NORMAND TRIM

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Photo Jan

PORT DE BORDEAUX, FRANCE

Fortement dépendant des activités économiques, industrielles et agricoles, du Sud-ouest et de la qualité de ses liaisons ferrées et routières, il reçoit principalement des produits pétroliers et chimiques, des engrais manufacturés, de l’alimentation animale et exporte des céréales et oléagineux (le port de Bordeaux est le 1er port exportateur de maïs en Europe) et des produits forestiers.

Bien sûr, le Port de Bordeaux a aussi développé une offre « conteneurs » et permet des liaisons régulières avec 300 ports dans le monde. Pour traiter efficacement ces trafics, il exploite 6 terminaux spécialisés.

En 2004 le Port de Bordeaux investira environ 18 millions d’euros grâce à l’aide partielle de l’Etat, des collectivités territoriales et du FEDER, auxquels s’ajoutent les investissements réalisés par les entreprises travaillant sur le Port.

Le Port de Bordeaux gère, par ailleurs, un vaste domaine foncier.

Pour le valoriser, il développe, seul ou en partenariat avec des promoteurs, des plates-formes logistiques ou restructure des hangars anciens en pôles tertiaires.

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Photo Montoux

O DESCANSO... NA CASA DAS MÁQUINAS

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Photo Dinu

SOBRAS DE PALAMENTA VELHA

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Photo Anonimus

TEAM ALINGHI VENCEDOR DO PORTUGAL MATCH CUP 2005

SKIPPERS - PETER HOLMBERG

Nome: Peter Holmberg

Equipa: Team Alinghi
Nacionalidade: Ilhas Virgens, EUA

Residência: Suíça

Resultados no Swedish Match Tour:

2000-01 — Vencedor do Swedish Match Tour

2004-05

3.º - Portugal Match Cup 04

2002-03

3º — Swedish Match Cup 03

2001-’02

1º — Taça Gold Colorcraft 01

1º — Taça Steinlager Line 7 ’02

1º — Taça Congressional ‘02

3º — Troféu Challenge Roberto Trombini ’01

3º — Open da Dinamarca ’01

3º — Taça ACI HT Cronet ’01

5º — Swedish Match Cup ’01

2000-’01

3º — Troféu Challenge Roberto Trombini ’00

7º — Open da Dinamarca ’00

7º — Taça Colorcraft Gold ’00

Tripulações Taça América que integrou:

Alinghi Team – Helmsman da Selecção Suíça para a Taça América em 2007

Oracle BMW Racing – Primeiro Helmsman, 2º lugar na Taça Louis Vuitton 2003

Team Dennis Conner – Tactician, 3º lugar na Louis Vuitton Cup 2000

Participações e Classificações:

1998 — Vencedor da Congressional Cup, Vencedor do Troféu Challenge Roberto Trombini Match Race

1997 — Vencedor do Troféu Challenge Roberto Trombini Match Race

1990 — Vencedor do Campeonato Mundial Maxi, Matador2

1988 — Medalha de prata nos Jogos Olímpicos de Seul (classe Finn)

Peter Holmberg, aprendeu a velejar aos cinco anos e começou a competir a nível internacional aos nove. Depois de muitos anos de treino local nas Ilhas Virgens, Peter venceu a medalha de prata nos Jogos Olímpicos de Seul (1988), na classe Finn.

Esta foi a primeira e única medalha olímpica alguma vez ganha pelas Ilhas Virgens.

As suas aspirações relativamente à Taça América começaram em meados da década de 90, quando, em Março de 1996, Peter formou a Fundação Taça América das Ilhas Virgens.

Era uma ideia ambiciosa, com o objectivo não só de concorrer à Taça América mas também de fazer o reencontro da população local com a vela, promovendo desportos aquáticos e

respectivas carreiras, sendo as Ilhas Virgens forte destino turístico.

Esta Fundação juntou mais de quatro milhões de dólares, alcançou a aclamação internacional e ensinou a nadar centenas de habitantes locais através de programas públicos.

Depois de conquistada a medalha, Peter começou como profissional e desde então já venceu por duas vezes o Campeonato Mundial e um sem número de provas internacionais.

A sua entrada no circuito Match Racing deu-se em 1992, tendo chegado aos terceiro posto do ranking mundial sete anos depois. Peter Holmberg venceu o Swedish Match Tour 2001-02 de forma impressionante, com vitórias na Taça Bermuda Gold, Taça SteinlagerLine 7 e Congressional Cup.

Peter foi presidente da Associação de Vela das Ilhas Virgens e Comodoro do St. Thomas Yacht Club. Com os seus esforços para assinalar as Ilhas Virgens no mapa mundial, Peter espera encorajar mais habitantes das referidas ilhas na perseguição da excelência desportiva e no aumento do aproveitamento e respeito existentes no país no que diz respeito às actividades náuticas.

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Portugal Match Cup 2005

A ESTRATÉGIA DECISIVA DO MATCH RACING

O Match Racing encerra uma componente estratégica decisiva, sendo que um dos objectivos é forçar a outra embarcação a cometer faltas e a ser penalizada.

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Portugal Match Cup 2005

CLUBE NAVAL DE CASCAIS

O Clube Naval de Cascais desempenha também um papel na formação de jovens velejadores, tanto ao nível recreativo, como ao nível olímpico.

A práctica da vela adaptada, para individuos com deficiência, também se encontra contemplado, permitindo assim a práctica da vela a um universo mais abrangente.

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Portugal Match Cup 2005

CERIMÓNIA OFICIAL DO PORTUGAL MATCH CUP 2005

A cerimónia oficial de apresentação da Portugal Match Cup 2005 decorreu nas instalações do Centro Cultural de Cascais.

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Portugal Match Club 2005

VII SEMANA DE VELA, SETEMBRO 1948

Em 1948 decorre na baia de cascais a primeira competição de nível mundial, os Campeonatos do Mundo e Peninsular de Stars, como que a antever uma década seguinte de grande visibilidade / Actividade.

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Portugal Match Cup 2005

A TRADIÇÃO DA VELA NA MARINA DE CASCAIS

Desde 1890 que Cascais se habituou a organizar e a assistir a eventos de vela. Porém, só nos primeiros anos do século XX é que se realizaram os primeiros eventos de uma certa dimensão, em concreto as regatas oceânicas Leixões-Cascais de 1902, 1903 e 1904.
A segunda metade da década foi marcada por um período de grande instabilidade política (motivada pela queda da monarquia e implantação da república),

A deflagração da I Guerra Mundial e o subsequente período de depressão que se lhe seguiu nas outroras potências coloniais europeias, marcaram um período durante o qual a vela nacional não registou grandes progressos.

Em 1928, o Clube Náutico de Portugal lança a primeira classe de monotipos (os CNP), os quais proporcionavam regatas de um só tripulante em barcos iguais, pondo a prémio a perícia e habilidade do velejador, fazendo renascer a vela desportiva em Cascais.

Esta acção marca o começo da democratização da vela, pois é a primeira vez que ficam disponíveis embarcações de baixo custo acessíveis a um maior leque de velejadores. Prova disso são as mais de cinquenta embarcações desse tipo que chegaram a estar registadas no clube.

Em 1956 Cascais é escolhido como ponto de chegada da primeira regata oceânica para veleiros escola, na qual a participação portuguesa esteva a cargo do navio escola Sagres.

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Portugal Match Cup 2005

MARINA DE CASCAIS

Construída em 1998, a marina de Cascais está bem habilitada por forma a receber vários tipos de embarcações. Contando no seu interior com 650 postos de amarração, a Marina é animada por 100 espaços comerciais dedicados a áreas de restauração, náutica, utilidades e moda, sem dúvida uma mais valia para a dinamização cultural e turística da Zona.

No seu anteporto, em zona protegida pelo quebramar, a Marina pode receber iates de dimensões superiores ao que lhe é permitido alojar no interior, e que é de 36 metros de comprimento com um calado máximo permitido de 6 metros.

Na área técnica, os velejadores têm à sua disposição gruas e um pórtico de 70 toneladas, podendo proceder a operações de manutenção.

Pretendendo devolver a Cascais a sua tradicional e relevante importância no que concerne à actividade náutica, este é um projecto ambicioso, tanto ao nível dos serviços oferecidos, como da dinâmica imposta nas citadas actividades ligadas ao mar, nacional e internacional.

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Portugal Match Cup 2005

PORTUGAL MATCH CUP 2005

SWEDISH MATCH TOUR

CASCAIS, 19 A 24 DE JULHO

Abençoada com excelentes condições naturais, desde a última década do século XIX que Cascais se notabilizou na organização de eventos de vela, tanto a nível nacional como internacional.

Depois de ter recebido pela primeira vez, em 2004, uma etapa da Swedish Match Tour, Cascais irá receber novamente, de 19 a 24 de Julho, esta prova de vela de nível mundial. A PT Portugal Match Cup 2005 será o evento desportivo mais importante a ser realizado em Portugal durante este ano, sendo um dos mais mediáticos do mundo, já que serve como apuramento para a America's Cup.

As regatas de Match Racing têm como principal atractivo o facto de serem disputadas junto da costa, proporcionando um enorme espectáculo no qual se assiste em directo às lutas e trocas de posição entre os iates.

A proximidade entre as embarcações é um dos pontos espectaculares do Match Racing.

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Portugal Match Cup 2005

ROBBIN ISLAND

A view at Capetown from Robbin Island

Robbin Island is a place, where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held for a long long time.

I saw in this seagull a metaphor for changes that occurred in South Africa in the recent time.

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Photo and Text Igor

RESGATADOS COM VIDA TRÊS MARINHEIROS NAUFRAGADOS A SEMANA PASSADA

Moscovo, 14 Jul (Lusa) - Três marinheiros que naufragaram a semana passada no Mar de Okhotsk foram hoje resgatados com vida numa balsa onde os socorristas encontraram o cadáver de um quarto marinheiro, segundo o Centro de Salvamento de Vladivostok, principal porto russo no Pacífico.

Os marinheiros faziam parte da tripulação da embarcação SP-13, que a semana passada naufragou durante uma tempestade quando navegava entre os portos de Magadan e Okhotsk.

Depois do naufrágio, os 10 tripulantes da embarcação conseguiram chegar a duas balsas, uma resgatada terça-feira com seis marinheiros e a segunda, encontrada hoje na baía de Ols, com os quatro restantes.

A embarcação, de 100 toneladas, partiu quinta-feira passada de Magadan, a cerca de 6.000 quilómetros de Moscovo, para uma viagem que deveria ser de dois dias, mas enviou um pedido de socorro sexta-feira e depois ficou incontactável.

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Texto Agencia Lusa 14JUL05

Photo Hiroaki

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Um agradecimento especial ao MARUJO do NAVIO NEGREIRO, que me enviou esta noticia.

Vai um abraço.

PORTO DE ABRIGO

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Photo Azlem

SINGLE BOAT

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Photo Anonimus

NAVIO DE GUERRA

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Photo Baran

FAROL DE S JULIÃO

Perto da Foz do Rio Tejo existiu em tempos uma pequena ermida chamada de S. Gião, da qual deriva a designação da actual fortaleza, cuja construção, ao que parece, se iniciou em 1556, nos finais do reinado de D. João III.

Substancialmente aumentada de 1560 a 1568, parece ter sido demolida, poucos anos depois, para dar lugar a outra de maiores dimensões.

Este forte inclui-se entre os que Francisco de Holanda aconselhou D. Sebastião a fortificar, para defesa na Barra do Tejo, recomendando a sua remodelação e referindo, aliás,

««…que tanto tem custado sem estar acabado»»


É, porém, do sistema instalado em 1775, na sequência do alvará Pombalino, que se dispõe de elementos seguros: tratava-se de um aparelho de candeeiros de Argand com reflector, de reduzida eficiência. Tanto assim era que o farol seria sucessivamente modernizado.

O primeiro corpo da torre deste farol, contando de baixo, encerra uma casa de abóbada com porta para sul, de grades de ferro, que não pertence ao serviço do farol, mas sim ao governo da praça. Serviu aquela casa de prisão ao desditoso general Gomes Freire, e foi dali que ele marchou ao patíbulo.

Actualmente ainda serve de prisão a réus de graves delitos.

O segundo corpo da torre é aplicado ao serviço da igreja, e ali existem os sinos da freguesia de S. Julião que lhe fica fronteira.

O terceiro corpo, que pertence ao farol, tem uma porta na escada, que o torna separado do segundo, tendo-se aproveitado ultimamente um vão ao lado desta, que tinha uma divisão de madeira, para servir de oficina a este farol.

Em 1933, e por virtude da resolução da conferência de balizagem realizada em Lisboa, que bania as luzes fixas das balizagens marginando cidades ou povoações importantes, a luz do farol, que era fixa, branca, passou a ser de ocultações, de cor vermelha. Esta transformação importou em 16.500 francos franceses.

Para o efeito procedeu-se à sua electrificação, ligando-o à rede de distribuição pública de energia.

Foi automatizado em 1980, possuindo grupos electrogéneos de arranque automático em caso de falha de energia. Todas as funções vitais dispõem de equipamentos alternativos, dispensando a presença de faroleiros. Telecontrolado a partir de Paço de Arcos, o farol matem a óptica instalada em 1865, com uma lâmpada de halogéneos metálicos de 1.000 Watts, que lhe confere um alcance luminoso de 14 milhas.

É de ocultações de cor vermelha, com um período de 5 segundos.

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Onde a Terra Acaba
História dos faróis Portugueses

UM NAVIO NO FUNDO DO MAR

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Photo Craig

ISLA HOLBOX, MEXICO

Isla Holbox is pronounced i-la holebosh - "x" in Mayan is pronounced "sh".

A well kept secret not known to many Mexicans outside of the Yucatan - Isla Holbox was settled by pirates who intermarried with local Mayans living in the area.

The descendants of the original 8 families still reside there today. Sort of like Pitcairn Island. Isla Holbox has 1600 +/- residents. It is a true island 7 miles north of the top tip of the Yucatan Peninsula about 40 miles NW of Cancun. It's approximately 7 miles long & 1 mile wide.

Its northern shore [facing the placid waters of the warm Gulf of Mexico] has become a secret hideout for Europeans, Canadians & Americans alike. Its like stepping back in time to the 50's or 60's.
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Photo Brane

CAPE MEARS LIGHTHOUSE

1890

The Cape Mears lighthouse at 34 feet is one of the shortest on the west coast. The lighthouse placement is on a high rocky cliff making the light 217 feet above the ocean. The first order Henry Lapaute lens and 800,000 candlepower light is visible 21 miles at sea. The light was originally intended to be located on Cape Lookout but due to a map makers mistake in reversing the two names the construction was started on Cape Mears.

Since the lighthouse was already partially completed at the time of discovery of the error there was an obvious problem. To settle the dilemma, President Benjamin Harrison stepped in and settled the matter with his approval of the Cape Mears site.

PRONTO PARA A FAINA

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Photo Barry

JET SKI

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Photo Angela

THE LIGHTHOUSE

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Photo Anonimus

GRANDES MAQUINAS DE MAR

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Photo Anonimo

O VOO DA GAIVOTA

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Photo Andrea

VELEJADOR

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Photo Bruce

FUNDO DO MAR

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Photo Mauro

CAVALO MARINHO

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Photo Christian

DUAL

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Photo Antony

FAROL DE SANTA MARTA

Em 1880 o farol de Santa Marta, constituído por uma lanterna e um aparelho catóptrico vermelho, funcionava apenas como luz de direcção.

Dois anos mais tarde, a 3ª subcomissão da Comissão de Faróis e Balizas – encarregada da iluminação dos portos e balizagem e constituída por Arbués Moreira, António Maria dos Reis e Feire de Andrade – teceram algumas considerações sobre este farol.

Em 1908 substituiu-se o aparelho lenticular até então existente por um catadióptrico de 5ª ordem que ainda hoje ali se encontra montado. De luz fixa vermelha, o seu alcance luminoso era de 8 milhas.

Em 1936 procedeu-se a um aumento de 8 metros da altura da torre, a fim de conseguir que ela se distinguisse bem das novas construções que se vinham fazendo nas proximidades e que dificultavam grandemente a navegação que saía a barra Norte, principalmente durante a tarde. Custou esta obra 37.000$00.

O farol foi electrificado em 1953, tendo simultaneamente sido ali instalado um sistema automático de reserva de fonte luminosa funcionando por incandescência de acetileno, para permitir que o farol se mantivesse aceso em caso de falha de energia de rede :

«Em 1.VII.953 passará a funcionar em regime experimental, com as características seguintes :

Número : 59 na Lista de faróis.
Nome : Santa Marta
Posição : No forte de Santa Marta. Lat. 38º 41’ 20’’ N ; Long. 09º 25’ 11’’ W

Cor e carácter da luz : Vermelha. Ocultações.

Período e Fases : Ocultação 1,5 s , Luz 4,5 , Período 6,0 s

Alcance : 15 milhas


Observações : Na falta de corrente eléctrica, passará imediatamente a funcionar a incandescência a gás com alcance luminoso de 10 milhas (…)«

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Onde a Terra Acaba

História dos Faróis Portugueses

ROPE

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Photo Evan

FISHING

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Photo Andrei

THE STORM IS COMING...

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Photo Barkitos

THE DEEP

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Photo llan

DRAGON BOAT RACES - OKINAWA

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Photo Frank

TWO BOATS, TWO WINNERS

Having established a new transatlantic race record between New York and the Lizard, UK, yesterday morning, the afternoon saw Robert Miller's Mari-Cha IV making an unexpected 20 knots up the English Channel towards the Needles and the finish line of the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge race.

The wind, forecast to drop off, held, and shortly before dusk, in a seascape so misty and overcast that it merged grey sky with grey sea, the high-tech schooner charged past the Needles Fairway buoy to the west of the Isle of Wight to take line honours, as well, in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge. Mari-Cha IV crossed the finish line at 19:18:37 UTC, setting a course time between Ambrose Light (in the U.S.) and the Needles of 10 days, 1 hour, 8 minutes and 37 seconds.

This compares with Atlantic's time of 13 days, 10 hours and 15 minutes in the 1905 race for the Kaiser's Cup. Up the Channel, in hot pursuit of Mari-Cha IV, was Maximus, the new sloop of New Zealanders Charles Brown and Bill Buckley, who had passed the four-mile long gate off the Lizard at 19:18:37 UTC yesterday (1 June), making it to the Needles finish line at 00:35:08 UTC this morning (2 June), 5 hours 16 minutes and 31 seconds behind Mari-Cha IV. While this was disappointing for the crew, the consolation prize was a handicap win in the Grand-Prix division. In fact, Maximus's crew say that they weren't racing for handicap honours.

"We wanted to beat Mari-Cha IV on the water," maintains Mike Quilter, Maximus's ex-America's Cup and Whitbread round-the-world race navigator.

"I suppose that's human nature. You like to think you try hard, but in an arm wrestle, she (Mari-Cha IV) has too much muscle.

" On paper, the race seemed highly unfair between the 140-foot (43m) schooner Mari-Cha IV and the 100-foot (30.5m) sloop-rigged Maximus, but in the end, despite both boats suffering broken headboards or headboard cars at the top of their mainsails, rarely were they more than 40 miles apart.

Quilter attributed this to the conditions. "I think the conditions in the race suited us more than it suited her. It was light to begin with; then it was tricky upwind. So we were able to hang onto her." It was finally in the Channel that Mari-Cha IV was able to fully stretch her longer legs and leap ahead.

Even Maximus' designer Greg Elliott agrees: "Given another sort of race in different conditions, Mari-Cha may have stomped all over us." Mike Quilter was on board Mari-Cha IV when she set the passage record for the crossing of the North Atlantic two years ago and is one of the few people qualified to make a fair comparison between the two giants of the yacht racing world. "Mari-Cha IV feels like an aircraft carrier, and Maximus is like a big Open 60 (a lightweight performance racing yacht)," he says.

"Maximus did pretty well. We made it across and put on a good show, and the boat is obviously really fast. To me it surfs a lot quicker. For the transatlantic record on Mari Cha IV, she kept up a higher average speed, but on this boat we had fresh reaching conditions for 12 hours after the Gulf Stream, and we were regularly hitting 30 knots on the GPS every five or ten minutes.

Whereas, Mari-Cha IV keeps up a high average speed, but she doesn't have bursts like this little boat." The next boat due in to Cowes is the 151-foot (46.3m) Windrose, the first in Performance Cruising class 1.

She passed through the Lizard gate at 1135 UTC and is expected to cross the finish line Friday mid-morning. However, at present, it is the two Dubois 170-footers Drumbeat and Tiara that are leading on handicap. In the smaller Performance Cruising class 2, it is still Bugs Baer and William Hubbard III's 1970s-vintage maxi Tempest that is leading on handicap. On the 131-foot (39.9m) Sariyah, racing in Performance Cruising class 2, the crew report that charterers Cortwright Wetherill Jr., Jeff Gram and Sam Shipley are relieved to be passing the half-way stage of the race but enjoying the excitement of constant heavy-air reaching. In the Classic division, A. Robert Towbin's Sumurun is still leading on the water with 1,575 miles to go at noon today.

On board Carlo Falcone's Mariella, also in the Classics, Sophie Luther reported last night they were experiencing the calm before the storm. "It is pretty unbelievable that a system 600 miles across, with winds of 50 knots in it, is brewing." The change, even if not its extreme nature, will be welcome.

Mariella spent 12 hours on Tuesday becalmed. Luther continued: "The ballot on board closed today for the estimated time of arrival at the Lizard waypoint and to the Needles itself, and the results were published in Carlo's big black book. Merelita was the most hopeful, getting us in on the 9th June, which she says we will have to do not only so she gets free drinks when we get to Cowes but because we won't have any more food after this point.

Robin was the most pessimistic/realistic with late night 12th June." From on board the schooner Atlantic on the equivalent day of the Kaiser's Cup in 1905, Frederick Hoyt wrote: "We had a fine night and with a strong breeze and moderate sea we averaged over 14 knots an hour.

On coming on deck this morning a bright sun and long southwesterly swell and a strong breeze made a charming day. They put both staysails on her but with the wind increasing, they were up only for an hour, but we are going along in great shape and at noon today were only 213 miles from the Lizard, the finish of our race."

The Rolex Transatlantic Challenge is sponsored by Rolex and also by Moran Towing Corp., Sandy Hook Pilots, P&O Ports North America, and MedLink. The race is hosted by the New York Yacht Club with the support of the Royal Yacht Squadron. It is supported by the City of New York and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Showboats International is the event's official marine publication; program sponsors include Rolex, North Fork Bank and Holland Jachtbouw. Jobson Sailing, Inc. is making a documentary of the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge to be aired on the Outdoor Life Network on Wednesday, September 28 at 1:00 am ET and again on September 28 at 10:00 pm ET and on Channel 13 (PBS) in New York at a date and time to be announced.

Listen to satellite telephone interviews from the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge: www.regattanews.com

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Key Partners Marketing Services (KPMS)

2, Rue des Terreaux,

CH-2000

Neuchâtel, Switzerland

RECORD IN THE BAG, BUT THE RACE IS STILL ON

This morning, in thick English Channel fog, Robert Miller's (Hong Kong/New York, N.Y.) 140-foot (43m) Mari-Cha IV passed through the four-mile-long gate off the Lizard on the Rolex Transatlantic Race to break the 100-year-old record set by Charlie Barr on board Wilson Marshall's 185-foot (56.4m) Atlantic.

Miller's giant state-of-the-art racing schooner completed the 2,925-nautical mile passage, east across the North Atlantic between New York and the Lizard, in a time of 9 days, 15 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds-a full 2 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes and 56 seconds faster than Atlantic's record-breaking voyage 100 years ago.

“It is a great feat,” commented Mari-Cha IV's owner Robert Miller. “For a record to stand 100 years, and we've had the honour to make an attempt and be successful at it--I am over the moon, overjoyed. It is fantastic.

This was a very tough trip. We had six days of weather on the nose. We crossed the Gulf Stream, saw some very rough seas there and again headwinds and steep short seas on the nose, and the boat and the crew took a lot of beating.” At one point, pushing the boat beyond its limits ultimately resulted in the mainsail headboard and the headboard cars on both mainsail and mizzen breaking, and the chance of breaking the race record was in jeopardy.

“If the ship or the crew were in danger then we would have had to retire, but we did a very good damage control assessment and the question of retirement was never an option,” continued Miller. “We have a very versatile crew, and we can be really self-contained here, so any type of problem we have been able to overcome this time. We were very fortunate and it all worked out well for us, I'm very happy to say.” In October, 2003, Mari-Cha IV set a monohull passage record between New York and the Lizard of 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds, but for that voyage, in stark contrast to the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, she had the major advantage of being able to set sail when her crew chose, in optimum weather conditions. In 2005, their voyage was very different.

“Pretty much for the first 1,500 miles we were battling away against everything…the elements, Maximus…and we've still got a big battle on our hands now,” recounted racing helmsman Mike Sanderson (referring to the race finish at the Needles still ahead). “From a record standpoint it is very exciting, especially it being such an old record. It is not every day you break a 100-year-old record. It is incredible that a record like that stood for so long and it was the outright record for so long, too.

So obviously it was an incredible achievement back then, and they've made us fight for it this time as well.” On the approach to the Lizard, Mari-Cha IV passed between Land's End and the Scilly Isles, while 40 miles astern, Charles Brown and Bill Buckley's New Zealand entry Maximus passed outside of the Scillies. Off the Lizard, they became engulfed in thick fog that reduced visibility to just 330 feet (100m).

“We can see the bow of the boat, so it's not true English fog, and we are VMG running down the Channel in 14 knots of wind doing 15.5 knots,” continued Sanderson. Despite their lead, there is still a small possibility of Maximus hunting them down. “We are very concerned about the breeze shutting down, and if that happens they'll bring it up from behind, so we have realised we have a race on our hands still,” said Sanderson.

Fortunately, at present, the tides are relatively weak, removing a potential tactical advantage for the Kiwi maxi. Maximus passed the Lizard at 13:18:55UTC, 3 hours 13 minutes and 32 seconds after Mari-Cha IV. “We are just tootling along doing about 15-6 knots VMG downwind,” commented her veteran navigator Mike Quilter.

We don't have no longer have any wind gear, so I can't tell you how much wind there is.” Like Mari-Cha IV, she was gybing downwind, trying to make the most of the available tide. In Performance Cruising class 1, Chris Gongriepe's schooner Windrose continues to lead the 178-foot (54.3m) Tiara, while Tiara's sistership Drumbeat is ahead on handicap. In the smaller Performance Cruising class 2, John “Hap” Fauth continues to lead on the water in his 116-foot (35.4m) Whisper, while Bugs Baer and William Hubbard III's Tempest is still first on handicap.

As Mari-Cha IV and Maximus reached the Lizard, A. Robert Towbin's Sumurun, the on-the-water and handicap leader in the Classic division, still had 1,653 miles left to go to the Lizard. “We are the back of the pack, and it is pretty discouraging when you hear that the first boat has finished and you still have halfway to go,” admitted Armin Fischer, skipper of Sumurun. “We are about 170 miles ahead of the other two boats, but that can change very rapidly if you hit a weather system in the wrong way.”

At present, Sumurun is waiting for the arrival of the next depression. “We are heading northeast now into the next low, and we will see what happens then. The cards can be dealt differently then. It depends upon how we position ourselves in it.”

To date, their progress has been relatively slow, as unlike the faster boats, Sumurun has been unable to position herself within weather systems to make the best use of the conditions, says Fischer. “We had a lot of horrible light airs and big swells. We had a few good runs. Our best run so far was 256 miles, but that was only one day.”

The boat is generally in good shape except that, like Maximus, they have had electronics issues and have no wind instruments. “It is like learning to sail all over out here without having the instruments, with the woolly ties on the shrouds, etc” said Fischer.

Owner A. Robert Towbin turned 70 on 26 May, but his birthday had to be delayed by 24 hours due to the bad weather. 100 years ago on day 11 of the race for the Kaiser's Cup, Frederick Hoyt on board Atlantic wrote: “Last night was beautiful and clear, but it blew a whole gale throughout, and on coming on deck at 07.30 this morning the ship was running with the wind on the quarter, before the heaviest sea we have yet had.

The wind has been building to the southward gradually since midnight and with no abatement. The squaresail yard was braced pretty well forward, and when she would luff on the crest of a sea it would bury her so at 11 it was taken in and the jib set. A great improvement in her behaviour at once followed, the excessive rolling stopped and she went along drier and apparently faster than before.”

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MARI-CHA IV EXPECTED TO BREAK RECORD

Owner Robert Miller (Hong Kong/New York, N.Y.) and his crew on board the 140-foot (43m) schooner Mari-Cha IV are at present on course to pass Lizard Point tomorrow morning to better Charlie Barr and the schooner Atlantic's 100-year-old race record by more than two and a half days. "This is my seventh transatlantic crossing, and I can safely say that it has been by far the toughest one for me," Robert Miller confided.

"Not only has the weather been in our face for the first six days, making life extremely difficult, but since then we have always been sailing close to the limit, which means that there is the risk of hurting the boat and the crew. "At times, I've felt that perhaps the ghost of 1905--Charlie Barr--is looking down on us and enjoying every bit of hardship we are encountering. But there is not time to dwell on that, as we have a race to win. The competition has also been tough, but I must say enjoyable--Maximus and ourselves have spent the whole race running close together and have been, at times, only 15-20 miles apart." Despite Mari-Cha IV being 40 feet (12.1m) longer than the newly launched Maximus, the two boats have remained together as if attached by elastic, with the giant schooner regaining the lead on Sunday for the first time since sustaining damage to her rig. At 12:48 UTC, Mari-Cha IV had Maximus still 30 miles astern with 390 miles to go to the Lizard.

According to navigator Jef d' Etiveaud, she was making 20 knots, broad reaching/running in 20 knots of southwesterly wind. "We are pushing the boat. We know that on this point of sail we and Maximus are very even," he said, adding that despite last week's rig problems, they have once again been pushing the boat to 100%. "Everyone is concentrating very hard, but as long as we can keep them a few miles behind, we are happy." While Mari-Cha IV and her crew may tomorrow be able to bask in the glory of having set the fastest race time to the Lizard, handicap victory in the Grand Prix class seems equally assured for Maximus, as the larger schooner must give the smaller sloop 79 minutes time per 24 hours. Given their present speed and separation, tomorrow morning might see the two boats finishing between 90 minutes and two hours apart on the water.

A majority of the fleet, from the front runners back, are now enjoying favourable 20-30 knot southwesterly winds, making for a much faster run than they have experienced to date. In the match race of the Dubois-designed 170 footers in Performance Cruising class 1, the sloop Tiara and its charterers from the Societe Nautique de Geneve remain ahead of the ketch Drumbeat. But leading, it is Chris Gongriepe's smaller Dutch spirit of tradition schooner Windrose on a course farther south than that taken by the Grand Prix maxis. Some 450 miles astern of the 170 footers, Tempest, the 80-foot (24.4m) Sparkman & Stephens maxi chartered to Bugs Baer and William Hubbard III, is currently leading Performance Cruising class 2. Her crew is enjoying the ride, reports Bugs Baer:

"Racing in 30 knots is strenuous. We had a chute blow out, but it is already under repair and it should be back up soon. We've had some minor equipment problems. There are no injuries other than some aches and pain and strains. Everyone will arrive healthy I think. But it is tough going--hard steering, a lot of strains in the equipment. We have to replace the chafing gear on halyards and guys." This morning, Tempest was experiencing 27-knot winds and 8-foot seas from the southwest, big enough to get some exciting surfs. Otherwise the Atlantic is a lonely place. "We haven't seen any other boats for seven days," said Baer. We had a conversation with a 30-foot boat that was racing from Barbados to the Azores. They saw a mast and called us, but we never saw theirs."

For the Classics, A. Robert Towbin's Sumurun holds a 140-mile lead on the water over Dr. Hans Albrecht's Nordwind. From on board Atlantic on day 10 of the race for the Kaiser's Cup, Frederick Hoyt wrote: "Worse and more of it. On going on deck for the morning sight, it was blowing a whole gale from the southwest and a heavy sea was on the quarter. There were four oil bags strung at intervals along the weather side, but they did not seem to have much effect. The ship was under nothing but the squaresail and fore trysail in a heavy following sea with both quartermasters lashed to the wheel, and once in a while the whole quarter deck flooded with the top of a wave which would slop over the rail."

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GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE

At the front of the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge fleet, both race leader Mari-Cha IV and Maximus are now making good progress directly toward Land's End, the southwestern tip of mainland Britain before they turn and cover the final 20 miles to the race's first finish line off the Lizard. At noon today, just 32 miles separated the two boats on the water, with 835 miles left for Mari-Cha IV to sail.

According to Mari-Cha IV's project manager and navigator Jef d'Etiveaud: "The boat is nicely sailing at 22 knots in good running conditions…finally, after a long upwind poker game with Maximus over the last two days. It has been quite intense for all on board, especially for the afterguard, which has been trying to anticipate the opposition's moves on the water. Are THEY going to stay north? Are THEY going to go south just after the position report?" After spending Saturday night with its mainsail down as the crew attempted to repair the broken headboard car, Maximus is now fully back up to speed jib-top reaching.

On board, navigator Mike Quilter says they have been averaging around 19 knots, while his computer is predicting an arrival time at the Lizard of 1000 UTC on Wednesday, June 1. But to do this, they must sail perfectly, and it also relies on their headboard repair holding. To beat Atlantic's 100-year-old record, a yacht must finish by Friday, June 3 no later than 22:11:19 UTC.

Co-owner Bill Buckley's dislocated shoulder is now almost fully mended, and he is back on deck. "We got all the medical books out, and there was plenty of discussion," recounts Quilter of how they fixed the shoulder. "We lay him face down on the bunk and gradually dropped his shoulder over the side of the bunk towards the ground, and that slipped it back in. Once the shoulder was back in, you could see in an instant him becoming much more comfortable. He's a tough old bugger."

On board Chris Gongriepe's Windrose of Amsterdam, captain Nick Haley says that yesterday they set a best day's run for the boat of 346 miles. By coincidence, this was the same day in the transatlantic race 100 years ago that Charlie Barr, at the helm of Wilson Marshall's Atlantic, a New York Yacht Club vessel, also scored the largest run of his crossing--341 miles. "She [Atlantic] was a bigger boat, but we were happy, because it beat our previous record by 20 miles," said Haley.

This morning, after the "upwind slog" as they crossed the Grand Banks, Windrose was fully powered up and making 14.5-15.5 knots at the front of the Performance Cruising class 1. "At the moment, we have 25-28 knots of true wind, and the breeze is 200-220 degrees true. We have full main, full foresail and staysail and code zero up," said Haley, who tentatively estimates their ETA at the Lizard sometime on June 3rd.

"There is a long way to go between now and then," he says. "We are not getting too confident just yet. With the boat being pressed so hard, the number one priority is to keep the boat in one piece. We are in a nice band of southwesterly flow, and we should be sailing fast on the starboard gybe all the way in. It looks like the breeze is dying out slightly as we close to the finish, but we are hoping we still have good pressure as far as the Lizard.

Some of our pictures show the Channel might be a bit slow, but if we can get to the Lizard still traveling fast, we'll be happy with that." Last night, Jose Aguinaga's 77-foot (23.6m) Ocean Phoenix, racing in Performance Cruising class 2, retired from the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, the third yacht to do so. "We are on route to the Azores to effect repairs and then continue to England afterwards some time in June," wrote skipper Charlie Carlow. "Our sail wardrobe has taken a hammering, and with such a distance left to go, and continual attempts to fix sails, it's beginning to make our ETA very far away. The race rules state that there is no time limit.

However, some of our crew have other fixed obligations, and these will not be met with our current speed or our long-range weather forecasts." Leading the charge to the British Isles in Performance Cruising class 2 is John "Hap" Fauth's Whisper, and in the Classic division, A. Robert Towbin's Sumurun was 313 miles ahead of Dr. Hans Albreicht's Nordwind at noon today. 100 years ago, on day eight of the race for the Kaiser's Cup on board Atlantic, Frederick Hoyt wrote: "As soon as it was light enough to see, the mainsail with a single reef was hoisted, which did a lot to stop the rolling, and by daylight in the morning we were running before a strong southwest wind under fore and mainsails, squaresail, raffee and two topsails, the mizzen staysail being put on just after noon.

It was a dark, cloudy, disagreeable day with rain most of the time, and there was no chance of getting sights, so we had to depend upon our dead reckoning. This branch of navigating a ship is often done in a very slipshod manner, the chances being taken that there will be sights, but Captain Barr is most thorough and our courses, speed, deviation and variation are entered in the log every hour, and when we picked her off at noon today she was just on the circle and we had made the course determined upon at noon yesterday."

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CHALLENGE TAKES ITS TOLL

While several boats competing in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge have sustained damage since last Sunday's start off New York, over the last 48 hours it has been the turn of their crews.The injured crewman, reported yesterday on Peter Harrison's Sojana, was Mal Parker, a highly experienced sailor and the upwind trimmer for Harrison's GBR Challenge in the last America's Cup.

At 1100 GMT on Friday, the crew was in the process of reefing a headsail when Parker's left arm was pulled into a winch, breaking it in two places. Parker had his broken arm splinted and immobilised, as Sojana immediately ceased racing and turned to make for the island of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon to the south of Newfoundland.

"Mal was transferred to a hospital ashore, where the arm was x-rayed, and he was given morphine for pain relief," wrote Sojana's skipper Marc Fitzgerald. "The arm will require surgery to pin the broken bones, which cannot be done at the facility in Saint-Pierre, so he will fly today to Montreal to undergo surgery there, before returning home to Tasmania to recuperate.

" Parker is being accompanied by Sojana's navigator Graham Sunderland. Since then, Sojana has asked the Race Committee permission to rejoin the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, and this has been granted. This morning, they were rounding Cape Race, the southeasternmost tip of Newfoundland.

On Friday, aboard the race's on-the-water leader Maximus, Bill Buckley--the Kiwi sloop's co-owner and one of New Zealand's most prominent engineers--took a fall, dislocating his shoulder. The crew was forced to sail downwind in the opposite direction to the course for some hours while on-board medics relocated the limb. While Mari-Cha IV's crew spent Thursday making repairs to the boat's rig, Maximus's co-owner Charles Brown revealed that his crew, too, has been experiencing its share of technical problems with the brand new boat.

"While running at up to 30 knots under full main and fractional gennaker, the switch for the canting keel failed during the gennaker drop, causing the keel to cant to the wrong side. Fortunately, our back-up keel control system allowed us to remedy a potentially dangerous situation for the boat and crew.

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SOJANA LOSES CLASS LEAD; CREWMAN INJURED

There was concern in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge yesterday for Peter Harrison’s Sojana when her track showed her heading in a northwesterly direction, 90 degrees away from the proper race track to England.In a communiqué with the New York Yacht Club Race headquarters, skipper Marc Fitzgerald explained that a crewman on board the 115-foot (35m) ketch had broken his arm in two places, and they were heading for the remote French island of St-Pierre, part of the St-Pierre et Miquelon group immediately to the south of Newfoundland.

There they would take the stricken crewman to a hospital before rejoining the race. Prior to diverting, Sojana was leading the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge’s Performance Cruising class 1 on handicap.Following her rig damage and a subsequent day of repairs on Thursday, Robert Miller’s Mari-Cha IV is now closing on Charles Brown and Bill Buckley’s New Zealand 100 footer Maximus.

At 0800 GMT this morning, Mari-Cha IV was approximately 35 miles astern."We are able to sail at about 85 % of our potential at the moment, but if we are lucky enough to get some reaching and running conditions, then we will be back at 100%," recounted racing helmsman Mike Sanderson yesterday. "The whole deal has cost us around 95 odd miles to Maximus." Both boats are now off the Grand Banks but over Flemish Cap, properly into the Atlantic, sailing upwind into 25-knot east-southeasterly winds.

With Sojana temporarily out of the running, the lead in Performance Cruising Class 1 has been taken by Tiara, at 178-feet (54.3m) the largest yacht remaining in the race following the retirement of Stad Amsterdam."Due to the southern route option, we were able to miss most of the bad weather some of the other competitors had," reported Alexis Lombard, whose father has chartered Tiara for the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge with a group of fellow members from the Societe Nautique de Geneve, the club defending the America’s Cup,.

"After two to three days of warmer weather in the south, we have been back in the mist and cold weather for a couple of hours. All eyes are on Drumbeat’s position. They have sailed a great race since leaving New York--taking a different strategy--but the Lizard still seems very far away from here. Losing the staysail was a tough moment, but all the crew on board seems to be back on track today. Our focus over the coming days is to keep boat speed at a good level. Having as much fun as the Atlantic and the wind can give us stays our priority, as well as challenging our most similar competitor Drumbeat!"At present, the slightly shorter ketch-rigged Drumbeat is almost 100 miles astern of Tiara, having taken a course more to the northwest. Between them, in terms of distance to finish, is Mike Slade’s Leopard.

"The game of cat and mouse, with low and son of low, continues for this big cat," reported Leopard’s navigator Julian Salter. "We have been sailing our upwind modes on starboard tack for four days now--a subtle game of wind angle, heading and sail combinations played out more brutally on deck with headsail changes and reefs in and out, in cool 25-35 knot conditions, with an ever-changing sea state. As time goes on, we are making good progress and looking forward to some faster conditions.

"Salter expects them to be off the Grand Banks to the southeast of Newfoundland later today. "Then," he says, "we will be free of the limited visibility, oil rigs and fishermen who are out there somewhere. Below deck, condensation is king in the Labrador current."Further down the fleet in Performance Cruising class 2, where John "Hap" Fauth’s Whisper continues to lead on the water over Clarke Murphy’s Stay Calm, Joe Hoopes, owner of the Little Harbor 75 Palawan, was loving the conditions. "The wind is 19 knots out of the southwest. We are running under headsail and main with the staysail set as well, making between 8 and 10 knots depending upon the wind and the wave. The crew is fine.

We’ve just had a pancake breakfast - no freeze-dried food on this boat!"Hoopes reported having seen everything from flat calms to massive squalls since last Sunday’s start off New York Harbor. "We got hit by a microburst a couple of days ago, which tore our mainsail. We had to take it down and repair it. We did see 55 knots in that. We are still on the edge of the [Gulf] stream, and we are getting a little bit of a lift and the weather is warm. It is 62 degrees (F), so it is very comfortable sailing, and we are about to change watch. We’re going to rig the spinnaker pole to the jib, to wing it and head a little farther north.

"Despite the conditions, Palawan has remained dry down below. "She is very comfortable. Everyone gets a shower every day and three square meals," says Hoopes. Although this is Hoopes’s fourth Atlantic crossing in Palawan, it is his first in a race.On board the schooner Atlantic in the 1905 race for the Kaiser’s Cup, Frederick Hoyt wrote:"On going on deck at 5.30 this morning there, on our lee beam about five miles away was a berg which must have been half a mile long and 300 feet high.

It certainly was a beautiful sight with the morning sun reflecting from it. Our topsails have been going from bad to worse and after the watch had cleared up the decks, the skipper had the mizzen down on deck and took a cloth off the after leech. The main will have to go through the same operation later, while the fore seems to be fairly good still."By 11 o’clock the sail was out and at once bent, it being a great improvement. Today was a great change from the preceding night, the thermometer standing at 72 degrees and all hands going around in their shirt sleeves, whereas last night there were not overcoats enough on board to warm one. Cold on the ocean will go through the heaviest clothes and one cannot realise how it penetrates until it has been experienced."

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