Yachting News 9th September 2010
Greetings yachties,
In this issue:
Andy Meiklejohn Co-Skipper on Hugo Boss,
Waiheke Island Burlesque Festival – Featuring Wild Days Rum 
Sailing TV,
Jim Young,
Sydney – Hobart 2010 – first entries,
Sail-World UK – latest issue here,
Sail-World NZ – latest issue here,
Des Top News,
The Bermuda Triangle – more here,
Istioselida -It’s all about sailing – latest issue here,
Laura Dekker – update,
WMRT – Denmark,
Sail Making,
Remembering 2004 Boxing Day Earthquake,
Andy Meiklejohn - Guy Bell GBPhotos.com
‘I’m excited to be accepting the Co-Skipper role on-board Hugo Boss for The Barcelona World Race and to be able to do this race with a good friend. The boat itself is incredible, it has the same power and sail area as a fully crewed VO70, so the challenge of racing on the boat with only two of us when I’m used to ten will be a demanding but exciting prospect. Alex and I can both learn from each other and I will be able to help enhance the boat’s capability and performance for The Vendee Globe in 2012.’
The first YOUNG 11 was Honeywell, built by my brother Alan for Ross Field. Ross had the first Young 88 Paddy Wagon (Ross was then a cop). Roger Land saw the Young 11 as a logical step up from the Young 88 and Honeywell became the plug for the fibreglass moulds. With her beamy, dinghy type lines with flared sides Honeywell could hardly differ more from Fiery Cross.
I don’t know of any boats with that hull form before 1980 but now they appear the most common hull form. In fact I wrote a piece published in Sea Spray in 1980 suggesting two designs of that hull form as ideal to exploit the spectacular weight savings with added strength in the new light weight structural system. Unidirectional glass laid over both faces of a strip planked core.
The Young 88 and then radical Rocket 31 were ideal for the new technology which offered great strength with spectacular saving in weight. It is now popularly known as Cedar Core construction. The Y88 plug was built by Greg Elliott and the Rocket 31 was built by Terry Cookson. They were the first yachts to be built using the technology. The first powerboat was the Vindex 40 built by Peter Sowman in 1981. Later to become the Formula 4000.
Camp Freddie, a Rocket 31 built and sailed by Greg Peck in the UK won every regatta she entered. She was the overall winner of Class One Cowes week in the UK in 1994. In strong winds. Her slightly lower spec. sister Zapata won Class Two. Camp Freddie then went on to win the Round Isle of Wight race against 1800 starters. The only New Zealand design to make such a coupe. Yet the local yachting press didn’t even notice!
The concept of the light, dinghy type, high performance keel yacht had never been seen in the Northern Hemisphere. Nor had it been seen in New Zealand before 1980. I believe it was the astounding performance of Camp Freddie (one UK yachting scribe describing her as looking like a squashed jandal) that inspired the now globally popular production sports yacht.
Recently my grandson Aaron Young owned and sailed Positive Touch, the first R31 and built by Terry Cookson in 12mm strip kahikatea in 1982 for Laurie and Jim Kean.
Force 11 sending it down the harbour last Saturday, more images from the race here
You might of heard about this guy who is protesting by saying he is going to burn a Koran to remember 9/11, his facebook page is here,
follow the chatter on WoodenBoat Forum here – latest update here
A pilot reports a strange haze enveloping his plane, then disappears; eleven hours after fuel starvation, as if calling out from a void, he is heard 600 miles away. He requests permission to land, then vanishes forever. A freighter steaming over placid seas disappears without a trace. A pleasure yacht ghosts past without a soul on board. A pilot calls for help because a “weird object” is harassing his plane. A jet collides with an “unknown” and is never found. . . .
Are these events real, or just a sideshow for curiosity seekers and the gullible?
For the past few days I visited the island of Lanzarote by car and bus.
I saw volcanoes, caves, lagoons and lakes and I enjoyed the great views from the tops of volcanoes and mountains.In short I have done my Geography class for this week. The Lanzarote government representatives gave me free tickets to all the beautiful places of interest around the island. There are very beautiful places. The landscape is different from place to place and some are just like moon landscapes . In places the people have tried without much success to have something grow in the ash soil but the land is too dry and barren and so hot. The
only vegetation on the island that can grow are cactii and palm trees that are usually found in the area of the lagoons and interior lakes where I was.
There are many underground passages and grottoes dugged by the water in the lava and many flooded caves . Because it is humid enough there, the ground is moist so palm trees and many other types of vegetation grow making it a sort of huge underground jungle.
Win a sail trim training day
Wed 8 Sep 2010 14:41 BST
To celebrate the launch of the new RYA Sail Trim Handbook – for Cruisers, the book’s author and expert sail trimmer, Rob Gibson, will provide one lucky reader and guest with a one-day training course.
This book is available from the RYA website and from the RYA stand at the PSP Southampton Boat Show
The special one off training session will go hand in hand with all the advice and techniques Rob outlines in his new book which is designed specifically with the cruising yachtsman in mind.
An excellent choice for any novice sail trimmer with its easy to follow illustrations and entertaining manner, it’s crammed full of useful tips and pointers on this fundamental element of good seamanship, enabling better balance, easier handling, and a more comfortable sail.
RYA Publications Manager Steen Ingerslev commented: “We are enhancing our Sail Cruising Handbook series with this title which makes sail trimming more accessible and understandable through Rob’s expert explanations and a raft of colourful illustrations.
“There is a wealth of knowledge in Rob’s ‘Top Tips’ alone, which are found all the way through the book. It will help give those cruising sailors who are looking for the knowledge and confidence to sit there and start tweaking the sails to see how much of a difference it can make.
“And if you enjoy the Sail Trim Handbook, watch out for RYA Yacht Techniques and other exciting titles coming in the spring.”
The Pacific Sun and the Pacific Star: “Lessons Learnt and Heeded” – Or Maybe Not
September 8, 2010 · Filed Under Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Damage to the bow of the Pacific Star after a storm in 2007 resulting in a cancelled cruise
The video of unsecured furniture flying about on the P&O cruise ship, Pacific Sun, is all over the internet. A Carnival spokesperson (Carnival owns P&O) is quoted as saying, “The incident was fully investigated and lessons learnt have been heeded, including the securing of tables and other furnishings aboard.” As Captain D. Peter Boucher commented on our previous post, “the lessons were learned hundreds of years ago by seafarers,” as indeed they were. There is, however, more to this story than initially meets the eye.
It appears that this was not just a case of cruise line learning a very basic lesson in seamanship, but rather a repeat performance of a lesson wholly unlearned. The Pacific Sun was caught in a storm off Vanuatu at the end of July in 2008. Carnival spokesman David Johns said, “A series of waves buffeted the ship, having an impact for people onboard… This was an exceptionally rare occurrence.”
Apparently not so rare. Almost exactly a year before, the Pacific Star, a sister-ship to the Pacific Sun, was caught in a storm also just off Vanuatu and was sufficiently damaged that the cruise had to be cancelled. Fortunately, no passengers were seriously injured on the Star. Unfortunately for passengers of the Pacific Sun, apparently nothing was learned from the damage to the Star.
