Sounds like he wants to stop for some refreshments.

The best laid plans….

Posted: 16 Apr 2009 05:04 AM PDT
And still it blows!  It is at lceast beginning to ease up a little and the sea has simmered a little though it looks as though she will boil again tomorrow….Last night the retrieval line for the parachute anchor chafed through and is now in something of a tangle trailing behind the boat.  So ’twill be a good fight to get the parachute back onboard.   For now we are being pushed south which is not ideal, I want to stay to the north of Stewart Island as drifting to the south af there will cause problems…fewer places to land – and a better chance to miss land altogether!  So we have to play against the caprice of the wind and current..hopefully on Sun/Mon the  wind will go into the SW and push us North again above Stewart Island and give a better  angle of approach hopefully so we  can find a soft   landing on the  south  island.  As we get closer to land the tides will take effect a bit more so that then we’ll really be out of control…. Perhaps Miss Dalt, Miss Beerad, Miss Nina, Gran and Jimmy Gunn you could get your classes to find me a nice soft landing place on Google Earth?! A la carte menu Brunch: Wispa Galaxy Fudge X2 Nutrigrain X2 Peparami firestick Supper Spag Bol (amazingly magnificent) Rice pud 2009 vintage eau de mer.

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Seems this image is very popular

From Crew.org, can you name the yacht?

The image of a magnificent eagle, the emblem of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, will adorn the 68-foot racing yacht which has today been confirmed as an entry in the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race.

Following the hugely successful stopover there in the 07-08 edition of the race Sydney, Cape Breton, is also confirmed as a stopover on the Clipper 09-10 route and will play host to the fleet in June 2010.

Named Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia’s Masterpiece, the entry will be one of ten identical, stripped down 68-foot racing yachts competing in the event, each sponsored by an international city, region or country. They include Uniquely Singapore, Qingdao and Hull & Humber, all of whom will be making return appearances, the team sponsors having discovered that the Clipper Race provides a unique platform delivering cost-effective global market exposure. Joining them for the first time will be California, whose participation has been endorsed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger following the fleet’s inaugural visit to the state in the last edition of the biennial race. Also making a debut is Cork, the first ever Irish entry in the Clipper Race and the destination for the fleet when they leave Sydney.

The campaign to enter a Cape Breton Island yacht that will showcase Nova Scotia’s masterpiece, the majestic beauty of the region and the warmth of its people to a worldwide audience of more than 200 million people has been backed by Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation and Sydney Ports Corporation. They will use the event as a dynamic platform from which to promote tourism, investment, education, immigration and trade opportunities as well as establishing economic development contacts and opportunities in the countries the race visits.

On board the racing yacht will be a team of normal folk, many of whom who have never sailed before, who are taking up the challenge of a lifetime. Cape Breton native Elisa Jenkins, 30, signed up to take part when she saw the ten-strong fleet in Sydney in June last year and knew it was for her. The physiotherapist is using her experience to raise funds and awareness for the Cape Breton Cancer Center.

Elisa says, “I’m proud to be sailing into global harbours with Cape Breton Island on the hull. Our symbol of the eagle will be a source of strength for crew members as we race across the world’s oceans. The Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race has given me an opportunity to pursue personal challenges and draw attention to a meaningful cause in our community.”

Cape Breton Island gets set to soar in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race

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A global takeover by Class 40

Until the start of the inaugural Portimão Global Ocean Race in Portugal late last year, the longest distance race for a Class 40 was 4,300 miles in the 2007 edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre from Le Havre, France, to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. In the three legs of the Portimão Global Ocean Race completed so far, the Class 40s entered have sailed a total of 21,400 miles with the minimum leg distance of 6,900 miles and the maximum of 7,500 miles in the recent Leg 3. Although Class 40s were designed predominantly for transatlantic races, the boats are now proving robust, safe and fast in sea conditions that naval architects had not factored into the design equation. With the Portimão Race competitors and pioneers consistently pushing the class parameters and exceptional interest growing for the next edition of this round-the-world event, the class association, the group of designers involved and the class members are keenly following developments after an initial resistance towards the concept of a circumnavigation race in evenly-matched 40-footers.

As a long-time supporter of the Portimão Global Ocean Race, Guillaume Verdier – designer of Leg 3 winner Desafio Cabo de Hornos – was hugely relieved when the fleet rounded Cape Horn and exited the Southern Ocean, climbing northwards from 56°S. “When I saw the bad weather coming near Cape Horn I was really concerned,” admits Verdier. As MRCC Punta Arenas in Chile issued increasingly alarming gale warnings, the Portimão fleet slipped beneath the southern tip of South America and entered the South Atlantic after three weeks in the high latitudes of the Pacific. “I was very, very happy when they made it round the cape,” says Verdier. Fellow French designer Marc Lombard who drew the lines for the two Akilaria Class 40s in the race – overall race leader Beluga Racer and British double-handed entry, Team Mowgli – was also concerned about the 7,500 mile Leg 3: “We’re very relieved that the boats have completed this difficult leg considering the weather down in the 40s and 50s,” he confirms. “Originally, we were concerned about the route and the race, but the boats are in very good condition for a round the world trip. We are very pleased with the boats; they’re very reliable and very seaworthy.”

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A new South American Class 40 design from Nestor Volker

SPEED, SPEED AND MORE SPEED

Today it is pure boat speed and the ability of each crew to squeeze out the last ounce of performance that is making the difference as the Volvo fleet reaches towards the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha at a steady 15 knots.

There are no passing lanes and no capacity for tactical moves in the near future.  Ian Walker, skipper of Green Dragon says these opportunities may not arise until the fleet nears the finish in Boston.  His plan is to keep spirits high onboard and stay in touch with the fleet so that he’s close enough to take advantage when an opportunity does present itself.

As the wind picked up, waves are starting to sweep across the decks and Magnus Olsson, skipper of Ericsson 3, has been an unsuspecting victim.  A big wave flushed him into the steering pedestal and he was momentarily stunned.  His ribs were hurt but, according to the crew, he managed to go down below and climb into his bunk without help.  He has since been talking and even laughing and the crew is not concerned.

“I was not prepared for that wave at all,” Magnus said shortly before he went to sleep.  “It feels stupid to be hit like this by the first wave that reaches the deck.”  Onboard medic, Richard Mason, who himself sat out the last leg with a back problem, checked the bruise on Magnus while he was sleeping.  Mason is now wondering if he brings bad luck to Ericsson 3.  “On the entire last leg, when I was not onboard, the team did not have many injuries at all, and now this happens almost straight away,” he said.

The fleet is now clear of Recife on the Brazilian coast and sailing directly towards the western end of the scoring gate, 129 nm head.  Telefónica Blue is in good shape at the head of the fleet, holding on to a nice 17-mile lead from Ericsson 4 who has now taken up second place, with Delta Lloyd carefully shadowing her just two miles astern.  Since yesterday, these three teams have moved to the western flank of the course to take advantage of the more lifted winds expected today.  Telefónica Blue is 133 off the coast and the fleet is spread across an eight-mile divide from Delta Lloyd in the west to PUMA in the east.

Oddly, Bouwe Bekking, skipper of Telefónica Blue found himself in almost an identical scenario to one from the previous race in 2005-06.  Then as now, he was in the lead and being hounded by ABN AMRO ONE, now Delta Lloyd.  “Then, we knew we had a bit on as the ABN boat was more than 1.5 knots faster on a close reach. We beat them by only two or three minutes to the scoring gate,” he says.

Delta Lloyd’s Spanish skipper, Roberto Bérmudez is proud of his boat.  “We are really happy,” he says.  “We are happy with the racing we are doing, but we must fight until the scoring gate with no rest.  We are getting the best of this boat.”

Ericsson 4 is enjoying the battle with Delta Lloyd, a boat that several of the Ericsson 4 crew are familiar with, having sailed her to victory last time around.   This team also has Telefónica Black in view, which according to Guy Salter, Ericsson 4’s MCM, will make for a very interesting few hours into the scoring gate.

Next up will be the Doldrums, which lurk just north of the Equator, which is 403 nm ahead of the fleet.  Race meteorologist, Jennifer Lilly, says the narrowest part of the Doldrums is near the coast of North America and that the light airs extend southwest from Sierra Leone towards Fernando de Noronha.

“While the band of light winds looks pretty narrow, with the northeasterly trade winds filling not long after the fleet passes the scoring gate, the likelihood of squall activity is near certainty,” says Jennifer.

Onboard Telefónica Black, the team is overheating in every sense.  First there is a charging problem, which David Vera has been able to fix, then Roger Nilson explained,  “I guess we all feel a bit overheated, both when it comes to below deck temperature, but also from the heat of the fight against our nearest competition, PUMA, Delta Lloyd and Ericsson 3.  Speed, speed and more speed is what we are all looking for right now.”

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Pirates – who claim they are the ‘Central Regional Coastguard’ of Somalia  .

Piracy
The game has changed. The first cruising sailor has been killed in Somali waters. With the tragic killing of a French sailor this week, a sailor who defied all military advice and sailed with his wife and three-year-old son into the waters between Kenya and the Seychelles, the dangers are now upgraded for potential transits by yachts of the Indian Ocean. The French yacht Tanit was more than 400 nautical miles from Somalia when the attack occurred, and not in the Gulf of Aden, where, however, attacks are continuing on commercial shipping.

The irony is that Florent Lemacon was almost certainly killed by French snipers, not by the pirates, who have a history of taking good care of the safety of their hostages. According to some recent pirate statements, that will now change for both French and American sailors.

Cruising sailors who are still intending to sail through the Gulf of Aden to reach the Red Sea tell me that they will sail close inshore and depend on the Yemeni coastguard to protect them as they sail short hops from port to port. David Shinn, a US Adjunct professor at Washington University and a former Ambassador in various African posts writes a very interesting analysis of the piracy problem this week.

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This composite image shows the massive galaxy cluster MACSJ0717.5+3745 (MACSJ0717, for short) where four separate galaxy clusters have been involved in a collision, the first time such a phenomenon has been documented. Hot gas is shown in an image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and galaxies are shown in an optical image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The hot gas is color-coded to show temperature, where the coolest gas is reddish purple, the hottest gas is blue, and the temperatures in between are purple.

The repeated collisions in MACSJ0717 are caused by a 13-million-light- year-long stream of galaxies, gas, and dark matter – known as a filament — pouring into a region already full of matter. A collision between gas in two or more clusters causes the hot gas to slow down.

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Sailing Superstars Line Up for 2009 iShares Cup

16 April 2009

In brief :

- Forty world-class sailors
- Six European venues
- Nine different nationalities
- Three French multihull legends
- Only one iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series

In detail :

The iShares Cup 2009 fleet will feature 40 of the World’s best sailors, who between them have over 50 World Championship titles, 27 America’s Cup participations, 17 Round the World navigations and 14 Olympic campaigns. From inshore to offshore, from technical dinghy specialists to giant multihull gladiators, these sailors are riding high at the peak of their professional sailing careers.

Forty sailors across 10 teams are now officially confirmed for the 2009 series and it is anticipated that the competition will be intense in what has become sailing’s hottest property.

Forget everything you thought you knew about sailboat racing, the iShares Cup is the perfect antidote to distant slow yacht confrontations! Bringing world-class combat up close and personal to the public since 2007, the iShares Cup is back in 2009 with yet more great names and six spectacular European venues.

Loïck Peyron and Franck Cammas, who are unrivalled in the oceanic multihull world. In addition to having five World Oceanic Multihull Champion titles to his name, Peyron won The Artemis Transat in 2008 making it three career wins on the toughest solo transatlantic course and in doing so rising one step above French legend Eric Tabarly. Peyron joined the Oman Sail project in March this year and will now be charge of his own Extreme 40, Renaissance, for this season.

Cammas holds the North Atlantic speed record and has recently been “teaching” the BMW ORACLE Racing team how to use their brand new maxi (90′) trimaran. The young French skipper already had a taste of the iShares Cup having raced at the French event in 2007 and at Cowes last year, and wanted to come back for a full season with his long-term sponsor Groupama.

Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson will skipper Team iShares in 2009 and the Olympic contingent is also represented by Carolijn Brouwer on Holmatro, Yann Guichard on Gitana Extreme- Groupe LCF Rothschild, Darren Bundock on BT and Pete Cumming with Chris Draper on the helm of Oman Sail’s second Extreme 40, Masirah – not to mention the plethora of Olympian crew members throughout the fleet, including the Mourniac brothers aboard Erik Maris’s LUNA.

Australian Nick Moloney brings his eclectic experience as a round-the-world and America’s Cup sailor back into the fray with BT, after finishing the 2008 iShares Cup on the podium.

Also coming from the prestigious world of the America’s Cup, James Spithill onboard BMW ORACLE Racing will be a real rival for the number one spot.

The final top-flight team will announce their participation in the coming weeks to make it ten teams in total coming head to head on the demanding, short and sometimes unconventional courses, competing so fiercely that heart-stopping close encounters always feature on the menu.

It’s a show as well as top class racing and the public has full access to the action from the shore, in carefully chosen venues that combine challenging sailing conditions and spectator-friendly configurations.

Three of the European venues have been officially announced – Venice (ITA), Kiel (GER) and Almeria, Andalucía (ESP) – the remaining three venues in the UK, France and The Netherlands are confirmed and will be announced shortly.

Get ready for a great season of iShares Cup drama…

2009 Entries iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series:

BMW ORACLE Racing (USA) – James Spithill (AUS)
BT (EUR) – Nick Moloney (AUS)
Holmatro (NED) – Carolijn Brouwer (BEL)
iShares (EUR) – Shirley Robertson (GBR)
Gitana Extreme- Groupe LCF Rothschild (FRA) – Yann Guichard (FRA)
Groupama 40 (FRA) – Franck Cammas (FRA)
LUNA (FRA) – Erik Maris (FRA)
Masirah (OMA) – Pete Cumming (GBR)
Renaissance (OMA) – Loïck Peyron (FRA)

& another top flight team to be announced shortly…

2009 Venues iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series:

Event 1 – Venice, Italy, 15th to 17th May
Event 2 – France, 3rd to 5th July
Event 3 – United Kingdom, 1st to 3rd August
Event 4 – Kiel, Germany, 28th to 30th August
Event 5 – The Netherlands, 25th to 27th September
Event 6 – Almería, Andalucía, 10th to 12th October

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Cagliari RC 44 Cup

Invitation to a Press Conference

The RC 44 Class Association invites you to a press conference in Cagliari, Sardinia, on April 21, 2009, at 11:00 AM.
The Cagliari RC 44 Cup is the second regatta of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2009. It will assemble a world Class group of sailors and teams in Cagliari, including Dean Barker, Russell Coutts, Karol Jablonski, Cameron Appleton, Markus Wieser, Christian Binder, José Maria Ponce, Philippe Presti and many more.
We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the event, and to some of the world’s best sailors.

DATE:

Tuesday 21 April 2009
11:00 AM

LOCATION:
Cagliari
Sardinia
Old Town Hall
Piazza Palazzo

OPPORTUNITY:
Media representatives will have the opportunity to sail on board the RC 44’s as guests during Tuesday afternoon’s practice races, as well as during the event.

Put 20 copies of your logo on yachtyakka with live links back to your webpage for just $10 per week – bargain!!

Put 20 copies of your logo on yachtyakka with live links back to your webpage for just $10 per week – bargain!!

In 1945, at the end of the war, Colonel Tony Somers suggested the Club should purchase the ten Mermaids (laid up since 1939) from their owners so they would be available for all Members to sail. He also arranged for his Regiment to charter them for their annual regatta. Thus the tradition of Club owned boats and chartering has been in existence for over sixty years.

In 1962 the fleet was replaced by ten new boats, designed by Arthur Robb and built by Souters of Cowes specifically for the SVYC. The Club is the sole Class Authority, which gives us the huge advantage of being able to introduce modifications at will and ensure the boats are treated exactly alike. Racing results are therefore determined by skill and not the size of the owner’s wallet!

The 1962 hulls were made of cold moulded Makore plywood, superior to the fibreglass of those days, but rather brittle. By the early 1990s all the hulls looked like patchwork quilts beneath their coloured paintwork. The fittings had never been updated and spinnaker handling involved packing the sail in a bucket which then had to be clipped to the bow fairlead — an exciting chore which frequently resulted in bucket and all being hoisted! After some experiments, members were invited to try the first “modernised” boat during Easter 1993. As a result it was agreed to update the remaining nine.

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Souter takes the crown at the

Harken Women’s International Match Racing Regatta

Winning team of Nicky Souter (second from right), with Hanna Nattrass (left), Sam Boyd (2nd from left) and Lilly Taylor (right) at the conclusion of Harken Women’s International Match Racing Regatta
Photo Andrea Francolini

Nicky Souter and her team of Samantha Boyd, Hanna Nattrass and Lilly Taylor (Australian Sailing Development Squad) have today been crowned the winners of the Harken Women’s International Match Racing Regatta, defeating Katie Spithill 3-2 in the Grand Final. Souter caused an upset winning over Spithill who had led the regatta with a record of 17 wins and only one loss for the entire regatta.

Racing got underway today at 11:15 in a 5-8 knot southerly breeze with the first match being won by Spithill. Spithill led the race from start to finish, playing the breeze right, which enabled her to build a large lead at the top mark. Souter did well to counter on the final downwind run and closed the gap slightly, however it was not enough – Spithill going up 1-0.

The next two flights were to be Souter’s. Match two was a complete reversal of match one with Souter starting slightly behind, yet she out-tacked Spithill, taking a handy lead at the top mark, which she extended to over 20 seconds. Spithill managed to catch up on the downwind run to the finish, however as in match one it was too little too late, and Souter has now squared this series up at 1-all. Match 3 was a magnificent race from Souter who picked the breeze line and sailed off on the right hand side of the course leaving Spithill in her wake. Spithill was flying a protest flag as she crossed the line, however the redress has been denied – Souter leads 2-1.

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Placings at the conclusion of the Harken Women’s International Match Racing Regatta are:
1st – Nicky Souter (ASDS)
2nd – Katie Spithill (ASDS)
3rd – Amanda Scrivenor (ASDS/CYCA)
4th – Lucinda Whitty (ASDS)
5th – Samantha Osborne (RNZYS)
6th – Stephanie Hazard (RNSYS)
7th – Catherine Trew (CYCA)
8th – Amy Lee (RPAYC)
9th – Juliana Senfft (Brazil)
10th – Kim Stuart (USA)

Photo Andrea Francolini

ERICSSON 4 LEG SIX DAY 5 QFB:  received 15.04.09 1330 GMT

Day four is almost over on Ericsson 4 and the frantic sail changes and gear changing of the previous few days seems to be slowing down.  We  are entering a period of more stable breeze and the sailing is very pleasant on deck – shorts and tee-shirts are all that is required  (unless of course you are going forward to the always wet bow area of  Ericsson 4).  Time to reflect a little on the race so far and what the future may hold.

The last two stopovers have been very short, Qingdao by design and Rio by virtue of our extra long voyage on leg five.  This has put a lot of pressure on shore crews to complete job lists and the sailors are given precious little time to recover before putting to sea again.   Particularly in Rio there was barely enough time to regain weight (although four trips to Porcao helped in this department!) let alone any conditioning or strength lost on the previous leg.  This means that most of the sailors on leg six will still be at sub-optimum physically, add to this the travelling for the guys that flew home from Rio and it makes for a tough turn around.  This leg will also be  tough as we make many sail changes in hot weather and then at the end  will likely be in freezing cold temperatures again as we approach  Boston.

There is a lot of talk about the next edition of the race and most of the sailors would be keen on a few longer stopovers.  If this is not the plan then I think it is likely we will see a more active rotation policy on all boats and potentially sailing squads of three or four more than the race crew number.  Maybe this a good thing for the race as more sailors will take part but it will escalate costs for the teams which is a downside to consider.

Regardless of the ultimate setup for the next race I am sure there will be a large number of the current sailors lining up again for another shot.  There are just too many highlights of being involved in this race to consider not doing it again and for some reason most of my bad memories are quickly forgotten while the most enjoyable moments remain fresh in my mind long afterwards.  So no doubt will probably see you again next time (assuming we can get through the rest of this race intact!)  -  regardless of the ultimate race format.

Stu Bannatyne – watch captain

One thing that has improved no end onboard Ericsson 4 is the snacks programme. There are more sweet and savoury snacks than you could imagine onboard and all carefully selected by Joca Signorini. It definitely helps when one of your own is a local and Joca has come up trumps with a varied selection of snacks which I guess are his childhood favourites. In fact I will need to ask his family whether Joca’s favourite is a bar called a ‘Trio’ as he seems to be a little partial to these.

If we were to stop in the UK on this race and if I were in charge of the snacks then the list would be endless – skips, quavers, wheat crunchies, flying saucers……….. and not forgetting Walker’s new favourite ‘onion bhaji’ flavoured crisps. It’s amazing what you think about in the long silent hours onboard!

Guy Salter – MCM

500 images here

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First-half boat sales down 46 per cent at Bénéteau

By IBI Magazine

French boatbuilding group Bénéteau reports boat sales down by 46.4 per cent compared to the same period last year, confirming the company’s forecast for a 40 per cent drop in business.

Half-year boat sales totalled €173.4m on February 28, 2009 compared to €323.7m on February 29, 2008. The order book — which usually represents 95 per cent of the year’s sales by this date — is 45 per cent lower than the same period the previous year.

Meanwhile Bénéteau’s leisure home business fell by 30.5 per cent to €65.0m for the half-year to February 2009, making like-for-like consolidated sales for the whole group down 42.6 per cent on the same period last year.

The group says that the ‘wait-and-see’ trend among consumers has remained strong since the autumn boat shows, but that some countries are holding up better than others.

Bénéteau reports that markets in France, Italy, Germany, Turkey and Russia are down by 30-40 per cent while Spain, the UK, US and Scandinavia have contracted by 70-80 per cent.

The company confirms its forecast for annual sales to contract by 40 per cent like-for-like.

Last week Bénéteau announced that 600 jobs are at risk, following an assessment that found the company to be overstaffed by over 1,500 positions in light of the current crisis on the marine market.

Bénéteau employs 6,000 people at more than 20 production sites. In 2007-2008 the company’s turnover totalled €1.055bn, of which 81 per cent was generated by boat sales.

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This post is tagged 4, bannatype, beau, beneteau, blue, bmw, breton, cagliari, cammas, cape, clipper, delta, ericsson, franck, gest, global, guy, hicks, ishares, james, lloyd, loick, match, mermaid, nestor, nicky, ocean, oliver, oracle, peyron, pirates, portimao, race, rc44, round, row, sailing anarchy, salter, souter, spithall, stu, telfonica, victorious, virgin, volker, volvo, world, yacht