News

By Richard Crockett The Easter weekend was anything but peaceful for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, and in fact was drama filled. Vestas lost her mast, MAPFRE stopped just short of Cape Horn for repairs, and Brunel has been reeled in at the head of the fleet by Dongfeng. So while Brunel and Dongfeng go hammer and tongs at each other, the rest of the fleet plays catch-up as they have simply fallen off the back of the leaders in …

by Richard Crockett This is the leg all crew have been waiting for, and which many armchair sailors dream about doing. The Southern Ocean holds a mysterious allure – as it is just that – mysterious. Yet it’s the toughest leg in the race by far, and so far the most dramatic – and regrettably tragic too. Earlier in the week John Fisher was lost overboard from Scallywag, and never found. Just west of Cape Horn MAPFRE suspended racing to …

by Richard Crockett The questions many have been asking since John Fisher was lost overboard earlier in the week have now been answered by Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag. The important thing to remember here is that experienced sailors go to sea because they love it for many different reasons. More importantly experienced sailors will only sail with people they trust and know, and on boats they deem to be seaworthy and ‘fit for purpose’. And, accidents do happen at sea …

* Electronic Chart Display and Information System This editorial from ‘The Maritime Executive’ was written by by Captain Richard Madden and should be of interest to all those who rely on GPS when going to sea. While common practice is to have multiple GPS units as backup if one fails, failure of the GPS system itself will require the need for alternative navigation – probably celestial navigation if out of sight of land. The U.S. Maritime Administration issued U.S. Maritime …

The Great Circle Sails blog is written by Brian Hancock who has a wealth of experience in major ocean races, including the Whitbread Race. His latest Blog airs his forthright views on the recent man overboard tragedy in the Volvo Ocean Race. Subscribe to his Blog, or see what else he writes HERE I will deal with the pleasantries first then get into the meat of the matter. I wish to extend my condolences to the family and friends of …

by Richard Crockett This is a very sad day for our sport, the Volvo Ocean Race and of course the family of the missing sailor. The Volvo Ocean Race prides itself on the safety measures it puts in place to prevent accidents, plus it equips each and every crew with the latest in tried and tested safety gear in case of such an emergency. Below Are the Two Statements Released by the Volvo Ocean Race on this Incident So Far. …

On Sunday morning Brunel led the Volvo Ocean Race fleet past Point Nemo, the most remote spot on the world’s oceans. Point Nemo is nearly 1,400 nautical miles from the nearest land, meaning the closest people to the sailors, apart from their fellow competitors, are the astronauts on the International Space Station, some 220 nautical miles overhead. Here Are 8 Facts About Point Nemo by Jonno Turner The Volvo Ocean Race boats have raced past an iconic point – Point …

By Richard Crockett Since last posting info on the race on Friday morning, lots has been going on deep in the Southern Ocean, with damaged gear, lots of high wind gybes and more. The fleet has passed Point Nemo. What’s that you may ask? Or where exactly is that? All will be revealed in a separate post, suffice to say that it is defined as the place furthest from land in the world. Day 6 of this leg dawned with …

The fleet continues its relentless charge east towards Cape Horn, all the while enjoying the best the Southern Ocean has to offer. The teams have been skirting the southern race course boundary and racing in strong but manageable winds in the 20-25 knot range which have allowed the crews to rack up 500 mile days. But that’s all about to change. As of this morning (Friday 06h00 UTC report), Dongfeng had taken the lead from MAPFRE, but with a mere …

Four days into Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race, the teams have reached the Furious Fifties and made their turn to the east, pointing towards the famed Cape Horn. There has been little let-up for the seven teams as they continue to push ever deeper into the Southern Ocean. Vestas 11th Hour Racing posted the first 500-mile run of Leg 7 on Wednesday as the fleet charges towards the ice exclusion zone. Until now the race has been to …

Dee Caffari’s Turn the Tide on Plastic got an early jump on their Volvo Ocean Race rivals as Leg 7 from Auckland to Itajai entered its second day. Monday brought little let-up with winds hovering around 25 knots producing similar boat speeds as the teams charge deeper into the Southern Ocean on the 7,600-mile leg. An opening day lead for Dongfeng Race Team and MAPFRE was cut short when Turn the Tide on Plastic and Team AkzoNobel skirted round the …

It was a spectacular start to Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race on Sunday afternoon, as the fleet left Auckland in perfect conditions. The sun was out, the wind was near 20 knots, and as they have for 10 stopovers, the Auckland fans took to the water by the thousands to farewell the fleet. It wasn’t a surprise – over the course of the Auckland stopover, over 500,000 fans came through the Race Village at the Viaduct Basin. On …

by Richard Crockett For many crew in this race, the Southern Ocean legs are what they really signed up to do. It’s where the action is, it’s where the super-fast sailing will be done, it’s where the adrenalin really gets pumping, and it’s where the graceful Albatross glide so effortlessly. The Southern Ocean leg starts on Sunday at 01h00 UTC. Seven Volvo Ocean Race teams will embark on one of the most classic legs in offshore racing from Auckland, New …

by Richard Crockett I am not a great supporter of SAMSA as I firmly believe that they have little or no interest in the leisure boating community. Despite that they do on occasions, do something that will assist all those who go to sea in small boats, so here is the good news. Installation and commissioning of new coastal radio infrastructure equipment. Summary This Marine Notice serves to provide notification to affected parties of the installation and commissioning of new …

by Richard Crockett I am honoured to be able to call Trevor a friend, particularly as our friendship was a long distance one as we lived on opposite sides of the country. Instead of meeting regularly in person, we would spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone chatting about all manner of subjects – especially the sport of sailing for which we both have a massive passion. Not just a kind man, but a very generous man too, …