America’s Cup - Ben Ainslie brings his AC45 catamaran home to British waters

The J.P. Morgan BAR AC45 catamaran will be racing on British waters for the first time when it competes in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race on the 1st June. The iconic Race around the Isle of Wight will mark the first occasion Ainslie will compete on home waters since winning his historic fourth Olympic gold in Weymouth last year.

Skipper Ben Ainslie summarises the reason behind entering: “It’s been a fantastic experience to race the AC45’s in the America’s Cup World Series, this was an opportunity to bring the boat to the UK to show the British public how dynamic and exciting these boat are. The J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race provides the perfect opportunity to race the AC45 on an iconic course in Britain’s largest yacht Race”.

The current multihull record of 3 hours 8 minutes and 29 seconds has stood since 2001, held by offshore legend Francis Joyon. It was very nearly beaten last year by the Multi 50 trimaran Actual, missing out by just 1min, 28secs.

Volvo Ocean Race | Driving the future 2 – a plan comes together

Our European road trip concludes with part 2 of Driving the Future – the battle against time and the elements to get hull number one of the new one-design Volvo Ocean 65 to Green Marine in England for assembly.

Volvo Ocean Race | Driving the future 2 – a plan comes together

OPA World Championships Move to Ocean City, Maryland

The 2013 OPA offshore racing season is setting up to be another exciting year for the Offshore Powerboat Association. Solomons, Maryland will once again welcome OPA for the National Championships, while the OPA World Championships were moved from Jupiter, Florida to Ocean City, MD.  See the complete schedule below...

May 10-12
LAKE HOPATCONG GRAND PRIX
Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey

June 14-16
HERITAGE COAST OFFSHORE GRAND PRIX​​​ on TAWAS BAY
East Tawas, MI​

June 21-23
ATLANTIC CITY GRAND PRIX
Atlantic City, New Jersey

July 26-28
ST CLAIR RIVER CLASSIC OFFSHORE POWERBOAT RACE
St Clair, Michigan

Aug 9-11
INTERNATIONAL OFFSHORE POWERBOAT RACE
Port Huron, Michigan/Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

August 23-25
WAR AT THE SHORE ~ "SOCKIN SANDY"
Long Beach, NY

Sept 13-15
SOLOMONS OFFSHORE GRAND PRIX ~ OPA Nationals
Solomons, Maryland

Oct 18-20
OPA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ocean City, Maryland

February 2014
OPA AWARDS BANQUET
TBA

More; http://www.oparacing.org/

SHEIKH HASSAN HEADS TO THE USA TO PREPARE FOR FULL SEASON OF SUPER BOAT INTERNATIONAL RACING

Sheikh Hassan hopes for SBI turbine racing debut in Cocoa Beach.

Qatar’s Mohammed Al-Nasser and Ali Al-Neama set for 750 class.

Kip Brown to race ’95- The Spirit of Qatar’ in H1 Unlimited.

Carella, Torrente and Khalid Al-Kuwari to head F1 and F-4S line-up.

Hectic Junior training and race programme planned for summer.

 

DOHA (QATAR): His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani announced his and the Qatar Marine Sports Federation’s (QMSF) final programme of racing events for the 2013 season at a press conference in Doha today (May 1st).

The defending Key West World Champion confirmed that he and British throttleman Steve Curtis will begin their testing programme in the United States of America this week and that the new Qatar/Mystic turbine boat may make its racing debut at Cocoa Beach in Florida on May 17-19.

Curtis has been in the USA recently piecing together details of the programme and overseeing the building of the boat. He and Sheikh Hassan will begin a five-day test from May 5th before the pair take on the might of the American offshore competition in what has been referred to as the ‘Qatar v USA’ version of golf’s Ryder Cup.

“We are hoping to officially introduce the team in Cocoa Beach and this would be the first participation of the turbine team in Super Boat International,” enthused Sheikh Hassan, who missed the opening round of the SBI series in Biloxi last weekend.

“I don’t know if it will be a disadvantage or not to miss the first round as we were not sure how many boats were going to race. As the season progresses we will get a good indication whether it was a mistake to miss the first round or not. Hopefully, we can make up any deficit throughout the season. In any case, our target is to dial the boat in during the year as our test session will be short. The main target will be the World Championship at Key West later in the season.”

Sheikh Hassan’s new turbine boat has been built in the USA in collaboration with Whispering Turbines, Five-Axis Industries and Mystic Powerboats. The new Mystic Spirit of Qatar Extreme turbine hull is powered by a pair of T53 turbine engines, delivering around 1,600hp apiece and capable of propelling the boat to a top speed of 354km/h (200 mph) using Five-Axis technology.

Connor Baxter Gets a Clean Sweep in Ubatuba Brazil Stand Up World Series Event

UBATUBA, Brasil - Connor Baxter (Starboard) made it a clean sweep at Stop 2 of the Stand Up World Series in Ubatuba, Brazil, winning both the sprint racing and Long distance courses at Praia do Centro and earning him the Stand Up World Series event Title in Brazil.

Connor took the lead during the first lap over teammate, Leaonard Nika (Starboard) and gradually built on that lead over the course to secure the win. The course took the athletes down the beautiful coastline of Ubatuba Town and back in a 2 lap format that provided one of the most competitive long distance races yet on the Stand up World Series.

 

Billabong Rio Pro - World's best - minus John John - head back to South America

THE STAGE, PART ONE: Arpoador
Rio's surfing stadium, a hyper-packed left rock point - complete with floodlights for night surfing -- in the heart of the city, just up from the famous Ipanema Beach. Brazilian surf scribe Julio Adler explains: "It really needs a strong south swell to bring lots of sand close to the rocks -- then it can work almost like a left pointbreak. It can be a hell of a wave when the bank's right, but make no mistake: it's always very tricky." CJ Hobgood has done well out here over the years and agrees. "It's a really hard wave to surf," he said. "It'd be equivalent to Rincon at Bells where the regulars have an advantage. I feel like the goofies have an advantage at Arporador -- but that's not saying I love that wave."
 

THE STAGE, PART TWO: Postinho (aka Barra)
Dependable, dumpy, shifty beachbreak made up of soft, thick sand. Adler explains: "It works with every swell direction, but it's better with S/SW and a bit of size. There's a slab (actually just a set of three rocks) on the outside, so when it hits the right direction and size -- over six feet -- you can take off some 20 or 30 meters outside." (Wilko did this last year.) Julian loves the place. "It's surprising how powerful the beachbreak is at Barra," he said. "I actually really enjoy the waves there. It's like a much better version of my home beach."

Volvo Ocean Race | “We can't wait to come back to Sanya”

Volvo Ocean Race COO Tom Touber officially welcomed Sanya back to the race for the 2014-15 edition at a signing ceremony in Shanghai this weekend, praising the Chinese city as a great tropical destination.

Volvo Ocean Race | “We can't wait to come back to Sanya”