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Big Swells Forecast
Crews in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race have been warned to expect boat- and bone-bruising swells by the weekend, with waves reaching 10 metres in Bass Strait and 12 metres in southern Tasmania.
While the maxi yachts in the 94-strong fleet can expect a smoother run south, the smaller boats are in for a far more challenging passage to Hobart, according to the Bureau of Meteorology's Andrew Treloar in his final weather briefing to sailors this morning.
For the start, at 1pm, the forecast was for south to south easterly winds of 10 to 15 knots outside the Heads - "maybe a little less in the harbour" - and a swell of one to two metres.
Lighter winds are forecast further south by Friday morning when a north easterly picks up and strengthens by Saturday.
The maxis should pass before the heavy weather, but from Saturday winds should increase from strong to gale force and seas will increase.
Treloar said from Saturday: "The winds running down the coast will start to get quite strong. We are looking at 15 to 20 knots up in the northern parts of the race course ... getting to 20 to 30 knots near Gabo Island.
"There will be a wind warning out for NSW waters ... and seas will be picking up according to wind strength increasing ... up to two to two and a half metres and that easterly swell pushing in at about as metre or so."
However, Treloar said the big change will come late Saturday evening.
"We are looking at gale force winds, west to south west of about 30 to 40 knots. They will probably come through with quite a thump too because you are going from the north to north-easter round to the west south-wester.
"The seas with those winds will get up to three to four metres, that is the wind driven wave.
He added that by Monday the combined wave heights could be up to six metres "with a maximum wave height of about 10 to 12 metres."
City Of San Francisco Proposes Venue Sites For The 35th America's Cup
The America's Cup Event Authority has received a letter from San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee, proposing venue sites within the City that would be used to host the next America's Cup in 2017.
The City is suggesting the use of Piers 27-29 for the America's Cup Park and Team Bases as well as Piers 19.5, 23, 31 and a section of Pier 80 for team use. A portion of Marina Green, including the Peninsula area, would be used for public viewing and bleachers. A significant change for this next America' s Cup is shifting the team bases to the America's Cup Park at Piers 27-29.
Following the proposal from the Mayor, the City and the America's Cup Event Authority will now work towards a comprehensive Host City agreement for the 35th America's Cup, in San Francisco, in 2017.
Relive The Excitement And Spirit Of This Year's America's Cup
Here is the chance to get up close to Sir Ben Ainslie and his iconic catamaran at the London Boat Show in January. The 60th edition of the event will welcome the four times Olympic gold medallist and America's Cup winner as well as his iconic J.P.Morgan BAR AC45 catamaran which will join the best of British and International manufacturers and world renowned brands at the Show which runs from 4 - 12 January 2014.
Come to the Show on Wednesday 8 January for a unique opportunity to see Sir Ben Ainslie. The legendary sailor - who has recently been shortlisted for Sports Personality of the Year, for the second year running. Sir Ben will be visiting the Show and taking part in a question and answer session on the J.P. Morgan BAR AC45 stand at 11.30am (stand number G28O).
The London Boat Show offers you the chance to see the latest and the best innovations in the sport of sailing. Sir Ben is a great inspiration to many and what better way than to take the lead from the world's greatest Olympic sailor.
See the AC45, meet Sir Ben and get the chance to win some fantastic J.P. Morgan BAR signed clothing. To enter, simply tweet a picture of yourself in front of the AC45 display using #raceforall in the tweet. The winning tweet will be picked at random and announced on Friday 17 January.
For more information and to buy tickets visit:
www.londonboatshow.com
Bernard Stamm And Crew Rescued
Bernard Stamm and crewmember Damien Guillou were rescued at 0600 Tuesday morning after running into difficulties and triggering their EPIRB 170 miles off the Scilly Isles at 1850 yesterday (23 Dec).
The rescue operation involved two helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft and the deployment of what is understood to be six life rafts was unsuccessful in the Force 9 conditions with 10 metre waves that prevailed in the Western Approaches.
According to the Marine Coastguard Agency the French Coastguard at Griz Nez, Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre organised for the Royal Navy Rescue Helicopter based at Culdrose to fly to the very limit of their range to the yacht with support from a French aircraft. The aircraft provided a communications link and found the exact location of the yacht before the helicopter arrived on scene.
The Royal Navy helicopter arrived on scene at just after midnight and attempted to winch the crew on board. Unfortunately because of the damage to the mono-hull racing yacht and weather conditions they had to abandon the attempt at just before 1am.
The crew were eventually rescued by a Norwegian cargo vessel the Star Isfjord at 0614 in an exercise that took over two hours. The ship and its rescued crew are understood to be en route to Rotterdam.
Bart's Bash Sunday 21 September 2014
100 clubs signed up in 5 days for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation monster sized attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for 'The Largest Dinghy Sailing Race' in the World Ever - 'Bart's Bash' . . . Loch Tummel Sailing Club, from the Scottish Highlands, was the 100th club to sign up to the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation's (ASSF) Bart's Bash.
The idea is to have a mass participation club race simultaneously across the whole country on Sunday 21 September at the 11:00 BST. We know that pretty much every club in the country has a race on Sunday morning, with all kinds of boats taking part, the goal is to get everyone participating together to create one big race.
If they can get over 200 clubs taking part, with over 10,000 sailors on the water, they will become new Guinness World Record Holders for dinghy racing in Andrew 'Bart' Simpson's name.
If you are the right person to sign your club up then please email tim@bartsbash.co.uk
An event briefing for clubs and competitors is going to be launched on the 1 February 2014 and there will be further dates for the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions. -- Gerald New in Sailweb: www.sailweb.co.uk/news/
See the official website at www.bartsbash.co.uk
Ramsgate Performance Sailing Suit - The Swiss Army Knife Of Sailing Suits
More than 22 years of experience and expertise are behind every functional garment designed by Marinepool. Cutting edge technology, optimized down to the smallest detail. Developed, tested and chosen by some of the world´s finest sailors and worn on the fastest yachts on the planet like giant trimaran Spindrift2, the MOD70 Oman Air and other leading offshore teams.
Marinepool's new Ramsgate performance sailing suit takes fabric innovations to the next level. Ramsgate is entirely made from Dermizax® NX membrane which is renowned for minimum weight, extreme breathability, highest waterproofness and ultimate elasticity. Indeed, the utilization of this NX membrane in sailing clothing is absolutely unique since the creator of the membranes Toray supplies Marinepool exclusively with fabrics made to the innovative NX formula.
Crucially, important but usually contradicting qualities are incorporated in one product without compromise. Despite ultimate breathability and enormous elasticity of the fabric, Ramsgate is extraordinarily durable and robust and indeed the perfect choice for the demanding conditions of ocean sailing when the going gets tough.
Ramsgate jacket and trousers are available in two colours: orange and dark grey. Ramsgate convinces with a very dynamic, fashionable and attractive design that simultaneously meets the demands of professional sailing due to intelligent features. These include for instance highly abrasion resistant reinforcement patches on shoulders and sleeves, reflecive patches by 3M, a high offshore collar, an adjustable hood in signal yellow, smart eyelets and loops to fix equipment as well as a separate intelligent YKK zipper system for the integration of an optional fleece into Ramsgate jacket.
The new Ramsgate by Marinepool. Design. Technology. Passion.
Christmas Caribbean Rally
Strong winds but a relatively smooth sea state provided a fast exciting start to the rally. The fastest boats in the rally, which set out from Lanzarote on December 16th, have about 1200 nm to go to Antigua. The fleet is being lead by Spanish flagged Ocean Phoenix, a Rob Humpreys 77, with Eduard Numan's Dutch Shipman 63, Jinthe close behind.
Husband and wife, Alan and Terry Ryall are sailing two up on an Island Packet 465, Seminole Wind. The British couple have sailed two-handed before but never across an ocean. Terry has been providing regular blogs since the start of the Christmas Caribbean Rally. From these extracts you can surmise they are clearly enjoying the fast sailing and near perfect tradewind conditions.
Prior to departure, all of the yachts competing in the Caribbean Christmas Rally received Christmas sacks with presents, decorations and even a miniature Christmas Tree all provided as part of the package by the Sailing Rallies team.
The first boats are likely to make landfall in Antigua around the 29th December.
Happy Christmas from all of the team at www.sailingrallies.com -- Louay Habib
Industry News
Francois Gabart and the MACIF group have entrusted the construction of their new trimaran to the CDK Technologies yard, which is set to begin in February 2014. This new oceanic multihull of around 100 feet in length, and part of the Ultimate category, is designed for solo records for the benefit of special causes, as well as offshore races.
Plan for the proportions; Length: 30m - Beam: around 20m - Mast height: around 35m - Upwind sail area: 600m2 - Downwind sail area: 700m2
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The company that runs the annual boat shows in Annapolis has been officially sold, as has been planned for months.
Longtime owner Ed Hartman, who clashed with former Mayor Josh Cohen, sold the business to a group of investors that includes show manager Paul Jacobs and others in the local maritime industry.
The show management team will carry over to the new ownershop of the company, United States Yacht Shows Inc. The company will sponsor four shows in 2014: the Bay Bridge Boat Show in Stevensville in April, the Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show in April, and the United States Sailboat Show and United States Powerboat Show in Annapolis in Octover.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Read more: www.baltimoresun.com
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The German reefing systems and hydraulics specialist will manufacture and distribute NSM's complete product range
Reckmann Yacht Equipment GmbH has signed a contract to take over Nautic Sail Management's (NSM) complete product range. It is the second takeover by Reckmann this year after the company acquired Holmatro's line of rigging hydraulics in January.
NSM designs and builds electric and hydraulic furl boom drives, cunningham systems and spindle outhaul systems. The company is based in Wezep in the Netherlands.
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SWAC International Sailing Rally the newest and brightest event to be added to the sail cruising calendar is delighted to announce that it has entered into a major three-year sponsorship agreement with Sevenstar Yacht Transport.
The new agreement will see the Atlantic passage of the event between Madeira, Cape Verdes and Barbados being named as the Sevenstar Westbound Transatlantic. As part of this association SWAC will be able to provide a be-spoke service to yacht owners who do not necessarily have the time available to commit to a complete circuit of the Atlantic. Owners and skippers will now have the choice to take part in the segments of the rally they are most interested in and not have to worry about having to sail the yacht back home, if time to do so is an issue.
Sevenstar Yacht Transport of the Netherlands has the ability and experience to take care of long haul passages to/from a variety places in Europe, the Caribbean and America.
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The Irish Sailing Association (ISA) is to prepare a new three year Strategic Plan. The new plan will establish the policies to be pursued and the actions required to deliver them successfully.
The Board has asked Brian Craig to chair a Strategic Review Group (SRG) to undertake the task and select the Group's members. Brian is recognised as one the most committed and experienced Irish devotees of the sport and played a critical role in establishing the two-yearly Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, the best attended sailing event on the island. Despite his status as a sailor and organiser, he will bring an outsider's view of the ISA to his new task. He has invited Roger Bannon, Neil Murphy, Jack Roy, Des McWilliam and Bryan Armstrong to join his Group, with the option to add others as the process continues.
The SRG will examine the ISA's current policies and activities before moving on to recommend future strategies. Olympic and High Performance activities, where it is believed that current international successes endorse the strategies in place, will not form part of the SRG brief.
Spring 2014 is scheduled as completion date for the Group's assessment of the current position.
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Dufour Yachts is now operating independently and celebrating two new boat launches.
The announcement that Dufour is once again a stand-alone company follows a management buyout, approved in September by the authorities in La Rochelle, and the support from French authorities and banks.
A company spokesman said 'trading results, product plan and forecasting has allowed the boat yard secure the future for many years to come'.
Following the launch of two new models last year, Dufour Yachts is now celebrating the launch of two new boats.
The Grand Large 310 was displayed and is reported to have sold well at the Paris boat show earlier this month and the Grand Large 560 will be presented in February. These two new models bring the number of models in the range to seven.
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