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NEWS FROM THE PONTOONS
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Objective North Pole
You know that at the magazine, we have our ‘favourites’, those slightly crazy adventurers who command
our respect with their extraordinary expeditions. Sébastien Roubinet is one of them, and he has just escaped in the nick of time from his latest adventure: ‘The
Route to the Pole’, about which he has just written a
book – warmly recommended.
During the summers of 2011 and 2013, Sébastien Roubinet tried twice to cross the Arctic Ocean via the
North Pole, aboard a hybrid between an ice yacht and a sport cat, the boats ‘Ti-Babouche’, then ‘Babouchka’. This
book retraces these two extreme adventures, successively with Rodolphe André, then Vincent Berthet.
An essential book, to understand that even in the 21st century, adventurersailors still exist, but also a good way of escaping a little to an icy world of
a fabulous wild beauty, populated by aggressive polar bears.
The book can be ordered on the expedition’s web site, at the price of 20
euros.
Discover it on: www.sebroubinet.eu
Flexible wing; it’s already tomorrow Swim like a dolphin
MySplice
C&Sea is continuing to grow
(30% of its sales are for export) by
launching an on-line ordering service, called MySplice. In concrete
terms, all you have to do is visit
the web site to order made to
measure ropes... Simple and effective!
See it on: cnsea.fr/mysplice
Atlantic Odyssey
The first edition of the Atlantic
Odyssey, organised by Jimmy
Cornell, the creator of the ARC
rally, went off perfectly, with the
arrival of the participating boats
in Martinique last December. For
2014, the programme promises to
be full, with the European Odyssey, which will leave from Hamburg in July, and the Blue Planet
Odyssey, which will leave from
London in July 2014 to sail round
the world....
For more information:
www.atlanticodyssey.org
DOWN
After seeing the
incredible potential of the AC
72s during the
last America’s
Cup, we have
all dreamed of
equipping our
favourite boats
with a rigid
wing. Except
that the rigid wing, by definition, doesn’t allow you to
reduce or furl the sail, and is complicated to use.
Hence the idea of this flexible wing, developed by
SoftWing, in Switzerland. The designers’ idea is to
offer the aerorig’s ease of use, with the rigid wing’s
performance... This sail will allow sailing at less than
20 degrees to the wind, whilst it can be reefed, easily
positioned in ‘neutral’ without flogging, and allows
very easy tacking. In short, a panacea.
The system’s inventor is none other than Hugues de
Turckheim, a windsurfing guru in the 80s/90s.
An intelligent system which we will be testing soon,
as the first T29 trimaran is equipped with this new-generation sail.
See it on www.soft-wing.ch, and the video on
http://youtu.be/xSKgL7Xv81I
Eric Vergnes-Blanquerest is an experienced free diver who
likes swimming with dolphins. To experience these moments
even more intensely, he has invented a towed underwater
board which allows him to be towed along underwater by a
sailing boat (for example) at speeds of between 2 and 12
knots. The result seems to be impressive, and the feeling
should be really unique, as you literally have the impression
of flying under the water. You will discover a new universe
which thus opens up to you!
The movements under the water don’t require a lot of free
diving experience, as the efforts are gentle and progressive.
You will thus be able to cover long distances easily, moving
like a cetacean, to experience some unforgettable moments,
perfectly in tune with nature.
The Dolphy Wing (the name of this board) should be aboard
all blue water catamarans...
From 229 euros, inc.VAT
Discover it on:
www.dolphywing.com
Decorated spinnakers
The spinnaker is a sail you must have aboard... Practical, powerful, it is also the sail which will really
get you noticed in a fleet. Especially if you use the new technology from Spinnaker One, which allows
printing directly onto a spinnaker. The result is amazing, and allows perfect results to be obtained
with a photo or any complex decoration. With a sail like this, you don’t need to win the race to get
yourself noticed!!!
The cost of decorating a 57m2 spinnaker (symmetric or asymmetric) is 1600 euros (to which must be
added the price of the white sail – 1100 euros). Discover it on: www.spinnaker-one.com
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Ultim collective
You will see in these pages that
three of the ‘historic’ ocean racing
sponsors have just organised
themselves as a collective, to
launch their skippers singlehanded around the world, on multihulls over 80' long. Although the
idea may appear attractive at first
glance, it would be a good idea to
ask the people concerned (the
skippers), who were a bit too absent from the presentation, what
they think of it.
The MOD 70 transatlantic race cancelled
The second edition of the Krys
Ocean Race, which was to be
held in May, between New York
and Brest in fully-crewed MOD
70s has been put off until 2016...
On the other hand, the next edition should be open to other
multihull classes (Multi50 –
MOD 70 and Ultimate).