Christmas Sailing not all Chaos

by Sail-World/GJN on 27 Dec 2006
The Sydney to Hobart classic race got away to a full-on start on Boxing day. Since then there has been a series of dismasting and damage reports. While the drama in Sydney to Hobart race is grabbing the headlines, there have been some other sailing over the Christmas period.

There has been a series of dismasting and damage reports from the Sydney Hobart - the Volvo 70 ABN AMRO ONE is out and has returned to port after dismasting. Maximus was another yacht to suffer a mast loss and several members of the crew had to be air lifted off and taken to hospital, all are now reported to be OK.

Sadly the 1968 Hobart winner, Ray White Koomooloo sunk 60 miles off the NSW coast. The crew were picked up by the British Army's Adventure and transferred to a rescue launch. At least eight yachts had retired by the halfway point. Wild Oats XI is the leader in the line honours race with the Volvo 70 Ichi Ban reported to be the handicap leader.

While the drama in Sydney to Hobart race is grabbing the headlines, there have been some other sailing over the Christmas period.
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Christmas came early for British sailors taking part in the Palamos Christmas Regatta.

Mark Powell won the Laser class, Alison Young won the Radial and Luke Patience and Twiggy Grube won the 470 Mens event. Hannah Mills and Rachel Lawman just missed a podium place, finishing fourth in the 470 Womens event.

Palamos regatta - http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=29760

The Optimist pre-worlds event, the Rioplatense Championship, was won by Ben Graz of Chile, with Jose Jimenez also from Chile second and Stephanie Zimmerman from Peru third.

Optimist Worlds - http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=29774

89 entries from nine countries are preparing to contest the 420 pre-Worlds at Takapuna. The pre-event serves as a trial for the New Zealand team, and also a warm-up event for the overseas entries. Sail-World has a number of images of the venue and preparations ashore at Takapuna Beach, on Boxing Day.

420 Worlds - http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=29813

Also, Sir Robin is closing on Fremantle and sent a cherry Christmas Day messags as he settled down to a lunch of boil in the bag Chicken Tikki Masala followed by a mini Christmas Pudding. Toasts were with orange juice, not by choice. The music a classic collection as it has the Hallelujah Chorus on it which I associate with Christmas.

RKJ - http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=29811

And for Tony Bullimore the final countdown has begun for his challenge to break the 70 day barrier for sailing solo non-stop around the world - The programme is now on standby for a start from December 31

Sail-World will be reporting the complete Sydney Hobart race so tune into sail-world.com/uk for the latest updates and all the latest sailing news.

See you all in the New Year.