Sailing News

[Source: Chris Bedford, Ericsson meteorologist:] This morning, the two Ericsson Racing Team boats will start to appreciate the fact that they are well and truly making progress north toward the finish in Cochin. After a minor slow down today and early tomorrow, Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 will accelerate north in the SE trade winds of the southern Indian Ocean beginning tomorrow afternoon/evening. Today, a NW wind ahead of a strong Southern Ocean cold front is pushing the boats on a course...

BMW Oracle stepped up its media and PR campaign and published the first issue of the "GGYC Cup Newsline", a newsletter mainly aimed at sailing media where the American team goes over the latest developments in the America's Cup scene and, of course, present and convey their point of view. Here below you can read this very first issue. An Interesting Perspective"Mr. America's Cup" himself, Dennis Conner, recently gave an interview to AP in which he said, among other things:BOR 90 "makes my...

[Source: Vendée Globe] It will be the morning before we can say for sure if the leaders are officially leaving Doldrums territory, but the signs are good. It smells a little like it, it looks a little like it, but only when the figures build and are a little more steady then will the skippers breathe a sigh of relief, settle back to a more structured routine and start working on the strategy for the south Atlantic. In truth it has been a relatively uneventful crossing. There have been no...

Bruno Trobulé, the creator of the Louis Vuitton Cup, talked to TV New Zealand's Martin Tasker about his latest venture in the professional sailing world, the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, scheduled for next February in Auckland. According to Troublé, the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was born when Louis Vuitton felt "frustrated" after leaving the America's Cup and "sad" from the current legal fight and the lack of any sailing activity. Since there was no event planned, nothing to fill the...

[Source: Chris Bedford, Ericsson Racing meteorologist] Good news came twice for Ericsson Race Team this morning, with Ericsson 4 across the scoring line first and Ericsson 3 a not too distant second. As a small gift, the timing of the approaching front was a bit faster than forecast, causing winds to veer from SW to W requiring a gybe north BEFORE the wayline. This could have been slightly threatening to the 1st and 2nd placings at 58E if it wasn’t for the damage slowing the trailing boats...

[Source: Vendée Globe] The goal posts are moving today for the leaders as they struggle to exit from the Doldrums and all the time they do, the chasing group are making a regular gain in better breezes. The worst of the band of light, variable breezes in which the leading group of five are sailing is moving slightly south with them this morning. In relative terms it has affected perennial leader Loïck Peyron first and the lead of Gitana Eighty has been more than halved. Seb Josse compresses...

[Source: Volvo Ocean Race] Ericsson 4, skippered by Torben Grael, was the first boat to the scoring gate at longitudinal 58 degrees east on the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.Grael and his men crossed the line at 03:45 GMT to collect their four points. Once across Grael pointed the bow north for the 3,000-mile home stretch to Cochin.Anders Lewander's Ericsson 3 followed her sister ship and crossed the waypoint at 06:51 to pick up 3.5 points.Among the pursuing pack, Green Dragon,...

[Source: Vendée Globe] The brakes are well and truly on. Speedos slacken, tension rises as the leaders are dealt a saultary measure of the real Doldrums experience. Only leader Peyron has posted an average speed above 5 knots, while Jean Le Cam in ninth is struggling to make two knots.Mike Golding had a go at gybing west during the afternoon and appears to have lost a few miles, whilst enjoying the relative sanctuary of racing virtually alongside each other in third and fourth places this...