Call him Torben Grael. That’s his name.Or call him Torben Grail . He has the golden touch, and now as skipper of Ericsson 4 he has won two of two legs of the Volvo Ocean Race. The five-time Olympic medalist (two gold) was also tactician for the Luna Rossa challenge for the 2007 America’s Cup.He and his crew brought Ericsson 4 across the leg-two finish line at Cochin,
Leg Two, a pleasant jaunt north through the tropics to exotic India? At some point, part of the way, maybe. Not now. The Volvo Ocean Race fleet left Cape Town last weekend and deliberately worked into the path of a series of low pressure systems to blast them east toward their scoring gate.For some, it’s been an overachievement.A broken boom on Green Dragon. Plus a broken
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
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
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 dOlonne for repairs.The race started in
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
Sixteen-year-old American Zac Sunderland, whos 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
Is the Americas Cup saved? No. Sadly, the battle of the ego-heavy billionaires continues, with neither side showing any signs of backing down, even though the Socit Nautique de Genve/Alinghi has won an important victory by having Desafo Espaol, Club Nutico Espaol de Vela reinstated as the official challenger of record (BMX/Oracle of course claims that Desafo Espaol, Club Nutico Espaol
The Vendee Globe is the real deal: A singlehanded sailor, a massively powerful, 60-foot canting-keel carbon-fiber racing shell with some of the fastest sails around, and Planet Earth. Solo. No assistance. Just the sailor, aboard his/her boat, taking on the world. What could be simpler?Obviously, simple is not a standard word used to describe the work list necessary to just arrive on the
Since the invention of rope, there has also been a need to belay or secure it. Every sailboat has rope on board so, unless you
In partnership with the Antigua and Barbuda Marine Association, Antigua Sailing Week is launching a mentorship program to encourage women and girls to join the
When a winter norther blows through the Bahamas, the northeast trades can reach gale force as they funnel through the Windward Passage between Cuba and
Just 24 hours before our scheduled charter in the Bahamas, the government clamped down again on visitors from the United States. Having endured two Covid-19
Four years ago, my husband, Paul, and I sold our five-bedroom Victorian home in Baltimore, Maryland, with the intention of buying a sailboat to live
The American SailGP team started yesterday’s racing in an optimistic fourth, only needing to move up one place in order to earn a spot in
Imagine this simple scenario: the boat’s powered up, sailing close-hauled in a building breeze under full sail. I come on deck as the skipper during
One of the most fascinating things about sailboats is the different ways that sailors, naval architects and builders will approach a single design problem. The
As is the case with so much of the Mediterranean, to sail in Croatia is to take a journey through time. Centuries before the birth
The Ocean Race Europe, a new event in offshore sailing, will include Alicante as one of four stopover cities. This European offshoot of the former
