Sailpartner

winter!

2009-12-20T17:01:00.000+01:00

I said, I'll do the longest voyage in history

2007-04-17T10:40:00.000+02:00

From NJ.com we learn that Reid Stowe and Soanya Ahma are planning to sail 1000 days. Not so special untill you realize it is non-stop!
How the food will taste after a year (or two) is something I do not want to know, also how everything is stowed away in the ship (will it float?). Or maybe they'll just rely on their water maker and some fishinglines.
The planning is loose, they target to visit at least 4 oceans in the just less than three years of non stop sailing.

Visit their site at www.1000days.net

Global Challenge in stormy waters

2007-03-28T11:16:00.001+02:00

The Daily Echo reports that Challenge Business is not doing well. Challenge Business first hit stormy financial waters as far back as2004, when results filed with Companies House showed a loss of£620,663.
The races, which saw inexperienced seafarers pay £28,000 to race aroundthe world with veteran captains at the helm, were troubled by cashflow problems and failed to find a big money sponsor.
Five yachts have been sold off already. Although the Global Challenge name is still for sale it is unlikely you will see it in itsprevious format. Shame, I really thought it was a good initiative.

HoolaHoop Keel

2007-03-24T22:38:00.001+01:00

Somehow and somewhat strange but I get a feeling this might actually work:

http://www.hmtmarine.com/keel/benefits/angle.php

the idea is to lift water to help stabilize your boat, with the keel!
Do take a look at their page, its something new! You will be surprised.

THE RELUCTANT ELECTRONICS ENGINEER

2006-11-17T21:03:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, 25 days into the

At this morning's position update SAGA Insurance was 135 miles south of the Equator however Sir Robin was complaining about the present southeasterly winds that have his wide flat boat hard on the wind making a tough time of it in the lumpy conditions. "I am free of the
Doldrums, and the wind is southeasterly so it hasn't got an easterly slant on it yet, so I am beating." The forecast indicates that there is unlikely to be any reprieve for him until he comes parallel with Recife, the easternmost bulge in Brazil in around two day's time.

Health-wise Robin says he seems to be alright and the injury to his coccyx he sustained prior to the start of the race is no longer troubling him. "I can heave as I used to be able to. I'm just building my strength up. The real problem was that it stopped me being really fit during that month before the race started which is when I needed to build up my strength."

He is getting enough sleep on board, but the main annoyance is having spent the last weeks watching the race leaders disappear over the horizon. "Sleep? That's not a problem. The frustration is watching the leaders get away. It is very frustrating."

Since he became the first man to sail around the world singlehanded non-stop in 1969, the technological age has dawned and his Open 60 is bristling with electronics from navigation software to sophisticated satellite communications, worthy of the Space Shuttle. "My attempts to be an electronics expert have resulted in the main display no longer linking up to the GPS, so I'm not sure what I have done there," he admits and one gets the impression, he would be only too happy to rip out all the electronics and go back to basics, compass and sextant, rather than having to spend any more crawling around in the bilges with a voltmeter. "I could do without this right now. I would much rather be sailing."

Back when he circumnavigated on board Suhaili he would communicate by high frequency single side band radio, a fantastic technology where radio waves travel around the world by being bounced off the ionosphere. There was a whole art in picking the right time of day, the right frequency to suit the conditions and a friendly and often a familiar operator at the end of the phone who would patch you through o the telephone network. Sadly this form of communication has not existed for more than a decade now and while the new technology should in theory be much improved it is far from perfect, calls regularly being dropped.

Back to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, electronics engineer, and he is still having on-going problems with his autopilot: "My main concern is the autopilot whether we can sort that out. I'm not too happy to just have one. I'd rather have a stand by which I don't have at the moment.
So that is worrying me a little," he says. On deck, his broken battens remain an issue but Robin says he has made a temporary fix. "The batten problems are slowly dissolving. I managed to fix two of them but they are not brilliant. They are better than nothing, but they are not making a perfect shape in the sail. But they do stop the roach flapping and that's the best I can say of it. I
don't think there is anything else I can do about it."

None of these issues, Robin says, will force him to stop. This just costs too much time as even if he put in to Cape Town to pick up replacement battens and a new autopilot he would still be required by race rules to stay in port for 48 hours as a penalty.

One Man, One Boat, One World & Starting Sunday

2006-10-21T12:31:00.000+02:00

This year marks the 25th anniversary of this solo round the world race, know previously as the BOC Challenge and Around Alone.
The singlehanded aspect of the VELUX 5 OCEANS cannot be underestimated.
Sixty feet of highly powered racing boat is a handful to sail. The
mainsail alone weighs more than the skipper and hoisting it up a 28m
tall mast becomes a strenuous calorie-burning affair. Every time the
wind increases, decreases or changes direction so the skipper must
carry out a sail change on their own to keep their boat sailing to its
optimum. Hauling a large foresail through a small hatch has been
likened to dragging around a wet, double mattress.

Follow it on http://www.velux5oceans.com/ !

ABN AMRO not to participate in the 2008 VOR

2006-10-19T14:37:00.000+02:00

18 October 2006
ABN AMRO today announced that it will not enter the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009. ABN AMRO’s participation with two boats in the 20052006 round-the-world race was a huge sporting and marketing success. This was ABN AMRO’s first global sponsorship project aimed at uniting the worldwide territories of the bank, raising global awareness of the brand and introducing the global tagline ‘Making more possible’.
Jan Berent Heukensfeldt Jansen, Managing Director of TEAM ABN AMRO commented: “The Volvo Ocean Race has been a great marketing platform for us and its impact will continue long into the future. We entered the Volvo Ocean Race as a three year, one-off campaign to meet specific objectives, promoting the unity and strength of the ABN AMRO brand to a global audience. We did everything we could to win the race, and with a combination of teamwork and professionalism TEAM ABN AMRO travelled the world reflecting all that the bank stands for. The results of the campaign confirm that all our objectives have been met, which is largely thanks to the outstanding effort made by the large number of people involved. The Volvo Ocean Race is a unique event with a global following, and one which we are very proud to have been part of.”

Read the article

Sailboat killer seeks parole; says he panicked

2006-10-11T11:18:00.000+02:00

Thomas Maimoni, 62, a convicted murderer seeking parole after throwing the 37-year-old Martha Brails overboard from his sailboat 15 years ago said Tuesday he's not a threat because "my sailing days are over."
Six days after Brailsford went missing, a lobsterman pulled her nude body from the sea. An anchor was tied to one of her ankles, and a weighted belt was fastened around her waist. An autopsy revealed she suffered three blunt trauma wounds to her head and was missing several teeth, but the cause of death was drowning.

Two women testified at trial that Maimoni persuaded them to go for boat rides during the week before Brailsford's ill-fated sail. The women said Maimoni seemed friendly at first, but became sexually aggressive once they were away from shore.

The seven-member board will render a decision in six to eight weeks, Walsh said. But members gave strong indication with their questioning that Maimoni would remain behind bars.

(Complete story

Olympic coastal zone out of bounds

2006-10-03T13:35:00.000+02:00

Two years after the 2004 summer Olympic Games in Athens, the venues
built along the coast are locked up and unused.
Projects to create green spaces and free communal areas (such as an
ecological park) never happened and vaunted projects, such as the
esplanade that crosses over the coastal road, are in decline. Faliron
and Hellenikon are deserted, the foliage on the trees has gone yellow
and hopes have been dashed. The Olympic venues are full of garbage and
the state can no longer pay for maintenance and development. Funds have
dried up.

New challenge for Sir Robin Knox-Johnston

2006-09-25T09:59:00.000+02:00

The 67-year-old now hopes to repeat his solo non-stop round the world in 1969 when he completed the journey in 312 days.
He hopes to finish in 112 days in his Open 60 yacht which is named Saga Insurance.
It begins on 22 October and covers three gruelling legs from Bilbao to Fremantle, Australia, and on to Norfolk, US, before returning to Bilbao.

More

Blind sailors converge at Newport

2006-09-22T12:04:00.000+02:00

The blind helmsman steers the boat, while the blind crewmember is responsible for trimming the jib. But each team also has two sighted guides aboard to be the "eyes" for the blind sailors. The sighted guides may call out tactics, watch for obstacles, wind and current shifts and the race markers. One member of the sighted crew may assist with trimming the jib or mainsail, but neither can take the helm except in an emergency.

[Read more]

Frenchman claims record for west-to-east Pacific crossing

2006-06-13T10:54:00.000+02:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - French sailor Olivier de Kersauson claims to have set a new record for crossing the Pacific from west to east, sailing from Yokohama, Japan, to San Francisco in California in just under 14 days, his spokesman said late Sunday.

The record time was 13 days 22 hours 38 minutes and 36 seconds, the spokesman said.
De Kersauson and a crew of eight (six Frenchmen, an Australian and an American) on board the Geronimo set off from Japan on May 29.
If the time is confirmed, it will top the record of another Frenchman, Bruno Peyron, who sailed the 4,525 miles in 14 days, 17 hours, 22 minutes and 50 seconds from August 2-16, 1998.
De Kersauson has already smashed the record for a Pacific crossing from east to west, with a crew. On April 27 he completed the crossing, in 14 days, 22 hours, 40 minutes and 41 seconds.
That record had been previously held for 10 years by Steve Fossett.

Horrevoets: Albatros Or Pigeon

2006-05-31T02:17:00.000+02:00

When ABN AMRO TWO decided to return to the water as a mark of respect for crewmate Hans Horrevoets, who died during Leg 7, they said the spirit of their lost friend would watch over them.

Today they had something hovering over them; a pigeon. It nested on the cockpit roughly one minute after the start and throughout two hours of crashing over a choppy sea to the west of the Isle of Wight, it remained perched. Seconds after the finishing canon sounded it flew away, having not missed a beat of the young crew’s race to a fourth place finish.

spooky4me

Hans Horrevoets

2006-05-22T01:26:00.000+02:00

Hans Horrevoets is the fourth casualty since the start of the Whitbread Race Around The World and the first since 1979.

This cold fact does not do any right to those many people that will miss him. Maybe it shows sailing is daring - as is Formula1 racing (but that seems to be saver) and climbing mountains; it comes with risks and few are willing and able to take those risks. He chose to be one of the few and together with the rookies (he was much more experienced) he showed great sailing. I wish the remaining part of the ABN AMRO 2 team the best in processing the event.

Some think an albatross keeps the soul of a drown sailor so next time you or I see one, let's say Hi to Hans.

[VOR] It is not realistic to expect more from us ... after only one day of training

2006-05-02T16:38:00.000+02:00

The start of the In Port race in Chesapeake Bay ended a very hectic period for team Brunel. In just 5 days the boat was reassembled, tested and geared up for the In Port race. Not a lot of time for the crew to get familiar with the boat.

That's why skipper Grant Wharington tempered the expectations for this first race since Melbourne. Sailing a clean race and keeping the boat in one piece are the main objectives of Brunel. "It is not realistic to expect more from us after only one day of training with the new crew and modified boat."
"Changing the canard for dagger boards has certainly improved the overall performance of the boat. Today we had one and a half degree of leeway, while we had seven in Melbourne. That makes a lot of difference at the top mark...".
Team Brunel did everything Grant Wharington had hoped for and you could see that the modifications have improved the performance of the boat significantly. "It is a very encouraging result for us today. We are obviously still in seventh place, but to be only 20 seconds behind the race leader makes us really happy. We are now where we had liked to be at the start of the race with our configuration.

[VOR] some times we do well, but this time we didn't

2006-04-19T01:53:00.000+02:00

Bad bad bad, the kids did not do it...
I hoped they would really upset the sailing world by passing everybody (including ABNAMRO 1) but that did not happen. Still got a thing for second maybe - would be great - and I hope they will.
Then again, Brunel (re)enters the race, hope that will alo bring some entertainment!

[VOR] and now something happens ... to the leader

2006-04-17T00:05:00.000+02:00

So, things get exiting according to the VOR official website ...

'We are in the Bermuda triangle, that creepy zone where forces that normally make sure that your magnetic compass points roughly north go haywire, where whole squadrons of aeroplanes go awol; where boats and people disappear at the drop of a hat – where the movement of a whole Volvo Open 70 would be just commonplace.

There can be no other reason.

At 1000GMT today movistar was 27 nautical miles behind ABN AMRO ONE. At 1600GMT this afternoon movistar had lost 26 miles to the leader, at 2200GMT another 13. Nothing other than an supernatural force could have created that gap'.
I just think some good sailing is going on, however you might want to consider joining SETI if thinking this is odd indeed :)

[VOR-Idols] Dutchman Eduard van Lierde joins Brunel in Volvo Ocean Race

2006-04-14T06:00:00.000+02:00

The Sydney to Southport race, an Australian sailing classic, has been a great success for the future Brunel crew. The team, acting together for the first time, won the race with superior power on the maxi Skandia.

"We are very pleased with the result”, said skipper Grant Wharington: It's been great to get the crew sailing together, pushing hard and working as one unit. I can't wait to get to Baltimore and restart the Volvo with this fantastic crew"

After the Southport finish the crew had to decide on the Dutch crew member (Brunel is a Dutch company - so they wanted some Dutch to be spoken on board? - sailpartner). Watch captain Matt Humpries, who was also involved in the selection program in the Netherlands, announced the decision: “We are happy that Ed will join Brunel in the Volvo Ocean Race. It was a close and tight call. Both Eduard van Lierde and Mark van Gelderen showed world class ability but unfortunately only one could come.”

Humphries’ view was shared by his colleague Jeff Scott: "We looked for many different components in Mark and Ed, from technical ability to being able to gel in the team and both lads did an excellent job".

Eduard van Lierde (30) started his career with Roy Heiner. He will join the Brunel team as one of the two bowmen. A position in which he gained experience on many successful boats including Mean Machine.

[Cruising] Sinking, saved, sounds like home

2006-04-10T12:51:00.000+02:00

The Sailing Vessel Angeliki had two crew members, Aielt Scholtens and Dia Boekeloo, on board.
The sixty-two year old Dutch Captain and his sixty-one year old wife were rescued by a passing freighter Tuesday afternoon, (4 April) after they radioed a distress signal indicating that their sailing boat was sinking.
The couple who were sailing around the Caribbean in their 43 foot, two-mastered sailing boat, were en route to Little Cayman from Cayo Largo, Cuba, when problems developed. The propeller shaft had broken and water was gushing in through the shaft hole.
The original plan had been to tow the sinking vessel to West End, Cayman Brac, where the couple would have been transferred to a Cayman Brac Customs vessel and the boat towed into shore. However, that plan was abandoned when the vessel sank while in tow about 15 miles north of Little Cayman at approximately 5:00 pm.

The UAL Angola that took the two on board is also named 'Damsterdiep' oddly being the name of a canal along both have lived for years in the Netherlands.

[Update]
the actual position was: 9.58.51N 080.03.06W
The website is : http://www.sailing-angelique.com/ including pictures of the rescue
The EPIRB worked, their son was informed (in the Netherlands, way way east) by the Dutch Coast Guard (but I assume it also informed rescue teams)
The crew from the Agola (formely known as Damsterdiep) tried to save the boat:pumps got cluttered and there was no space available on deck.

Question remains: should we have something to stop our shaft from gliding out the boat if it breaks? The possibillity happening is small, the results ...

[VOR] As you were

2006-04-03T21:26:00.000+02:00

In leg 5 things look almost ... as they were. When will we see some surprising actions from one of the boats daring to takesome risk or are they just playing 'following the leader' ?
As I remember this is one of the legs to pull something off, so please entertain us!

Leg Positions,DTF
ABN AMRO ONE,4660
Pirates of the Caribbean,+0
ABN AMRO TWO,+1
Ericsson Racing Team,+2
Brasil 1,+4
movistar,+8
Brunel,DNS

[VOR] Brunel prepares comeback - Idols Style!

2006-03-28T21:31:00.000+02:00

I wonder if they look beyond looks...
(from brunelteamwork.nl)
Although the syndicate still has to decide on the final line-up, it is already clear that there will be major crew changes. The afterguard will be formed by skipper Grant Wharington and watch captains Matt Humphries and Jeff Scott with Will Oxely as the navigator. The search for a perfect Dutch match is over. Out of 50 applications
team Brunel picked two who would join the rest of the crew in Australia for further preparations. After trials in Zeebrugge and Stellendam in freezing temperatures and ice cold seawater the jury (including team Brunel's watch captain Matt Humphries) picked Mark van Gelderen and Eduard van Lierde.

All candidates for the other positions will get a chance to show their abilities in the Sydney to Goldcoast race that will start on april 2nd. Amongst them Dutch sailors Eduard van Lierde and Mark van Gelderen finalists of a selection process held in the Netherlands during the last few weeks.

Lookout:
About the same time as the rest of the fleet leaves Rio de Janeiro Brunel will be in the Panama Canal. The boat is expected to arrive in Baltimore on april 22nd. Team Brunel is confident that two days later they will be sailing in Chesapeake Bay.

[VOR] Sanderson (ABNAMRO1) praises the team

2006-03-27T12:47:00.000+02:00

Here are some nice motivating words from one of the skippers in the VOR, explaining why sailing is still a team sport!

“I hope people give the boys some credit for the win,” Sanderson said. “I’d hate to think it was talked about today that the boat was fast. Yes it went well, but I think we were the only ones who rounded all the marks cleanly. The guys deserve all the credit today, they sailed the boat beautifully.
“From the minute we left the dock today we had a cool spirit for what could have been a very doom and gloomy day. The forecast was terrible, we’re not a rocket ship in light airs, but we decided we were going to make the most of today come hell or high water. The boat is not the only thing getting us these results.”

From the vor site

Hello World

2006-03-26T23:15:00.000+02:00

Because of the crashes on my home owned server all my previous posts and the forum are gone... maybe they'll come back but for the mean time I like hanging here at blogger/blogspot, maybe I'll stay here, it kinda feels good.

so what to say?
I think I will start with just a little 'hello world' for now :)