News

Siyanda Vato, or simply Siya to his friends, has been around on the sailing scene for what seems like a lifetime now. His sailing career started in Durban at Sail Africa where he soon became something of a legend as he became absolutely passionate about his sailing, and would be out on the water at almost every opportunity, despite school and his studies in general. Vernon Goss took him under his wing, and he became involved in several sailing projects, …

by Richard Crockett A recently published proposal by US Sailing suggests that for the 2024 Olympics the Finn and 470 dinghies and RS:X board be replaced with new equipment and events. The Olympic sailing classes is always an intensely passionate debate, with this proposal being no different as reaction from around the world will be passionate and interesting to say the least. One will need to read the full report before commenting, but their proposal to remove two dinghy and …

The scientific research, using data collected by Race team ‘Turn the Tide on Plastic’, identified 75 particles of microplastics per cubic metre in waters near Hong Kong and 87 particles of microplastics per cubic metre along the coast near Melbourne. Lower concentrations of 39 microplastic particles per cubic metre were found up the east coast of Australia and values of 48 particles per cubic metre were found in South East Asian waters. The highest levels of microplastic so far have …

The Restoration of ‘Stroppy’ – the prototype Sprog Plus An Appeal for A Permanent Place to Display Her by Frans Loots I could clearly recall seeing a sailing dinghy on display at the Port Elizabeth Museum when we went there on primary school museum day outings. And I especially remember how we would shove the tiller backwards and forwards despite the “no touching” signs. I also remembered that the tiller extension was made out of cane – just like the …

Considered to be an unlucky day for some, 2018 sees Friday the 13 occurring twice, the first one today and the next in July. In a number of sporting codes, superstitions are rife! Sailors also fall into the superstitious bunch. Traditionally, sailors believed that having bananas on board, aside from their peels causing many a comedic moment of tripping and falling, bananas have long been thought to bring bad luck. Having ladies on board was said to bring bad luck …

Very few professional sailors can say they have sailed in hurricane force winds and a phenomenal sea state with waves greater than 14 metres, but at 1800 yesterday this was the official situation facing the Clipper Race fleet in the North Pacific Ocean. The low-pressure system that arrived close to the north of the fleet yesterday delivered a heavy weather blow which resulted in record-breaking surfing speeds and awe-struck observations of the full power and beauty of Mother Nature in …

by Richard Crockett In the Scuttlebutt Sailing News #5058 which I read this morning I was struck by the headline and comments made by its author Lou Sandoval. This is what was said, verbatim: SAILING WON’T GET YOU INTO COLLEGE (#5057) I can’t tell you how many parent’s I’ve run into that want their child to become the next Jimmy Spithill. As much as we’d like this to be the case, it seldom works out that way and often imposing …

South African, Malagasy and French researchers have discovered the existence of a coastal current off Madagascar. The newly-described current, the South-west Madagascar Coastal Current, flows poleward off the south-west coast of Madagascar. Knowledge about and a thorough understanding of it will help scientists understand ocean circulation in the region and have direct implications for the management of local fisheries south of Madagascar. “Revealing the existence of the new coastal current is an important discovery for South Africa as it adds …

Polish yacht Copernicus, the smallest yacht to complete the very first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973-74, will compete in the Legends Race starting on 21 June from Gothenburg and finishing in The Hague. Copernicus was built especially for the first Whitbread by the Gdanska Stocznia Jachtowa ‘Stogi’ boatyard in Poland, with a lot of help from the members of the Yacht Klub ‘Stal’ Gdynia on the Baltic Sea coast, who has owned her ever since. She is their …

This was always a leg billed as the toughest, yet the one crew were most looking forward to. It was also the leg in which a man was lost overboard and in which Vestas was dismasted. Plus, MAPFRE had mast damage which she chose to affect temporary repairs too just shy of Cape Horn, and having suspended racing for 13 hours, she ruled herself out of the running for the leg. And then, after the leading two finished within 15 …

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Circolo della Vela Sicilia, together with their respective teams Emirates Team New Zealand and the Challenger of Record – Luna Rossa, have published the AC75 Class Rule for the 36th America’s Cup. The AC75 Class Rule defines the parameters within which teams can design a yacht eligible to compete in the 36th America’s Cup. It regulates all aspects of the boat to ensure fair and exciting racing, whilst leaving plenty of freedom for …

Just six months after the devastation caused by Irma and Maria, two category 5 hurricanes that swept through Caribbean last year, life in some areas, including on the US Virgin Island of St Thomas, St Croix and St John, is beginning to return to some sort of normality writes Sue Pelling. I use the word normality fairly loosely because following a visit to the US Virgin Islands during the three-day 45th St Thomas International Regatta (STIR) the week before last …

by Richard Crockett Watching the final stages of this leg unfold on the tracker and later the livestream, it was tense stuff, even for viewer and must have been thousands of times tougher for those aboard Brunel and Dongfeng. It was slow, intense and enthralling as one watched the distances change, and Dongfeng at times close the gap to under 1nm, and for Brunel to counter that and extend her slender lead. But with world class sailors aboard Brunel, and …

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 …