Regattas

Disappointing winds and a strong westerly current have wrecked havoc on the entrants of this year’s Barcelona World Race, as the 14 boats struggled to get out of the Straits of Gibraltar and into the North Atlantic. Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron managed to win the 540-mile first leg with a time of 3 days, 7 hours and 55 minutes on the evening of January 3rd, while other contenders

Belgian sailor Christophe Bullens has withdrawn from the 28th VELUX 5 OCEANS after a broken mast track thwarted his latest attempt to set sail from Cape Town, South Africa.The setback was the latest in a long list of technical difficulties for the 49-year-old solo sailor. His troubles began before the race’s start, when his first Eco 60, Five Oceans of Smiles, was dismasted en

Back in the early 1960s, America’s Cup veteran and long-time one-design proponent Cornelius “Corny” Shields decided that the cadets at the various maritime academies in this country needed quality sail training if they were to become truly competent seamen.He hired Sparkman & Stephens to design the 30-foot Shields, one of the most striking one-design racers ever, with its long overhangs,

Twenty hours after the 100-footer Wild Oats XI was first to cross the finish line in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, she has been declared the official line-honors winner after being cleared of a protest lodged by the race committee.Wild Oats XI completed the 628-course from Sydney Harbor to Hobart, Tasmania, in 2 days 7 hours and 37 minutes, in the process surviving one of

After several years of mostly tactical racing in comparatively benign conditions, the 2010 Rolex Sydney Hobart is set to return to its more traditional ways, with meteorologists telling competitors they are in for some very tough, boat and spirit-breaking sailing for at least the first 300 nautical miles of the race.The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted that early in the race the fleet

The second running of the Barcelona World Race is set to begin on New Year’s Eve in front of the ultra-chic W Hotel on the Barcelona waterfront. The event features two-person crews sailing supercharged IMOCA Open 60 racers nonstop around the planet via the three great capes: the Cape of Good Hope, New Zealand’s Cape Leeuwin and, of course, Cape Horn. Some other numbers to consider:25,000:

The Lemsteraak The shouts of the crews mingle with the sound of timber meeting timber. Eased-out booms sweep across decks, grinning sailors ducking as the treetrunk-sized spars brush their scalps. On shore, screaming spectators wave banners and urge on their local heroes. As the fleet approaches the mark, the race turns into a barging match—literally. For we are on the

Skipper Jim Sminchak of Cleveland’s Lakeside Yacht Club and the crew of his J/105 it prevailed over a strong field in SAIL’s 2010 Best Around the Buoys (BAB) contest and will be heading to Florida in January to take part in 2011 Key West Race Week.

On October 28th, 2010, American kitesurfer Robert Douglas became the new, outright world speed sailing record holder with a speed of 55.65kts in a maximum windspeed of 45kts, in 18cm of water. We got a hold of Rob and asked him the question that every sailor wants to know: what’s it like?SAIL: At the risk of sounding clich, what goes through your head when you’re

On October 17, Brad Van Liew will return to the sport of solo sail racing after an eight-year break as the only American in a fleet of five boats sailing the VELUX 5 Oceans race around the world. While over 500 people have been shot into space, Van Liew is one of less than 180 that have sailed around the globe solo. Of those who have a circumnavigation under their belt, only 73 skippers have