Sail For Hope - 50+ boats registered

As the sailing season winds up in Newport, sailors will gather for one more “blast around the island” in next week’s Sail for Hope. The annual regatta is organized by Sail Newport and starts on Saturday, October 3 at 11 A.M. outside of Newport Harbor. Proceeds from the regatta will benefit two non-profit organizations including the Seamen’s Church Institute and the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

“It’s Rhode Islanders helping Rhode Islanders,” says Scott Murray of Middletown. Murray is a co-founder of the event and will compete onboard his sailboat Unplugged. Murray says donations raised through the event are intended to help with human service programs in the coming winter months.

“We really want to support the people in our community. We think globally but we want to act locally,” Murray says.

Register to sail or help out - here

Over fifty boats are already registered for the event. Sail for Hope is open to all sailboats and registration is available online at www.sailnewport.org. Multiple classes of racing will be offered including handicap, One-Design and Multi-Hull divisions. In the PHRF Division, boats will be able to choose spinnaker or non-spinnaker classes. The race will be an 18-mile course around Jamestown Island. A J22 class and other boats will race on a course around Gould Island. (more…)

Beavertail light tower to open for tours

Saturday, October 10th, and Sunday, October 11th, from 11AM-3PM, visitors to Beavertail Lighthouse in Jamestown, RI can enjoy a rare opportunity to enjoy spectacular views from the top of the Light Tower.

The Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association (BLMA) is sponsoring the event to celebrate completion of the first round of repairs to the tower and two keepers’ houses. BLMA notes that this is the first total restoration done at Beavertail since the present tower was constructed in 1856. The first tower, destroyed by fire, was built in 1749, and a second tower, built in 1753 to replace the first, stood for 103 years until the third and present tower was built.

Although admission is free, a donation of $5 is suggested from each adult 18 and over. These donations will help fund the extensive work still to be done in renovating the buildings, expanding the museum, and developing new exhibitions on lighthouse history and technology. The museum is open and free of charge and will include information on the kinds of lights used in the tower over the years

The museum gift shop will be open as well, stocked with lighthouse and seaside-oriented gifts, books, note cards, jewelry, and much more.

Visit the BLMA’s website at www.beavertaillight.org.

12m Worlds slideshow

If you didn’t get enough 12m action here’s a cool slideshow with tunes from mstrsail.

Hunt sells third 52

southcoasttoday.com - Portsmouth RI. Hunt Yachts recently unveiled their latest model, the Hunt 52 Express Cruiser. Designed by Hunt Yachts and C. Raymond Hunt Associates, the company’s first 52-foot model, christened the Godspeed, offers innovation and details customary of larger, custom yachts.

The company recently sold its third hull, have delivered two hulls, and is are currently negotiating its fourth sale.

Headquartered in Portsmouth, Hunt Yachts operates out of an approximately 35,000-square-foot, four-acre waterfront facility in the Melville Marine Complex where it moved to in 2006 to accommodate increased demand. Read on.

Making History

The final races of the 2009 12 Metre World Championships were sailed on a sparkling Rhode Island Sound Saturday as helicopters buzzed and spectator boats jockeyed for front row seats to the action - evoking memories of 26 years ago to the day when the longest winning streak (132 years) in sporting history ended with the loss of the “Auld Mug” to Australia. On this day, however, instead of just two Twelves there were 17 making their way around the old America’s Cup stomping grounds off Brenton Point and with many of the same spectators there to pay homage as the helicopters droned above.

Image - NYYC Commodore Henry H. Anderson, Jr. (Newport), Bill Koch, and sailing commentator Gary Jobson. Credit - MeghanSepe

Results here

Notable for traveling the furthest to be part of this largest gathering of Twelves since the Cup left Newport: Challenge 12, which William Borel (Paris, France) had shipped from Europe early in the summer, and Australian Skip Lissiman who was onboard the Cup-winning Australia II in 1983. “It’s fantastic to be back in Newport,” he said. “I wanted to be back in particular for the anniversary and [to celebrate] I will be going down to O’Brien’s Pub where they have the original boxing kangaroo flag. We’re going to exchange it with one that the entire crew signed last year when we celebrated the 25th and take the original flag back to the museum in Australia.”
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Local sailors win Melges 32 Worlds in Italy

Porto Cervo, Italy. Pieter Taselaar’s (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) Bliksem (USA) has taken victory in the Audi Melges 32 World Championship 2009, the first edition of the Worlds for the class, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo. Taselaar’s team included Jeremy Wilmot (Newport, R.I.) as tactician and his brother Nathan (Sydney, Australia), who is a 470 Men’s Olympic Gold medalist (2008). Other crew members were Americans Willem van Waay (San Diego, Calif.), George Peet (Detroit, Mich.), Alex Clegg (East Greenwich, R.I.) and Australians Paul Atkins, and Michael Coxon.

Image - Bliksem in the lead working it. Credit - Guildo Trumbetta

Bliksem’s victory became a reality late Saturday evening when its protest against Claudio Recchi’s Team 93 (ITA), then sitting in second place, was upheld, leaving them untouchable at the head of the overall classification. A fight for second and third place took place today which saw Giovanni Maspero’s Joe Fly (ITA) just managing to sneak into second place ahead of, but on equal points with, Uka Uka Racing (ITA) owned by Lorenzo Santini and Alessio Marinelli with Armando Giulietti at the helm. Team 93, which had dominated the event for the first three days of racing, finished fourth overall, one point behind. Results

Hatching a marine breakthrough in RI

boston.com - BRISTOL, R.I. First triggerfish raised in captivity could transform aquarium business. The tiny black and silver fish in a 50-gallon vat at Roger Williams University do not look like the aquaculture breakthrough they just may turn out to be. More

Image - boston.com

The business cut in half - MarineMax to close more stores

soundingsonline.com - MarineMax continues to close stores in response to economic conditions and expects to have around 55 locations by October, president and CEO William McGill said in an e-mail to Soundings’ sister publication, Soundings Trade Only.

“With a market for new sales going from over 300,000 new units per year to estimates of around 130,000 this calendar year, it is prudent for MarineMax to adjust and right-size our company, not only from an inventory perspective, but also expense standpoint,” McGill said. Read more

This Yacht Has Photo Blockers

guardian.co.uk - Roman Abramovich’s latest extravagance, Eclipse, probably so-called because it’s almost big enough to block out the sun, is the world’s largest mega-yacht. Measuring 557ft long, it boasts two swimming pools, two helipads and an onboard missile defense system. And, just in case any missiles do get through, it comes complete with an escape pod: its own submarine. Its most curious feature, however, defends it against an altogether more insidious weapon: the prying eyes of the paparazzi. Story

Your Government Blogs

We check the Coast Guard Blog via their RSS feed daily and can tell you that these guys are busy. It’s constantly updated and includes coast to coast coverage. This is their new promotional video. Visit here.

2009 12 Metre World Championship

Here is a nice image from Amory Ross of Victory taken yesterday off Newport.

There were no surprises in the finishes posted by the 17 Twelves who completed only a single race Thursday at the 2009 12 Metre World Championship. After sailing out to the old America’s Cup racecourse off Brenton Point, the wind speed took a nosedive as it changed direction from WSW to NNW, leaving the competitors drifting for close to two hours. With one race completed, the four divisions were given a combined start for the Candy Store Cup, sending them on a course back into Newport Harbor to the finish line at Bannister’s Wharf. The wind, however, continued to be uncooperative and the race was abandoned when the Twelves were unable to make the time limit for the race.

They are going to have wind today.

Blue lobster caught in Little Compton

They’re going to sell this little guy on eBay.

Supreme Court rules for Tiverton Yacht Club

eastbayri.com - TIVERTON - The Rhode Island Supreme Court dealt a blow last week to opponents of the Tiverton Yacht Club who have objected to the club’s marina operations.

In a decision handed down Sept. 15, the full Supreme Court stayed an April Superior Court decision by Newport Associate Superior Court Justice Melanie Thunberg that prohibited the club’s marina and mooring activities on the waterside of Riverside Drive opposite the club’s property on the uphill side of the road. More

URI fishing research institute gets $6.5M

Providence Business News - NARRAGANSETT - The University of Rhode Island’s Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation will receive $6.5 million in federal grants to research challenges facing the local commercial fishing industry and to reduce the threat to North Atlantic right whales from fishing equipment. Story

Mob Dance at Newport Boat Show

The video takes a little time to get going but it does get going! This proves it; there is something for everyone at the Newport Boat Show. More about this mob scene at - boats.com/blog