Sail with New Freebooters

The first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race at sailonline.org was invaded by a large and chatty group of folks from virtual world Second Life’s sailing fraternity. Since then, I have had an exciting ride as a passenger on a wiz class dinghy, and several sailonline stalwarts have actually bought themselves boats and started learning [...]

The November edition of Yachting Monthly (which I subscribe to in electronic form) has a page dedicated to the answers British competitors gave to various questions.
Rivalry and Competition. Skippers all agree that they are not agressive about their competitors. They feel kinship and empathy.
Fear. Again, a unanimous verdict: doing something stupid or having gear failure.
Most [...]

I was browsing the Océan Virtuel fora when I came across a Google Earth model of the Vendée Globe. At the time I checked it, there was an error in race leader Loïc Peyon’s position - his boat was shown tucked right into the Gulf of Guinea - but I’ve e-mailed the creator to tell [...]

While places further north are getting significant snowfalls, all I’m getting here in the Limousin region of France  is fine drizzle that isn’t quite cold enough to become sleet. I was just beginning to think that it was getting past the time for eating toast and Serrano ham or smoked salmon, backed up with lamb’s [...]

There were plety of libations offered to Neptune as the Vendée Globe fleet crossed the equator. Sam Davies offered Mumm’s to the Sea God and a bar of chocolate to herself, but ice man Riou said he wasn’t drinking alone - he’d wait for a more sociable occasion.
There are other superstitions in evidence, at least [...]