Greetings yachties,

It’s beer time on my island, happy sailing.

Lots of news

Abby Sunderland  – Leaves Marina Del Ray – where is she now?

Paul and Rachel Chandler – fear they will be killed

Jules Verne – Code Red

Indian Navy Solo Circumnavigation – update

470 North American Championships 2010 – Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell

Jessica Rides Out Perfect Storm and Knockdowns – where is she now?

Istioselida – Its all about sailing

Seamaster Sailing – follow Alinghi

Food for Haiti

La VMAX Challenge en Guadeloupe

Tasman Trespasser 11 – Day 5 – where is Shaun now?

Enjoy

A few days ago Sir Russell Coutts held a press conference and expressed some of his feelings about the, “he said, she said” personal attacks from Alinghi. Below is a slice from that meeting.

Can you describe how Larry feels about the whole situation, because we don’t hear a lot from him?

He’s [Larry Ellison] been sailing with me in the RC 44 circuit covering the boat in the match races which rates against the pros. He’s won two of those match races over the last few years and Larry is not a pro sailor. Unfortunately his shareholders prefer him to be looking after Oracle Corp and rushing around the world and doing deals like buying Sun Microsystems rather than sailing.

He turns up to the regatta a few days before each one to go sailing and he beat a field in a match race that included Ben Ainslie, James Spithill, and a whole bunch of really good helmsmen. And he’s passionate about it. We also won a match race on Lake Garda where he beat Dean Barker and another helmsmen overall in a match race.

He’s won five Maxi World Championships on Sayonara.

It’s a little bit insulting when the other side says Larry Ellison’s not a sailor. Look at the facts. Larry’s sailing record is actually a lot better than the person that’s claiming that he’s not wanting to go sailing. I’ve sailed with both of them and I can tell you that in my opinion Larry Ellison is a much better sailor.

I challenge Ernesto to get out there in a one design of any class and win in an open international field, not some competition on Lake Geneva where certain competitors are banned from competing.

Question: Didn’t you do tactics for Larry, then?

I did tactics for Ernesto Berterelli when we won the Farr 40 World Championships too, so I’m a pretty good judge of who the better sailor is.

read more here

watch it here

Russell Coutts talks to international press watch here

Just heard from Abby who is sailing in light winds down the coast and due to pass Catalina Island this evening before heading due south. She was a bit annoyed at the light winds but knows that it was now or never. Her goal for this week will be to settle in to the boat and get as far south as possible as fast as possible.

Thank you to the Del Rey Yacht Club, especially Sherry Barone, for hosting Abby’s departure, to Nate N Al’s Deli in Thousand Oaks for supplying abundant bagels and cream cheese and to Kauffman Sports and Susan Hartman from Magnetic Entertainment for coordinating the day.

Laurence got pretty choked up when he tried to talk about Team Abby so that it was hard to get a Thank You out. You all know who you are and you are in our thoughts this evening as Abby benefits from your dedication and expertise.

more here

Yacht couple rescue ‘was bungled’

Paul and Rachel Chandler fear they will be killed. A special forces operation mounted to rescue a British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates was “bungled”, the BBC has learned. Paul and Rachel Chandler, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured while sailing towards Tanzania on 23 October.

A Whitehall official told the BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner the rescue was aborted as a result of technical problems and security fears. The pirates have since renewed their threats to kill the couple.

At the time of the kidnapping, a Royal Marines boarding party, attached to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship The Wave Knight, could see the Chandlers and the pirates. But the marines did not intervene at the request of the couple, amid concerns they would be killed, said Gardner.

earlier story here

more here

Pascal Bidégorry revient, en image, sur la décision de repasser en code rouge

Hier, les hommes du Team Banque Populaire ont pris la décision de ne pas prendre la fenêtre météo qui semblait s’ouvrir en début de semaine, la jugeant bien trop instable et ne leur permettant pas d’être dans les temps du record à l’entrée de l’Atlantique Sud. Mais ce n’est que partie remise car le stand-by continue jusqu’au 20 février.

more here

Indian Navy Solo Circumnavigation

Cape Horn

Greetings from Port Stanley

Looks like many are wondering about our disappearance after rounding the Horn almost a week back! Apologies for not updating the blog earlier but things moved a bit too fast after the Horn and the crew kept getting busier as we entered the Port and got on to the most important task of turning around Mhadei for the next leg. We are presently berthed at Port Stanley, getting the steering and generator fixed while also pampering Mhadei by meeting her small little demands which while not critical, are best attended to when there is a little shore time. She has weathered the Pacific at a trot and deserves all the attention! Meanwhile the crew, self and Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy who landed up a day after I reached to help me with the work, are being looked after by the British armed forces and the friendly Falkland Islanders. This is perhaps the first time an Indian boat has touched the shores of the Islands so we are quite a novelty here. We landed up in time to meet “Ocean watch”, and her crew. It was great to exchange notes with her skipper Mark Schrader who has two solo circumnavigations under his belt. Taking heed of the old saying that,”a picture is worth a thousand words,” I will stop writing for now and let the viewers see some photos of the trip from rounding the Horn till reaching Stanley

more here

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Britain and France Take Gold At 470 North Americans

Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell of Great Britain scored an impressive win in Miami
©470 Worlds 2009/Per Heegaard

470 North American Championships 2010
Miami, Florida, USA

Great Britain and France took the top honours at the 470 North American Championships in Miami, taking place ahead of next week’s ISAF Sailing World Cup event. Forty-five 470 teams from 15 countries convened in Miami, USA from 16-18 January to sail the 2010 470 North American Championships. The event, hosted by Miami Yacht Club, saw the full spectrum of conditions, with the Race Committee reporting winds gusting over 30 knots on Saturday the first day of racing, a sharp frontal passage on Sunday, and light unsettled breeze on Monday, and seven races (with one discard) completed.

more here

Jessica Rides Out Perfect Storm and Knockdowns

Jessica Watson has faced her toughest test to date on her solo circumnavigation, having experienced a violent storm overnight with hurricane-force wind gusts of up to 70 knots and a swell of 7-10 metres, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Jessica also experienced her first knockdown and then had to endure three more during the eight hour storm. A ‘knockdown’ is when the mast goes below horizontal and into the sea. In Jessica’s case, she was hit by a series of rogue waves.

During the storm, Jessica sailed past the 11,000 nautical mile mark. She was belted in to her wet-seat throughout.

Despite the horrific conditions and some minor damage, the good news is that both Jessica and Ella’s Pink Lady have fared well.

“We certainly copped a pounding out here

more here

more here

Wind, Waves, Action and Drama!

My quite sunny conditions ended with a bit of a bang, Ella’s Pink Lady and I have been having a very interesting time out here. The wind had been expected to rise to a near gale, but none of the computers or forecasts picked that it would reach the 65knots that I recorded, before losing the wind instruments in a knockdown!

That much wind means some very big and nasty waves. To give you an idea of the conditions, they were similar to and possibly worse than those of the terrible 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race. We experienced a total of 4 knockdowns, the second was the most severe with the mast being pushed 180 degrees in to the water. Actually pushed isn’t the right word, it would be more accurate to say that Ella’s Pink Lady was picked up, thrown down a wave, then forced under a mountain of breaking water and violently turned upside down.

With everything battened down and conditions far too dangerous to be on deck, there wasn’t anything I could do but belt myself in and hold on. Under just the tiny storm jib, the big electric autopilot did an amazing job of holding us on course downwind, possibly or possibly not helped by my yells of encouragement! It was only the big rogue waves that hit at us at an angle (side on) that proved dangerous and caused the knockdowns.

more here

“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.” ERNEST H. SHACKLETON

Το Groupama Insurance Group επιβεβαίωσε σήμερα ότι θα συμμετάσχει στις επόμενες δυο εκδόσεις του Volvo Ocean Race, με επικεφαλής ως συνήθως τον Γάλλο Franck Cammas.
Η ανακοίνωση έγινε καθώς ο Cammas είναι στο Le Château και προετοιμάζεται να ξεκινήσει την προσπάθεια του να κατακτήσει το ρεκόρ στον αγώνα Jules Verne Trophy με το 32 μέτρων τριμαράν του.
Η ομάδα έχει ήδη επιλέξει και σχεδιαστή για το νέο σκάφος της Groupama και δεν είναι άλλος από τον Αργεντινό σχεδιαστή Juan Kouyoumdjian, που τα σκάφη που σχεδίασε κέρδισαν τις δυο τελευταίες διοργανώσεις (ERICSSON 4, ABN AMPRO ONE).

more here

In this exclusive 30 minute edition of Seamaster Sailing, cameras were allowed to follow Alinghi behind the scenes for over two years, having exclusive access to the boardroom, the designers’ office, and inside the construction facility of the world’s most extreme racing catamaran.

See how Alinghi 5 was transported over the Alps from land-locked Switzerland to Genoa, Italy, and onwards to the warm waters of Ras Al Khaimah in the Arabian Gulf  where the team lived, worked and trained together towards their goal of defending the 33rd Americas Cup. Now in Valencia, Alinghi is making its final preparations for race day.

Don’t miss this month’s Seamaster Sailing!

For SKY TV broadcast times in the UK and Ireland, see below:
24th January 0700 on Sky Sports 4
24th January 1130 on Sky Sports 2
24th January 1730 on Sky Sports 2
24th January 2100 on Sky Sports 4
25th January 1400 on Sky Sports 3
25th January 1730 on Sky Sports 4

Check your local TV listings for any differences in broadcast times

more here

Batten down the hatches // Day 5

Sunday, January 24, 2010

This morning Shaun arose to an eased weather situation. Whilst it is still rough, it is nothing like the strong winds and massive swells he faced yesterday. He thinks he may be able to get out and row if it eases more however he is making good directional progress thanks to the currents. At present he is roughly 180 nautical miles, or 330km, off the coast of Australia.

Since he has had to spend almost 40hours in his cabin he has been unable to wash with clean water meaning that salt rash is becoming an annoying problem. However due to this forced cabin time he is feeling physically good and has also been given the opportunity to think about this huge adventure he is undertaking. Shaun was rather homesick in the first couple days but has come to terms with what he’s doing and is currently mentally strong.

more here

This post is tagged Abby Sunderland, Ali G, alinghi, banque populaire, David Beckam, Haiti, ishares cup, Istioselida, Jessica Watson, Jules Verne Trophy, La VMAX Challenge en Guadeloupe, Luke Patience, Marina Del Ray, Pascal Bidégorry, Paul and Rachel Chandler, Posh Spice, Sail World, Seamaster, Shaun Quincey, Sir Russell Couts, Stuart Bithell, Tasman Trespasser 11