Goombay Smash wins 2008 Rolex Farr 40 NA Championship

Miami, Florida, USA (November 25, 2008) – Goombay Smash, the Farr 40 owned by William Douglass (New York, N.Y.), won the 2008 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship, held November 21-23 in Miami Beach, Fla. Newport County/Rhode Island was represented on Douglass’s winning boat by Brian Fisher (Middletown) and URI sailing team captain Jesse Fielding (N. Kingstown, who stars in the film Morning Light, currently in theatres). (Fielding is second from left, Douglass fourth and Fisher fifth)

Newport’s Jim Richardson and his boat Barking Mad finished second overall. Sailing with Richardson is Newport sailors Morgan Trubovich and Derby Anderson.

Eight teams representing Denmark, Italy, Turkey and the U.S. competed for the title. In fact Douglass’ team’s performance was so consistent that they finished in the top three in nine out of the 10 races run on the Atlantic Ocean by the Storm Trysail Club lead by Principal Race Officer Peter “Luigi” Reggio. At the awards ceremony held at Monty’s, Douglass was presented with a commemorative Rolex timepiece by Farr 40 Class Secretary Bunny Wayt. Images- Walter Cooper/Rolex

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Need a cool gift idea?

Newport. The International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) has a number of fully restored Beetle Cats available right now at the great price of $9,000. Each comes with a crisp new sail and bronze hardware, all too historic specs. Free delivery within 50 miles. details

Click for more images courtesy of Jay Picotte / IYRS

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413 Frostbiting

Laser fleet 413 – Nov 23 scores – fall series – You Tube.

WOW (words of wisdom) Deleveraging…you can’t escape it, even on the weekends… (more…)

LaserPerformance open house a success!

Portsmouth RI. LaserPerformance (formally Vanguard) opened its doors to the public for 9 days this month to hold seminars on fiberglass repair and give factory tours. The event included a sale at their retail store and a free Spiff & Buff service for owners of LaserPerformance boats. Sixty people took advantage of the offer and had their boats spiffed and buffed! Pictured is Joel Hanneman working magic on a Sunfish. more

Newport firm partners with European brokerage house

11/25/08 European Brokerage house Berthon announces partnership with Scandinavian Yachts Newport, Rhode Island USA. Berthon has offices in the UK, France and Spain. “Managing director of the Berthon Sales Division, Sue Grant said: “Alan Baines and Jennifer Stewart from Scandinavian Yachts are highly experienced brokers, whose skill and integrity make them the perfect partners for Berthon in a vast market that will rebound more rapidly than Europe. We are now able to offer yacht owners of our listings in Europe superb coverage in the United States, and American clients will have a local office in Newport, Rhode Island with whom to deal, when purchasing yachts via Berthon in Europe.” Full story IBI.

12 Metre Class Event

Bristol, Rhode Island. The Herreshoff Marine Museum and America’s Cup Hall of Fame was pleased to host a gathering of the 12 Metre Class on Saturday, November 22, 2008. The event, filmed by class media partner Rhode Island Public Television, launched the Golden Year of Racing for the class, celebrating the fiftieth year following the debut of the 12 metre class in the America’s Cup. (more…)

• Newport’s Jim Richardson (Barking Mad) takes 2nd at Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship in Miami. results
• Newport, US-18, the 12 Metre Easterner is donated to SHAKE-A-LEG and will be part of their disabled sailing program. Easterner was donated by Arthur Shlossman of Jamestown. more.

Newport to Bermuda – 94% interested in 2010

The 2008 race follow up is in and 94% of the “skippers said they’re interested in racing again in 2010.” In an effort to continually improve the event the Organizing Committee surveys the participating skippers on topics ranging from safety and logistics to reporting and weather information. read more

URI Sailing wins Kennedy Cup, headed to France

URI news, “By winning the Kennedy Cup – the equivalent of a national championship for collegiate sailing – for the 11th time in school history, URI will represent the United States at the 2009 Student Yachting World Cup in France. It will be the second trip to the World Cup in three years. URI last went to the World Cup in 2007, when it finished seventh overall.” Full story, URI/news. Visit the team website.

DePaul Diesel (slides) a new 1650 Hp CAT. into place.

11/19/08 Portsmouth RI. DePaul Diesel just completed a large re-power job that required a team of local specialists. It’s unusual for a relatively new Caterpillar C-32 to fail. But that’s what happened to the 108′ Hargraves motor yacht Freedom. The C-32 had only 1800 hours which is just the beginning for a rugged V-12 diesel. So this was a warranty job and Caterpillar took care of their customer with help from DePaul. (more…)

• 11/18/08 Newport RI. Cherokee blog update, planking continues at a good pace. Great images!
• 11/18/08 Bristol RI. The #77 Lucas Oil, Outerlimits SV43 takes the Super V Unlimited world championship in Key West. Powerboat PI
• 11/18/08 Narragansett RI. URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography receives a $630,000 grant from Weatherpredict. pbn.com

Newport Sailors head to Miami for Rolex Farr 40 NA Championship

Miami Beach, Florida, USA (November 17, 2008) – The world’s most popular one-design racing sailboat class returns to Miami Beach this week for the 2008 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship. Newport is represented by Jim Richardson and his boat Barking Mad. Sailing with Richardson is Newport sailors Morgan Trubovich and Derby Anderson. Other Newport area sailors include Brian Fisher, Jesse Fielding (who stars in the film Morning Light, currently in theatres), Cameron Appleton, and Tony Rey. Media Pro Intl. (more…)

Calendar 11/17-23

Tue 11/18/2008 The Need for Speed / IYRS lecture – Huckins yachts / website
Blues Café - BRAMANS LANE, MAXXTONE, RIPCORD, NEVER IN VEGAS.

riy calendar

PUMA leads at the start

11/15/08 Leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race started today in Cape Town at 11:00 GMT. Click on the image to view in high resolution.

Another cool image of the Rhode Island built boat.

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Newport to Cape Town to Singapore

11/14/08 The label on this shipping container tells the story. Shore Base B skips every other stop to keep up with the Puma Racing Team. Shore base A fills in the spaces. As the Volvo Ocean Race moves around the world from port to port so does a lot of gear and personnel. The second leg (Cape Town to Cochin) starts tomorrow. Cape Town weather forecast. Photo/Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race.