13.10.2007
Hi Dr.Krumnacker,
Sail-World's Cruising World newsletter
I am writing this week from Vanuatu, where the normally sleepy town of Port Vila is crammed with sailing boats, all of them heading out of here to safer waters before the cyclone season sets in, but many of them waiting for the departure of the Port2Port Rally.
This free-to-enter rally operates every year from Vanuatu to Bundaberg in Australia, just at the end of the cruising season. The difference this year is that instead of the normal few boats in the rally, there are 55 entered, and entry is closed. Obviously the word is out that this rally is the best way to sail to Australia (and cope with the bureaucracy). I wonder how long it can remain free, run by volunteers on both sides of the water.
There's a huge variety of news this week - while Adrian Flanagan is about to finish his marathon vertical sail around the world another world class adventurer is about to circumnavigate Antarctica. We also hear the story of Jackie Hope, great sailor and very game woman who is just about to start her (sometimes) solo sail around the world.
Two people have survived on a life raft in the Arabian Sea, and I think that's where I would put the Skipper of a boat in Thailand who set sail without first raising the anchor, thereby sinking his boat.
Sailing tales to drool over from the gentle adventurers the Treleavens, and our practical story for the week is on towing - how to do it without breaking gear or losing the tow.
In the meantime, our Peterson 46 Blackwattle is readying herself for her very last leg of our own circumnavigation. Read the story of our visit to Fiji, and of her Skipper who just can't seem to stay on the wharf.
Read on, enjoy, and...
Sail safe!
Solo 'Vertical' Circumnavigator heads for Norway
Adrian Flanagan, British sailor seeking to be the first solo sailor to circumnavigate the world 'vertically', is on the move again, on one of his final legs, from Russia to Norway....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38269&ntid=30
Sophomore Heroism Saves Captain
When people talk about yachts and losing life in the one sentence, the image is of heavy weather, man-overboard, or the sinking of the yacht in turbulent seas. But a recent story of the life saving fast action of a marine sophomore in US town Sandwich is a lesson in just how easy it can be to end up in life threatening trouble when you're not even at sea. Would you imagine a very experienced seaman could almost drown while trying to refuel his yacht?...
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38255&ntid=30
Lucky - the Boat that Wasn't
The first mistake he made was in naming his boat ''Lucky''. On the other hand, with the sailing skill that he showed, I guess he was hoping that Luck would play a big part in his staying afloat - which of course he didn't....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38227&ntid=30
Soulmate's Jackie Follows the Dream
Why do people leave home and go long range cruising? Surprisingly, it is rare to find the long range cruiser who has had a lifelong passion for the sea. Sometimes they wish to escape the rat race to a simpler cleaner way of living. Sometimes they have been yearning all their lives to see a wider world, sometimes the yacht is just a substitute for retirement and a motor home. So it's a delight to meet a sailor who just 'wants to go to sea'....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38138&ntid=30
Towing a Yacht in Distress - the Techniques
When a vessel is in distress on a lee shore and needs towing is not the time to start considering the best way of doing it. Have YOU ever towed another vessel? If you have, you will either already have the skill and knowledge to do this competently, or you will have discovered that there are tricks and lessons that it is as well to have in your repertoire before you start....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38223&ntid=30
The Maltese Falcon: Art on Innovation
Recognized as the most incredible, influential and ground breaking yacht the world has ever seen, the Maltese Falcon has now been captured within the pages of an exclusive art book; The Maltese Falcon: Art of Innovation....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38237&ntid=30
Incident in Fiji - Blackwattle
Everyone's running and shouting. From everywhere - it seems the whole of this Fijian marina is running and shouting. Indian taxi drivers, cruisers walking by, Indian marina security guards, Fijian loungers, friends on the boat we are/were about to visit, they're all converging on where they heard the splash....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38139&ntid=30
Letter from the Med: Cadiz Spain to Mohammedia
On a clear blue calm day sailing past Cape Trafalgar, the sight of one of the most historic naval battles in 1805. Then rounding Tarifa on the south western corner of Spain we could see North Africa only 10 miles away it seemed so close we could reach out and grab it....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38165&ntid=30
Two Survive Eight Days on Life Raft after Yacht Sinks
MUMBAI, India - An Israeli woman and an Italian man survived on a life raft for eight days in the Arabian Sea after their yacht sank in a storm, the Indian coast guard said Tuesday...
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38127&ntid=30
Mediterranean Playground Hit by Major Storm - Yachts Damaged
Several ports in the Bay of Palma have been seriously affected due to the storm which cast the town into total blackness this week and washed boats up on the shore....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38096&ntid=30
Slightly Sad - Blackwattle's Fiji Visit
Its a full moon behind dark clouds as we sail along the south coast of the biggest island of Fiji, Viti Levu, As we skim the flat sea the rich smells of cow dung and cut grass are enticing after several days at sea. But the next morning the picture is less alluring. For the first time in all our time in the South Pacific, as we sail northwards through the vast western lagoon which contains many of the holiday islands, there is refuse in the water - plastic bags, discarded beer cans, thongs, other unidentifiable junk, even a large polystyrene box that must have escaped from someone's picnic....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38085&ntid=30
Team Aqua leads, with Coutts and Spithill behind
Today's fleet racing started relatively calmly with eight knots of breeze, but the bora soon filled in to offer exciting conditions for the ten teams competing in the RC44 Trieste Cup. With more than twenty knots in the first of four races, the RC44s relished in what turned out to be great practice for the upcoming Gold Cup in Dubai....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=38236&ntid=30
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