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Turbulent Conditions
Clearwater, Florida, USA: Nacra 17 Worlds:
llan Norregaard and Anette Viborg Andreasen rocketed up to second place overall in the Nacra 17 World Championships, the Danish duo showing a rare mastery of the demanding conditions on the turbulent waters of Clearwater Beach, Florida.

The top two French teams managed to put the stress of a measurement protest behind them last night when the French were accused of having illegally adjusted the daggerboard cases that hold the curved foils that help lift the boat out of the water at high speed. Small changes in the angle of attack of these foils can make a big difference to performance, so this part of the boat is millimetre-critical. To the relief of the two French teams, the International Jury found in their favour and they bounced back with an impressive performance on the water.

The fleet is looking forward to some recuperation time this evening, to warm up and to refuel. "We've burned more calories than we can consume," said Germany's top Nacra 17 sailor, Paul Kohlhoff. "Today was really challenging, very big waves, but tomorrow looks like it's going to be much lighter winds."

49er and 49erFX Worlds: Smashing Conditions And they're off! The girls FX Sailors were sent out for the first race of the day in a breezy 16 knots. The women made it out to their designated race courses in similar wavy conditions to the day before. Postponement came down at 2:15pm and the women were then sent back out to try, try again, getting in one race.

The gentlemen trickled into the boat park with hesitation as they had a bit of a feeling the breeze would not cooperate for the ladies. Postponed on shore until 3:30pm, the sailors reached the opening of the channel to find the FX sailors cruising in marking the end of Day 2.

Top three

Nacra 17 after five races, one throwout
1. Billy Besson / Marie Riou, FRA, 8 points
2. Allan Norregaard / Anette Viborg Andreasen, DEN, 18
3. Moana Vaireaux / Manon Audinet, FRA, 24

49er after one race
1. Jonas Warrer / Anders Thomsen, DEN
2. Peter Burling / Blair Tuke, NZL
3. John Pink / Stuart Bithell, GBR

49er FX after one race
1. Maiken Foght Schutt / Anne-Julie Schutt, DEN
2. Annemiek Bekkering / Annette Duetz, NED
3. Leonie Meyer / Elena Stoffers, GER

www.saillife.com
49er.org/event/2016-world-championship/

Farr 40 Worlds In Sydney For Third Time
Australia has been very supportive of the Farr 40 Class Association since its inception in 1997.

Victoria native John Calvert-Jones was one of the original owners and the past class president would skipper Southern Star to victory at the 2000 World Championship.

Calvert-Jones, who received a tremendous honor by being named the first Life Member of the class, was the first of many owners from the Land Down Under. Richard Perini, Neville Crichton, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, Marcus Blackmore, Lang and Sue Walker, Lisa and Martin Hill, current Australian Yachting president Matt Allen and wife Lisa along with many other Aussies have all been stalwarts of the class.

Australia's stature as a hotbed for Farr 40 one-design racing was solidified in 2005 when the International Class Association selected Sydney to host the 2005 Rolex World Championship. That move was inevitable after the fleet on the country's East Coast grew considerably following construction of Farr 40-footers was established at McConaghy and later in Malaysia.

Perini steered Evolution to victory at the 2005 Worlds, nipping countryman Crichton and Team Shockwave via tiebreaker. Sydney again hosted the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship in 2011 and this time it was Belgiorni-Nettis and the Transfusion team that came out on top.

This country's excitement surrounding the Farr 40 has never waned, evidenced by the number of boats still sailing and the strong season circuit that exists. A deep fleet of 10 boats recently contested the Australian Open Series with Transfusion taking the title.

Sydney will be back in the spotlight this month when it serves as site for the 2016 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron will host the renowned event for the second time with a talent-laden fleet of 12 boats slated to compete from Feb. 16-19.

The Farr 40 Class Association thanks Rolex, Race Day Sponsors Quantum Sails and John Calvert-Jones along with staunch supporters Lang Walker, Neville Crichton and Syd Fischer.

www.farr40.org

Shine A Light
Solar Sails French sailmaker Alain Janet is the founder of Solar Cloth System which has been busy developing a practical system for generating electrical power from thin photovoltaic films laminated onto modern sail fabrics...

In the past sailors have taken the ecological high ground over other boaters, yet modern sailing requires far more electrical power than it used to. With new onboard technologies and their growing demands for power, it's clear that sailors now experience regular energy shortages while cruising and/or racing, even over relatively short distances. And of course the problem grows exponentially when you are racing across oceans and around the world.

Sea and sun go hand in hand, so solar power has long seemed to offer an answer to this problem. However, rigid solar panels are heavy, bulky and require a lot of ingenuity to install discretely; but what about producing electricity with our sails?

Sails offer the largest available surfaces on a sailboat which makes them the most logical place to collect solar power

www.seahorsemagazine.com

Foiling Week Expands In 2016
After two successful editions in 2014 and 2015 held at Fraglia Vela Malcesine on Lake Garda in Italy, Foiling Week is happy to announce that in 2016 the Foiling Week will also hold an additional event in the USA.

In its third year Foiling Week Association has decided to follow up on the numerous overseas requests to hold a Foiling Week event and as a result, Sail Newport, in Newport R.I. will co-organize the second act of the Foiling Week Series 2016.

The first event in Malcesine on Lake Garda from July 7th to 10th is the 'classic' Foiling Week organized by Foiling Week Association together with Fraglia Vela Malcesine.

The second event of Foiling Weektm in 2016 takes place in Newport, Rhode Island, USA from September 8th to 11th.

The program will include the Forums to be held in the morning and the on water activities mainly in the afternoon with a Foiling Expo and Foiling Boat Trials available throughout the week. There will be races for the one-design classes, long distance races along with prototypes, a speed contest and a permanent training area for those not racing at that time.

Around 40 influential speakers will join in the most relevant Foiling Forum subjects worldwide for three days. In previous editions, designers, sailors and builders including Tom Speer, Martin Fischer, Kevin Hall, Davide Tagliapietra, Doug Schickler, Guillaume Verdier and Andrew 'Amac' McDougal have provided detailed analysis, explained projects and shared informative discussion on the art of foiling and ideas for future developments.

Forum Workshops will be scheduled during the mornings and at the end of racing in the afternoons from Thursday 7th to Saturday 9th July in Malcesine and from Thursday 8th to Saturday 10th September in Newport.

foilingweek.com

Strong Take Up In First Month For 85th Edition Of J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round The Island Race
Entries have opened for the 85th edition of the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race which takes place on Saturday 2nd July and there is already a terrific take-up of 365 boats less than one month in.

The first entry was from Martin Thomas, from King's Langley in Hertfordshire, entering INSEYANDRA with charter guests and entering for the Bavaria Trophy (IRC) and the John Franks Trophy (IRC). It is their biggest Race of the year and 2016 will be Martin's 8th Round the Island Race.

The ISC is offering ONE FREE ENTRY to this year's Race. The winner's name will be drawn at random after Early Bird entries close on 13th February. Make sure you have your chance by entering now: http://www.rtir.me/entries

IN X CELSIS is a 1991 X119 owned and skippered by 76 year-old Peter Jones, a Yachtmaster Offshore. Together they have achieved a great deal! Peter has completed nine Fastnet Races, was the X Yachts 2012 IRC 3 winner and has 30 Round the Island Races under his belt with his best result being 5th in IRC 3.

Also competing this year as a Classic Racing Yacht (ISCRS), is a Morgan North American 40, MONOTOMBI that was purchased in the Great Lakes in 2013 and sailed to the UK single handed in 2015 by her owner Andrew Rogers Pascoots. This intrepid yachtsman, now aged 52, has been a lifelong solo sailor and circumnavigated at the age of 22 on a Tartan 27.

The mighty LEOPARD is back on the 2016 Race start line to defend her Monohull record of 3 hours 43 minutes and 50 seconds set in 2013 by owner Mike Slade.

It is also very rewarding for organisers and sponsors alike to note that there is already a strong showing of novice crews chartering boats to enter the Race this year, yet again demonstrating that this annual yachting extravaganza truly is a Race for All (#raceforall).

www.roundtheisland.org.uk

Clipper Race: Ocean Sprint Bonus Points
Leader of the Da Nang New Discovery of Asia Race Derry~Londonderry~Doire was the first through the Ocean Sprint course, setting a time of 14 hours 18 minutes, which has consequently proved impossible for the remaining eleven boats to match. Upon Visit Seattle's completion of the course in a time of 19 hours 7 minutes, pending verification by the Race Office upon arrival in Da Nang, the two bonus points will be awarded to Skipper Daniel Smith and his crew.

Having rounded the southernmost waypoints, Derry~Londonderry~Doire is heading north, crossing paths with teams on their way to the Vietnam virtual mark, and is enjoying the slightly more comfortable conditions.

The forecast suggests that the winds should carry on easing and veering east, east-north-east for the next 2-3 days before coming back in from the north-east.

After recently reporting heavy sail and equipment damage, Mission Performance has continued racing having replaced the inner forestay with a spectra rope. This allows the team to fly a full mainsail and Yankee. Skipper Greg Miller says: "The wind has picked up slightly and we seem to be into the double figures with our restriction of sails. This is a good thing!

The Ocean Sprint times recorded by all the teams are as follows:
14h 18m Derry~Londonderry~Doire
16h 49m Garmin
17h 29m Da Nang - Viet Nam
17h 33m GREAT Britain
18h 53m LMAX Exchange
19h 07m Visit Seattle
20h 10m Qingdao
21h 04m PSP Logistics
21h 20m IchorCoal
27h 58m Mission Performance
30h 26m Unicef
34h 31m ClipperTelemed+ (due to anchoring to remove a spinnaker wrap)

clipperroundtheworld.com

Hamble Yacht Services Partners Fast40+ Class
Hamble Yacht Services The majority of the yachts in the new racing class that is the talk of the grand prix sailing circuit, the FAST40+, has chosen Hamble Yacht Services (HYS) as its base for the 2016 summer race circuit.

HYS is a natural choice of operational base for the FAST40+ Teams, located central to the race courses in the fleet's 2016 calendar which comprises five Solent-based events. The HYS open yard policy and facilities are tailor-made for team professionals who often carry out maintenance and optimisation themselves throughout the racing season.

HYS has also become an official Circuit Partner for the twelve teams from six nations which have signed up to the FAST40+ circuit, with more expected to join.

"We are delighted to welcome the FAST40+ teams, many of whom are already resident here," comments Robert Bicket of HYS, who himself will be racing on a new Ker40+. "The option for containers and workspaces to be located within close proximity of the yachts ashore gives teams a cohesive operational set-up."

HYS's dry sailing contracts are flexible to allow very short notice launching and retrieval. The high performance racing yachts, 11.6m to 12.55m overall with IRC rating 1.210 to 1.268 will include Ker40+ Magnum, C40 Rebellion, Ker 43 Otra Vez, and GP42s Tokoloshe, 42 South, Jubilee and Zephyr.

www.hambleyachtservices.co.uk

Narrow Margin Between Life And Death At Sea
Listening to a seafarer describe how colleagues from his native town left port on a night of very bad weather, when their Skipper was advised not to go by other Skippers, I thought of how there can be a very narrow margin between life and death.

Those men and their vessel never made it from the British coastline to Youghal in East Cork, which was once the biggest and busiest seaport in the Republic.

Youghal is a seaside town which has suffered heavily in recent years from recessionary impact and decline of industry in the area. Hundreds of jobs have been lost. It is a seaside town which, before the advent of cheap air travel to foreign locations, was a dominant holiday resort. It is where the famous 'Moby Dick' film was shot, chosen because of its maritime appearance. It is a town which is legendary for its schooners and schoonermen, trading from Ireland across the Irish Sea to the UK.

It is also where I present THIS ISLAND NATION radio programme on the town's community radio station, CRY104FM, every Monday night ad from where it is also transmitted to other stations in Dublin, Dundalk, Athlone, Galway, Clare and Cork and here to the Afloat website

Tom MacSweeney's podcast "This Island Nation" here: afloat.ie/blogs/island-nation/

J/111 Worlds NOR Announcement
Cowes, England: The Royal Southern YC is pleased to provide the draft version of the Notice of Race for the 2016 J/111 World Championships this coming August in Cowes, England. The regatta is being hosted by Island Sailing Club from August 1st to 4th, just prior to the famous Cowes Race Week.

J/111 Worlds NOR

Here's a reminder of the busy programme for J/111s in the Solent this summer!
- June 9-11 National Championships at J-Cup - Royal Southern YC
- July 16-17 Europeans as part of Royal Southern YC July Regatta
- July 29-30 Pre-Worlds Regatta - Royal Southern YC
- August 1-4 World Championships - Island Sailing Club
- August 6-13 Cowes Week

Ocean Cruising Club Announces Award Recipients
Dartmouth, Devon, UK: Each year, the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) recognises the outstanding achievements of blue water sailors and brings those achievements to the attention of the sailing community at large. This year's winners represent a diverse group of sailors scattered around the earth's oceans. They were selected from a rich pool of candidates, indicating that many adventurous sailors continue to tackle new frontiers. Jenny Crickmore-Thompson, Chairman of the OCC Awards Sub-Committee which was composed of accomplished members representing multiple continents, made the announcement after ratification by the OCC Committee.

The recipient of the OCC's premiere award for members, the Barton Cup, for 2015 is Michael Johnson, s/v Gitana, for his successful two-year transit of the Northwest Passage. Sailing from Chesapeake Bay, VA to Nome, AK, this passage took place in a period that was particularly challenging due to ice conditions when many vessels attempting the Passage turned back. Michael is a prior recipient of the Barton Cup (1990) for his engineless E-W rounding of Cape Horn in 85 days.

The OCC Award of Merit, an award that may recognise either members or non-members, is shared among multiple members and the OCC Port Officer Representative who contributed exceptional efforts to assist the people of Vanuatu after the devastation caused by hurricane Pam. The recipients are:

- Martin & Elizabeth Bevan on Caduceus
- Brian Wallace & Sue Dracott on Darramy
- Tom Partridge & Susie Plume on Adina
- Jonathan & Donna Robinson on Chez Nous
- Dennis & Sherry Day on Trillium
- Sam & Jess Bell PORs Vanuatu

The full list of all award recipients at:

oceancruisingclub.org

Featured Brokerage

Raceboats Only Raceboats Only Raceboats Only

1996 Eric Goetz Maxi 80. 395,000 Euros. Located in Kiel, Germany.

One of the original Iconic Maxi yachts is now available.

She was originally built as the world famous 'Boomerang' under an IMS rating rule. Then converted to life in the Maxi fleet where she achieved first class honours for many years on the circuit.

Still maintained to the highest of quality, this is a really attractive all round proposition and offers a truly huge amount of bang for your buck!!

Details

Contact
Sam Pearson - Ancasta Port Hamble

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1998 Botin & Carkeek 46. 100,000 Euros. Located in Italy.

GPH: 550.2 Shipyard: Harkey Yachts (South Africa), july 1998 Design Botin & Carkeek Construction Sandwich Vinylester / Kevlar

Details

Contact

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1996 Mumm 30. 34,000 Euros. Located in Turkey.

This boat is one of the best maintained Mumm 30s in Turkey and is really nice refitted in a lot of parts

Details

Contact

See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
We were young, we were foolish, we were arrogant, but we were right. -- Daniel Ellsberg

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