Weekly Sailing Summary

Summary for w/b - 09 May, 2006 12pm

The Sail Basin is part of the marina set aside for sailing boats, and is found at the end of the promenade. Masts, seen from the promenade, show where other yachts are berthed on the rest of the marina. Trailer sailers and dinghies will be on display in the hard stand areas.

Beneteau will showcase five sail boats at the show, including the Australian launch of the Cyclade 39, a cruising yacht, and the Lagoon 380sll, a cruising catamaran. Lagoon has enjoyed success in the ARC race for cruising yachts across the Atlantic. A Cyclade 43, Oceanis 423 and the racy First 40.7 will also be on display.

KEEL BOATS
Two yachts were dismasted and another 21 forced to retire when an unexpectedly warm, strong and gusty wind swung from west to nor’west on Sydney Harbour during the BMW Sydney Winter Series on Sunday.

The Entire Two Handed Race will be conducted by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria on May 13.

SYC Top Jocks - The final of the One Design Fleet racing in the SYC Beneteau 7.5's will be held on Saturday May 13 at Sandringham Yacht Club, Melbourne. Six of the crews that won their heat will sail in a four-race, winner takes all final.

There is little change at the top of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings in the latest release, with Peter Gilmour AUS hanging onto the top spot and James Spithill AUS placed second.

Two innovative new media services - America's Cup Broadband TV and America's Cup Live Sailing, developed by Alcatel - are being launched for the 2006 Louis Vuitton Acts, enabling fans to follow the action and excitement from Valencia, how, when and where they want.

Paolo Cian, helmsman of the Mascalzone Latino Challenger in the 2002/3 America's Cup, joins Team Shosholoza as a helmsman and match racing coach in a further effort to fast track the skills of the South African newcomers to sailing's oldest and most prestigious contest.

MULTIHULLS
Australians Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby win the Eurocat for the third year in a row. Their next event is sailing Hobie Tigers at the ISAF World Championships in Austria.

Asian Record Circuit - The trimaran B&Q reaches Terengganu, Malaysia, the penultimate stopover port. After a total of 4301 miles sailed so far, via seven different countries, B&Q establishes twelve records with only one more stop and one more record remaining for Ellen MacArthur and her crew.

The WSSR ratifies a new World Record:
Transpacific East to West - San Francisco to Yokohama by the 90ft trimaran Geronimo skippered by Olivier de Kersauson FRA and ten crew, with an elapsed time of 14 days, 22 hours, 40 minutes, 41 seconds for the distance of 4482nm.

ISAF World Sailing Games, Neusiedl, Austria, May 10 - 20. The world's best sailors will compete in the following disciplines: Olympic two person Dinghy, Olympic one person Dinghy, Skiff, Olympic Windsurfing, Multihull and Team Sailing. Sixty nations will compete for the King's Trophy and 10 world champion titles will be decided.

DISABLED SAILING
Paraplegic sailor Danny McCoy, from Canada, skippered an Etchells against top international sailors in Bermuda. His seat on the boat slides from side to side and a canting system, operated by a crewmember using a rope, enables McCoy to tilt with the boat. A restructured steering system allows him to sail the boat using a modified 'joy-stick' in front of his seat, rather than a regular tiller.

CRUISING
Toomas Nelson delivers a 55ft cutter rigged steel Roberts ketch from Southport to Cairns. On board is Meike, a pet afloat.

Australians Bernie and Yvonne Katchor continue their cruising adventures in Panama. On Soskantupu Island they buy more molas, take five hours to make spaghetti marinara, and learn about the native Kuna's views on marriage.

The second biennial Whyte Just & Moore Lawyers Wooden Boat Festival of Geelong, hosted by the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, has been set down for the Victorian Labour Day holiday weekend of March 10 - 12, 2007.

AROUND THE WORLD
Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 - A record number of spectator craft, estimated at 3500 by the US Coastguard, lined Chesapeake Bay to farewell the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 fleet for the start of the sixth leg of the race from Annapolis to Portsmouth, England, via a pit-stop in New York. It's a slow crawl for the somewhat optimistically-labelled sprint leg to New York as the fleet continues hard on the wind up the coast. ABN AMRO ONE leads the fleet 47 miles from Ambrose Light. The boats depart New York for England on May 11.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to ever sail single-handed, non-stop around the world, has announced that he will be competing in the upcoming Velux 5 Oceans, a solo round the world yacht race that starts in Bilbao in October this year. Sir Robin, 67, is two years older than Sir Francis Chichester when he completed his solo one-stop circumnavigation in 1967.

Dee Caffari on Aviva has crossed her outbound track in her attempt to become the first woman to sail single handed non stop westabout round the world. Small observations such as the heading changes have made her feel excited about being close to the finish. The other observation that she keeps noticing, which is a clear indication of being near the finish, is how empty the food cupboard is looking. She'll not be going hungry, but the choice has
been reduced.

Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race - Ewan Hind and his crew on Victoria Clipper crossed the finishing line to win Race 7 on Friday, claiming their first victory and becoming the first boat to win a race into her home port. The crew on Westernaustralia.com finished fifth and on arrival were craving a hot drink more than a cold beer, having had no stove
for three weeks. The US Coastguard evacuated a crew member from Jersey Clipper on Thursday, 680 miles southeast of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. All yachts except Jersey have finished.

Adrian Flanagan has suffered a serious blow to his Alpha Global Expedition. What was already set up as a swift supply drop in Hawaii has now become a race against time to lift out the mast and effect repairs. Adrian will be stepping ashore for the first time in over six months.

See also Historic Vessels - Gipsy Moth IV aground

WHAT'S ON
May 12 - 13 -- Dutch-Australian maritime symposium, Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney. Two world experts on early Dutch exploration of the Australian coast will contribute to an entertaining symposium on Dutch-Australian maritime links.

Photo: Bundock and Ashby win the Eurocat for the third year in a row. Photo by Pierrick Contin

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