Tillerman rather cheekily accused the sailing blog community of apathy in the lack of response to his latest group writing project, namely the bucket list of sailing things to do before heading down to Davy Jones's locker.

In this case it was the difficult combination of trying to run a small business while fighting a lingering 'flu virus which has delayed this post.  read more »

From the press release: Eight top quality teams signed-up so far for 2008 iShares Cup With the Extreme 40 catamaran fleet now numbering 14 boats, there is potential that even more will make the start line of the five iShares Cup events, which begin in Lugano, Switzerland, on May 30. The entry list reads like a Who's Who of sailing, bursting with the very best skippers and crews in the sport. America's Cup sailors will be lining up against Olympic medallists, ocean racers, and world champions, all coming together on the unique iShares Cup sailing circuit. Fleet at the start, Amsterdam 2007 Vincent Curutchet/DPPI/OC Events With the next America's Cup looking set to take place in multi-hulls, the Swiss Defender Alinghi will be putting their cat-sailing skills to the test in this year's iShares Cup. America's Cup-winning helmsman Ed Baird has been putting in plenty of training in the Extreme 40 with the Alinghi crew in Valencia. Even this multiple world champion admitted that the powerful catamarans can be pretty challenging: "It was hard at first - going down from 17 to just four crew, but after the initial learning curve it got to be pretty exciting!" He compared the spectator-friendly iShares Cup city courses to recent America's Cup racing close to the shore in Valencia, saying: "It's a good kind of racing for the sport to have, as the shorter the race the more evenly matched the boats are." TEAMORIGIN, the British Challenger for the next multi-challenger America's Cup, will also be lining up in the series. Current iShares Cup champion Robert Greenhalgh, who skippered the winning boat on last year's circuit, leads the team. Rob is joined by his brother Peter, a top skiff sailor and part of the 2007 winning Extreme 40 crew, as well as other key members of the British Cup squad. This year's series has also drawn double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson back to the Extreme 40, having competed in two events at last year's iShares Cup. "Last year really whetted my appetite, but this year's going to be a bit different with the pro teams really upping the ante," she explained. "I love the boats and am really looking forward to going sailing on them again." Shirley will once again take the helm of JPMorgan Asset Management, showing her mettle as the sole female skipper on the circuit.  read more »

Part 2. At the far end of the spectrum of the relationship between Man and Boat are the tragic affairs. In a perverse way, they are probably the most interesting. One of the most famous examples were the cases Donald Crowhurst and Nigel Tetleys relationships with their trimarans Teignmouth Electron and Victress in the Golden Globe race of 1968 . They were identical boats and considered cutting edge speed machines that theoretically would win the race. Crowhurst mortgaged his house and bet his business in constructing the boat that he thought would bring him fame and fortune. It was tricked out with the latest in marine technology manufactured by Crowhursts own company. To the outside world, his boat was a floating advertisement for Crowhursts genius, his business and the future of sailing. Behind the scenes, it was a different story. The boat was constantly, behind schedule, not built to Crowhursts specifications and certainly not ready to cross the start line of the Golden Globe race by the October 31 st 1968 cut-off.  Underway, the electronics never worked properly and the boat started to delaminate early in the race. She leaked like a sieve taking on water, very seriously in one pontoon. He knew early on that his boat would fall apart in the Southern Oceans. It was desperate. He just couldnt do it and his boat as well his own abilities had let him down. Rather than face the shame and financial ruin of abandoning the race, Crowhurst had a different strategy. He stayed in the relative safety of the Atlantic radioing in false positions. These showed him still in the race. His aim was to sail in circles till the other racers returned to the Atlantic and then rejoin the race taking second in the prize for fastest time to complete the race. Well, that was his plan.  read more »

"BARRY AND JUSTINE BEING FED UP BY ROB AND THE BOYS IN FJORDLAND"
I never learn. I can still remember paddling almost non-stop for 11 hours up the West coast, not able to entirely relax the whole day because I'm anxious about what the surf will be like when we land, head down and teeth gritted as we slog into a bit of a headwind, doing the maths and working out I had to keep on taking the same repetitive paddling motion for another 7 hours before I could get off the water. I turned to Barry and said, "I don't want to do this again. I've had enough of paddling on a mission".  read more »

There is an old saying that the happiest day of your life is the day you buy your first boat. And the second happiest day is the day you sell it. I cant relate to this. I have only ever owned one boat, a very used Cape Dory Typhoon . She was 12 years old when we bought her, solidly built, fairly well-maintained, a little grubby and her sails were functional but old. My wife and I loved her. We gave her, her first name Alad (a contraction of our first names); we cleaned her up, worked on her teak, and then tried to clean the teak stains I had created.  We bought her presents like new cushions and a sturdy British Seagull outboard engine. Above all we sailed her. Every weekend we could, without fail on lovely Galveston Bay.  Never more than a day sail but she was our sanity and a very important part of our early marriage. When our son came along, we sold her. It was a sad day. We were blue for weeks about it. We still miss her.  read more »

With the leading eight boats still separated by just 62 nautical miles, Race 7 of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race is turning into another high stress, high pressure, high octane ocean battle. Putting it into real terms, ...

A bankruptcy judge approved the sale of most of Plastech Engineered Products Inc.’s assets Wednesday, moving the Dearborn auto supplier closer to liquidating. The decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Phillip Shefferly sets the stage for new owners to Skilled Trade Experienced Manual Machinist - Quad-Cities TimesSkilled Trade Experienced Manual Machinist Wanted. Must [...]

Transport Canada has decided to discontinue the Single Vessel Label Program before the regulations contained within the Canada Shipping Act 2001 come into effect (the Act came into force on July 1, 2007). Vessels that are not serially produced will no longer be required to have a Single Vessel Label. If your boat does not [...]

[Source: Team Russia] Team Russias new Volvo Open 70 yacht made a spectacular entrance into the world today. Its 23 metre long racing hull appeared in public for the first time hovering high over the boat sheds of builders Green Marine Lymington (UK). On a day that started extremely wet and blustery, a break in the weather around high water enabled the hull to be safely lowered by a massive 200 Tonnes crane into the Lymington River. Team Russia will take part in the Volvo Ocean Race, the premiere round the world yacht race that starts in Alicante this October. The event covers over 37,000 nautical miles and visits 11 ports, culminating in a finish in St Petersburg, Russia in June 2009.  read more »

Part 1 One of the most surprising relationships between Man and Boat was Francis Chicheste r and Gypsy Moth IV . Gypsy Moth IV is mythologized in England. She sits (sat?  read more »