Scot

 No, this doesn't have a bunch of cool sailing shots, but it sure as hell is a fascinating look at how little we know about the very environment that we all dedicate large portions of our life to. Explorer Sebastien de Halleux shares how a new fleet of wind- and solar-powered drones is collecting data at sea in unprecedented detail, revealing insights into things like global weather and the health of fish stocks. Learn more about what a better grasp of the ocean could mean for us back on land. Props to Anarchist Peter....

In the 16 days at sea the skipper battled through several problems, some from day one including two ballast leaks, halyard failure, several electronics issues and more seriously, main auto pilot failure. As a solo sailor’s only crew, ordinarily this self-steering system allows the skipper to leave the helm whilst sailing a good course. For Phil, this was not the case. Installing the less effective backup system too did not solve the issue, which continued to malfunction causing the boat to Chinese Gybe (lie flat on its side) twice, and broach 30 times during the race. Each with recovery time lost and posing great risk for sail damage. This combined with sailing through vicious squalls with gusts that ranged between 30 and 50 kts for two thirds of the race made for a particularly gruelling edition of the Route du Rhum. Despite these challenges and sailing an older generation boat, Phil sailed an inspirational race rooted from his strength of perseverance, he reflects on his experience: “It’s incredible to at last be here, I’ve been dreaming of Guadeloupe for a long time now… “The last few weeks have been a real test coping with the weather, competition and with a faulty auto pilot I’ve been sacrificing a huge amount of sleep to helm the boat. Altogether the boat Chinese Gybed twice and broached at least 30 times, which I can tell you is not a nice experience day or night… and which lost me a huge amount of miles and time. “The conditions were hard. Very unstable and at times where routine was impossible. The gusts meant that it was unsafe to sleep and I needed to be on deck to control the boat each time squalls hit. I was hoping that trade wind sailing would be consistent and stable...

As promised, we wanted to share a few cool things from the METS show, and nothing was cooler than this: a bespoke coffee grinder for a 12-meter! Made by Ron Valant from the Classic Winch Company. He had a million great stories and if time had allowed it, we would have stayed for all of them. A really interesting man, who builds amazing old-school gear.  ...

  https://youtu.be/2yfIKLqosO4 In the entire world of sailing, it went largely unnoticed that a unique international event occurred right under our noses this past summer.  For the first time in 21 years the International 420 Class (the original 420 performance dinghy) held its annual World Championship in the United States – the last time was 1997.   In August 167 teams (334 sailors, as well as 40+ coaches, and an untold number of equipment containers, team leaders, support personnel and parents) from 19 countries across the Globe – North America, South America, Europe, Asia and from as far as Australia, Japan, and New Zealand - traveled to Sail Newport in Rhode Island for the annual 420 World Championship.  It was obvious to the US I-420 Class Board that the resounding success of the event was due in large part to the leadership and dedicated team at Sail Newport - and the wonderful facilities known to most of us as Fort Adams State Park.   In addition to many sailing programs run through Sail Newport there are countless class associations/programs that utilize this Diamond in our Midst to host events – everything from the Volvo Ocean Race stop-over to the likes of the Snipe Women’s World Championship, 400-boat Optimist regattas – and yes the I-420 Class World Championship with amazing precision and efficiency.  From the first pre-planning discussions almost 2 years in advance, to the on-site visits and discussions in the year leading up to the event, and then the actual event execution and management, it was obvious that Brad Read and his staff had their hands clearly on the wheel in every aspect of running an event.     Every conceivable aspect of the planning, organization, resource allocation, logistics, implementation and management was impressive from start to finish.  And while no event is without drama and problems, Brad’s...

 The Environment On Saturday, the captain of the palm oil tanker Stolt Tenacity allegedly detained six Greenpeace activists after they conducted an unauthorized boarding of his vessel while under way. At dawn, a boarding team from the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza used a daughter craft to approach the Tenacity as she transited the Gulf of Cadiz. While maintaining position alongside the Tenacity's starboard side, the team hooked a boarding ladder onto her rail. Six Greenpeace activists were on board before the crew was on deck to confront them. The master of the Esperanza called the Tenacity to explain. "Good morning mate, you have been boarded by a Greenpeace boarding team. I want to assure you that they are not pirates, they are not armed, and they will do nothing to hinder the movement of your ship, they are just protesting your carriage of palm oil. Over," he said. Greenpeace alleges that the activists were held in one of the ship's cabins while the Tenacity transited to Algeciras, where they disembarked. Stolt has denied that the activists were detained during the transit, and says that they were provided with food and a safety briefing. Greenpeace targeted the Tenacity because she was carrying a cargo of palm oil from Singaporean trading house Wilmar International, a leading supplier to snack food giant Mondelez. Mondelez uses palm oil to make many well-known products, including Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolate bars, and Ritz crackers. Greenpeace alleges that Mondelez' palm oil suppliers have destroyed 170,000 acres of rainforest across Southeast Asia in two years, and alleges that these suppliers engage in illegal clearance, forest fires and land grabbing. Read on....

A-Class Worlds kicked off yesterday in glorious Hervey Bay in sunny Queensland. Three races today and Maestro Glenn Ashby claimed them all - his placings in each race outlined nicely on his mainsail, (which is also happens to be his rather swift design...) - Blue Robinson....

The 2018 U.S. J/70 Youth Championship, hosted by St. Petersburg YC in St Petersburg, Fl, concluded with a total of twenty-one races over the three days for the seven youth teams from across America. The teams enjoyed the short-course “stadium-style” racing of 20 minutes per race, sailing the StPYC’s perfectly-matched fleet of J/70’s just off the beautiful St Petersburg city waterfront. Winning the event in a convincing fashion was the King Harbor YC Youth Team (Kyle Collins, Brock Paquin, River Paquin, and Justin Zmina). The regatta was blessed with a remarkable weather pattern that lasted the entire weekend. As the northeastern region of the USA got blasted by its first winter storm, paralyzing major cities like New York, the southeast region of the continent-spanning frontal system provided nice N to NE breezes for four straight days with gorgeous sunny skies. Results here....

Well the METSTRADE show is over, and for SA, it was an amazing experience. We have tons of new and existing advertiser interest, got the chance to meet people that we never have, and saw some incredible new products and ideas. All of which added up to the best show ever, and the only one that we will be visiting in the future! We will be sharing many of these people and ideas with you over the coming weeks and are just so stoked to get the opportunity to do so. And yes, Amsterdam wasn't just METS! Mary and I had a blast hitting the city about as hard as we could - here I am grabbing the wheel (duh) - at the -9 degrees Ice Bar! - ed. Btw, here's a US-based IBI report on METS. Interestingly, most all of the action at mets came from non-US companies. Overall, Europe has a much more active and cutting edge industry than the good ol USA. Of course there is a thread......

The 100 footers are definitely the ride to have in the Sydney Hobart if you want your boat to be on National TV (Australian National TV that is. I just re-checked the footage from 7 or Channel 7 the Aussie broadcaster of the last two Sydney Hobart starts (2016 & 2017) and you would hardly need to take your shoes and socks off to count the number of seconds coverage of smaller boats. So if you want some free video of your boat, make it 100’. However, if you want to win the real prize – you know the one they engrave your name on - and in the Sydney Hobart it’s called the Tattersall Cup then 100 feet is not the way to go. Over the 20 years between the 1995 – 2015 charges down the coast of New South Wales and across the Bass Strait the overall winner averaged out at 49’9”. How can I be so sure? Well I did the research when we sourced the Cookson 50, UBOX for the 2016 Race. (She was Pretty Fly 111) Worked out pretty well as she took 3rd Overall in IRC and 1st Overall in ORCi. I love history so I went digging a little further and in the last 10 years there have been 4 top 10 IRC finishes (in total) for the 100 footers including a win for the S-H specialist Wild Oats. On a Cookson however – 50’or 55’ -  and you would have been one of 12 top ten finishers over the same period AND have a hell of a lot more money left in the bank. That list of top 10 included a win and a podium by the way. Spread it to any builder and last year 8, yes eight, of the top...

Seemingly all the grand old IOR-era maxis suffer the same fate; neglect and an inglorious ending. This is the 80' Hispania, and while not quite dead, she is clearly on life support. Check the story in our Fabulous Forums......