Weather eye

Dee does some gardening

2006-04-03T06:34:00.000+01:00

Check out this extraordinary graphic evidence of what it's like bashing upwind through the Southern Ocean for three months. It's so wet you need antifouling on deck.

This photo of weed growing on the foredeck of Aviva was sent to me by Dee Caffari, who is about to round the Cape of Good Hope later today and enter the final Atlantic phase of her bid to become the first woman to sail non-stop round the world against winds and currents.

"It was like the green fur you see on rocks along shoreline," she told me during a chat yesterday. "I got the lawnmower out. I had to scrub it all with a green back [sponge] and bleach!"

More of that in a podcast with her to come shortly.

Goodbye, Kingfisher 2?

2006-03-31T07:13:00.000+01:00

The OC Group (Offshore Challenges, as was) is on the verge of selling the maxi catamaran Kingfisher 2, confirms CEO Mark Turner. The 110ft cat was dismasted in the Southern Ocean in February 2003 during Ellen MacArthur's ill-fated crewed round the world record attempt and has been mothballed ever since – long enough to earn the unkind (if amusing) nickname 'The Orange Lemon'.

The buyer, apparently, is Baron Benjamin de Rothschild's Gitana Team, based in La Trinité sur Mer in France. The maxi cat will join his racing stable, which includes the 60ft trimaran Gitana XI. The maxi cat will have a new rig and be refitted to take part in the 2007 maxi-mulithull race from Vannes in France to Iceland and back.

In case of floods

2006-03-30T06:53:00.001+01:00

So what should you do you if you expect sea levels to rise drastically? Build an Ark. Thanks for the comment below, Tillerman - good one!

The funny thing is someone's working on this idea already. If your foreign languages are up to it, take a look at the video of Dutch businessman Johan Huibers's Biblical interpretation in build here.

Parlier's speed mission

2006-03-30T06:53:00.000+01:00

French sailor Yves Parlier is in the final stages of preparing his hydroplaning 60ft catamaran Médiatis Région Aquitaine to sail to the Canary Islands for another stab at a solo speed record this spring or summer. A freethinking innovator, Parlier is nicknamed ‘the extra-terrestrial’ in France for his scientific approach and dedication to pursuing new technical ideas.

Yet success with his most radical boat to date, Médiatis Région Aquitaine, has been patchy. The twin-rig catamaran, which is chiefly funded by €4.5 million in regional investment subsidies, failed to perform upwind in the 2004 Transat and flipped last year while attempting a speed record off the Canaries. As a result the boat was seriously damaged and Parlier suffered several crushed vertebrae and a broken rib.

Now completely rebuilt and slightly reconfigured, the boat has been undergoing two phases of sea trials from Parlier’s base in France. Later this year, Parlier will again attempt a 24-hour solo record and comments: “In terms of pure speed, we have every confidence in the increased potential of Médiatis Région Aquitaine. It is now possible to sail easily at 30 knots average and we have the excitement of seeing the instruments flick into or pass 40 knots more and more often.”

Letting rip

2006-03-29T19:03:00.000+01:00

A spectacular shot by Oskar Kihlborg of the Volvo Extreme 40 Tommy Hilfiger flying a hull off Rio de Janeiro during the Volvo Ocean Race in port series. The fleet of five one-design catamarans was shipped to Rio to compete as a side show to the round the world race, and each can take one passenger while racing.

Looking at this picture wouldn't you love to be that lucky one?

Thaw theories

2006-03-29T07:51:00.000+01:00

Nothing grabs the attention quite like a harbinger of doom story. A scientific study published in the US journal Science has been widely reported in recent weeks, leading to speculation that we will lose low-lying islands like the Maldives and see radically changed coastlines as sea levels rise.

Scientists from the University of Arizona used a computer model to simulate climate changes going back 130,000 years, then ran it forward and concluded that by 2100 sea levels could be 2-3m higher. The extra water, they speculated, would come from the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

To go along with this theory you must first accept that data can accurately determine the long-term behaviour of a chaotic universe. Calculating chaos sounds like a contradiction in terms to me. And anyway, surely the thawing of massive permafrost areas could come about only over thousands of years, not hundreds? Or is it really possible that the calving rate of ice could increase so vastly? (Incidentally, the photo above is one I took off the Antarctic Peninsula in 2002, and as you can see it was calving. A bit.)

Right now, it seems there’s no urgent need to worry. Actual measurements by satellite have determined that sea levels are rising annually by 1.8mm.

Vintage-style solo voyage

2006-03-27T17:54:00.000+01:00

French sailor Guy Bernardin is making a pitstop in Cape Town on his latest solo circumnavigation. Guy, 61, has had an illustrious career in ocean racing that includes the OSTAR, the Route du Rhum, two BOC round the world races and the first Vendée Globe, but this voyage is something completely different.

He left Les Sables d’Olonne in September in Spray of St Briac, a replica of Joshua Slocum’s 36ft gaff rigged yawl Spray, in which the American sailor made the first ever solo circumnavigation in 1895. Originally the voyage was planned to take 10 months, but it has proved much longer than expected with some excitements along the way. The boat lost a keel bolt in the Atlantic and Guy had to pump out 1,000 litres of water a day, then a broken chainplate forced a stop. [Thanks, guys, you are absolutely right, it was not in Brazil; he managed to carry on despite the problem right across to Walvis Bay, Namibia, before stopping for a repair.]

Guy is planning to leave again this month and head towards New Zealand.

Windsurfer's extreme voyage

2006-03-21T07:05:00.000Z

Tomorrow Frenchwoman Raphaëla Le Gouvello will leave the Fremantle Sailing Club in Australia on the first ever attempt at crossing of the Indian Ocean by windsurfer. The challenge is a year-and-a-half in the making and Raphaëla will be sailing a custom-made board that is something like a cross between a windsurfer and a dinghy.

The 45-year-old vet from Brittany is hoping to sail 3,500 miles Australia to the island of Réunion. She has already notched up an Atlantic and Mediterranean crossing, but this will be her longest ocean record at an estimated 75 days.

The challenge will be unaccompanied and hence Raphaëla's windsurfer has room within to stretch out and (perhaps) sleep, but also contains navigations equipment and essential spares.

Long wait for maxi debut

2006-03-20T17:05:00.000Z

A PR nugget from big hitters Hill & Knowlton, which suggests they are missing the spell check function...

'Alfa Romeo, the Neville Crichton’s new maxy yatch will make its debut in Europe during the Zegna Trophy. The Trophy will be played in Portofino, Italy from 12th to 14th May 20006.'

Only another 18,000 years to wait! Never mind, the photo is good.

A question of judgement

2006-03-19T17:13:00.000Z

When something goes wrong on a yacht, at least in the UK, there can be an unseemly rush to judgement. The incident last Thursday when a skipper delivering a boat from Hamble to Plymouth fell overboard and was was lost was a terrible example. Before the man in question had been named, he was already being dubbed ‘inexperienced’, as indeed was his crew. No-one nowadays seems capable of using a once commonplace and sympathetic phrase: 'a tragic accident'.

Friends of the dead man are emphatic that far from being inexperienced, he had been sailing for 15 years and was a qualified Yachtmaster.

The yacht Past Times (pictured above after the rescue) was sailing in easterly winds said to be Force 7 and was between 11 and 16 miles off Portland Bill, depending on the report one reads. A Coastguard helicopter and five fishing boats took part in the search and Yarmouth lifeboat eventually recovered the body.

Sailrocket ready for overdrive

2006-03-17T16:04:00.000Z

It’s all systems go for the next stage of the Sailrocket programme. The futuristic speed machine created by Malcolm Barnsley and Paul Larsen (left) with the aim of breaking the outright speed record under sail and becoming the first to crack 50 knots is ‘coming out of winter hibernation’, according to Paul.

Sailrocket’s soft rig is about to be swapped for a solid wing rig. The components for it arrived today at Sailrocket’s base in the Weymouth Sailing Academy. “We’ve got the main spar and all the ribs. It’s like a big Airfix kit,” Paul tells me.

“The soft rig could only take us so far, but this is the final version and I know that it will take us well up into the 40 [knots],” he says. “We’ll get on the water as soon as possible, and I can’t wait. I’ll be like a school kid who’s put a V8 in his Fiesta.”

Musical chairs at Volvo Race

2006-03-16T06:46:00.000Z

Performance assessment and peer review is a tough old business on the long slog of a round the world race. The news that Neal McDonald (right) is to step down as skipper of Volvo Ocean Race yacht Sony Ericsson is sad to hear, and deprives Britain of its most clear-cut national interest, but it puts him in good company over the years.

Judging by the past, this is the familiar shuffling sound of musical chairs. It's a reversal of the plot during the last race when, under the same management, Neal McDonald was brought in to replace Roy Heiner as skipper of the under-performing Assa Abloy. John Kostecki won that race in illbruck and now replaces Neal as skipper of Sony Ericsson. And the deposed Roy Heiner? He was a moving spirit behind the ABN AMRO campaign and is having enormous success as their technical sailing director.

As they say: phew!

Wood's Mini mission

2006-03-15T07:55:00.000Z

From the North West Passage to Mini yacht racing. It’s an unconventional but fascinating 'career move’ for 32-year-old Penzance sailor Andrew Wood, who last year bought Nick Bubb’s 21ft Mini Transat boat.

Andrew, aka Woody, has an unusual and impressive background and is definitely one to watch. After studying jazz and photography at college, he helped his father build their 42ft steel yacht Norwegian Blue, after which he sailed to New Zealand and returned via the North West Passage with his father and girlfriend Zoë. They were the first ever crew to make it through the North West Passage in one season and the voyage earned Andrew the Royal Cruising Club Seamanship Medal and the RYA Yachtmaster of the Year Award in 2004.

This year he begins a campaign towards the Les Sables Azores and back race and ultimately the Mini Transat in his boat, renamed Domosofa.com. In answer to my enquiry ‘How’s your new boat?’ he says: “Very dusty and a lot of hard work!”

“GBR 500 is undergoing major surgery right now as I'm putting a new, simpler and much lighter carbon mast on as well as lightening the bulb and adding some new longer rudders. This will enable me to have a much larger foresail area which I believe will generally make her a lot better in lighter winds.

Check out Andrew’s progress here.

Best books

2006-03-14T17:47:00.000Z

Best sailing books, continued. Some more nominations: ‘Looking Astern’, by Percy Woodcock. 'I think it was published around 1950. This is a ditty bag of nautical memoires from around the turn of the century. He recalls a time where seamanship was paramount. Personally I just love it.' Thanks, Adrian.

From Jim: ‘Ship Killer’, by Justin Scott; and a book entitled ‘Over Board’. I don't know this and can't find who wrote it, but Jim comments: 'A couple are going on a long cruise across the ocean and the women falls overboard in the first few pages. The search begins. The story is incredible. After reading the book, I couldn´t sleep. The author definitely knows about boats!'

And another vote of my own, for Jonathan Raban’s excessively good ‘Coasting’.

Dee Caffari podcast

2006-03-13T15:30:00.000Z

I talked to Dee Caffari yesterday as she licked her wounds after her fourth storm with winds over 55 knots in under two weeks.

You can listen to my podcast, which includes a discussion of the risks of injury and an interview with Pete Goss about operating on his elbow during the 1996 Vendée Globe here

Solo yacht for Dalton (Graham)

2006-03-13T12:27:00.000Z

Kiwi sailor Graham Dalton (brother of the more famous Grant), is returning to solo sailing and on Friday announced his entry in the Velux 5-Oceans race, which begins in October. Graham, a 53-year-old sports journalist, last competed in the race's predecessor, Around Alone, and I doubt there will be much contradiction if I say that he was a colourful and at times controversial competitor.

Unfortunately, Graham failed to complete the event after a dismasting on the final leg, and says he is coming back to complete this "unfinished business", spurred on by the death from cancer of his 23-year-old son Tony.

Four years ago, Graham was sailing the Open 60 Hexagon, now owned by and named Pindar. This time, he will be sailing a new Greg Elliott-designed Open 50, the first IMOCA Open class yacht from the Kiwi behind the breathtaking maxi Maximus. The photo here shows the hull of the new boat after being turned over at Davie Norris Boatbuilders in Christchurch, NZ.

Graham Dalton's entry to 5-Oceans puts paid to fears that the race would not feature any 50ft entries and would therefore lose some of the adventuring spirit and family atmosphere the smaller class would bring with it.

A new batch of Open 60s

2006-03-13T09:30:00.000Z

There has been talk recently of the new Open 60s being built, and others likely as a 'graduate' multihull sailors and professionals from other fields weigh up the merits of the IMOCA calendar. This includes three major round the world races: the 5-Oceans, the Barcelona World Race and the Vendée Globe. There are said to be at least a score of interested parties including, I'm told, Bruno Peyron.

As yet eight are funded and in build. These are for: Canadian sailor Derek Hatfield (Owen Clarke Design, pictured above); Vendée habituée Dominique Wavre (Owen Clarke Design, but sharing "not a single same drawing" with Hatfield's boat according to Merf Owen); Figaro sailor Jeremie Beyou (Farr); Jean-Pierre Dick (his second Farr design); Mer Agitée campaign stablemates Vincent Riou and Michel Desjoyeaux (Farr sisterships); Figaro star Yan Elies (designer unknown, possibly Groupe Finot); and multihull sailor Marc Guillemot who, intriguingly, has a design by multihull group Van Peteghem/Lauriot Prévost.

Sailors who hope to build new 60s, sponsorship permitting, include Alex Thomson, Miranda Merron, Bernard Stamm, Conrad Humphreys and Ellen MacArthur's OC Group, which has announced its intention of mounting a two-boat campaign. Britain's Brian Thompson is also in this group and is rumoured to be closest.

Farr issues new keel explanation

2006-03-10T08:32:00.000Z

While not keen in general on recycling verbatim press releases, I think this one definitely is worth an untampered repeat. It's from Farr Yacht Design and is an explanation of the keel fairing problem that has caused problems on the Farr Volvo 70s.

'The following describes the system, why it is required and what has gone right and what has gone wrong. The VO70 Rule allows the designer to place the hinge axis for the canting keel up to a maximum of 150mm above the hull surface. The higher position for the axis is attractive to the designer because this provides a longer lever arm for the keel and moves the bulb further to windward.

'The downside is that at the surface of the hull a large opening is required to accommodate the keel fin swinging through an arc. The challenge is to fair this opening while respecting the "no hollows" requirements of the VO70 Rule, and in particular Rule 2.2.1 which requires that no point in any transverse section be lower than any point nearer the centerline. The team at Farr Yacht Design developed a system to fair over the required opening in the hull with a sliding plate. The plate moves with the keel by way of a barrel that slides vertically on the fin as it cants. Read on here...

Crossing swords

2006-03-09T07:27:00.002Z

A classic action photo by Daniel Forster from the Rolex TP52 Global Champs in Miami. This is Philippe Kahn's Pegasus 52 crossing ahead.

Dragged under?

2006-03-09T06:37:00.000Z

More on the sinking of Hilary Joyce. It seems likely, says owner Adrian Collins, that she was hit and dragged, and he has some evidence that other boats have been damaged and in another case also sunk.

Adrian is awaiting the conclusions of the loss adjusters to see if they consider her worth repairing. Fingers crossed. As this picture shows, Hilary Joyce, which is a 28ft Queen Bee and not unlike a Twister, was a lovely example of only 8 or 9 ever built and had been lovingly restored by Adrian and his wife over the last four years.

Inspired Insanity

2006-03-08T08:07:00.000Z

As this season’s cohort of Southern Ocean sailors leave or are on a countdown to depart, one lone woman has entered. American sailor Donna Lange, a 42-year-old former nurse and mother of three, rounded the Cape of Good Hope on 16 February and is heading towards New Zealand.

Donna is sailing a diminutive 28ft double-ender named Inspired Insanity and was about 450 miles NNW of the Kerguelen Islands on 4 March. She left Bristol, Rhode Island in November and has not stopped, and her plan is to continue to New Zealand for the summer and a refit, and continue round Cape Horn to the east coast of the US next season.

It would be fair to say that Donna’s voyage is a journey of personal and spiritual enlightenment. After surviving a hideous car accident in which a number of people died, she decided to learn to sail and later to sail alone round the world.

By coincidence, within the next week she should pass north of the only other female solo circumnavigator out there.

A real inspiration

2006-03-06T17:39:00.000Z

This has been an exhausting and emotional week for Dee Caffari, certainly the most testing of her solo 'wrong way’ round the world record. By her own admission, she reached "rock bottom".

It may also have been the fulcrum of her long, difficult voyage. Under extreme stress, she’s demonstrated all the qualities that stood out during last year’s Global Challenge race, and then some.

I couldn’t do justice in words to what is so special about Dee but the thing is, she can. For a shot of inspiration, not to mention a big dose of personality, listen to an amazing tale of resilience and determination in her podcast with me at www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp?pageid=32

Mystery of the deep

2006-03-06T16:24:00.000Z

Why would a yacht sink, yet when refloated have no leaks? That's what Adrian Collins wants to know.

His 28ft boat went missing from her mooring in Portsmouth in November and was found by Hampshire marine police the following month lying on mud in 4-8m of water. The mast had been removed for the winter so there was nothing visible. When raised last week, the boat was completely unmarked but the guardwires, stanchions and pushpit were gone and the forehatch was blown open.

How? Suggestions welcome.

Sailing classics

2006-03-06T10:07:00.000Z

What are the best ever sailing books?

Off the top of my head, my list would have to include: The Cruise of the Nona, by Hilaire Belloc; Letters from High Latitudes, by Lord Dufferin; The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall; The Long Way, by Bernard Moitessier; Saga of a Wayward Sailor, by Tristan Jones; and Fatal Storm, by Rob Mundle.

What have I left out? Any suggestions?

Needles in a haystack

2006-03-05T16:35:00.000Z

To the south of an area the Volvo fleet found ice-free in January, solo sailor Dee Caffari has been warned that the minefield of ice she sailed into on Friday stretches westwards for hundreds of miles. The culprit is a 20 x 15km berg that has been drifting in the Southern Indian Ocean for many months and is breaking up.

From a latitude of 48°S at the first sighting Dee is heading north-west and aiming for about 45°S in the hope of skirting a greater concentration of icebergs. Neal Young of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre in Hobart warned her team: 'The main group is spread out over hundred plus km around latitude 47.5°S and longitudes 94 to 96°E and I can see more scattered icebergs to east.'

Young was analysing images taken from a Nasa satellite equipped with a spectro-radiometer and was looking at a pixel size of 250m, so smaller bergs are not discernible and some areas are obscured by frontal cloud.

In February, the Volvo Race organisers commissioned specific swaths of images of the Southern Pacific Ocean from Canadian company C-Core, the only commercial company using synthetic aperture radar. This can see through cloud, fog, rain and darkness. CEO Charles Randall told me: "We can detect ice down to 8 or 9m long but we sacrifice a lot of coverage if we're looking for something that small." And in practice, even this won't detect small bergs in rough seas, nor will it see growlers.

Crunch time for Volvo

2006-03-05T13:13:00.000Z

Mike Sanderson raises a big question today. The Kiwi skipper of ABN AMRO One, who is on course to emerge as the biggest and brightest star of this Volvo Ocean Race, asks what will happen to the race. But he asks it in a manner that confirms many of our suspicions that Volvo's involvement is coming to an end.

Sanderson writes: 'It must be close to crunch time for when Volvo has to decide as to the future of their involvement in the race. What ever happens, there is no doubt that there is needed a fully crewed professional race around the world with stops. What was the Whitbread and is now the Volvo is still the pinnacle of offshore racing.'

Like him, I believe that there will always be a place for a crewed professional round the world race, but I don't necessarily agree that it is bound to be the pinnacle of offshore sailing. In sport the only thing that ever remains undisputedly 'the Everest' is...well, Everest. For the rest, it fluctuates on the tide of public interest. Indeed, the question posed by Sanderson about the future of the VOR is pertinent mainly because there is a sense that the spotlight has already travelled on.

The place it has travelled on to is short-handed sailing, ironically a broader arena in which it is easier to feel you know and thus to care about the sailors. That the VOR has fast yachts is neither here nor there. Multihulls are quicker. A 5ft 2in woman can now go round the world faster on her own than a crewed pro race in which women just aren't strong enough to compete.

From this gloom, though, Sanderson himself shines brilliantly. A great sailor, a palpably natural leader, a modest guy and, we now find, a terrific writer, his transfer to solo and short-handed sailing in the Pindar Open 60 later this year is another good reason to keep a sharper eye on that circuit.

Pitstops in Frontiersville

2006-03-04T08:27:00.000Z

It will be a strange meeting today when the crew of VOR yacht Movistar reaches Ushuaia and bumps into Alex Thomson and the boys from Hugo Boss in the street. A pit stop to fix keel box problems on the one hand meets jury rig on the other.

What makes it even more extraordinary is that Ushuaia is a strange little town with a frontier feel, like a Wild West version of Hamble. Its staple visitors are mainly backpackers and cruise ship guests, and every third shop seems to be an internet café. Antarctic and high latitudes cruising have become so popular that there is a reasonable range of services here for ships and yachts, with everything from large-scale provisioning to welding easily arranged. There is even a marina. The place is fast becoming the Falmouth of South America.

'Outta here!'

2006-03-03T08:22:00.000Z

Received at 0810 today from Dee Caffari: ‘Okay I have seen one [iceberg] now that is enough. But oh no lets sail in between three of the buggers. Quite cool and I am relaxed because it’s daylight, but I'm not staying down here, I'm outta here.

Icebergs x 2 position 48deg 48.1S, 110deg 00.1E

Interesting, I wonder how many I missed in the night!

Dee’

Iceberg alert

2006-03-03T06:37:00.000Z

At first light her time this morning, about 800 miles south-east of Cape Leeuwin, Dee Caffari sighted a large iceberg. She sent this immediate message back to the Aviva Challenge team:

‘I have just sailed past a huge iceberg. Position 49deg 23.01S, 111deg 05.62E. I had only just changed course about half an hour ago with this shifty wind that is everywhere and if I hadn't it would have been on my course.

‘Sea temp is 6.4C and it is bloody freezing.

Wow
Dee.’

Farr comments on Movistar leak

2006-03-02T20:33:00.000Z

This comment was issued this evening by Farr Yacht Design, the team behind VOR yacht Movistar. 'It would appear that problems have developed with the fairing around the keel and this caused water to enter the boat at an alarming rate through the wet box surrounding the keel mechanism. Speed at the time was in excess of 20 knots...

'We at Farr Yacht Design are standing by to help this highly competitive team in any way we can, and hope that we can assist Movistar and her crew to return to the race with the least loss of time.

'As yet, details of the exact damage to the boat are not clear but it would appear to be to the fairing plate around the forward end of the keel, to which repairs were made during the short pit stop in Wellington. The fairing directs the water flow around the opening for the canting keel.'

White water ride

2006-03-02T18:48:00.000Z

A brave shot from the crew of ABN AMRO One on the runway to Cape Horn, which they celebrated passing this afternoon. Earlier, skipper Mike Sanderson commented: "Life on board is a little grim at the moment, the boat is absolutely soaking wet. It wouldn't be any wetter down here if you came down here first with a fire hose and gave it a quick hose out."

That's hopefully a thing of the past now, as this VOR heads back into the Atlantic and a place of greater safety. Even Movistar, whose crew stemmed a very serious leak in the keel box today, are fast heading for the safety of Ushuaia.

Another battering for Dee

2006-03-02T13:32:00.000Z

Two Force 11 storms in under a week: that’s the penalty Dee Caffari is paying going upwind through the Southern Ocean, where there is so little freedom to range around for a kinder trajectory. On Monday, winds topped out at 60 knots and the seas were so rough she had to unfurl more staysail to drive her 72ft Aviva through the troughs. She is forecast to meet another vicious secondary low with a maximum of 55 knots due at midnight GMT tonight.

Dee admits to being ‘physically and mentally exhausted’ and says she is once again hanging on for the ride for this next 12 hours. See her six-hourly progress on the race viewer at www.avivachallenge.com

The 40 phenomenon

2006-03-02T07:07:00.000Z

Until now there has been no easy or affordable way for amateurs or aspiring young pro sailors to mix it with the rock stars in a major race, but a decision by the organisers of the Route du Rhum is changing that. In November, they are opening their doors to the new Class 40s.

The word is that 18 new 40s are being built. Some are the already established production one-design Pogo 40. Now a UK rival is happening: the Owen/Clarke-designed Express 40, which will sell with an on-the-water spec at 195,000 Euros.

Paul Metcalf of Sail Ventures Ltd is building the first three Express 40s, illustrated above. The hulls will be moulded in England and they will be fitted out in France to be ready in July. Says Paul: "The Class 40 yachts are in many ways similar in spirit and form to the Open Class yachts. It's going to be an amazingly fast and versatile yacht." More details from www.express40.com

Pawed over

2006-03-01T07:01:00.000Z

How about this for an usual marine product. As Rolf would say: "Can you guess what it is, yet?"

This is a 3d Bark'n Boot, part of set of (one assumes) four booties for dogs. No more scraping the cabin sole or sliding around on deck. The blurb says: 'The 1680 denier ballistic toe is reinforced for added abrasion resistance and durability and a nylon internal liner makes extended wear comfortable.'

Poor old Bowser. Hat, lifejacket, shoes. Whatever next?

Hello, is that Nigel Musto?

Up and away

2006-02-28T14:00:00.000Z

Here are some photos from Alex Thomson and the Hugo Boss crew as they slog it out towards Cape Horn. Their mast toppled in one piece last week but then snapped 10ft above the base. With a gale on the way, Alex decided to cut it loose.

Here we can see crewman Scottie up the boom, transformed into an 8m mast, and the final jury rig. It took two attempts to step the mast. They are using a storm jib as a heasail and the upside down ORC jib as a mainsail, which gives them 5-6 knots when it's blowing hard. Alex reports that they've now succeeded in recutting the new mainsail with a large roach profile and are using a batten as a boom.

The guys are making for Ushuaia, where Hugo Boss will be shipped home.

Blast reaching

2006-02-28T08:58:00.000Z

Now, this looks like fun: a blast around Sydney Harbour in an 18ft Skiff, some of it airborne, yet back on shore in time for a beer. This superb action photo of Belle Property reaching under gennaker in 20 knots is courtesy of the talented Thierry Martinez. www.thmartinez.com

Novel uses of Sikaflex

2006-02-28T07:59:00.000Z

No matter how many millions are spent on a top racing campaign, there are times when only the £2 solution will do. Faced with a metre-long tear in the film near the leech of their mainsail, ripped by the brute force and velocity of water being shipped over the boat, the crew of Volvo yacht ABN AMRO Two got to work. Gun-toting crewman George Peet filled the holes with Sikaflex — an imaginative stunt, not to mention an acrobatic one. 'One little gust and the main flaps, flogging George around like a rag doll,' writes their navigator, Simon 'Si-Fi' Fisher.

Storms ahead for Dee

2006-02-27T16:30:00.000Z

There is to be no let-up for poor Dee Caffari as she pounds westwards in the Southern Ocean. Already badly bruised from her so-called ‘harrassment up the mast’ and barely able to move her right arm, she is about to face a storm force onslaught. Her weather router Mike Broughton warns of mean winds of more than 40 knots throughout tomorrow, and between 50 and 60 knots on Wednesday as a vigorous cold front passes overhead. Needless to say, all of this is to be tackled pounding to windward. Fingers crossed for Dee in the next couple of days.

Click here to hear my podcast of Dee describing her ordeal stuck up the mast, and the psychological effects of being alone for more than three months.

Life at the extreme

2006-02-27T13:39:00.000Z

This is not just a catchy slogan any more, says Steve Hayles, navigator on the Volvo 70 Sony Ericsson. This leg of the VOR is suddenly not looking 'a bit flat', not when you consider that some of the fleet have been screaming along semi-submerged at 30 knots and more. Hayles reports that they did a full-on Chinese gybe running at 20 knots and broached up into the teeth of a gale. Terrifying.

In the wing mirror

2006-02-25T18:11:00.000Z

Southern Ocean film club

It's bizarre how news travels, even across a huge ocean. Last week, I kept asking to interview Alex Thomson, whose Open 60 Hugo Boss had been dismasted 1,800 miles west of Cape Horn. I had no luck, but I did get the latest news this weekend when I spoke to Dee Caffari, who had managed to ring Alex and reported that he and his crew were well, if bored. Alex commented that their jury rigged boom and assortment of salvaged sails "looked like something out of Waterworld", and that the wind generator was working overtime so they could keep up with watching DVDs.

Speed freak that he is, though, life is not too tedious. Alex's PR manager told me on Friday: “We got a written report through from the boat earlier saying that they'd hit over 21 knots with the jury rig.”

Shouldn’t there be a world speed record for dismasted yachts?

Round trip

The team at World Cruising Club believe they have tapped into a vein of pent-up ambition since announcing their plans to organise a new round the world rally. From their database of skippers who’ve done the ARC, they got enthusiastic replies from 400 people. Their idea is that a rally would start from Europe in 2007. More info from here

Gone cold?

Don’t the reports from the Volvo Ocean Race sound a bit flat now? The VO70s are atrociously uncomfortable, and it’s been so cold some of the crews have been wearing several hats. Extreme stuff. The quotes from the boats seem so much less compelling, right at the point when it has at last become a real race. Has the VOR desensitised%