News

At 1542hrs yesterday Maritime Radio contacted the RNZYS to advise that Outrageous had withdrawn from the race following an incident onboard. We understand that one crew member had fallen overboard, and that another was injured while rescuing him, and that the first crew member was in the water for 7-10 minutes before he was retrieved.

Mike Sanderson Stratis-Icebreaker was joined by regular crew Will Tiller and also had Matt Steven on the boat for the first time. Brzo, which is a big improver in recent times, was sailed by Class President Nathan Williams, Gill Williams and Phil "Fizzle" Houghton. Class Measurer Dave Cochran was sailing the legendary and always fast Zoot Allures.

It was a question of safety first for the 55' Equilibrium yesterday when they decided to withdraw from the race to Fiji, after the boat's alternator failed. As with many modern and highly technical boats, power is critical to running some of its systems.

Nine skippers are ready to race at the 2013 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Busan, Korea from 4-9 June. Set to be held out of Dongbaek Park, Haeundae Beach in Busan, London 2012 Women’s Match Racing gold medallist Tamara Echegoyen (ESP) will be the favourite to add a World title to her Olympic gold.

Been a busy last few weeks, with a lot of freezing a lot of driving… And now finally a few days off!! After Garda, we made our way up to Holland for the Delta Lloyd Regatta, which was the second EuroSaf event of this trip for us. It’s an awesomely run event, with live GPS tracking on all the races, and quick and efficient racing on the water – luckily for us – as this happened to be the coldest Delta Lloyd regatta in forty years. And let me tell you, it really was cold! We had temperatures out on the water of five degrees – that may not sound too bad – and its probably not if you are skiing or something, but sailing??

We talked to Blair on Saturday morning and asked him what it was about the 2012 Sydney to Hobart that has got him coming back for more offshore racing. Check out the video interview here…

Last Friday the friends, family, sponsors and supporters of the 2013 NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team gathered together at Yachting New Zealand in Auckland for an official team launch and send off.

This year's Auckland to Musket Cove Race has already caused at least one crew member to ask why they do this sport for pleasure. Here is a glimpse into live aboard TeamVodafone during the graveyard shift:

Emailing this afternoon from a location 210 nautical miles North-East of Cape Reinga, and nearly 300 nautical miles from the startline at Westhaven Marina in Auckland, TeamVodafone Sailing have reported breezes of up to 20 knots, and boat speeds of 23-26 knot.s They set their first reef and trinquet at 1000hrs today, and have now added a second reef.