Celebrity Yacht Race - Competition Results

There were no winners for the Celebrity Yacht Race competition, so Buff's t-shirt is safe!

The right answer is as follows:

- the winner of the last America's Cup and current defender is Alinghi

- Alinghi's founder (and frequent helm) is the Swiss billionaire Ernestor Bertarelli

- Bertarelli's wife is ex Miss UK Kirsty Roper

- As well as modelling, Ms Roper also considered a career in music

- The song "Black Coffee" was originally written for her

- It was later re-written and released by the All Saints

- It is said Ms Roper had a hand in developing the song and it relates to Bertarelli.

So now you know!


Picture from Alinghi site

Golden Balls and Boats

“Which one d’you like sweetie?” asked David Beckham.

Victoria Beckham looked at both boats carefully. “Well that one’s a Princess and got just a lovely walk-in wardrobe” she said.

“We’ll take it” David said to the sales rep, who beamed back.

“Wait a minute, let me finish. The other one is a Sun Seeker – now that sounds nice – and it’s got its own jacuzzi”

David smothered a groan and looked around at the London Boat Show. “There’s a hundred boats here, there’s got to be one for you here”.

“But you don’t understand, David, it’s got to be just right. When top international stars like us go to LA we’ve got to accessorise to show our class. I heard Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are getting a matching pair of speed-boats”

“Wish they’d get a pair of knickers”

Victoria gave David a slap. “Don’t say that – it’s those horrid paps”

“Yes, your paps are much nicer”.

Victoria smiled. “You know what I mean – look at how they were chasing that nice Kate Middleton, even after they promised they wouldn’t”.

“What-ever, you going to buy or what”

“I don’t know, does it come in pink?” she asked the sales rep, who nodded, smile fixed as if by superglue.

“Not pink, not pink again, call it Posh’s Palace, Brooklyn II, anything, just not pink”.

“It’s my boat, you get to choose the other toys”

“Yup, iPhone and all the best from the Macworld”

Victoria sniffed. “You spend too long on that Apple – who is this Michelle Manhart I found you searching for”

“You wouldn’t be interested” Beckham quickly said, “she’s a US military sort in Iraq, its international politics, very boring, not your cup of tea at all”.

“Oh”. Victoria had lost interest.

“Come on, I’ve got a meeting with the Florida Gators management team. Someone called Yvonne Decarlo or something like that.”

“Maybe not a boat” said Victoria, “but a car”.

“Now you’re talking” said David, perking up, “let’s go to the Detroit Auto Show”.

Updates

It's a slow period for sailing when the nights are long and the days cold. So for the foreseeable future this will be a once a week blog.

This week I'm trying an experiment suggested by Ken Levine on his blog - post an entry with all the top search phrases and see how it impacts the hit-rate. In this case it was to include all the terms in Google's Zeitgeist in a boating related piece of fiction.

Hope you enjoy the results.

Boat Show Round-up

So I went - but it was only just worth it. It doesn't help that the exhibition centre Excel is the edge of beyond (ok East London) and it didn't help that there was a signal failure on the Docklands Light Railway which meant a 20 min hike through the wilds of Canning Town (which is clearly a place you should leave your valuables at home before visiting).

It should be a plus that the place is so huge it feels empty, but it lessons the character and atmosphere. Maybe in an attempt to generate some excitement that many of stands went interactive, with demos of how to lay an anchor, competitions to haul up a dinghy's mainsail or grind a volvo, and a fog tunnel.

I was most interested by the America's Cup boat on display, BMW Oracle. Particularly impressive was the size of the track - understandable given the loads involved.


There wasn't enough time to look round the boats or do any shopping as was the last two hours on Thursday. But its my favourite time to go as the stands hand out free drinks and hire bands.

So many thanks to the Laser stand for the beer and music. But alas they were out budgeted by Sun Seeker(who else) who had hired a The Committments style band (below) for their stand.

Now that was fun!

But what does it say about a boat show when the best bit was the beer and the band?

What's the point of Boat Shows?

Its that time of year again. The Christmas decorations have been put away for another year and England is grey and wet, so it must be time for the London Boat Show.

But I can't get enthusiastic and wonder why bother going. It's not like the year I was thinking of buying a dinghy so had fun checking out Lasers and Toppers. It's not like the year I met up with a couple of friends in the champagne bar, nor the year another friend was exhibiting.

If I go at all it will be the late Thursday night where there seems to be an open bar at most stands. But at the moment its only 50:50.

But yes, this sailor does think a spinnaker is much like a bikini top.

River Life

Happy New Year!

One of my favourite quotes comes from The Wind in the Willows. As Ratty introduces Mole to the river he says "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -- absolute nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats". It is of course so true.

Almost all the action of the book takes place beside the River Thames, which I can now see gliding gently past my new flat.

The river is fascinating, ever changing. Tides come and go, birds flock and feed, clouds rush by, while flurries on the water show gusts of wind. This afternoon we saw a melancholy Christmas Tree - floating upstream as the tide was in full flood. If I wait a few hours I'll see it come back down again.

I love watching it so no doubt more river stories in the future.

Anyhow, hope you all had great holiday breaks!

Moving

Captain JP is moving at last!

I've have been too busy to post for the last few weeks and I don't think unpacking will be much easier - so this might be the last update till xmas. It's not helped by BT being unbelievably slow in connecting the new build flat to broadband.

In the mean time a show of how it's possible to make an ocean yacht race viewer without the hassle - get Google Earth to do the hard work for you as was done by the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). Check out their web site where you can download the kml files for the fleet and also grib data, which when loaded looks something like this:


This should be required viewing for the less than professional crew behind the Velux 5 Oceans site. I've sort of lost interest in that race, especially with both Golding and Thomson are now out of the running - even if the drama on both boats did temporarily raised its profiles.

Though again the best way to follow events was by either the Mike Golding or Yachting World sites - the former of which included a (free) video of the abandonment of Hugo Boss and interview by Elaine Bunting who had to think of what to say to Mike who must feel he is under some sort of sailing curse.

I'm finding it more fun to follow the Arc which brings back memories of doing the crossing in 2003. My old boat, Ocean Wandering, is repeating its annual migration - as is another boat we remember from 2003 called Steamy Windows, now with a new owner and skipper.

From the emails coming back it sounds like there is some great trade wind sailing go on.

Something to dream over from a stormy center of London, surrounded by packing boxes.

Following the 5 Oceans

Frustrated at being unable to follow the 5 Oceans? Unable to get the official web site to work? Fear not! Here is your cut out and keep (Blog lawyer: you can't say that!) - ok your print out and keep tool-kit to following the fleet to Fremantle.

Firstly head to Mike Golding's web site to get the rankings and positions, like this:
The top four are in South Atlantic and last three close to the equator. The DTL closing is clearly out, but it looks like Mike is falling behind. Checking the tracks it appears Alex Thomson is heading as if towards the wrong Cape - towards the Horn not Hope.

To understand both these, lets check out the weather down there. On Stormsurfing this is the forecast for tomorrow morning.

The leading boat's progress is blocked by a high. Bernard Stamm is close to getting out the other side. Alex Thomson is thinking of heading around the high to the west - which could be a smart move. If you run the animation you can see the high drifting east, following Stamm, breathing down his neck - which can't be a good thing.

To find out how each of the skippers are doing, check out their respective sites:

- Mike Goldings knows he's got problems - Stamm ahead and Alex out-flaking him.

- Alex Thomson's listening to Snow Patrol and Razorlight and plotting his route west

- Bernard Stamm is writing in French. I can't understand it without really concentrating....

- Kojiro Shiraishi is writing in Japanese. I really can't understand it at all!

- Graham Dalton is not writing on his site - any ideas if he is anywhere else?

- Robin Knox-Johnson hasn't written for a bit - but there's a reason for that....

Robin Knox-Johnson is having problems - there's a series of stories on the Yachting World site, including him:
- having a Chinese gybe
- reporting all the battens in his main broken
- struggling with modern technology

The last is a fascinating insight into how sailing has changed since Robin was in "A world of my own". The old school sailor is having to adjust to the modern technology of grib files downloaded by satellite rather than simply tapping at the barometer and peering at the sky.

But one thing hasn't changed for Knox-Johnston - the wee dram of whisky.

See - all that coverage, and not need to go to the official site.

Butterflies And Hurricanes

There's a great video on Bernard Stamm's web site of Cheminees Poujoula storming along - and the musics not bad too. Turns out Stamm is a Muse fan, and it's that classic track "Butterflies And Hurricanes".

A good choice - one of those to add to the rough weather mix. I took it on the delivery from Lisbon to Gibraltar, but it's not really fine weather chill out music.

The lyrics are pretty appropriate for a round the world sailor:

Change everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called

Fights and battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead

Best, you've got to be the best
You've got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now

Change everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
Fights and battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead

Best, you've got to be the best
You've got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now

Don't let yourself down
And don't let yourself go
Your last chance has arrived

Best, you've got to be the best
You've got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now

Fixing the Five Oceans

Some suggestions to fix the crap 5 Oceans web site:

1) Make all content free - the limited video clips are not worth 20 quid and it appears from posts here that it hasn't been tested on Macs

2) Having made all content free, return the money to those that have paid for the so-called "ultimate coverage"

3) Get rid of the current race viewer and check the terms of the contract with the company that developed it: it doesn't appear to be fit for purpose

4) Replace it with something simple like the Google Maps mash-up used by the Mike Golding web site.

5) Put a regular space for the weather forecast and wind charts preferably overlaid with the position of the fleet

6) Give option to download the .kml files that allow race info to be viewed in Google Earth

7) Make sure there's a version of all pictures that can be quickly viewed without a huge (c) on it or having to register

8) Create more content - there are so few stories its hardly worth visiting. Making all the emails and photos sent from the skippers accessible would help - there's no reason not too given the media savvy like Mike Golding have their own sites where its posted for free whatever the 5 Oceans site does

9) If you can't afford more writers then get some bloggers in to create some

10) Create more space on the web site for content and reduce the clutter of adverts

11) Add a forum section for interaction with users - templates for these can be bought are off the shelf for not much money

12) Have a regular link to keep readers informed with status of the revamp

13) Check out the other race web sites - such as the very successful Volvo Ocean Race web site - and borrow shamelessly

14) Do something quickly before the race becomes a write-off

Any others?

Lost and found

This is where my sailing chum Jonathan's Class 40 was lurking. When the rest of the Route du Rhum was blasting its way across the Atlantic his Friends of the Earth was being hoisted at Cowes for repairs.

Hope it is soon back on the water racing - as in this video here.

The giant squid, the sinking boat and the whisky bottle

More drama for both the 5 Oceans and the Route du Rhum:
- Mike Golding's boat Ecover (above, in the Bay of Biscay storms) has been attacked by a giant squid
- French skipper Didier Levillain was whisked by helicopter to safety as his monohull sank beneath him
- Multi-hull Orange had the central of three hulls damaged by collision with a container
- Mast climb for Nick Bubb to retrieve a stuck halyard in rough conditions
- Multi-hull Switch.fr capsized when in third position, crew now rescued
- Concern about leaky whisky bottles on Robin Knox-Johnston's boat Saga Insurance (now that's serious)

Given all this drama its amazing how little of it is reported in either the print or tv news. So many sports gets so much coverage why (oh why) is so little time available for sailing? How can the stories above be less interesting than something like Formula 1, where cars just go round and round and round in circles?

Of course it would help if there were better ways of explaining what is happening during an offshore yacht racing - and more importantly why. Tools such as Virtual Spectator should be universal rather than the exception, where animations show boat positions and weather systems so tactics can be clearly explained.

It isn't helped by crap web sites like the 5 Oceans one, which has recently issued this belated apology (anyone interested in following that race can find a race viewer that actually works on Mike Golding's site here).

But that should be a story in its own right, a bone of contention that few can argue against. Unlike last year's fake controversy created by some sailing magazines (Yachting World you know who we mean) that criticized the new Volvo 70 class - false because those most involved (the sailors) were fully behind it, and it will continue to be the basis for the next race.

In the mean time the RdR fleet continues to power its way to the Caribbean, nice trades aligned with the direct great circle path. Must be fun out there.


Images from www.mikegolding.com, www.stormsurfing.com and www.routedurhum.org

Routing the Route du Rhum

While the Route du Rhum web site is obviously better than that of the 5 Oceans it still falls short of the arm-chair navigators favorite, the Volvo Virtual Spectator software. So routing and tactics must rely on overlaying two sites, the forecast and the RdR's charts, as done below.

Chart as of 19:45 on 1st November:

Wind forecast for 6Z on 2-11-2006:
So it looks like increasing easterlies for the fleet up to 30 - 35 knots. The multi-hulls way ahead of the main pack can be seen to be heading south to get those winds just to the north of that mini-low.

More on this later - till then, anyone know a better approach? I see there is a RdR Google Earth link, but it seems to be less up to date than the web site charting tool.

Also does anyone know of any GRIB files in Google Earth format?

Cheers



Graphics from www.stormsurfing.com and www.routedurhum.org

Route du Rhum's Missing Yacht

After the disappointment of the Velux 5 Oceans it's good to see a proper offshore yacht race and web site. The Route du Rhum race shows how it should be done, with a huge fleet (for offshore races) of 86 registered multis and mono-hulls, and a web site with easy to find and free news, pictures, and videos. The charting tool may be basic but at least it works. If its rum cocktails all round make mine a mojito.

In particular I was really excited to see that my old sailing chum Jonathan Crinion was one of those registered. He was on my watch when doing the Fastnet last year and I found it slightly embarrassing to be watch leader to a single handed sailor. But it was hopefully a two way exchange and I for one certainly found his stories full of interest.

But alas since then Jonathan and his boat, Friends of the Earth (pictured above) have gone missing. I know from his web site that he reached Falmouth on the 20th October after an interesting leg up from South Africa where he experienced rough weather and a knock down. But since then nothing - fingers crossed he will be ready for the next race.

Will let you know when I get news.

6 reasons why the 5 Oceans web site has lost the plot

This is a great photo of a great race, spoiled by the vandalism of a short sighted web site. The 5 Oceans web site might not have had the budget of the Volvo, but it is failing on too many points to ignore.

1. Paying for content - this is a bad idea as previously blogged. All boats are funded by sponsorship, and for them the more hits the better. Driving the prime audience away just doesn't make any sense.

2. If you do sell content make sure it's good - for yes, I would stump up if it were worth it. But from what they demo it's a little more than sub YouTube postage stamp sized pixellated annoyance. Now that there is broadband everywhere we should get at least standard TV quality - maybe even HD.

3. Limited news content - there have only been a handful of stories of the web site despite the dramatic events of the last few days. Maybe there is more open to those prepared to pay £20 but guess I'm not going to find out.

4. Poor quality race viewer - god I loved the Volvo Virtual Spectator software. For comparison here is the start from last year where that fleet too hit huge seas and several boats retired. Ain't that beautiful!

In comparison the Velux 5 Oceans is unusable. With my browser (Firefox) it is an irritation of flashing blocks of colour, sluggish response and unintuitive controls. I've given up every time I've tried it. Last time it locked up Firefox so I had to kill it and re-launch the browser. And it has to be downloaded each time you look at the chart. It doesn't have to be all wizzy like the Volvo - look at the simple Mid Sea position plotter.

5. Crippled pictures - as you can see above with a huge (c) in the middle. Yes, you can register for downloads but the agreement does not cover blogging. It covers web sites of newspapers and magazines which publish in hard-copy - not pure web sites. Its also a pain if all you want is a desktop picture.

6. Too many adverts, crowding out content. The point of the web site should be to inform, not be a "profit center".

Conclusion: all this wouldn't matter if there was coverage of the 5 Oceans on TV, but in the UK we only get to hear about yachting when there are force 10 storms and a British competitor and some dramatic film clips.

The 5 Oceans Race, the sponsors, the back-up teams, and most important, the skippers out there at sea, deserve better.


Edited to expand point 4 and add point 6.

Slow Mid Sea

The Rolex Middle Sea fleet have had a lovely view of the volcanic island of Stromboli off Sicily. Stars gleaming bright, lava glowing as it oozes from the crater, and rosy sunset reflecting in the still water.

A long lovely view.

.......

Is that mountain still there?

When oh when will the wind fill in?

Oh god, not another drifting race again!

Velux in choppy water

Mistakes galore for the Velux 5 Oceans. Out on the water the skippers on the little fleet are struggling in gale force winds. But if you want to find out more you'll have to pay £19.99 for the "ultimate coverage".

This is really stupid. All the boats are sponsored by companies looking to maximise coverage and what better way to put people off than charging an up front free.

The internet over the last year has seen a great change. Sites that charged for content saw their traffic, their hit count, collapse. Sites like YouTube that allow videos to be uploaded and downloaded for free have seen their traffic increase exponentially and this site was recently valued in the billions of dollars.

Sailing is a minority sport and we should be encouraging as many as possible to follow. Putting up barriers like this puts off even enthusiastic yacht race bloggers like me.

Compare this to the Volvo - which not only a huge site with all content free, but offered for download the superb 3D viewer Virtual Spectator that makes the Velux equivalent look pretty shabby.

I hope this short sighted attitude can quickly be changed.

Pirates of the Mediterranean

Pirates, the scourge of the seas, dread menace to boat and crew alike, are real life threats in many waters around the world. But would you expect them in the apparently mellow Mediterranean?

Captain JP has heard of a highly suspicious and potentially serious incident that happened to one of the competitors of the recent Rolex Swan Cup in Sardinia.

Due to poor organisation, this yacht was forced out of the marina to anchor close to the shore. To the skipper and crew this was routine - from many years sailing they knew that with calm seas and gentle winds the anchor and chain laid was amble to hold her steady. And so they headed off to eat - annoyed at the race organisers inability to book sufficient berths but not concerned about their yacht's safety.

During their meal a fellow competitor warned them there were intruders onboard - uninvited guests who turned out to be divers. Their story was that the boat was drifting, and they therefore saved her and could claim salvage but would accept a "mere" 1,000 Euros for their troubles.

With the collective experience of those involve it seems extremely unlikely that there was a risk of drifting - if so, what was it? It could be anything from a misunderstanding to attempted blackmail - we will never know.

But the moral is clear: watch your boats. And watch those that watch the boats.

Challenge's End?

October has brought the sad news that Challenge Business has entered receivership with (according to Yachting World) £9m worth of debts.

There have been rumours all year of the company being in trouble, but it was still a shock to hear that the company behind the Global Challenge has hit the rocks. They and their charasmatic leader Sir Chay Blythe have been a fixture of the sailing circuit, their signature steel cutters familiar sights not just in the Solent but around the world from Cape Town to Sydney.

I had a great time sailing one of the Challenge 67s around the Canary Islands a few years ago (above) watching dolphins and eating bread dipped in the local sauce, Mojo. I hoped one day to go again, maybe a trip to the far north to Spitsbergen or even a Round Britain.

Its clearly tough being a sailing company - last year's casualties including Girls for Sail and Formula 1. Fingers crossed that restructuring can quickly bring back Sir Chay and his boats back on the water.

Mid Sea Wind Forecasts

For those of you lucky enough to be flying off to Malta for the 2006 Rolex Mid Sea Race, (or is it? - the web site says 2005) the cruicial question is what will the wind be like?

Will it be another frustrating slow race drifting round the way points or a bruise and sleepless night inducing battle through storms, thunder and lightning? I haven't yet been in really strong winds - 30 knots gusting 45 on the ARC was my tops - but from that I'd choose rough over the smooth every time.

But for the yacht tacticians out there, Angelika's pointed me at this great Turkish site. I particularly like how the sea area around southern Italy is called "Boot".

Bon voyage to all competitors and a safe return to harbour.