The halfway point on leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race has been reached and long-term leader, Telefónica Blue is in the enviable position of being able to watch the battle unfold over 100 miles behind them.
‘We have been keeping pace with the guys behind which gives us some comfort, although we are still pushing hard to maintain our position,’ noted helmsman Simon Fisher.
Telefónica Blue is at the same latitude as the island of Trinidad, but 1000 nm to the east and 1100 nm from the Caribbean island of Antigua.
Behind them, the closest racing is between Ericsson 3, now in third place, just holding off Ericsson 4 who is a mile behind, and Puma who is three miles behind. Thirty-three miles back, Telefónica Black and Delta Lloyd are also … Details
 The Hydroptere project to create a world record-breaking flying boat that will go around the world in 40 days is moving from lab phase to boat-building in two locations in Switzerland and France, the group has announced. Drawings were unveiled in Lausanne this week for the lab boat, Hydroptere.ch (see image) which will be a reduced scale version of the final Hydroptere Maxi boat. The smaller boat can be tested on Lake Geneva, closer to the group’s offices in Lausanne and the EPFL laboratories. The Lausanne polytechnic school is the official research partner.
The current Hydroptere catamaran officially broke the world sailing speed barrier at 61 knots in 2008. Alain Thébault and his team are now researching and testing
The construction work is being shared …Â Details
On Wednesday during a press conference organized in Lausanne, on the campus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), which is the scientific adviser of the project, Alain Thébault and a part of his team unveiled the drawings of l’Hydroptère.ch
This new lab boat, whose building has already started in Brittany, will be a trial platform on a reduced scale for the future Hydroptère maxi.
Following the same experimental process as Alain Thébault who built three models before the existing 60 ft trimaran, the main purpose of l’Hydroptère.ch will be to test geometries and behaviours in real conditions in order to design l’Hydroptère maxi.
The programmes led by the Hydroptère team are scientific and technological projects, whose purpose is … Details & Pictures
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PUMA passed through the leg six scoring gate in fourth place last night, to maintain their current overall second place in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. Having endured tricky light wind sailing during the first week of the 4,900 nautical mile leg from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Boston, USA, the PUMA team are currently battling through squally doldrums conditions as they fight their way northwards towards the equator. With 3,500 miles to go to Boston and currently placed second in this leg, PUMA have been climbing the leader board fast over the past 48 hours.
Fernando de Noronha, an Atlantic archipelago which the fleet passed to the west of during leg one and to the east late last night, is the first milestone of the leg to Boston. In keeping with the intensely close race to date, PUMA was almost within touching distance of their rivals as they passed through the gate, earning valuable points which count towards the team’s overall score in the race. With their minds set on the next milestone of the leg – the fourth and final equator crossing of the 37,000 nautical mile round the world race – the PUMA team are racing within sight of the close pack of boats around them. While wind speeds are varying wildly between five and 18 knots, and the direction swinging from north east to east south east, the ten man crew is being kept on their toes, with everyone poised to run on deck to change sails at any moment… DetailsÂ