THE 2015 MINI TRANSAT HAS STARTED

That's a great race (84 racers) and I will be following it here. The weather this year will be very particular and strategy regarding routing (no outside help) will count for much. In 2 days they will get some nasty weather and after that several routing options are possible. Here is the tracker:

http://www.minitransat-ilesdeguadeloupe.fr/cartographie?lang=en

Remember that there are two classes, the proto and the boats that are produced (Serie). on the proto
Frederic Denis is already well ahead of the pack on this boat (proto):

Quite a surprise since he is not a top gun and the boat (designed by Marc Lombard) is not new, having made the 2012 race with Antoine Rioux and in 2013 with Gahinet. The boat had problems and Gahinet was recovered by fishermen. Later the boat was extensively recovered for the new owner and this race.

On the serie Benoit Hantzperg is leading but with lots of boats very near. This guy on a brand new Pogo 3:
Not also among the favorites...but it is a long race (4000nm) and it is just beginning.
 Here the main site and this year in English too: http://www.minitransat-ilesdeguadeloupe.fr/?lang=en

A GOOD CRUISING BOAT FOR VERY LITTLE

This is not a new boat, it is an older Gib Sea 126 (43ft). Normally I post about new boats but this thread is about interesting boats and I was so impressed with the condition of this boat when I saw it at Vibo Marina that surely it is for me an interesting one...at that price.

The Old Gib Sea have the reputation of being very seaworthy boats, with their cutter rig and all. This one comes completely equipped for cruising, with solar panels, wind generator, rigid dinghy on davits (not that I like the dinghy). The condition of the boat is just unbelievable...it looks like new.

The owner and seller offers an incredible warranty on everything for two years and the asking price is 85000 euros. Probably less on a direct sale (see the email on the boat photo).

https://m.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=292237
So if you want to go cruising and don't have the money for a new boat this seems a great opportunity. Not a paying add this, just my desire to pass valuable information to fellow cruisers that read this blog. If you buy it please just let us now. 

ALMA'S LOG : CRUISING PHOTOS

For the ones that don't know ALMA is the name of my boat and as most had already find out I am still cruising and posting very rarely on this blog. If you are a cruiser maybe you will find interesting  a report that I intend to post about the Ionian (my cruising ground this year), with some nice pictures. 

But for now if you want to have a taste of it (and see some pictures) you can have a look at my facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/paulo.pernao

Fact is that the internet I have is so slow that I cannot even upload a decent photo to this post.

In about a month I will be posting again...lots of yachts to talk about and other subjects too. Till than I wish to all fair winds and great sailing.

GITANA OPEN 60 ON FOILS: BEAUTIFULL

I am convinced: the foils do work even on very nasty weather and the Open 60's (IMOCA) continue to lead in what regards significant technological monohull advances as they have been doing for some decades. Just beautiful the movie, some of this year's best sailing footage.

XC 45 MKII, test video.

 If you are thinking in buying a Halberg Rassy, have a good look at this one. It is not properly cheaper but it is a superior boat in many counts if not in all. This is not the racer (XP line) but an heavier stronger cruiser and a boat with an astonishing sail performance, giving its weight. If you don't believe me go to the results of the last editions of the ARC and you will find these comfortable heavy cruisers among the fastest boats of their size, among cruiser-racers.

 I have already posted about the XC45 MKII:
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.gr/2014/11/xc-45-mkii.html

The sail test is by Toby Hodges from Yachting world...and his opinion is not very different from mine ;-)

FIRST REALLY FLYING MONOHULL: QUANT 23

Well not really, the first one was the Moth but those can only be sailed by very skilled athletic sailors, kind of an equilibrist work all the time, like on a bicycle with only one wheel. Not so on the the Quant 28 (a scow) that goes on foils (also) but completely different type of foils, this ones an application of the DSS system developed by Hugh Welbourn.

Some amazing information regarding the boat sail performance:

... In the beginning in maybe 4-5 kts of breeze. When sailing upwind in conventional mode (boards up) with just two crew light like Roger and me (2x70kgs) You need the trapezoid from lets say solid 5kts. The boat with the right heeling angle goes 6.5 and more upwind Easily, in 8kts of true it is starting to plane upwind .. and we went on the foils doing 14kts Easily and later when breeze got up to almost 10tks we had 18.3 kts max on the counter and constantly over 16kts. 

The boat does fly steadily and it is not even really difficult to sail it on the foils with the right heeling angle....

...The task this time what to sail downwind as deep as possible fully out on the foil but with just main and jib. ...We clocked phenomenal - and more or less steady - 17.5 kts - with not much power in the sails anymore so thanks to much flatter profile i guess. We had a run of about 2km and maybe 700 m we did not touch the water once -...the scow shape Exactly does what it is supposed to do - little bump in the front section of the boat, loosing around 3kts of speed and back up again. 3 seconds later you are up on the old speed level again. Acceleration is therefore something you have to get used to - incredible.

Truly great and comparably easy to handle, we sailed just the two of us the whole day. So And we saw that this boat may be used in many different configurations - with the same amount of fun as the platform is so stable and it is leaving hull speed in almost no wind...

People looking at the boat sailing from a distance came to talk to us When back on the mooring. It was a surprise for them to see a monohull - They expected a catamaran.

Chapeau to the guys on Quant sailboats, they are doing a well of a work developing and applying DSS and pushing forward the sailing boundaries. :-)

FIRST IMAGES OF AN OPEN 60 SAILING WITH THE NEW FOILS

An the honor comes to Banque Populaire Le Cleac'h's boat that seems very fast even running with a small amount of sail in demanding conditions (for a first test).

The foils are much more discreet than the previous ones (due to being very rounded) and you really have to look hard to see that they are there, doing their work that is now not only to contribute to have a better performance upwind, increasing the pointing ability as lifting part of the boat weight out of allowing for more efficient sail use since apparently the boat will be "lighter" than if it was not on foils. A mixed blessing these new foils: the boat will lose in upwind potential but will gain in all other points of sail that are by far the ones more used on a circumnavigation following the predominant winds.