Ocean Racing

Southern Straits Smashup

by Adam Cort, Posted April 7, 2010

This year’s Southern Straits race, held April 2 by the West Vancouver Yacht Club, was hammered by big winds and even bigger seas, which forced most of the fleet to retire and sent one boat to the bottom: the 30-foot custom racer Incisor.The race, which was marking its 42nd year, features a three separate course across the Strait of Georgia measuring between 58 and 127 nautical

Professional Sailor Completes Atlantic Rowing Race

by Meredith Laitos, Posted March 30, 2010

On Thursday March 17, with blisters on her hands and sores on her bottom, sailor Lia Ditton rowed into Antigua, a proud finisher of the Atlantic Rowing Race. For 73 days, she and a partner rowed in 12-hour shifts from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. They crossed 2,500 miles nonstop with no assistance. Rowing in close quarters

Open 60s Set for Dash to Spain

by Sail Staff, Posted March 29, 2010

The two nearly identical Open 60 monohulls set to establish an inaugural New York-Barcelona (NY-BCN) Transoceanic Sailing Record have arrived in New York in preparation for their passage across the Atlantic sometime in mid-April.This past week, hundreds of New Yorkers gathered at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden to take part in the opening of a Transoceanic Sailing Exhibit that

Volvo Race Stopping in Miami

by Adam Cort, Posted March 29, 2010

The Volvo Race will once again be making a stop in the United States, this time in the port of Miami. Organizers have announced that for the 2011-12 running, the fleet will finish there at the end of a leg beginning in Brazil.Miami will then serve as the jumping-off point for a transatlantic leg finishing in Lisbon. According to race organizers, Miami fought off a number of other North

Around the World in 48 Days

by Adam Cort, Posted March 22, 2010

It took five long years, but Bruno Peyron and Orange 2 no longer hold the record for the fastest circumnavigation under sail. That honor—and the Jules Verne Trophy that goes with it—now belongs to skipper Franck Cammas, navigator Stan Honey and the rest of the crew of the maxi-trimaran Groupama 3, which did it in an incredible 48 days 7 hours 44 minutes and 52 seconds! That’s an

Volvo Ocean Race Visiting Middle East

by Adam Cort, Posted March 16, 2010

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, has broken new ground for the Volvo Ocean Race by being confirmed as the first Middle East stopover in the history of the event.A boat from Abu Dhabi will also take its place on the start line of the 2011-12 race, which is scheduled to begin in Alicante, Spain, in the autumn of next year.The agreement was signed yesterday by

More from SpeedDream

by Adam Cort, Posted March 12, 2010

After unveiling the SpeedDream concept a couple of months ago, New England-based designer Vlad Murnikov is continuing to shed light on his planned record-breaking monohull as the project moves forward.According to Murnikov, who designed Fazisi, the Russian entry in the 1989-90 Whitbread Round the World Race, SpeedDream will be capable of sustained speeds of 40-45 knots

Ida Lewis Distance Race Open to Juniors

by Meredith Laitos, Posted March 11, 2010

This summer, teens in New England will have a unique opportunity to take their sailing offshore. The Ida Lewis Distance Race, now in its sixth year, is introducing a new component to the event in which teams of 14- to 19-year-olds can compete in a “youth challenge.” The race will begin on August 20, and race organizers are

Groupama Racing the Clock, Orange 2

by Adam Cort, Posted March 2, 2010

After a slow start, skipper Franck Cammas and his maxi trimaran Groupama 3 are now locked in a tight “virtual match race” with Bruno Peyron’s 38-meter catamaran Orange 2.Cammas is about midway through an attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy, which is awarded to the boat with the fastest circumnavigation. Orange 2 currently holds the record—completing the 27,000-mile

Digging Deep for MEXORC

by Meredith Laitos, Posted January 29, 2010

MEXORC has always been a moving target, and for 2010 it’s being redesigned yet again. This is your looking-ahead checkup, because there’s been a concern and maybe we can clear that up. But first—The essential West-Coast-of-Mexico-biennial is now a featured component of the inaugural Regata Copa Mxico, intended to celebrate the country’s bicentennial and then build from there. Some pretty