The Volvo Ocean Race has agreed a three-year partnership with the Yacht Racing Forum (full story below).

– Race signs three-year deal with Yacht Racing Forum

– ‘Relaxed’ Forum is great place to do business, says Knut

– Volvo Ocean 65s idea ‘born’ at Forum in 2011

ALICANTE, Spain, October 5, 2015 – The Volvo Ocean Race has agreed a three-year partnership with the Yacht Racing Forum.

“We are delighted to welcome the Volvo Ocean Race as a long-term partner,” said Bernard Schopfer, the event’s CEO.

“We have been working hard at developing a new structure for the Forum, with a new team of dedicated people, new partners, a beautiful venue and an exciting programme. We regard this support from the Volvo Ocean Race as a strong mark of confidence, which we are proud of.”

Knut Frostad, the outgoing CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, has been an avid supporter of the Yacht Racing Forum since its debut in Monte Carlo in 2008.

He will once again be a speaker at this year’s conference, looking back at what he has achieved as Volvo Ocean Race CEO over nearly eight years at the helm.

“The Forum is an important event for the international yacht racing community,” he said.

“It takes place out of the context of a race. People are therefore relaxed and accessible; they are available to network and do business.

“For example, the idea of the Volvo Ocean 65s used during the Volvo Ocean Race was born during the Forum in 2011 in Estoril, Portugal. I am convinced that the Forum will carry on generating new ideas and positive developments for the sport.”

The Yacht Racing Forum this year will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on December 7-8.

The event will attract some 300 people in one place at one time to do business and meet future clients: yacht clubs, athletes, sponsors, event organisers, designers, technical suppliers and anyone involved or just interested in yacht racing.

“Geneva is an excellent venue for the Yacht Racing Forum, located at the heart of Europe,” said Karin Bäcklund, Commercial Director of the race.

“The new organisers of the Forum are determined to organise a great event, with a long-term vision, and we support this effort. There will be a strong Volvo Ocean Race delegation in Geneva this winter.”

via Perfect partners| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

Italian media put Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad in the spotlight during an 80-minute long press conference at the Genoa Boat Show when they asked him to rate the chances of a boat from their country entering the next race (full story below).

Knut Frostad in person – ‘What’s the chance of an Italian boat next time?’

– About 50-50, responds Race chief

– Race attractions draw hundreds of fans

GENOA, Italy, October 2 – Italian media put Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad in the spotlight during an 80-minute press conference at the Genoa Boat Show, when they asked him to rate the chances of a boat from their country entering the next race.

The sailing-mad country is a world leader in leisure boat manufacture and sales and Bergamo-based Persico Marine has recently been announced as the company who will make any new Volvo Ocean 65 one-design boats needed for the 13th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2017-18.

“So what are the chances of us finally having an Italian boat in the next race?” Frostad was asked by the eager Italian press corps in Thursday evening’s conference.

Frostad, who leaves his position at the end of the year, but is meanwhile helping to spearhead the drive for new teams, responded: “It’s very early, but there are good signs and a lot of interest. I’d say the chances are about 50-50.”

But he was quick to add: “I can tell you one thing, though: the effort to get an Italian team in the race is a hundred percent. We would love to see an Italian boat in the Volvo Ocean Race.”

Alberto Bolzan, the Italian sailor who sailed on board Team Alvimedica in the last edition, was also on the five-strong Volvo Ocean Race panel answering the questions from the knowledgeable Italian press corps, which was bolstered by several members of the international sailing media attending the Genoa Boat Show.

“I have no doubt that we have the skilled sailors who could do well in the Race, but it is wrong to name names at this point,” said Bolzan.

Chris Nicholson, skipper of Team Vestas Wind, Team SCA navigator Libby Greenhalgh, and Marcello Persico, who heads Persico Marine, were also on the panel.

The Genoa Boat Show is one of the biggest and most impressive nautical exhibitions in the world and Frostad jumped at the opportunity to stage a series of pro-am races this week in the Italian city’s harbour, between Team SCA and Team Vestas Wind.

The popular Dome theatre and Volvo Ocean 65 cross-section display, two of the biggest hits at race villages around the world, were also taken to Genoa for the show which started on Wednesday (September 30) and concludes on Monday (October 5).

Hundreds of interested show attendees flocked to see the attractions.

The press conference was also attended by Anton Albertoni, President of I Saloni Nautici, which stages the Genoa Boat Show.

He jokingly asked Frostad if there was any chance of his team of organisers staying in Genoa permanently.

“None, I’m afraid,” smiled Frostad. “I think the city of Alicante (hosts of the Race HQ) would be very angry if we did that.”

via Knut put on the spot| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

British crews set for Nacra Europeans challenge

Written by RYA | 24 September 2015

Three British crews in the hunt for European multihull silverware

British Sailing Team crews will be vying for European Championship honours when the Nacra 17 Europeans gets underway in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday (28 September).

Three British pairings are among the 43 teams set to contest the six-day Open event, which also features entries from Oceania and the Americas, at the Barcelona International Sailing Centre.

World number five duo Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves, silver medallists at the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, will be looking to push for the podium spots, with Lucy Macgregor-Dave Evans and Tom Phipps-Nicola Boniface also out to impress in the chase for Europeans silverware.

They’ll face a strong challenge for the European title from the likes of world number two-ranked Italians Vittario Bissaro-Silvia Sicouri and Spain’s home hopefuls Iker Martinez-Marina Lopez, with Australia’s Darren Bundock-Nina Curtis and New Zealand’s Gemma Jones-Jason Saunders set to provide tough competition from off-continent.

Racing gets underway on Monday 28 September, with 15 races scheduled ahead of the final ten-boat medal races on Saturday 3 October. The event is just the third ever European Championship for the new Olympic mixed multihull, which makes its Games debut at Rio 2016.

via British crews set for Nacra Europeans challenge | Home | News | The British Sailing Team | RYA.

Young gunning for World Cup glory in Qingdao

Written by RYA | 15 September 2015

Laser Radial star Young in World Cup action at the 2008 Olympic host city

Fresh from earning her Rio 2016 call-up, Alison Young headlines the British Sailing Team’s line-up at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao, which gets underway at the 2008 Olympic host city on Wednesday (16 September).

The world number two is one of just five British sailors in the entry list for this sole Asian round of the World Cup series, where Asian Olympic qualifying berths, invitations for October’s Abu Dhabi ISAF World Cup Final and a share of the US$150,000 prize fund are all up for grabs.

Bewdley’s Young will contest the 35-strong Laser Radial event, having already secured her place at next month’s World Cup Final through victory at the opening Series event in Melbourne last December.

Lymington sailor Hannah Snellgrove is also in action in the Laser Radial event, while rising talents Elliot Hanson and Lorenzo Chiavarini will look to make their mark among the 40-boat Laser fleet after strong results at the European and World Championships this summer.

RS:X windsurfer Tom Squires, silver medallist at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland, completes the British line-up at this fifth round of the World Cup series.

Racing gets underway on Wednesday 16 September, with the final medal races scheduled for Sunday 20 September.

via Young gunning for World Cup glory in Qingdao | Home | News | The British Sailing Team | RYA.

Colossal Ocean Explorer reaches build stage one

Published on September 16, 2015 by admin   ·   No Comments

Likened to a space ship for the seas, SeaOrbiter is a futuristic, self-sustaining, floating marine laboratory.  It has been designed to stay at sea permanently and will allow long-term observation to be carried out by up to 20 live aboard crew – both above and below sea level.

With a draft of 31 metres and an air draft of 27 metres, this is an enormous vessel which boasts no less than 12 decks – six below sea level and six above.  The upper half dozen decks contain all of the communications, the command bridge and a scientific wet lab.  Below decks it gets a bit more interesting with both pressurised and surface-atmosphere living quarters.  The pressurised quarters can be used by saturation divers to allow for longer times below the surface.

Deep sea closed environments are very similar to those of spacecraft and the study of the sea and space tend to go hand in hand.  It should therefore come as no surprise that SeaOrbiter has support from both NASA and the European Space Agency.  In fact the subsea pressurised areas of SeaOrbiter will also be used by astronauts as a space simulator as conditions are similar to those found in space.

SeaOrbiter will also house subsea exploration devices that will be able to dive to a depth of 1,000 metres and a diving drone capable of descending to 6,000 metres, which will allow mapping of the abyssal plain.

SeaOrbiter is the brainchild of internationally renowned French architect, Jacques Rougerie, who states that SeaOrbiter “is a synthesis of more than 30 years of innovative research in marine and subsea architecture.”

Rougerie seems to be a bit of a polymath as he studied at the Oceanographic Institute of Paris, the University of Vincennes for Urban Planning and the School of Arts and Crafts in the 1970s, before qualifying as a DPLG architect in 1972.  Once he graduated he began to develop a number of sea-orientated projects including a number of subsea habitats.

“The oceans”, continues Rougerie, “are a source of extraordinarily rich biodiversity, of a magnitude that we can’t even quite fathom yet.  We have to treat our oceans with care, as we could be in desperate need of them in the very near future.”

Among the habitats he has created are Galathée and Aquabulle that can be suspended in midwater at depths of up to 60 metres and act as mini scientific observatories or shelters for deep sea divers.  He also designed Hippocampe which was launched in 1981 and can accommodate two people on saturation dives of depths of up to 12 metres for as long as 15 days.  In addition to these habitats he also created Aquascope and Aquaspace, trimarans of variable buoyancy, which act as observation centres for marine biologists.

Rougerie is a bit of a hands-on designer and has lived in many of his subsea habitats, famously participating in the world record achievement of living in a pressurised capsule for 71 days under the sea.  He also has a number of iconic marine projects under his belt including Pavilion of the Sea in Kobe, Japan, Nausicaa National Sea Centre in Boulogne sur Mer, and Océanopolis in Brest.

A total of 35 million euros is needed for the construction of SeaOrbiter.  Of this, 70% has already been raised.  In addition, the Company turned to crowdfunding for 1% of the budget (325,000 euros), not simply to raise funds but to also raise public awareness of the project.  This six-figure sum would enable them to build “The Eye of SeaOrbiter”, the uppermost deck, which represents the keel-laying for the vessel.

They are hoping that the construction of the “Eye”, which was completed in May 2015, will show the scope of the design and ensure the remaining 30% needed for the SeaOrbiter project will be funded.

Jacques Rougerie with the SeaOrbiter “Eye”

Rougerie is inspired by the imaginary work of Jules Verne, and he has adopted his motto, “Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.”  If his past is anything to go by, you can be sure you’ll see SeaOrbiter in an ocean near you in the not too distant future.

via Colossal Ocean Explorer reaches build stage one | MarinaLive Gibraltar.

French veteran wins unique Rolex Fastnet Race

Published on September 16, 2015 by admin   ·   No Comments

Daniel Foster

A record-sized fleet of 356 boats set off on 16 August to compete in this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race – the 46th instalment of the event.  The biennial race, and its organisers, the Royal Ocean Racing Club, are both celebrating their 90th birthdays this year.

The Rolex Fastnet Race is deemed to be one of the toughest offshore yachting races as the winds in August tend to be strong to gale-force westerlies.  But this doesn’t put people off, as the popularity of the Race is such that 300 boats signed up within just 24 minutes of the entry list opening in January this year.

The Race follows a mammoth 603 nautical mile course starting at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.  The yachts then follow the southern coastline of England westward down the English Channel, before rounding Land’s End.  After crossing the Celtic Sea, the Race loops the Fastnet Rock off the southwest coast of Ireland before returning, via the Isles of Scilly, to cross the finishing line at Plymouth.

Route

The first Fastnet was raced 90 years ago in 1925 with only seven boats competing.  Of the seven starters, two boats retired and one made such slow progress that there was no one awake to record her time when she crossed the finish line.  Jolie Brise (now one of the most famous pilot cutters in the world) won that inaugural race in 6 days, 14hrs and 45mins.  Jolie Brise was built in 1913 and has won the Fastnet three times, the only boat to have done so in its 90 year history.

The stiff westerlies that tend to accompany the race are certainly nothing to scoff at.  In 2007, the weather was so bad that no less than 207 out of the 271 boats competing retired – that’s over 76% of the field.  This year, by contrast, the weather forecast was for light winds, and a high pressure over the Celtic Sea saw the wind drop altogether for most of the first two days leaving a lot of the fleet becalmed between the Lizard and the Scilly Isles.

Daniel Foster

The overall winner of the 2015 Rolex Fastnet Race was veteran Géry Trentesaux sailing in 35ft Courrier Du Leon with his exceptional six-person crew.  The win was made all the more remarkable as at the beginning of the race she crossed the starting line too early and had to make her way back on a fast ebbing tide, losing 40 minutes before she’d even set off.

This is Trentesaux’s 13th time racing in the Fastnet, following his first attempt in 1977.  He said of his victory, “When I was young, the Fastnet was the biggest, most unique race in the world so racing it at 18 was fabulous.  Things have changed a lot over 40 years but this will be a very great memory, one of the very best of my sailing career.  It is incredible to win this mythic race.”

Trentesaux’s compatriots also did well this year with France claiming seven of the top ten spots under IRC this year.

Multihull line honours was claimed by the favourite – 131ft Swiss trimaran Spindrift 2.  The monohull race was a photo finish with the 100ft Maxi Comanche from the United States pipping fellow American yacht Rambler at the post by a mere four minutes.

Kurt Arrigo

Comanche’s skipper, Ken Read, said, “It was honestly one of the most bizarre races I’ve ever been in in my life – starts and stops and people being left behind for dead and then all of a sudden they are sailing around you.  It was phenomenal.”

The 47th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race will be held in August 2017, with the entry list opening in January.  Don’t forget to make a note in your diaries if you want to enter as it’s sure to be a sell out.

via French veteran wins unique Rolex Fastnet Race | MarinaLive Gibraltar.