Wednesday, November 11, 2015

ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers)





Here are a number of links that will take you to websites about this year’s Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). On Sunday, 8th November, over 60 yachts set sail from Gran Canaria for the Cape Verdes on the first stage of a 2,700 nautical mile voyage to St Lucia. Over 200 more yachts will depart from Gran Canaria on 22nd November at the beginning of a non-stop trade wind passage to St Lucia.

The Sailing Today article (last link) has a list of facts about this 30th year Celebration ARC Rally. it is interesting to note the the smallest boat has an overall length of 32 feet, and the average length is 45 feet 8 inches. 1,116 people will be taking part, 32 of them children, 16 years of age and under.

This sort of event is for gregarious sailors and perhaps the more heeled - very different in character and in spirit to the Jester Challenge* which is for solo sailors.


Links

ARC World Cruising Club

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Daily Logs from Participating ARC Yachts

ARC Facebook

30th Atlantic Rally for Cruisers prepares to set sail

Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

StormForce Booking for ARC - £3,850 each + fights, transfers, and personal locator beacon

OnDeck ARC crewing experience from £3,000 - £3,550

Performance Yacht Charter - ARC Crewing from £3,000

Ready for the 2014 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) in Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia, Caribbean

Crews Gear Up for 30th ARC Event

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Small Sailboat Cruising


Paradoxes


Bris


Roamer


Acrohc Austalis


Scamp


Much of the content of this blog is about small sailboats used for cruising, but there is also a fair amount about racing yachts. My primary interest has been with small sailing boats suited to cruising, exceptions being larger, spectacular vessels such as the trimarans featured in yesterday’s article. Typical of the smaller ones are Matt Layden’s Paradox, Sven Yrvind’s Bris, and cruising dinghies such as Eric Coleman’s Roamer, Ian Proctor’s Wayfarer and John Welsford’s dinghy with a lid, Scamp.

There are many types of small sailing craft that have been designed primarily for cruising; the list is almost endless. Success in cruising them has been more to do with their owners ability than their designs. Acrohc Australis, designed and built by Serg Testa, remains the smallest boat to have circumnavigated the Globe, having completed a 27,000 nautical miles marathon in May, 1987. 

Long distance cruising is not the most popular option; the major preference is for coastal and estuary cruising with outings seldom lasting more than a weekend. Choices and preferences often depend upon circumstances. A retired couple, for example, might want to sail their yacht further afield, as they have acquired the means and have the time, but a young working couple can perhaps only find time for the occasional weekend.

Whatever the circumstances, each will try to make the best of their opportunities.

Here are a number of related links to websites I think may be of interest to sailors who enjoy cruising small boats.

Links

Paradox Sailboat Videos

Building a Paradox Sailboat

My Paradox ‘Johanna’

UK Matt Layden Paradoxes

Yrvind (Bris)

‘Daisy’, a Roamer Cruising Dinghy

Wayfarer Dinghy

UK Wayfarer Association

‘Scamp’ - Micro Sailboat

‘Acrohc Australis’

Web Links - Miscellaneous, but relevant to those with an interest in Small Sailing Boats

Cruising Dinghy Association

Hostellers Sailing Club

Sailing Small Living Large: Sailors who love their small boats

Micro Cruising

In Praise of Small Sailboats

18 Small Sailboats: Big dreams in small packages

Cruising the Med: Living on board …….. Is it all it’s cracked up to be? Is it for you?

15 things you should know when planning an Atlantic crossing

The Dinghy Cruising Companion by Roger Barnes

The Sailor’s Book of Small Cruising Sailboats: Reviews and comparisons of 360 boats under 26 feet

Great Voyages in Small Sailboats

Sailing into Hell: Two Men, a Dinghy and One of the Luckiest Escapes Ever

Monday, November 09, 2015

Jules Verne Trophy






In 1958 I was a trainee pedagogue at Goldsmiths College, London University, learning how to teach children between the age of 11 and 16. It was a time of expansion and population growth. There were two opposing philosophies being taught: competition and co-operation. Those with left wing leanings preferred the comprehensive school system embracing co-operation in the hope of reducing ‘class’ differences, whereas those on the right championed private or public schools with their competitive ethos favouring the ‘haves’. These two systems were highly political, and to an extent they exist today with the growth of Academies and the support of the present Government.

What has this to do with the Jules Verne Trophy which is awarded to the owner or owners of a yacht that has sailed faster around the world than any other? Banque Populaire V skippered by Loick Peyron in 2012, took 35 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 15 seconds to complete the official route and is the current holder. Waiting at this very moment for favourable weather slots to start their attempts at breaking the record are two teams: Spindrift 2 with Dona Bertarelli and Yan Gulchard, and Banque Popular V with Loïck Peyron hoping to beat his earlier record.

These teams are highly competitive, pulling out all the stops to win. Competition is the key to their preparations, activities and expenditures. Ambition and desire for success are undoubtedly strong motivations for their dedication. Monetary gain is likely to be of secondary importance, but sponsorship can be a fillip along the way. Fame and pride could be incentives, but unlikely, since the main parties are mature and versed with the nature of the sea which has no respect for man, levelling all who truly experience its vastness.

Both teams will be competing with one another, but at the same time aboard their respective vessels they will be co-operating, each crew member with their companions by using their strengths and skills for working together with a common aim. There is no guarantee that either team will succeed. 

Note and Food for Thought

Ecclesiastes 12:8 “Vanity of Vanities,” says the Preacher, “All is vanity.”

Links

Jules Verne Trophy

Banque Populaire V

Loïck Peyron

Maxi Spindrift 2 (ex Banque Populaire V)

Joyon to tackle Jules Verne Trophy

Nouveau Maxi-Trimaran Idec Sport

The Strange Story of the Jules Verne Trophy

Video - The Story of the Jules Verne Trophy

The Horses are on the Track

The Story of the Jules Verne Trophy

Incredible speed of 41 knots for Banque Populaire V during the Jules Verne's Trophy

Maxi Tri Banque Populaire V at Very High Speed

Incredible capsize of the MOD 70 Spindrift in Dublin during the Route des Princes


Capsize of the MOD 70 Virbac Paprec - Jean Pierre Dick and Roland Jourdain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf8Clcngfvk

Saturday, November 07, 2015

Mini Transat - 6.50 Class Mini




Below you can find a number of links to websites featuring this year’s Mini Transat, which is a race across the Atlantic from east to west for solo yachtsmen and yachtswomen who want to compete with Mini 6.50 Class yachts. The race takes place every two years. This year the first leg was from Douarnenez, Finistère, to Arrecife, Lanzarote. Boats set off for the second leg from Arrecife on 31st October, and as I write, the majority of them are approximately halfway across the Atlantic, bound for Pointe a Petra, Guadeloupe.

The first four websites are informative and the others are at YouTube.

Links

Mini Transat 650

Mini Transat

Mini Transat

Mini Transat: One more week

Miki Zambelli Day, arrivo a Lanzarote 

Top départ de la 2ème étape de la Mini Transat Îles de Guadeloupe

 Mini Transat 2015 dockside tour with Nikki Curwen Part 1

Mini Transat 2015 dockside tour with Nikki Curwen Part 2

Partenza Mini Transat LIVE 2

Mini Transat, partenza seconda tappa!

Friday, November 06, 2015

Gene Editing



Layla, a one year old girl lay dying in Great Ormond Street Hospital. She was suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. She had received all the conventional treatments with no success, but her parents would not give up hope of their child being cured. As a last resort doctors experimented by treating her with a therapy called gene editing. This is a highly complicated business. Her treatment involved removing imperfect immune cells and replacing them with genetically engineered cells from a donor to destroy her cancerous cells. After they were destroyed it was necessary to remove the modified immune cells and replace them with healthy ones. This was achieved by giving the girl a bone marrow transplant.

To all accounts, she appears to be cured, but only time will tell.

Here we see the intervention of medical specialists bringing about for the patient and her parents a ‘miraculous’ cure. The true definition of a miracle is an extraordinary, welcome event attributed to a divine agency that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws. In other words, it is an event that cannot be attributed to the natural order of things.

Now, when we read the Bible, and hear of Jesus curing the sick, restoring sight, speech and hearing; healing the lame and bringing people back to life, we must surely ask the question, “Can this be true?” and, “Could this really have been the Son of God whom he claimed to be?” It is my belief that our very future, depends upon our answers.

If we believe Him, we can entirely trust Him to bring us to Himself after we depart from this world, and to trust Him for all that happens in our lives. 

Do we want Jesus to intervene with His genetic scissors to bring about a miracle that imparts everlasting life? If so, why not ask Him right now?

Links

Gene editing saves girl dying from leukaemia in world first 

Gene therapy cures leukaemia in eight days 

Genome Editing: How to Modify Genetic Faults - and the Human Germline

Editing our DNA with Molecular Scissors

Genome Editing (A technical paper)

Thursday, November 05, 2015

Sarah Outon







Sarah Outon is in the news for having travelled around the world by bike, rowing boat and kayak. On 3rd November she returned to her starting point, Tower Bridge, London, after an epic 25,000 mile journey taking four-and-a-half years.

Far more than a handful of people have ridden bicycles across countries and continents claiming they have cycled around the world, but until 3rd November no one had travelled around the world by cycling, kayaking and rowing. Only Sarah can truly know the effort and determination required for success. Only she will have experienced unique times of joy, pain, elation, frustration, fear, and finally a wonderful sense of achievement.

No one can take from her those experiences, and she can never relive them, but she can recall them. She truly lived in the present and very nearly died doing it. Her motto was, ‘Dare to Do’, and she did, and won! She dared, and she achieved her desire, believing her example to others could inspire them in the belief that if they want something enough, by striving they can achieve it.

Well done, Sarah.

Note

I’ve included a few links to websites with tributes to Anne Mustoe, who died on 11th November, 2009, while on her third global cycling adventure. She was the sister of Julian Mustoe* who bought my yacht ‘Zeta’ and subsequently sailed around the world, in part aboard ‘Zeta’ which he radically modified and renamed ‘Harrier’. 


Links

Sarah Outen

Sarah Outen finishes global ‘loop’ at Tower Bridge

Sarah’s Blog

Sarah’s Twitter Page

Sarah’s Charities

Outen: First woman to cross globe on own steam will finally marry girlfriend after Pacific proposal http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11971640/Sarah-Outen-British-adventurer-completes-round-the-world-expedition.html 

Sarah Outen kayaks under Tower Bridge to complete gruelling round-the-world challenge

Sarah Outen - Wikipedia

Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Public Slipway - Part 2









The above signs are all legible, unlike some of those posted yesterday


As I pointed out to Alastair in yesterday’s ‘comments’ section, apart from the excessive fee for using the slipway, my main gripe is with the slipshod maintenance of Council Signs in the vicinity of the slipway. It is impossible to read everything written on them, because of their poor condition. At the entrance to the road leading to the slipway there’s what appears to be an official stainless steel and glass display cabinet for Council notices, but it does not have a single notice in it; instead, attached to an outside support there are two tatty paper notices.

I appreciate that several signs in the locality are not owned by Southend Borough Council; for example, there are a few belonging to the Maritime and Coastal Agency regarding the adjacent Coastguard Rescue Station, and there’s a large Ministry of Defence notice setting out rules and regulations in connection with the nearby Shoeburyness Artillery Range. I fear some of the technical jargon spelled out on the latter may not be understand by members of the public; furthermore it is in a poor condition.

Generally, I believe the Borough Council has tried very hard to present Southend as an attractive seaside resort. Huge sums of money have been spent on improving the seafront with new road layouts, pavements, lighting etc.. They have parted with money on advertising the town’s attractions, such as the pier, the beaches, the Beecroft Gallery, the Cliffs Pavilion and the Palace Theatre. There’s been quite an emphasis on promoting water sports*, but they appear to have overlooked the carbuncle and eyesore at their prime launching site. The facility at East Beach could do with a spruce up and perhaps the installation of a freshwater hose for users of the slipway. 


Links 

*Water Sports in Southend

Southend Beaches

Visit Southend

Perfect Day Water Sports

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Public Slipway











Some months ago I was at Thorpe Bay where I had a look at the public slipway by Southend Coastguard’s Rescue Station. There was a Southend Borough Council official supervising activities and collecting launching fees.The cost of launching a motorised vessel, including a jet ski, was in my opinion excessive, something in the region of £35, if I remember correctly. I spoke to the official to enquire if the same fee applied to sailing dinghies, and he said there was no charge for them, providing they were not equipped with an engine. Trailers could be placed beside the slipway when  not in use, but towing vehicles had to be parked elsewhere. There were a few spaces on the road leading to the slipway, but to use them an additional parking fee had to paid. About three-hundred yards away there were several free parking bays, but finding an empty one was unlikely, since it was the height of the summer season, and the beach was crowded with visitors.

The official was sympathetic when I suggested to him that the fee was high for what was being offered. He said he had no option, but to collect the fee required. He acknowledged there wasn’t a freshwater facility for hosing boats and trailers after use, neither were there changing rooms or showers. The nearest public toilets were 300 yards away at a car park where you would probably have to leave your car after launching your boat. Meanwhile, if you were on your own, your boat would be left unattended at the end of the slipway, unless the official was free to look after it.

The most astonishing thing for me was the prolific number of signs setting out rules and regulations for use of the slipway; where you could go, where you were prohibited from going, what could be done and what could not be done. Even more astonishing was the state of some of the signs - words were missing or faded, making the signs intelligible. If you were to try reading every sign it would take you a good 20 minutes, and because some of the instructions are technical you wouldn’t be any the wiser!


I would give a generous 2 out of 10 to Southend Borough Council for the facility - one point for being able to park road trailers beside the slipway and one point for providing buoys marking a channel for separating swimmers from boats using the slipway. Personally, I think the Council should be ashamed.

Monday, November 02, 2015

Alex Thomson and His IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss





The Transat Jacques Vabre is a 5,4000 mile ocean yacht race from Le Havre in Northern France to Atajai in Southern Brazil. There are four classes, each having their own race: Class 40, IMOCA 60, Multi 50 and Ultime.  In the IMOCA 60 Class, half of the fleet of the original 20 starters have been forced to abandon the race, including Alex Thomson and his co-skipper, Guillermo Altadill, aboard Hugo Boss. She was capsized by a rogue wave that dismasted her and caused structural damage to the extent that she was in danger of sinking. Alex and Guillermo were rescued by helicopter, and today I learned via Twitter that Hugo Boss has been taken to a Spanish port.

Links

Transat Jacques Vabre

Alex Thomson Racing

Alex Thomson airlifted to safety as his new boat is capsized by a rogue wave

Alex Thomson rescued from sinking yacht

Alex Thomson Racing at Twitter

A video of Alex aboard Hugo Boss at the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre

Alex Thomson Racing - Facebook

Alex Thomson

Extreme Sailing: why I’m going around the world again

Alex Thomson - Incredible Yachtsman

IMOCA 60

IMOCA 60

IMOCA 60 The boat

The Boat (IMOCA 60)

Related Links

Barcelona World Race

Barcelona World Race (2011)

Amazing Heli Footage of IMOCO 60 Edmund de Rochschilde in a breeze

‘Mirabaud’ Dismasted (20111)

Owen Clarke Design IMOCA Open 60

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Recently Featured Boats


'Pike'


Leisure 18


Solo


Sunray 21


Between May and August I laboured at building a patio in the back garden. Meanwhile, ‘Pike’, my Iain Oughtred skiff, waited patiently for her first sail with me as skipper. As things worked out, that didn’t happen until the last day of August, but it was a very special day.*

Since then I’ve sailed her several times. At the very top of this page, in the lefthand corner, there’s a search box where you can key in the word ‘Pike’. You’ll be offered a number of links taking you to articles about her.

Likewise, if you are interested in a particular boat, you can try searching for her.

Two months have passed since I had my first sail with ‘Pike’, and in addition to writing about her, I’ve posted articles with details of 24 other boats. Links to them are set out below - the most recent is at the top.

For more boats, have a look at Small Sailboats: http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/p/small-sailboats-here-are-links-to.html This link is permanently displayed to the righthand side, under ‘Pages’, and above a link to my Cruising Logs: http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/p/cruising-logs.html

*Had an Excellent Sail with ‘Pike’ - Part 2

Links

Privateer 20 Gaff Rigged Cutter

Victoria 28 Frances Cruising Yacht

Hunter 707 Keel Boat

J 80 Racing Yacht

Dufour 80

Malbec 290

First 260 Spirit

Topper Sailing Dinghy

Hunter Minstrel - Part 2

Solo Dinghy

Matilda 20 Trailer Sailer

Leisure 18 Yacht

‘Gorfnik’ Paraduck

Westerly Fulmar 32

Falmouth Bass Boat

Sunset 27

Beneteau First 211

Cape Cutter 19

Freedom 21

Transworld 41 Ketch

Hurricane 5.9 Catamaran

Roamer Cruising Dinghy

Foiling MOD 70

Sunray 21