Groupama III

The passage of the equator is the first intermediary time, which enables a direct insight into how capable a candidate is of winning the Jules Verne Trophy. Nearly a day ahead over the round the world reference course, Groupama 3 has gained a 408 mile lead and has just achieved the best ever time by a yacht between Ushant and the equator: 6 days 6 hours 24 minutes.

Already sailing in the Southern hemisphere this Wednesday afternoon, Groupama 3 confirms what it had already demonstrated last summer when it racked up four Atlantic records: though it has no inhibitions in wind in excess of 25 knots, in relation to Bruno Peyron's catamaran, it is unquestionably the fastest giant multihull below fifteen knots of breeze. Today's new record time speaks volumes as the boat passed the equator today in six days 6 hours and 24 minutes, whilst the weather conditions weren't particularly favourable, a sure indication of the trimaran's great potential.

Back on the pace again at over twenty knots at the start of the afternoon, Franck Cammas and his nine crew will begin to increase their lead over Orange II again since the latter was still sailing through the Doldrums three years ago to the day. The tradewinds of the Southern hemisphere are shaping up nicely: with 15 knots of SE'ly at the equator, they will rapidly pass into a building E'ly. Their acceleration to over 25 knots is therefore already in view before the day is out and this is set to last until the weekend at least.

Farr 40 World Championships 2009-2011

The Farr 40 Class announced the venues for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championships from 2009-2011.

The 2008 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, in Miami Beach, will run from April 16-19. Upwards of 40 boats are expected, with a solid group of Farr 40s that have been racing in southern Florida this winter, plus several new boats that are joining the class. The fleet will be based at the Miami Beach Marina. The Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds will take place from April 11-12.

>From June 24-27, 2009, the Farr 40 class will return to the azure waters off Porto Cervo, Sardinia. The Worlds' fleet was there in 2003, enjoying great sailing in the 25-30 knot breezes, and will again be hosted by the prestigious and sporting Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

In the winter of 2010, the class will explore an exciting new destination -- the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean - based out of the luxurious Casa de Campo resort. The newly-expanded Casa de Campo Marina & Yacht Club will play host for the World Championship.

The following winter 2011, finds the class returning Down Under to summer in spectacular and magical Sydney, Australia. The ever-keen Australian fleet continues to grow and will offer spirited competition and, as always, great sailing conditions off Sydney Heads, with the racing run by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

Barcelona World Race

The fight to get on the podium in Barcelona is intensifying as Mutua Madrileña has taken more miles out of Temenos II over the past 24 hours. At one stage overnight, the delta was down to just 20 miles, before Temenos II stretched away again.

This afternoon, just 44 miles separate the two boats after 79 days of racing. That's close enough that just one small mistake in the variable South Atlantic weather could be the difference maker. Although they've left the Southern Ocean, the pressure hasn't eased at all for these two competitors.

"We haven't been able to relax at all," said Michèle Paret this afternoon. "It's been very stormy weather, very difficult for the past 24 hours. We're manoeuvring all the time and really getting quite tired of this pace. I can't wait to get out of here."

World ARC

World ARC yacht Tillymint, an Oyster 82 taking part in World Cruising Club's round the world rally, has been involved in the dramatic rescue of a stranded Caribbean fisherman whilst on route to Panama.

The small open fishing vessel, the Vegas from St.Lucia, had been drifting for 20 days without a serviceable engine. In the early hours of Saturday 26 January (local time), at position 13˚28N 67˚23W approximately 80 nautical miles off the island of Aruba, the on-watch crew of Tillymint heard faint cries for help from close by, though they could not see another vessel. In the time it took the crew to drop sails, turn the yacht around and get back upwind against 25 knots to the incident position, the crew of the Vegas had started a small fire to attract attention. The fishermen were in a desperate situation, since despite passing close to other vessels they had been unable to raise a distress call.

Unfortunately, their signal fire got out of control and before Tillymint reached their position, the crew had to abandon the vessel and jump into the sea to escape the fire. One crewmember was rescued and taken onboard Tillymint. However, in the darkness and weather conditions prevailing at the time, they were unable to locate the remaining three fishermen.

Under the direction of MRCC Curacao, Tillymint conducted a search of the area around the wreckage, joined at first light by other World ARC yachts - Southern Princess, Grey Lady, Harmonie, BlueFlyer and Strega, and a Coastguard SAR aircraft. The Netherlands Coastguard ship, the Jaguar was also sent to the area to co-ordinate the search.

Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race

Scotland with style Clipper crossed the line ahead of the rest of the fleet as the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht restarted at 0610 UT (1410 local time) on Sunday after a spectacular send-off from the new Marina at Keppel Bay, Singapore. The ten yachts motored to the start line off Nongsa Point, Batam, Indonesia, where Race 5 from Fremantle finished prior to the fleets choreographed arrival in Singapore on 19 January to coincide with the opening of the new marina.

In the sweltering heat and just 5-8 knots of breeze from the east, the ten crews struggled to maintain some boat speed. Less than a minute after the start, the heavens opened and the crews were afforded some temporary relief in the form of a tropical downpour.

The start of Race 6 to Qingdao will prove challenging for the teams as they race in the restricted waters of the Singapore Straits. With one of the worlds busiest shipping channels penning them into a tight area, they are being forced to tack in light airs to make it to the first mark, Middle Rock, which lies approximately 30 miles east of Singapore.

Key West

Things didn't look good on Wednesday night after two of the initial three days of the regatta were cancelled due to bad conditions. Making matters worse was the fact the forecast for Thursday was for a second straight day of light, fickle breeze. However, Mother Nature did an about face and brought a solid 12-knot northerly that enabled organizers with Premiere Racing to get in two races on Thursday. Things got even better on Friday with a northeasterly bringing 16-20 knot winds that allowed for three more races to be held. Competition was also extremely close in Melges 32 class, which saw a significant increase in entries and caliber of competition at Acura Key West 2008. Star, skippered by Jeff Ecklund of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, finished fifth or better in six of seven races that counted in edging New Wave by two points and capturing the Midwinter Championship. After eight races Jim Richardson's Barking Mad and Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino were tied on points. Each had scored 29 points, but the final race win, his second victory in the 25-strong Farr 40 class, gave the overall victory to the class President, Richardson, over the reigning world champion, Onorato.

Barcelona World Race

Paprec-Virbac 2, the leader of the Barcelona World Race has crossed back into the Northern hemisphere and today managed to escaped the clutch of a stubborn doldrums. Skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall are now on the home stretch, with just a little more than 10 percent of the race distance, 2838 miles left until the finishing line off Barcelona.

Barcelona World Race

Paprec-Virbac 2's great "Trade Winds escape" continues, and the Franco-Irish duet has gained a whopping 169 miles over the past 24 hours. The situation is still tactically uncomplicated for Hugo Boss, but despite the "lovely conditions", things could be a bit better as speeds stay in the lower range, while things remain unsettling on the rudder front. During the night, Temenos II made a move to the west and has reduced the lateral gap with Mutua Madrileña, but as predicted Dominique and Michèle dramatically slowed down toda! y. The two boats fighting for third place now have to face a very unclear weather situation.

Barcelona World Race

Conditions are getting better on the comfort front for the majority of the fleet, yet from a strategic perspective more difficulties lie ahead. It seems today that only race leader Paprec-Virbac 2 can actually look forward to tomorrow: having picked up some steady wind, Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall are leaving Hugo Boss behind, the Anglo-Australian duet fighting upwind in light airs. Further back, Temenos II and Mutua Madrileña are still neck and neck, coping with decreasing winds and having to work their way around the high ! pressure system on their path...

World ARC

World ARC, the new circumnavigation rally organised and managed by the UK-based cruising rally experts at World Cruising Club (WCC), is setting off from Rodney Bay, St.Lucia today (Wednesday 23 January) with a group of enthusiastic sailors beginning a 15-month cruising adventure of a lifetime.

The route and timing have been carefully selected so as to benefit from seasonal weather conditions by planning to be "in the right place at the right time". Both the Pacific and the Indian Oceans will be crossed during the optimum period, at the height of the favourable trade wind season. Cruising 'guru' Jimmy Cornell has helped to plan the route, which calls at some of the most attractive sailing destinations in the world.

Key West

The usual suspects were to be found near the front of the fleet and after three races, it came as little surprise that Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino topped the overall points score. The Italian's consistency with two second places and a third gave him a three point advantage over Peter de Ridder's Mean Machine, which had the same points as Jim Richardson's Barking Mad. Nevertheless, the first race provided a major surprise. Everyone was eager to start, the line was biased towards the pin end, and that resulted in a welter of individual recalls and those who had aimed for the pin being baulked somewhat. World Champion, Vincenzo Onorato in Mascalzone Latino was among the latter, although the Italian was able to shrug off the opposition and head rapidly into clear wind. But out of the middle of the line John Demourkas drove Groovederci to the front to lead Mascalzone Latino by 100 yards.

Demourkas stretched his lead slightly on the next two legs and was 20 seconds clear to start the run for home. It was enough and he scored the first win of the week from Mascalzone Latino and Barking Mad with Mean Machine fourth.

The breeze was up to 18 knots for the second race and from a perfect line the Farr 40s responded with a clean start. Vincenzo Onorato nailed the pin, but a right hand shift lifted Barking Mad and Mean Machine in front by the first mark. Then came Helmut Jahn with Flash Gordon, Massimo Mezzaroma in Nerone and SLED. Bertarelli was ninth with Alinghi. As the race developed, Mean Machine began to edge away to finish ahead of Mascalzone Latino and Barking Mad. These three then occupied the first three places on points as Groovederci had a bad race.

The breeze had fallen to just ten knots for the start of the third race and this time it was the turn of Barnaba's Fiamma to lead away from the pin end. He lost the lead towards the end of the first beat when a left hand shift favoured Mean Machine and Nerone, but the three boats were overlapped as they rounded the first mark.

As the race developed, places swapped with rapid frequency and by the finish it was Fiamma that crossed the line to win the race from Nerone and the highly consistent Mascalzone Latino with Barking Mad fourth and Mean Machine fifth

Barcelona World Race

Educación sin Fronteras is the last boat in the Barcelona World Race fleet remaining in the Southern Ocean, but not for long, as they close in quickly on Cape Horn. Skippers Albert Bargués and Servane Escoffier have been sailing very fast towards the Cape and should pass the famed landmark in about 24 hours.

Barcelona World Race

After seeing its lead nearly cut in half over the past 10 days or so, Paprec-Virbac 2 has been sailing faster than its opposite number, Hugo Boss, for much of the day. And for the first time in days, the forecast finally appears to be favouring the race leader. For both boats in the South Atlantic, the situation remains complicated with small low pressure systems bubbling off the South American coast. The resulting winds are variable in speed and direction and in the centre of these mini systems are minefields of calm winds. That's the situation that Hugo Boss faces today and likely well into th! e weekend as well.

Roaring in towards Cape Horn are Temenos II and Mutua Madrileña as they battle for third position in the Barcelona World Race. The Spanish pair on Mutua Madrileña has been closing fast over the past couple of days, working the gap down to less than 150 miles - about 10 or 12 hours at the pace at which the two are sailing. Temenos II should be first at the Horn, overnight tonight, with chasing Spanish due to arrive near noon (GMT) on Saturday.

World Match Racing Tour

The World Match Racing Tour has announced its schedule of events for 2008 including a new Tour stage in Korea with over $320,000 in prize money. The total prize purse for the 2008 Tour season now stands at $1,720.000, the largest in the sport. The prize purse has increased by over 20% from 2007.

The overall winner of the Tour will be crowned 2008 ISAF Match Racing World Champion. The schedule of events is as follows:

Date - Event - Location - Boats
March 19-23, Brasil Sailing Cup, Vitoria Brazil, SM40
May 8-12, Match Race Germany, Langenargen Germany, Bavaria 36
May 21-25, Latium Match Cup, Rome Italy, Solaris 36
June 10-15, Korea Match Cup, Gyeonggi Korea, BW36
June 18-22, Portugal Match Cup, Troia Portugal, SM40
June 30-July 6, Match Cup Sweden, Marstrand Sweden, DS37
August 28-31, Danish Open, Frederikshavn Denmark, DS37
Sept 2 - 7, St Moritz Match Race, St Moritz Switzerland, TBD
Oct 7-12, Bermuda Gold Cup, Hamilton Bermuda, IOD
Dec 9-14, Monsoon Cup, Terengganu Malaysia, F36

* May 1 - 4 Celebration China Qingdao, China 2 WMRT Exhibition Event

Barcelona World Race

The South Atlantic isn't giving anything away to the two boats leading the Barcelona World Race fleet as they race towards the finishing line off Barcelona. Overnight, race leading Paprec-Virbac 2 nearly held its own and then this morning, it was able to grab back some miles from the chasing boat, Hugo Boss. But the tide has turned again and this afternoon Hugo Boss was the faster boat in pursuit. The overall effect of this has been something close to a stalemate, with Hugo Boss able to grab just 13 miles over the last 24 hours. Unfortunately for the guys on Hugo Boss, at this stage of the journey around the world, they need to grab bigger chunks if they hope to overtake Paprec-Virbac 2 before the finishing line. The contest behind is also getting closer as Mutua Madrileña has pulled within 200 miles of Temenos II, with both boats streaking towards Cape Horn in great sailing conditions. The pair are making good about 300 miles per day, with Temenos II expected to pass Cape Horn, now 436 miles away, overnight on Friday night / Saturday morning. There is a bit further to go for Educación sin Fronteras who are still some 1600 miles from the famed Cape. But Servane Escoffier and Albert Bargués have had a good day, making nearly 300 miles in the past 24 hours. Albert is projecting they will be at Cape Horn within a week. Although it is very difficult to project a finish date this far in advance, it appears as if the leading boat will be pulling in to Barcelona around the 8th of February, plus or minus a couple of days.

Volvo Ocean Race

St Petersburg businessman Oleg Zherebtsov liked the Volvo Ocean Race so much he bought his own boat and intends to sail on it. This despite never having contested a serious offshore race before this year's Fastnet. Zherebtsov, the founder of the Russian hypermarket chain Lenta, is bankrolling the Russian Challenge campaign and will be a fully paid up member of the crew, warts and all. Thirty-nine-year-old Zherebtsov stepped on a yacht for the first time in his life two years ago. In business and in life it is fair to say he likes a challenge. "I like adventure and I love sailing," he says. As for free-dried food, sleep deprivation, mountainous seas and close shaves with icebergs, time will tell. Russian Challenge was launched in February this year. Andreas Hanakamp, the Austrian former Olympic sailor, will skipper the boat while Michael Woods, the director of operations for the 2001-02 Volvo Ocean Race, is managing the team. The design team is led by Britain's Rob Humphreys while Green Marine of Lymington on the south-coast of England are overseeing the build.

Barcelona World Race

Hugo Boss has put on a remarkable performance over the last 24 hours, taking advantage of difficult conditions that are slowing the race leader Paprec-Virbac 2. Over the past day, second-place Hugo Boss has taken a full 179 miles out of the 800 mile lead Paprec-Virbac had painstakingly built over the first two months of the race.

There doesn't appear to be anything Paprec_Virbac 2 skipper Jean-Pierre Dick can do about the situation as the enormous Saint Helena high pressure system is much further west than one would normally expect and it is acting like a roadblock in front of the race leader. While they've made a remarkable gain over the past 36 hours or so, it won't be entirely smooth sailing for the chasing Hugo Boss in the coming days, as Andrew Cape says the forecast is for a deep low pressure to engulf them over the next day or so, which could bring winds as high as 50 knots.

America's Cup

A New York State judge Monday said he would allow another 10 days for the Swiss Alinghi team to argue against it, but he still planned to sign an order Jan..23 that would make the Swiss meet an American team in 90-foot catamarans or trimarans for what would be the wildest America's Cup on record.

Barcelona World Race

The fastest boat in the Barcelona World Race over the last 24 hours has been Temenos II, who have taken advantage of stronger conditions to add to their narrow lead over Mutua Madrileña. Temenos II has made good 358 miles over the last 24 hours, 87 more than the Spanish boat chasing them.

Barcelona World Race

The two leading boats in the Barcelona World Race are back in the Atlantic Ocean after rounding the famed Cape Horn this week. Both are now in the final quarter of this marathon race around the world, although with over 6000 miles left to run, the race is far from being over. And for those still in the Southern Ocean, gale force conditions mean the week is ending with very difficult conditions in the Furious Fifties.

Barcelona World Race

Hugo Boss has made great strides over the past 24 hours in chasing down the leader of the Barcelona World Race, Paprec-Virbac 2. While the leading boat made its way up inside the Falkland Islands, Hugo Boss was enjoying tremendous Southern Ocean reaching conditions and has put 422 miles behind them over the past 24 hours.

Barcelona World Race

The honour of being first around Cape Horn in the Barcelona World Race goes to Paprec-Virbac 2 who left the fabled cape on their port side at 06:20 GMT this morning, moving from the tough Southern Ocean into the South Atlantic. With Cape Horn in their wake, and a 1000 mile lead, skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall can celebrate this latest milestone, while remaining aware that some 6700 miles remain before the finish line in Barcelona.

Barcelona World Race

With Paprec-Virbac 2 streaking towards Cape Horn, today should mark their final one in the Southern Ocean. Damian Foxall is projecting an early afternoon (GMT) rounding of the Horn as the race leader looks to leave the cold and stress of the South in its wake.

"We're nearing the end of a major part of the 'round the world'," Damian said today. "It's the Southern Ocean and this is the last day we're going to be down here, so we're making the most of it. It's nice and sunny outside and we're sailing straight at the mark so life is good."

Behind, Hugo Boss has stabilised its position, remaining just a shade over 1000 miles in arrears. The second place team has better wind now and is moving at good speed following a stretch yesterday when skipper Alex Thomson and Andrew Cape had to drop their mainsail to make a repair. Now back up at full speed, the chase is on for Hugo Boss.

"At this stage, we're probably going to need some help with the weather to catch up," Alex Thomson told special guest Jonathan McKee (Estrella Damm co-skipper) on the video conference today. Jonathan agreed, saying it was important for Hugo to stay as close as poss! ible to keep the pressure on and be in a position 'to pounce'!

For Temenos II, the last 24 hours have been very good. Dominique Wavre and Michèle Paret have been the fastest boat over that period, chalking up nearly 350 miles over that period and adding to their slim lead over Mutua Madrileña.

Barcelona World Race

Paprec-Virbac 2 is closing in on Cape Horn, as the leading boat in the Barcelona World Race has just over 500 more miles to run before reaching the great southern Cape. Cape Horn has great significance to any round-the-world sailor, and it's no different in the Barcelona World Race. In fact, in this race, it also marks the next scoring gate in the race as well.

Barcelona World Race

There are a few tough days ahead for Hugo Boss as the race leader, Paprec-Virbac 2 has hooked into a nice Southern Ocean low and is running away, while Hugo Boss is stuck in very mild conditions - in every sense of the word. Describing their current situation, the words of Jean-Pierre Dick on Paprec-Virbac 2 and Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss couldn't have been more different.

Barcelona World Race

Barcelona World Race leader Paprec-Virbac 2 had picked up a Southern Ocean low pressure system today, with winds of 30 to 35 knots and a lumpy sea state. Although uncomfortable, it's a welcome breath of wind for the leader, who had seen second-placed Hugo Boss chipping away at their lead. And this low pressure should carry Paprec-Virbac 2 the bulk of the way to Cape Horn, still some 1700 miles away.

Barcelona World Race

There is good news from the pit lane in Wellington where Temenos II had stopped to assess the damage to their keel. This was a problem that skipper Dominique Wavre feared could put his boat out of the Barcelona World Race, but on Wednesday night, word came that the experts had looked at the keel and pronounced it ready to go.

Barcelona World Race

Paprec-Virbac 2 has left Cook Strait on December 27 in its wake as skipper Jean-Pierre Dick and co-skipper Damian Foxall begin the second half of the Barcelona World Race with their well-earned lead in good shape. They've begun their descent southwards again, heading to the Southern Ocean for the second time. It has been a stressful end to the year for the leading crew of the Barcelona World Race. Not only have Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall had to watch the second place Hugo Boss re-join the race and promptly set about dismantling their lead, but today, deep in the clutches of the Southern Ocean, the Paprec-Virbac 2 crew confronted an enormous iceberg. With Hugo Boss chomping at the bit for its 48 hour pit-stop to expire so that it can rejoin the Barcelona World Race, the race leaders aboard Paprec-Virbac 2 had their own rudder issues to deal with. They hit an 'unidentified floating object' at high speed yesterday and damaged the starboard rudder. On new year's day Paprec-Virbac 2 began to make miles to the north as they need to climb over 120 miles to make it through the ice safety gate. Now sailing at 53-degrees latitude and with sea water temperature approaching 10-degrees Celsius, skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall could be forgiven for expecting they'd seen the last of the icebergs. But that hasn't been the case as a steady stream of photos and position reports of the seven icebergs they've spotted are being relayed in to race headquarters.

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The Sydney maxi Wild Oats XI took round one in the battle of the maxis at the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. From a good start, and with smart tactics, she was able to slow her British rival City Index Leopard on the short beat to windward to the first turning mark inside Sydney Heads and then extend that lead on the leg out to the second turning mark. The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet passed through light transitional winds early this morning between the strong overnight northerly, of up to 22 knots and into a weak southwest change. The three maxis leading the fleet were close reaching in the sou’wester at good speeds between 12.4 – 15.1 knots across Bass Strait.

Bob Oatley’s 98-foot super-maxi Wild Oats XI, with Mark Richards as skipper, crossed the finish in the morning of the 28th of December in Hobart at 10:24am local time to take the line honours win for the third consecutive year. The US STP65 Rosebud, owned by Florida-based Roger Sturgeon, has almost certainly won the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race’s major trophy, the Tattersall’s Cup for the overall winner on IRC handicap.

Barcelona World Race

As Paprec-Virbac 2 manoeuvred its way through Cook Strait and the fifth scoring gate of the Barcelona World Race, Hugo Boss skipper Alex Thomson, some 130 miles behind the race leader, announced he would be making a short pit stop in Wellington. Race rules oblige Hugo Boss to remain in port for a minimum of 48 hours. Skipper Alex Thomson says the stop will allow them to rejoin the race at 100%, ready to tackle the task of catching Paprec-Virbac 2.