News

An independent report into the grounding of Team Vestas Wind on Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race was released today. It included a set of recommendations aimed at improving safety at sea for the entire offshore racing community. In particular, it has suggested improving navigational charts and other on board software to avoid similar incidents in the future. The Danish boat, Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS), was stranded on a reef at Cargados Carajos Shoals in the middle of the …

Yesterday Volvo Ocean Race threw open the barriers and let the media have an inside view of the Boatyard at the Viaduct Events Centre The area is open to the public (stay behind the safety barriers) where you can see the boats on the hard, and look inside the Events Centre which has been converted into a massive sail and rigging loft. All gear used during the race is service by the Volvo Ocean Race team to reduce team support …

Ben Ainslie Racing Without cutting edge design and engineering, no one wins the America’s Cup. In pursuit of their goal, the British team has developed their own sophisticated 3D sailing simulator, modelled on those used by the world of motorsport. The virtual flying machine will support the vital link between sailors and designers, creating an important feedback mechanism between the two core parts of the performance team. It also provides an equally important feedback loop within the design team’s optimisation …

Marine industry experts from around the world will convene next week in the Volvo Ocean Race Village at Auckland’s Viaduct Basin for the 5th High Performance Yacht Design conference. This three-day technical conference, 9th to 11th March, is the latest for those who make it their business to push the performance boundaries of yachts both power and sail.  It is organized by the Royal Institute of Naval Architects (RINA) NZ and the University of Auckland The inaugural conference in December …

A report from the Donfeng Team There have been close finishes in previous races, but this was an extraordinary one with four boats fighting in sight of each other on the final day, after 20 days of hard fought battles all the way from China. Dongfeng crossed the finish line in 3rd place behind MAPFRE in first and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in 2nd, just 8 minutes separating these three boats which also means there have been four different leg …

by Richard Crockett “We are delighted to have hosted the inaugural Cape Town Classic – as spontaneously named by the group of competing sailors!” said Roger Hudson. Obviously this piqued my interest so I had to find out more  … . Quite simply it is the first ‘international Olympic 470 event’ ever held here in South African waters. It comprised 8 races in winds ranging from 6 to 30 knots. Following two weeks of intensive 470 training involving teams from …

by Richard Crockett Does it get any closer than this? Well yes, it may still get even closer. Some of the previous legs have had close finishes, but this was heart-stopping as the three leading boats closed in on the finish – and just 8 minutes separated the top three finishers and 7 hours for the whole fleet of 6 boats. And all this after 5,264nm and 20 days of racing between Sanya & Auckland. The race has now had …

by Richard Crockett I count my self very privileged to have been invited to the announcement dinner of the 10 young South Africans who have been selected to each do a leg aboard a 70-foot yacht in the Clipper Round the World Race which starts later this year. The sheer joy and emotion displayed by each and every one of them was infectious and emotional, and simply made one proud to be South African. Over the weekend 25 young South …

by Matt Knighton OBR, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing The black silhouette on the horizon was blocking our view of the sunrise this morning – we’re not sure if they’ll ruin the rest of our day or not. Then again, the mood onboard Abu Dhabi this morning has been optimistic and energetic. The quiet gladiatorial competition developing between Dongfeng and us has finally broken out into the open and as we close in on the finish we’re pushing Azzam with a …

Every year the yacht clubs of Durban join forces on a specific day to raise funds for the NSRI. Last year an amount of R109 075.00 was raised in just one day, and the cheques was presented last evening at a function at the NSRI Station 5 base in Durban. Nick and Sharyl Hastie of Seaport Supply also presented a cheque for R5 000.00 as their contribution to that day. This year a challenge is being issued to every single …

By Stefan Coppers: The permanent smiles have vanished from the faces of the Team Brunel crew. Eighteen hectic hours and a roller-coaster of emotions later, Bouwe Bekking’s men have gifted their fantastic lead to no less than three opponents. “What a drama,” sighs Rokas Milevičius who is trying his best to show fighting spirit in spite of the setback. “We’ll catch up with them, whatever it takes.” Yesterday evening, 1900 hrs: Team Brunel is sailing into the night. There’s no …

The B&G Report – Volvo Ocean Race – Mark Chisnell – Leg 4 Week 2 Top Volvo Ocean Race correspondent, navigator and sailing analyst, Mark Chisnell writes a regular report for B&G on the current race and trends he sees developing. This week he Looks at the first few days of Leg 4. Caps off to Capey First up – caps off to Team Brunel’s Andrew ‘Capey’ Cape and Team SCA’s Libby Greenhalgh. Together they pulled off probably the most …

Legend has it that over 31 days during 1788 the HMS Bounty of Captain Bligh made just 85 miles while attempting fruitlessly to round Cape Horn. If they round Cape Horn as expected on Tuesday 24th February, Barcelona World Race leaders Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam will have taken 31 days to race from the longitude of Cape of Good Hope to the most feared of all Capes. They passed Good Hope on 24th January at 20:20hrs UTC. and …

“We’ve had the fastest and wettest downwind conditions yet on this leg (or the last) during this morning’s romp through the Doldrums, hitting 20-24 knots SOG” said Charles Caudrelier skipper of Dongfeng. “Anyone can win this leg, its now so close again.” It is incredible how fast things can change in ocean racing – the Volvo Ocean Race just had an almost complete reset this weekend. And it wasn’t just the leaderboard that got ‘re-installed’, the weather got a full …

Now here’s an interesting entry just received. It comes from Willie Pretorius of Bloemfontein who will be sailing his Jeanneau Sun Fizz 40 ‘Star Spirit’ in the race. But what makes this entry so unique is that the boat is currently sailed on Gariep Dam by its owner who lives in Bloemfontein and is a member of the Free State Yacht Club. Willie Pretorius is planning to take the boat from Gariep Dam to the coast for the race, and …