Where is Leopard?

“Leopard of London” is just beyond halfway, reading and looking at their blog,( see the link). While they are 230 miles ahead of the “record” they are at present not pointed at the finish. By their own admission Leopard is not as fast as a Volvo 70. Additionally, Leopard has power winches, which means she can never actually own the outright record. Still and all, we are all rooting for their success.

THE CAT IS BACK

“Il Monstro” arrived back in Newport yesterday evening, with Ken’s brother Brad having completed his first transatlantic race; on a boat we would all love to have sailed. Docked at  Charlie Dana’s Newport Shipyard, next to “Leopard of London” and “Speedboat”. A sort of trinity of sailboat racing, formula ones of the water.
     “Il Monstro” will set up training here in Newport in preparation for the next Volvo Ocean Race.
   The bottom photo is a panorama of Shields racing last night on Narragansett Bay, comprised of 10 photos stitched together. Spring is coming to the Northeast.

907 MILES IN 24 HOURS

907 miles in 24 hours. Who would have imagined. Now they ( the crew aboard Banque Populaire) are seriously considering 1000 miles.

I think the real heros of this achievement are the weather routers, the French weather routers.
This record was part of the larger plan to break the record from New York to the Lizard.
Sea state played an important part of this achievement.

World Yacht Racing Forum

December 10-11 of this year was the first attempt to bring together Professionals in the Yachting Industry; held in Monaco. I will emphasize the word Professional; as that seems to be the true essence of the meeting. It was not about bringing more people into sailing, or how to build sailing as a sport but really about how to get the most bang for your buck in sailing.

Tim Jeffrey of the UK wrote most clearly about the meeting. Like Formula One Auto racing this group of people and the events in which they participate have very little impact on the sailing I am involved in, no matter how seriously I may wish to think of myself.

585 miles in 24 hours

Ericsson 4 the Volvo 70 with skipper Torben Grael has sailed 585 miles in 24 hours; a new monohull record. Rumor is that they may exceed 600 miles iin the next 24 hours. This is a really hard thing to accomplish; to be able to maintain these speeds for extended periods of time. It is the adrenalin rush that keeps crews returning for the punishment they receive in return.

Speedboat, probably could not achieve these speeds, except under ideal conditions, strong wind well aft, a regular sea state, not too confused. And then probably not for several days in a row.

VIRGIN MONEY aka SPEEDBOAT

Speedboat left today from New York in an attempt to break the monohull powered winch trans-atlantic record. Aboard is an all star crew headed by Mike Sanderson.

I freely confess that I am envious. Six days across the Atlantic is exciting and not so hard. In my opinion the hard part on this boat, will be not breaking it. In other words press as hard as you can without reaching the limits of the boat.;ie. never redlining.Speedboat is much larger than a Volvo 70 used in the Round the World race, however she is more fragile, not built for the punishment the Volvo 70’s are.
I will be following their progress with interest and envy.