A 70-year-old and two 16-year-olds, solo sailors top of the news...

by Nancy Knudsen, Editor on 21 Jan 2010 Sailors most in the news this week are solo sailors at the opposite ends of the age spectrum – two sixteen-year-olds, and a seventy-year-old.

This Saturday, Californian Abby Sunderland will depart in her Open 40 to join Australian Jessica Watson in what will be interpreted by the watching sailing world as a watery duel (even though the girls may not) to see who will take the record as the youngest solo non-stop unassisted circumnavigator. Jessica is more than half way round the world, so Abby's challenge will be interesting to watch.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who has been in the world's headlines off and on since 1968 when he won – and was the only one to finish – the first solo round the world sailing race, is much in the news again this week.

First, because, forty years after that original race, there's a new book about it, second, because the prestigious Cruising Club of America has selected him to receive one of their 'Blue Water medals without date' (one of only seven in their history).

The final piece of news is not so happy. One of his clippers competing his Clipper Round the World Yacht Race hit rocks in Indonesia and all the crew were saved but the yacht abandoned. At Sail-World we are primarily a news organisation, not a forum. However, when journalist Des Ryan wrote an article criticising Sir Robin's blythe statement that the 'boat would be left on the reef and lost to the sea', leaving the local Indonesians to cope with the debris instead of taking responsibility for removing the wreckage , the number of letters we received in agreement were almost unprecendented. There ARE quite a few Green sailors out there!

There are many other articles – maybe the remotest rally in the world- to the Louisiades, news from India's first solo sailor Dilip Donde, and tales from Bagan, fresh from the North West Passage.

In practical articles, there's a story on Amazon's Kindle and its value to the cruising sailor, and reminders about the value of up-to-date wiring diagrams and the importance a correctly tuned propeller.

Browse down and choose the news that interests you, and...

Sweet sailing!