Greetings yachties

Jessica Watson,

Alinghi D35,

Geoff Holt,

Regates Royales,

Great Pacific Garbage Patch,

Istanbul Europa,

Sir Russell asks ISAF,

The repairs and work on Ella’s Pink Lady are almost completely finished up. So it will be out of the shed and into the water early next week before the rig goes in some days later. Watching Ella’s Pink Lady slowly come back together again has been great and everyone at the yard is so keen to help and fun to spend time with.

On Friday, we had a lunch to thank some of the people who’ve put so much effort into getting us back on the water, particularly Joe from AME who’s been a huge part of getting up this far. Everyone stood up and said their part, and I gave Joe a framed copy of a cartoon that one of the papers printed showing the lighter side of the collision.

Even though most people’s reaction has been positive and supportive, I’ve been a bit disappointed in some of the completely un-factual articles being printed. It’s a little sad when even the basic facts become completely twisted! But it’s all part of the fun and the only thing that’s important right now is getting back on the water safely.

With not much left to do on Ella’s Pink Lady, I’ve been dragged home for the weekend. I’ll admit I was a bit hesitant because I’d left without cleaning my room! It’s been nice and a bit strange to have the weekend off. I’ve been mucking round with friends, spending time with family and working away at a few different projects. There’s always something to do, and having the time to put a little extra effort into a few things has been a bonus – as well a having the chance to recharge, ready for all the next challenges!

Jessica

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The final Alinghi Swiss clinic in Vidy, Lausanne rounded the season off with a bang, with help from the Ladycat team. Over 70 young sailors from Versoix to Neuchatel were given the unique opportunity to sail on the Alinghi and Ladycat Décision 35 catamarans and to learn more about the design of Alinghi 5, the Defender’s giant catamaran. Conditions were testing at times with a building ‘bise’ NE wind giving all the sailors the thrilling experience of flying a hull and sailing at speed.

Léa Vuilleumier travelled with her team ‘Bordée de Tribord’ from the Club de Voile de La Neuveville and thoroughly enjoyed her time on board Ladycat: “It was so cool! The girls explained clearly what we had to do and even let us each helm for a while! It’s really given me a taste for sailing multihulls and I’d love to continue!.”

The conditions were appreciated by the Alinghi sailors after a weekend of light airs racing on Lake Geneva at the GP Beau Rivage. Pierre-Yves Jorand, mainsail trimmer onboard, explained: “We had wind up to 20 knots which can be pretty exciting on these boats. In fact, we got our top speed for the season with the kids today at 23 knots!.”

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The most notable event has been the 9 day long PSP Boat Show here in Southampton which finished yesterday.  And my special thanks to National Boat Shows for allowing the presence of Impossible Dream on a Feature Berth at the show for 4 of those days.  The reaction and feedback from the public was overwhelming, quite literally.  On several occasions, there were so many people, we had to actually secure the boat to stop more people coming aboard whilst we showed others around.  And if we were lucky to find a spare 5 minutes in the day, we would have to hide down below to have a bite of a sandwich.  The fantastic publicity undoubtedly helped raise awareness of the project but, no-one walking around the marina at the show could fail to notice us – we really were a “Show Stopper”.  And as though that was not enough, last Thursday the 17th, Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal paid a special visit to the boat to find out more about the project and to inspect the boat.  You may have seen some of the coverage on the National BBC News. (A full list of media coverage is given at the bottom of this Blog).  She was particularly interested in the array of Raymarine electronics and spent quite a while learning about the various buttons I push to sail the boat. Amongst the guests on board were Mike, Martine & Bob, trustees of the Sporting Activities for the Disabled Trust, Fiona Pankhurst from Raymarine, my cameraman Digby Fox, Elaine, Susana and a new performance partner, Charles Haymer from Pol Roger champagne, the last independently owned champagne house in France and, having a particular like of champagne, I can assure you it is by far the best. What a terrific sponsor to have..!!

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Tuesday 22nd of September, the Régates Royales-Trophée Panerai will again unfold a spectacular  sight in Cannes harbour. The annual regatta event is world renowned as for its sailing elegance and charm.

The regatta is a prefect chance to step back in time and enjoy the real majesty of a fabulous collection of sailing boats coming to leaf off the pages of some of yachting’s most renowned history books.

This year, as well as the competition, “the spirit of the Royales” will also have place of honour. As the president of the Cannes Yacht Club Jean-Claude Montesinos explains “In the times of the monarchs, we combined racing, events and celebrations. The 2009 Régates Royales will live again in this tradition. But the 2009 Régates Royales should allow us to relax, to
recapture the taste for simply celebrating good days of regatta racing. 2009 will be remembered for joy and good humour”.Also, every evening in the race village there will be entertainment centered on different themes, allowing owners, skippers, partners, volunteers and spectators to share in the experiences of the regattas. This entertainment will enable us to meet and to enjoy memories of Cannes which we will treasure. Obviously, we will not be lose sight of the sporting aspect, and we are sure that it will remain the main activity of this event. I would like to thank in advance all the competitors, partners, volunteers and all those who will help once again this year with the
smooth running of the event. Thank you to Mr Bernard Brochand and to his municipal council for placing their trust in us. Thank you to all the citizens of Cannes for accompanying us on this magnificent adventure.”

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Larger than Texas

Voyage confirms plastic pollution

Scientists with debris.

By Judith Burns
Science and environment reporter, BBC News
Abandoned fishing gear was among the debris found by scientists

Scientists have confirmed that there are millions of tonnes of plastic floating in an area of ocean known as the North Pacific Gyre.

The first of two ships on a voyage to study plastic pollution there has recently returned to port.

Scientists on board say they found increasing amounts of plastic of all sizes as they travelled into the gyre.

They plan to analyse the effects of the waste on marine life and will propose methods to clear it up.

The North Pacific Gyre is a slow-moving clockwise vortex where four major ocean currents meet. Little lives there besides phytoplankton.

However the currents have carried millions of tonnes of rubbish into the centre of the gyre, which now covers an area estimated to be larger than the US state of Texas.

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more news stories here

Plastics patch found across 1,700 miles of Pacific

Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:05am BST

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Ocean scientists recently back from a voyage to the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” said on Thursday they had found plastic debris strewn across a 1,700-mile (2,700-km) long stretch of open sea.

The research team from the three-week Seaplex expedition said more work remains to be done to determine the full extent of the trash vortex, how it affects marine life and how it might safely be removed from the ocean.

Cleanup will be difficult because the “vast majority of things we saw were small, about the size of your thumbnail or smaller,” Miriam Goldstein, the expedition’s chief scientist, told reporters at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.

“We found a lot of particles that were about the size of the animals that are living out there, so that would certainly present a challenge to removing those particles,” she said.

The 172-foot (52-meter) research vessel New Horizon returned to shore last Friday from a trip to the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, a giant eddy-like expanse of sea about midway between Japan and the West Coast of the United States.

Debris winds up concentrated there by circular, clockwise ocean currents that form an oblong-shaped “convergence zone.”

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Project Kaisei consists of a team of innovators, scientists, environmentalists, ocean lovers, sailors, and sports enthusiasts who have come together with a common purpose. To study the North Pacific Gyre and the marine debris that has collected in this oceanic region, to determine how to capture the debris and to study the possible retrieval and processing techniques that could be potentially employed to detoxify and recycle these materials into diesel fuel. This first research expedition, scheduled for the summer of 2009, will be critical to understanding the logistics that would be needed to launch future clean-up operations and testing existing technologies that have never been utilized under oceanic conditions.

Project Kaisei will examine the largest area of the Plastic Vortex, an ocean gyre, situated to the North East of Hawaii, and approximately five days by boat from the United States (San Francisco area). The expedition will consist of a large pass through the Plastic Vortex, with the aim to collect and study plastic and other debris forms from the ocean in order to showcase some of the new technologies that will be used for processing and recycling.

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Except for a last minute upset, the double Vendee Globe winner and his crew seems unstoppable en route to overall victory in the inaugural Istanbul Europa Race. Firmly at the front of the fleet since passing Wolf Rock in the early hours of the moment, Foncia has been progressing well into the Irish Sea and Desjoyeaux and his team are hoping that their lead of 40 miles over Roland Jourdain and his crew of Veolia Environnement will be enough in light of the strong contrary currents they will face, and not give away the lead they have done so well to build.

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Part of a letter to ISAF from Sir Russell Coutts

Dear Göran,

On behalf of Golden Gate Yacht Club (‘OGYC’) and BMW ORACLE Racing, GGYC’s racing representative for the 33 America’s Cup, I write with respect to the Agreement between the International Sailing Association (‘ISAF’) and Société Nautique de Geneve (‘SNG’) dated 5th June 2009 and signed on behalf of ISAF by Jerome Pels and David Kellett (the ‘Agreement’)…….

……It has been said that the Agreement is similar to prior agreements between America’s Cup organizers and ISAF. However, a premise of the prior agreements has always been a closely negotiated agreement between the Defender and Challenger called the Protocol, which provided very specific terms to ensure fairness in the competition and was in place before any ISAF agreement was finalized. (See Attachment B.) Without those underpinnings, the ISAF/SNG agreement simply transfers all of the control of the regatta, its rules and its officiating to one competitor, without any of the normal protections that ISAF provides to competitors. This is not consistent with past practices, and it is not consistent with the principles of ISAF or good sportsmanship. Although the Court in NY recently ruled that SNG can make changes to the rules, this was with the Court’s understanding (from representations in court by SNG’s counsel) that normal ISAF procedures and the resulting protections for the competitors, would be in place. Moreover, it is a secret agreement with obvious potentials for abuse, all with the authorization and authority of ISAF…..

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letter here

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