Oyster returned to profit in January this year and expects to make an overall profit for 2024 following a 29% year-on-year increase in turnover to £56.4m. After launching 32 yachts in 2022, the shipyard says its build bays remained full for the 2023 financial year.

Oyster reports that over the same year the company grew its staff by a third, expanding its service network, refit, after-sales support, crew, and charter services, following an additional £14.5m investment by owner and chairman Richard Hadida.

Ashley Highfield, CEO of Oyster Yachts, said: “We are confident Oyster is now in a strong position and has the resources and facilities to service our vessels world-wide and provide owners with truly personalised support. Investing heavily in the founding principles of Oyster Yachts is translating into stronger business results.”

The British boatbuilders dramatically ceased operations on 5 February 2018 after the private equity firm which had been supporting the company withdrew its financial backing. It was swiftly bought by software entrepreneur Hadida, who poured millions of pounds of investment into the company.

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Hadida also drove changes to the company including a streamlined range – and the introduction of smallest Oyster for many years, the Oyster 495 in 2022 – greater in-house control of design and manufacturing, and the introduction of Lloyd’s Register surveyors to instil consumer confidence after the Polina Star keel failure in 2015 (a contributing factor to the company’s previous financial woes).

The company also refreshed its marketing strategy. One of the key drivers of new boat sales has been the success of the Oyster World Rally, with around a quarter of new boat orders coming from Rally entrants.

Oyster has announced that entries will open for the 2028/29 rally on 18 June this year. The 2024/25 rally is currently underway and, remarkably, the 2026/27 rally is already full. Places are limited to 30 yachts for the 2028 edition, and organisers expect the 16-month tour to sell out swiftly.

The Oyster World Rally is an impressive sailing circumnavigation, fully supported by Oyster’s Rally team. Organised exclusively for Oyster owners, the Rally attracts a diverse group of international owners of all ages, along with their families and friends.

The fleet of 30 Oysters enjoys the world’s finest bluewater cruising over 16 months, logging a total distance of 27,000 nautical miles.

A variety of Rally packages are available from the Adventurer, standard package, up to a very VIP Voyager package including crew and consierge.

If you want to know more, you can join Oyster’s live Q&A Webinar, on June 5 th 2024.

You can find out more about the Oyster World Rally, and follow the current fleet as they explore French Polynesia.

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In a newly announced move, MerConcept, the offshore sailing and sustainable tech hub in Concarneau, France, has unveiled a new multihull racing program named UpWind, which is dedicated to empowering female sailors in the world of offshore multihull racing.

Aimed at fostering inclusivity and diversity, UpWind by MerConcept will recruit, train, and support a squad of six talented female sailors for the Ocean Fifty offshore sailing circuit, with the ambitious goal of having a female skipper at the helm for the 2026 Route du Rhum.

Start of the Route du Rhum. Photo: ALEXIS COURCOUX

Backed by Founding Sponsor 11th Hour Racing, UpWind is aiming to spearhead a transformation in offshore sailing. With a vision for a more inclusive and diverse sailing community, the program seeks to provide equal opportunities for all, ultimately expanding the pool of skilled female sailors available for selection in mixed multihull crews for iconic challenges like the Jules Verne Trophy.

Based in the heart of the Brittany (the Mecca of the offshore sailing world), MerConcept was founded by François Gabart, the fastest person to sail around the world, and he is at the forefront of this initiative. “Our mission at UpWind is to support and empower female sailors, breaking down barriers and creating a welcoming and safe space for everyone. We believe that diverse talent enhances team performance, and by fostering a critical mass of skilled female sailors, we aim to pave the way for mixed crews in future challenges like the Jules Verne Trophy,” Gabart says.

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The application process to join this groundbreaking program is now open to female sailors worldwide, with the deadline for submissions set for 24 March 2024.

Cécile Andrieu, MerConcept’s Director of Racing, emphasises the program’s spirit of performance and diversity, welcoming applicants with a range of racing experience. Two groups will be formed – a performance-focused squad for Grand Prix and transatlantic races, and a second group supporting training and deliveries, gaining valuable sailing experience for their CV.

Francesca Clapcich, the accomplished skipper who clinched victory in The Ocean Race with 11th Hour Racing Team in 2022-23, will lead the sailing squad. Gabart praises Clapcich as the ideal skipper, with an impressive sailing CV across various disciplines and a strong advocacy for women in the sport.

Francesca Clapcich will lead the sailing squad. Photo: G.Gatefait | MerConcept

MerConcept’s acquisition of the Ocean Fifty trimaran, previously owned by Armel Tripon, adds to the program’s excitement. The trimaran is currently undergoing a complete refit and is set to launch at the end of March, ready for the 2024 Ocean Fifty circuit, which will include four events between June and October.

11th Hour Racing’s role as Founding Sponsor underscores its commitment to diversity, opportunity, and access in sailing. Michelle Carnevale, president of 11th Hour Racing, states, “UpWind by MerConcept marks a substantial progression for women in sailing, and we look forward to witnessing its positive influence on the future of ocean racing.”

The race schedule for 2024 is yet to be officially announced, but this initiative could well be poised to make history.

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Armel Le Cléac’h’s 100ft foiling trimaran Maxi Banque Populaire XI became the 15th boat to pass Cape Horn in a week, when he rounded at 05:01:50hrs UTC this morning, Sunday 11 February.

Le Cléac’h is currently 2nd in the solo around the world Arkea Brest Ultim Challenge race, and today’s rounding is his personal fourth passage of the Horn.

The Ultim fleet is just one of three around the world races currently exiting the Pacific and beginning the Atlantic return, in an extraordinarily busy period at the Horn.

First of the Ultims was fleet leader Charles Caudrelier on the Gitana Maxi Edmond de Rothschild who flew around the last of the great capes on his circumnavigation on Tuesday, 6 February at 1708.

Maxi Edmond de Rothschild leads the Arkea Brest Ultim Challenge fleet around Cape Horn. Photo Yann Riou/Polaryse/Gitana

HIs rounding had been delayed by severe weather forecasts, which predicted two major Southern Ocean lows colliding to produce potential winds of 50-70 knots and extreme sea states. Caudrelier sailed conservatively for around 48 hours, but retained a lead of more than four days over Le Cléac’h and 3rd placed Thomas Coville on Sodebo (who is expected to round later today).

Caudrelier’s Cape Horn rounding – his first solo – was dramatically captured by Gitana team photographer Yann Riou, who flew overhead.

However, Riou was also flying over the area to check for potential ice risk. Prior to Caudrelier’s rounding the CLS service (Collecte Localisation Satellites), which monitors iceberg movements and determines likely risk areas, spotted icebergs north of the previous exclusion zone in the Cape region. 

Since Gitana sailed out of the area, race management team members have made further surveillance flights over the area to check the movements of the ice, but the waters so far appear clear.

Ocean Globe Race rounds Cape Horn

Riou also captured Marie Taberly and crew on Pen Duick VI, Leg 3 leaders in the Ocean Globe Race, as they rounded the Horn early on Tuesday 6 February. in a 25-knot north-westerly, gusting 45, and 2-3.5m seas.

Skipper Taberly reported that their approach to the Horn had been challenging, on a video sent from the yacht after their rounding. “At some point, the wind stabilised between 40 knots, 45 knots, to 50 knots, then from 50 to 60 knots before dropping back to 50. It kept rising and falling, and the waves, well, there were waves and swells, some breaking waves, and the boat started to surf.

“We averaged about 12 knots throughout this low pressure area, which amounts to approximately 270 nautical miles per day. We had beautiful days of consistent surfing between 20 and 23 knots. There was even a surf at 28.3 knots, which I think scared us all. We were all very frightened, but the boat was on fire completely.

“Indeed, the sea was very rough, so the challenge was to keep the boat aligned and manage the waves coming from port or starboard, which could easily catch the stern of the boat and make us broach. In such conditions, it’s crucial to keep the sail up; speed is safe, so you must keep the sail up and move the boat as fast as possible to control and not be overwhelmed by the swell. Instead, know where to position yourself, maintain speed in the trough of a wave, and be ready to tackle the next wave with good speed.

Marie Tabarly at the helm of Pen Duick VI in the Ocean Globe Race, Flyer Class Photo: Martin Keruzoré

“Steering was very challenging; those who are cold once they’re at the helm usually warm up in a few seconds because of this, plus the stress of being at the helm. And yeah, there are moments when you feel quite small, especially at the top of a wave, 7 to 10 metres high, looking at the vast ocean. It’s really when you’re at the top of the wave that you realise the immensity of the sea. And then, we’re at the Horn, not just anywhere in the world.

“Passing Cape Horn isn’t that difficult because when you arrive, the sea is calm, and there’s no wind. The challenge is before reaching Cape Horn; passing it is the reward,” Taberly added. “We passed Cape Horn under excellent conditions with an incredible sunrise. It was the first sunrise in Patagonia, just sublime. And well, the Translated team was still there, passing Cape Horn a few hours after us.

“From Cape Horn, we started our ascent of the Atlantic towards Punta del Este, passing a place called the Strait of the Sea, west of the Falkland Islands, also known as the Malvinas. Our friends from Translated 9 also followed us closely in the Strait of the Sea, overtaken by Charles Caurdrelier and Gitana. So, we won our bet, arriving before the Ultimes.“

Storm conditions at the Horn

Second-placed Swan 65 Translated 9, co-skippered by Golden Globe Race finisher Simon Curwen and Marco Trombetti rounded five hours later in more moderate conditions of 15-20 knot winds as they sailed just half a mile from the coast of Cape Horn.

“We’ve had three days of fire; we sailed through the storm with winds at 55 knots, gusts, and formed waves. Only as we approached Cape Horn, about 60 miles away, did the weather situation improve, and we had a great rounding of the Cape,” the team reported.

However, Translated 9, which has held the overall race lead in IRC since the race’s outset, was forced to divert to the Falklands Islands swiftly after, having reported hull damage. The crew discovered two cracks in the stern section – one potentially significant – causing water ingress. The team safely made port in the Falklands, where they confirmed that the yacht cannot be repaired without assistance, forcing their retirement from Leg 3.

Thursday 8 February saw three more Ocean Globe Race crews make the rounding, with Maiden, the Swan 651 Spirit of Helsinki and the French former Whitbread 60 Neptune passing the iconic Cape, followed closely by the Swan 53 Triana. 

In doing so, three of the crew on Maiden – Vuyisile Jaca, Junella King and Maryama Seck – made history as the first black female crew to become ‘Cape Horners’.

Maiden rounds Cape Horn in the Ocean Globe Race. Photo courtesy of OGR

The brief messages sent from the teams in the ‘retro’ round the world race captured the moment. “CAPE HORN! Laughing, crying, hugging on the deck. LEGENDARY moment. Masa shouted land ahoy and Jouko drove us through the longitude,” reported Spirit of Helsinki. 

“Bye Southern Ocean, thanks for being so good to us. A life-changing experience.”

Over the past two days, the former Whitbread yacht L’Esprit d’Equipe, Tapio Lehtinen’s Galiana with Secure, the Swan 57 White Shadow, Outlaw and Evrika, with just two teams still to round on their way to the race’s final stopover in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

“The wind was gusting up to 50 knots as we were approaching, and the waves were steep, breaking waves, so it was proper Cape Horn weather! So I feel lucky that for me it was my fourth time sailing Cape Horn, and I felt lucky to do it in a proper gale and also during daylight,” said Lehtinen.

Tough conditions for Galiana WithSecure on the race towards Cape Horn. Credit: Galiana WithSecure Ville Norra / OGR2023

Global Solo Challenge

Meanwhile entrants in the single-handed Global Solo Challenge have also been streaming around Cape Horn. 

While the leader Philippe Delamare on the 46-footer Mowgli rounded on 9 January, the past couple of weeks have seen second-placed Cole Brauer on the Class 40 First Light round on January 26, then Ronnie Simpson on the Open 50 Shipyard Brewing on 1 February.

Italian skipper Andrea Mura, also on an Open 50 passed the Cape on 7 February, closely followed the same day by Francois Gouin on Class 40 Kawan 3, and Italian Class 40 skipper Riccardo Tosetto the next day. American David Linger is likely to pass the landmark before the close of this weekend.

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Law Connect has won the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race line honours, after the closest finish in over 40 years, which ended in a gybe-for-gybe battle up the Derwent River against long-time leader Andoo Comanche.

Andoo Comanche held the advantage going into the Derwent with a two-mile lead, John Winning Jr’s crew crowded onto the bow in the light early morning winds to try and lift Comanche’s 8m beamy transom, which gives the yacht the nickname the ‘aircraft carrier’. 

Law Connect followed up the Derwent River with a knot or two more breeze, and were able to close the gap some two miles from the finish line, but the waters outside Hobart were littered with glassy patches, and each boat repeatedly battled to maintain hull speed through windless holes.

After 628 miles of racing, the lead changed repeatedly in the final half hour, with Law Connect taking the advantage on the final gybe for the line to roll over the top of Andoo Comanche and cross the line ahead. 

Law Connect overtakes Andoo Comanche metres from the finish line of the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. Photo: Rolex/Kurt Arrigo

It was an exceptional display of light winds tactical match racing, with Law Connect helmsman Tony Mutter and tactician Chris Nicholson directing Christian Beck’s team to victory, after being 2nd on three previous years. Law Connect crossed the Castray Esplanade finish line in Hobart at 08.03.58am local time after 1 day 19 hours 03 minutes 58 seconds of racing.

Beck gave a self-deprecating speech after, praising the crew for their efforts on a boat he admitted was not as fast or well-funded as their rivals. “I honestly can’t believe it. I rated it about a 25% chance we’d win, so to win was just amazing.

“An hour ago we were about 3 miles behind Comanche, so to win – I still can’t believe it.”

Law Connect (SYD 1000)a Juan K 100ft Custom design, on its way to winning the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.

Mixed 2023 Sydney Hobart Race

The 2023 edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart has so far seen truly mixed conditions. The Boxing Day start delivered its customary spectacle, as the three 100ft maxis led the fleet out of a packed Sydney Habour. Law Connect gave an impromptu demonstration of how to gybe a giant overlapping headsail after breaking a furling line that left them unable to tack around a turning mark, while Scallywag took penalty turns once in clear water after a port-starboard incident with Comanche shortly after the start.

Start of the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart yacht race. Photo: Rolex/Andrea Francolini

Over the first two days of racing the fleet had to contend with electrical storms, squalls and severe sea states, as well as periods of light winds, and there have been 11 retirements so far. They included another line honours hopeful, the 100ft Scallywag, which had to retire after snapping the bowsprit in the first day of racing.

Other boats retired due to rigging damage, mainsail damage, and severe seasickness caused by the unpleasant sea state. 

Most dramatically the double-handed entry Rum Rebellion retired after being knocked down and having a Man Overboard, who was safely recovered. 

Co-skipper Shane Connelly reported that they were approximately 20 miles offshore on the first evening of the race, sailing under full main and spinnaker in 6-10 knots of wind, when the wind suddenly increased to over 16 knots with a ‘ferocious’ looking storm cloud approaching from behind. 

The duo prepared to drop the spinnaker, but a micro-burst of wind hit the yacht, causing a knockdown. Connelly, who had gone forwards during the spinnaker drop, was thrown overboard but tethered, and as the boat righted was lifted back onboard. He reported after: “The safety drills and systems all worked and we could sort ourselves out”

The stormy conditions caused issues across the fleet on the first night. Aboard the Santa Cruz 72 Antipodes crew member Geoff Cropley reported this morning: “We had lightning and thunder for hours. Then there was a major wind shift which auto gybed the boat.

“The spinnaker got wrapped in the drop, along with spinnaker staysail. All the team was up and trying to untwist and get that down. It took us about 40 minutes. We were heading north-east and sailing backwards for a period of time.

“We’re now hunkered down with a reef in the main. There’s little bit of blue sky. It’s quite nice out here.”

Azzuro, an S&S 34 owned by Jack Kliner, with crew including Jessica Watson, during the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. Photo: Rolex/Andrea Francolini

Meanwhile the battle for IRC overall continues. IRC 1 contender Alive, a Reichel Pugh 66 with a talent-packed crew including Gavin Brady, Stu Bannatyne and legendary Australian navigator Adrienne Cahalan, a veteran of 30 Hobart races. Close behind them on the IRC rankings is Hobart grandee, Sean Langman on the Reichel Pugh 69 Moneypenny led IRC 0, while the S&S 34 Azzurro raced by Jessica Watson is fastest of the small boats on the current IRC rankings. 

The post Rolex Sydney Hobart Race winner decided by 51 seconds appeared first on Yachting World.

A new acoustic deterrent device is to be tested in the waters off Portugal to see if it will deter killer whales from making contact with yachts.

Concerns have been raised about the orcas’ behaviour after three yachts were sunk following damage caused by the orcas striking or biting them this spring. It remains unclear as to whether the cetaceans are behaving intentionally aggressively, or playing, but over 500 interactions have been recorded since the phenomenon was first observed in 2020. It’s believed over 250 incidents have resulted in damage to a boat, 60 incurring serious damage.

The new acoustic deterrent device has been created by the Edinburgh-based GenusWave. The Targeted Acoustic Startle Technology – known as TAST – is designed to trigger the instinctive startle reflex, which causes an involuntary flight response – compelling the targeted animals to flee the area.

TAST was originally developed to deter seals from getting entangled in fishing nets, and has been modified to work on sea lions and orca.

Trials in Norwegian fishing grounds in 2022 and 2021 showed an 85% reduction in orca sightings on the fishing grounds during playback of the audio signals compared to before the sounds were emitted. Tracking the orca also showed that they quickly returned to the site when the noise subsided.

Portuguese conservation group Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (ICNF) and GenusWave plan to begin sea trials off the Portuguese coast this autumn. Skippers transiting through the area are asked to still report any orca sightings online at theca.org.uk/orcas

If the trials are successful it’s anticipated that GenusWave devices could be made available for yachts within the year.

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Luke Berry and his co-skipper Antoine Joubert were competing in the Transat Jacques Vabre on the Ocean 50 trimaran Le Rire Médecin-Lamotte when the boat suddenly dismasted and lost its port float. 

In an extraordinary effort, assisted by French salvage expert Adrien Hardy, Berry and Joubert were able to save not only the boat, but all its parts. After being towed to Spain they then sailed home to St Malo under jury rig, on just one float: proa-style, as Berry explained to Yachting World.

The incident happened just hours after the Ocean 50 fleet restarted the Transat Jacques Vabre from Lorient on November 6, racing in 25-30 knots and 5m waves. 

Extreme conditions for Le Rire Médecin-Lamotte and the Ocean 50 fleet at the start of the 2023 Transat Jacques Vabre. Photo: Vincent Olivaud/Le Rire Médecin-Lamotte

“At the start, everybody was quite conservative. We were very conservative going through that front.

“As usual, it’s always behind the front that it’s the most difficult because you’ve got cross waves and still quite gusty winds. We had two reefs and the J3, nearly the smallest amount of sail you can have. But we were sailing quite far off the wind, about 70 degrees. At 70 degrees, these boats go very, very fast. They can go up to 25-30 knots as soon as you start to bear away.

“The boat was going quite fast and it was actually quite difficult to slow her down. And at one point she just jumped off the wave and when she landed, the whole thing collapsed.”

Luke Berry’s Ocean 50 trimaran Le Ride Médecin-Lamotte sailing under jury rig after being dismasted and losing the port float in the Transat Jacques Vabre.

Both the port hull sheared off and the rig came down simultaneously. “The beam that links both the hulls snapped to leeward, meaning the leeward float detached itself from the boat. Normally in these conditions, the boat should capsize. But in this case, the dismasting actually saved us.

“We don’t know why – was it the general impact of the wave or was it because the leeward hull broke and then there was less tension in the leeward shroud? However, the mast collapsed.

“This is something that I’ve experienced before. So I know that you’ve got to secure as much as possible, if you want to have any chance of getting your mast or your sails back.

“A lot of people in these conditions cut everything and get it all as far away as possible because you don’t want the mast or the foil or the hull to puncture the middle hull of the boat. That would have been the worst case scenario and I was definitely worried about that. But we secured as much as possible, so it was bashing as little as possible against the central hull.”

Berry alerted the race committee who in turn notified ocean rescue expert Adrien Hardy, was shadowing the Ocean 50 fleet on his 35m/115ft trimaran Merida as far as Madeira, part of a class-organised initiative that teams subscribe to. Merida arrived just two hours later in the early morning.

The ocean-going trimaran Merida was shadowing the Ocean 50 class as a rescue vessel. Photo: Oceanic Assistance

“It was still pitch black and there was 4 metres swell and 25 knots of wind. We talked on the VHF and assessed the situation, then [Hardy’s team] put their wetsuits on, they put their RIB in the water and they came on board to help us. 

“The first thing was to get rid of the free float, but it’s not just attached by the carbon beams, it’s also attached by the whole net, which is lots of little bits of Dyneema lashing. So we had to cut all of it to completely free it, and take the shrouds off.

“We’d done a lot of work already, but we were quite exhausted by the time they came. So we managed to get rid of the float, and attach it so we didn’t lose it.

“I couldn’t quite see how we were going to get the mast back on board because there was a sail trailing behind it. We got the middle of the mast with some winches and some bits of rope.

“Then for the top section, Adrien dove into the water a couple of metres down and attached this big buoy – they used them in retrieving shipwrecks – and inflated it with an oxygen cylinder to bring the mast to the surface. Then we managed to retrieve that and lift it up under both beams.” 

The Ocean 50 was re-rigged with a Hobie cat and Mini 650 sail

Merida towed the disabled trimaran to port in Northern Spain, with the broken float towing behind the Ocean 50. Berry and Joubert then spent a couple of days preparing the boat to sail back to St Malo.

“We had the idea of putting the hull onto the existing beams and what was left of the platform, so we had a phone call with the naval architects to see where and if it was structurally viable to be able to transport it. 

“Then we used the bottom of the mast to make a jury rig. We had a Hobie 15 sail for the main, we used our J3 for the foresail – which we put upside down so that the clew was at the right height – and a Mini 650 sail. We managed to put up a third sail because we had a lot of downwind sailing to give us some extra surface area.”

Luke Berry and Antoine Joubert safely ashore

After waiting for a weather window, the pair had a couple of days to cross the Bay of Biscay between two fronts on their hobbled trimaran.

“It was on one tack to West Brittany, but then the problem was to get to North Brittany, it was on the other tack, so we weren’t quite sure how that was going to work out. What we did was put a lot of weight to starboard to compensate for the fact that it was lacking a hull, and that went okay. We had up to 25-30 knots of wind and big waves, but it stayed in place.”

Having safely arrived in St Malo, Berry is now working through non-destructive testing to establish the damage to the boat. “It’s very disappointing, for us because we were doing well in the race. And in fact three Ocean 50s in total, broke, so that was a bit of shame for the class because it’s a very good class.

“We have some fierce racing and these are really good boats. But unfortunately, this Transat Jaques Vabre wasn’t for us.”

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The 2023 Rolex World Sailor of the Year awards were presented to Tom Slingsby and Kirsten Neuschäfer last night at a ceremony by World Sailing in Málaga, Spain.

The popular choices were decided by both an expert panel and a public vote, with Australian America’s Cup and SailGP skipper Slingsby separated from his nearest fellow nominee by a winning margin of fewer than 20 votes.

This is the third time Tom Slingsby has been named male Rolex World Sailor of the Year. After steering his Australian SailGP Team to a third consecutive title in the foiling racing series, he remains the only skipper to have won the SailGP trophy. A multiple world champion in dinghy classes, he is also skipper of American Magic, who won the first Preliminary event in the 37th America’s Cup cycle earlier this year, and will be challenging for the Cup next year in Barcelona.

Tom Slingsby at the World Sailing Awards 2023, Malaga, Spain on 14th November 2023. Photo: Mark Lloyd/World Sailing

Slingsby said: “I’m super humbled to be in this position. Previously when I’ve won this award, it’s been after a Laser world title or a Moth world title but this time it was purely sailing with teams.

“American Magic have had a rough journey so far in their America’s Cup campaign but it feels like we’re really turning a chapter and there are really exciting things to come.

“And then with the Australian SailGP team, these are some of my oldest and best friends in the world and I’m so fortunate to go sailing with them and I’d be nothing without those guys behind me.”

South African Kirsten Neuschäfer is the female 2023 Rolex World Sailor of the Year, after becoming the first woman to win a solo or non-stop around the world race when she finished first in the ‘retro’ solo Golden Globe Race earlier this year. Neuschäfer is famously diverted course to pluck fellow Golden Globe Race competitor Tapio Lehtinen after Lehtinen’s boat sank and he spent 24 hours adrift in the southern Indian Ocean.

Via video message, Neuschäfer said: “It’s such an incredible honour to be a nominee among such amazing, acclaimed and iconic sailors, but to win this award, to be given this recognition by such an esteemed panel of judges and by the public means so, so much to me. Thank-you to everyone who has believed in me and cheered me on.”

11th Hour Racing Team won the team of the year. Photo: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing

Sailing team of the year, sustainability, and Beppe Croce Trophy

Other award winners include 11th Hour Racing, which was named Team of the Year after winning The Ocean Race.

The 11th Hour Racing Team, skippered by Rolex World Sailor of the Year nominee Charlie Enright, won the 2022-23 Ocean Race, becoming the first American team to win the crewed round the world race (formerly the Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Race) and also the first non-French team to win an IMOCA round the world race. The had very mixed fortunes in the race – struggling with damage early on before finding consistent form.

The American team also shared their spare rig with Guyot environment, which enabled the French team to stay in the competition, before – in a dramatic twist of fate – Guyot environment crashed into 11th Hour Racing at the start of the final stage. 11th Hour Racing were awarded redress which sealed the overall race win.

The team also had a strong sustainability agenda, with a number of initiatives to improve ocean health and carbon tracking during their race yacht build.

The Magenta Project won the 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award.

Dick Rose received the Beppe Croce Trophy for his dedication to the Racing Rules of Sailing which has spanned over thirty years, and the President’s Development Award went to the Andrew Simpson Foundation. The foundation celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, having been started in memory of Olympic gold medal winner and America’s Cup winner Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson MBE who tragically passed away during a training accident in 2013 aged just 26.

AC40s sailing ahead of the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta 2023 Photo: Ugo Fonollá/America’s Cup

AC40 named boat of the year

The AC40 was named Boat of the Year, the foiling one-design, created by Emirates Team New Zealand, will be used for two Preliminary events in the America’s Cup cycle before being the race boat for the Youth America’s Cup and first ever Women’s America’s Cup next year. The innovative and technologically advanced yacht features self-tacking headsails and an autopilot control system that maintains stable flight.

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The Transat Jacques Vabre 2023 officially started on Sunday 29 October, but with a particularly strong depression scheduled to cross the fleet on Wednesday 1 November, the decision was made to send the Class 40s and Ocean 50s on a 320 mile passage to Lorient on the French Atlantic coast, where they paused their racing. Meanwhile, the IMOCA 60 fleet were held in Le Harve with no options for stop-over ports which could accommodate the 40 foilers. That left the Ultime fleet the only class to set off on their Atlantic crossing as scheduled.

Finally well over a week after their planned start time, the IMOCA 60s have set off, with the start gun firing for the class at 8:30am GMT today, Tuesday 7 November. They follow the restart for the Class 40 and Ocean 50 classes who resumed their racing on Monday 6 November.

For fans wanting to watch the IMOCA 60 fleet set off, it was an early start, with the 40 IMOCAs docking out at 4am local time in order to be ready for the early morning start – a first in the 30 year history of the race.

By 5:30am, the Paul Vatine basin in Le Havre was empty and the 40 IMOCAs had all made their way to the race course. The first 24 hours of racing should contain few surprises, with a front which due to pass through the English Channel early Wednesday morning. Thereafter conditions will be a lot more uncertain. On paper, the northern / western route looks to be faster than heading South. But as the Swiss sailor Simon Koster (Hublot) puts it, “the question is to judge whether it is possible to execute [the northern route] as well as the computer does, which does not know the sea. On this route, it is possible to wait a long time to put something on the bowsprit [and head downwind, the favoured conditions for the foilers].”

Yann Eliès (Paprec Arkéa) wasn’t putting much faith in the modelled northern route advantage either: “We’re all looking for southern routes to get [south], but for the moment, they’re too expensive!” After twelve hours of tacking in the Channel and some big breeze near Ouessant, the teams will be able to feed new weather files into their computers at which point it might be clearer as to whether the best option is to head straight towards Cape Finisterre or if they should put a little west in their route.

The waves will be a major factor in the teams decision making process and with 4-5m swells predicted on further into the Atlantic, it may be that some of the non-foilers choose the northern / western route, while the foilers look for calmer seas to the south.

With a decent breeze at start time, all teams were carrying some reefs and their reduced sail plan not only reflected the breezy conditions, but also the winds expected in the coming hours as the IMOCAs head up the channel into a headwind.  Groupe Dubreuil and Maître Coq led off the startline, with the two stablemates For People and For The Planet also getting good starts. But it was, Charal which showed the best turn of pace to leeward of these two demonstrating that the new IMOCAs can foil even upwind.

The only hitch in the start came courtesy of Bureau Vallée, which crossed between the inner distance mark buoy and the committee boat and therefore did not cross the line defined by the Sailing Instructions. He receives a 5-hour penalty.

As for one of the favourite’s to win the event, the all-conquering Charlie Dalin on Macif Santé Prévoyance, it had already been announced that he could not compete in the race for health reasons. However, in order to keep his qualification process for the next Vendée Globe underway, his medical team allowed him to cross the startline before immediately retiring from the race.

You can keep up to date with the racing on the Transat Jacques Vabre race tracker.

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Yesterday’s scheduled start for the Transat Jacques Vabre – the double-handed race across the Atlantic from Le Havre to Martinique – partially got away on Sunday 29 October, but the IMOCA class have been held ashore and both the Class 40 and Ocean 50 trimarans are racing only as far as Lorient before pausing to restart. The Ultimes were the sole fleet to set off on non-stop transatlantic.

The reason for the disrupted start schedule is a series of low pressure systems forming in the Atlantic. With a particularly strong depression scheduled to cross the fleet on Wednesday, the decision was made early on start day morning to send the Class 40s and Ocean 50s on a 320 mile passage to Lorient on the French Atlantic coast, where they will be able to pause racing and then restart.

However, the 40-boat IMOCA fleet – many of whom now carry large foils – are not so easily accommodated in other ports and so will be held ashore in Le Havre until conditions moderate. Results will be calculated with aggregate race time.

“We were all prepared to go, until the fleet got a message saying the start will be postponed,” explained IMOCA Medallia skipper Pip Hare yesterday. “Unlike the other fleets we’re not going to do a short leg, basically because there’s nowhere for us to go – all the ports are full. So we’re staying here.

“I think we could be here for a week because we’ve got the monster low that’s causing all the problems, and then there’s another one after that.”

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The challenge for the TJV skippers would have been to make sufficient ground to the south in order to avoid the incoming secondary low – but for almost every IMOCA skipper the Transat Jacques Vabre (and the return solo race, Retour a la Base) are key qualifiers for the 2024 Vendée Globe and so many would have been planning a conservative approach to the early stages of this transatlantic.

The giant ultim trimarans, capable of 700-plus miles per day, are capable of outrunning the approaching low pressure system and so have started their race non-stop.

Despite the IMOCAs being held ashore, the start was spectacular, with five giant Ultim, 44 Class 40s, and six Ocean 50s launching out of Le Havre in tough and gusty conditions.

LE HAVRE, FRANCE – OCTOBER 29 : Ultim boats start the Transat Jacques Vabre in Le Havre, France, on October 29, 2023. (photo by Jean-Marie Liot / Alea)

In the challenging seaway there were some early collisions and overnight the Class 40 Crédit Mutuel dismasted off the coast of Guernsey, while two other boats have paused racing, one after colliding with an underwater object.

By this morning the Ultim race leaders were already nearly 200 miles west of Ushant and setting up to cross the first front into the 15-20 knots north-westerly winds which will set them up for some fast sailing southwards.

Furthest to the north-west, Francois Gabart and Tom Laperche on SVR Lazartigue are likely to get into the new wind first, while Armel Le Cléac’h and Seb Josse on Maxi Banque Populaire lead on the tracker by 8.5 miles.

Gabart said this morning, “We wanted to keep things simple with fewer manoeuvres. It wasn’t easy to get well positioned in winds that kept changing direction. In any case, the routings to the north or south of the TSS were fairly close to each other. We now have the wind behind the front and are on a long starboard tack towards Cape Finisterre.”

Transat Jacques Vabre start delayed: The right decision

Despite the last-minute announcements – “I had my boots on!” one skipper joked – there was support among the IMOCA fleet for the race committee decision to delay the Transat Jacques Vabre start.

“At this time of year a weather front coming up the western approaches and into Biscay is relatively normal, but this one that’s coming in Wednesday is particularly aggressive, it will have a big sea state behind it and as it approaches Finisterre where the continental shelf is that means huge breaking waves, damage to boats, damage to people, and its’ just not a good idea to head out into that,” explained Pip Hare.

“I think in general the response among the fleet is this is the correct decision. Those of us that were looking for bail out options realised there were very few.”

IMOCAs held ashore

Yoann Richomme, who is looking to qualify his new Paprec Arkéa for next year’s Vendée Globe, said: “Yesterday evening, I understood we would be heading out into an exceptionally deep low.

“We can cope with 40-50 knot winds, but here we are looking at 80 knots gusting to 100-115 knots with 10-12m high waves. With the danger to life, there is no good reason to be out at sea. It’s not reasonable to send the boats out in this, even cargo vessels.”

One of the early race favourites, Charlie Dalin with his new Macif, had already confirmed that he was not going to compete due to a medical issue.

Dalin planned to cross the start line and then retire due to a health issue, as there is provision within the Vendée Globe rules for a new boat to gain qualification miles even if a medical or technical issue prevents them for completing the course.

However, the majority of IMOCA skippers will be looking to complete two transatlantic in the next few weeks and will be watching the weather forecast carefully.

Regular updates are being posted on the official Transat Jacques Vabre website.

The post ‘Boat breaking’ depression disrupts Transat Jacques Vabre start appeared first on Yachting World.

This year we’ve seen plenty of mediocre Prime Day boating deals, and with Prime Big Deal Days here until midnight there are plenty more around, but you won’t find any here on YachtingWorld.com – we’ve filtered them all out to bring you only the biggest discounts.

All the offers below have been checked and verified for Day 2, but don’t hang about – one of the best deals has already sold out and they’ll likely all be gone at midnight.

In case you didn’t already know, you’ll need an Amazon Prime membership to take advantage of Prime Big Deal Days, but if you don’t want to subscribe, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Prime instead.

You can cancel at any time within 30 days, so if you subscribe now and set yourself a reminder to cancel before the end of the month, you can take advantage of the best 2023 Prime Big Deal Days boating deals without paying the year’s subscription fee.

Quick links

• Amazon: Savings on paddleboards, kayaks, binoculars and more
• Decathlon: Deals on watersports and boating kit
• West Marine (US): Latest deals on boating and fishing gear
• Gael Force Marine (UK): More than half price discounts on chandlery

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Prime Day boating deals 2023: The best Big Deal Days offers

Bushnell H2O Waterproof Binoculars – save up to 51%*
IPX7 waterproof and fog proof, these are more than up to the job of keeping watch, or even indulging in a spot of birdwatching at anchor. *Discounts range from 43% to 51% depending on size.

View Deal

Roc 10ft Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board starter kit – save 44%
This offer is a great way to get on the water. With a manual pump, two paddles, a fin, ankle tether and a dry bag, this bundle includes everything you need to start paddle boarding – and it’s the lowest price we’ve ever seen for this board.

View Deal on Amazon.com

Jackery Explorer 1000 Portable Power Station – save up to 40%
The best deal on this portable power station is when you buy it with a solar panel, as you’ll save a huge 40%, but as a stand alone powerpack it’s still a really good deal too as you can save 30% on the original price.

View Deal

Best of the rest

Early Amazon Prime Big Deal Days deals US

• 43% off INTEX Excursion K2 Pro Inflatable Kayak
• 39% off Lowrance HDS-Live 12″ Fish Finder

Early Amazon Prime Big Deal Days deals UK

• 44% off Hydro-Force 10ft Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board
• 44% off Garmin Instinct Solar smartwatch
• 40% off Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 1000
• 37% off Intex Explorer K2 Kayak

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRIME DAY DEALS

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Think of it as another Black Friday. Prime Day is a 48-hour flash sale from Amazon, where, for two days only, savvy shoppers can grab a whole host of bargains. It’s online only and is held to mark Amazon’s birthday. Prime Day started in 2015 on Amazon’s 20th birthday, with this year being its 28th.

When is the next Prime Day?

Amazon recently announced that it will be running Prime Big Deal Days on October 10-11. Think of it as a mini Prime Day, similar to last year’s Prime Early Access Sale.

We’re expecting some great deals, comparable to Black Friday, to tempt people to make a head start on their Christmas shopping and we’ll be covering it in depth, so check back nearer the time for the best Prime Big Deal Days boating offers.

Which brands are taking part in Prime Big Deal Days 2023?

Lots of big brands will be offering deals, such as Philips, Bosch, Miele and Samsung, but during previous Prime events we’ve also seen plenty of sailing brands getting involved too, such as Bluefin, Helly Hansen, Sebago, Sperry and Steiner.

How does sizing affect Prime Day deals?

Shopping for clothes in the Prime Day sales can be frustrating as the biggest discounts are always on the least popular sizes (XS or XL). That’s why we mark size-dependant discounts with an * as the right size for you may not have such a big discount.

What do you classify as a Prime Day deal?

In the past we’ve covered a huge range of Prime Day deals, from waterproof speakers to dehumidifiers, and depending on the RRP, a small discount can add up to a lot. But we’l be dedicating this page to the big discounts, with 25% or more shaved from the list price, so make sure to bookmark it and check back on October 10.

Didn’t find what you’re looking for? Head to Amazon’s dedicated sailing page for more marine products.

The post Prime Day boating deals 2023: These 9 Big Deal Days offers are going fast appeared first on Yachting World.

A Dutch cruising couple were forced to abandon their brand new anchor and chain off the port of Pula, northern Croatia, after they discovered they were entangled with an unexploded bomb.

Experienced cruisers Daniel Steenstra and his wife employed a diver to find out why they were unable to weigh anchor after a night in North Harbour, Pula. The diver reported seeing a large cylindrical object rising from the seabed, approximately 2m in diameter, which the authorities then confirmed to be an unexploded Allied bomb that had been dropped during World War II.

Pula Harbour was a German submarine base during World War II and was attacked heavily as a result, but it is now a busy sailing hub with hundreds of charter yachts based at multiple marinas in the area. Steenstra is concerned there was little action by the authorities once the discovery was made.

“We feel very lucky,” he reported. “We lost a brand new anchor but if that bomb had gone off, we might not be around to tell the tale. The gravity of the situation extended beyond personal loss, as the presence of the bomb endangered other sailors in the area. Despite reporting the hazardous discovery to local police and military forces, no action was taken. Disturbingly, local authorities failed to issue any warnings through channels such as VHF Radio Rijeka.”

Authorities all over Europe respond to unexploded ordnance on a regular basis; according to a BBC report the British Ministry of Defence is called upon to deal with 60 World War II bombs on land each year. They have also been discovered in the sea: in December 2020 a 15m crab fishing vessel in the North Sea disturbed a German bomb, which exploded injuring all five crew on board.

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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The post Cruising couple hook an unexploded bomb while at anchor! appeared first on Yachting World.

Amost exactly 50 years to the day since the first Whitbread Round the World Race, the latest ‘retro’ race, the Ocean Globe Race, set off today from Cowes, UK.

Fourteen teams racing in three classes set off on a single start from the famous Royal Yacht Squadron line, with fluky conditions in the Solent granting the fleet a brief window of 10-15 knot breezes to get over the line and make for spectacular scenes, though shortly after the breeze faded to zephyrs as the fleet made their way west.

The Ocean Globe Race fleet, with Pen Duick VI nearest camera, shortly after starting from the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes

The Ocean Globe Race is the latest ‘retro’ race to pay homage to the ground-breaking ocean and offshore races of yesteryear, this one a crewed around the world with-stops, which is intended to capture the spirit of the first Whitbread Round the World Race, and is organised by Don McIntyre, who is also the man behind the Golden Globe Race modern editions.

This week marked the 50th anniversary of the Whitbread Round the World Race, which first set out from Portsmouth, UK on 8 September 1973.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, the support of MDL Marinas, and a lot of tireless work behind the scenes, the Ocean Globe Race (unlike the Golden Globe Race, which moved to France for its reincarnation) started once again from the Solent, with the race village hosted in Ocean Village, Southampton, before the fleet set off from the Royal Yacht Squadron line off Cowes today.

A busy pre-start for the Ocean Globe Race fleet leaving Cowes, UK

Despite some unforcast rain shortly before the start, an impressive and eclectic spectator flotilla gathered to see the fleet off, with a slightly authentic Whitbread-era air of chaos as the 14 race yachts milled around pre-start amongst RIBS, race yachts, classics, spectator ferries, and a vintage steam ship.

Nevertheless, all fourteen got away cleanly without incident and were swiftly demonstrating some old-school boat handling skills: Galiana WithSecure hoisting her blooper sail shortly after the downwind start, while L’Esprit d’Équipe demonstrated a twin-pole gybe.

Iconic Ocean Globe Race entries

The Ocean Globe Race has attracted some truly legendary yachts. Most famous on this side of the Channel – and certainly attracting the greatest spectator flotilla – is Tracy Edwards’ Maiden. The Bruce Farr-designed 58-footer, which twice competed in the Whitbread Round the World Race, is the only all-female team in the race, repeating the history of Tracy Edwards’ famous 1989 race, and is skippered by Heather Thomas.

After falling into near total disrepair, Maiden was rescued by Edwards and had a major refit in 2017/18 ahead of a world tour to raise funds and awareness for girls’ education. In order to bring her back into race trim additional bunks have been added, as Maiden will race with a crew of 12, a new sail wardrobe, additional heating for the Southern Ocean stages.

Thomas said: “We’ve really pitched her towards winning the race, performance wise we’ve got four different headsails, four different spinnakers, so we’re really going to be pushing her to her limit to try and beat Marie [Taberly] and Pen Duick, and Neptune and Translated and all of them! So we’re really trying to push as hard as we can.”

Whilst Maiden has broken many glass ceilings, an all-female team has never won a crewed around the world race, so that is the team’s ultimate goal.

The iconic Ocean Globe Race yacht Pen Duick VI, skippered by Marie Tabarly, is one of the hardest raced entrants in recent years, here competing in the Rolex Fastnet Race. Credit: Kurt Arrigo/Rolex

Maiden is racing in the highly competitive Flyer class, which also includes the iconic French yacht Pen Duick VI, led by Marie Taberly, daughter of French sailing legend, Éric Tabarly. Like Maiden, Pen Duick VI had been on a world tour, the Elemen’Terre project, raising awareness of environmental and social issues through activities including art and performance.

At 73ft Pen Duick VI was designed by André Mauric and built for the 1973/4 Whitbread Round the World Race and had a major refit ahead in 2011/12 as well as updates for her round the world project. It has retained many of its original features, including industrial hatches, coffee grinders, and twin cockpits.

Also in the Flyer class is another Mauric design, the 1977 Neptune, which raced in the 1977-78 Whitbread Race to 8th place. The French team includes Bertrand Delhom, who aims to become the first sailor with Parkinson’s disease to race around the world.

Translated 9, previously raced in the 1977 Whitbread Round the World Race as ADC Accutrac by British skipper, Clare Francis, training ahead of the 2023 Ocean Globe Race.

Another famous British woman skipper’s yacht is now racing as Translated 9 in the Flyer class, having originally sailed as ADC Accutrac, skippered by Clare Francis, to 5th place in the 1977/78 Whitbread Round the World Race.

Translated is a Swan 65 which has been impressively refitted with a lengthy build up campaign to the race, and is likely to be a strong contender. The crew is primarily made up of amateur sailors who applied to take part, but includes experienced Italian skipper/owner Marco Trombetti and his son Nico as First Mate. It also includes 2022 Golden Globe Race veteran, Simon Curwen, who took line honours in the race and was first in the Chichester Class.

The fifth boat to make up the Flyer class is another Whitbread class winner, the Briand-designed L’Esprit d’Équipe, which won class in the 1985/86 edition of the race. L’Esprit d’Équipe is skippered by pro racer and boat builder Lionel Regnier.

The 14 Ocean Globe Race yachts, including seven former Whitbread entrants, assembled in Ocean Village, Southampton. Credit: Aida Valceanu / OGR2023

Adventurous entrants

Nine other teams are competing in the Adventure Class (for yachts 47ft-56ft) and Sayula class (56-66ft). They include the Baltic 55, Outlaw, another Whitbread Race veteran, having raced in the 1985-86 edition as Equity and Law; the sole American entry, a Swan 51, Godspeed, which is crewed by US military veterans; the Olin Stephens designed Explorer, which is skippered by by 2018 and 2022 Golden Globe Race veteran, Australian Mark Sinclair; and Evrika, the Swan 65 formerly owned by Pink Floyd’s Rick Wright. Evrika is now skippered by French sailor and boat builder Dominique Dubois after the yacht he originally entered, a Swan 651 called Futuro, was blown from its cradle during Storm Gérard in February this year and written off.

The smallest yacht in the fleet is Galiana, the 1970 Swan 55 skippered by Golden Globe Race veteran Tapio Lehtinen. Lehtinen has a young crew that he carefully selected over several years of trials, as one of his key goals is to bring on young Finnish sailors, having himself competed in the 1981-82 Whitbread Race at the age of 23.

Lehtinen is well known as a classic yacht aficionado and Galiana has been lovingly restored, but was dismasted at the start of this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race. The team worked swiftly to preserve all the sails and hardware, and Galiana has a fully repaired – though less aesthetically pleasing – rig.

The Ocean Globe Race fleet heading west out of the Solent, Galiana (far right) flying a blooper downwind.

Down below the refit for the Ocean Globe Race took inspiration from yachts such as Kialoa 3, with classic white panelling where new bunks have been added, and practical touches including air-dryers for wet kit and boots. The aft companionway was also closed off to create a drier entranceway to the living quarters and nav station, while the main saloon now has a smaller table from Lehtinen’s previous boat, his Gaia 36 Asteria – which famously sank in the Southern Indian Ocean last November.

However, it’s Galiana’s sail plan which is most remarkable, including a traditional blooper. Lehtinen admits that while it might not help her rating, he had to choose an authentic sail wardrobe from the ‘70s “Because I’m a romantic.”

Follow the Ocean Globe Race at oceangloberace.com

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Two VO65 yachts racing in The Ocean Race have become the latest boats to face ‘attacks’ by orcas off the Iberian Peninsula.

The two VO65s, Team JAJO and Mirpuri Trifork Racing, were racing in the VO65 Sprint leg to the race finale in Genoa when they were approached by orcas yesterday afternoon between 1-5 miles off the Spanish coast on the approach to Tarifa.

Despite the orcas shoving into the boats, and nudging or biting at the rudders, both VO65s escaped unscathed, and subsequently contacted Race Control to confirm there had been no damage or injuries onboard.

“Twenty minutes ago we got hit by some orcas,” said Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek shortly after the incident. 

“Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team. We took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quickly as possible and luckily after a few attacks they went away… This was a scary moment.”

The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup 2022-23 – 23 June 2023, Stage 3 onboard Team JAJO. Gibraltar Strait Orca encounter.

The attack is of little surprise to sailors who have been monitoring the spate of encounters between orcas and yachts both in the area around Gibraltar and up Portuguese and Spanish Atlantic coasts. 

Since the summer of 2020 a pod of whales has been repeatedly swimming up to sailing yachts, aggressively nudging the boats, biting and hitting the rudders and keels. Many yachts have suffered severe damage, and in some incidences – though thankfully limited to a handful cases – the damage has caused the yachts to sink. So far three yachts have sunk off the Iberian coast, fortunately with all crew safely rescued, though encounters have been reported by over 100 other yachts over the past 18 months.

Last month it was revealed that some researchers believe the same female orca, nicknamed ‘White Gladis’, began the pattern of behaviour, which has now been adopted by the local killer whale population. Mature females have the highest status and importance within the whales’ social groups.

Researchers have also identified that a group of juveniles are leading their own attacks. However, scientists studying the whales have no clear answer as to why their behaviour has changed.

In a previous incident, orcas hitting the rudders of a Lagoon 45 catamaran off the Spanish coast. Credit: Halcyon Yachts

Orca attacks spreading?

Until now the incidents have been limited to the Spanish and Portuguese coasts, but earlier this week a sailor reported that his seven-tonne steel yacht had been rammed whilst sailing off Shetland in the North Sea.

Dutch sailor Dr Wim Rutten, a 72-year-old retired physicist, was sailing solo from Lerwick to Bergen in Norway, and was trolling with a single fishing line for mackerel at the time.

He told the Guardian that an orca repeatedly hit the stern of his yacht and swam behind the vessel “looking for the keel. Then he disappeared … but came back at fast speed, twice or thrice … and circled a bit.”

This would be the first reported incident of similar behaviour spreading to other local orca populations. Dr Conor Ryan, a scientific adviser to the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, who has studied orca pods off the Scottish coast, told the Guardian: “I’d be reluctant to say it cannot be learned from [the southern population]. It’s possible that this ‘fad’ is leapfrogging through the various pods/communities.”

Orcas circle a Sun Odyssey 40 yacht. Photo: Martyn and Zoe Barlow

Pacific sinkings following whale collisions

Entirely unrelated to the spate of attacks by orca whales in the Northern Hemisphere, there have also been two reported sinkings caused by yachts colliding with whales mid-Pacific in the past couple of months.

Just yesterday, eight Danish sailors were rescued by a fishing boat mid-Pacific after their 51ft Beneteau Oceanis Lulu sank following a collision with either one or two whales, the Danish Armed Forces confirmed in a statement on Thursday 22 June.

After abandoning the yacht, the crew took refuge in their liferaft and raised the alarm via sat phone. An international search and rescue co-ordinated by the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu, Hawaii saw the crew safely rescued by a fishing vessel before being transferred to a container ship, now headed for Tahiti.

This follows the March rescue of four American sailors, who were also recovered from their liferaft after their Kelly Peterson 44 Raindancer sank rapidly following a collision with a whale 1200 miles from French Polynesia. It’s unknown whether whales intentionally collided with yachts Lulu and Raindancer, or if they are purely coincidental. 

The post WATCH: Ocean Race yachts ‘attacked’ by orcas following spate of whale collisions appeared first on Yachting World.

The increase in people participating in watersports in the UK during the Covid 19 pandemic – when restrictions on international travel reduced overseas holiday options – continued to build in 2022 despite those restrictions largely lifting according to a report by British Marine.

The Watersports Participation Survey 2022 has revealed, some 13.2 million UK adults tried a boating activity in 2022, up 3 per cent from 12.8 million in 2021. Over 10 million people took part in one or more boating activities once or twice in 2022, while the number of people taking part more frequently in on-water activities (at least three times) remained similar to the previous year, at 3.2 million.

The Watersports Participation Survey is conducted annually by a consortium of leading marine bodies, including British Marine, Royal Yachting Association (RYA), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), British Canoeing (BC) Canal and River Trust and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).

Anyone who has spent any time on or near the water in the last few years will not be surprised that the biggest growth areas are coastal and inland paddle sports such as stand up paddle boarding and kayaking / sea kayaking.  “Paddle sport activities, particularly stand up paddleboarding, which are easily accessible both on the coast and inland waterways, have remained extremely popular with participation figures continuing to rise,” said Lesley Robinson, CEO of British Marine.

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Although the report is generally positive, this popularity in the paddle sports does raise some small concerns. Firstly that the figures do continue to show a clear trend towards more infrequent, experiential participation rather than regular participation, which is unsurprising given the growth comes largely thanks to sectors like paddle boarding for which occasional use is part of the appeal.

Rather more worrying is that this increase in casual paddle sports has seen an associated growth in rescue operations. Samantha Hughes, RNLI Water Safety Partner, says: “We’ve seen a huge rise in incidents to paddle boarders over the last few years, and a significant number are to people who have been blown or swept out to sea. If you find yourself in difficulty at the coast, please call 999 and ask for the coastguard.

“The best way to enhance your time on the water is to have a stand-up paddleboard lesson. You will learn useful techniques including tips to help you get back on the board. You’ll also develop your skills and knowledge of how to understand the environment such as wind and tidal information. This will set you up for future paddling.”

The RNLI further state that those heading out in a kayak or paddle board should:

• Wear a buoyancy aid
• Carry a phone in a waterproof phone case
• Wear the correct leash and paddling accessories
• Avoid offshore winds

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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The post Paddle sports continue uptick in watersports participation appeared first on Yachting World.

Starlink, Elon Musk’s low orbit satellite network which delivers low cost high speed internet via a portable dish, has shaken up its offering for cruising sailors and other broadband users at sea.

Starlink has been hailed as a game-changer by many adopters. Since its launch just two and a half years ago, its coverage has expanded rapidly and many cruisers crossing the Atlantic last season reported full service mid-ocean. Even cruisers in remote Pacific regions have been reporting excellent connectivity while at sea.

In March this year, four American sailors were rescued after their yacht Raindancer sank mid-Pacific in what may well be the first Starlink-enabled rescue. While the conventional rescue communication protocols worked effectively, their rescue was accelerated by the fact that several other yachts on the route were made aware of their plight from browsing Facebook while online, and a Whatsapp group was set up to help coordinate their rescue among boats with fast connectivity (see June issue of Yachting World for the full story).

However, most recreational sailors have been using Starlink Roam, previously known as Starlink RV (‘recreational vehicle’) – a plan designed for those in touring vehicles, off grid cabins etc, who needed connectivity whilst stationary – and, critically, on land. The original dedicated Maritime version was designed for commerical use, with subscription initially costing around £5,000 per month.

Starlink dish fitted to a bimini structure on a cruising yacht. Photo: Phil Johnson/SV Sonder

Numerous Facebook groups sprang up, populated with instructions on how to ‘hack’ the standard Starlink dish to improve its connectivity on a moving yacht, though Starlink contracts always made clear that using a modified stardard dish and Roam connection whilst sailing was in breach of its warranty and terms of service.

However, over the past couple of week cruisers have been receiving emails from Starlink notifying them that the company is cracking down on this usage:

“Your Starlink has been used in areas that violate the terms and conditions of your service plan: your plan does not include service on the ocean. Starting as early as May 9th, 2023 you will be unable to connect to the internet on the ocean except to access your Starlink account where you can make updates to your account.”

The message then went on to recommend users change their service plan to one of their new, more expensive, ‘Mobile Priority’ plans (though considerably less than the previous Maritime plan).

It’s important to note that this crack down is not a change to Starlink’s usage permissions, the company is only enforcing its existing terms and conditions.

The notifications prompted a flurry of discusssion on the many Starlink user groups, with some joking that it ‘felt like Y2K all over again’, and concerns that connectivity would be cut off instantly at 0000hrs on May 9 (that wasn’t the case, although some customers have received repeated emails and connectivity warnings).

Starlink at sea

Starlink maps service areas into 15 mile cells, shown on its service maps as blue and black hexagons, determining whether that area is ‘land’ or ‘ocean’, marked in ‘blue’ and ‘black’ respectively. If the satellite technology detects that the dish is being used in a black hexagon it will consider you to be on the ocean. There are, unsurprisingly, a few anomalies – islands and promontories etc which have not been recognised as land etc.

‘Land’ and ‘Ocean’ areas as shown around the Canary Islands on the Starlink map. Source: Starlink.com

Starlink advised Roam users instead move to one of their Mobile Priority plans. However, in a pattern that will be familiar to anyone who’s followed Musk’s rapid-fire changes at Twitter, those policy options went through a series of updates and different pricing plans over the past week.

One possible solution for cruising users may be to subscribe to a Priority data plan which can be ‘toggled’ on and off as they move between land and ocean areas – although some users report that even after toggling ‘off’ they were still using data from the more expensive Priority plan.

Whilst many RV/Roam users have successfully used Starlink’s standard dish whilst in motion, Starlink now offers a dedicated ‘in motion’ option using a higher performance dish. The website currently shows Starlink Martime and Starlink Mobility packages from £247 per month with a hardware cost of £2410, though there are some hefty discounts currently being promoted to existing standard dish owners on new hardware costs

Will a securely anchored yacht running Starlink be viewed as ‘in motion’? Photo: Phil Johnson/SV Sonder

What’s not yet clear is whether the geo-locating technology considers being on anchor or in a marina as stationary or in motion. One email shared on a user group, apparently from Starlink customer service, says:

“You do not need the high performance dish to use in-motion service. However, using the regular dish in-motion voids the warranty, as it wasn’t deigned or built for in motion use. In motion means moving…. A boat at anchor is considered in motion. The bobbing motion will trigger the motion sensors in the dish.

“The non high perforamnce antennas may be used in motion now, and in the forseeable future. We do not anticipate removing this capability. A reminder however that they weill be out of warranty if used in motion.”

However, confusing, Starlink’s own FAQ page, under “Can I use Starlink in motion?”, advises:

“Flat High Performance Starlink is only available to be purchased in certain regions. If your account country is outside these regions, you can use your current Starlink hardware paired with the Mobile Priority data to access prioritized service globally on land and in the ocean while stationary.” [our underline]

User groups advise contacting Starlink direct if, for example, you want to use non-priority data while in port and only occasional in-motion priority data for an ocean passage. Options and restrictions also depend on which region cruisers purchased their dish in, and which address their data plan is registered to. 

The other consensus among user groups seems to be that, unless you need seamless high speed connectivity because you are running a business whilst cruising or similar, not to rush to replace hardware or sign up for new data plans as they are rapidly evolving.

The post Starlink at sea: all change for cruisers  appeared first on Yachting World.

British solo sailor Simon Curwen has crossed the finish line of the Golden Globe Race, the single-handed around the world ‘retro’ event, after 234 days and 22 hours of racing.

Curwen, who is from Emsworth in the UK but also a resident of Brittany, France, crossed the line off Les Sables d’Olonne at midday today in his 1976-built Biscay 36 Clara. Fans from the French Atlantic town turned out to welcome him home, and Curwen took time to enjoy the moment, sailing up Les Sables’ famous Channel with his spinnaker flying, flares in hand.

Curwen is the first solo skipper to complete the course, having set off on September 4, 2022. However, he is not eligible to win the event, which is a non-stop race, as he had to put into Puerto Montt in Chile to make repairs to his windvane system. This demoted him to ‘Chichester’ class, although he resumed racing after making repairs ashore.

He was unaware that he was first home until his arrival, as skippers can’t use modern communication devices such as AIS which would show his competitors’ position.

“That’s fantastic!” he said after being told. “I need to look and see how that happened because I must’ve been 10 days behind [the race leaders] at the Cape [Horn].

“I wasn’t in the race, it’s not a race, but it’s very nice to be back first!”

“It’s fantastic, getting back to civilization,” he added on arrival on the dock. “The race was fantastic. There were times when it was tough – not so much physically tough, and the weather wasn’t particularly extreme except for one wave – but just the fact of being on the boat for so long. 

“And particularly being on these boats downwind for so long because you’re just rocking and rolling, you can’t relax, you’re just being thrown about. And there was a lot of downwind on the race!”

Simon Curwen on Clara sailing before the Golden Globe Race start in Les Sables d’Olonne.

His scariest moment, he said, was not in the deep Southern Ocean, but passing Finisterre in fog. “There were dozens of ships around Finisterre, and not being able to see them on AIS

I was calling them up and saying ‘can you see little me?’. That was probably the scariest moment because some of them came really close, and some of the ones in thick fog I just couldn’t see at all.”

Today’s arrival will likely be bittersweet for Curwen, who led the fleet from the Bay of Biscay until some 1,000 miles off Cape Horn. In late January Curwen was sailing in 40 knot winds and 6-metre seas when his Biscay 36, Clara was knocked down; the boat’s dodger ripped off and the Hydrovane head sheared off. The mainsail batten cars were also pulled from the mast track.

He tweeted at the time: ‘Disaster, as concerns the race. Early today Clara was knocked down. Sailing with just tiny headsail. The windvane head sheared off. Boat and skipper fine. Working on a plan.’

The windvane part was irreparable, and Curwen was not carrying a spare windvane in order to save weight, so he had to retire from the race in order to make repairs.

Simon Curwen on the Biscay Clara, sponsored by Howdens, was 1st through Golden Globe Race’s Hobart Gate on Christmas Eve 2022.

Once Curwen set off to complete the course, he sailed an impressively fast return Atlantic leg. “I am ahead of my best expectations in terms of speed up the Atlantic,” he reported last week. “It is partly because the boat is still in very good nick. 

“The sails are pretty much as good as at the start, and the antifoul [he used Nautix A9000 SPC Self-Polishing Copolymer] is good and the boat is lighter, as I’ve eaten a lot of food, so the boat has been going well. 

“I have also been fortunate with the weather, and my routing, I think, has worked well. I have not done anything extraordinary at all, just kept to very straight lines, but I am a few days ahead of my most optimistic expectations for coming up the Atlantic.”

Curwen is an experienced racer, having competed on the RORC and JOG offshore circuits as well as a Mini Transat (he still holds the best Mini Transat result of any British singlehanded sailor, coming second in the 2000-2001 event). He prepared his boat assiduously, setting up base in Lorient ahead of the Golden Globe Race, and repeatedly demonstrated not only impressive seamanship on his first circumnavigation, but both his and Clara’s competitiveness again in the race.

Despite not being eligible for the race win, he was relaxed and jovial on arrival, bantering with the waiting journalists in French. The 2018 race winner Jean Luc van den Heede also awarded Curwen a pennant as a verified ‘Cape Horner’.

“What’s next? Well, food, and people probably will want me to have a shower given I’ve only used 250 litres of water the whole trip!” he added.

The first non-stop skipper in the race, Kirsten Neuschafer, is expected to arrive in Les Sables later tonight, with 2nd placed Abhilash Tomy predicted tomorrow morning. 

The post Simon Curwen first finisher in Golden Globe Race (but can’t win overall) appeared first on Yachting World.

It has been confirmed that Clarisse Crémer’s Vendée Globe campaign is back on with L’Occitane en Provence stepping in as headline sponsor, while British five-time Vendée Globe veteran Alex Thomson has been confirmed as team principal.

Earlier this year, the news that Clarisse Crémer had been dropped by her sponsor following time away from sailing to have a baby shook the yachting world and left the French sailor’s dreams of being on the startline for the 2024 Vendée Globe in tatters.

Today’s announcement confirms that Crémer will once again be competing for a place on the startline of the single-handed around the world race. “I can’t wait to get back to sailing,” she commented in today’s statement.

Crémer gave birth to her daughter last November and was due to sail for Banque Populaire in the forthcoming Vendée Globe, with the French banking giant having agreed to purchase the IMOCA 60 Apivia. The Verdier-designed FRA 79, formerly Apivia, is the fastest boat of its generation, in which Charlie Dalin won the Transat Jacques Vabre (2019), finished second in the Vendée Globe (2021, having crossed the line in 1st before redress was awarded for the rescue of Kevin Escoffier) and the Route du Rhum (2022).

After she was dropped by Banque Populaire, Crémer took to social media stating that her sponsor knew of her pregnancy when the deal was agreed and expressed her disappointment in the outcome. The story was picked up by a number of national and international publications and following the backlash Banque Populaire withdrew from the race completely, leaving one of the most competitive IMOCA 60s in the fleet available.

Apivia, the IMOCA upon which Cremer will compete in the next Vendee after being rebranded under new sponsor L’Occitane en Provence. Photo: Pierre Bouras

On 22 March 2023, Alex Thomson announced the purchase of Apivia from Banque Populaire leading to much speculation that Crémer could again be racing on the boat (Thomson’s team is also supporting newcomer Scott Shawyer of Canada Ocean Racing in his goal to reach the 2028 Vendée Globe).

But with today’s latest announcement, it is finally confirmed that Crémer will indeed be skippering the IMOCA 60 under the sponsorship of L’Occitane en Provence and with Thomson as Team Principal.

Clairisse Crémer started her sailing career whilst at university and went on to finish 2nd in her first solo race, the 2017 Mini Transat. She moved onto the Figaro class before joining the Banque Populaire sailing team in 2019 to take on her first Vendée Globe in 2020 – where she finished 12th and was the first female sailor.

“I am particularly happy and proud to be able to start this new adventure with L’Occitane en Provence. I have had the Vendée Globe 2024 in mind since I last rounded the Cape of Good Hope and it is a privilege to have them by my side to pursue this challenge,” Crémer commented.

“These last few months have been intense, sometimes hard, but I will always be grateful to all those who have believed in me and who have enabled me, year after year, to progress and take part in the major events in ocean racing.

“Today I’m focused on the future: it’s a great joy to have an extraordinary boat and a great team to accompany me in this adventure, and I can’t wait to get back to sailing.

“The Vendée Globe starting line is still a long way off and there are still many challenges to be faced, but I am putting all my energy into the success of this project to prove that with desire, determination and the right partners, we can make society, companies and sport more equitable.”

Adrien Geiger, Managing Director of L’Occitane en Provence said: “We are very proud to support Clarisse Crémer, a true role model for the new generations, and to help her accomplish her sporting and human adventure.

“We have decided to join forces to promote women’s leadership in sailing, a competitive world that is still largely male. Indeed, we make it a point of honour to support all women in their personal and professional projects.

“From 2020, we have decided to take a strong position on the key issue of parenthood. L’Occitane has become the first international cosmetics group to implement a parental leave policy on such a broad international scale. This policy applies to L’Occitane employees worldwide, including company-owned offices, factories and shops.”

Alex Thomson, Team Principal, said: “Clarisse is one of the most talented sailors in ocean racing and she deserves to be at the start of the Vendée Globe next year.

“My team and I are delighted that L’Occitane en Provence will support Clarisse for the Vendée Globe. We want to prove to the world that becoming a mother doesn’t change who you are as an athlete. We intend to provide Clarisse with all the tools that will enable her to compete with equity.”

There is now a race against time for Cremer’s team to shape their support team, make any technical updates to the boat, plan their race schedule and start the race for qualifying miles, to qualify for the next Vendée Globe which starts 10th November 2024.

Her position on the startline is yet to be guaranteed (though it would be extraordinary if race organisers did not award her a place after the furore that followed her sacking). But with the backing of L’Occitane en Provence – themselves a major backer of Vendée campaigns, a boat that is arguably the hottest property in the over-subscribed IMOCA fleet, and with Alex Thomson working alongside Crémer as Team Principal, this is likely to be a highly competitive campaign.

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The post Clarisse Crémer confirms new Vendée Globe sponsor, Alex Thomson heads team appeared first on Yachting World.

The captain and crew of a 121ft/37m sailing superyacht were central to a search and rescue last week which saw 16 people safely recovered from the hull of an upturned fishing boat, on the night of Tuesday 28 March.

The stricken fishing vessel is believed to have been carrying migrants from the island of Antigua to St Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands. Tragically a further 16 people are thought to have died in the incident.

Thomas Auckland, captain of SY Genevieve, shared the following detailed account of the search and rescue incident, and the procedures he and his crew used, with Yachting World.

SY Genevieve is a 121ft Ed Dubois-designed sloop launched in 1996.

Superyacht rescue

“At 23.30 on 27th March 2023, while motor-sailing from Antigua to Saint Maarten, approximately 16nm NE of Conaree, St Kitts, the lookout heard a faint noise that sounded like a woman’s scream. We immediately throttled back, and then both heard a clear audible scream. 

“[The lookout] at once mustered the crew, who donned lifejackets with PLBs and radios, as I furled the headsail, activated a DSC and called a Mayday. (In retrospect, this should have been a Mayday Relay).

“We then positioned four crew around the vessel with torches or searchlights to try to locate the woman or women. The First Mate was in charge of all radio comms and alarms from this muster until we found the capsized vessel.

Survivors reported that the fishing vessel was travelling from Antigua to the USVI when it capsized off St Kitts & Nevis. Map data ©2023 Google.

“Six minutes later we spotted some retro-reflective tape and discovered a man clinging on to part of a damaged life jacket. We used a small circular fender, attaching an additional buoyancy aid to aid grip, fastened to a rescue line to throw downwind at mid-ships. 

“We were able to pull him to the stern, where two crew members hauled him onboard from the folding swim platform. He was retrieved at 23:39. 

“While we had not compromised our safety, we had taken a considerable amount of water into the lazarette, and it was clear that this was not an ideal way to retrieve someone from the water in this sea state (roughly 2 metres & 20kts). By the time he reached the cockpit he was unconscious.

“We continued our search, knowing there was at least one more person, a woman, still in the water, but unable to ascertain if there were further persons at risk. 

“At 23:57 we spotted a woman clinging to a white plastic barrel, approximately 400m downwind of the first casualty. She was recovered in the same fashion, although it was much harder to get her out of the water: it took three of us to haul her onboard, and had she slipped under the swim platform I have no doubt she would have been knocked unconscious. 

“Once in the cockpit she informed us that she had been travelling on a small boat which had left Antigua, bound for St Thomas (USVI), with approximately 32 people onboard. The vessel had broken down, taken on water and capsized. 

“I discharged two red parachute flares at this point.

“With no knowledge of whether or not the vessel was still afloat, we decided to continue slowly downwind towards the brightest looms of St Kitts which would be visible from the water, assuming that if afloat it would have more windage than the casualties in the water. 

“At around 00:28, the crew started spotting plastic drums floating in the water, and shortly afterwards they noticed a light coming in and out of sight, which later proved to be the light of a mobile phone being waved around.”  

Survivors found on capsized boat

“On approach we discovered the upturned fishing skiff, La Belle Michelle with 15 persons straddled on the hull, approximately 1.1nm from the first casualty. 

“All the crew assembled on the aft deck, and together we quickly constructed a plan of how best to remove the individuals from the capsized vessel. This was a solid-hulled boat with two upturned outboards, so bringing it alongside in the given prevailing sea state was never a viable option. 

“We therefore used the floating line and fender attached to a long Dyneema tail, which was floated downwind to them; then the line was tied around the leg of one of the outboards by one of the casualties, under instruction from our crew.  We brought this to our starboard stern and on to a primary winch for control. This line was at once under several tonnes of load, so once it was affixed, we were very reluctant to move it. 

“We then used a rescue sling with a thick Dyneema tail for grip and additional safety line attached. This rescue sling proved invaluable. 

“Our plan was for the casualties to run themselves along the rope one by one, and once they reached the starboard quarter of the vessel, to transfer to the rescue sling, with which we would pull them to the midships and haul them clear of the water (we have a midships freeboard of just over 2 metres and discussed using a halyard at this stage, but we were rolling too violently for this to be safe or effective). 

SY Genevieve, pictured sailing on another occasion, was part of a major search and rescue operation off St Kitts in March 2023. Photos Alexis Andrews

“At this point all the crew were assigned new roles:

• Captain: throwing the rescue sling, communicating with casualties, removal from water at midships.
• Engineer: hauling casualties up side deck, communicating with casualties, removal from water at midships.
• First Mate: ensuring rescue line and safety were free to run, resetting the sling, removal from water at midships.
• Chef: ensuring rescue lines and safety were free to run, removing casualties from the water, then clearing the side deck.
• Stewardess: triage, assessing injuries, getting casualties into the cockpit, water, bedding etc.
• Deck/Stewardess: illumination, using the large spotlight to light the vessel and then the casualties as they came across.

“The casualties were at first clearly reluctant to entrust themselves to the rope. Only two of the persons were wearing life jackets (who turned out to be the drivers) and most of them were unable to swim.

“We later discovered that they were wearing all the clothes they owned, often three pairs of jeans, and over six upper layers each, which obviously made swimming very challenging. (Even though this made the casualties very heavy, this actually ended up proving helpful, as it gave us something to hold onto as we pulled them onboard).

“After three or four persons had been successfully retrieved, they needed much less encouragement to come across, and the process worked very well providing they left the vessel one at a time, as holding the “tow line” as it was under load was clearly very challenging. The teamwork displayed by the crew here was astounding, without them creating such an effective process of recovery, there is no way we would have got those 14 people off that hull.

“It became apparent that towards the end the casualties were becoming less and less physically able, and unfortunately the last casualty fell from the hull and was unable to make it along the line. We remained attached to the hull searching for the last individual until 01:57.”

Tragically the final casualty could not be found. Auckland confirmed that the 16 survivors that the Genevieve crew recovered were later transferred ashore with only minor injuries.

Sixteen people were rescued by the SY Genevieve, here recovering in the cockpit (identities protected). Photo: Thomas Auckland

Aboard SY Genevieve

Auckland continues: “Thereafter, I decided that marking the upturned hull with lights strapped to a lifejacket and cutting it loose was the best option, as I felt the situation was becoming hazardous. In hindsight, this was perhaps my biggest regret, as we had spare PLBs on board and should have affixed one, as this would have served as a helpful search marker for MV Britannia, who had just taken up the role of on-scene MRCC.

“Events now entered a new phase. I was clearly aware that we had 16 migrants on board, 13 of whom were male, of which we knew nothing other than the fact that they were willing to risk their lives being smuggled across to St Thomas. 

“So we locked down the exterior of the boat and placed the female members of crew up forward, with everyone in direct radio contact. All casualties had been given water, sugary drinks, food and blankets, and were grouped together in the cockpit. 

“The male crew members remained at the helm station, while I ran back and forth on the VOIP line with MRCC Fort du France, who requested that we remain at the scene until air support arrived. As there was evidently a security risk on board, at 03:42 we were given permission to depart the scene and headed directly to Basseterre in St Kitts, which was approximately 34nm away.”

It’s believed that the casualties included migrants from Cameroon. Following the introduction of charter flights between Nigeria and Antigua in November 2022, around 600 passengers from troubled West African countries are believed to have remained on the island of Antigua. 

Auckland continues: “Once the day dawned and we were under Coastguard escort, it became quite clear that these terrified Cameroonian nationals were extremely grateful to us and posed no risk to us at all. The female crew came and administered basic first aid; fed, watered and tried to dry out as much of their clothing as possible, before we arrived in Basseterre. 

“On arrival they were transferred via Coastguard boat, where I went ashore and made statements to the various authorities.”

Thomas Auckland, Captain of SY Genevieve. Photo: T Auckland

Captain’s reflections on the rescue

 “I think what I take away most from this is just how well the crew performed under immense pressure: they were all making very sensible and rational decisions in a situation in which they have had very little training. We of course were incredibly lucky to hear a scream in the dark over the wind, and also unbelievably lucky that we were able to save so many people.

“We have sat together with an industry professional and dissected the night’s events in great detail, and we are also discussing it very openly among ourselves. All of the crew, myself included, are still in a stage of processing all that occurred.  It is affecting everybody in a slightly different way, but knowing that there were 32 people on board, and only 16 survived is perhaps the hardest part for us all to comprehend. 

“I sincerely hope that none of you ever have to encounter such an event during your time at sea, but if you do I hope this account may be of some use. In conclusion, never underestimate the importance of good watch-keeping – and rest assured that the teamwork and professionalism exhibited by your crew will leave you feeling very, very proud.”

Auckland also expressed his thanks to MRCC Fort du France, MV Britannia, Marine Assist Osprey, SY Midnight, St Kitts Coastguard and other vessels which assisted in the operation.

The crew of SY Genevieve have also set up a JustGiving page to raise funds to helpp stranded Cameroonian Nationals in Antigua, with funds intended to help provide basic housing, sanitation and food for this community. “Unlike the night of March 28th, no more innocent people need to be lost on the ocean in search of a new life,” said Auckland.

The JustGiving link is https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/helpingcamerooniansinantigua?utm_term=zMD6K4y89

The post Superyacht saves 16 in harrowing Caribbean migrant rescue appeared first on Yachting World.

Late in November last year, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Farr 65 pilothouse cutter, Sanjula, was being sailed 10 miles west of Cape Finisterre in Spain when it was surrounded by orca whales. The collisions began immediately.

“A pod of seven to 10 orcas surrounded Sanjula and then began to barge into its rudder. This eventually broke a steering connecting rod. The engine was switched off and the boat lay hove-to while the emergency steering was rigged,” he reported. “After 10 minutes the orcas moved away, no longer finding a hove-to yacht interesting – but that is only an assumption. The boat sailed to Vigo for repairs.”

The incident was the most high profile yet of what has amounted to hundreds of interactions, or attacks, by killer whales off the coasts of Spain and Portugal since they were first reported nearly three years ago.

The incident involving Sanjula happened just a few weeks after the loss of a French Oceanis 393, Smousse, 14 miles west of Viana do Castelo. Orcas tore Smousse’s rudder by mouthing and shaking it, cracking the hull in the process. The four crew were forced to abandon to a liferaft, and were picked up by another yacht.

Close encounters between orcas and yachts were extremely rare occurrences until something very strange happened – in July 2020 the behaviour of a small sub-population of orcas off the coasts of Atlantic Spain and Portugal suddenly changed. They began to barge yachts seemingly aggressively, often causing serious damage to the boats’ rudders.

A towed dinghy could become a target for orca play. Photo: Jon Wright

Reports mounted up as the behaviour kept being repeated, and these incidents spread north, marking the orcas migratory route north along the Iberian peninsula to Galicia, where they feed on bluefin tuna and nurse their young. Whether these were play behaviours or attacks wasn’t clear but it involved repeated ramming of boats, and those who experienced them were terrified.

Delivery skipper Pete Green was delivering an Amel 52 from Gibraltar to the UK in 2020 when the yacht’s rudder spun uncontrollably from side to side.

“We knew there was a risk of meeting some orca so we stayed close to the Spanish coast, but we didn’t see them coming,” says Green, managing director of Halcyon Yachts. “The wheel was just suddenly spinning from left to right as they collided into the rudder.”

The crew immediately turned off all the electrics, shut down the engine, furled the sails and lay ahull. All the advice they’d seen said to sit passively in the water until the whales grew bored.

The orcas circled the Amel slowly for nearly two hours, so close at times that the crew were able to photograph and video the animals. The whole time, the orcas were bumping into the hull, the keel and hitting the rudder. “It seemed like an age before they finally left us in peace,” said Green. By the time the whales were gone, the rudder had been badly damaged.

It was not the first time Green had been on a yacht picked on by orcas. A year earlier, while close to A Coruña on the north-west corner of Spain, the Hallberg-Rassy 36 he was delivering to the UK was “rammed at least 15 times”. The yacht lost steering and had to be towed into port.

These encounters have become an established hazard along this coast. According to reports received and collated by the Cruising Association in conjunction with Grupo Trabajo Orca Atlántica, there were 102 interactions with orcas between January 2022 and January 2023, the majority of them off Cape Finisterre, west of Sines in Portugal, and in the Strait of Gibraltar. See the interactive map, which includes witness reports, at theca.org.uk/orcas/reports

Orcas chewed off this lump of rudder. Photo: Martyn & Zoe Barlow

Some of these resulted in damage, mainly to the rudder, and in a small number of cases it was serious. Some crews say they felt these were aggressive attacks, others viewed it as merely playful. The intent to barge the vessel and try to alter its course was, however, not in doubt.

A rogue group

Dr Ruth Esteban, a marine mammal researcher who works for the Madeira Whale Museum, has spent years studying the abundance, life history and social structure of orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar. The group of whales in question is a small one, she believes, just five pods comprising 28 individuals. It’s an endangered sub-population she knows well and she was both fascinated and alarmed by this bizarre evolution.

Article continues below…

Orca attacks: Rudder losses and damage as incidents escalate

The first signs that something odd was taking place came in July 2020. After the strangest start to a summer…

Whale encounter – there seems to be an increasing number of collisions with whales as yachts get faster

  The first I heard about a sailing boat colliding with a whale mid-ocean was when the 49ft sloop Peningo…

“The orcas were more than used to being surrounded by vessels, sometimes hundreds of vessels at a time, but were never as far as we knew touching the vessel,” she says. “Then when 2020 arrived, after the worldwide lockdown, [this] disruptive behaviour was observed. They were reported interacting with boats and entering into contact with them, particularly sailing boats, resulting mainly in breaking the moving parts of their rudders.”

Since the incidents began, Dr Esteban has collected and reviewed videos taken on board some of the yachts that had been targeted and damaged, meticulously identifying each animal where possible and reviewing the whales’ behaviour. They were mainly juveniles, but there was at least one adult involved, the mother of one of the younger animals.

She observed that they were purposely targeting boats and trying to push them around by pushing or biting the rudder. “We could see the animals come close to the boat at the stern. Sometimes they showed up with intense bubbling. They would approach and start by observing moving parts before touching and pushing to control the movement of the boat.”

The whales mainly targeted sailing yachts under 15m, although some fishing boats, RIBs and motorboats were also attacked. In one case, they broke a yacht’s rudder in half. In another, a yacht crew endured repeated collisions for over an hour as the orcas repeatedly struck their rudder, breaking it and bending the stainless steel shaft by almost 90°. “The cost to repair was almost €21,000,” says Dr Esteban.

Orcas can live in all oceans of the world and are the second most widely distributed mammal on earth. Photo: Mike Korostelev/Getty

A group of working biologists and conservationists from organisations such as the Whale Museum of Madeira, La Rochelle university and the Portuguese Sociedade de Vida Selvagem was formed to investigate this behaviour.

Grupo Trabajo Orca Atlántica (orcaiberica.org) collates information on orca attacks, plots where they occur and promotes the conservation and management of the whales. It also offers advice aimed at mitigating damage to yachts or the animals themselves, the so-called orca protocol.

The behaviour, sporadic at first, has become an established set piece for the whales, and it has evolved. It has been going on now for three years, and there is no sign of this behaviour fading. It has become a natural behaviour for this population, and there is no evidence at all that they themselves are acting aggressively.

What can crews do?

If possible, avoid the areas of recent activity. The Spanish authorities set out two exclusion zones last year for vessels under 15m near A Coruña and on the approaches to Gibraltar on a stretch from Bolonia near Tarifa, to Cape Trafalgar. GT Orca Atlántica publishes a map on its website of current orca activity, valid for 24 hours, with the risk expressed in the form of traffic lights. This is based on the latest reports from boat crews and rescue services.

If targeted, GT Orca Atlántica advises stopping your yacht to make your vessel look unexciting and try to quell the whales’ prey drive. They suggest taking your hands off the wheel or disengaging the autopilot to allow the rudder to turn freely and advise crew not to shout at the animals, throw anything at them, ‘and do not let yourselves be seen excessively from overboard’.

Orcas circle a Sun Odyssey 40. Photo: Martyn & Zoe Barlow

But when faced with a pod of orcas and the prospect of hull or rudder damage, some crews have tried to scare them off. “We decided to go against protocol and bang metal tools against our metal railings and stanchions,” says a skipper who encountered the animals last summer.

“That seemed to deter them for about 10 minutes, then they returned. They carried on trying to get as close as possible to the stern again, so we started to play loud music on a portable speaker, banged pots and pans, and waved black and white striped towels off the stern. After a few minutes they left us alone, but the daylight was also dying by then and we can’t figure out if our deterrents worked or if they got bored.”

Some crews have kept bottles of diesel within reach in the cockpit just in case, ready to pour down the cockpit drains in case they are approached by orcas. The theory is that the orcas will be repelled by the mixture emerging underwater from the yacht.

Other crews have tried pouring sand into the water. Some even less humane methods have also been reported, such as crews letting off firecrackers or firing live rounds into the water. These do seem risky, and – aside from the issues of harming a protected marine species – no one can say whether any of these deterrents work.

A bubble curtain created by orcas circling beneath the surface

Three years on from the first reports of this animal behaviour, orca encounters off the Spanish and Portuguese coasts have become an accepted hazard. According to reports collected by GT Orca Atlántica, there were 239 cases of interactions with orcas between 2020 and 2021.

Social media and press reports have hugely amplified the issue. Considering the overall numbers of yachts on passage through these waters, thousands each summer, the percentage of boats affected is still small.

However, it seems unlikely this behaviour will extinct itself – its repetition proves the orcas find it self-rewarding. Are the orcas merely playing? Are they practising hunting behaviours? Are they reacting to stress or changes in food sources? Have pollutants affected them cognitively?

All these theories have been put forward, but no one knows. “Everyone is puzzled,” says Dr Esteban. “We don’t know what is going on and we do not know why they’re doing this. There have been a lot of hypotheses but none of them is based on clear evidence.”

From a yachtsman’s point of view, the reasons really don’t matter. The orcas’ behaviour has evolved, and will presumably continue until it serves no purpose. In the meantime, reported encounters will allow researchers to build up a more detailed picture of the areas of activity, types of boats targeted and successful deterrents, if any. Until then, many cruisers believe the only thing to do is to coast-hop Spain and Portugal while monitoring areas where the orca pods are reported to be hunting.

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Monique, a Rhode Island Red hen who joined solo sailor Guirec Soudée on multiple sailing adventures, even including 130 days icebound in Greenland, has died at the age of 9.

Without doubt the most well travelled chicken in the world, Monique accompanied Soudée on a five year world tour, clocking up (clucking up? sorry… Ed) the kind of sea miles many a professional sailor would be proud of.

Adventurous young sailor Guirec Soudée and his adopted hen Monique sailing on Yvinec. Photo: Guirec Soudée

Young Breton sailor and adventurer Soudée adopted Monique while on a stopover in the Canary Islands aboard his 38ft steel yacht, Yvinec, on his first solo circumnavigation in 2015. 

Monique took to life at sea easily, laying 25 eggs on the pair’s 28-day Atlantic crossing, and swapped pecking at the earth for worms for pecking flying fish that landed on Yvinec’s deck.

“I said to myself: ‘If she annoys me, I can always eat her.’ It feels weird to say that now! We formed a real bond. She was so endearing, she made me laugh so much, it felt as if I had always known her,” Soudée recalled in an interview for The Guardian in 2019.

Article continues below…

French sailor on a world tour via the North West Passage with a red hen

Guirec Soudée met Monique during a stopover in the Canary Islands when she joined him on what had been up…

The duo spent time in the Caribbean, where Soudée worked as a watersports instructor to raise funds for his voyage, and his sailing hen Monique became something of a local celebrity, joining Soudée windsurfing, on paddleboards and swimming in the sea.

Icebound in Greenland

Soudée went on to sail north via Bermuda and Halifax to southern Greenland, arriving in late summer. He often visited children in local schools to talk about his voyage, always accompanied by Monique, much to the children’s amusement as there are no hens in Greenland.

Soudée had set himself the challenge of overwintering in ice, unassisted. The pair holed up in Greenland’s vast Disko Bay, provisioned with 40kg of rice for Soudée, 60kg of seeds for Monique, and 2,000lt of fuel for heating and electricity, as Yvinec’s solar panels won’t operate during the polar night.

At one point he prepared to abandon ship, with Monique tucked into his arm, as Yvinec seemed set to be crushed against rocks by the ice. Thankfully the wind changed, and the pair stayed aboard.

To avoid the temptation of calling for help, Soudée disconnected his sat phone and stayed out of communication until the ice melted in the spring, 130 days later. 

By the time they emerged, Guirec and Monique were unlikely celebrities back in France, thanks to friends who had shared Soudée’s story on social media while he was off-grid. 

World’s most famous sailing hen

For the next three years their adventures continued – through the North West Passage (also making Soudée the youngest solo skipper to complete the passage), down to Antarctica, around Cape Horn, and back across the Atlantic – all captured in spectacular photos and funny videos which built a huge Facebook and Instagram following. 

When Soudée returned to France in December 2018, Monique the sailing hen was famous across the country. The pair made numerous television and public appearances, and Soudée wrote two books recounting their adventures, including one for children.

Back home, the pair moved to a small island off the north shore of Brittany, also called Yvinec. Monique ‘retired’ from life at sea, while Soudée went on to complete a double solo Atlantic rowing expedition, crossing from east to west, then west to east in 2021.

In 2022 Soudée took the helm of an IMOCA 60, Freelance, bidding to compete in the pinnacle of solo racing, the Vendée Globe in 2024. His campaign got off to a good start, finishing a very respectable 25th in the 38-boat IMOCA fleet of the Route du Rhum aboard a 2007 daggerboard design.

Farewell to Monique

Today, however, fans of Soudée and Monique were saddened to read that Monnique had passed away. Soudée posted:

“I knew it wasn’t eternal, but it’s hard to bring myself to turn the page on such an important chapter of my life: nine years but especially five years aboard Yvinec, living the craziest and most unforgettable experiences.

“My little Momo, after everything we’ve been through, I don’t even know where to start.

“Without you I would have gone mad during our 130 days of over-wintering in Greenland, including days of polar night. I had the good idea to only take only rice for me, and wasn’t able to fish. But you kept on laying eggs everyday. You knew our lives depended on your eggs.

“You made me laugh so much. Every time we fought to catch flying fish on the deck, when you were sliding from side to side on every wave, when you tried to swim to join me. You scared me; I thought I’d lost you many times.

“You made it much easier to meet people every time we stopped somewhere. In Saqqaq, they had never ever seen a chicken alive !

“I made sacrifices for you too, I went to prison in Canada for you and I gave up on sailing to Tahiti because nobody wanted you there because of the bird flu.

“Together we saw icebergs, bears, narwhals, dozens of whales and thousands of dolphins. We dreamed like children and we shivered with fear. When we were knocked down in the Fifties, after Cape Horn, when we sailed for weeks in storms, cold and fatigued. 

“Five years later, we arrived in Brittany and you got to live on my island. At first, you slept in the house, never leaving my side. Then you became the queen of the island, always running outside, digging the soil, the sand and the seaweed.

“That’s when I decided to go for my rowing expedition. Crossing the Atlantic in a tiny sealed box. It was out of question to have you onboard, you would not have survived a day.

“You deserved a nice and quiet retirement. I will never forget you, my little Momo. Thank you for everything.” 

If you want to read more about Guirec Soudée and Monique’s adventures, you can buy Soudée’s books:

Buy A Sailor, A Chicken, An Incredible Voyage: The Seafaring Adventures of Guirec and Monique from Amazon
Buy The Hen Who Sailed Around the World: A True Story (kids book) from Amazon

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

The post The hen that sailed around the world: a farewell to Monique appeared first on Yachting World.