Yachting News 10th April 2010

Apr 10th 2010
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Greetings yachties,

Seems the WordPress people have developed an upgrade that means a whole new problem for us, the changes they have made to the code and work involved in putting the upgrade in place is so extensive that the best option is a new template – all double dutch to me. In the meantime enjoy my little collection of yachting news and random humour.

In this edition:

Edwin Delaat

RIP Peter ‘Spike’ Doriean

Team New Zealand and Real Club Nautico Palma to enter 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race

BlackMatch – qualified for the quarterfinals

Ellen MacArthur Trust

2010 Charleston Race Week

Jamie Dunross – Where is he now?

Sailing News TV

Abby Sunderland – Where is she now?

Jessica Watson – Where is she now?

Volvo 2011/12 Puma are back

Bikini.com

Enjoy

Edwin Delaat needs your help

Edwin’s website and contact details

Peter ‘Spike’ Doriean

The international sailing world was stunned on tuesday April 6 2010 by the news of the sudden death of Peter ‘Spike’ Doriean, 38, one of Australia’s best known professional sailors and one of the nicest guys any of us have had the privilege of knowing.

Recognised as one of the most talented international sailors, Spike was in demand for the Volvo Round the world race, the America’s Cup, Louis Vuitton and TP52 circuits.

Spike was in the Caribbean to compete aboard George David’s 90 foot maxi Rambler, the former Alfa Romeo I (Shockwave) at first Les Voiles de Saint Barth in St Barts. Tragically in a senseless accident, he slipped in the bathroom and sustained massive head injuries. He never regained consciousness.

Spike would have been 39 on April 13th 2010.

Spike is survived by his wife Nicki and two young children, Jemima aged 5 and Fox aged 3.

It is for his young family that we are appealing for your help.

more here

Find more photos like this on Yachtyakka

Valencia Sailing

Team New Zealand and Real Club Nautico Palma to enter 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race

According to the Spanish sailing website Gaceta Nautica, based in Palma de Mallorca, it appears that Team New Zealand and the Real Club Nautico Palma will enter the 2011-12 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, joining their forces with the financial backing of the Spanish footwear company Camper, also based in Palma.

Always according to the same article, the final agreement was signed in Spain on Wednesday and the joint Kiwi-Spanish project will be presented in a press conference next Monday in Palma.

more here

A cruise? Well perhaps it wasn’t a quite a cruise but the BlackMatch team have qualified for the quarterfinals in a respectable third position at the Match Race France event, in Marseille. Rounding out the day with 7 wins and 4 losses after completing the round robin, this was enough to finish in third behind Ben Ainslie on 8 wins and the table topping Mirsky Racing Team, who have been showing form all week with an impressive tally of 9 wins.

Our day today saw us suffer two disappointing losses to Torvar Mirsky and Francesco Bruni, however we rounded out the day with concisive wins over Peter Gilmour and Ben Ainslie, our win against Gilmour sending him out of the regatta. An error in the start against Torvar which saw us over the line when the start gun went and having to return to the line meant we were always playing catch up and although we managed to make gains all around the course, it was too little too late. In our loss against Bruni he came out firing in a must win match for him and despite forcing a penalty on him in the pre-start, they sailed brilliantly around the course to take the win that sent them through to the final 8.

Effectively the regatta now starts over again with the slate wiped clean and teams set to go into a first to 3 wins quarterfinal series. The high flying Mirsky Racing Team have earnt the right to choose their quarterfinal opponent while Ben gets the next choice followed by us, so it will be an interesting night for the teams as they decide who they are going to pick to race in the morning. It will be a tough choice with such a competitive group qualifying for the next stage, the other 5 teams of the quarterfinals being made up of 3 French teams and the two Italian teams, but it is perhaps fitting that the top 3 teams are the podium teams from the overall 2009 Championship.

more here

Where is Plastiki now?

Calling all Seattle area junior sailors

If you’re a junior sailor (age 8 up to collegiate level) make sure you head to the Seattle Yacht Club on Sunday afternoon for a chance to meet members of the BMW ORACLE Racing team and to see the America’s Cup trophy.

more here

Some great coach boat footage of British Olympic 2012 aspirants Dylan fletcher and Alain Sign on the edge of reason and control whilst training in Palma recently

more here

“To be the first quadriplegic sailor to circumnavigate Australia.”

Jamie Dunross is a gifted sailor who wants to show the world and himself that truly anything is possible.

Jamie became a C5 quadriplegic in a gold pouring accident at Meekatharra in 1988. He now wants to become the first quadriplegic yachtsman to sail around the world single-handed and unassisted.

His story of recovery from near suicidal depression to the peak of his sport, a gold medal at the 2000 Paralympic Games, is an impressive one that offers genuine inspiration.

Having already broken a number of Australian records, Jamie is now preparing to sail his yacht “SPIRIT OF ROCKINGHAM” around Australia as part of the preparation for his global odyssey.

On Jamie’s return from the epic journey “SPIRIT OF ROCKINGHAM” will be involved in a sailing program operate from the proposed Rockingham Marina. The program will be designed for disabled and disadvantaged members of the public in a hope to highlight those people’s abilities not disabilities and also demonstrate what people can achieve against all odds when they put their mind to it.

more here

Out to Sea and Northing

Its been a nice day out with plenty of wind and nice big swells all behind me. I’ve had about 25 knots today but it hasn’t been very steady. It’s been all the way down to 15 knots at some times and I have had gusts almost up to 40 knots. At the moment it’s dying down a little. I’m hoping it’s not for long though because a good 25 knots is just enough to keep my wind generators going nicely and keep the batteries charged up over night until daylight lends a hand.

My second auto pilot is working very well. It is exactly the same as my other auto pilot. If some thing does go wrong with it I have enough spares between the two auto pilots that I should be able to fix it out here. With all of the troubleshooting I have done, I know these things inside and out so at least I have that experience.

It certainly would be an uncomfortable ocean crossing if I had to hand steer all of the time, taking breaks to sleep every now and then. But I am sailing around the world after all and a little discomfort is to be expected. My team and I have thought everything through and feel very comfortable with how things are at the moment.

I’ve been able to head north a little more lately. It will be nice to get up into warmer water. I had been warned about the waters around South Georgia Island. I had been keeping a good eye on my water temperature gauge for any drops in temperature. Any sudden drops could have meant an iceberg in the area. The sea temperatures have been around 45F and the air about 50F during the day.

I haven’t had any more ships now that I’m away from land. Being well over a hundred miles from any land, I can sleep with out worrying quite as much. I really do like being out in the middle of the ocean much more then being close to land. I’m pretty happy that I’ll have a few weeks before I get very close to land again.

more here

Grey and Overcast but Smiling

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Some bad news today. Something that has been threatening to happen for quite some time has finally happened. The handle has fallen off my only kettle! But it won’t be too long now till I’ll be able to pop down to the shops for a new one.
We’re down to being just over a few hundred nm away from passing under Cape Leeuwin, so sometime during the weekend we should be under Australia!

The weather’s been grey and overcast again today with a bit of a swing inthe wind direction and a little more rain. Nothing too out of the ordinary just more sailing.

I really enjoyed speaking to Jamie Dunross today who’s not that far ahead of us in the middle of the Great Australian bite, sailing a bright yellow S&S 34 and aiming to become the first quadriplegic to sail solo around Australia. Apparently he had trouble getting people to take him seriously when he told them about his plans too. I know I’m a bit bias because he’s sailing such a cool boat (go the S&S 34!), but if you ask me, what Jamie is doing really says that anything’s possible.

more here

PUMA Ocean Racing, which turned heads on and off the water in the 2008-09 race, has returned for the next edition, again under the leadership of Ken Read.

For the 2011-12 event, PUMA will partner with BERG Propulsion, one of the world’s leading designers and producers of Controllable Pitch Propellers for commercial shipping. The team will be known as PUMA Ocean Racing, powered by BERG Propulsion.

PUMA joins France’s Groupama, Italia 70 and Team Abu Dhabi as officially declared entries. There are over 20 additional syndicates actively working on campaigns.

PUMA finished a gallant second overall in the 2008-09 race. Read and his men just pipped Bouwe Bekking’s Telefonica Blue in a race-long battle played out behind eventual winner Ericsson 4.

Read was delighted to be returning. “This last race was an amazing journey for me personally and for our start-up company PUMA Ocean Racing,” he said. “To have the opportunity to continue where we left off is a dream come true.

“For PUMA to want to come back to this adventure is a testament to the event itself and to the entire PUMA Ocean Racing team, past and present. We look forward to the challenges that lie ahead both organisationally as well as competitively.”

Team selection is already underway and will likely include a number of sailors from PUMA’s 2008-09 team, plus a mix of new and veteran talent from the professional racing world. Training will begin onboard PUMA’s il mostro in Spring 2010 at the team’s home base in Newport, Rhode Island.

more here