Dec

29

Generali lost?

December 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Following the rescue of Yann Elies just before Christmas after he suffered a broken leg and ribs whilst racing in the Vendee Globe his boat was left with some sail up to continue monitored but unmanned in the southern ocean until the Generali race team could get a salvage crew onboard to sail the boat back to its home berth.  Sadly the race directors noticed that the positioning beacon stopped transmitting on 23rd December and that the COSPAS SARSAT distress beacon had been triggered.  I’m gussing, but as the boat was unmanned the logical way for the distress beacon to have triggered is for it to have been lifted out of its cradle by water, suggesting that the boat had taken on a lot of water in sea conditions which have been reported by other competitors in the area to be horendous.  On Friday 26th December, the salvage crew whilst on route were told by the GENERALI shore team that the distress beacon had stopped transmitting. It was therefore no longer possible to identify the boat’s position. The weather conditions worsened (7-8m high waves and cross seas) and the team was forced to call off the search.

It’s not inevitable that the boat has sunk, the transmitter may have just used up all of its battery power, but it is possible that she’s lost to the depths of the southern ocean. Thankfully, Yann Elies was rescued in fairly good weather conditions and he’s not gone with his boat.

Dec

14

Dee Carrari on Aviva

Dee Caffari on Aviva

Dee Caffari is currently in 14th place in the Vendee Globe.  Dee became the first woman in history to sail non stop around the world the wrong way around against prevailing winds and currents.  A voyage of about six months in duration she set off just four montha after arriving back from the Global Challenge event in which she was the only female skipper.

Leading the race is Frenchman Jean-Pierre Dick in Paprec-Virbac.

Dec

12

Mike Golding is currently in 4th Place in the 2008/09 Vendee Globe race.  The Vendee Globe which this year started on the 9th November is run every 4 years and the essence is that it’s a race for singlehanders to sail around the world without any stopovers and with no external assistance starting and finishing in Les Sables D’olonne.

There are three ways to sail around the world.

1. By rounding the North Pole, via the Northwest or Northeast Passage. Two major drawbacks: - The ice, as these routes still have a lot of ice, requiring in most cases the use of an ice-breaker to open them up. - If you set sail from Les Sables d’Olonne, latitude 47 degrees north, sailing around the North pole does not represent a circumnavigation: the distance is shorter than a circumnavigation via the equator of 40,000 km (24,000 miles).

2. By sailing through the Panama and Suez Canal. This implies that the competitor must make a stopover and benefit from some external help.

3. By sailing down the North Atlantic, then the South Atlantic, turning left to pass the Cape of Good Hope, then circling Antarctica, via the Indian and Pacific Ocean, before climbing back up the Atlantic Ocean via Cape Horn, in the direction of the prevailing winds. It is possible to sail in the opposite direction beginning with Cape Horn, but the boats would then be racing into contrary prevailing headwinds. Option 3 is the Vendee Globe route

Gates

The course has 8 gates. - The Atlantic, Kerguelen, Heard Island, New Zealand, Western Pacific, Eastern Pacific Gates are defined, so that the competitors cannot go too far south, where the risks of collision with drifting ice are higher. - The Western Australia and Eastern Australia Gates are defined so that the competitors do not sail further than 1000 miles from the southern coast of Australia. This is to allow the Australian rescue services to be able to use planes to spot any sailors in distress by not being more than one hour away. Any reconnaissance mission would be compromised if the skipper was more than 1000 miles away.

Possible changes to the position of the Gate

If there is any additional risk for the competitors (drifting ice or other risks) the race Directors may modify the position of one or more of the Gates in latitude and longitude. They will inform the competitors one gate ahead.

Dec

9

Otoma 72

Otoma 72

Want to buy a submarine?

One of the last Oberon class submarines to be built is being advertised for sale on eBay. Otama was completed by Scotts Shipbuilding on the Clyde in 1978 and served with the Royal Australian Navy for 22 years. It had been hoped to preserve the 2,000-tonne boat as a museum at Hastings in the state of Victoria, but her owners say that they have encountered too many ‘obstacles’. A spokesman said that they felt they were getting nowhere, and have put the boat on eBay out of ‘pure desperation’.

Apart from the removal of classified communications and sensor equipment, Otama is in the same state that the crew left it, an operational Oberon class submarine with a full outfit of spares and equipment. The asking price of AU $4.9 million (£2.1 million), however, is likely to put off all but the most serious bidders.

Motor Boats Monthly, 4 December 2008

Dec

7

Yacht Racing

December 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Nov

14

Evelyn under sail

November 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment

A few weeks back on a brilliant sunny weekend I took my boat out. We left our berth in Southampton bright and early on the Saturday morning and after swinging the compass to calibrate a new instrument I’d brought off ebay and fitted the night before we pottered up Southampton Water to the Solent.  Just after entering the Solent a boat branded boatphotos.com motored alongside and the photographer on board took a couple of shots.  I noted the name and we continued on.  At around high tide we made our way into Wotton Creek which is not accessible at low tide and after a short pootle hooked onto a mooring bouy and cracked open a bottle of beer and poped the kettle on to make up some bombay bad boy pot noodles.  About an hour later we slipped the bouy and made for Portsmouth.  The evening meal was at a fab place I’ve used a few times called the Great wall of China.  It’s a £15 quid a head eat all you can place.  After eating all we could we wandered back to the boat for the next challenge….drink all you can!  It’s a hard life but you know……

On the Sunday morning We left Portsmouth and played in the Solent for a few hours before making to Cowes for lunch.  Then we sailed back to Southampton to put her back on her berth until next time.

When I got home I googled the boat photographers web site and there was the photo above.  I paid the man his dues and three of four days later I got a couple of prints through the post which I then took to the framers in the village. The picture above is the finished article.  All I’ve got to do now is negotiate with Mrs H as to which wall she’ll hang on.  (The Photo, not Mrs H !)

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