Category: Uncategorized

It’s not just the tris (see below) that are on the edge–and over it–in this year’s Transat Jacques Vabre. Times are hairy on board the Open 60 fleet as well. Here are two onboard reports. First up, Will Oxley aboard Skandia, descirbing his effort to get Brian Thompson up to save his ass:

“What a night.hand steering under big kite in 30 knots of wind out of control time for a change..chute down and change to a fractional smaller kite ..up goes the kite and off we go again roaring into the pitch black. To say it was an effort is a BIT of an understatement..both exhausted we could manage an hour each at the helm before we would have to change over. I found myself closing my eyes and nodding off while steering at 23 knots jerking awake each time to wrench the helm in the appropriate direction. I found more and more I was relying on my sense of balance rather than sight to drive the boat through the waves. Then finally it would be too much and I would yell for brian and then a few minutes later again, not too loud in case he was just getting up. Nothing then a bang on the deck and another yell.. a minute later nothing! Now the breeze is up to 28 knots and I am just in control thinking with rye (sp)humour, I’ll be really annoyed now if I crash when Brian might have taken over and it would have been his fault instead . Then finally …rapping on the deck and a LOUD yell stirs him after his extensive 50 min nap! We do nead to be less well mannered around here to get each other up…”

And then this, from Ellen (sailing with Roland Jourdain aboard Sill), who makes a crash gybe in 38 knots sound like a carnival ride:

“News of the night is that we were pushing pretty hard, though last night things were getting a bit dodgy with the spinnaker so we changed to the gennaker to be a bit safer; though we didn’t expect what was to happen next. We crash gybed under pilot in a 38 knot squall. Poor Sill and V was completely on her side, the cabin seemed much wider as I climbed vertically up the floor to get out. We spent 20 mins trying to get her sorted and we did. And although we were both a bit full of adrenalin, miraculously we didn’t break anything. I was a asleep when it happened so it was a bit of a rude awakening. But, we always manage to see the funny side of all this stuff which is great. In fact though we’re pretty knackered and always pushing we still manage a giggle, normally about something fairly un-important, or something funny that one or the other of us does. Really happy to be out here with Bilou, it’s great. We’ve been stuck to the helm for a couple of days now, and the helming is touch going, especially in the big waves, when we had the kite and gusts up to 38 knots. It’s physically hard work, but the speed is good. It’s great surfing, but very stressful and getting the kites down has been pretty sportif!”

Jeez, Ellen, hope you didn’t miss your tea break. She’s one cool cat…

“C’mon, Bilou. Push it! This is getting boring…”

Well, the TJV continues to be a boat-wrecking machine. Latest victim: race leading Formula 60 tri Groupama, which sent Franck Cammas and Franck Proffit for an unwelcome swim after they had completed a pitstop in Madeira to fix a rudder. The pitchpole put Proffit into the hospital with damaged ribs and god knows what else. How did it happen? Here’s Cammas:

“We’d left Porto Santo with one reef in the mainsail and Solent headsail, not going faster than was necessary. There was a 30 knot breeze and we were making between 22 – 30 knots boat speed. Everything was fine on board, the sea was manageable and we were catching Géant without pushing it. There was absolutely no warning, the bows weren’t planting in the waves at all. Franck Proffit was at the helm and I was inside the cockpit…Suddenly the central rudder disconnected, the boat luffed on one float and Franck was fighting to steer the boat back on course but at the same time a wave bigger than the others lifted the trimaran up from behind and made the bows dig into the water. The floats also sunk into the waves and we pitchpoled end over end. In fact, it was the combination of the luff and the wave which caused the boat to pitchpole and at these speeds everything happens very quickly.

Franck was thrown out of his helming position and I had the time to get out. He fell onto the forward beam and I got out underwater through the escape hatch in the rear. With the boat upside down, I couldn’t see Franck, I was shouting but got no response. I stripped off and dove off from the other side of the boat and I saw him: his back and sides were in pain. As the boat was sitting rather low in the water, the rear hatch was under the water line so we got into the cockpit by the porthole in the central hull. Fanck Proffit was in great pain all down his left side. He had real problems getting inside the cockpit. I set off the Argos beacon, contacted Stéphane Guilbaud (Project Manager) and set off the Sarsat beacon. The helicopter arrived around 2300hrs and airlifted us both off as it wasn’t sensible for me to stay on board alone and I wanted to be with Franck to accompany him to hospital. He’s had accidents like this often and the first diagnosis was that he had water in the lungs. He’s still in hospital this morning to undergo more tests…”

So, if you hadn’t already figured it out, racing tris across the Atlantic in November is an extremely dangerous business. These guys are as tough as they come, but here’s wishing Proffit–a great guy–a speedy recovery…

“Err, Franck, do you happen to be wearing your dry suit…?”

This one has been making the internet rounds, and is pretty stunning. It’s a video of a nuclear test in the Pacific. It’s disturbing, awesome and–in a strange way–quite beautiful. And it puts you right in the catbird seat. Click here, and then bend over and kiss your ass goodbye…

Coming Soon: Destruction, Radiation Sickness, And One Hell Of An Insurance Bill…

Okay, here’s the last installment of the flick that takes you diving under the earth. Any of you ready to go out and get your cave diving certificate….?

Have you ever dreamed about owning a wooden classic? How about a Sparkman & Stephens wooden classic? How about the classic of all classics, which is to say one of the most famous ocean racing yawls ever to cleave a wave, which is to say, breathe easy now, Dorade. Yup, she’s for sale, right here. Asking price: a cool $785,000 dollars (and who says boats don’t hold their value!). Here’s the listing copy:

Though DORADE did not launch Olin Stephens’s career as a naval architect, it might well be said that her launching and subsequent successes were a major springboard in establishing Olin Stephens’s reputation as a premier yacht designer. In 1931, with Olin and Rod Stephens aboard, DORADE (the second smallest of the fleet) won the Trans-
Atlantic race to England by almost four days on corrected time. She then went on to win the Fastnet Race that same year, and Class B in the Bermuda Race in 1932. After DORADE was sold by the Stephens family, she went to the west coast and won Honolulu Race from San Francisco to Hawaii in 1936.

Not only is she a lovely classic yawl, but a unique opportunity to own a significant “piece of yachting history.”

If you can’t afford the price, then whatever you do, DO NOT CLICK ON THIS PHOTO GALLERY. Because next thing you know you’ll be mortgaging your house and selling your daughter into slavery…


I could look at these all day…

I’ve seen a lot of kite surfing videos over the past few years, and a lot of it is very cool. But I just ran across something called the Windwing. And while I don’t know how it really differs from a kiteboard or a kitewing, I can tell you that this video of a Wind Wing in action had me awestruck. You won’t believe the height and hang time this guy gets on some of his jumps (the video was shot in Columbia Gorge), and sometimes you wonder whether he will even be touching down. Not bad, huh? If you want more here’s another. Damn, a whole other sport I have to learn…

Prepared For Liftoff…

More finning in dark, spooky places. Click here to head on down…

The TJV is settling back in to normal sailing. Updates here. Some crews, of coourse, will not be arriving in Brazil. One of them is Orange. Here’s what the Orange experience involved…



“Err, any chance you could fly us to San Salvador…?”

Cave diving is some scary sh*t. And if you want to get a feel for what it is like down there in the dark, twisting through narrow nooks and crannies, then check out PART 1 of this cave diving video (found on an excellent Dutch blog, which appears to be a TWC doppelganger…). I’m feeling claustrophobic already…

The Bay Of Biscay is known for its November cold fronts, and last night it served up a classic, with winds to 50 knots and seas to 20 feet. The result: serious devastation in the TJV fleet.

Here’s a quick summary of the action:

1. 2200GMT Tuesday night, Brossard (Y. Bourgnon/ C. Caudrelier), with major rupture along central hull, taken under motorboat tow by Laurent Bourgnon and reached Guernsey at 2300hrs.
2. 0315 GMT CROSS and MRCC informed that Sodebo (Coville/Vincent) and Orange Project (S. & Y. Ravussin) had set off their EPIRB distress beacons.
3. Sodebo skipper Thomas Coville reports to Race HQ that the port float has broken up, resulting in a dismasting. Sodebo located 150 miles off Brest in 35 – 45 knots of wind and very rough sea state of 7m waves. They are safe but can no longer control boat.
4. Orange Project skipper Steve Ravussin reports to Race HQ that a beam had broken, resulting in capsize.
5. 0615 GMT Project Manager Alain Gautier informs Race HQ that Foncia has capsized 220 miles off French coast lying 2nd in fleet at the time.
6. Armel Le Cleac’h reports to Race Doctor that Damian Foxall has injured his ribs and has a possible broken collarbone.
7. 0930 GMT Sodebo skippers report that a French fishing boat has taken the boat under tow and they are safely onboard the fishing vessel, heading for Brest.
8. 1000 GMT Galileo Open 60 monohull Brazilian skipper Walter Antunes reports broken boom, they are derouting to Spanish port before deciding whether to continue.
9. 1000 GMT Multihull Open 50 boats Victorinox and Branec heading for French coast as Victorinox reports broken bowsprit and Branec a broken port hull
10. 1030 GMT CROSS took over rescue operation, and French Navy helicopter from Brest lands on aircraft carrier Jeanne d’Arc in the zone of operation to refuel and then set off to rendez-vous first with Foncia and then Orange to evacuate the skippers.
11. 1230 GMT Navy helicopter rendez-vous with Foncia, and both crew safely winched off boat with help from diver. Orange Project only 6 miles away from Foncia so French Navy helicopter flies directly to evacuate the Swiss skippers.
12. 1400 GMT All four skippers from Foncia and Orange safely winched off and in helicopter en route to Jeanne d’Arc
13. 1500 GMT All four skippers will be onboard the Jeanne d’Arc to receive immediate medical assistance, after which they will all be helicoptered to Brest.

Is that a grim report, or what? You can get all the details, and further updates, here. This will provoke yet another round of soul-searching and debate over racing shorthanded trimarans across the Bitch Of Biscay in November. And there will probably be little new in the rhetoric. The important thing is that all the sailors seem to be okay–even if some of the boats will now become nice barnacle colonies…

“Merde, merde, merde! Wake up Damian! I think we’re pointing in the wrong direction…”