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It's a Happy New Year for Sailing Adventurers

Blackwattle’s crew are spending the summer holidays trying to get used to Australian lifstyle again  BW Media

While many sailors in the Northern Hemisphere are celebrating the festive season clustered around fires, watching the snow outside and dreaming of next summer's adventures, spare a thought for the hardy band of adventurers who are sailing the Southern Ocean while it's ''summer'' down there.

From the well funded French sailors Francis Joyon and Thomas Coville, trying to best Ellen MacArthur's solo round world record, and Russian Fedor Kunyukhov circumnavigating Antarctica, to self-funded adventurers like Canadian Glen Wakefield and the boats headed off there to try to prevent the Japanese Whaling Fleet, they are all braving the cold and waves in their own individual quests.

There's a wide variety of reading in this week's Sail-World Cruising Magazine...

North Sail's Andrew Dove offers some great tips about how to get the best out of your mainsail, and Blackwattle, whose well made mainsail (in fact all the sails) made it around the world with out a single tear, is now cruising down the Australian coastline, while her crew try to acclimatise to Australian waters - and lifestyle - again.

Is owning a boat more trouble than it's worth? Does your boat sit for too long unused in the marina - even in summer? The aquatic version of time-sharing just could be your answer – read about some facts and opinions on it in this issue.

For anyone out on the water near Cape Cod, you should know about the abandoned yacht still

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL SAIL-WORLD READERS!  BW Media

floating out there somewhere, and finally, there's a Downunder attempt looming to try to break the sailing speed record, which currently stands at just under 48knots, with some fascinating new technology that could revolutionise sailing design in the future.

All these stories and more, so read on, have the Happiest and most successful New Year, and...

Sail safe!

Nancy Knudsen, Cruising Editor

Trimming your Mainsail-the Six Key Points Andrew Dove, Area Manager North Sails Caribbean, Andrew Dove here offers Sail-World readers the second in his series of helpful advice about the care, handling and use of your sails. This week is is on the critical aspects you need to consider to trim your mainsail to perfection:... [more]

Boat Sharing – Sailing without Headaches By PAUL SWIDER, St Petersburg Times/ Sail-World, The prevailing joke in boating is that the two happiest days in an owner's life are the day one buys a boat and the day it is sold. Between repairs and maintenance cleaning and the expense of it all, many boat owners who start dreaming of carefree sailing bail when reality sets in. However, some have discovered fractional ownership, which can make sailing the dream you always thought it could b... [more]

Sailing to Galapagos Matthew Power, New York Times/Sail-World Cruising, The remoteness of the Islands of Galapagos – about 1000 nautical miles to the nearest land in any direction. - coupled with their uniqueness, make them one of the most alluring destinations in the world for a roving sailor. . Writer and journalist Matthew Power here describes his experience on a 48ft ketch with two very experienced roving sailors.... [more]

Update:Francis Joyon in Pacific Depression Event media, IDEC and Francis Joyon, still more than 3030 miles ahead of the record of Ellen MacArthur, is now sailing close to the centre of a vast low pressure system and suffering the brunt of the fury of the Pacific Ocean.... [more]

New: Marinas for India Hindu Business Line/Sail-World Cruising, In what will be hailed as only good news for the international cruising sailor, Kochi (Cochin) will be the site of a new joint venture between an Indian and an Australian company to build marinas in India. Kochi, a major port, and another city in the rich state Kerala, Alappuzha, will also be the sites of the first marinas.... [more]

End of Long Range Cruising - Blackwattle Nancy Knudsen, What happens to long range sailors when they stop long ranging? - Blackwattle's Journey is almost ended, and here are recounted the reactions of the crew to arriving ''home'' after an absence of five years, and finding that, for the moment anyway, there are no more oceans to cross.... [more]

Solo Circumnavigators pass in Southern Ocean Des Ryan, While Frenchman Francis Joyon was travelling east across the Southern Ocean below Tasmania this week in a very expensive trimaran, he - probably without knowing it - passed close to another solo sailor going in the other, more difficult, direction, also on a solo sail around the world, but in a very modest 38 year old Cheoy Lee 40... [more]

Sailor Rescued off Cape Cod, Yacht still Afloat Adam J. Sell, Boston Globe/Sail-World, A Canadian man attempting to sail alone from Nova Scotia to Bermuda was rescued by the US Coast Guard 350 miles off Cape Cod at about 7 a.m. yesterday. His abandoned yacht now has a locator beacon installed by the Coast Guard, but is still afloat in the area... [more]

World Speed Record - aiming for 50kt - Wot Rocket Rob Kothe, Built to break through the 50 knot barrier, the nine metre, purpose built Atlantic proa style looks like a cross between Macquarie Yellow Pages and a foiling International Moth and a sailplane/glider.... [more]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Nancy Knudsen, Cruising Editor, Sail-World, Best Wishes to all Sail-World Cruising readers for a Merry Christmas, a great holiday season, a Happy New Year, and... Good Sailing!... [more]

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