Offshore / Ocean

Groupama have taken pole position in the race to be the first boat to finish in the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race and overtaken Telefonica Azul as they approach Muckle Flugga, the most northern point of Great Britain. Yesterday afternoon the wind softened and headed the two Volvo 70’s and Groupama  took a hitch to the West which initially seemed like wasted miles but has proved decisive over the last 8 hours with more breeze to the West. Yann Riou on board Groupama explains:
"Yesterday we decided to go further inshore and we went onto starboard tack for about an hour and it looks like it was a good move and Team Groupama are delighted to hear that we are now ahead of our rivals. It was a tough night and it has been a hard race. Especially as we have had many sail changes, so we have had very little sleep but the crew are all in good spirits.

At the Skipper's Briefing for the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) announced a dramatic change to the race.

Due to a severe weather forecast for the west coast of Ireland for Thursday 26th August, the RORC have decided to reverse the course so that the fleet will race anti-clockwise around Britain and Ireland. The start remains unchanged from the Royal Yacht Squadron line to the east at 14.00. This should give the fleet a fast running start towards the forts in the Solent.

Spirit of Australia has won the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race after finishing fourth in Race 13. Simply finishing this penultimate stage of the 14-race series gave them the single point they needed to secure the title. The crew, who have been focussed on victory since the start of the race in September 2009, will take to the stage to lift the crystal trophy when the fleet returns to the port this Saturday 17 July.

The team’s elated skipper, Brendan Hall, from Brisbane, Queensland, was full of praise for his crew. “Words can’t describe right now,” he said. “It is amazing! We raced so hard, again our result was not our best but to win a round the world yacht race, how many people can say they’ve done that?

It's official - Mike Slade's ICAP Leopard is the fastest monohull on the planet. The WSSR Council ratified Leopard's new World Record on Tuesday.

The new record was set in the 24 hours from 31 May to 1 June this year. ICAP Leopard covered 495.1 nautical miles during that time at an average speed of 20.6 knots.

The previous record 24 hour run was 466.4 nautical miles in May 2008, also by Leopard.

Jessica Watson has just become the youngest person ever to sail non-stop, solo around the world.

Tens of thousands of well-wishers and fans including a host of VIPs, lined Sydney Harbour this morning to greet the 16-year-old who has spent the last seven months at sea.

The course and dates for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 have been officially announced today. This edition of the race will see a new format for the racing programme in the host cities, including the start city of Alicante, Spain and finish city of Galway, Ireland. For the first time, the Volvo Ocean Race will finish with an In-Port race in Galway.

The iconic islands of the Azores in the Atlantic, Fernando de Noronha off the Brazilian coast and the Fastnet Rock, the southern most point of Ireland, all make an appearance on the course.

Neil Pryde’s Welbourne 52, Hi Fi was a familiar sight leading the fleet again and taking the Line Honours victory, crossing the finish line off Subic Bay, Philippines at 07:36:11 local time. Hi Fi’s elapsed time of 67hrs, 26mins shaved close to four hours off their previous record, set in the 2008 race. This is a new benchmark for the Rolex China Sea Race harbour start, a change in 2008 to allow for the start off the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in Victoria Harbour. Hi Fi also won the IRC Racing A division overall on corrected time.

The Jules Verne Trophy now belongs to ten men who have sailed around the globe at an average of 18.76 knots along the optimum course, beating the reference time set by Orange 2 in 2005 by 2 days 08 hours 35 minutes. Franck Cammas and his men crossed the finish line off the Créac'h lighthouse at Ushant (Finistère) at 21h40'45" UTC Saturday 20th March. They are due to make the Port du Château in Brest at around 0900 UTC tomorrow.

On rounding Cape Horn at 1830 UTC this Thursday 4th March, Franck Cammas and his men have retained a lead of 175 miles over the reference time, which equates to 8 hours 55 minutes. However, the beginning of this final stage of the round the world will be complicated for the giant trimaran to negotiate, at least for the first few hours of this Atlantic ascent ...