No pirate attacks, but busy oceans...
by Nancy Knudsen, Editor on 22 Jul 2010
Look what the whale did to my yacht! - Cape Town, South Africa (see the story below) Captetownsailing.co.za .
http://www.capetownsailing.co.za
The International Maritime Bureau's report that there have been no pirate attacks against yachts this year was welcome news, but that didn't stop it being a week full of interest and activity around Australian coastlines and on the world's oceans.
As usual, the news is wildly varied. The crew of the 12,000 plastic-bottled catamaran Plastiki are all smiles after arriving Mooloolaba at the end of their Pacific crossing, denying that they had to be rescued in their final days (Read the conflicting stories).
Misadventures were the order of the week too - very embarrassing for the yacht that ended up in the dark on an oyster lease in Brisbane Water; but what a miraculous rescue it was of a sailor after a freak accident found her in the water, in the dark, in three metre seas, without her life jacket and fifty miles from land (and she HAD done everything right). It wasn't dark however, when the yacht drove straight into the path of a large ferry - see the video.
Holland is having a hard time knowing what to do with its own teenager sailor, Laura Dekker. The decision has been put off AGAIN as to whether authorities (and there are so many of them) will unite to agree to allow her to leave Holland solo on her Jeanneau Gin Fitz called Guppy.
The replica of a 600BC sailing ship, the Phoenica, has reached the Azores after circumnavigating Africa (almost). They've just been 82 days at sea, so it's just a short skip of a leg home now.
Lots of Green (or should we say 'Blue'?) news, some dreamy cruising stories, the latest yacht that is nominated as the European Yacht of the Year, and then there's the whale story....
Browse down the headlines and read what you fancy
Sweet sailing!
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