SAIL.SailMagazine

The unnamed enthusiasts who are circulating news that rating increases for composite standing rigging aboard boats sailing under IRC are going to be removed next year are engaging in wishful thinking. At least according to IRC manager Jenny Howells.

“While it is true that the IRC Technical Committee is looking at the rating cost of composite standing rigging,” says Howells, “It is unlikely

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British Olympian Ben Ainslie, just days after competing in AC class racing in Valencia, has been named ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year at the 2008 ISAF General Assembly in the Spanish capital of Madrid. Ainslie won his third gold medal at the Qingdao Olympiad (he also has a silver in the Laser) with an overwhelmingly confident win in the Finn dinghy. Ainslie, 31, is the first
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Just a few days after it started off the coast of France, the Vendee Globe solo round-the-world race is already living up to its reputation as the ultimate test of sailors and equipment.

Battered by huge seas and strong winds in the Bay of Biscay, nine of the 30 starters have either retired or been forced back to the French port of Les Sables d’Olonne for repairs.

The race started in

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The French dominate the world of shorthanded ocean sailing, and the man of the moment among French solo sailors is Francis Joyon.

Last winter Joyon became the fastest person to sail single-handed around the world, setting a remarkable time of 57 days, 13 hours, knocking nearly two weeks off the previous record.

Last weekend the 52-year-old Frenchman set another record aboard his 97’

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Sixteen-year-old American Zac Sunderland, who’s halfway through his attempt to become the youngest-ever solo circumnavigator, has a rival. British teenager Mike Perham, who is 108 days younger than Zac, is about to set sail from the UK on a fully sponsored Open 50 racer.

Mike made headlines in 2007 when he and his father sailed solo from England to Antigua in separate boats. He was just 14

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