Andrew Bray's blog
Latest weblogs from the editor of Yachting World
James Wharram's latest voyage
28 April 2009
James Wharram is well known for his Polynesian-inspired catamaran - or double canoe - designs and for his many voyages in them.
His latest project, the Lapita Voyage, was to build two double canoes and then sail them 4,000 miles from the Phillipines to the two small Solomon islands of Anuta and Tikopia without modern navigation instruments and using traditional Pacific navigation methods. The boats were then donated to the communities on both islands. Wharram and Hanneke Boon have produced an eight minute film on YouTube of their arrival (through surf) and welcome at Anuta. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agV0c7FbTYw
Find out more about the voyage at www.lapita-voyage.org
Andrew Bray
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Seagoing superstitions
16 April 2009
The e-mail sailing newsletter Scuttlebutt has, over the last few days, published a lively correspondence about sailors' superstitions, in particular not naming long eared, furry animals with white tails when at sea.
Some claim that this started with early French sailors and fishermen who carried them on board for fresh meat but when some escaped they chewed their way through the wooden hulls with disastrous results. It's also a strong superstition amongst UK West Country fishermen. On one occasion after a boat and her crew had been lost at sea other local fishermen called for a day of mourning and respect by not going to sea. One crew did and as they left the harbour a dead r….. (sorry!) was thrown onto their boat.
But there are many other superstitions at sea and I've listed a few below. Contact me if you know of any more.
The colour green
Red headed women
Clergymen
Whistling
Setting sail on a Friday
Andrew Bray
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Solo British yachtsmen
11 March 2009
The four Brits who successfully finished the recent Vendee Globe added significantly to the total number who have circumnavigated solo via the four great capes, whether non-stop or with stops. I wonder what that total is now? The list I have compiled below is of those that I know of and who are still living.
Robin Knox-Johnston
Chay Blyth
Naomi James
Richard Broadhead
David Cowper
Mike Golding
Josh Hall
Ellen MacArthur
Pete Goss
Niah Vaughan
Conrad Humphreys
Mike Garside
Dee Caffari
Emma Richards
Samantha Davies
Brian Thompson
Steve White
Who have I missed out? I'm not talking about a trade wind voyage, but a Southern Ocean circumnavigation. Drop me a line if you've any more names, ideally with dates and details of their voyages.
Andrew Bray
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World speed sailing record
17 December 2008
This has been a record breaking season and it has not come without its controversy. The ultimate world speed sailing record has, for some years, been the domain of windsurfers. That is until the kite surfers moved in to the Luderitz Speed Challenge in Walvis Bay, Namibia. First of all it was declared that any record achieved in water less than 50cm deep would be invalid because of the 'ground effect'. Then when a kitesurfer broke the existing outright record it was at first recognised by the WSSRC. But when another kite surfer, Alexandre Caizergues (pictured), cracked the 50 knot barrier it was announced that it was a new kite sailing record but not a sailing record. Shortly afterwards this was rescinded and Alexandre Caizergues quite rightly took the crown.
But it has not finished there. What about us? asked the ice sailors. 50 knots is nothing. How about 120? Ah but that's not on water was the reply. Then ice sailing guru Peter Harken stepped up to the plate. 'We're not really interested in records,' he said, 'just racing and when you've four or five ice yachts closing in on the leeward mark at over 100 mph it can be character forming.' He then threw the cat amongst the pigeons. Ice yachts apparently are at their fastest if there is water on the ice.
Andrew Bray
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Vendee and Volvo virtual sailors
17 December 2008
I have yet to succumb to the temptation of joining the many thousands of virtual sailors from all around the world playing the Volvo Ocean Race and Vendee Globe games but despite the fact that both races have been going for many weeks the total number of players is still increasing at an unbelievable rate.
The VOR virtual race has just celebrated its 100,000th player. That must drive a fair amount of traffic to their site. But hang on guys that's kid's stuff compared to the Vendee - would you believe 253,000? Now say each player is online for 30 minutes a day, that's a total of nearly 21 years of online time per day. Or, for the Vendee alone, something like a total of 1,444 years for the duration of the race.
Now if I was an employer I'd keep a very careful watch on what my employees were up to at 1100 each morning because that's when the weather updates are published.
Andrew Bray
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The world's oldest racing yacht?
22 October 2008
Earlier this month I wrote a story about the recently-restored Elf, pictured here, launched in 1888 and, according to her owner, the oldest existing racing boat in the world. Unless, that is, I wrote, you know better.
Reader Mark Thirkettle wrote in.
"Regarding oldest racing boat, I would think that the vintage gaff cutter "Partridge" from 1885 claims that by at least three years, unless they say, you know differently. She was designed by British civil engineer and marine architect, John Beavor-Webb (1849-1927).
"Maybe this will stir some more memories of older vessels built for racing. I do believe there will be much older craft which names' surface, as if I recall correctly, there are Polynesian craft which were built for speed rather than trade a long time before this."
Any higher bids?
Andrew Bray
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Submariner or submarina?
11 October 2008
Right now I'm in Annapolis, Maryland for my favourite boat show, the US Sailboat Show. It's five days of sailing boats only before a grand all change when the powerboats take over the city docks. The sun is shining, it's warm, the natives are very friendly and the seafood, especially crab, is wonderful.
The boat pictured here is Elf, built in 1888 and recently restored and the owner claims that she is the oldest racing boat in the world, unless as they say, you know differently. She is at the Show to promote the Annapolis Hall of Fame which is being developed by the old city docks but surrounded by controversy as it means that an historic but semi derelict waterside house will have to be incorporated in the development. And by old I mean just over 100 years old.
I was discussing this with a retired US Navy Admiral who had been in submarines. I commented that I had a friend who had been a submariner and he replied that in the US Navy they called themselves 'submarinas' as they were not under mariners.
Andrew Bray
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America's Cup 25 years on
26 September 2008
It would be propitious if Larry and Ernesto, who are due to meet today in informal and unscripted talks, were to reach an agreement and pull the America's Cup back from the brink.
Because it is exactly 25 years since the Auld Mug was wrested from the Americans' 132 year grasp by the upstart Aussies and their wing keeled Australia II, the boat backed by Alan Bond, designed by the visionary Ben Lexcen and skippered by the legendary John Bertrand. On 26 September 1983 history was made.
The Cup might be known as the world's oldest sporting trophy but there were many occasions when it had been far from sporting. As was famously reported on one such occasion 'Britain rules the waves, America waives the rules'.
Although the playing field has levelled since those days many argue, including Larry Ellison, that Ernesto Bertarelli created a favourable slant for the home side with the new protocol for the 33rd Cup and hence the whole matter has finished up in Court in New York.
My hope is that between these two the clock can be turned back and the same protocol that gave us arguably one of the best ever America's Cups in 2007 can be reinstated. But I'm not holding my breath.
Andrew Bray
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Open 60 Aviva blessing
8 September 2008
I'll bet you don't know what a sabrage is. I didn't until I received a press release about the blessing of Dee Caffari's Open 60 Aviva at the weekend. Aviva was blessed by her celebrity godparents, Lady Pippa Blake (left) and French news presenter Patrick Poivre d'Arbor, who will also be starting the Vendee Globe, in which Caffari is competing, on 9 November. Here's what the release says.
"To celebrate the blessing by Lady Pippa Blake and Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, Caffari chose to perform a sabrage with the boat's two guardians. The sabrage is a ceremonial display whereby the cork of a champagne bottle is extravagantly removed by swiping the bottle with a sword. Caffari learnt the art of sabrage when invited earlier this year by Mumm Champagne to join the new Cordon Rouge Club, a revered group of adventurers and explorers."
I wonder who holds the bottle.
Andrew Bray
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Mars Odyssey - 500 days and still going
4 September 2008
What's the longest you've been at sea? Maybe a three day passage to South Brittany or five across Biscay, or perhaps one of the longer RORC races, maybe 18 days on the ARC for some. For me it's 29 days of uphill slog across the North Atlantic and very unpleasant it was too for most of the time.
But who holds the record for the longest time spent at sea, apart from the Flying Dutchman of course? I only ask because Reid Stowe, who is attempting to stay at sea for 1,000 days, out of sight of land and without re-supply has just reached his half way mark of 500 days. But impressive though that is, it is eclipsed by Jon Saunders who sailed his 47 foot Parry Endeavour solo and non-stop three times around the world in 659 days.
But back to Reid, who has had many adventures, is currently meandering around the Pacific Ocean. He started off with Soanya Ahmed as crew but she was taken off the Schooner Anne suffering chronic seasickness and later gave birth to their son, Darsen. Here is his log on day 500
"In my timeless state of mind I almost forgot to note my milestone of reaching 500 days non-stop at sea without resupply. Time has passed quite fast, perhaps because I am comfortable at sea and keeping myself well occupied by working through out the day. I have been able to fix most of the things that have worn out or broken and I am still quite confident of the schooner's abilities to keep going longer than any boat has gone on the sea. I have been able to catch rain and fill my tanks with drinking water. All of the food is preserving well and I have more than I need. I eat a healthy diet including fish and living sprouts every day. The hard work of sailing and maintaining the schooner has often made me sore handed, but I love the physicality. A good yoga session each day helps keep me limber and in tune with my body, mind and environment. In spite of some disappointments, hardships and setbacks I'm quite happy out here and continually appreciative of my situation and the wonders of nature around me. With luck and the grace of God I will continue to live at sea and perhaps I will depart the touch of the land for longer than any human since we evolved on this planet. My strategy is to keep doing what I have been doing. I will keep sharing this voyage as live and candidly as possible. I sent a lot of gratitude and love ashore to everybody!"
Andrew Bray
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Reid Stowe still at sea
30 July 2008
I last wrote about Reid Stowe back in March. Stowe, if you recall, is attempting to stay at sea for 1,000 days in his 60 foot ferro schooner Anne. I was recounting how he had to drop his crew, the young Soanya Ahmed, off in Australia because she was suffering from bad seasickness, and carry on solo. Well she wasn't. It was altogether another type of sickness and a few days ago she gave birth to their son, Darsen.
So solo Stowe is now on day 467 of his Mars Odyssey, so called because 1000 day is, he claims, the length of time it will take a man - or woman - to travel to Mars. Not both I trust as there will be no convenient Australia en route. He is travelling, very slowly, somewhere in the South Pacific. But I am beginning to wonder whether the solitude is beginning to get to him because like Bernard Moitessier many years before him (his book 'The Long Way' is, by the way, a must read) he is starting to wax lyrical, spiritual even. Here's an extract from his latest log.
"I feel I need a certain purity to live here, even more than I needed to pass through the Sacred Sea. Here the N and S tradewinds meet and fade. The Equatorial current flow strong E and W. I should just exist silently and I'll try, but I have needs 'Will you share your fresh water with me?' and I carry society with me. I hope the spirit of this sanctuary approves of such busyness. I heaved-to on a small double reefed foresail and we drift and roll WNW. It is a very unique situation to be here unpressed to proceed for a while. The wind is blowing briskly. Maybe I haven't moved out of the SE trades. The sea looks different again. I look at it lovingly again."
Andrew Bray
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Getting Ready for the Vendee Globe
16 July 2008
Many races claim to be the toughest in the world. The BT Global Challenge, Chay Blyth's 'wrong way' race did so with some justification, as does the fully-crewed Volvo Ocean Race sailing some of the world's fastest monohulls and pushing them to their limits - and beyond.
But in my mind this picture says it all. It is the IMOCA or Open 60 Groupe Bel sailed by Kito de Pavant on trials in readiness for the Vendee Globe starting in November. I can just about imagine doing this for a day before returning to terra firma and a hot shower. But de Pavant and his 29 fellow skippers will be doing it, alone and sometimes in the freezing wastes of the Southern Ocean for three months or more. Now tell me which is the toughest yacht race in the world.
Picture by Gilles Martin-Raget
Andrew Bray
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Waterside lap dancers
27 June 2008
It's enough to make a chap choke on his Pimms or spill his pinkers down his blazer. What is the world coming to? Lap dancers during Cowes Week?
Yes, it's for real. At the Waterside pub in Cowes there will be lap dancing from 1 - 7 August. From 9pm to 1am the pub will become 'an exclusive men's club', although the press announcement then goes on to say 'although not excluding women'. I should think not. After all, who is going to do the dancing? It won't work with a hairy 14 stone bowman.
The numbers will be restricted to 100, with the first 80 guests paying £20, the remainder £25. The dancers, apparently, come from Elegance, Portsmouth's first and only lap dancing club.
Not surprisingly there has been a fair amount of local opposition and the police have been consulted. You could not make this up, but the Cowes Police spokesperson is Sgt Julie Cocks.
Bookings at 01983 293 269 or after9@thewatersidecowes.com
Andrew Bray
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Careless Alinghi
3 June 2008
To capsize one multihull is careless, but two? Here is the Alinghi Extreme 40 catamaran taking part in the recent iShares Cup at Lugano and having one of those "oh s***" moments. This is just a few weeks after they planted the bows of the hapless Alain Gautier's ORMA trimaran Foncia and performed a none too gentle pirouette to end up upside down. BMW Oracle Racing aren't much better having also capsized their Extreme 40. So far, apart from Russell Coutts who suffered a cut arm, no-one has been badly injured.
The learning curve is patently extremely steep. But think of this. It now looks as though the 33rd America's Cup will be raced in 90 foot multihulls. These boats will be substantially more powerful than the Extreme or Foncia and much, much faster. Fifty knots is a distinct possibility. Now if one of those comes unstuck at those speeds, with no tyre barriers to cushion the impact what are the chances of severe damage to both crew and boat.
Another thing about these boats. They are going to cost tens of millions to be designed and built and then used for a maximum of just three races...it's a bit obscene isn't it?
Andrew Bray
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A logistical nightmare
28 April 2008
There used to be a standing joke in the editorial office of one magazine I worked for. It was called 'but where are the roof bars?' Some of our sailing trips involved driving the crew to point A, sailing to point B and then having to retieve the car from A. Unless of course you could rent a car from B to get to A. Simple enough so far, except for the roof bars. These were for the obligatory windsurfer that went with us and without which it could not be transported. And, in those days anyway, you could not hire cars with roof bars.
A simple logistical exercise but absolutely nothing when you consider the problems of the organisers of the Clipper round the world race when two of its yachts were dismasted in the Pacific. Read how they managed it.
"International marine events company Clipper Ventures Plc has successfully carried out a major logistical operation to re-rig two of the yachts competing in its Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race. The ten-strong fleet is now racing from Santa Cruz to Panama following the race restart for the internationally-backed yachts on Thursday. New rigs were assembled for Durban 20101 and Beyond and westernaustralia2011.com in the UK and freighted the 7,500 miles to Honolulu after the two 68-foot racing yachts were dismasted in Race 7 across the Pacific from Qingdao, China.
Clipper Ventures Chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston said: "When we lost two masts in the Clipper fleet in just over a week during the race from Qingdao to Hawaii, the priority was to replace all the similar fittings to those that failed within the fleet and to manufacture and ship out two new masts to Hawaii.
"Time was of the essence as the Clipper Race has a tight schedule and the plans of 200 crew members were at stake. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of the Race Team in Hawaii, Finance Director Jeremy Knight and Fleet Manager John Farndell in the UK and the many companies involved around the globe led by UK-based Spencer Rigging, the fleet is now back racing again", he said.
When westernaustralia2011.com lost half of her 81-foot (24.5 metre) mast on 5 March, Clipper Ventures immediately approached Sparcraft in Cape Town, the company that manufactured the masts for the ten matched Clipper 68s, to provide a replacement section.
However, Sparcraft suffered a factory fire on 7 March and was unable to make the new mast section as a result. On 10 April the company confirmed that its other factories in France and the United States did not have the spare capacity to make the mast. Later that day, Clipper Ventures sourced the required mast section in France, which was transported to Atlantic Spars in Brixham.
Meanwhile, on 13 March, day 19 of the 4,400-mile race from Qingdao to Hawaii, Durban 2010 and Beyond lost her mast at deck level, just eight days after westernaustralia2011.com lost her rig.
Following the second dismasting, Clipper Ventures sourced similar sections from the Netherlands to replace Durban 2010 and Beyond's mast which was also finished by Atlantic Spars. Meanwhile, Spencer Rigging sourced enough compact strand to complete two complete new sets of standing rigging.
Spencer Rigging cut and made up the rigging in Southampton and Cowes. They also commissioned a company to manufacture custom-made bottle screws and wire terminals as Clipper Ventures regular supplier, Navtec, only holds minimal stock and did not have the capacity to make replacements for many weeks. These parts were made in Germany and Newcastle.
Sir Robin said: "With parts coming from all over Europe, Spencer Rigging and Atlantic Spars had to work together closely to make ensure that everything fitted together correctly without any hitches when it arrived in Hawaii. With the boats more 7,000 miles away in Honolulu, there was neither the time, nor the opportunity to 'try it for size'!"
Clipper Fleet Manager John Farndell sourced all the remaining parts, with Marlow supplying running rigging. This process was complete by 26 April, just under two weeks after Durban 2010 and Beyond's dismasting.
The two masts were road transported from Devon to Luxembourg from where they were flown by front-loading Boeing 747 to Los Angeles arriving in the early hours of 29 March. This consignment containing the new rigs and related parts then waited in Los Angeles airport to be loaded onto the first available flight to Honolulu on 2 April.
After all the waiting, the plane it was booked on developed a technical fault. However, the airline managed to get it fixed, and the consignment was loaded onto the Boeing 747, fitting through the side doors with just six inches to spare.
The rigs were flown to Honolulu arriving early on 2 April, where the Clipper Maintenance team along with three riggers from Spencer Rigging and a mast builder from Atlantic Spars were eagerly awaiting their arrival. Both rigs were delivered to the boatyard, where they were stepped and tuned in just over a week with westernaustralia2011.com and Durban 2010 and Beyond leaving on 10 April just five days after the rest of the fleet.
Clipper Race Director Joff Bailey said: "It was a magical moment watching the ten teams cross the start line in Santa Cruz on Thursday as it marked the end of a very challenging experience. The blue water, clear skies and a reasonable breeze also helped the day go well.
"I'd particularly like to commend the crews of westernaustralia2011.com and Durban 2010 and Beyond on the massive amount of work they put into assisting us with the new masts and the great job they did in turning the boats around in less than 48 hours after they arrived in Santa Cruz."
After a brief stopover, Race 9 from Santa Cruz got underway on 24 April. The fleet is scheduled to reach Panama City on 13 May."
Andrew Bray
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Serial keel waggler
28 April 2008
Modesty is not something you could accuse Yann Elies Transat and Vendee Globe steed Generali of. Look at her here, waving her bright red appendages in the air for all the world to see during pre-Transat trials. A great stunt to show off inshore but would the pair risk doing the same in 40 foot seas 1,000 miles from land deep in the Southern Ocean?
Andrew Bray
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Southern Ocean Seas
7 April 2008
Fedor Konyukhov is currently circumnavigating Antarctica solo as a dry run - if that's possible in the deep south - of the inaugural Antartica Cup. This race has been planned for a number of years and starts and finishes in Albany, Western Australia. It's late in the season to be that far south and Fedor has endured more than his fair share of storms. He has also had to sail further north than he would have liked to keep clear of ice.
Just look at the size and colour of this sea! It makes me, sitting comfortably in a heated office, feel very, very cold. www.antarcticacup.com
Andrew Bray
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Noisy antifouling
20 March 2008
With Easter round the corner it seems a good time to blog about antifouling. There's something about antifouling that seems to encourage innovation. Maybe it's the cost of the stuff or perhaps the less than favourite job of putting it on, no doubt on a breezy, cold day that sees any other person, boat or car to leeward getting generously spotted with International's finest.
Over the years I've come across many different ideas to solve the problem. One impecunious sailor thought he'd save a few pounds by using swimming pool paint (though if he had a pool he could not have been that impecunious). The sky blue was very fetching. The barnacles thought so too. Another added copious quantities of rat poison and creosote to domestic emulsion paint. Other than deterring the occasional passing water rat or gribble that too had little effect. One that did work, though it's frightening to think of the environmental consequences if widely used, was adding vetinerary antibiotics to household paint, though no doubt continued use could have developed MRSA-like super barnacles. And then there was Barnacle Bill.
Back in the 1970s, when a US Coastguard cutter was slipped for a refit the shipyard was puzzled when they found that one area of hull was completely free of fouling. On investigation they found that it correlated to a sailor's cabin and that sailor was a hi fi enthusiast and had speakers mounted all round the cabin, including on the hull. Barnacle Bill was born, a system of sonic devices glued on the inside of the hull designed to blast away fouling, though no-one used it long enough to ascertain whether Mozart or Black Sabbath worked best. Because it made little discernable difference.
Well Barnacle Bill, or son of Barnacle Bill is back. The Shipsonic ultrasound antifouling system has just been announced. Now I won't tar it with the same brush as Barnacle Bill (come to think of it tar is supposed to work well) as it may well work in a completely different way. But it will take a lot to convince me to fit it to my boat. Read about it at www.sonic-marine.co.uk
Andrew Bray
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Sinking supermarket trolleys
19 March 2008
What is it about supermarket trolleys that makes anyone want to push them into the nearest river, canal or, come to that, the sea? An accident pushing an overloaded Carrefour trolley along a wobbly pontoon in Port Chantereyne in Cherbourg is, perhaps, forgivable, if unfortunate. But wanton trolley drowning?
This is prompted by a news story about Essex Waterways, part of the IWA, threatening to take Tesco to court to recover the cost of removal of trolleys from the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation at Heybridge. Tesco paid up. Not only that, Tesco has introduced 'new procedures' to reduce the likelihood of trolleys being abandoned within the waterway.
IWA commented "IWA believes that the larger navigation authorities should take a more proactive and sustained assertive approach to known trolley hotspots and ensure that our waterways are freed from the scourge of abandoned trolleys once and for all"
There's a new one, 'known trolley hotspot'.
Andrew Bray
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Another Clipper mast fails
13 March 2008
One design fleet, one design problems is what they say and after the hiatus in the last Clipper race when all the boats were forced to make a lengthy unscheduled stop in the Phillipines with serious keel issues one wonders whether the double dismasting could be indicative of a fleet-wide problem.
Last week westernaustralia2011.com lost her rig and is sailing under jury rig towards Midway for re-fuelling and re-provisioning. Now comes the news that Durban 2010 and Beyond has suffered a similar fate, although the race organisers say the causes of both are not thought to be the same. However, as an apparently precautionary measure, the remaining eight boats have been instructed to cease racing, with two going to Durban's assistance. No injuries have been reported.
Andrew Bray
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