Hot News
18/02/10 • LASER’S SB3 World Council has announced the calendar of World and European championship events for the next three years. The 2010 World Championship will be hosted by Circolo Vela Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy from 19-23 July. Entries are expected to reach the limit of 120 long before the close of entries at the end of March Royal Torbay Yacht Club has been awarded the 2011 SB3 World Championships which they will host in May. In 2012, the Worlds will be hosted for the first time in a venue outside Europe. Following a bid that boasts significantly subsidised shipping for forty, 40ft containers from a number of international ports, Geelong, Australia have secured the SB3 Worlds for January 2012.
18/02/10 • DURING 2009, the Westerly Owners’ Association reached the milestone of 3,000 annual memberships for the first time in its history. The association began in 1966 with 103 members recorded in the first yearbook. However, it did not reach the 1,000 mark until 1993, and the 2,000 mark at the turn of the millennium. The 3,000th member to register in 2009 is Guenther Prinz an 84 year old German from Berlin who joined with his wife Renate. Guenther has been sailing since 1960 and owned his Westerly Konsort since 1997. The commodore of the Westerly Owners’ Association, Brian Easteal revealed that Westerly built about 12,000 boats and a quarter of those owners, from all over the world, are now members of the association.
18/02/10 • THE INTERNATIONAL 420 Class Association has voted to accept the use of electronic compasses in its class rules. The decision means that the 56,000 420 sailors around the world will, for the first time, be able to experience the benefits of using Tacktick’s Micro Compass. The Micro Compass gives all the data needed to react to the smallest windshifts. 420 sailors should purchase the TO61 system which comes with the bracket suitable for their class.
18/02/10 • THE ROYAL Yacht Squadron and two partner clubs, the New York Yacht Club and Yacht Club de Monaco, are staging the Westward Cup regatta in Cowes from 5-11 July. The organisers aim also to establish an event that would eventually lead to a revival of Big Class classic yacht racing as it was known from the 1910s to 1930s. The Westward Cup has been initiated to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the launch of the racing schooner Westward which was designed and built by Nathanael G Herreshoff, in Bristol, RI, USA. Westward was one of the fastest and most famous of the Big Class racing yachts, regularly competing in Cowes and most successfully against King George V’s yacht Britannia.
18/02/10 • AN AGREEMENT has been finalised between Jeanneau of France and Yamaha Motor (UK) for exclusive Yamaha outboard power for the 19 models in the Merry Fisher and Cap Camerat ranges. With a range of 13 outboard powered Cap Camerat models, from 5.15m up to 9.54m in length, combined with a Yamaha engine range from F50hp to twin F250hp, package prices span from around £16 to £117k. The six Merry Fisher models range from 5.75m to 7.15m and with power from F50hp to 150hp deliver package prices ranging from around £20 to £41k.
18/02/10 • THE CRUISING Club of America has selected Sir Robin Knox-Johnston to receive its prestigious Blue Water Medal for a lifetime devoted to the advancement of sailing, sail training and youth development and on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his single-handed, non-stop circumnavigation of the world. The medal will be presented on 5 March by CCA commodore Sheila McCurdy (Middletown, RI) during the club’s annual awards dinner at the New York Yacht Club.