ICAP Leopard 3 leaves Newport for transat record

sail-world.com - Thursday 27, – ICAP Leopard, the 100ft super-maxi racing yacht owned by Helical Bar PLC chief executive Mike Slade, today announced the required weather window for her record attempt has finally arrived. She will leave New York on Saturday 29th May in her bid to become the fastest monohulled sailing vessel ever to cross the Atlantic.

Image – Leopard at the NPT Shipyard where she has been hanging out – compliments of – George Bekris

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Alcohol, speed blamed in fatal boat crash

www.projo.com - And then, just before 2 a.m., they were back in the boat with no spotlight, no GPS, no radar and no charts, and no way to see what they were heading for, environmental police officer Jennifer Ogren told a District Court judge on Wednesday. When the boat hit the rocks of small Despair Island, Ogren said, the impact punched it 106 feet across the island and landed upside down. Investigators, according to a DEM affidavit, later found the throttle stuck open and the speedometer needle frozen at 39 mph. The speed limit for nighttime boating, Ogren said, is 25. Story

S&S Expand Design Department to Newport

www.superyachts.com - Commencing on 1st June this year, the services will spread across both New York and Newport offices. President of Sparkman & Stephens, Bruce Johnson stated: “We feel we can better serve our client base, local boat builders, and service yards by positioning permanent design personnel in our Newport offices. As the yachting centre of the Northeast, Newport is the natural location for our expansion.”

Image – Sparkman & Stephens; motor yacht Sis W

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Ocean Tech on display in Newport

The Future

“Stiletto” will be in Newport this week (May 25 thru 27) as a participant in the Ocean Tech Expo conference that’s being held at the Newport Yachting Center.

T.J. Perrotti of Perrotti Performance Design in Newport checks in with an update.

I’ve worked with MShip design team for some time, and we’re all rather proud of this unique design. She’s certainly non-conventional as far as traditional Navy craft go … all carbon fiber, 50+ knots, and 2.5′ of draft. While she was conceived and built to be a technology demonstrator, only, the Navy (with Coast Guard support) quickly put her into active duty targeting drug-runner interdiction in the Caribbean.

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Hunt 52 receives innovation award

Portsmouth RI – The new Hunt 52 from Hunt Yachts commanded attention from consumers and the press when introduced at Fall shows in 2009. That assessment was recently confirmed by NMMA, which bestowed one of its prestigious 2010 Innovation Awards on the Hunt 52.

The 2010 Innovation Award recognizes one in a long list of features, most of which are unique in a yacht of this size. In partnership with Man Ship of Taiwan, several of the furnishings are mechanized to easily convert from cruising to entertaining; this convenience is found is such features as the aft and interior tables which adjust by flick of their switches from cocktail to dining height. The double-wide companion helm seat, also mechanized, drops and reverses to complete a U-shaped settee. Man Ship Machinery and Hardware CO; Ltd. is a well-known and respected manufacturer of chandlery and hardware for the international boatbuilding industry since 1982. Peter Van Lancker, President of Hunt Yachts, commented, “our relationship with Man Ship has added significantly to our ability to offer innovation and meticulous detailing which exceeds much of the marketplace in luxury and convenience.” check it out!

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Beavertail Lighthouse gets a neat gift

The Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association (BLMA) received a gift of a new exhibit this past week from Carl Welshman of Danielson Connecticut.

Welshman is the developer and builder of specialized navigation charts of waterways, harbors and navigation approaches. The charts, copies of full size NOAA modified with blinking lights are used for display purposes only.

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Cruising for a Cause – 100% to local programs

West Marine has announced a new “Cruising For A Cause” event, which will directly benefit local junior sailing programs and other boating non-profit organizations. 100% of the revenue from ticket sales will go directly to these programs.

“Cruising for a Cause” will take place June 10th from 6 to 9 PM at the new West Marine Flagship Store at 379 West Main Road in Middletown, RI. The event will include a steel drum band, food and many special exhibits including a Power Boat Docking Challenge with remote controlled boats.

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Longest-running regatta in America

Less than four weeks until the start of New York Yacht Club’s 156th Annual Regatta, Presented by Rolex.

The growing list of competitors already includes class champions, historic classics and the hottest IRC boats to hit the water. Racing in the longest-running regatta in America – NYYC first ran the event in 1845, one year after its inception – begins with the Around-the-Island Race on Friday, June 11, followed by two-days of buoy racing on June 12-13. Class divisions are planned for PHRF, Classic, 6 Metre, 12 Metre and IRC-rated entries plus one-design classes including J/105 and NYYC Swan 42.

Entry list

Image of RAN on the hard at the Shipyard getting ready thanks to – Will Tuthill

The largest boat entered, to date, is the 72-foot yacht Rán, owned by Niklas Zennström (London, U.K.) and representing the Royal Southern Yacht Club. Well-known for its victories at grand-prix classics such as the 2009 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Fastnet Race and Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Rán arrived in Newport with a goal of competing in the NYYC 156th Annual Regatta presented by Rolex before setting off in the Newport Bermuda Race a week later. “Rán is built to do well in both around-the-cans and offshore so I think we will be competitive,” said Zennström. “Bella Mente and Titan will be very tough competition. We have raced against them, and they are great teams. If there are lots of reaching legs, then Titan will have an edge with its twin rudder and in light winds Bella Mente is hard to beat.”

Similar to Rán, Bella Mente, the 69-foot Reichel/Pugh-designed IRC-optimized yacht owned by NYYC member Hap Fauth (Minneapolis, Minn.) quickly made a name for itself in 2009 winning its class in the Rolex Middle Sea Race and finishing second to Rán at the Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup. Tom Hill’s Reichel/Pugh 75 Titan 15 is expected to compete after a strong Caribbean season that saw the Puerto Rico-based yacht take second in Antigua Sailing Week against Rán and a win at the BVI Spring Regatta.

Another well-known entry is il mostro the Volvo Ocean 70 campaigned by Puma Ocean Racing and skippered by NYYC member Ken Read (Newport, R.I.). No stranger to offshore competition – Puma Ocean Racing and il mostro placed second in the 2008/09 Volvo Ocean Race – the team adds the Annual Regatta as one of its ‘must do’ events despite being the only Volvo Ocean 70 entered. “Even with no other Volvo Open 70s in this event, we have decided to keep the boat in its Volvo race configuration,” said Read. “Trying to play with this boat’s IRC rating against all the boats that are optimized for IRC is a bit futile, especially since canting keels are hit far too hard by IRC handicappers. With that in mind we will go race boat for boat with a bunch of great teams and begin working on our boat handling, remaining focused on the ultimate prize which is to compete at the highest level in the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race. Being based in Newport and having a fantastic regatta like this in your own backyard is an opportunity that we simply can’t miss.”
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Hinckley reports an uptick in sales and hiring

tradeonlytoday.com – The production line at the Hinckley Co.’s plant in Trenton, Maine, presents a different picture now than it did six months ago.

Twenty-three jet boats are in production or on order, and the company is hiring back scores of employees laid off in the last year and a half, according to a report in the Bar Harbor Times newspaper.

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Annual Family Sailing Festival June 5

Here comes Sail Newports Family Sailing Festival!

SCHEDULE – 10 am Boats will be located at the Alofsin Piers, Fort Adams State Park
Tours will leave Sail Newport for 20 minutes each and return to the Pier)
(All guest will be required to sign a waiver and wear a Sail Newport-provided Life Jacket)

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1001 posts

RIyachting.com reaches 1001 posts!

Thanks for reading and thanks to our advertisers for their support. Happy Memorial Day.

Natucketers plead for a toned-down Figawi – less vomit

capecodonline.com - Arriving at the Old South Wharf art gallery where she works the Sunday morning after the Figawi sail¬boat race festivities last year, Linda Sonnonstine Spery was greeted by a pile of vomit on the front doorstep.

Beer cans littered the ground and overflowed from trash cans, remnants of the revelry from the previous night. To Son¬nonstine Spery, the scene repre¬sented everything wrong with the annual Memori¬al Day weekend event. More

The America’s Cup is coming

The America’s Cup trophy will visit Rhode Island July 1, officials confirmed.

projo.com – Details on the trip are still scant, but the BMW Oracle Racing team, the defending Cup champions set to bring the storied trophy to Newport for a daylong cameo following a visit to the White House.

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The BIG West Marine opens Friday – Official supplier to 2010 Bermuda Race

Friday May 28, West Marine opens its new Newport Flagship West Marine store at 379 West Main Road in Middletown, RI. Almost three times larger than West Marine’s former store on Connell Highway, the new store has a significantly larger inventory and a full-service rigging shop. The store is also home to two other West Marine operations, Port Supply and Professional Captain’s Services.

The Bermuda Race Organizing Committee has named West Marine as an official supplier for the 47th Newport Bermuda Race. Said Race Chairman Bjorn Johnson,”West Marine has long been a friend to sailors as a supplier of boating equipment and as a sponsor of safety at sea seminars, including the one before our race. Now we are very pleased to welcome West Marine as a sponsor of the Newport Bermuda Race and name West our official supplier.”

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