Cardinal Points - Richard Donkin on Sailing

Sam Davies gets her kit off

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:53:00 +0000

Sam Davies looks to be enjoying her race on Roxy in the Vendee. As the competition and the weather heats up, she's shed her foulies and donned her bikini. Among all those rugged weatherbeaten Frenchman, she has revealed her secret media weapon - a belly-button stud.

It's still not quite enough to push John Sergeant off the front pages but it just might begin to arouse one or two tired sports editors - the sort who like nothing more than a Wimbledon knicker shot. Of course if she were to shed a little more she could wake up the Sun newsdesk too.

I was going to headline this note: "Sam Davies sheds her foulies," then I thought: what would the Sun headline say?

Vendee boats catching the Mystery

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:22:00 +0000

By my reckoning the first of the Vendee boats should be just about overtaking Pete Goss in his Spirit of Mystery today somewhere in the Doldrums.

It says something for the efficiency of the latest Vendee yachts that Loick Peyron, maintained speeds of up to 9 knots in calm seas yesterday, stretching his lead by something like 15 miles.

This meant that although Mike Golding had moved in to seventh place overnight - his highest position so far - he dropped miles on Peyron.

By 11am today, however, when the next set of position reports came in, conditions and fortunes were changing again.

Peyron's boat speed had dropped to 2 knots and Golding had closed the gap to 76 miles. It looks as if the race has reached that bunching up stage expected in the Doldrums. Sebastien Josse is just 14 miles off the lead with the third, fourth and fifth boats about 16 miles or so behind him.

A lot can happen in the next 24 to 48 hours. There is a real opportunity here for boats to catch up. The first to spring out of the Doldrums will have the chance to speed away from the pack, demoralising those behind.

Peyron is most likely to get away first as he has been shadowing his closest competitors. But there could be a chance for a boat that has made a bit of a gamble on its routing to make a big gain if it pays off - or fall further behind if it doesn't.

This is tactical long distance racing at its best. Imagine lone sailors, fighting with sleep deprivation in cloying heat and humidity, needing to concentrate and trim as if they were in a round-the-cans race. It's impossible to match such short-term, intense levels of concentration but those who can maintain high levels of trimming will see the pay-off in these light conditions.

As Goss points out in his slow moving lugger, this is the first time he has been heading for the Equator when he has not been racing. What luxury.

See links to Mystery Blog and Vendee positions in sidebar

Wavre back in the fight

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:12:00 +0000

It's great to see Dominique Wavre - forced to return soon after the race start - fighting his way back in to the following pack as the Vendee fleet heads in to the Doldrums. Sam Davies is doing well too, overtaking Brian Thompson who must be disappointed to find himself in 13th position behind a much older boat as Mike Golding shifts in to 7th place less than 90 miles adrift of the leader,Loick Peyron.

I would expect the leaders to be very close just now to the latitude reached by Pete Goss in Spirit of Mystery but I can't see his weblog as I post this note. I have posted the link anyway so you can see for yourself when the blog is fixed. Vendee links are in the right hand side-bar.

Thompson may be struggling now but his boat is powerful enough to pick up steam as the fleet heads south in to windier waters. His challenge now is to keep in touch in the light winds. The leading Frenchmen are going to take some catching but Golding isn't letting go. The race has been remarkably open so far, the lead changing hands often without anyone getting too far ahead. As the fleet leaves the Doldrums it may give someone the opportunity to make a break. We shall soon see

On shore woes

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:11:00 +0000

It's not looking good for Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss. Could this be this year's Vendee's first retirement?

Meanwhile it's sporting of Bahrain Team Pindar to be helping Derek Hatfield. You wouldn't see that in the Ferrari pit for Lewis Hamilton.

Goss recalls the Vendee

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:43:00 +0000

As the Vendee boats approach Madeira I'm struck by how close the race is at this juncture with the lead still changing hands. It's fun to look at the tracker (see right hand link) which shows how the boats are bunched.

The two lead boats must be in good sight of each other, spurring each other on. Further back, I suspect that Brian Thompson has Mike Golding in sight now too. This makes a difference competitively although it's important that those further down the field do not begin having their own private race without keeping an eye on the bigger picture.

I'm watching Michel Desjoyeaux too striving to get back in to contention. At the rate he's going he has a good chance. Dominique Wavre, meanwhile, is almost back with the top half of the field.

Separately I have been dipping in to Pete Goss's blog (link in right hand side bar)and his own tracker here. He's hoping that he might catch sight of the approaching Vendee fleet at some stage soon. The fleet includes Raphael Dinelli, who Goss famously rescued in the 1996-97 Vendée Globe.

Goss turned back and sailed upwind to save the French man who had capsized, out of reach of any other possible rescue. The rescue earned Goss the Légion d'Honneur and a lasting friendship with Dinelli.

About the Vendee, he says: "The Vendee is more than a race, and it is how the person reacts to whatever fate chooses to throw at them that counts. It's private, something that the podium can't get to grips with as it lacks the depth, but it is real and lasting to the individual who has endured and enjoyed the ups and downs."

French skippers dominate early Vendee running

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:44:00 +0000

It's still very early days in the Vendee Globe race, but as the boats approach Madeira with nearly 800 miles already covered it's disappointing as a Brit to note that the top 10 places are held exclusively by Frenchmen - and this is without Michel Desjoyeaux who is putting in some strong times after returning to the start.

The next four places are held by British skippers, two of them women. Sooner or later I would expect Mike Golding and Brian Thompson to begin mixing it in that leading group although Thompson must still take a four hour penalty he incurred as a result of a rule infringement just before the start.

The British women, Sam Davies and Dee Caffari are sailing exceptionally well. Davies has a second generation boat, less powerful than many others in the field including that of Thompson who still trails her.

While Caffari's boat, Aviva is a more powerful third generation yacht, identical to Golding's Ecover 3, she has much less experience in downwind racing at this level. To be keeping pace with Golding shows just how much her technique has improved in the past year.

It's no surprise, however, to see Davies doing well as she trains with the elite French squad. The squad system seems to be paying off just now but there is still a long way to go. All the same, you wouldn't be betting just now against yet another French win. I still think that Thompson has the power and Golding the experience to mount strong challenges but they cannot afford to let the leaders move too far ahead.

When leading boats begin to pick up new weather systems ahead of the rest it can really split the field. So tactical decisions over the next two or three days could prove crucial. Keep an eye on Dominique Wavre. He's been putting in some blistering times after his early reversal.

You can click on the Vendee Positions link in the right hand side bar to keep up with the times.

Are the Vendee boats tough enough?

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:37:00 +0000

Nine boats of the 30 that set out on the Vendee Globe - almost a third of the fleet - have been forced back to port, including Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss.

There is still plenty time for them to catch up as Dominic Wavre is proving, back in the reckoning after returning to the start on Sunday for electrical repairs.

The weather has been rough with 55 mph winds but the fleet has to expect these conditions in a round-the world race. If so many boats are experiencing such problems at the start of the race, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the event.

I think we're going to be looking at a lot of withdrawals before the race is finished. There is no turning back in the Southern Ocean.

Speed and seaworthiness

It raises the question of whether some designers have struck the right balance between speed and seaworthiness. You should never compromise on the latter for round-the-world sailing but, such is the technical input in to modern racing yachts, that I wonder if some designers are tempted to under-engineer, however unwittingly, as they strive to build the fastest boat.

Then there are the skippers themselves, under pressure right from the start although, as circumstances have shown already in this race, fortunes can be reversed in a matter of hours.

Sam Davies has the right idea. Her latest report shows just what is involved. She is no Amazon but what she lacks in body strength she makes up for in guts.

Enormous waves

She says: "It was pretty rough out there yesterday - I saw gusts of 55knots of wind, and the waves were enormous. I had set up my strong wind configuration in plenty of time, and Roxy hung in there under pilot as I braced myself at the chart table. It was full-on!

"The front went through early in the evening with a nicely timed wind shift that meant I was sailing directly into the path of a big ship. It was pretty close, as I could easily see the ship and there was close to zero visibility, so I had to crash tack to avoid it.

Bucking bronco

"Luckily, due to the wind shift, the tack put me on a perfect course. However, because of the urgency of the manoeuvre, I had had no time to do ballast or stacking. So, as a consequence, I spent my night stacking (sails) to windward, in a bucking bronco. As you can imagine it was pretty much impossible!

"So, right now, things are drying out. There is a nice 15 knots of wind and we are just about to round Cap Finisterre, where I should be able to put the gennaker up. I am totally shattered. It has been a big start to this Vendee Globe. I am desperately in need of some sleep and rest, to try to get rid of the cold I left with on Sunday. I also need to have some time to clean up the oil that is sliding around the aft compartment. I reckon I am not the only skipper with these needs."

Sam is holding her position well just outside the top 10. The leading Briton now is Mike Golding who moved in to the top 10 during the day.

Naked truth

I have only met Sam in her foulies so was surprised to find how she looked in her warpaint for this Daily Mail coverage (well, not that much coverage!) which, being the Daily Mail, just had to tell its readers that Samantha sometimes likes to sail naked (this blog would never stoop to such blatent sensationalism). Save it for the Equator Sam!

By my reckoning she's almost within binocular range of Brian Thompson. Now there's an incentive.

A tough first night for the Vendee boats

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:39:00 +0000

It's far too early to venture any opinion on the Vendee Globe race that started yesterday but after a tough night in 20 to 30 knot winds Dee Caffari must be delighted that she is the front-running British sailor among the early leaders.

Three boats have had to turn back for repairs and will need to do some catching up. But there is still plenty of time. This is a marathon, not a sprint, which is why it seems strange that someone with the experience of Mike Golding should have gone over the line early. It was so unnecessary.

Looking at the distance covered between the last two rankings, however, he seems to be cranking up his speed.So is Sam Davies on Roxy. Comparing their readings with that of Brian Thompson it would look as if Thompson has had a problem.

Surfing the web

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:17:00 +0000

Gybe away to your heart's content. I haven't hit anything yet, apart from the odd buoy. If only the Solent was like this.

Sailing in spirit

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:31:00 +0000

I've just been reading some of the blogs written by Pete Goss from his Spirit of Mystery Voyage.

The boat is a picture and the interior looks really comfortable but it seems they had some rough weather at the start. Pete makes some interesting remarks about the ease of working with wood. I agree with his general sentiments that the world has become too complex, too over-engineered. It must have been great to get started.

Baranson record attempt fails

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Hats off to Richard Branson and his son and daughter for having the guts to kick off their record breaking attempt on the Atlantic ahead of one hell of a storm that wrecked the bid.

Yes, they were in the hands of an extremely experienced crew, headed by Mike Sanderson, director of Team Origin, and it was the weight of that experience that probably led to them taking a risk with the weather that, had they pulled it off, would have ensured a fast crossing.

But on a boat built for speed, like Virgin Money, there is nowhere to hide and nowhere to find any comfort; so, if they didn't know what they were in for before hand, they certainly do now.

"We have had an eventful trip with waves up to 40 feet, gale force winds between force 7 and 9. We got taken by one massive monster wave, which approached us from behind and took one of our life rafts. Fortunately all the crew were harnessed in, so everybody was safe," said Branson.

The storm blew out a spinnaker and ripped the mainsail beyond an easy repair so the team had no option but to abandon the attempt. The boat is heading for Bermuda.

The team hasn't ruled out another attempt this year if the conditions allow. "The boat will be ready to sail again in the next few weeks, and it’s possible that there might be one week left this season, " says Branson "otherwise it will be spring before it can go again. But everybody on board the boat is committed to get the record. The boat did well but the conditions were too bad for the boat to bear."

I heard the other day that Alex Johnson, the 42-year-old hedge fund manager who owns the 99ft Virgin Money, formerly called Speedboat, ordered the £7.4m yacht without mentioning anything to his wife until he had taken delivery. I can believe it. If you're reading this Mrs Johnson, he's in Bermuda!

All at sea, nearly

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:14:00 +0000

So much is happening in sailing just now it's difficult to know where to start. The Volvo Ocean race has started and Ericsson 4 has taken an early lead from Puma. Follow their progress here.

Meanwhile Pete Goss is counting down to the start of his voyage to Australia in his Cornish lugger, The Spirit of Mystery. His web site tells the whole story. I featured him a while back here.

The Vendee Globe boats are making their final preparations. Boats are beginning to gather at Les Sables d'Olonne for the race start on November 9. More about the race here.

While all this is happening, members of Team Origin, the America's Cup challenger, are in New York with the yacht, Virgin Money, waiting for favourable weather systems to sail with Sir Richard Branson in a new attempt to break the transatlantic mono-hull record, which stands at 6 days, 17 hrs, 52 minutes and 39 seconds. It's going to be a busy few weeks.

The Needles up close.

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:44:00 +0000

Anyone who has sailed regularly in the Solent out of Portsmouth, Southampton or Cowes will be familiar with the chain of rocks called the Needles - probably the most famous landmark for sailors in the south of England.

I have passed them many times in yachts but it was only this last weekend that I managed to get up close and personal - too personal as it happens.

A few of us visited the Isle of Wight to spend a day kayaking and learning some of the rescue and recovery routines. We decided to go for a paddle in the morning and do the routines in the afternoon. The weather was good and the tide was receding with the prospect of a bit of breeze getting up later in the day.

We headed west towards the Needles from the Cowes direction within the Solent where it was pretty calm, but as we approached we could see that between the rocks the sea was much less benign.

The Needles get their name from a spindly pillar called "Lot's Wife" that collapsed in a storm in 1764. Today they resemble more a set of molars.

Four of us paddled out and rounded the lighthouse under the supervision of Owen Burson, an experienced instructor who runs Isle of Wight Sea Kayaking. On the channel side of the Needles there was a bit of chop but nothing too worrying.

There was quite a bit more chop, however, between the lighthouse rock and the second of the "white teeth" jutting out from the island. The idea was to paddle through this gate towards the calmer water beyond.

I volunteered to go first, with the others following, spaced a good four boat-lengths between each kayak, so we didn't get in the way of each other. Just as I had reached the roughest part between the rocks I heard a shout from Charles Godden (who crops up with BJ - Mark Brownjohn - another of our group, in this story) behind to watch out as his canoe ploughed in to mine. I had no means of steadying myself and there was a slow inevitability about the capsize.

There was time enough for me to rip the spray deck away as I went over (no I haven't had the self-righting and rolling lesson yet) but it didn't feel too comfortable to be a canoe's length from the rocks in the waves. This is not the place you would choose to fall out of a kayak.

Charles held on to the upturned kayak as Owen arrived and paddled me clear while I held on to my paddle and the rear of my kayak. Once away from the cliffs we were able to go through the recovery routine - emptying the canoe and clambering back in while it was rafted to Owen's kayak. Then it was back with the spray deck and once more through the gate - this time successfully.

Everything went well during the recovery but I can tell you it was a relief to be back inside those cliffs. It taught me just how easy it is to fall out of one of these sea kayaks and just why it's important for comparative novices to be with an instructor. I don't blame Charles (well of course I did, continually, for the rest of the day, just as he insisted he had saved me), it was just one of those things.

In the afternoon at a calmer spot near the shore we rehearsed the routine that had happened for real in the morning. Owen says that it's good to practice your balance at home on a big exercise ball. Safer too. I must remember that.

iShares Cup, Amsterdam

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:35:00 +0000

All that wind in the past few weeks and when you need a good breeze it disappears. It's like mid-summer today in the Amsterdam canal basin where 10 Extreme-40 catamarans are competing in the final round of the iShares Cup.

The only teams with a chance of winning the series are Alinghi and Team Origin and up to half way through the programme, Alinghi look to be breezing it, which, given the light airs, is hardly the right choice of adjective.

I spent some time this morning floating around on Team Origin with a star-studded cast of sailors including three Olympic Gold medalists, Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and Andrew "Bart" Simpson, joined on the boat by Sir Keith Mills, the team principal.

Mills has been working behind the scenes helping to broker a deal on the America's Cup between Ernesto Bertorelli and Larry Ellison.

He seems optimistic that the two businessmen who have been at the centre of protracted legal action over the future of the race, will come to an accommodation before the next court hearing in the New Year.

So will the next event be multi-hulled or single-hulled? It's too early to say but most people I have spoken with think it's inconceivable that the future of the event will not consist of a single-hulled challenge competition preceding a two-boat sail off for the cup itself. Mills still believes the challengers will be racing against each other next year, culminating in a cup race in 2011.

And what of the two big multi-hulls that have been built for BMW Oracle and Alinghi? Mills thinks they will make fine museum pieces. What a ridiculous waste of time and money.

In a class of their own

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:44:00 +0000

During one of the Rolex races I sailed with Charles Dunstone, chief executive and co-founder of Carphone Warehouse. From the back of his yacht, Hamilton II there was a grandstand view of two J-class yachts, Velsheda and Ranger competing head-to-head just to our rear.

It made for some stunning pictures, two of which I have featured here. I'm keen to write a feature on the J-class yachts which must still be the classiest sail boats on the water all those years after they first appeared. There are four new ones in build right now so the class is going to have an injection of some real competition. We ain't seen nothing yet.

On the water, at least, there is no love lost between Ronald de Waal, owner of Velsheda and John Williams, the owner of Ranger (the two boats collided at the Rolex even) but the rivalry may be coming to an end if Williams decides to sell Ranger as some reports have suggested.

Porto Cervo Marina, Sardinia

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:46:00 +0000

It’s always interesting to see how the other half lives. But in the week of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup we're not talking about the other half but the other 0.00001 per cent. There used to be a night spot here nicknamed “the millionaires’ club.” Today they have renamed it the “billionaires club.”

The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda was built in 1967 by the Aga Khan - the Paris-based head of the Nizari Muslims, the largest branch of the Ismaili Shi'a sect - and a few of his friends. Create an exclusive yacht club within a sleepy, sunny, rocky inlet and wait. One by one the big yachts came – the really big yachts: yachts with toy cupboards in the stern holds. In the place where smaller yachts store their mops, buckets and painters, the biggest maxis have sailing dinghies, power boats and canoes.

Search across the deck, beyond the godlike physiques of the so-called rock star sailors to the scruffiest incarnation of Harold Steptoe and you may well be looking at the owner.

What do the sailors do after a hard day’s racing in the Rolex Cup? A group of them I noticed were playing with remote controlled yachts. The rest were hitting the bar.

The super yachts range from sleek Wallys (I have always thought it must be something of an indignity to describe oneself as a Wally yacht owner) to the timeless J-class boats evoking the great days of sail.

The shirts may be scruffy but there’s no mistaking the accessories. Men with chunky watches, glistening like medieval body armour, heave their burdened wrists chest high with all the effort of a weight-training exercise.

If you want to give a maxi-yacht owner a hernia, just ask him the time. The yachts look unsinkable; you also get the impression they are fully recession-proofed.

“It’s a different world,” an event organiser confessed to me. “Before I discovered the big boat circuit I had no idea it existed. They keep an incredibly low profile,” she said.

There’s no stigma in being rich in this place. Not much advantage either. No matter how big you make your boat there will always be another that's bigger or taller with vast swathes of teak. They have a name for the rain forest here. They call it decking.

Williams wins Danish Open

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:12:00 +0000

Ian Williams extended his lead in the current World Match Racing Tour at the weekend when he and his Pindar racing team won the Danish Open. Williams, the current world champion, pulled clear of his nearest rival, Frenchman Mathieu Richard who failed to make the semi-finals.

This was my first trip to one of the match racing events and the Danes were very welcoming hosts. All the crews have identical boats so it really is a test of team work, tactics and helming skills.

There is simply no room for error so every manoeuvre has to be like clockwork. It's more like boxing than racing with umpires following the two-boat races on an end-to-end course that must be rounded twice. This means that spectators have a clear understanding of who is in the lead as the boats converge for each buoy rounding.

In the battle for dominance, however the boats undertake many more manoeuvres than in a fleet race, tacking and back tacking when fighting for position. In the pre-race jostling they sometimes do a series of pirouettes as they try to make the best position on the line.

The tour seems to be attracting increasing interest from potential hosts, not to name some big names in sailing such Magnus Holmberg. A group from a Bahrain bank were visiting this tie, looking at the feasibility of staging an event in Bahrain.

The tour includes stages in Brazil, Germany, Korea, Switzerland and Sweden but has no UK event as yet. This seems odd since the world champion is British. Sooner or later one of the hungrier ports - Cardiff, Liverpool or Hartlepool perhaps - is going to wake up and bid for the event. It beats duck racing.

Danish Open - World Match Racing Tour 2008

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:57:00 +0000

I'm packing my bags for Frederikshavn which is hosting the Danish round of the World Match Racing Tour. The plan is to profile Ian Williams, the world match racing champion. I met Ian over a year ago in Antigua where we exchanged life stories while propping up a bar in English Harbour (he's the one in the light coloured cap).

Unfortunately I forgot everything he told me (which might be a good thing). This time I plan to have my notebook and pen with me. During the Beijing Olympics If you saw the way Ben Ainslie was edging out his nearest rival, Zach Railey, in the final race of the Finn class - the one that had to be abandoned and re-run - you could get an idea of how match racing works.

When one yacht is racing another - as they do in the America's Cup - tactics are everything. Often the boat that gets its nose in front first will try to cover any moves by its competitor.

Williams is a master of this kind of sailing. If Ainslie joins the full tour next year as expected, it will make for some exciting head-to-heads. The only reason we have not seen Williams in an Olympic event, incidentally, is that the men's match racing discipline was voted out of the Olympics before Athens in 2004.

It's great that in the UK we have so much to cheer among our medal haul. Yet only Ainslie among the UK Olympic sailors could be said to be anything like a household name, although many of the rest of them, such as Iain Percy, are becoming well known within the sailing fraternity.

It's a reflection of our society, perhaps, that a nonentity such as Jade Goody, famous only because she appeared on a dire mainstream TV programme, would probably garner more recognition in a street survey than any of the UK's Olympic medal-winning sailors.

When a recent street survey was carried out in the US and people were asked if they could name any sailors the top three were: 1. Christopher Columbus, 2.Ted Turner, 3. Popeye!

That's why I want to write about Williams - not that the FT magazine is exactly mainstream - because people of his calibre deserve better recognition outside sailing. He is world champion for goodness sake!

The last time I saw him, incidentally, was during Cowes week when he was heading towards the pontoons after winning the Laser SB3 class. It was so far ahead of the field I couldn't see the second finisher. That's how good he is.

Cowes to Madeira

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 19:45:00 +0000

Cowes week came and went. I always think Cowes town gets too rowdy during the annual regatta while out on the water it's chaotic.

I buried my prejudices and sailed in one of the Sunsail races. It wasn't a bad race. Unfortunately we were saddled with a particularly poorly prepared boat (what preparation?) that had a ripped sail with a baton missing. Our helm deserved a medal.

I can see the attraction for corporate teams who can come down from the city, have a fun day's racing, then clear off with a one-off rental payment - no mooring and upkeep fees for a company boat.

The day after the Artemis Challenge, a round-the-Isle of Wight race contested by Open 60s,I had the opportunity to go out on the winning boat, Pindar. With a righting moment of 48 tons compared with about 38 tons on Artemis, it has a big power advantage. It's a beast of a boat, but an amazingly well-balanced beast from the helm. I'm preparing an FT feature on Brian Thompson who I believe has an excellent chance of winning the Vendee Globe in what promises to be the most competitive Vendee yet with some exceptionally strong French and British entrants.

Just now, however, my thoughts are with Puma Logic, the boat I helped crew in the 2006 Round Britain and Ireland race. It looks like they had some fierce weather in the early part of the race from Cowes to Madeira.

If you want to get a taste of what ocean racing is really like in a big sea on a comparatively small boat, read the Puma Logic blog. Good luck to all of them.

Round the Island Race

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:55:00 +0000

Come and join ICAP Leopard for the Isle of Wight Round the Island Race this weekend, said the ICAP team who hope to break the race record to add to a string of other records they have broken of late.

It would have been quite something to have been out on the rail of this super-maxi and back in Cowes for lunch. Sadly I had another commitment - sea kayaking with friends, off the Isle of Wight ironically.

It should be quite a sight, watching close on 1,900 entries competing in what must be Britain's most popular yacht race. If you're out there and you see four canoes bobbing around on the water as you're approaching The Needles do give us a wave.

Sailing the dream

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:17:00 +0000

Hilary Lister has begun her remarkable voyage around the coasts of Britain and Ireland. For those who are unfamiliar with this 36-year-old quadriplegic woman, suffice to say that she controls her Artemis 20 yacht using a "sip and puff" system of straws. If you would like to cheer her on, here is her itinerary. More about Hilary here.

More "roadkill" from Leopard in the hunt

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:15:00 +0000

As Mike Slade's ICAP Leopard closes in on the transatlantic world speed record for a mono-hulled yacht with power-assisted winches, sea life is scattering from its path. Or not, in case of a poor sunfish that became wrapped around the rudder.

In the record bulletin the emphasis was entirely focussed on time lost rather than the plight of the fish. Fish, dolphins, whales - they just seem to be regarded as inconvenient hazards for yachts.

For surface swimming sea life a modern racing yacht travelling at speeds of between 20 and 30 knots is akin to a blunt blade cutting through the waves. A big whale might have a chance but anything else can forget it. Yet no-one seems to mind.

Well I would like to stand up for the fish and the mammals. It's distressing to hear of whales, sharks and other wildlife shredded and thumped by these high tech racers. I suppose it's just another form of road kill.

Whales make waves in transat

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:07:00 +0000

A fifth place for Sam Davies and Roxy in the Artemis Transat race was very much what I expected. Although some might point to the three retirements that elevated her position, the whole point of long distance solo racing is to get your boat to the finish.

The race was won for the third time by by Loick Peyron of France on Gitana 80 who finished the race in Boston with a time of 12 days 11hr 45min 35 sec, just over three-and-a-half-hours faster than the race record set four years ago by Mike Golding.

While Roxy's competitiveness has been diminished by the new generation of Open 60s, she is a proven design after completing (and winning) two earlier Vendee Globes and should give Davies every reason to be optimistic of completing the round-the-world race that starts in November.

It should be noted that three of the new generation boats - those of Mike Golding, Brian Thompson and Jonny Malbon, did not even make the Artemis start line, in two cases due to keel problems and the need for further testing.

The durability of some of the newer canting keels in round-the-world sailing has been the subject of some debate recently, not least because it raises significant safety issues for skippers. No-one wants to shed a keel and capsize a thousand miles out in the Southern Ocean.

Davies was one of two skippers who had collisions with whales during the transat race. Such hazards should not be taken lightly. You rarely hear anyone speaking up for the whale in these circumstances. It is as if the whale gets in my way, so tough.

But there is an argument that whales are not so much a hazard for racing yachts as the yachts are for whales. Whales have very good hearing. Is it beyond our capabilities to create some kind of ultrasonic device that would deter them from coming close to yachts?

Moreover the torpedo shape of the kanting keel is more hazardous for a whale than than a flaired keel. The torpedo acts like a hook. I haven't heard much discussion of this problem, yet it's a very real and serious issue for racers (and whales).

The very nature of round the world sailing means that some boats will not finish the Vendee. The race is a combination of speed, sailing ability, endurance, robustness of design and seamanship. This last point should not be underestimated. Seamanship is about taking account of many possibilities and trying to reduce risks in what is inevitably an event full of risk.

The transat will have been a disappointment for Dee Caffari who had the benefit of a new boat. No-one can question her gutsiness after sailing around the world alone against the winds and currents, but does she have what it takes to compete with the best French and British sailors in downwind events? She still has much to prove.

Three Sheets in the Wind

richard.donkin@gmail.com (Richard Donkin) — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:47:00 +0000

This was oh so nearly the title of my new blog, changed only because it might have given the misleading impression that I am inebriated much of the time. In fact it's only some of the time.

I never knew what the phrase meant until I looked it up on the web where it says it refers to sailors who have had a few drinks too many.

It was an expression used frequently in my family when I was growing up in Yorkshire. But there the phrase had a broader meaning. Yes, it could refer to someone who was the worse for drink. Alternatively it was used to describe someone who seemed nonplussed or confused, a condition that would account for much of my life.

Indeed when the waves are coming this way and that in a confused sea state I'd say it is a fair representation of my thinking patterns when sailing. Left brained and right brained thinking are meeting to create the perfect brainstorm.

Yachts are technical machines, designed to handle unstable systems. If understanding the numbers is a science, reading the wind is an art. Combining the two intuitively in race conditions requires the kind of skills for which I have the greatest admiration.

Add to this a whole new language, then you can begin to understand how someone who struggles enough with plain English might sometimes have trouble telling his luff from his leech.

So why do I do this stuff, not just casually, but the kind of racing where you have to tie your bowlines under pressure? It's a question I ask myself frequently. The answer always comes down to the same thing: it's the people.

For someone who works most of his time alone, I like the challenge of teamwork, the opportunity to be a human part of an imperfect machine, solving ever changing problems created by complex systems. Or maybe that's baloney and it's just the sea and the wind.

If you look in my sailing section here you can see the kinds of things I have done. I came late to sailing, having hardly stepped on a yacht before heading from Rio for Cape Horn and the Southern Ocean in the 1996/97 BT Global Challenge round-the-world race.

That shared experience of adversity led to new friendships and more sail racing. I even bought a dinghy and sailed that for a while. For the past three years, however, fishing has taken over much of my leisure time. Sometimes sailing and fishing have met head on, as they did when I took part in the Round Britain and Ireland Race in 2006, losing a day of my late summer trip to the River Dee as a result.

Now the Financial Times has asked me take over its sailing coverage. I have quite a few plans but I'm kicking off my new slot today with a piece about women in sailing, focusing on Sam Davies, competing just now in the Artemis Transat race. She's a lovely young woman and I wish her well.

For myself, I have no idea what the future holds but I know this much - it's going to be fun. So let's go sailing.