Recent Sailing and Boating news articles

Date: 2007-11-15
Views: 991

Category: Sailing news

Franck Cammas and Steve Ravussin have won the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV) again, beating the previous race record held by Cammas and Franck Proffit by an incredible 48 hours.

Seen as the favourites since the start, Cammas and Ravussin did not disappoint, making their mark on the race with ten days of strong sailing and sound tactics. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-14
Views: 1402

Category: Sailing news

Sailors at all levels of the sport have voiced their disappointment at the decision to cut the multi-hull class from the 2012 Olympics.

The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Council decided to cut multi-hulls after being told by the International Olympic Committee that for the 2012 games in London the number of sailing events would have to be cut to ten, and the number of competitors limited to 380. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-13
Views: 899

Category: Sailing news

Skandia Team GBR's Beijing-nominated Yngling crew of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson were victorious again at the RYA Winter Challenge Match Racing Series this weekend at Queen Mary Sailing Club in Staines.

Conditions for this, the first RYA match racing event since the ISAF's announced that women's match racing would be an event in the 2012 Olympics, were perfect, with plenty of sunshine and a westerly wind of eight to 15 knots. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-12
Views: 1128

Category: Sailing news

The Barcelona World Race got off to a smooth start on Sunday afternoon, with bright, sunny skies, southerly winds of almost ten knots, and Dame Ellen MacArthur on hand to fire the starting gun.

First across the starting line for the 25,000 nautical mile, non-stop, round the world race was Educacion sin Fronteras, skippered by local sailor Albert Bargues and Servanne Escoffier, who at 26, is the youngest sailor in the race. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-09
Views: 945

Category: Sailing news

A starting date of July 18th 2009 has been set for the 33rd America's Cup, and in a break with tradition, the defending champions, Alinghi, will participate in the round-robin stages, organisers have announced.

Complex new rules mean that the Swiss team will now be able to take part in the early elimination races and the semi-finals in May, by way of a practice run and to test their boat before the actual final. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-08
Views: 791

Category: Sailing news

Ten days of consistent and fast sailing have benefited the crew of Hull & Humber, who have moved into second place and are now chasing race leader's New York, in the third leg of the Clipper Round the World race.

Just over a week ago, Hull & Humber were bringing up the rear of the fleet, but have turned things around, winging their way to the front of the pack and back into the running. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-07
Views: 672

Category: Sailing news

On day three of the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV), Marc Guillemot and Charles Coudrelier in Safran were in the lead as the pack made its way along the French coast.

After a slow start, conditions are finally improving, with winds from the north-east picking up to speeds of 20 to 25 knots, with some crews, including the leaders, now opting to head offshore in an attempt to make the best of the present conditions. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-06
Views: 671

Category: Sailing news

The first six inductees in the newly created ISAF sailing hall of fame have been announced at a ceremony in Estoril in Portugal.

Fifteen-times world championship winner Paul Elvstrom; president of the Sail Training Association Sir Robin Knox-Johnson; record breaker Dame Ellen MacArthur; yacht designer Olin Stephens; boardsailing champion Barbara Kendall and the late Eric Tabarly, were named as the first six sailors to be honoured for their contribution to the sport. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-05
Views: 2543

Category: Personal Watercraft

The British Marine Federation (BMF) has said that it is continuing to work with government to try and reach a suitable outcome with regards to the loss of the Red Diesel derogation for boaters.

Following the decision by the European Commission not to renew the derogation of Red Diesel for leisure boaters, owners of private craft will lose permission to use the low-duty diesel as of November 2008, although the Treasury is still unsure as to how to implement the change. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-02
Views: 726

Category: Sailing news

British yachtswoman Dee Caffari and her co-skipper Nigel King are making their final preparations for the hotly anticipated Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV) race from France to Brazil, which begins on Saturday.

Sailing the Open 60 racing yacht Aviva, the pair will be taking on 17 other teams in their class in the 4,340-mile course, which follows the historic coffee trade route, in what is Caffari's first transatlantic race of the Aviva Ocean Racing campaign. Read More...

Date: 2007-11-01
Views: 534

Category: Sailing news

Nearly 300 young sailors, representing the cream of the UK's university sailing crop, will be heading to Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy for the British University Sports Association (BUSA) Sailing Championship this weekend.

The event not only brings the season to a close, but also provides students from around the country with the chance to compete against one another in Laser, Laser 2, Firefly and Handicap classes on an individual basis, as well as battling it out for the overall Universities' Team Trophy. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-31
Views: 1287

Category: Industry

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is asking members of the public to respond to its own cry for help in the run up to RNLI SOS day on January 25th.

Figures just released by the charity show that this summer alone, RNLI lifeboats were launched over 3,500 times throughout June, July and August and RNLI lifeguards aided nearly 8,500 people on beaches during the same period, while crews also rescued over 200 people during the devastating flooding. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-30
Views: 522

Category: Sailing news

To mark its centenary, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) is launching the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame this year, to honour the sport's most prominent stars.

The first six as yet unnamed inductees will be announced in November at a gala dinner at Estoril in Portugal, which will be sponsored by Portugal Tourism, Estoril Tourism and Cascais Municipality and will play host to some of the best known and most popular figures in sailing. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-29
Views: 586

Category: Sailing news

Adrian Flanagan, who is attempting to become the first person to sail around the world solo via the polar regions, has been forced to postpone his trip for a second time.

The 46-year-old from Bicester in Oxfordshire initially set off in October of 2005, but was forced to halt a little under a year later, after covering 25,000 miles, when the Russian Arctic began to freeze over. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-26
Views: 564

Category: Sailing news

Favourable winds have spelt for swift overnight progress on the first night of the third leg of the round the world race from Salvador to Durban in South Africa, but have also split the fleet in two.

Several of the boats have reported 12-hour runs of more than 120 nautical miles, but the boats have divided into two groups, with race leaders New York and Western Australia, as well as Singapore, Glasgow and Durban heading out to sea, while Liverpool, Hull and Humber, Qingdao and Nova Scotia have chosen to hug the coast but are also lagging behind somewhat. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-25
Views: 522

Category: Sailing news

A victory in Bermuda has helped Frenchman Mathieu Richard unseat Brit Ian Williams from the top spot in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings for the first time in five months.

This is the first time Richard has claimed first place in the rankings, thanks to his win in ISAF Grade WC Gold Cup in Bermuda, while Williams finished in 12th, a disappointing placing that has ultimately cost him dear. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-24
Views: 553

Category: Sailing news

The RYA Olympic Classes National Ranking Series came to a close this weekend, at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, with both familiar faces and new names taking home prizes.

World Champions Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes took the overall Series crown, finishing just a point ahead of Paul Campbell-James and Mark Asquith in the 49er class, while the 470 class went to Luke Patience and Chris Grube - their second National Ranking Series title. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-23
Views: 748

Category: Inland Waterways

The Port of London Authority (PLA) has officially named two new award-winning harbour patrol boats which will serve the Thames between Putney and Teddington.

The specially-designed catamarans, Richmond and Chelsea, were named by local MPs, Susan Kramer and Justine Greening, and it is hoped that they will to help build on the area's reputation as a centre for rowing and sailing. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-22
Views: 633

Category: Sailing news

This year's Rolex Middle Sea Race is following the pattern of the Rolex Fastnet, as crew after crew is forced to retire, while Rambler, the race leader draws further and further out in front.

After a trouble-free start in Malta, problems started to set in when the fleet reached the coast of Sicily, and by Sunday afternoon some 22 yachts had retired, including four of the race's major players - Titan 12, Valkyrie, Whisper and British challengers, Ourdream. Read More...

Date: 2007-10-19
Views: 600

Category: Sailing news

The Taiwanese government is drafting proposals to boost its yacht-building industry.

It is hoped that the reforms will enable at least one of the country' yacht companies to become one of the four largest in the world by 2015 - and will help the manufacturers to secure a larger slice of the increasingly lucrative super yacht market. Read More...