Alive once more

Little story of PK

I started the design of PK in 1992 and the construction in 1993. At this time, I was student with no money, not a lot of knowledge and not too much confidence in what I could realize. That’s why this boat is exclusively made with some “recycled materials” (insulation foam or from very old sailboards, plywood coming of an old school blackboard for the foils…) !

As a result, I designed and built PK for approximately $800.

My boat can be taken to pieces and I use my little French car to transport all the parts.
That’s an interesting point but that’s also why I have some difficulties to obtain a reliable boat.

PK flew the first time in 1997 without the system for the modification of the incidence.

When I sail, I don’t want to have some spectators chuckle (if PK don’t fly!) and that’s the reason why, I just have bad photos of PK in flight!

Now PK is an old boat made with “bad” material.
Since 1993, I tried different ideas : rotary bench, sailboard sail with rigid rigging…
After 16 years of navigation (but only two or three times by years !), I continue to modify and repair different parts.
PK is not perfect and not very beautiful ! She flies correctly when nothing breaks…

I have some other projects but obviously not the time to start something !

The particular points of the latest version of PK
- T foils with ” incidence control system”
- Rotary floats (to protect the foils)

Main dimensions
- Length Overall 5.25 m
- Length Hull 3.85 m
- Beam 5 m
- Sail area 6 m2
- Weight 75 Kg

more Foilers here

A peine plus d’un mois après sa mise au sec et son entrée en chantier, le Maxi Banque Populaire V a retrouvé son élément en ce lundi de Pentecôte. Optimisé et renforcé suite aux leçons tirées des nombreuses navigations du début de l’année, le grand trimaran océanique va à présent être remis en configuration avant les premiers bords prévus pour la semaine prochaine. De quoi donner à Pascal Bidégorry et l’ensemble du Team Banque Populaire de nombreuses raisons de se réjouir et un horizon dégagé vers le prochain défi : le record de la traversée de l’Atlantique Nord.

Barely more than a month after its bet in dryness and its entrance under construction, Maxi Banque Populaire V found its element in this Monday of Whitsunday. Having optimized and having reinforced further to drawn lessons numerous navigations of the beginning of the year, the big oceanic trimaran is currently going to be delayed in shape before the first edges envisaged for next week. Of what to give in Pascal Bidégorry and the whole Popular Team Banque with numerous reasons to be delighted and a clear skyline………..

Après un stand-by à Cadix (Espagne) les premières semaines de cette année 2009, le Team Banque Populaire remettait le cap sur sa base de Lorient en avril et profitait de l’occasion pour éprouver la monture et les hommes dans des conditions de navigations hauturières. A quelques encablures de l’arrivée, un OFNI venait alors contrarier un convoyage mené pourtant sans encombre et particulièrement satisfaisant. Le Team Banque Populaire se voyait donc contraint de sortir le Maxi Trimaran de l’eau et un chantier imprévu débutait en un temps record, grâce notamment à la réactivité de toute l’équipe de Keroman Technologies à Lorient. Un petit mois plus tard, les portes du hangar se sont ouvertes pour permettre à nouveau au Maxi Banque Populaire V de déployer ses ailes, pour le plus grand plaisir de tout un Team et à sa tête son directeur technique, Ronan Lucas : « Toute l’équipe technique de Banque Populaire a travaillé d’arrache pied pendant ce mois de mai afin que notre bateau soit remis à l’eau le plus rapidement possible. Nous avons essayé de gagner un peu de poids où nous en avions l’opportunité. Nous avons également renforcé les fonds de coques depuis les puis de foils jusqu’aux étraves afin de réduire au maximum les conséquences d’un éventuel impact à venir ».

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This beautiful 60 ft. wood schooner is one of the best built ships of this type. Certificate is available from the designer. Recently overhauled and well maintained, she is in excellent condition. She is a very strong ship, a perfect live-aboard and ready to cruise.

Type: Shpountz 44-40
Design by Daniël z. Bombigher

Gypsea has her home port in The Netherlands, near Amsterdam.
The asking price was € 390.000,- (Euro). UPDATE Oct 19-Due to illness, owner will consider any serious offer on Gypsea.

Contact e-mail: captain@gypsea.nl

more photos here

Hundreds of zoos, aquariums, and museums planning events around the world for

World Oceans Day on June 8th

(Providence, RI) – On June 8th hundreds of communities around the globe will celebrate World Oceans Day – an opportunity to learn about our world ocean and our personal connection to the sea, to raise awareness about the crucial role the ocean plays in our lives, and the important ways people can help to protect our shared world ocean.

The Ocean Project – with over 830 Partner aquariums, zoos, science museums and other educational organizations in all 50 states and 70 countries – is the largest network ever formed to focus on conservation of the ocean. The Ocean Project, working closely with the World Ocean Network, helps to coordinate events and activities to celebrate World Oceans Day with our Partners and other organizations around the globe. Working together, we also succeeded in our petition to have the United Nations officially designate World Oceans Day as June 8th each year.

This year’s theme: Since climate change and the ocean are inextricably tied together, and our society’s future depends on a healthy climate and a healthy world ocean, this year’s theme will better make that connection that binds us together as part of an interconnected planet.  This year we are encouraging Partners to promote the theme “one ocean, one climate, one future.”

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Konzept

Sailbox präsentiert die Vision einer professionellen Boatsharing-, Ausbildungs- und Eventplattform.

Stellen Sie sich vor, schweizweit stehen Ihnen 60 identische Segelschiffe zur Verfügung.

Sie segeln – statt zu besitzen.
Sie bezahlen nur, wenn Sie auch wirklich segeln gehen. Segeln ist nicht mehr teurer als Skifahren.

Sie segeln – statt zu putzen.
Die neuen, modernen Yachten sind professionell gewartet. Innert Minuten ist die Yacht segelfertig – und auch wieder verräumt. Sie kümmern sich nicht um das Winterlager oder die Wartung.

Sie erkunden neue Gegenden –
mit Ihrem Auto oder im Zug zu Ihrem Wunschhafen. Die Yacht im Internet oder am Telefon reserviert. Tessin gefällig? Gerade am Walensee? Oder im Engadin in den Ferien? Geschäftlich in Genf… . Immer die gleiche Yacht, immer das gleiche Material.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2 JUNE 2009

…AND THE TOUR ROLLS ON TO KOREA

World Match Racing Tour does a quick turn-around from Match Race Germany to start Stage Three tomorrow at the Korea Match Cup

Gyeonggi, South Korea (2 June 2009) – In an unprecedented quick turnaround, competitors, coaches, and organizers alike have all boarded planes immediately following Monday’s exciting conclusion to Match Race Germany to fly halfway around the world to South Korea, the site of Stage Three of the World Match Racing Tour. With just hours between landing at Incheon, boarding buses to Hwaseong City, and getting in an hour or two of practice, the battles will start straight away among the 12 teams assembled to take their share of the 300,000,000 Won (US$ 240,000) prize money purse at the Korea Match Cup.

While some of this field may be fatigued from the long trip, one team will have been buoyed by a win in their first Tour event of the year. Ben Ainslie (GBR) and his Team Origin won Match Race Germany over Damien Iehl (FRA) and his French Match Racing Team in a masterful Final Round display of correctly reading the shifts on Langenargen’s tricky Lake Constance. That skill will no doubt do Ben and his team well here in the new harbor of Jeongok, where the Bakewell-White-designed KM 36’s, new for this event last year, will no doubt feel lighter than the Bavaria Match 35’s used in Germany. With their generous sail plans and huge asymmetric spinnakers, crew work will be at its premium here, where an huge crowd is anticipated to be on hand to watch this event as part of the Korea International Boat Show. Last year this crowd topped 350,000 over the five days of the event.

And unlike last year’s construction-zone setting with temporary docks and facilities still being assembled, this year the venue has come together into a word-class 60 berth marina. The Korea International Boat Show alongside the Korea Match Cup makes for a formidable event and 400,000 people are expected to visit. With three huge halls full of exhibitors as well as outdoors displays and jumbo TV’s showing the match racing action, along with a 200m pier that overlooks the racing area the show will be a crowd pleaser for sure.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon Soo said “There are many improvements from last years Korea Match Cup including finishing the marina. The number of top level teams here to compete is outstanding and there is an increase in the number of companies exhibiting at the boat show. I am very pleased to see that the Korea Match Cup is growing so fast compared to others nations events.”

Challenging Ainslie will be many more Tour regulars, including Frenchman Mathieu Richard, whose 4th place finish in Germany was good enough when combined with his runner-up finish at Stage One in Marseille to place both he and Damien Iehl at the top of the Tour leaderboard. Another Frenchman, Sebastian Col from French Team/K-Challenge, has yet to find his form in this year’s two events, but he and his team did win a staggering $75,000 for their first place prize here last year, so look for them to try and repeat that impressive feat.

Col’s perennial rival for the World Championship crown who will also be in Korea is two-time reigning Match Racing World Champion Ian Williams (GBR) and his Bahrain Team Pindar. This team will be coming off a better result in Germany than in Marseille, but also a hunger to claw back up towards the top of a tough crowd on the current Tour leaderboard.

Another team to watch is Peter Gilmour (AUS) and his YANMAR Racing team, who in their first event last week in Germany finished a respectable third and have invariably done well in many Asian events, with the most recent being last December’s win at the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia.

Also making the long trip over from Europe and rounding out the field are Adam Minoprio (NZL) of ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Paolo Cian (ITA) of Team Shosholoza, Torvar Mirsky (AUS) and his Mirsky Racing Team, Bjorn Hansen (SWE) and his Team Onboard, and a new Tour Card holder, Philippe Presti (FRA) and his share of the French Match Racing Team. And by placing well in the Korea Match Cup qualifier two weeks ago, Laurie Jury (NZL) and his SLAM NZ Crew and Park Byeong Ki (KOR) will meet the Tour regulars in battle over the next five days of competition.

Half hour TV highlight shows will be available everyday and there will be 2 hours of Live coverage on both Saturday and Sunday.  Internet coverage will include Live streaming along with the daily highlights and key matches.

Further information can be found at www.wmrt.org and www.koreamatchcup.com

Tour Standings

(After 2 of 10 events)

1. Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team             32 points

-. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team      32 points

3. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing          31 points

4. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin                                    25 points

5. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing                          15 points

-. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team                   15 points

7. Ian Williams (GBR) Bahrain Team Pindar                      14 points

8. Sébastien Col (FRA) French Match Racing Team         12 points

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
3 JUNE, 2009

Hunting The Weather Mark

Gyeonggi, Korea (3 June, 2009) – After a brisk training day when the Bakewell White designed KM36s were being pushed to the limit in 25+ knot winds, so a night of rain, thunder and lightning gave way to an afternoon of racing that started in 8-10 knots and got progressively lighter. An added complexity for the six boats racing off the giant Korea International Boat Show site, in addition to a current flowing across the course early in the afternoon, was the fog that put Yanmar Racing skipper Peter Gilmour in mind of his days match racing in Newport, Rhode Island.

“It is very tricky. The wind is quite light and also with the visibility it is not always that easy to see where the best pressure is,” stated Bahrain Team Pindar’s Ian Williams of the fog.

With a short course positioned so close to the end of the breakwater at Jeongok Marina that you could regularly see the whites of the crews’ eyes, so today just four flights were sailed in the round robin. This relatively short day of racing was something many of the teams were profoundly grateful for having had just 24 hours to make it half way around the world to southwest Korea from Match Race Germany, which concluded on Monday.

“We always said from when the schedule first came out that this was going to be very hard – it is about the worst time change you can do,” said Bahrain Team Pindar skipper, Ian Williams. “We have always found that coming to here or to Malaysia from Europe is really tough on the body, so we were very focussed on trying to overcome the jetlag. I feel very tired now and I suspect that tomorrow it will be just as bad.”

With just four flight sailed it is early days in this regatta, but the conclusion of day one sees the two British teams – Ben Ainslie’s TeamOrigin and Ian Williams’ Bahrain Team Pindar – take two wins in the two races they have sailed. Gilmour may also be on a two out of two scoreline if the jury decide in his favour as a pleasure boat accidentally sailed through the middle of the pre-start of his first match against joint World Match Racing Tour leader, France’s Mathieu Richard.

Gilmour’s matches were as lively as ever, picking up a penalty in the pre-start with Richard, which he managed to execute in time to still finish ahead of his French opponent. In the pre-start of his next match against Bjorn Hansen he narrowly managed to get away without receiving a penalty after a port-starboard incident by the committee boat seconds from the gun. “Quite often they rule the other way but I think he had spent so much time sailing underneath our dirty air he didn’t have quite enough speed to drive it in there and force it in there, so he tacked and kept well clear,” said Gilmour.

By the time he came in, quadruple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie looked ready to collapse with jetlag too. In his pre-start against Australia’s Torvar Mirsky, Ainslie picked up a port-starboard penalty during a dial up, but was able to shed this before the finish to take the win. The pre-start against Team Shosholoza’s Paolo Cian, the tension had been for different reasons as in the light wind the TeamOrigin crew had had to hoist the spinnaker just to get back across the line in time.

“It seems to be a leader’s course this one,” commented Ainslie. “So if you can get off the line ahead, with the course being so short there aren’t a lot of options for the next guy. There are quick big differences downwind with these boats – if you get a little bit more pressure and there are big gains and loses, so it is tricky.”

Some of the surprise losses today were America’s Cup helm Sébastien Col to the young Kiwi Adam Minoprio and the talented Frenchman Matthieu Richard to the old fox, Peter Gilmour. Perhaps the surprises of the day was when Sébastien Col found himself being lead around the race course by the event’s sole Korean entry Byeong-Ki Park. Alarmingly for Col and his French team, the local favourites were doing a great job defending the right up the beat and with it finding better puffs. It was only on the final beat that Col was able to fight back and roll the Koreans.

“This is very good with all these tops sailors,” said an elated Park, who gained his spot at Korea Match Cup after coming finishing first of four Korean teams at a qualifying event held a fortnight ago. “My ranking is very very low! So I am very happy!”

Article provided by James Boyd

Results after four flights
Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin                                  2-0
Ian Williams (GBR) Bahrain Team Pindar                     2-0
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing                         2-0
Sebastien Col (FRA) French Team/K-Challenge           1-1
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team      1-1
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing           1-1
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Team Onboard                          1-1
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team                   1-1
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza                           1-1
Philippe Presti (FRA) French Match Racing Team         0-2
Laurie Jury (NZL)                                                  0-2
Byeong Ki Park (KOR)                                             0-2

The finishing touches before Leg 5

With the start of Leg 5 in the Portimão Global Ocean Race scheduled for 1030 local time (1430 UTC) this Thursday, the three double-handed teams and one single-handed team are completing preparations for the final section of the circumnavigation from Charleston, South Carolina, to Portimão, Portugal.

The reason behind the four day delay to the restart was to allow the fleet’s solo sailor, Michel Kleinjans, the opportunity to repair his Open 40 Roaring Forty following a collision with a container ship in the closing stages of Leg 4 from Ilhabela, Brazil. Progress at Pierside Boatworks in Charleston has been rapid and the boat is ready for relaunching. “We’re now refitting the deck gear and closing up the ballast tanks,” reported Kleinjans late on Monday, “and we hope to be in the water later today.” With two clear days remaining before start on Thursday, the Belgian solo sailor is keen to test the boat: “I would like to go for a sail before the start, but I’m totally confident with the repair,” says Kleinjans. “The lamination is great and due to a shortage of time we have had to leave the repaired area just painted with primer and will finish the painting in Europe.”

With the port side of Roaring Forty taking the majority of the collision impact around the hull-deck joint and the chainplates, the repair has to be bullet proof. “The team working on the repair work really knew what they were doing,” reassures Kleinjans. “In fact, the boat is now even stronger than it was before and everyone working on the boat has said the she was very strongly built in the first place.”

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Groupe Bel Targets a Different Audience

June 2, 2009 by admin
One of the biggest questions asked by any sponsor is ‘Who is your audience?’ Most sailing sponsorship campaigns are ‘business to business’ – meaning the sponsor company is trying to promote its products and services to other companies. While these deals keep the sport alive, they are not as compelling to fans as campaigns designed to egage consumers. It is no surprise that recent sponsorships that may be known  to the casual sailing fan are consumer brands like Roxy and Puma.

Using sailing to sell cool (or warm) clothing is one thing – using an Open 60 to sell cheese is quite another, but Groupe Bel is aiming its sailing at a different audience – a younger, more playful consumer. If sailing is to become a ‘proper’ sport, then children need to be inspired and engaged at a young age.

Last week photos of Kito de Pavant’s Open 60 Groupe Bel with brand mascot aboard were widely distributed. The novelty factor was enough for the photos to get a release on sailing websites, one can’t imagine that being the target audience.

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This post is tagged Adam Minoprio, Ben Ainslie, Damien Lehl, group bel, Gypsea, Ian Williams, korea match cup, Le Maxi Banque Populaire, Mathieu Richard, peter gilmore, Portimao Global Ocean Race, Sail Box, Sebastien Col, Torvar Mirsky, World Match Tour, World Ocean Day, yacht sponsorship