Creative Cruising

"To sail around the world in 45 days you've got to be at your limits very often," Peyron told reporters shortly after his trimaran docked in the northwestern French port of Brest amid much fanfare and huge crowds. via tvnz.co.nz 45 days, 13 hours and 42 minutes 29 002 miles at an average speed of 26.51 knots.. wow! Permalink | Leave a comment  »

"To sail around the world in 45 days you've got to be at your limits very often," Peyron told reporters shortly after his trimaran docked in the northwestern French port of Brest amid much fanfare and huge crowds. via tvnz.co.nz 45 days, 13 hours and 42 minutes 29 002 miles at an average speed of 26.51 knots.. wow! Permalink | Leave a comment  »

via gizmodo.com It's only power source is the wind, captured by a highly engineered sail that its designers hope will help it set a new world speed sailing record. The previous record stands at 55.65 knots, or about 64 mph, and was set by a kite surfer in the waters off Namibia which are known for their high winds through the months of September to December. It will be interesting to see what speed they hit. We'll keep you posted. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

via youtube.com Want to know what it feels like to fly across water? Join an America's Cup team as they scream over the sea. The racer's heart rate are up there at 160 beats/min .. give me a boat over a treadmill any day! Permalink | Leave a comment  »

testing Permalink | Leave a comment  »

The day got underway with heavy fog and light winds, one race was started and then abandoned just after the fleet had rounded the first mark. After a delay the breeze moved in, and three races were sailed. via sail-world.com These new America's Cup boats look amazing even in light wind. Not sure I would want to take them into open ocean but I'd love to do a couple of speed runs.. anyone have access to a ride? Permalink | Leave a comment  »

The pursuit of outright speed records has been an obsession of multihull sailors for some time now. Of course, there really are different ways to look at this, depending on what out and out speed means. 500 meter course? New York to London? 24 hour? Around the world? Those are the four that I look at. Another one that is just pure conjecture, the around the buoys fastest boat. So here is where each of these stands right now. For all the records, look here: http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/wssrc-r... via bwsailing.com It all depends on what you mean ... fastest at what? Amazing they keep track of so many different course records. I've been on Mari-Cha III in non-race mode.. what a yacht. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

via youtube.com Coville's boat, a 105-foot trimaran named Sodebo, almost capsized just after he set off from Brest, France on his single handed non-stop round the world record attempt. He crossed the finish line after 61 days, 7 minutes and 32 seconds at sea covering 28,431 miles at an average of 19.42 kts. Yikes! See the Yachting World writeup for more details. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

via youtube.com My idea of awesome :) Can anyone get me a ride? Permalink | Leave a comment  »

via youtube.com It's in the mid-teens in Boston and I came across this video.. Someday I would love to try sailing on a boat of this caliber. I know this video doesn't make it seem very appealing but all I can think is wow (remember it is freezing outside). Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Twice every year the Qiantang Tidal bore thunders down the river from the Hangzhou Bay almost 30 miles past the city of Hangzhou. Since 2007 Surfing China and Wabsono, with the permission of the Chinese government, has invited Pro surfers to surf the bore known as the "Silver Dragon". This year the team included Jamie Sterling, Mikala Jones, Robert Wingnut Weaver and Mary Osborne. Mary had the honor of being the first woman ever to have surfed the "Silver Dragon" and Wingnut, the honor of first "headstand". via youtube.com Can you imagine being anchored 30 miles up a river and getting nailed by the tidal bore wave like this? .. yikes. Talk about the endless wave. Has anyone ever surfed a tidal bore? Permalink | Leave a comment  »

I’m not normally one to get excited by statistics, but I’m really excited about this one and just had to tell you about it. My book True Spirit has been working its way up the best seller list since the launch and today it was officially announced as the number one best-selling book in Australia, fiction and non-fiction. Wow!! Thanks again to everyone out there for your amazing support. The book tour has seen me in sunny (but chilly) Adelaide the last few days. We are off to Perth later today. I’m feeling a bit lazy because with no event scheduled till later today, I’ve spent the morning lounging round in bed reading in between radio interviews. I really should be working on that pile of maths glaring at me from the open suitcase across the room, but have to admit I really needed that sleep in today. My voice is being a bit of a pain and letting me down badly at the moment. I’m croaking like a frog. And not a cute little green tree frog, a big ugly cane toad! Too much talking. But as...

2 August 2010 (Continued...)

The catamaran was built with recycled and repurposed plastics, primarily 12,500 empty PET water bottles. Its unprecedented design had to be seaworthy, but the primary purpose was to show how smarter use of plastics can turn today’s trash into a viable, and valuable resource. via news.nationalgeographic.com Plastiki has finally made it to Sydney Australia completing their 8,000 mile journey that started in San Fransisco 128 days ago. During the Plastiki’s final leg through the Tasman sea they hit some pretty fierce weather systems. Watch the video below as the crew talk about their first big storm on board the Plastiki.. You can check out our original posts or catch up on the latest news. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

via soloround.blogspot.com Abby has been spotted and a rescue ship is on the way although the rescue has been delayed due to bad weather. The picture above does NOT due her isolation justice, you need to check out a map of her location to get a better understanding of exactly where she is. The chartered Airbus A330 used for the flyover was at the limit of it's range, her location is about 2,000 miles east of Madagascar and 2,000 miles west of Australia and the closest ships were two days away. I've been getting all sorts of queries from my friends about what I think, here's a comment from my share on facebook Scary stuff.. I don't have an issue with a 16 year old sailing around the world but I'm struggling with the fact that they were in the Southern Indian ocean, during their winter, on that boat. The first thing I thought when I saw it was that it wouldn't survive those winter storms. I'm a strong believer in responsibility (obviously), we made the choice to go take on the risks of...

via rozsavage.com She made it.. Roz just completed the third leg of her Pacific crossing making her the first woman to row solo across the Pacific. The journey took her 252 days and covered 7730 miles. She paddled 2,335,834 strokes in the first two legs.. yikes. Congrats Roz.. enjoy solid land! She finished her trip in Madang, Papua New Guinea after starting in San Fransisco with stops in both Hawaii and Kiribati. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

For Watson, it's not about accolades but personal fulfillment. "I am still just Jess," she said yesterday. "That's really important to me because I am. I am completely ordinary. That's the thing. I just put a lot of effort in, had a great team around me and I think that goes to show you don't have to be anyone special to achieve something big. You just have to want it." She returns today, a greater lesson than we could ever have imagined. Read her last sentence again, and pin it up in your children's bedroom. via heraldsun.com.au Jessica Watson is currently battling 40+ knot winds and waves up to 23 feet as she nears the finish line in Sydney Australia. Today, she'll finish her 7 month (210 day) 23,000 mile non-stop round the world sailing trip, 2 days before her 17th birthday. She's expected to be greeted by 50,000 fans and say's looking forward to a bed that doesn't move and a hot meal (you think?). Congrats Jessica, you've just completed the voyage of a lifetime!! You can read our...

via bwsailing.com Don't get me wrong I would LOVE to have a chance to visit South Georgia island, It's been a dream of mine ever since I read about Shackleton's adventures in Endurance (affiliate link). As much as I would love to visit, it would have to be on someone else's steel yacht or large ship. Bumping into low lying objects (containers/whales) was my biggest fear, at least the whale gave a little after we hit it. Having survived a recent winter in Massachusetts and knowing how deep the cold wind cuts through all your warm layers on the ocean, I would never consider taking my own yacht into a place cold enough to maintain icebergs in salt water. The coast of Mexico in the winter and New Zealand in the spring and fall were bad enough.. I don't ever want to be able to pick my ice cubes for a refreshing cold drink out of the sea. I'm very glad the HMS Clyde was able to take the family to safety after the collision. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Got Questions? Maybe these sites can help One of my favorite things about cruising is the community, sailors constantly gather to share information, dreams and even fears. The biggest unknown prior to setting out is what's it like out there?.. way out there. It's a tight knit community and we tend to share everything publicly just in case it may be helpful to those dreaming or planning of following in our wake. I "met" Livia via our Cruising Blogs Search. She submitted their blog, I actually took a look and noticed they were still prepping to go. I replied that I was envious of their impending trip (and preparation phase) and offered any help if she needed it. Based on what I have read, they seem very similar to KT and I..lot's of research, very well prepared, and.. questions (there will always be questions). The project is designed to gain insight and wisdom from those who have "been there .. done that" for at least two years away from their own home countries. There is a question...

Good news. Ella's Pink Lady and I have made it around the South East Cape of Tasmania and we're now headed north on the final leg to Sydney! We passed well clear of land, in the dark and with not the nicest conditions. But I still got a big kick out of it. I never expected rounding Tasmania to be much of a big deal, but all of last week's struggles made finally getting around the cape 10 times sweeter. (Insiders tip, jumping up and down in a 5 metre swell isn't a good idea. ouch!) There's no letting the guard down yet, but it's great to be back in to more familiar waters. I'm also thrilled to be headed north into warmer temperatures again. OK, so it's not really that cold down here. mostly I'm just complaining. But with a bit of water on your hands, this wind only takes a few minutes to make your hands go numb when working on deck. After all my worrying, this time we got lucky and the expected weather didn't get as bad as it might have. It's been pretty breezy for the last few days,...

We're still not breaking any speed records, but Ella's Pink Lady is getting along reasonably well again. So all's well and the sun joined us again today which also did wonders for brightening my mood. It won't be long now till the high pressure system that's giving us these light winds, moves off and we get some decent wind to give us a nice shove along. I've had a busy day making the most of the lovely weather to get stuck into some washing (see pic below). In fact I did so much scrubbing and cleaning that I actually snapped the scrubbing brush in half. Maybe I was wrong about not having super human strength! And not to worry, I've also got a spare one of those. I know washing isn't the most thrilling pastime, but seeing as I can't go for a nice long jog on the beach to vent my excess energy, I don't have choice a but to take it out on my clothes and Ella's Pink Lady. And even doing the washing isn't that bad when you're sitting in the cockpit surrounded by blue water, with warm...