News

Raymarine’s latest LightHouse software upgrade release now fully supports Oceanic Systems’ Fuel Sender Volumetric output and tank shape calibration! LightHouse Annapolis 3.9 software has just been released which can now calibrate and display Oceanic’s Fuel Sender Volumetric data. This means the user can know exactly how much fuel they have on board no matter what shape their tank is. This AXIOM software release allows the installer or user to input their volumetric calibration information directly into the AXIOM and display …

By Richard Crockett I still very clearly, and fondly I may add, remember my first forays into coastal passage making and overnight races way back in the mid-‘70s. Those were the days BEFORE GPS, sat-coms, radar – and of course really good ‘foulies’ that did not leak and let the wind through. RDFs (Radio Direction Finders – what’s that Dad!!) and depth sounders, plus good log-keeping were the navigators best friends. It was the keeping warm and dry bit back …

British sailor Neal McDonald has been involved in seven Volvo Ocean races. After being Performance Manager to the Ian Walker skippered ‘Abu Dhabi’, winners in 2014-15, McDonald played a similar key role on the last Volvo with Xabi Fernandez’ ‘MAPFRE’ team. He has been full time with Alex Thomson Racing since last year, but has known and worked with Alex on a project basis for the last three or four years. McDonald, now 55 years old, has been announced as …

Bilbao is a flamboyant city in northern Spain, with a growing passion for the sport of sailing The 12th edition of the Yacht Racing Forum (November 25-26) promises to be exciting. It will bring together some of the most prominent players in the nautical world, and will offer a unique commercial platform to companies active in competitive sailing. Members of the yacht racing community and sailing industry from all over the world will meet in six months’ time in the …

by Christian Cotroneo While Americans are getting a next-generation cellular network — along with all the speed, increased coverage and efficiency it brings — weather forecasts may start to seem eerily familiar. Like 1980s familiar. That’s how badly meteorologists expect the 5G network will set back weather detection. “If you look back in time to see when our forecast scale was roughly 30 percent less than today, it was 1980,” Neil Jacobs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) …

Last week the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) hosted the Technical Task Team of the 2021-22 Ocean Race. The Bay is one of two cities that have been shortlisted in South Africa, in the bid to host the African leg of one of the international stop-overs of the prestigious yacht race, scheduled to take place late in 2021. Should the Nelson Mandela Bay be announced as the host city for the South African …

by Richard Crockett Although not on the podium at this event, the South Africans teams of ‘Phoenix 11′ and ‘Phoenix 12′ did not disgrace themselves, although youth did trump age and experience as Tina Plattner took ‘Phoenix 12′ to victory over her father, Hasso Plattner’ who campaigned the newer ‘Phoenix’. ‘Phoenix 12′ closed off the event by scoring 4; 3 & 8 in the closing 3 races, while ‘Phoenix 11′ had to contend with a DNF & DNS – indicating …

by Richard Crockett Day 3 was not a spectacular day for the two South African boats although ‘Phoenix 11′ and Hasso Plattner improved her performance of the day, starting with an 11 and finishing with a 6 and 5. Unfortunately ‘Phoenix 12′ and Tina Plattner were unable to improve their positions with 7, 8 and 9th place finishes in the three races. After missing Day 2’s scheduled races due to the lack of breeze, the third day was a gift …

The forecast light sea breeze failed to materialise yesterday for the 11-strong fleet of TP52s at the Menorca 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week, and so racing had to be cancelled for the day. The standings remain the same with Azzurra (Alberto & Pablo Roemmers) leading the results table by four points ahead of Platoon (Harm Müller-Spreer) after Tuesday’s two races. “It is very frustrating that the sea breeze just did not come in. It is one of those things because …

by Richard Crockett The 52 Super Series is established as the world’s leading grand prix monohull yacht racing circuit, with 2019 being the eighth season of racing – and it’s shaping up to be the biggest and best yet, with the first series for 2019 kicking off yesterday in Menorca. South Africa is represented in this event with not just one boat, but two this year. Hasso Plattner and his daughter Tina are campaigning them with world class crews which …

Professional sailor and coach Andrew Palfrey has been working with Hasso and Tina Plattner’s two-boat TP52 program, helping them ramp up for the 52 SUPER SERIES in 2019. In this report, he shares the process for coaching the two Phoenix teams. So far we have done two training events with both boats. The first was in Valencia in early April, together with seven other TP52 teams. The second was a two-boat training camp in Palma in the days leading up …

By Richard Crockett With all the shenanigans that have been going on about Olympic Classes, and what appeared to be a good chance of the Laser being booted, I looked for answers to the question, and found them in the Star Class. If one simply looks at the really top quality sailing the star class is having at their combined Star European Championship and Star Sailors League Breeze Grand Slam in Riva del Farda, Italy, the answer is a resounding …

World Sailing’s Council made key decisions on the Equipment to be used at the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition on Sunday 19 May as the Mid-Year Meeting concluded in London. The Laser was selected as the Men’s and Women’s One Person Dinghy, the IKA Formula Kite as the Mixed Kiteboard and the 470 as the Mixed Two Person Dinghy. A Board of Directors recommendation to select the RS:X as the Men’s and Women’s Windsurf Equipment was rejected meaning a new …

By Rebecca Morelle Science Correspondent, BBC News An American explorer has found plastic waste on the seafloor while breaking the record for the deepest ever dive. Victor Vescovo descended nearly 11km (seven miles) to the deepest place in the ocean – the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench. He spent four hours exploring the bottom of the trench in his submersible, built to withstand the immense pressure of the deep. He found sea creatures, but also found a plastic bag and sweet …

by Richard Crockett I always enjoy receiving mail from my old mate Roy Dunster as it is always thought-provoking and often controversial. For the dyed-in-the-wool types his out-of-the-box thinking is sometimes simply too much for those with a narrow view. His latest is about the Laser dinghy under the title “Laser Realities”. It’s important to know up front that Roy is a pretty competitive Laser sailor, despite his advancing years, and recently bought one of the handful of brand new …