his own brother Christian, with some additional assistance from local craftsmen. While the platform does not appeared to have suffered from her round the world voyage, Francis has been examining some of the key elements on his machine; Two new foresails have been added to the "Cuben Fiber" mainsail and staysail from the circumnavigation, and the mast, which he climbed four times yesterday was the subject of some important strengthening measures, mainly concerning the shroud fixation points. (You may remember the risk of dismasting, which hovered over the record attempt last winter...). The in-water refit in La Trinité made it necessary for divers to intervene to inspect her bottom and to check over the hull. Once again, nothing to report, so IDEC is amazingly in superb condition. Francis hopes to add a touch more to this healthy condition by adding new rudders to the floats. We can add that the previous appendages came from a 60-foot trimaran; "They suffered a lot during the circumnavigation," explained Joyon, "The stock showed signs of bending. We therefore constructed two new blades, which are much more rigid." Still with the appendages, the daggerboard was also modified as recommended by the skipper; "We gave her a better symmetry. It should make her more comfortable and offer her a better trajectory."

The Mediterranean Record and then the Columbus Route...
At the end of May, Francis Joyon and Christophe Houdet, accompanied by a third crewman, will take the boat on her long delivery trip via Gibraltar to the Port of Marseilles. Francis knows that the pre-summer period is not really ideal for finding a strong Mistral wind, which would enable him to sail straight across the Mediterranean. "I came down to the Mediterranean to show the boat to my friends and sponsors," explained Francis. "I’m leaving myself with a fortnight on stand-by hoping to find some strong favourable winds." Francis will then set sail alone to set a record time for the 458-mile voyage.
Having lost his single-handed record between Cadiz and San Salvador (the Columbus Route) in June 2005 to Thomas Coville, Joyon would like simply to compare the potential of his new IDEC with that of the Sodebo trimaran over the distance. An attempt, which may take place as early as September.

Mediterranean record times
. Crewed multihull record: Orange II / Bruno Peyron / September 2004 - 17 hours, 56 minutes and 33 seconds
. Single-handed monohull record: Roaring Forty (40-foot) / Michel Kleinjans / March 2008 - 1 day, 21 hours and 24 minutes Read More...

Date: 2008-05-16
Views: 3

Category: I

Race organisers have signed up London-based dakini Media and Chisnell to produce and write a large-format limited edition account of the 10-leg race as well as an English-language edition which will be on sale for Christmas 2009.

dakini Media’s CEO Lucky Dissanayake said she was delighted with the Volvo partnership. “It is such a major event on the sporting calendar and yachting is a passion of mine. I have always wanted to publish a book on the world’s foremost endurance race. We will make this a truly memorable publication.”

British author Mark Chisnell has two novels and seven non-fiction titles in his portfolio, as well as a successful career as a navigator.

Chisnell will be part of the travelling team for the entirety of the race, ensuring that he is at the heart of all the action and able to cover every aspect of the nine-month ocean odyssey.

The text will be illustrated with stunning images shot by world-renowned marine photographer Rick Tomlinson, as well as by the media specialists who will be onboard each boat to chart the race fleet around the world. Included with the book will be a highlights DVD from the television broadcast series.

Chisnell is looking forward to his new writing project. “I’m really pleased to be returning to the Volvo after 10 years away. The new race course is a fantastic challenge for the sailors and I think we are going to see some remarkable racing – it is going to be a great experience bringing that to the printed page.”

Mark’s previous books include Risk to Gain, the best-selling account of Team EF’s win in the 1997-98 edition of the race.. His own racing career includes winning the Admiral’s Cup and a couple of World Championships, along with navigating for three America’s Cup campaigns.

dakini Media is an innovative, dynamic publishing house, producing high-quality illustrated books on sport, the environment, popular culture and design. dakini’s most recent publication was Global Warning: The Last Chance for Change which was published in the UK by A & C Black, and in the US by Readers Digest. The company is currently working on an official book of the Olympic Games in time for Beijing in partnership with the International Olympic Committee. Official recognition of its achievements came last year in the form of a Gold Award from BFIIN (British Female Inventors and Innovators Network) for Exceptional Creativity in Business.

The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10^th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008, it will, for the first time, take in Kochi, Singapore and Qingdao before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in race history. Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, stopping at around 11 ports and taking nine months to complete, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world’s premier yacht race for professional racing crews.

Date: 2007-11-15
Views: 796

Category: Sailing news

Franck Cammas and Steve Ravussin have won the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV) again, beating the previous race record held by Cammas and Franck Proffit by an incredible 48 hours.

Seen as the favourites since the start, Cammas and Ravussin did not disappoint, making their mark on the race with ten days of strong sailing and sound tactics. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-14
Views: 1215

Category: Sailing news

Sailors at all levels of the sport have voiced their disappointment at the decision to cut the multi-hull class from the 2012 Olympics.

The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Council decided to cut multi-hulls after being told by the International Olympic Committee that for the 2012 games in London the number of sailing events would have to be cut to ten, and the number of competitors limited to 380. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-13
Views: 717

Category: Sailing news

Skandia Team GBR's Beijing-nominated Yngling crew of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson were victorious again at the RYA Winter Challenge Match Racing Series this weekend at Queen Mary Sailing Club in Staines.

Conditions for this, the first RYA match racing event since the ISAF's announced that women's match racing would be an event in the 2012 Olympics, were perfect, with plenty of sunshine and a westerly wind of eight to 15 knots. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-12
Views: 930

Category: Sailing news

The Barcelona World Race got off to a smooth start on Sunday afternoon, with bright, sunny skies, southerly winds of almost ten knots, and Dame Ellen MacArthur on hand to fire the starting gun.

First across the starting line for the 25,000 nautical mile, non-stop, round the world race was Educacion sin Fronteras, skippered by local sailor Albert Bargues and Servanne Escoffier, who at 26, is the youngest sailor in the race. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-09
Views: 735

Category: Sailing news

A starting date of July 18th 2009 has been set for the 33rd America's Cup, and in a break with tradition, the defending champions, Alinghi, will participate in the round-robin stages, organisers have announced.

Complex new rules mean that the Swiss team will now be able to take part in the early elimination races and the semi-finals in May, by way of a practice run and to test their boat before the actual final. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-08
Views: 605

Category: Sailing news

Ten days of consistent and fast sailing have benefited the crew of Hull & Humber, who have moved into second place and are now chasing race leader's New York, in the third leg of the Clipper Round the World race.

Just over a week ago, Hull & Humber were bringing up the rear of the fleet, but have turned things around, winging their way to the front of the pack and back into the running. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-07
Views: 501

Category: Sailing news

On day three of the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV), Marc Guillemot and Charles Coudrelier in Safran were in the lead as the pack made its way along the French coast.

After a slow start, conditions are finally improving, with winds from the north-east picking up to speeds of 20 to 25 knots, with some crews, including the leaders, now opting to head offshore in an attempt to make the best of the present conditions. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-06
Views: 508

Category: Sailing news

The first six inductees in the newly created ISAF sailing hall of fame have been announced at a ceremony in Estoril in Portugal.

Fifteen-times world championship winner Paul Elvstrom; president of the Sail Training Association Sir Robin Knox-Johnson; record breaker Dame Ellen MacArthur; yacht designer Olin Stephens; boardsailing champion Barbara Kendall and the late Eric Tabarly, were named as the first six sailors to be honoured for their contribution to the sport. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-05
Views: 2342

Category: Personal Watercraft

The British Marine Federation (BMF) has said that it is continuing to work with government to try and reach a suitable outcome with regards to the loss of the Red Diesel derogation for boaters.

Following the decision by the European Commission not to renew the derogation of Red Diesel for leisure boaters, owners of private craft will lose permission to use the low-duty diesel as of November 2008, although the Treasury is still unsure as to how to implement the change. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-02
Views: 556

Category: Sailing news

British yachtswoman Dee Caffari and her co-skipper Nigel King are making their final preparations for the hotly anticipated Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV) race from France to Brazil, which begins on Saturday.

Sailing the Open 60 racing yacht Aviva, the pair will be taking on 17 other teams in their class in the 4,340-mile course, which follows the historic coffee trade route, in what is Caffari's first transatlantic race of the Aviva Ocean Racing campaign. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-01
Views: 349

Category: Sailing news

Nearly 300 young sailors, representing the cream of the UK's university sailing crop, will be heading to Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy for the British University Sports Association (BUSA) Sailing Championship this weekend.

The event not only brings the season to a close, but also provides students from around the country with the chance to compete against one another in Laser, Laser 2, Firefly and Handicap classes on an individual basis, as well as battling it out for the overall Universities' Team Trophy. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-31
Views: 1116

Category: Industry

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is asking members of the public to respond to its own cry for help in the run up to RNLI SOS day on January 25th.

Figures just released by the charity show that this summer alone, RNLI lifeboats were launched over 3,500 times throughout June, July and August and RNLI lifeguards aided nearly 8,500 people on beaches during the same period, while crews also rescued over 200 people during the devastating flooding. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-30
Views: 354

Category: Sailing news

To mark its centenary, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) is launching the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame this year, to honour the sport's most prominent stars.

The first six as yet unnamed inductees will be announced in November at a gala dinner at Estoril in Portugal, which will be sponsored by Portugal Tourism, Estoril Tourism and Cascais Municipality and will play host to some of the best known and most popular figures in sailing. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-29
Views: 401

Category: Sailing news

Adrian Flanagan, who is attempting to become the first person to sail around the world solo via the polar regions, has been forced to postpone his trip for a second time.

The 46-year-old from Bicester in Oxfordshire initially set off in October of 2005, but was forced to halt a little under a year later, after covering 25,000 miles, when the Russian Arctic began to freeze over. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-26
Views: 402

Category: Sailing news

Favourable winds have spelt for swift overnight progress on the first night of the third leg of the round the world race from Salvador to Durban in South Africa, but have also split the fleet in two.

Several of the boats have reported 12-hour runs of more than 120 nautical miles, but the boats have divided into two groups, with race leaders New York and Western Australia, as well as Singapore, Glasgow and Durban heading out to sea, while Liverpool, Hull and Humber, Qingdao and Nova Scotia have chosen to hug the coast but are also lagging behind somewhat. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-25
Views: 358

Category: Sailing news

A victory in Bermuda has helped Frenchman Mathieu Richard unseat Brit Ian Williams from the top spot in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings for the first time in five months.

This is the first time Richard has claimed first place in the rankings, thanks to his win in ISAF Grade WC Gold Cup in Bermuda, while Williams finished in 12th, a disappointing placing that has ultimately cost him dear. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-24
Views: 394

Category: Sailing news

The RYA Olympic Classes National Ranking Series came to a close this weekend, at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, with both familiar faces and new names taking home prizes.

World Champions Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes took the overall Series crown, finishing just a point ahead of Paul Campbell-James and Mark Asquith in the 49er class, while the 470 class went to Luke Patience and Chris Grube - their second National Ranking Series title. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-23
Views: 580

Category: Inland Waterways

The Port of London Authority (PLA) has officially named two new award-winning harbour patrol boats which will serve the Thames between Putney and Teddington.

The specially-designed catamarans, Richmond and Chelsea, were named by local MPs, Susan Kramer and Justine Greening, and it is hoped that they will to help build on the area's reputation as a centre for rowing and sailing. Read More...