Wild Days Rum, available at all liquor stores on Waiheke Island – more here

When I told friends in Sydney that I was sitting on a beach in New Zealand the comment was met with no small amount of wonderment. New Zilund, for the record, does have beaches. Very nice ones at that. It was whilst en route to one of my favourite spots in the Auckland region – Waiheke Island’s Onetangi Beach – that I came across another surprise for my Australian friends. New Zealand makes rum too.

more here

Greetings Yachties,

Alinghi

Laura Dekker

NZ  Woman’s Match Racing Update

470 Worlds

Mike Perham

Laser Worlds

Hugo Boss

Sacit Ertug

Ellen MacArthur Trust

More Later

Enjoy

We hear from an Italian journalist friend that Alinghi suffered a structural problem today while sailing downwind in flat water and in only 9 kts of breeze. Apparently something in the aft starboard corner of the boat — the same corner that got dunked in by the helicopter when they landed in Genoa…

Today sails came down immediately, and they towed very slowly back to harbour. Mast is now off, boat hauled. obvious concern today over the starboard “Y” beam as Alinghi was towing in. Haven’t been able verify the veracity of the story, but it seems legit.

more here

De Utrechtse rechtbank heeft uitspraak gedaan in de rechtszaak tegen Laura Dekker en haar ouders. Zij moet zich beschikbaar houden voor onderzoek.

Vandaag werd er uitspraak gedaan in de zaak die afgelopen maandag diende voor de rechtbank van Utrecht. Volgens Klaas Jan Hoeve, uitgever bij Hollandia en aanwezig bij de uitspraak, is de uitspraak tweeledig: “Enerzijds heeft de rechter beslist dat de ouders gewoon hun ouderlijke macht behouden. Zoals de rechter zei: ‘daar ga ik niet over.’ Anderzijds vindt hij niet dat ze zomaar kan vertrekken.”

more here

Young sailor sets global record BBC Interview

Laura Dekker

Laura’s website here

From Maritime New Zealand

Solo navigation requirements for vessels departing NZ

* Latest media releases

26 August 2009

Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) says it would need to be satisfied that a proposed solo round the world voyage by a teenage girl would not put hers or others’ lives at risk, before deciding whether to allow the voyage to go ahead.

Thirteen-year-old Laura Dekker, who has a New Zealand and German passport, recently announced plans to sail solo around the world in an 8m yacht. It is understood Ms Dekker is intending to leave from New Zealand, if Dutch authorities prevent her from leaving from Holland.

Maritime New Zealand Recreational Boating Manager, Jim Lott, said MNZ had powers under the Maritime Transport Act 1994, to detain any vessel from leaving New Zealand waters if the Director believed, on clear grounds, that the vessel was likely to endanger any person or property, or was hazardous to the health or safety of any person.

“While every expedition is different and is judged on it merits, anyone intending to undertake an ‘extreme’ voyage of this magnitude from New Zealand must satisfy strict standards to ensure safety before receiving clearance to depart.”

“While other young people have successfully carried out voyages of this type, there is no question that being alone in a small boat on a large ocean is extremely tough – mentally, physically and emotionally – even for an experienced adult sailor,” said Mr Lott, himself an experienced yachtsman who has sailed internationally.

While there was no age limit under New Zealand maritime law regarding who could carry out a solo voyage, Mr Lott said that the age, skill and experience of the person attempting the voyage would have to be considered by MNZ, along with the seaworthiness of their vessel and other safety factors.

MNZ was aware of concerns raised by the Dutch authorities and would take these into consideration, along with any concerns raised by other New Zealand agencies, he said.

“While we applaud the spirit of anyone attempting a voyage of this type, given the obvious safety issues that this raises, the Director of Maritime New Zealand has a duty to consider the impact of the proposal on the person’s safety – and on the safety of anyone who may be called on to rescue them should something go wrong.”

more here

From The Sydney Morning Herald

UK police held young NZ sailor in May

August 28, 2009 – 6:09AM

A lawyer for New Zealand-born teen sailor Laura Dekker has confirmed her sailing ambition brought her into conflict with British police earlier this year.

Lawyer Peter de Lange has confirmed a report in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that Dekker, who plans to make a record-breaking solo sailing trip around the world, was stopped by port authorities in May when she wanted to sail from England to the Netherlands.

Dekker was held by police at the English port of Lowestoft after sailing there on her own.

British authorities called her father, Dick Dekker, but he initially refused to travel to England to collect her.

Only when she was put in a children’s home did he arrive to get her released – then allowed her to sail back to the Netherlands alone – despite a police request that he escort her.

Dekker spent the first four years of her life at sea, had her own yacht at six and began sailing solo at 10.

Her father saw no reason to stop his daughter from sailing back by herself, even if that meant ignoring British authorities.

“Should this be defined as neglect, or does it simply mean Dick Dekker knows his child?” de Lange told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency.

“I think this is absolutely fine from a legal viewpoint,” he added.

Though Dekker had been stopped when sailing alone in the Netherlands, “it never resulted in any kind of problem, because it is not illegal.”

more here

more solo teenagers here

Solo sailing record set

28/08/2009 6:28:03

A 17-year-old has become the youngest person to sail around the world solo, as a Dutch girl continues her fight to get permission to break the record.

Mike Perham completed his eight month circumnavigation after sailing past Lizard Point off Devon, in the UK this morning. He battled massive waves and gale force winds on the trip, but technical problems with his Open 50 Class yacht meant he had to have some assistance.

The teen from Hertfordshire, already holds the record for being the youngest person, at the age of 14, to sail solo across the Atlantic.

The milestone comes as a 13-year-old Dutch teenager who was born on a yacht off New Zealand’s coast, battles Dutch authorities in her bid to become the youngest person to sail around the world by herself. Child protection agencies have applied for custody of Laura Dekker in a effort to stop her.

Dekker’s parents support her plan but if she does not win in Holland, she may use her New Zealand passport to to get permission. However, she would have to get past Maritime New Zealand and Child Youth and Family before she could raise the anchor.

more here

more Cup talk here

NZ Women’s Match Racing Olympic Squad

SQUAD UPDATE – from Sam Osborne

Under the guidance of our coaches (Graeme, Laurie and Rod) the squad has spent the last few months with our heads down and tails up, battling the cold weather, training training training. Both teams have also been getting some regatta experience at the Bucklands Beach Match Racing Series and the RNZYS Winter MRX Match Racing Series (thanks to all the people who have sailed with us to make these events possible). On Aug 28 both teams are leaving NZ for a 3 week campaign that will see us competing in the Australian Women’s Match Racing (Grade 3) and the Buddy Melges Challenge Regatta in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (grade 2)- both events are in Elliott 6’s (so will keep you updated on our progress).

Cheers

Sam

Final Series Underway

Wednesday 26 August 2009, by Luissa Smith

2009 470 World Championships
Men and Women
20-28 August 2009, Rungsted, Denmark

470 Worlds Take On A New Dimension

Off Rungsted, Denmark racing at the 470 Worlds, held by the Royal Danish Yacht Club, today took on a very different perspective. It was the first day the Class were split into gold, silver and bronze divisions but crucially the wind had veered by around 90 degrees, into the west. Gone was the stable southerly of the first three days of the regatta, replaced by a highly unstable shifty, patchy offshore breeze to challenge the 304 sailors from 29 countries competing.

With the race course having shifted, counter-current up the beat was not an issue today, but this, combined with some over-enthusiasm at the start of Men’s Gold fleet racing, saw an impressive 10 boats – one third of the fleet – disqualified under black flag starting orders in their first race. This race only successfully got away on its fifth attempt. Those black flagged included several top names – the third placed Swiss, Matias Bühler and Felix Steiger, Sailing World Cup leaders from the US, Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl, and Israeli 470 veterans, Gidi Kliger and Udi Gal. A particular blow to Skandia Team GBR was double Olympic silver medallist Nick Rogers and his new crew Pom Green, being black flagged too, following on from double World Champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis’ OCS yesterday. Asher and Willis were clear today, but suffered a broken spinnaker halyard at the end of the first race and ended the day a lowly 16th.

more here

more images here

BREAKING NEWS: Mike Perham has become the youngest person ever to sail round the world

Mike will be arriving at Gunwharf Quays at 11am on Saturday 29th August

Youngest solo round-the-world sailor

Seventeen-year-old British sailor Mike Perham has become the youngest person to sail single-handed around the world with stopovers and assistance.
Credit: www.totallymoney.com/sailmike

Mike onboard his Open 50 yacht

His 50ft yacht TotallyMoney.com crossed the traditional Lizard/Ushant line marking the start and finish point of his 30,000 mile record setting voyage in bright sunshine at 0947:30 on the morning of Thursday, 27 August; two months inside the previous age record set by American teenager Zac Sutherland.

Aged 17 years, 164 days old, the teenager from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, was escorted across the line by Royal Navy guard ship HMS Mersey, a helicopter from 771 Squadron at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, and a small flotilla of press boats that had been on standby overnight to record his finish.

Mike said: “I’ve made it, I’ve made my dream come true and it feels amazing. A big, big thanks to my Dad, Mum, all the sponsors and everyone who has helped me along the way.

“I can’t believe that the Royal Navy has sent HMS Mersey and a helicopter to witness my crossing the line. I feel very honoured.”

more here

Zooming Towards the Finish Line – 27 08 09

Wow, what an exciting last couple of days it’s been as I’ve neared the finish now, and they’ve not been without drama too! Hurricane Bill passed through last night and it was blowing up to 45knots with some really nasty seas. Quite a ding-dong moment. Totallymoney.com performed fantastically as always and was solid as a rock.

This morning as the wind decreased, I increased sail considerably and set off heading straight for the finish line, a pretty special feeling. I bunged the genneker up once the wind had dropped below 26knots and off we zoomed!

I spent a couple of good hours today at the helm steering Totallymoney.com along. As usual, she accelerated out of every wave; it was a real pleasure just to feel her come alive and surf down all the waves. I’m really going to miss her and the feeling of her fearlessly surfing along in heavy seas, not slowing down for anything. She’s handled this trip beautifully, what a boat!

I’ve been thinking a lot today about the whole trip and now that it’s coming to a real end it does feel a bit weird. I feel like I just want it to keep going so I can have many more adventures. At the same time I do feel like I’ve now done my time, as it were and I’m very much looking forward to being back on dry land in a few days and being able to think about other things than just the trip. It seems to have ruled my world and almost every thought for the last year!

But more than anything I feel incredibly excited about crossing the finish line off the Lizard and seeing my family again. The last time I saw Dad was in New Zealand, about as far away from home as possible! So I’m very much looking forward to the reunion and his cheesy smile and all the rubbish jokes he brings along. He’s now taken to rating his sneezes in terms of loudness, public effect, echo and ring on a scale of 1 to 10. What a great Dad!

I’m also very much excited about sailing up the channel for the homecoming in Portsmouth Gunwharf Quays on Saturday at 11am. That’s going to be quite some party!

more here

yachtyakka story about Mike here

Goodison Takes Laser World Championship Gold

©Matias Capizzano – www.capizzano.com

Beijing gold medallist Paul Goodison of Great Britain is the 2009 Laser World Champion

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Beijing Olympic champion Paul Goodison has added a long-awaited first World Championship title to his belt, claiming an emphatic gold at the Laser Worlds which drew to a close in Halifax, Canada.
In spite of losing two days of the six day event – one day with too much wind courtesy of Hurricane Bill, the next with too little – the 31-year-old kept his cool throughout to add the world title to his Olympic and European crowns. Paul Goodison had blazed into the overall lead with a stunning 3, 1, 1 series of scores on Tuesday and a seventh place finish in Wednesday’s first race followed by a 20th in the final race of the series was good enough for the Brit to secure the World title.

Silver went to New Zealander Michael Bullot, who finished 6.5 points behind Goodison in the final standings with impressive 6, 8 scores in the two final races on Wedneday. Four points further back, 23-year-old Nick Thompson (GBR) made it a double celebration for the Skandia Team GBR camp, clinching his first ever senior World Championship medal – a bronze – to ensure two British sailors were up on the prize giving podium.

more here

Of Expensive Suits and Cheap Tricks.

Seems Hugo Boss Racing is not doing much racing in 2009. Aside from the Fastnet Race, Alex Thomson and the distinctive black Open 60 seem to be undertaking a calendar of publicity stunts – from appearances in the background of golf telecasts to foiling wakeboarding.

The latest photos taken by Mark Lloyd are of Alex standing on the keel of the Hugo Boss yacht while sailing. Most dinghy sailors know what it is like to stand on the centreboard of a sailboat, but standing on the keel of an Open 60 while sailing is another thing.

Alex said:

“I’ve wanted to stand on the keel while sailing for a couple of years, and last week in 17-20 knots of breeze I stood on the keel whilst sailing wearing a HUGO BOSS suit. It was pretty dangerous but a real buzz.”

The strategy seems to work – the images have ended up in all kinds of places in the last 24 hours – including here…

Sacit Ertuğ’un rüyası oylarınızla artık gerçek!

Haberler – Genel Haberler
Pazartesi, 20 Temmuz 2009 15:19

Portekiz’in Portimao kentinde yapılacak TP52 Med Cup’ta Quantum Racing’de yarışacak adaylar arasında yapılan elemeyi Sacit Ertuğ kazandı.

Böylece Sacit Ertuğ, Audi Med Cup 2009 yarışının Portekiz-Portimao ayağında dünya şampiyonu Terry Hutchinson ile Quantum Racing teknesinde yelken açma şansını yakaladı.

Oylamaya katılan herkese teşekkürlerini ileten Haylaz teknesinin sahibi Sacit Ertuğ “Verdiğiniz oylar için çok teşekkür ediyorum. Sizler sayesinde bir rüyam gerçekleşti. Ülkemize has dayanışma ve birliktelik ruhu sayesinde” diyerek duygularını paylaştı.

Geçtiğimiz günlerde Quantum Sails’in açtığı yarışmayı yine size TurkSail sayfalarından duyurmuştuk.

Unutanlar için hatırlatalım, yarışmayı kazanan Quantum Racing ile başta Terry Hutchinson olmak üzere dünyanın en üst seviye profesyonelleriyle beraber Portekiz Portimao’daki 18 Ağustos’ta başlayacak TP52 MedCup ayağında yarışacaktı.

more here

Lulu Roseman reports from a light air Hamilton Island Race Week….

27 August 2009

Image by Lulu Roseman

Yacht crews on Hamilton Island were left to their own devices yesterday after racing was abandoned at 14:00 hrs.

“It has been a reasonable week aboard Farr 40 Cracklin’ Rosie considering the light conditions. The windward/leeward races have suited us much better than the longer passage races. It has been quite a lottery, mixing wind and tidal flow on the long race has been our biggest challenge,” bowman Alex Cooke said.

more here

This post is tagged 470 worlds, alinghi, Ellen MacArthur Trust, Felix Steiger, hugo boss, Juerg Kaufmann, Laura Dekker, Matias Buhler, mike perham, NZ Womens Match Racing, Paul Goodison, Wild Days Rum