Check out the TNT (“The New Trimaran”) 34 flying in light wind!
This new and exciting trimaran is meant for the experienced sailor, yet remains family friendly. Its folding system allows extra beam up to 28 feet, allowing it to carry up to 20% more sail than comparable trimarans. Simply put, this means more speed.
For more info on the Bond Yachts boat, visit the company’s website.
With just two races to go in the World Series run of the America’s Cup, team Oracle Racing is sitting atop the standings after a strong finish in Naples, Italy a couple of weeks ago, but is still looking to improve.
“We learned a lot in Naples. Our team did relatively well,” Oracle tactician John Kostecki said. “We’re really working on getting both teams on the leaderboard in Venice.”
The Spithill team finished in second place during the Naples race, moving them to the top of the standings, but it took some time to get that top spot.
Emirates Team New Zealand, which had been the leader prior to the last race, is only one point behind the Spithill team as the team’s prepare for the next race in Venice, Italy, starting Tuesday.
“It’s not a whole lot different than before and we’re just trying to become a better team,” Kostecki said. “What we’ve found is that each team has gotten better.”
Oracle Racing’s Bundock team is currently tied for fifth with Team Korea and 20 points behind the Spithill team.
Knowing this, Kostecki and his team are still working to improve.
“The flatter water conditions are easier to sail in,” Kostecki said. “It’s going to come down to technique. Starts will be critical.”
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner.
Australia’s Seawind Catamarans is set to unveil a brand new, entry level coastal cruising catamaran at the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show in Australia later this month. The new 30-foot design labeled the “Seawind 950” combines an amazing package with two large double cabins, another smaller double cabin plus a child bunk. There is a spacious shared shower/head, very generous galley configuration and a large open living space with Seawind’s signature indoor/outdoor saloon & cockpit with a saloon table that converts into a bed plus a full time day bed. An optional charter configuration offers two large cabins and two separate bathrooms.
The boat is designed to fit into two 40-foot containers and shipped anywhere in the world, to be easily assembled in a few days by just two people. As the modular system has been purpose designed to easily lock together with minimal bolting, the Seawind 950 can also be disassembled for international transport by shipping container anywhere in the world.
The Seawind 950 comes standard as a cruising model with fixed mini-keels, but there is also an optional racing model with a lowering centerboard for higher pointing performance. A self-tacking jib and fully battened mainsail are standard on either model, along with twin 9.9hp Yamaha Outboards. An overlapping genoa is also optional.
The Seawind 950 project has been kept top secret throughout the two to three-year development period, with extensive model and full scale water testing occurring with two boats already launched and the third boat on display at the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show.
This brand new model adds to Seawind’s heritage of building great sailing catamarans with a performance philosophy. The hull shape concept is consistent with that of the existing Seawind models including the blue water Seawind 1250, also on display at the boat show.
For more information, visit the Seawind website.
The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar is the first vehicle to have successfully achieved the feat of traveling around the world using solar energy alone. After more than 19 months of navigation around the globe, the world’s largest solar ship ever built has crossed the finish line in Monaco. Following a course close to the equator, which led through the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal, PlanetSolar visited 28 countries to promote the use of solar energy. After departing from Monaco on the September 27, 2010, the ship sailed for 585 days without a single drop of fuel to show the potential and reliability of solar energy.
Expedition leader Raphaël Domjan declared: “We are extremely happy to have achieved this first world tour with solar energy! We have shown that we have the technologies as well as the knowledge to become sustainable and safeguard our blue planet.”
For more information on the mission, visit PlanetSolar’s website.
The three America’s Cup syndicates based in New Zealand could sail their new AC72s in a test regatta on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. America’s Cup Race Management has offered Emirates Team New Zealand, holders Oracle Racing and Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge the possibility of a match-racing event in the AC72 catamarans that will be used in the 34th America’s Cup off San Francisco Bay in 2013.
AC Regatta Director Iain Murray revealed that ACRM have expressed interest in traveling to New Zealand to stage the informal event so that they and the teams can test the match-racing capability and also have a trial-run for the for the new class ahead of the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series and 34th Match. Continue reading
There may be a new buzz on the waters of the Niagara River this summer. If approved by the Tonawanda Common Council May 1, CraigCat Boats of Niagara will offer self-guided tours on their E2 Elite catamarans. The two-person craft would travel up and down the Niagara River and Erie Canal, stopping at various historical points and places of interest over a two-hour journey.
Kenneth Knight and his brother John came up with the idea after spending time on a similar tour in Mt. Dora, Fla., near Orlando. So impressed with the crafts and the tours, the brothers became CraigCat dealers, with an outlet in Grand Island.
“We had gone to Florida last year. We saw them, and we fell in love with them,” John said.
Having grown up on the waters of Western New York, Kenneth thought the idea of similar tours along the river and canal would be a perfect summertime plan for those who don’t own boats and rarely get out onto the water. Continue reading
Since the start of the 20th century, very few recurrent crewed races have sailed this legendary eastbound course across the North Atlantic. Thanks to the willingness of a handful of men and partners, the KRYS OCEAN RACE, a crewed race aboard MOD70s, will set off on July 7, 2012 to open proceedings for the one-design trimaran circuit.
The custom of Atlantic races and records goes back a long way. The result of a somewhat crazy gamble taken in 1866 by two owners during dinner at New York’s Union Club, the initial confrontation was played out between three American schooners, Vesta, Fleetwing and Henrietta. The reference time established by the crew of Henrietta back then was 13 days 21 hours and 55 minutes. However, it was necessary to wait until 1905 for the organization of the first official race, the Kaiser Cup, an initiative by Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany. On May 18, 1905, the starting cannon echoed across the bay, releasing a disparate fleet of 11 English and American yachts into the Atlantic. Continue reading
The 2012 Interlux® Waterfront Challenge is underway and community organizations should apply now. A total of $50,000 will be awarded by Interlux in October to recognize projects undertaken this year that create sustainable waterfront environmental improvements in their communities. The deadline for completion of projects is September 2.
Eight awards from $4,500 to $20,000 will be presented to groups in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. A five-judge panel of marine industry leaders who share a passion for protecting our waters – with the help of boaters voting on Facebook for their favorite projects among the finalists – will select seven regional winners to be awarded $4,500 each and a grand prize winner to be awarded $20,000. Awards will be presented at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show in October.
For more information, or to apply for the 2012 Interlux Waterfront Challenge, visit www.waterfrontchallenge.com.
A group of Portuguese surfers has been surfing waves with the helping hand of catamarans, in the River Tejo, in Lisbon, Portugal. On rush hour, the flat waters of Tejo get a very special two-foot swell, in rather unusual conditions: Catamarans linking both sides of River Tejo are creating waves that can be ridden by surfers, in certain days and hours, depending on the schedule of the big boat, the tide and moon phase.
“This is a dream we have. We do not live in front of a beach with waves, but surfing has become a reality at the doorstep. It’s funny and it’s something different, something that is not seen worldwide,” says Ricardo Carrajola, a local surfer.
Riders have been enjoying this unlikely surf spot in a country full of world class waves. The surfing conditions in the River Tejo have improved in the last years, because the old transportation ferries have been replaced by modern full-throttle catamarans. When catamarans pass by the group of surfers, they wave their hands asking the skipper to accelerate in order to get bigger and better waves. View video HERE.
From Surfer Today.
This gives a whole new meaning to “there’s an app for that”! The pictures look awesome, but we’d like to see this thing in action.
Looking at cool concept designs for super yachts may be fun, but nothing beats the real thing. It took five years and $15 million, but the ultimate seafaring vessel that looks like a spacecraft is finally here.
The Adastra superyacht is 140-feet long, weighs 52 tons, and can travel 4,000 nautical miles at 17 knots, enough to get you from the U.S. to Europe. Designed by John Shuttleworth and constructed in China by McConaghy Boats, the Adastra can fit up to nine guests along with its six crew members.
All that and you can control the vessel from your iPad.
For more info and pictures, visit www.nbclosangeles.com.
Dona Bertarelli’s Decision 35 catamaran, Ladycat (SUI10) is changing her look and crew for the 2012 Lake Léman Vulcain Trophy multihull competition season. The catamaran has moved from hot pink to black, bronze and green, with a strong graphic design that reflects the new mixed gender crew. This season, Ladycat will have on board Dona Bertarelli as skipper/helmswoman, Emmanuelle Rol as trimmer, Yann Guichard as tactician; Billy Besson and Arnaud Jarlegan as trimmers; and Devan Le Bihan, N°1. Nicolas Débordès, preparer, will ensure all technical support.
“I am looking forward to this season enthusiastically. It is like a new beginning, with a new team and a craft which has completely changed its look. The new design expresses a wish to go still further, a maturity acquired over the past few years.” explains Bertarelli. As for the name, “there is no reason to change it. Ladycat is a project of mine and reflects both who I am and the values I seek to transmit. For five years, more than 20 women sailors were able to fulfill their passion and, for some, even become professional sailors. That approach is still valid even if the project has moved to a mixed gender crew, more by obligation than by design.”
Ladycat’s co-sponsors, for the seventh consecutive year, are Audemars Piguet and the Grand Hotel Park in Gstaad. Haute Horlogerie brand Audemars Piguet has been actively involved in the sailing world for many years, and is developing a new Ladycat watch, which will be launched in 2013. Castello Colle Massari, Country Club Geneva, Two Degrees, and Kaenon are all official suppliers of Ladycat.
From BYM Sailing & Sport News.
It didn’t quite have the opulence of the launch of the Titanic, but there were still plenty of claps and cheers as a monster of a boat set sail from a Canvey, England boatyard. The 60-foot prototype catamaran – the first of its kind ever produced by the Canvey-based boat building firm Blyth – has been finished after two years of painstaking work.
The catamaran, worth just over $1 million, has been built to transport technicians and personnel to offshore windfarms along the British coastline. Ray Chuter, 65, director of Blyth, drew the plans for the vessel by hand after coming up with the idea.
Chuter said, “We are really proud of the boat. “It’s the first prototype of its kind and is the first commercial windfarm catamaran we’ve ever built. It will be used by big energy companies to take their technicians and people out to the wind turbines along the coast. It could be used all the way up to Scotland.”
The catamaran is so big Ray had to apply for a police escort to transfer it down to Dauntless Boatyard, in Canvey Road, where it was launched. The boat measures exactly 57 feet in length, and another three feet are taken up with a fender on the front of the vessel. The catamaran, made of fiberglass, took Ray two years to get from the drawing board to the launch ramp. The plug – the model base for the boat – had to be made in Dubai and was shipped all the way back to Canvey.
Ray, who is due to retire soon, says he has enjoyed his career. “The boatbuilding business has changed a lot obviously over the years – so much is done by computers now. It makes it easier in a way, but I like the old fashioned way.”
Read the full article on Echo.
With its fast catamarans, the newfangled America’s Cup is a perfect fit for young adrenaline junkie Nathan Outteridge. Just 26 and headed for his second Olympics in the 49er class, the Australian will make his debut as Team Korea’s skipper when the first season of the America’s Cup World Series resumes today in Naples, Italy.
“It’s something I didn’t think would happen so soon,” the Aussie said in a phone interview from Italy. “I wanted to get involved, but I figured I’d try to get through a couple of Olympic games and make the transition in 10 years time, not when I’m 26. It’s a great opportunity and that’s why I took it. As long as it doesn’t impact what I do in next few months and the games, I can’t see how it’s bad for me in any way.”
Outteridge hadn’t even sailed in an AC45 catamaran when he signed on with Team Korea’s White Tiger Challenger to replace Chris Draper, who jumped to Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge. Outteridge got his hands on the tiller of the 45-foot, wing-sailed craft for the first time during training last week.
“It was pretty cool,” Outteridge said. “There wasn’t a lot of wind, but it’s pretty impressive when you can still get up and fly a hull in that wind strength. I think I’m going to enjoy taking it up for sure. The way they perform compared to other boats, it’s going to be quite an enjoyable thing to do.”
The America’s Cup has come a long way since 2007, the last time it was contested in plodding, 80-foot sloops. What once was a staid regatta perfect for the blue blazer crowd has morphed into a nautical extreme sport in which the sailors wear crash helmets and life jackets because of the on-the-edge sailing with a propensity for capsizes.
Five years ago, Outteridge wasn’t interested in the America’s Cup.
“To be honest I didn’t watch any of the AC racing in 2007 because I thought the boats weren’t very exciting, not very entertaining,” he said. “But as soon as it moved to the multihulls, I’ve watched every single race as closely as I can. And I bet a lot of other people have done the same.”
The Aussie said he looked at the big sloops and figured it was “all about the design team and about having computers tell you where to tack on the laylines. There didn’t seem to be a big requirement for good, all-round sailing skills to make the boats go well. I come from the 49er where there is a high error rate in the sailing but the best sailor still wins and that’s why I’m attracted to these kind of boats.”
The AC45s require physical skill and quick decision-making. The sailing is expected to get even wilder when teams switch to the 72-foot cats that will be used for the Louis Vuitton Cup for challengers and the 34th America’s Cup, both in 2013 on San Francisco Bay.
Outteridge has mastered several classes of small, high-performance boats, including the Moth hydrofoil, A-Class catamaran and the 49er, a two-man skiff that’s the fastest of the Olympic classes.
Outteridge’s confidence comes from having grown up in a sailing family in Wangi Wangi, a bay on Lake Mcquarie north of Sydney.
“I’ve been sailing from the age of 2 and apparently when I was 4 I told my dad, ‘I know how to do this; you don’t have to come with me anymore,’ ” he said.
He’s won three world titles in the 49er, one in the Moth and three ISAF World Youth titles. Last year alone he won the Moth and 49er world titles, 49er European championship and an Olympic test event in Weymouth, England.
“The thing I enjoy about going fast is the risk-reward scenario you get,” Outteridge said. “If you make good decisions, the benefits are amazing. If you get it wrong, you can lose so much.”
Russell Coutts, a New Zealander and four-time America’s Cup winner, is impressed with Outteridge.
“He’s an amazing sailor,” said Coutts, who won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics — two years before Outteridge was born — and is the CEO of defending America’s Cup champion Oracle Racing of San Francisco. “It’s almost like he’s a freak in that he’s able to jump in a bunch of boats, from a Moth to an A-Class catamaran to a 49er skiff in the Olympics, and do really well in each one of them. Obviously he’s a huge talent and he’s the sort of guy who will end up dominating the America’s Cup in the future.”
Coutts wouldn’t be surprised to see Outteridge win some races in Naples.
“Once he gets involved in a few regattas and gets things sorted out, he’ll certainly be as good as anyone,” Coutts said.
Outteridge will have to balance his Olympic training and 49er regattas with the ACWS stops this spring and summer.
“It would have been ideal if it all started when the Olympics finished. But If I said ‘No’ to this opportunity, I’m sure someone would have filled the position and the team would have continued on,” he said. “I think that they’re happy and understand my situation.”
In the Beijing Olympics, Outteridge and crew Ben Austin were leading the gold medal race when they capsized not far from the finish line.
“It can be a difficult time to work out how to bounce back from something like that,” said Outteridge, who has a new crewman, Iain Jensen.
“The whole goal the last four years is to win the gold medal in London. We’re doing everything we can to make it happen. We’re on track to make sure the wheels don’t fall off at the end.”
From the Brownsville Herald.
By Julia Jacobo, Haute Living
The most expensive and largest luxury sailing catamaran in the world, the Hemisphere, is now up for charter. In an auction by Charitybuzz, 10 bidders will have the opportunity to hire the Hemisphere for a week-long sea adventure with Captain Gavin Bladen and his team of nine specialists. The proceeds from the auction will go to “Christie’s Green Auction: A bid to save the world,” which aims to protect the environment.
The Hemisphere features unprecedented luxury with generous sun-pads for sunbathing and soaking scenery viewing, spacious Jacuzzi fitted flybridge and an ultra-modern interior, which has been given open spaces for outdoor exposure, five guest cabins, master suite, large plasma screens and Wi-Fi. The 490 horsepower caterpillar engines will cruise guests at 12 knots of ideal speed.
The bidders have two vacations options to choose from: eight days and seven nights in Croatia, or sailing around the Caribbean with 2 PADI-certified instructors on board to guide SCUBA diving and water sports adventures.
It’s safe to say that aboard the Hemisphere, either choice will be a great one—and great for charity too!
The upcoming ACWS Naples invokes fond memories for Jimmy Spithill. The ORACLE Racing skipper was helmsman of the Luna Rossa Challenge 2007, which advanced to the Louis Vuitton Cup final. Spithill says he’s looking forward to seeing the fans’ passion from the other side.
What are you expecting in Naples, from the crowds and the racing?
I’ve visited elsewhere in Italy and it’s one of my favorite countries. That’s probably because of my past being involved with Luna Rossa. I got to learn the country and people and fell in love with it all. I’m excited about visiting Naples. Wherever I’ve gone in Italy it’s been a great experience, you learn a different area and culture. In fact, it’ll be the first time our two crews will be in Naples. I think it’ll be huge. The Italian fans are some of the most passionate in the world. They’re die-hard fans and enjoy the competition. I think there’ll be big crowds and people will enjoy the competition because it really is a new game and more exciting than what people have seen in past and I think the Italian fans will enjoy this new game.
Do you think racing on the Sea of Naples is more difficult than other parts of Italy?
Any new venue has its challenges. But that’s another strong point about the AC45 catamaran. If we took the old monohulls to Naples, I guarantee you it would not be exciting. We can sail the AC45’s in a wide range of conditions, from 5 to 30 knots. There aren’t many boats that can sail in that wide a range and with great, exciting racing.
As a sailor and team, how do you approach new venues?
We’ll do some training, but at the end of the day it comes down to the final Sunday. The way this fleet is anyone is capable of winning. Really, it’s about trying to peak at the right time and getting it together on the final Sunday.
What would you say in an advertisement about the racing in Naples?
You’ll see the fastest boats with the best sailors in world and fantastic races. I know that the America’s Cup is big in Italy, but people are going to be surprised at the changes to the format of the event. The changes are all for the better. The boats are so much better, from an athletic point of view boats are much more physical to sail and the races are much shorter. We’re looking at 20-minute races so it’ll be a lot more entertaining for viewers, whether they’re watching live or on TV or on the web. I really think the people of Naples will enjoy this racing and the advertisement is come down and check it out.
What do you think of the new Luna Rossa team?
I actually think those guys are up there as the favorites. They’re in their home country, they’re experienced, and they’ve got two helmsmen who have been incredibly successful in this type of racing so I’d be surprised if they weren’t at the top. It’s fantastic to have Patrizio Bertelli back in the game. He’s a great guy, and the way he runs the team is done with a lot of style and class. It adds a lot to the event having a team like that involved. Competitively I think these guys are going to very good, especially given their partnership with Team New Zealand. If you look specifically at the Naples event, and it sounds like they’ll have two boats, they’ve got two very talented teams out there. Mark Campbell-James (one of the team’s helmsmen) has been very successful on the X40 circuit and Chris Draper (the other team helmsman) has been very successful in AC45 previously with Team Korea.
From ORACLE RACING.
