Round the world yacht race skipper Bob Beggs is on course for the start of the toughest sailing challenge left – a polar circumnavigation of the North American continent, and transit of the North West Passage from Atlantic to ...

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 »

Atlantic Spars based near Brixham was asked to build new masts for two of the 68ft yachts taking part in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race which ground to a halt for them after they dismasted in the ...

Day 71: Fedor Konuykhov ticked off another major mile stone overnight, passing the Cape of Good Hope (18 28E longitude) during his solo circumnavigation of Antarctica. 'Iceberg ally', as the South Atlantic Ocean has been called this season, is ...

As dawn broke in the mid Atlantic this morning the Open 60 solo skippers were glued to their screens below deck as the first poll came through since Friday evening. It would be a tense moment for Caffari to ...