Sailing Today

READERS OF LAST month's High Performance column by the excellent Andy Rice may have noted that he talked about the Ocean Race and how it has changed over the years. It's an interesting subject to ruminate over and wallow in a touch of nostalgia for a simpler time. What really made me sit up was the fact that this will be the first time in the race history that autopilots have been used. This really gave me pause for thought because I, like many other sailors, have a very complicated relationship with this piece of kit. Cruising or racing, sailing is about connecting with the elements; the power of the wind and waves. The helm and rudder are your lightning rod to this mysterious, visceral power. There is something totally…

Controversy as Clarisse Cremer is dropped ahead of Vendée Globe Long-term offshore sailing sponsor Banque Populaire has come under fire after it dropped skipper Clarisse Cremer – who has recently given birth to her first child – ahead of the Vendée Globe 2024. Banque Populaire said Cremer’s maternity leave meant she’d not been able to log enough qualifying miles to guarantee her race entry. But critics pointed to other skippers with similar or less mileage, some with projects launched more recently than Cremer’s, plus the fact that there are two seasons still to go before the race start. The resulting row hit the headlines in France, with widespread criticism of Banque Populaire’s decision, including from France’s Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castera and from Christelle Morançais, president of the Pays de…

Q&A What sailing can Royal Hospital School pupils do? Pupils sail at our RYA Sailing Academy, a five-minute walk from the campus. They can opt to sail in games lessons, as an alternative to rugby, hockey, netball and cricket. The sailing team are on the water six days a week, all year. We have over 80 dinghies, ranging from RS Teras, to 29ers and Waszps. Pupils also use our Cornish Shrimpers for coastal cruising and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions. What proportion of the schoolchildren sail? All pupils in year 7 spend a week in their first term at the school, off timetable, to learn to sail. Around 100 pupils sail week in, week out. Approximately 25 per cent of the pupil body will do some sailing related activity at…

Tide 25 Tide Yachts is not a manufacturer UK sailors are particularly familiar with but it is part of a boatyard based in Emden, Germany, that has already produced the Tide 36. The 25 is a versatile little daysailer that looks like it will combine sprightly performance with a decent amount of internal volume. The boat is available in a number of configurations including a deep T-keel with twin rudders if you go for the sport option, or single rudder and shallower L-shaped keel if you go for the Komfort version. The boat features a twin berth forward plus sofa berths and a small galley aft. ● mfh-emden.de Jeanneau 55 This Phillippe Briand design could safely be described as mould breaking. Jeanneau wanted to design a boat that was almost…

I've never been a great one for birthdays or anniversaries - ask my wife. But this one I had to commemorate. It was the 10th anniversary of my sending a text message to the folks back home to say, 'At 0730 this morning, Cape Horn bore true north, half a mile'. Yes, I had got my old boat round the most feared maritime corner in the world. Its reputation is well earned. If you were to plonk a headland anywhere in the world with the intention of creating the bleakest, most dangerous, and least forgiving spot, it would be at the southern tip of the South American continent. The prevailing westerly winds are quite commonly of storm force and the swell rolls unhindered all the way round the globe, until…

There are the stock reasons why sailing can’t go ahead -too much wind, not enough wind, too much current, waves too big. But reporting at the Lanzarote International Regatta in February I was met with a new one. Dust from the Sahara. The dreaded ‘Calima’ engulfed Lanzarote and all the Canary Islands. The Calima is a hot wind that blows from the Sahara Desert less than 60 miles away on the west African coast, and it reduced visibility to less than a few hundred metres. So racing for the 470, 49er and 49erFX fleets was brought to a halt for safety reasons, because we might have lost sailors in the dust storm. Which was a terrible shame because the quality of the racing had been sensational up to that point.…