News

It’s a pretty safe bet to say that Blaine Dodds has to be South Africa’s top Hobie sailor as he has such an impressive local and international record in these cats. His latest victory is another international title to add to the long list he already has. He recently competed in the Sylt Regatta in Germany, an exclusive regatta, where only teams of the worlds best Hobie 16 sailors compete – and he won it in fine style too, sailing …

The America’s Cup community from around the world gathered in Cowes yesterday for the first opportunity to meet the teams entered in the 36th edition and hear about what lies ahead including two milestone announcements made by Emirates Team New Zealand CEO, Grant Dalton. Match Dates On behalf of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Grant Dalton officially named Auckland as the venue for the 36th America’s Cup Match Presented by Prada and that racing will take place between 6th- …

Following the completion of the sailing event, the groundbreaking science element of the Sustainability Programme revealed the spread of microplastic pollution. Only three of the 75 samples collected during the race, south of Australia, east of Argentina and west of Ireland, have been found to contain no microplastics. The most recent data collected, before the race finale in The Hague, by scientific devices on board Team AkzoNobel and Turn the Tide on Plastic boats, found particularly high levels of microplastics, …

Further details have emerged regarding Norwegian skipper Are Wiig following his capsize and dismasting 400 miles SSW of Cape Town on Monday. Now in regular communication with both Race HQ and home, Wiig‘s team manager John Amtrup gave this update: “He was repairing the safety pin (of his windvane self steering) when his yacht capsized and he was thrown out of the companionway and landed in the sprayhood. He got some bruises and ended up in the cockpit, but it …

by Richard Crockett A week ago I published a few old Sprog pics and a ‘GORPS Guzzle’ certificate. Those pics and the certificate have brought many people out of the woodwork to comment and reminisce. My old mate John Wright has now updated me with info on the ‘GORPS Guzzle’, as well as supplying a list of all winners of the Sprog Nationals – which reads like a Who’s Who of top sailors in the country. The word GORPS , …

by Malcolm Osborne The UK’s Olympic Venue of Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy was once again the popular venue for the 2018 edition of the RS Tera World Championships, held in conjunction with the 2018 RS Sailing Anniversary Games. The growing popularity of this class was reflected in the increased entry of 81 in the Tera Sport class and 66 in the Tera Pros. For the first time in such an event, the Tera Sports sailed in two flights …

On day 58 of this global singlehanded marathon Are Wiig made a satellite phone call to Race HQ reporting that his 32′ yacht Olleanna had been rolled through 360° and dismasted some 400 miles south west of Cape Town. The 58-year old yacht surveyor from Svelvik, Norway is one of 12 sailors competing in this solo non stop race around the Globe, and was below decks at the time with the yacht lying hove-to in 35 – 45knot winds and …

by Richard Crockett The Bay of Palma served up a week of mostly atypical, unsettled and changeable summer sea breeze conditions for the fourth regatta of the 2018 52 SUPER SERIES, and after a promising start Phoenix fell off the podium in the closing stages of the regatta. Tina Plattner and her crew were simply unable to keep their results inside the top 5, while a 10th in race 6 effectively put them out of the running for a podium …

By Roy Dunster As of 22/08/2018, the Letter from the Lipton trustees in Sailing Magazine had reached 3834 people and had 20 shares. My subsequent article, also in Sailing Magazine, about the Lipton classes had reached 2711 people and had 9 shares. It’s always good to see that Lipton appears to be important to a lot of people. The objective of this piece is to respond to some of the points raised in the Facebook comments, both for my original …

by Richard Crockett Both Quantum Racing and Phoenix mastered the unusual Palma Seabreeze Conditions yesterday, and are now the top two on the podium. It may have looked like a relatively straightforward summer sea breeze on the Bay of Palma, but yesterdays two races contested by the ten TP52s at the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week proved particularly hard to read. The fact that is was difficult to retain a high level of consistency across both races is …

by Richard Crockett The Bay of Palma served up a typical Pandora’s Box of sea breeze delights for the first three races of the Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week. Although the general trend was for the gains to be made on the right side of the upwinds on the three windward-leeward races contested, it was never that simple and straightforward and there were small gains and losses to be made all the way through each race. Tina Plattner …

by Richard Crockett During the last few days the latest IMOCA 60 monohull was launched amid much fanfare – and just looking at the pics should reveal why! She’s shiny bright, she looks slippery and fast, she has chiselled lines and she has been built with the 2020 Vendee Globe Challenge as the main goal. She is CHARAL, an IMOCA 60 (International Monohull Open Class Association) which was designed by VPLP design for Jérémie Beyou, and built by CDK Technologies, …

Regrettably with each passing day the Sprog becomes less and less significant in terms of local sailing, which is a great pity as this used to be on our ‘powerhouse’ classes. In the last few days I enjoyed some picture posts on a Sprog WhatsApp group, and now have permission to share them. Sprog 240 This was posted by Roger Day who says that he and his brother have been collating info about their Dad, and specifically around his passion …

This is a must attend event for media representatives, yacht racing photographers, cameramen and TV production companies from all over the world: • The annual conference for the business of sailing and yacht racing. • The place where you will meet your future clients and partners. • The time in the year when the present and future of the sport gets debated by its key personalities. • Award ceremonies for the best sailing photographer and sailing video production. The two-day …

As race leader Jean-Luc Van Den Heede closes on a very stormy Cape of Good Hope, Race organisers posted two navigation warnings to the fleet on Sunday, and have now raised the southern limit to 42°S from Longitude 40°E to keep the fleet clear of the worst conditions in the South Indian Ocean. Don McIntyre, the Race Chairman explains: “This is early Spring in the Southern Ocean and the fleet will be 2-weeks or more ahead of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston …