Girl in a man’s world
Solo circumnavigator, Sam Davies, the 34-year-old Cambridge graduate who once wanted to be a ballerina, has beaten the world of the alpha male to take the top award in hairy-chested sailing: the 2009 YJA Pantaenius Yachtsman of the Year.
Yet still loves to dress in girlie clothes onshore and wears three tiny diamond ear studs and a belly ring which she bares when the sun is shining : in the Tropics she sails naked …Â Details
She was lucky, not because she deserves any the less credit for taking on one of the most challenging of all sailing endeavours, but lucky because the winds and the seas could have been much worse, given the history and reports from the many others who have preceded her over the years.
As the seas become shallow in the pass between Antarctica and South America and also must squeeze between the two great land masses, the current is  … Details & Pictures
“It’s like porn for sailors” said one of our Yacht Pals after a sneak peak of this video footage, and maybe that’s the best description yet. Fast, expensive, flashy and temperamental (to say nothing of being mostly plastic), these “porn stars” certainly make the blood rise. The BMW Oracle trimaran and Alinghi catamaran, the sailboats slated to compete in the next America’s Cup race, have stirred up great interest for multihulls among the general public, many of whom may have previously thought that sailing was only about a lazy day cruising along at 5 knots, and now have to rethink their definition of a “pleasant sail.” However, though both James Spithill and Russel Coutts have described these two multi-million dollar watercraft as being the “fastest boats” around, they’ll have some mighty big shoes to fill before they gain that title… Details, Video & Great Pictures
Out-of-control boats, courtroom drama, defecting crew members — the stage is set for this year’s America’s Cup regatta to be the most controversial and dangerous yet.
“We’re going to war,†says a BMW ORACLE crewman as I climb aboard the team’s stealthy black 90-foot trimaran for a rare preview of software tycoon Larry Ellison’s new weapon.
The pale November sun is just up, burning away the last skeins of San Diego fog that hang over the harbor. I’m in full team storm gear, clutching a narrow piece of netting that’s been stretched among the three hulls, acting as a deck. An internal engine roars to life as … Details