2016-17 World Sailing Offshore Special Regulations Published

The 2016-17 World Sailing Offshore Special Regulations (OSR) have been published on the World Sailing website. The purpose of the Offshore Special Regulations (OSR) is to establish uniform minimum equipment, accommodation and training standards for monohull and multihull boats racing offshore. Click here to find the 2016-17 OSR.

In the new 2016-2017 edition of the OSR, the regulations have been simplified and shortened to improve their clarity for all sailors, inspectors and race organizers. The categories of events remain unchanged and the intent of each clause is not changed except for the changes agreed at the 2015 World Sailing Annual Conference. The OSR are accompanied by a safety training manual where the relevant guidelines and recommendations from the OSR will be located in the next edition of the, "World Sailing Guide to Personal Offshore Safety".

A number of changes made at the World Sailing Annual Conference affect the new 2016-17 edition of the regulations.

Unless otherwise specified the amendments are effective on 1 January 2016. It should be noted that national prescriptions may take priority over the World Sailing text and you should check with your relevant authority.

A summary of the major changes for 2016 are as follows:-

• The Appendices have been re-ordered and some re-named.
• Category 5 has been re-named 'Special Regulations for Inshore Racing'
• Category 6 is now: 'Special Regulations for Inshore Dinghy Racing'
• Some Category 4 requirements have been reduced or removed: heavy weather jib, lifejacket requirements, lights, sail number display
• Monohull Stability requirements have been aligned with changes to the ISO 12217-2 Stability standard.
• Section 4.22 has been re-worked and is now called 'Crew Overboard Recovery' including a change to use the term 'recovery sling' and a set of minimum requirements
• OSR 4.23 Pyrotechnic signals (Distress flares) has been amended to remove the requirement for the carriage of parachute distress flares.
• For Category 0 and 1 races each member of the crew shall have an AIS personal crew overboard beacon
• For category 3 races sail Double-handed, at least one of the crew shall have undertaken training.

Links to recommendations and helpful information will be added to the online OSR in the coming weeks. Source: ISAF | World Sailing | Official Site

Jules Verne Trophy update: BORN TO RACE--


The ocean, too Pacific, the crew pushes on. Wisdom. Technical. Strength, courage and unwavering support ... Cape Horn approaches.

Jules Verne Trophy LIVE Tracking: The 27knot global match race continues#julesvernetrophy #spindrift2 #idecsport 

• IDEC SPORT SAILING | Live Map
• Spindrift 2 LIVE tracking

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RORC Transatlantic Race, Team Concise Update, Sailing Videos

Video above: Team Concise Day 4 Update, RORC Transatlantic Race

• Latest news, blogs from the boats and photos: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/
• Follow the progress of the race via the Race Tracker. 

Day 5 - Cat and Mouse across the Atlantic | 2015 Race Updates | News: Lloyd Thornburg’s MOD 70, Phaedo3 has 1,139 miles to the Port Louis finish and is enjoying a cat and mouse duel with Tony Lawson’s Concise10 (Ms Barbados). There’s just 30 miles between the mighty trimarans as they power along notching up the Atlantic Ocean miles with speeds of over 28 knots. Brian Thompson, Skipper of Phaedo3 explains what it’s like on board: “It’s pretty incredible sailing here, two MOD 70 trimarans tearing across the Atlantic Ocean at 30 knots, spray flying everywhere and long streaks of white wake shooting off our transoms,” says. “It’s Master and Commander stuff across the high seas - playing cat and mouse with each other, dodging and fencing as we zigzag downwind. Not to fire cannons and capture each other, but to be the first in to Grenada and to have beers ready for the second boat to the finish!” At the end of day four, Thompson reported: “Conditions are great with 19-23 knots of wind, puffy tradewind cumulus clouds, 2m waves which we are punching through at 30 knots. When we first got into these conditions when we gybed at Mindelo in the Cape Verdes, it was pretty full on. There was spray everywhere on deck and it was hard to even stand up down below and impossible to sleep. But we adapt, and now this is the new normal. Water shrieking off the propeller leg, boat jumping around as we bounce from wave to wave, and now we are sleeping fine in our off watch until it’s time to go on watch again or we gybe. We had better be used to it as this is just what we are going to have for the next 1500 miles, which is a little less than 3 days.” Read the full blog from day 4 on board Phaedo3 HERE

Video below: Jules Verne Trophy - Day 8 - Retour de la vitesse / Return to speed: 

Spindrift 2 - more info: http://www.spindrift-racing.com/jules-verne/en/home


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RC44 Virgin Gorda Cup, Fleet Racing Final Day, Sailing Videos

Day 4 Fleet Racing - RC44 Virgin Gorda Cup - Published on Nov 29, 2015: Artemis RC44 wins in Virgin Gorda as Team Nika clinches 2015 title

Artemis Racing today won the fleet racing at the RC44 Virgin Gorda Cup, with a four point margin over Peninsula Petroleum, having led from the outset of the four day regatta. While this was close, the outcome of the 2015 RC44 Fleet Racing Championship was far closer, only decided in the last seconds of the final race, followed by some intense mathematics and the breaking of a tie. 

For Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Swedish team this win represented a late charge this season, achieving their first RC44 regatta victory since the Austria Cup in 2012.

The 2015 Fleet Racing season for the one design 44ft race boats ended up a two horse race between Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika and Vladimir Liubomirov’s Bronenosec Sailing Team. The two teams had either won or come second in the two previous events and, in the championship, Team Nika was one slender one point ahead of her rival going into the RC44 Virgin Gorda Cup. 

Ahead of the final races today, Bronenosec was lying third, one place ahead of Team Nika, but needed another boat to finish the regatta between her and Team Nika to win the Championship. Initially this seemed all but impossible, but with the leaders doing badly in the first of day’s three races, by today’s last race overtaking second placed Peninsula Petroleum had became a real prospect for Bronenosec. In fact they had comfortably achieved this going into the final leg of the last race when a squall bringing with it torrential rain and 30 knots turned the leaderboard on its head. Because of this Peninsula Petroleum maintained second and while this left Bronenosec and Team Nika tied on points at the top of the 2015 leaderboard, Team Nika won on tiebreak – the closest ever finish to an RC44 championship. For more info: http://www.rc44.com/   #RC44VirginGorda


Jules Verne Trophy - Day 8 - Retour de la vitesse / Return to speed - more info: http://www.spindrift-racing.com/ #julesvernetrophy

RORC Transatlantic Race Update: On the third day of the RORC Transatlantic Race, the duelling MOD 70s are locked in a high speed battle approaching the Cape Verde Islands. 800 miles to the north, Zed 6 is cutting a cold lonely figure and Tales II is back in the race after a pit stop in Tenerife. The trio of powerful maxis have played their first tactical battle and further back in the fleet, there is a very different standard of cuisine aboard Nunatak and Aloha. On the second night at sea, Lloyd Thornburg's Phaedo3, skippered by Brian Thompson was still leading the charge south, but only just. Tony Lawson's Concise 10, skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield - re-branded Ms Barbados - has significantly closed the gap... more info: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/ #rorctr

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AGGC Update, America's Cup Teams' Sailing Videos

Looking forward to first races in Bermuda - ORACLE TEAM USA skipper Jimmy Spithill and tactician Tom Slingsby welcome you to the first event in the host venue of the America's Cup, the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Bermuda, October 16-18. Published on Oct 8, 2015

T2: A fighter jet on water - "The next step in our pursuit of power & speed. T2 designed to drive forward a new era of British maritime design & technology." Published on Oct 6, 2015

Argo Group Gold Cup: "UPDATE: 1410 ADT - "Phil Robertson's WAKA Racing, Eric Monnin's Swiss Match Race Team and Ian Williams' GAC Pindar have advanced to the quarterfinal round after placing first, second and third, respectively, in Group A. Robertson's crew won all three of their matches today to finish atop the group with a 5-2 record. Monnin won two of three to finish tied with Robertson, but lost the tiebreaker because Robertson beat him in Flight 4 yesterday. Williams also finished with a 5-2 mark, but was relegated to third based on his half point penalty from yesterday for causing damage in a collision. Six of the crews are now set in the Quarterfinal Round, scheduled to begin tomorrow. The final two will come from the Repechage Round Robin, which will include the Johnie Berntsson's racing team, Dean Barker's SoftBank Team Japan, Chris Poole's Riptide Racing, Blythe Walker's Team RenRe, Chris Steele's 36 Below Racing, Keith Swinton's Black Swan Racing, Francesco Bruni's Artemis Racing, and Reuben Corbett's racing team. Danish youngsters Nicolai Sehested and Joachim Aschenbrenner have been eliminated from the competition..."

Argo Group Gold Cup 2015:

• JohnTheCrowd | Sailing News: World Match Racing Tour, Argo Gold Cup 2015, Bermuda, Oct 7-11
• Results: Racing days from Wednesday October 7 to Sunday October 11, 2015 http://www.argogroupgoldcup.com/results
• Official websites: bermudagoldcup.com and www.wmrt.com

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Transpac Update, Extreme Sailing Data Analytics, Sailing Video

Transpac 2015 Fleet Endures Diverse Conditions in 48th Transpac California to Hawaii Yacht Race: "... Wild Oats navigator Nick White reporting “Right now we’re averaging around 19 knots and aiming straight at the Barn Door – Hawaii. It’s fantastic downwind sailing. You couldn’t ask for much better…except we’d like some sunshine instead of heavy cloud. “As it turned out, the forecasts proved to be completely unreliable,” White said. “We had to ignore them and do our own thing in the conditions we were experiencing at the time. It was really tough tactically, especially when we were trying to get around Santa Catalina Island and out to sea.”..."


July 21st daily analysis of the 48th Transpac with Dobbs Davis of Seahorse Magazine
Transpac 2015 updates:

• #Transpac2015 on Twitter
• Transpac 2015 Tracking: http://yb.tl/transpac2015
• 2015 Transpac Honolulu Race on Yacht Scoring - Results
• Transpacific Yacht Club - Transpac 2015
• Transpacific Yacht Race | KTLA

Extreme Sailing - The importance of data | Gillette World Sport - Extreme sailing requires precision analytics--the data driven evolution has hit the sport.

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Transpac Update, Maxi Trimaran Lending Club 2 Videos

Transpac race analysis for July 18 by Dobbs Davis of Seahorse Magazine. Published on Jul 18, 2015

Transpac updates:

• #Transpac2015 on Twitter
• Transpac 2015 Tracking: http://yb.tl/transpac2015
• 2015 Transpac Honolulu Race on Yacht Scoring - Results
• Transpacific Yacht Club - Transpac 2015
• Transpacific Yacht Race | KTLA

Wild Oats gets Hawaiian christening and light air ahead for last start: "...“We started this tradition in 1997, the year we broke the course record [on Pyewacket],” said Disney. “We felt this may have had some influence on our good luck that race, so we did it again in 1999, and broke the record again, so its become a tradition every race since.” The Wild Oats team is composed of several well-seasoned Pyewacket alumni with nearly 100 Transpac races among them teamed up with co-skipper Mark Richards and his well-honed team of Aussies and Kiwis who have won the Sydney-Hobart Race an unprecedented 8 times on this canting-keeled Reichel/Pugh-designed 100-foot yacht ..."


LendingClub - Transpac Record Departure - published on Jul 15, 2015


Lending Club Sailing - Transpac record day 2 - published on Jul 16, 2015
Ryan describes conditions onboard maxi trimaran Lending Club 2 as they average 30 knots headed direct for Hawaii.



Maxi-trimaran Lending Club 2 sailing on San Francisco Bay. Published on Jul 14, 2015

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VOR video update; Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race IRC Results

Inside Track - Leg 3 #9 | Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 - Jan 15, 2015: On today's Inside Track we buzz around the fleet in more ways than one; as the teams use the lull in breeze to do some other activities and Charlie Enright updates us on the racing.

The Ninth Sailor | Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 - Published on Jan 15, 2015: Team Alvimedica have one of the most experienced offshore navigators around in Australia’s Will Oxley. They also have one of the best onshore, too - meet Anderson Reggio, the man who who has been tasked with helping them to plan and analyse their performance so far this race

Dashboard | Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015
JohnTheCrowd: VOR updates

Other Sailing News:

Sun Sentinel
Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race: Jan 14-16th:
Sun Sentinel
With that wind expected to increase a little Wednesday night, it should make for pleasant sailing conditions for the 38 boats competing in the 160-mile ...

Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race 2015 IRC Results

source: Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race: http://www.keywestrace.org/ and
Full Results: 2015 Lauderdale to Key West Race on Yacht Scoring

Truswell and Pascoe win International 14 Worlds
Scuttlebutt Sailing News
The team sailed a conservative race playing the pressure and wind shifts to just finish a few boat lengths ahead of Brad Devine and Ian Furlong (AUS).

Burling continues winning pace at Moth Worlds
Scuttlebutt Sailing News
“There's a heap of guys sailing well. I'll be happy if I can just hold my boat together. A few big names fell down the rankings because of breakages ...

Youth Sailing Grand Prix regatta series concludes
Sail World
The 2015 Australian Youth Championships, held at Fremantle Sailing Club, WA from 6-10 January 2015, concluded the 2014 Youth Sailing Grand ...

Matt Chew shoots bullets to lead Etchells Australian Nationals
Scuttlebutt Sailing News
Noel Drennan, Richie Allanson and Andrew Gavenlock are all part of the greater North Sails organisation and do know the pointy end from the blunt.

Sailing billionaire's quest to break records
CNN.com
Sailing billionaire's quest to break records. Source: CNN....

ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao
International Sailing Federation
From 14-20 September 2015, the ISAF Sailing World Cup returns to Qingdao, China

Premiere Sailing League to launch in 2015
Scuttlebutt Sailing News
The series kicks off this August and will be comprised of four district qualifying regattas that divide 72 sailing club teams by region (North-Chicago; ...

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