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Latest News from the Sail Search Blog

eDigitalResearch SMS Survey Helps Sailing

www.Sail-Search.com: Southampton, 23rd June 2008: Following the success of last year’s trial, Skandia Cowes Week 2008 (2-9 August) will be using mobile SMS survey technology from digital market research specialist, eDigitalResearch, to gain instant feedback from its 8,500 competitors to improve the quality of racing.

Last year, over a third of the competitors opted to receive the SMS questionnaire which involved texting their opinions on the quality of the course, the accuracy of weather forecasts and the standard of stewarding at the end of each day. This year, Cowes Week Limited will be using the technology to action feedback quickly in order to improve the quality of its courses and the ways its races are managed.

Stuart Quarrie, CEO of Cowes Week Limited, comments: “The instant responses to the SMS surveys mean that we can use the feedback to help shape the next day’s racing. Hosting one of the largest sailing regattas in the World, we take pride in listening to our sailing community in order to improve our event. Previous methods of obtaining feedback have allowed us to make annual improvements, while the SMS surveys allows a day-by-day improvement.”

All responses are collated using bespoke software developed by eDigitalResearch. Sailors are given a deadline of 8pm each day to respond. The system is able to process information from any mobile phone in real-time, with each response triggering the next question. This means that data correlation is instant and a report can be sent to event organisers with immediate effect.

Chris Russell, eDigitalResearch Director, comments: “SMS provides a fantastic way of creating snap polls and getting instant feedback on some key measures. We had a great response rate last year at Skandia Cowes Week and we expect two thirds of respondents to reply within an hour at this year’s event. It’s a great addition to our research tool kit as mobile devices are ubiquitous and the mobile Internet is really beginning to take off.”

eDigitalResearch has a long standing association with Skandia Cowes Week and has been an official supplier to the event for the last six years.

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Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:24:15 +0000

www.Sail-Search.com: The fleet’s recent progress has been respectable as the teams benefit from Force five southerly winds and most teams have managed to cover over 200 nautical miles in the past 24 hours.

Joff Bailey, Race Director, says, “The winds for the next 24 hours are forecasted to back to the east and then north as a small low pressure cell travels south of the fleet. Other than Uniquely Singapore, there have been no dramatic tactical changes made by the teams however, the changing wind directions that this low pressure system will bring will allow the tacticians onboard to make a decision on when to tack from starboard onto port. This will be a critical decision because tacking too early or too late will cost miles. This is particularly vital for the overall Clipper 07-08 Race front-runners, New York, Hull & Humber and Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper, as this decision could be the make or break decision of the race, Loosing or gaining one or two points now makes such a big difference with only one race left. It promises to be exciting viewing over the next few days.

Deciding when to change course can prove costly but so can deciding when to change sails as Durban 2010 and Beyond discovered to the determent of the team’s position amongst the fleet. Skipper of the South African team, Ricky Chalmers, says, “We lost miles again by doing a sail change too early. We were hard pressed with the Yankee one, and with the GRIB files showing the wind increasing marginally and, more importantly, coming forward, I made the decision to change to the Yankee two early. Initially it looked like the right decision with the boat speed being the same if not better than before but, over the next hours the wind progressively eased and when I was woken at watch change we were floundering at six knots. The Yankee one is back up again with the Yankee two ready to go.”

Uniquely Singapore has stayed further south which has initially kept the team below the great circle route and requires them to sail more miles to the finish line in Cork. However, as the low pressure system moves past the fleet there is a chance they will benefit from better wind angles then their competitors further north.

Following westernaustralia2011.com’s decision yesterday to head north and join the rest of the pack, a match race has now broken out between the big blue boat and Nova Scotia. Martin Silk, skipper of westernaustralia2011.com, says, “Nova Scotia by default now has a match race on their hands since coming to greet us this afternoon. To us this makes sense, providing they do not stray too far from our intended track, allowing a performance measure as we try to claw back some miles on the leaders.”

The whole fleet is now clear of the Grand Banks and, other than Uniquely Singapore, they are north of the Flemish Cap, infamous from the film ‘The Perfect Storm'. Fortunately the wind will be much kinder to the Clipper fleet than the fishing fleet featured in the film as they continue their progress to Cork, Ireland, in this penultimate race.

Today on the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the Clipper fleet is taking part in the Summer Solstice 2008. They are amongst 3,000 boats signed up in 20 countries and it is estimated that at least 10,000 sailors are participating worldwide. John Arndt, Summer Solstice organiser, says, “It’s great that the Clipper fleet is taking part in the Summer Solstice. It's a day to remember all the miles sailed by sailors everywhere and celebrate what sailing has made possible. The first sailors signed up and planning to hoist their sails for Summer Solstice will do so at sunrise in Shanghai, China. As the earth turns sails will be hoisted around the world until finally sailors in California and Hawaii become the last to sail on Summer Solstice.” For more information log on to www.summersailstice.com

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Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:25:27 +0000

www.Sail-Search.com: Stockholm, June 18 2008. Eric Proust and Romain Motteau, Team Kalix, have completed an outstanding six day Formula 18 catamaran race through the Stockholm, Åland and Finnish archipelago. Since the first day the highly experienced duo were difficult to beat, showing great tactics and excellent boat handling. Since last Friday the competitors passed 47 island checkpoints and sailed a total of 550 - 600 nautical miles.

It was skipper Eric Proust’s fifth attempt at the Archipelago Raid when he finally took first, having reached second and third places on the podium in three of the previous races and abandoning once. This year the team has since the start been the team to beat. Out of 47 checkpoints the team was first at 16, second at 14 and won four of the 11 legs. "We have been preparing a lot for the Archipelago Raid this year. Romain trained one month entirely for the raid!" said Eric Proust on finally winning, and sums up the race as "difficult, superb, and unique".

Of the 22 starting teams, 20 teams made it to the finish line after six days and five nights of intense sailing on small Formula 18 catamarans. The Archipelago Raid is considered one of the toughest sail races in the world, with physical sailing 14-16 hours per day. The short northern summer nights means the competitors get little sleep, around 2-5 hours per night. The navigation is a difficult challenge with small rocks and islands literally littered all over the archipelagos. With the high level of the competitors, there is no room for tactical errors. Endurance, team work, and a good sense of repairing boats are also important factors to succeed in the race.

The victorious French were throughout the whole race closely followed by an interesting international mix of teams. The Swedes Martin Strandberg and Johan Örtendahl, Team Thule, taking second, 2004-winner William Sunnucks and Simon Farren (UK), X-Leisure, finishing third, Belgian Patrick Demesmaeker and Michel Proot, RSBC Huysman, always among the leading pack, and the Brits Conrad Humphreys and Ryan Crawford, Team Blue Oceans, getting stronger and stronger throughout the course, leading a good part of it yesterday.

The eighth edition of the Archipelago Raid has seen great conditions with varied weather and wind. It has been the longest race course since the first race 2001. Very little paddling has been needed and good tactics has been key.

Solo sailor Ellen MacArthur competed in the race for the second time. With crew Greg Homann (Aus) on BT the team finished ninth. "It has been great, the race is amazing. We knew we couldn’t win as Greg and I have not trained much on the boat. We participated for the pleasure and we have learnt a lot. All the other competitors have been great. It has been a relaxed atmosphere but a very high level with a lot of experience among the fleet."

The last day was considered the toughest and started with an early start at 2 am in Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago. While the vacationers were stumbling out of the night clubs of Sandhamn the 20 teams were having a tight battle over the starting line! When leading the fleet this morning, Team Thule hit a rock and broke its dagger board in three parts. At the next checkpoint they had to lay the boat down and use a saw to get the dagger board out! They left the checkpoint as ninth boat with only one dagger board but managed to catch up with the leaders, pass them, tear the jib in a strong gust right before the finish line, stop at a dock to furl it but eventually end the last leg of the race on an honourable first place and finishing second overall.

Final Results (11 completed legs. One leg cancelled due to lack of wind):

1. Team Kalix, Eric Proust & Romain Motteau - Fra
2. Team Thule, Martin Strandberg & Johan Örtendahl - Swe
3. X-Leisure, William Sunnucks & Simon Farren - UK
4. Team BLUE Oceans, Conrad Humphreys & Ryan Crawford - UK
5. RBSC Huysman, Patrick Demesmaeker & Michel Proot – Bel
6. Team Garmin, John Bäck & Gustav Morin - Swe
7. One Design Center, Martin Hållsten & Malcom Hanes - Swe
8. SWE 558, Ola Person & Tomas Westergren - Swe
9. BT, Ellen MacArthur & Greg Homann - UK/Aus
10. Dare 2, Vincent Andre & Alessandro Vercio - Belg/Ital
11. N-Group, Matti Nieminen & Mikko Nieminen – Fin
12. GB Glace, Karin Almquist & Karin Berg - Swe
13. Cottonfield, Jouni Romppanen & Jari Pekka Kiiski - Fin
14. HH-Marin, Thomas Ekefalk & Carl Johan Söder – Swe
15. Team GUL Sweden, Noel Barkelius & Henrik Gattberg - Swe
16. ÅBIT, Ronny Haals & Jonathan Barck - Ål
17. Stelacon, Lars Linder & Karl Petersson - Swe
18. First Hotels, Rune Aasberg & Kristian Ask - Nor
19. Berotec, Paul Rosenquist & Charlotte Willemse - Ned
20. Team NCC, Olof Berensson & Magnus Wadstein - Swe

Retired:

Klinger (14/6), Thommy Sundström & Markus Lagerqvist - Swe
Sundvalls Bygg (16/6), Fredrik Ekman & Gustav Tempelman - Swe

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Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:14:59 +0000

www.Sail-Search.com: The V8 HELIUM, from NeilPryde is a light wind specialist sail, designed to deliver powerful planing performance on days where most other sails just stay on the beach. With five batten construction for lightweight handling, twin UltraCams for super-smooth rotation, and a deep profile for all the low-end acceleration you'd expect from a sail with a V8 performance pedigree.

The Helium concept originated in response to a German Surf magazine competition to find a smaller, more powerful, sail for use in light winds. The sail presented by NeilPryde went on the win the competition and another year later was developed further to integrate UltraCam Performance Technology and join the NeilPryde V Series as the V8 HELIUM.

Photographer: Jerome Houyvet

The V8 Helium has just 5 battens. The large spacing between battens really improves the low end performance of the sail as it makes the profile softer, easier to inflate in light wind and of course brings the weight of the sail down.

The V8 Helium features a "light-wind" luff curve. The luff curve is designed in a way that top of the sail opens with very moderate downhaul tension (low tension in the body makes sail softer and perform especially well in light air), even though the actual maximum luff curve is slightly higher than on V8. This is done by having a relatively straight section in the very top that will get the head to twist off early while the round mid section will support the mid-leech which is critical for early planing and upwind performance. Since the downhaul tension is considerably less than on V8 and less than on V6 it was important to adjust the bottom of the luff curve in order to control the entry depth; with regular luff curve in the bottom the low downhaul tension would result in excessive fullness at the cams. For best light wind performance you want a full profile, but a smooth entry to reduce drag in light air.

The V8 Helium outline features a relatively small head and longer boom than on the V6 and V8 sails. The idea was to bring most of the sail area in to the "supported triangle", so the head roach was minimized.

The actual shaping numbers of the V8 Helium are very similar to V6 and V8, although the profile distribution is a bit further back. The additional fullness you will see on the rigged sail is result of fewer battens and very specific luff curve and not result of very full shaping. Excessive shaping will, of course, add depth to the profile, but it will at the same time make sail stiff, so to certain extent it would work against the objective of early planing and optimal light wind performance.

Robert Stroj, NeilPryde Sail Designer says; "A unique feature of the V8 Helium is the sizing. The V8 Helium comes in three sizes, but contrary to regular sails these are not designed to cover different wind conditions but are in fact all designed to be early planing, extreme light-wind specialised sails and the design of each size is optimised to deliver this performance to a specific body weight. For this reason a light weight person should choose the 6.5, a medium weight is suited to the 7.5 and heavier riders should choose the 8.5 for uncompromised light wind performance."

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Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:45:16 +0000

www.Sail-Search.com: The penultimate race of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race series got underway yesterday with the fleet of ten internationally-backed yachts setting off on their final ocean crossing from Sydney, Nova Scotia, at 1300 local time (1600 GMT).

It was an anxious start to the morning for the Race Team as the Clipper crews woke to a light breeze but, as the morning progressed, the wind filled in and by the time the yachts slipped their moorings at the Sydney Marine Terminal at midday it had strengthened to ten knots to allow a spectacular start in beautiful conditions in the harbour.

Ricky Chalmers, skipper of Durban 2010 and Beyond, the first boat over the Race 13 start line, says, “What a fantastic, exhilarating start to the race, It has really pumped up the crew for the race across the Atlantic to Cork, and was hopefully as spectacular and exciting for those watching as it was for us on the water.”

The exciting race start was followed by some close tactical racing as the teams headed out to sea, not least between Hull & Humber and Jamaica who have both made a beeline for the safety turning mark at the bottom of Newfoundland.

Skipper of Jmaica, Simon Bradley, says, “An exciting duel with Hull & Humber has been unfolding as the two of us slowly pulled ahead of the other eight teams. At one point we were close enough to have a conversation without raising our voices, not that we spoke to each other as we concentrated on trimming our spinnakers. This close quarters action has continued into the night illuminated by an almost full moon and a sky full of stars.”

The tactical moves made by the teams in the next day or so will affect the final outcome of this race. The big question, as in most ocean racing, is do you go for the shortest number of miles, or do you sail more miles to try and get into better winds?

Opting for the latter tactic and searching for a better wind angle by heading south is westernaustralia2011.com whose recent return to form makes them a team to watch over the course of this final Atlantic crossing. Skipper of the WA team, Martin Silk, says, “As we strike out on a limb to the south, spinnaker flying by moonlight, this race is feeling good; crossing the start line we initially led the fleet until the wind eased, then lost a little before changing sails. Then we managed to snag a lobster pot and Clive (Frost) had to go for a swim and clear it from the rudder stock. This put us a good mile behind the fleet but somehow we managed to get everything trimmed right and soared up to the front again. As the last navigation light vanishes to port, we hope our bad luck is over for this race and the Grand Banks will be kind tomorrow.”

With a low pressure system due to come off of the North American coast in the next couple of days the skippers and tacticians onboard will be looking over their shoulders and trying to position themselves in the best place to get most advantage out of whatever it brings.

Joff Bailey, Race Director, says, “Any teams that move south early should get a better wind angle when the low pressure system arrives but at what cost in the short term? Going for the direct route will give some short term gains but when the low pressure system arrives you may find yourself with strong headwinds. In the short term the teams are having a great sail in moderate conditions but the forecast for later today is for fog and very light winds.”

POSITIONS AT 1200 GMT, 17 MARCH 2008

1. Uniquely Singapore: Distance to Finish (DTF) 1952
2. Liverpool 08: DTF 1952
3. Nova Scotia: DTF 1952
4. New York: DTF 1954
5. Durban 2010 and Beyond: DTF 1955
6. westernaustralia2011.com: DTF 1955
7. Hull & Humber: DTF 1955
8. Jamaica: DTF 1955
9. Qingdao: DTF 1955
10. Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper: DTF 1957

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Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:41:25 +0000

www.Sail-search.com: Stockholm, June 17 2008. With practically no wind over the Baltic Sea the ninth leg of the Archipelago Raid was cancelled after two hours of sailing early this morning. The wind has picked up and the boats are now heading in good speed to Sandhamn in the Stockholm Archipelago.

The courageous teams started the fifth day of the Archipelago Raid at a beautiful 03.00 sunrise from Rödhamn, Åland, to once again head over the open stretch of the Baltic Sea to the Stockholm archipelago. After two hours of sailing on a flat calm sea, the organisers decided to cancel the leg, tow the boats to the northeast part of the Stockholm Archipelago and start the next leg from Fejan island as soon as the wind picked up. The teams are now sailing to the island of Sandhamn in a good pace in 6-10 knots of wind.

The French duo on Team Kalix is still in the lead. Tired but happy with their race so far, skipper Eric Proust comments: “We have had great conditions, it is a great race! There are some really interesting teams in the race; Team Thule is very good at navigating, RBSC Huysman is very fast upwind and X-Leisure is a bomb all the time!”
Ellen MacArthur and Greg Homann, on BT, currently ninth, had a great start of leg 10 today speeding away in 10 knots upwind. Late afternoon yesterday the team had problems with their sail and had to stop to repair. They dropped to last but managed to climb to a 14th place of the leg. “We are really enjoying the race. There are a lot of tactics involved, which is interesting. We are not used to sailing this type of boat and we are learning a lot. And we are laughing a lot. We are tired but still laughing, which is giving us energy,” said Ellen MacArthur in good spirits before the start in Fejan today.

Tomorrow, Wednesday 18 June the race finishes late afternoon in the city of Stockholm.

Related: Archipelago Raid
Ellen Macarthur

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Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:45:33 +0000

www.Sail-Search.com: The Swedish-based navigation instrumentation specialists, Nexus Marine AB, have launched a high-performance compass transducer into the worldwide market to provide users with unrivalled accuracy even under the most demanding of conditions.

The Nexus HPC (Heel Pitch Compensated) Compass uses the latest materials and precision engineering techniques to give an accuracy of plus/minus 1° to a maximum heel of 60°, vastly superior to the majority of compass transducers currently available.

Fully compatible with the Nexus NX2 and NXR instrumentation systems, the HPC Compass features a six-axis configuration that also incorporates heel and pitch, giving exceptional results for data such as true wind angle even when the boat is at a substantial angle of heel.

Size matters

The HPC Compass Transducer also comes with a network bus and an NMEA 0183 output port, enabling it to be fully integrated with most modern instrumentation systems available today, and yet the entire instrument is only the size of a small mobile telephone.

This product represents a real advance in the design and manufacture of high-end racing compass transducers. It combines accuracy and the capability to integrate with a wide range of navigation systems with a sophisticated and compact structure that requires minimal space or maintenance.

The HPC is offered as a standard component of the Nexus family of instrumentation systems, and it can also be purchased as a standalone unit for upgrading existing systems.

The HPC is distributed globally and is available from all good chandleries. Worldwide distributors are listed on the company’s website: www.nexusmarine.se

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Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:44:40 +0000

www.Sail-Search.com: One month remains until the start of the 2008 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Århus, Denmark, where Australia will defend the prized national award, the Volvo Trophy.

Following a late entry from Thailand, a total of 60 nations and over 250 sailors are set to line up for the 38th edition of the ISAF Youth World Championship, taking place from 10-19 July in the Bay of Århus, on Denmark’s Jutland peninsula. The world’s top young sailors will not just be competing for the seven Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship titles, but also for the Volvo Trophy, awarded to the best-performing nation at the championship.

The best-nation competition was introduced to the Youth Worlds in 1991 and has featured at every championship since, becoming just as highly prized as the individual awards. Australia is the current holder of the trophy, although historically it is the French who have dominated the competition, winning the best-nation prize on no less than nine occasions.

For the on-looking sailing world, the individual events provide a fascinating glimpse of the future stars of the sport, but it’s the Volvo Trophy which offers the perfect distillation of the spirit of the championship. Sailors are not just performing for themselves, but for their nation, and no matter what their overall standing, every race counts, as one great performance can boost a team’s score significantly.

Sarah GUNNI (DEN), a member of the Danish Youth Team who finished second to Australia last year, explained the appeal of the additional inter-nation battle when the team was honoured at the 2007 Danish Sailing Awards. ”It is really cool that it is a team effort which has been rewarded. We fought for each other and had a lot of fun together as well,” she said.

Amongst the 60 nations entered this year, seven feature a full quota of 10 sailors competing across all seven events, whilst nearly half of the 60 competing nations have a chance of winning the Volvo Trophy with entries in at least four events (the scoring for the trophy is based on the top four performers from each nation, race-by-race).

Leading the charge will be defending champions Australia, whose team for 2008 includes four members of the victorious 2007 squad, all of whom left Canada with individual medals as well as team success.

Leading the challenge against the Aussies will be the host nation Denmark. The Danish team produced their best-ever Youth Worlds performance in Canada last year, winning three medals and only narrowly finishing as runners up in the 2007 Volvo Trophy standings. Like the Australians, the Danish team in Canada was built around a core of young talent and should benefit from extra experience this time around.

New Zealand, third overall in last year’s Volvo Trophy standings, line up with a full quota of 10 sailors as do Brazil, the hosts of the 2009 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, along with the European powerhouses: France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy. The Aussies, Finland, Norway, Singapore and the USA will compete in six of the seven events.

The entry list suggests Århus will host one of the most closely fought and wide-ranging battles for the Volvo Trophy in its 17-year history. The eventual winners will join a very select list – to date, only five nations have won the trophy and amongst them the French are by far and away the most successful. Along with France’s nine victories (1991, 1992, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005) and Australia’s three (1993, 2003, 2007), other past winners of the Volvo Trophy are Great Britain (1995, 1996), New Zealand (1994, 2002) and the newest member of the club Italy (2006).

How It Works

Scores towards the Volvo Trophy standings are taken on a race-by-race basis from the top four performers across the seven events. Top 10 race finishes translate into points: 10 points for a first, nine for a second, all the way down to one point for a 10th place finish. After each race is completed across all seven events, a nation takes its four best scores and combines them to come up with their overall Volvo Trophy score for that race. With a potential 40 points up for grabs, the standings can alter rapidly from one race to another, making the battle for the trophy one of the most exciting and keenly fought contests of the championship.

Volvo Trophy Winners

2007 - Australia
2006 - Italy
2005 - France
2004 - France
2003 - Australia
2002 - New Zealand
2001 - France

For more information visit: www.youthworlds2008.org/

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Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:17:05 +0000

www.Sail-Search.com: Stockholm, June 16 2008. The French experienced Formula 18-duo Eric Proust and Romain Motteau on Team Kalix are leading the Archipelago Raid since the first day. But it is not over yet and the followers are constantly nagging at their heals. On the fourth day of the Raid the boats are back in the Åland archipelago, sailing a tight race between the small islands in great conditions with winds around 10-15 knots. Tension is rising and the battle is on.

At the early 5 am start this morning, the Swedish Team Thule (Martin Strandberg/Johan Örtendahl), started paddling straight ahead while the other teams where tacking when leaving Nagu island in the Finnish archipelago. Their physically bold tactics paid off and they led the fleet through leg 7 and won the leg! Team Thule is currently second on the overall ranking and is fighting hard to catch up with the French leader.

America’s Cup sailor Martin Strandberg on Team Thule commented their successful morning: “We made a good choice when we started to paddle at the start instead of putting the jib up. Thanks to this we started off with a small lead, although it was very tight during the whole leg. We made a good tactical decision after the fourth checkpoint and won the leg. Other teams chose another option and had to turn around because of a cable blocking the masts. We're tired now but very motivated, we have to keep up with Proust & Co [Team Kalix]!”

Several teams have problems with their GPS, because of the humidity. They have to rely on traditional chart navigation, demanding a lot more of the tired sailors. The tension is rising in the fleet to make a good result and the second leg of the day started early afternoon full of action. Three boats capsized over the line! Team Blue Oceans, NCC, and First Hotels were too eager in the gusty winds and turned over. They were all quickly back on track but with a lot of energy consumed. The eighth leg will take the competitors to Rödhamn in Åland, where the Yacht Club of Åland will great them late tonight.

Yesterday was a long, physically tiring day with the consistently strong wind. Some of the sailors claimed it was the toughest day experienced in the Archipelago Raid, previous races included. Ryan Crawford, crew on Team Blue Oceans commented: “If we are this tired after the third day how will it be on the sixth day!”

The fast sailing caused a few damages; RSBC-Huysman, torn their main sail and had to skip a few checkpoints of leg 6 and head directly to the head quarter in Nagu. HH-Marin dismasted just after hitting rocks and had to be towed to Nagu. Both boats managed to repair and are back in the race. Unfortunately that was not the case for the Swedes Fredrik Ekman and Gustav Tempelman on Sundsvalls Bygg. They damaged their boat too severely to continue the race when hitting hard on a rock. The team had sailed an excellent race, placed second on the total ranking when they had to retire. The disappointment is huge.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the boats will start the long journey “home”, back to the Stockholm archipelago, ending the day at Sandhamn. On Wednesday 18 June the race finishes in the city of Stockholm late afternoon.

Positions of the 12 first boats after Leg 7/Day 4

1. Team Kalix, Eric Proust & Romain Motteau - Fra
2. Team Thule, Martin Strandberg & Johan Örtendahl - Swe
3. X-Leisure, William Sunnucks & Simon Farren - UK
4. Team BLUE Oceans, Conrad Humphreys & Ryan Crawford - UK
5. RBSC Huysman, Patrick Demesmaeker & Michel Proot – Bel
6. Team Garmin, John Bäck & Gustav Morin - Swe
7. One Design Center, Martin Hållsten & Malcom Hanes - Swe
8. SWE 558, Ola Person & Tomas Westergren - Swe
9. BT, Ellen MacArthur & Greg Homann - UK/Aus
10. Dare 2, Vincent Andre & Alessandro Vercio - Belg/Ital
11. N-Group, Matti Nieminen & Mikko Nieminen – Fin
12. HH-Marin, Thomas Ekefalk & Carl Johan Söder – Swe

See updated results at www.archipelagoraid.com

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Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:11:17 +0000

www.Sail-Search.com: Little Pines Multimedia has launched LearntoSailOnLine.Com, a website that allows newbie or rusty sailors access to affordable, individual sailing lessons anytime from anywhere.

"Most beginner sailors arrive cold turkey for sailing lessons not knowing anything. They sincerely want to learn to sail, however, the nomenclature and fast information presented on site can be overwhelming.

These online lessons, used as a preliminary course, will educate them on foreign sailing topics and terms in advance so that they can get the most out of their investment. The more advanced lessons provide an opportunity for rusty sailors to brush up on those skills just before heading out on the water." states Linda Cullum, CEO of Little Pines Multimedia.

Taught by a US Coast Guard Licensed Captain and Instructor of American Sailing Association Classes, the lessons are arranged in the order a typical sailing course. Starting with Parts of a Boat, the lessons continue on to other topics such as Wind Theory, Balance, The Points of Sail, Leaving Docks and Moorings, Tacking, Person Overboard Techniques, Righting a Capsize, Knots, Anchoring and much more. These topics are taught using narration, animation and digital video. The user is free to select whatever class she or he pleases, anytime and from anywhere on Earth.

The lessons on LearntoSailOnLine.Com were created using Little Pines's Learn to Sail with Multimedia VOL I and II. Adding 20 years of instruction experience, Captain Susan Smith enriches the learning environment by going into great detail with each lesson and adding valuable sailing tips.

The lessons are designed to be played online or downloaded to the user's computer and run on all versions of Windows and Macintosh.

Online sailing lessons are beneficial to those who want to learn or brush up on their skills right away from the convenience of home. If they have a Wind Theory class at 4pm, they have an opportunity to review Wind Theory online with an instructor just before they go. If they want a lesson now, they can have a lesson now. When it comes time for the hands on experience, the educated sailor will have a greater return on investment.

For more information, visit www.LearntoSailOnLine.Com

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Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:30:04 +0000