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June 21, 2007Successful righting test for Spirit of Canada

On Tuesday morning in the presence of his technical team and a crowd of spectators, Derek Hatfield’s Open 60, Spirit of Canada underwent her 180° test at the Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto. The boat was turned over and Derek Hatfield had to manoeuvre the keel from the inside to get her back upright. "I jumped on the ceiling and then on some shelves and the boat righted herself. Everything went as planned and nothing got broken or damaged inside. It all went very smoothly."

June 21, 2007The new BritAir to be launched on 18th July

Following nine months of work at the Multiplast Yard, the new 60-foot Open BRITAIR is due to be launched on Wednesday 18th July at around 10 a.m. in Vannes, in the presence of Armel Le Cléac’h, Multiplast’s technical staff and a number of employees from the airline company, Brit Air. The boat will undergo measurement tests the following day in Concarneau Bay, and her mast will be stepped, in order for checks to be carried out on the technical choices made by the Multiplast yard and the Finot-Conq design team. Armel will then be heading for Cowes to take part with his brother Gael, in the legendary Fastnet Race.

June 18, 2007Will Jersey be represented in the next Vendée Globe?

Jersey’s Chief Minister, Frank Walker, has been encouraging local businessmen to support the campaign led by their fellow citizen, Phil Sharp, who following his success in a Class 40 boat in the recent Route du Rhum, wishes to take part in the 2008 Vendée Globe. Elected Channel Islands Sports Personality of the year in 2006, Sharp is currently looking for a sponsor and hopes that with the backing of the Chief Minister, he will attract the funds required to see through this campaign. Frank Walker: “With Phil’s track record and dogged determination I believe he has the potential go all the way and take this title from the French for the first time. Entering a Jersey boat in an event of this magnitude would create very positive international exposure for the Island. I hope local businesses with a strong international presence looking for global brand awareness will realise the benefits of this sponsorship opportunity and help Phil and Jersey win what is the Formula 1 of ocean racing.”

June 10, 2007Mike Golding weighs up the opposition

The construction of the new Ecover is proceeding as planned at Hakes Marine in New Zealand and Mike Golding has announced that her launch will take place in just a few weeks. The yachtsman from Hampshire will be spending a few weeks out there before the boat is loaded for her voyage to Europe. Mike took advantage of a few days rest to take a look at the boats gathered in Calais for the start of the Round Britain Race, which enabled him to jot down some notes about his future rivals. He noticed that some of the newer boats are not getting the results they hoped for. « I looked at the new boats in Calais. Generali looked interesting, but in the sense of knowing the boat I guess they are a bit green and will have made some mistakes. It is interesting to see PRB doing so well. The rumour is, though, that VM Matériaux is quicker on most points of sail, so there is nothing conclusive that a new boat is inevitably quicker, it’s about striking the right balance...\"

June 01, 2007The new Pindar almost ready

After eight months of work at Cookson’s in New Zealand, the construction of the new Pindar Open 60 designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian is nearing completion. The boat is due to be transported to England for the start of the Fastnet Race.
The boat captain, Nick Black commented on the work: “All is going well down here with the build of our new Open 60. Cookson’s have built some of the best racing yachts in the world to date, including the Team New Zealand boat(...) Every single day we are constantly going over the plans and designs to see how we can improve every tiny detail to try and squeeze any last bit of speed out of the boat. We have just finished the fairing of the hull and have put the hull and deck together. This is a really busy time in the schedule of the boat build as we bring together all of the different components from our various suppliers, with about 100 people in total working on all the different components.\"

June 01, 2007The Return of Norbert Sedlacek

After becoming the first German-speaker to take part in the Vendée Globe (in 2004) and now with a sponsorship deal signed with Kapsch, an Austrian company, specialised in traffic management equipment, Norbert Sedlacek has just re-affirmed his determination to set sail again from Les Sables d’Olonne in the next race and relaunched his campaign in Austria last week. A few days of special events were organised in Vienna Marina to present the project to the general public and local businesses. At the same time, Norbert is part of the campaign, « Wings For Handicapped » in favour of handicapped children, and has been showing everyone what is available to them in the area of sea sports. His Open 60, Nauticsport (the former Austria One) is currently at the Polypat Yard in Vendée, but is due to be relaunched this summer before undergoing a period of fine-tuning.