Extreme Sailing

Mostly French!

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Extreme Sailing

Photos by Chuck Lantz (www.chucklantz.com)

Extreme Sailing:

1996 Little America's Cup - Cogito USA vs Yellow Pages The Edge (AUS)

Cogito (USA) leads Yellow Pages The Edge (AUS) in the 1996 Little America's Cup. A gallery of 45 shots from the event covering technical, on the beach and on the water shots can be found here Or, if you can handle bigger files and a higher resolution screen click here.

Cogito mast base detail

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Xtreme Sailing

Far removed from Auckland on a wet winter's afternoon ........

From the 29er Worlds in San Francisco

Slideshow: www.us.flickr.com/photos/scott-b/sets/509851/show/ (GBR-5 is the current overall leader)

Photo Galleries: www.29ernorthamerican.org/2005/2005%2029er%20Worlds.asp More worlds shots plus the new 29erXX

From the US 29er Nationals

How it all happened:

Coming down from the last weather mark on the second day it had gotten a bit gnarly, and the boats were moving right along (probably around 20 kt, with the breeze around 22-23 kt), when an ocean going tug went through the fleet - she could easily have been over 120 ft (40 m) - these tugs have enough power to pull large freighters long distances across the oceans, and, unlike 29ers, they are restricted to hull speed (something like 12-15 kts). No matter how many of their multiple thousands of horsepower they apply, they only go incrementally faster, and all that excess power is wasted in bow and stern waves - from the RC boat only the super structure was visible, while the tug's hull itself was obscured by the breaking bow and stern waves - is was not possible to accurately judge their size, but it is safe to say that they were at least 5-6 ft breaking waves - some 29ers were hidden behind the waves up to their spreaders, and that's over 10 ft (3.3 m) some of the 29ers tried to slow down before hitting the waves - others just went for it - it was an amazing sight

From the unofficial North American 29er website: www.rentageek.cc/29er/ Picture from Craig Williams who just had his camera handy.

AND

Some action from the Professional Windsurfers Association Grand Slam in the Canaries http://www.pwaworldtour.com/pwa.sys/news/article,594

More action on the PWA website:

http://www.pwaworldtour.com

More images here:

http://www.pwaworldtour.com/pwa.sys/gallery/images,1,99

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Xtreme Sailing

Only the French!!

This site is supposed to be about Kiwi boats and Kiwi sailors - however for these guys we will make an exception. Follow their latest exploits on www.hydroptere.com . To see a video on this crazy boat see: http://www.hydroptere.com/accueil/images/video-recordings/var/lang/EN/rub/19.html (about 6.4MB so use with a fast line).

NewsFlash - Trans-Atlantic Record attempt over - L'Hydroptere hits an unidentified floating object - following is from L'Hydroptere's website

Jeudi 30 juin 2005

Departed from Cadiz on Tuesday morning for the Atlantic crossing, Alain Thébault and his crew are forced to give up after having struck an unidentified floating object yesterday evening, a little earlier before 8.00p.m. The brutal shock occurred while the multihull was progressing at 20-25 knots under the high Grand’Voile et the gennaker at 50 miles from Lanzarote. The crew deplores an impact of the port side foil, which caused a strong torsion in the connection arm. An difficult unfortunate event for the Hydroptère that was on the way to succeed its first Atlantic crossing. Alain Thébault and his team-mates called at Lanzarote and will quickly decide if they repair there or come back to France.

Account of the shock by Alain Thébault:
“ After a careful departure from Cadiz and a day on the sea in a light wind varying from 10 to 15 knots, the Hydroptère began lengthening the tread between 20 and 25 knots of speed under the the high Grand’Voile, gennaker and fore-staysail. The sea was then formed with 2 to 2,5 meters of hollow. We are positioned at 50 miles North from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Suddenly we felt a violent shock! Projected against the partition while we were asleep, Jean-Mathieu and I joined Jacques, François and Pollux on the deck. We could see the impact of the Foil and its consequences of the arm. Fortunately, these elements, built by Airbus Nantes, did not suffer that much damage. Only an aluminum vein and the torsion box set at the end of the arm are to be replaced”.
 

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