Volvo Ocean Race: Not what it used to be

Published on May 14, 2015

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After competing in seven editions of the Volvo Ocean Race, Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking (NED) has earned the right to have an opinion. Here he shares it with Scuttlebutt editor Craig Leweck…

The Volvo Ocean Race is not what it used to be. The one design format is great but all the rules and restrictions now have removed much of the adventure. The course constraints and event enforcements, much of it directed by commercial demands, has changed what used to be a pure test. It is now so complex. From a sailing point of view, it would be nice to just let everything go and have them send us around the world. While the race is now safer, it has lost some of its soul.

From a strategic standpoint, the AIS sucks. You can’t make impactful decisions without someone following you. You can’t drift out of AIS range without someone sliding along with you. It is rare when you can make a navigational decision without someone immediately reacting to it. It might be great for the public watching the race, as it has kept us close, but it is a frustrating environment to be competing within.

As for the boat, we are all equal, but when we first stepped on it we all said the same thing. It’s bloody slow. You can moan and complain about it, but it is what it is. They may have presented the Volvo Ocean 65 as having somewhat similar performance as the 70 footer we used in the three previous races, but the truth is they are quite a bit slower on all points of sail. There’s less sail area, less stability, less length…all the elements that typically contribute to performance.

There have been discussions to improve the boat for the next race, but that’s not what I would do. Maybe you could increase stability, because the boat needs it, but any change is going to cost money, and it remains hard to find the money. If we all make the same changes, and we all come together again to sail against each other, what have we accomplished other than spent money?

So like I said, it is what it is. If we had stayed with the Volvo Ocean 70, this edition probably would have had only two teams: Abu Dhabi and SCA. The VO65 allowed the rest of to get included, albeit at a much later stage than those two teams. So the decision for one design was extremely good, and the boat has given us all a level platform for the competition.

Race website – Tracking – Scoreboard – Videos

Background: The 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race began in Alicante, Spain on Oct. 11 with the final finish on June 27 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Racing the new one design Volvo Ocean 65, seven teams will be scoring points in 9 offshore legs to determine the overall Volvo Ocean Race winner. Additionally, the teams will compete in 10 In-Port races at each stopover for a separate competition – the Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Series.

Tags: Bouwe Bekking, Team Brunel, Volvo Ocean Race

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via Volvo Ocean Race: Not what it used to be >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News.

The round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race is attracting new teams after cutting costs in half by making competitors use identical 65-foot yachts instead of building their own boats.Seven teams are competing, up from six in the 2011-2012 race, and Volvo Ocean Race Chief Executive Officer Knut Frostad said he hopes as many as three more boats will be built for the next edition.With changes including shared maintenance, the cost of a campaign in the 2014-2015 race is between 12 million euros ($13.5 million) and 14 million euros, down from more than 25 million euros, according to race organizers. The 4.5 million-euro boats were also designed to be re-used in the next race in three years.“Without the move to one-design, there wouldn’t be the Chinese team,” Mark Turner, executive chairman of OC Sport, the management company of third-ranked Dongfeng Race Team from China, said in a telephone interview on June 11. “It leveled the playing field.”The Volvo is a nine-month test of endurance and seamanship with storms, massive waves, the threat of icebergs or floating debris, and nights with no sleep. The 38,739-nautical mile course around the globe started in Alicante, Spain, in October.The ninth and final leg, 960 nautical miles from Lorient, France, to Gothenburg, Sweden, begins Tuesday and may confirm leader Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing as the winner.Team SCA in action on board at sea Source: Team SCA via Bloomberg“In the previous races the teams with the most money and probably as well the best development programs, they would nine out of 10 times win,” Team Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking, who’s taking part in his seventh Volvo, said at a press conference in Lisbon on June 5. “But this time it’s just the best team will win.”Boat speed has been one of the “overriding factors” in the race, said Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing skipper Ian Walker, who’s completing his third Volvo.“So that would lead you to say you need the best trimmers and helmsmen,” he said. “But having said that, you have to have a good strategy.”Boat UpgradesAt sea, the seven boats have access to the same meteorological information and are restricted to 25 megabytes of data on average per day, Team Alvimedica navigator Will Oxley said as he set up a laptop inside the boat that’s stripped of any non-essential equipment.“The danger with one design is that unless you keep advancing, then you get left behind a little bit in terms of the technology,” he said.The boats taking part in this edition will be upgraded before the next race and some tweaks might be made including possibly making them lighter, said Frostad, who has sailed four Volvos.“Decision-making was important in the past too, but now it’s more visible,” he said.America’s Cup organizers are also trying to reduce the cost of taking part in that sailing race dating back to 1851. Billionaire Larry Ellison spent at least $100 million on Oracle Team USA’s successful campaign in 2013.“We came in later so the one-design rule was essential,” Mirella Vitale, commercial director of the team sponsored by wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S, said in an interview before the boats set out in the penultimate leg from Lisbon to Lorient. “We neither had the time nor the expertise to go out and develop a boat. It’s the first time we’ve done a global sports sponsorship.”The Vestas boat, which is in last place, re-joined the race in Lisbon this month after missing five legs when it ran aground on an Indian Ocean reef in November.Another new team, Team Alvimedica, founded by Brown University alumni Mark Towill and Charlie Enright, currently lies in fifth place.“For us being the young and relatively inexperienced team in the race it’s really leveled the playing field and made it all about the sailors and the decisions you make, and not about the enormous race that is designing and building the best boat,” Towill said. We’re “already talking about the next race.”

via Volvo Around-The-World Race Attracts New Teams After Cost Curbs – Bloomberg Business.

Twenty nine boats and a moggy complete Transatlantic Race

Published on August 14, 2015 by admin   ·   No Comments

Among the finishers of the 30th Transatlantic Race were 14-year-old Breana Rath, her dad Colin, and Wasabi the family cat who completed the 2,800 miles on their liveaboard Hanse 55 aptly named ‘Persevere’.

The Race started on 28 June 2015 when the first 13 boats set off from the New York Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island, to race across the Atlantic.

It was the first of three starting dates for the 34 boats participating.

A further 21 set off on 1 July, including Sir Robin Knox-Johnston sailing his Open 60 ‘Grey Power’.

The four fastest boats; ‘Comanche’, ‘Rambler’, ‘Phaedo 3’ and ‘Paradox’, left the New World behind them a day after Independence Day on the 5th.

There was a definite animal theme to the locations this year – the start was just west of Goat Island and the competitors crossed the finishing line at the Lizard before they headed to the closing parties at Cowes.

However, whales were avoided with the fleet sailing south of the Right Whale Critical Habitat area of Nantucket and then east to avoid the unusually large and widespread collection of icebergs on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland before finally heading north to the Great Circle Route.

The Transatlantic Race has a long history, the first Race set off on 11 December 1866 at the Sandy Hook Lightship in New York Harbour with only three participants.

After 3,000 miles of sailing, all three finished the Race within hours of each other – reaching the finish line at Cowes on Christmas Day.

This year’s Race was organised by the Royal Yacht Squadron, the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Storm Trysail Club. Of the 34 starters only 29 made it to the finish line.

Two boats, ‘Brigand’ and ‘Altair’, suffered early technical issues and limped back to Newport. A further three boats, ‘Amhas’ (sustained mast damage), ‘Shearwater’ (retired due to rigging problems), and ‘Solution’ (rudder damage – clearly no solution found) – all successfully reached Horta in the Azores.

First past the post happened to coincide with the winner in this year’s race.

Bryon Ehrhart’s Reichel/Pugh 63 ‘Lucky’ was the first boat in the Transatlantic Race 2015 to cross the finish line at the Lizard and also pipped all the others under the IRC handicap to win the race overall. ‘Lucky’ (by name and by nature) took 8 days 22 hours 5 minutes and 3 seconds to complete the 2,800-mile crossing.

Lloyd Thornburg’s MOD70 trimaran ‘Phaedo 3’ was the fastest multihull in a time of 7 days 2 hours and 4 minutes.

Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze-Clark’s 100ft maxi ‘Comanche’ recorded the fastest monohull crossing in 7 days 11 hours and 35 minutes. Impressively, during the race, ‘Comanche’ broke the record for distance travelled in a 24-hour run with a distance of 618.01 miles.

But the Race isn’t all about the podium places, the last boat to round the Lizard was ‘Persevere’. After problems with rigging they had to revisit Newport and missed a crucial weather window. They returned to the race as soon as they could but still finished in 17 days 8 hours and 28 minutes.

So congratulations to all the winners, well done to all those that finished, and a pat on the head and a bowl of cream to Wasabi the Transatlantic cat.

via Twenty nine boats and a moggy complete Transatlantic Race | MarinaLive Gibraltar.

corpion chase boat offers sting at the tail

Published on August 14, 2015 by admin   ·   No Comments

It is fitting that a company with the tagline “British Built, World Class” should be providing chase boats to Sir Ben Ainslie’s Landrover BAR America’s Cup team.

Lymington-based Scorpion RIBs have just delivered a brand-new high-speed Scorpion 1080 for the British team to use in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth. It’s the third chase boat that the Company has provided to the Gold medallist, the first two being slightly smaller Serket 98s.

“The new Scorpion 1080 will be a welcome addition to our existing Scorpion chase boat fleet,” Ben Ainslie comments.

“The unique nature of the foiling America’s Cup boats means that we need a support boat that can operate at high speed for long durations, comfortable enough to keep the shore team safe, alert and able to positively input into training programmes,” he adds.

The Scorpion 1080 which is available to the public is even more impressive, as the two outboards on Sir Ben’s chase boat have been replaced by a Hamilton Jet Drive with a choice of inboard diesel engines of up to 480hp. This is Scorpion’s latest design, the 1080 Jet Lander, a RIB that can be used as a leisure boat, a tender or superyacht chase boat, and is a worthy complement to any modern superyacht.

Using the 10 metre hull of the Company’s popular Sting model as a base, the Jet Lander offers a number of advantages.

There is plenty of room to seat up to 16 guests in safety and comfort in all conditions and sea states thanks to Scorpion’s signature soft dry ride and their optional weather protection solutions.

An extended rear bathing platform makes getting on and off for swimming, wakeboarding or diving a walk in the park.

There are also nifty lightweight carbon fibre steps so you can disembark elegantly on those trips to the beach.

“The materials used in the new boat mean it’s lighter and more environmentally friendly than our previous models, and has enabled us to reduce the size of the engines and the weight of the boat which has increased the top speed of the craft,” says Scorpion’s director Patrick Byrne.

Scorpion RIBs was founded in 1996 and designed the first ever hull specifically for a RIB. The deep-V 24-degree hull with reverse chines offered superior offshore performance and took RIBs from a practical runabout to an offshore sea boat. Since then, they have added several models to their line-up between seven and ten metres, always sticking close to the elegant, fast and safe formula, and including innovations such as the world’s first cabin RIB.

Every Scorpion is hand built and therefore each boat is unique. Everything from the engines, sound system, lights, colour and upholstery can be customised to exactly fit the client’s needs.

According to their website, “The future of chase boats is here. And it’s a Scorpion.” If you’re in the market for the best of British you can catch up with Scorpion at the Cannes Yachting Festival and the Monaco Yacht Show in September.

via Scorpion chase boat offers sting at the tail | MarinaLive Gibraltar.

Choosing where to anchor

BY ADMIN • AUGUST 10, 2015 • FEATURES, HOMEMOSAIC • COMMENTS OFF • 59

Anchoring fore and aft will eliminate the space you need to swing, which may make smaller or more crowded anchorages tenable.

While finding a safe spot in which to drop the hook is almost second nature to many old hands, others find it something of a black art. Which part of the bay has the best holding? Where is the best shelter going to be? What happens if the wind shifts?

One apparently easy solution is to anchor close to a boat that’s already in the anchorage – if they appear to be successfully anchored that must be a good spot, right? Not necessarily – the chances are it’s no better than anywhere else in the bay. Indeed it may have been the only sensible option available when they arrived, but other boats have since left, opening other possibilities for you.

The shelter that a good anchorage affords means that strong winds will be accompanied by strong gusts and many changes of direction – don’t underestimate the arc through which your boat and your neighbours will swing.

In any case, anchoring unnecessarily close to another boat can have significant drawbacks. If you end up anchoring upwind of them, with your boat over the top of their anchor, they will have trouble leaving without disturbing you and there may even be risk of a minor collision. Similarly, anchoring too close to one side risks a collision as different boats will invariably swing around the anchor in different patterns.

The four key criteria to assess before anchoring are the type of bottom, depth of water, shelter from current and forecast winds, and the swinging circle of other boats already anchored. In terms of the seabed fine sand is ideal – which is why good anchorages often have sandy beachs – but make sure you don’t drop the hook in an area covered in weed that will make it difficult for the anchor to penetrate the surface.

Never assume a boat that’s already anchored is in the best spot.

Shelter from the wind is critically important. While in crowded parts of the Mediterranean at the height of the season it’s possible to find boats anchored off a lee shore in winds of up to 6-8 knots, there is a very fine line between this and a dangerous situation should the boat drag the anchor in a stronger onshore breeze. The more deeply indented the bay or cove, the better the shelter from an offshore wind. Equally, the further you can get towards the shore the better the shelter you will have, providing there’s sufficient depth in your swinging circle.

In smaller and tighter anchorages, a line ashore to a tree or rock, or a second anchor set from the stern, will eliminate swinging. This both makes it safer to anchor closer to other vessels and also enables you to gain additional shelter by safely positioning the boat closer to shore.

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via Choosing where to anchor | Yachting News Report | The Business of Boat Ownership and Marina Berths.

Battling with the breeze as Rio Test Event hits the halfway stage

Written by RYA | 18 August 2015

Weather disruptions hit the fourth day of Rio racing

British Sailing Team Manager Stephen Park described the Rio Olympic Test Event so far as a ‘week of learning’ as the regatta hit the halfway stage amid a second day of weather disruptions on Tuesday (18 August).

Light wind conditions once again dogged the 2016 sailing venue, with just a handful of races possible across five of the eight classes originally scheduled to compete on the fourth day of the Aquece Rio International Regatta.

Event organisers are now playing catch up with the racing schedule in the majority of the ten Olympic classes, with all ten now scheduled to race on Wednesday across the six course areas both inside and outside of Guanabara Bay.

“There’s been a lot of learning going on from a lot of sailors and it’s been a very challenging week for sailors from all nations in all classes so far,” explained Park of the testing conditions teams have been experiencing at the 2016 Games venue.

“For most people there’s been a real battle with the wind.  It’s a sea breeze that we’ve had so far this regatta, and that means it’s been quite different inside and outside the harbour, and also different on the different courses.

“The wind has been patchy across the courses and also we’ve been on the turn of the tide a lot of the time in the early afternoon, which means that the course has paid on different parts of the course at different stages of the race.  It’s very difficult for sailors to keep track of all of that and execute their best performance.”

“Results for most fleets for most sailors have certainly been up and down, and that’s no different for our team as it is for other top sailors from around the world.”

There was insufficient wind to race on any of the outside courses once again on Tuesday, but all three courses inside the bay managed to host racing in the mid to late afternoon sea breeze. The 49erFX class managed their two planned races, with Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth posting a 10,14 to sit in overall tenth place.

Nick Dempsey’s RS:X men’s windsurfing fleet also managed two races, which yielded 14,9 for the double Olympic medallist, who is poised 11th overall.

“Tactically I’m making much better decisions that I was at the beginning of the week, and I don’t think I’m a million miles off,” Dempsey explained.

“I’m just not quite there with the pace so that makes it quite difficult.  But it’s alright, I love racing and I’m learning a heap so it’s all relatively positive.”

Just one race was possible for the women’s RS:X fleet, with Bryony Shaw picking up a seventh to see her into ninth place overall.

Alison Young has advanced to third overall in the Laser Radial fleet following a sixth place in the sole planned race for the women’s single-handers, while Nick Thompson is fifth in the tightly contested Laser event.  He posted a 15th the class’s only race of the day. The Finn sailors saw none of their three planned races, in spite of sailing out to the Sugarloaf course, while the 470 Men’s and Women’s fleets, due to race outside the bay, never left the shore due to insufficient breeze.

“Tomorrow’s forecast is not fantastic so there’s a good chance we’re going to lose some more races tomorrow.  For the last three days of the regatta it’s going to be all on and it’s going to be full speed ahead right to the finish line,” team manager Park continued.

“From a British perspective, we’re still in the hunt in most of the classes, and hopefully we’ll see a few of the ones where we’re in the bottom half of the top ten make some progress up towards the medal places by the medal race, and those that are in the top few positions consolidate those positions and get themselves in a position ready to challenge to win gold.”

Schedule for Wednesday 19 August:

RS:X Men, P. Acucar 4 Races 1310

RS:X Women, P. Acucar 4 Races 1300

Laser,  Copacabana 2 Races 1310

Laser Radial, Copacabana 2 Races 1300

Finn, Niteroi 3 Races 1300

470 Men, Pai 2 Races 1300

470 Women, Pai 2 Races 1310

49er, Ponte 3 Races 1300

49erFX, Escola Naval 3 Races 1500

Nacra 17, Escola Naval 3 Races 1300

Competition at the Aquece Rio International Regatta continues from 1300 on Wednesday (19 August), with final medal races scheduled for the RS:X windsurfing events on Thursday (20 August); Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 on Friday (21 August); Finn, 470 Men and 470 Women on Saturday (22 August).

via Battling with the breeze as Rio Test Event hits the halfway stage | Home | News | The British Sailing Team | RYA.

Scott fights back on day five in Rio

Written by RYA | 19 August 2015

Two top three results for the Finn World Champion on another long race day in Rio

Giles Scott put his ‘trying start’ to the Olympic Test Event behind him with two solid scores on Wednesday (19 August) setting him just six points behind the Finn series leader with three more days of racing to go.

Wind delays were once again prevalent across the course areas on the fifth day of the Aquece Rio International Regatta, with the outermost courses enjoying the best of the breeze late in the afternoon.

With just three races on the scoresheet instead of the scheduled six by this stage of the competition, the Finn fleet was especially keen to see some action – none more so than World Champion Giles Scott, who’s endured a tough start to their event.

“I’ve had a bit of a trying start to the regatta with a bit of a monumental error on my behalf, thinking I saw a pumping flag when it wasn’t actually flying, which resulted in me being disqualified from a race,” explained Scott, who was crowned champion at this same regatta a year ago.

“Today it was very necessary for me to get out there and put two very good scores on the scoreboard and fortunately I was able to do that,” continued Scott, who posted a race win and a third to elevate him to fourth place overall after five races.

“We’re now halfway through the opening series so there’s still an awful lot more sailing to be done in what look to be some pretty tricky conditions, so it’s still certainly all to play for.”

Just one race was possible for the 470 men’s and women’s fleets, but both saw gains for the British crews. Olympic silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark posted in third in their race to see them into second overall, two points from the American leaders, while Luke Patience and Elliot Willis are up to fourth in the men’s double-handed class.

They picked up a seventh in their only race of the day, and are just seven points from the top spot with a potential five more fleet races and a medal race to go.

“I actually jinxed it a couple of days ago when I said ‘wow this is so slick’.  We’d go out and race at 1pm each day and come in and it was grand.  Sure enough then two days of waiting came,” said Patience of the wind delays.

“We finally got to race today.  It was an interesting day actually. We towed out through absolutely no wind and when we finally got to our race course there was breeze there.  This venue’s still proving to be a challenge and you never quite know what you’ve got until you actually get on your race course.  But we had good winds and a good race and all was fair.

“We have five races left and then a medal race – that’s a huge amount of points in a regatta in the grand scheme of things – if we get them.  It’s really tight – as ever in the 470 fleet everyone yo-yos in the top position, no-one is dominant so it’s feeling like a real scrap so far this week, in a good way.  No race has been over until the last dying moments.  I think the whole regatta will be like that as well.”

On the penultimate day of competition for the RS:X men’s and women’s windsurfing fleets, they managed just one of their planned four races apiece in the fickle winds across the Guanabara Bay courses.

Bryony Shaw posted a seventh to book her place in the 10-boat women’s finale on Thursday, but Nick Dempsey’s 19th wasn’t enough to make the cut into the men’s medal race and he’ll end this Olympic Test Event in 13th place.

“I think this week’s been pretty tough – certainly tougher than I thought it was going to be,” said the disappointed double Olympic medallist.

“Rio’s a pretty difficult place to sail.  I’ve been here for a month now and am slowly getting my head around it.  I haven’t sailed brilliantly this week, I’ve made mistakes and I’m not on the pace.

Dempsey continued: “There’s eleven months to make a few changes, step it up a little bit and I’ll come back in 11 months’ time in the right place.”

Alison Young posted a fifth in the sole race for the Laser Radial fleet to keep in touch of the top three spots, while Nick Thompson is poised sixth in the closely-fought Laser class with a tenth on the water today.

Elsewhere, the Nacra 17 crews faced a three hour wait between their two races, with John Gimson and Hannah Diamond picking up 11,7 to see them into seventh overall while the twilight racing for the 49erFX was worth the wait for Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth.  They finished second and are in ninth place overall.

The 49er class was the only one to see no racing at all on Wednesday.

Racing will be brought forward to 1200 local on Thursday (20 August) in a bid to catch up with the schedule.

via Scott fights back on day five in Rio | Home | News | The British Sailing Team | RYA.

All aboard for 2015 Artemis Challenge

17 Aug 2015

Rugby stars took to the seas to help win thousands for charity in the Artemis Challenge 2015

COWES WEEK: This past weekend saw a fleet of 16 of the largest ocean racing yachts in the world race around the Isle of Wight in support of their chosen charities, as part of the annual Artemis Challenge during Cowes Week.

Zara Phillips joined rugby stars from England, France and Scotland in Cowes, sailing onboard Artemis Ocean Racing with husband Mike Tindall, looking to beat French rugby rivals Serge Betsen (on Musandam-Oman Sail) and Sylvain Marconnet (on SMA). Scottish rugby legend Gavin Hastings completed the rugby line-up racing onboard the all-female boat of SCA.

But the trimaran Musandam-Oman Sail, with the French team of skipper Sidney Gavignet and former Les Bleus flanker Serge Betsen, claimed overall line honours at the head of the fleet of four multihulls, and received £2,000 for their charity of choice, the Al Hayat Association.

In the competitive fleet of 10 IMOCA monohulls, it was PRB, skippered by French sailor Vincent Riou, who beat the line-up of offshore racers to claim £7,000 for the charity Action Enfance Fondation MVE. And in the battle of the two Volvo Ocean 65s, the all-female Team SCA with Gavin Hastings onboard beat Dongfeng to claim £1,000 for Women in Sport.

Cowes Week is one of the UK’s longest running sporting events, having first taken place in 1826. The sailing regatta is the largest of its kind in the world, attracting between 800 and 1,000 yachts in up to 40 classes. Around 7,000 competitors race during the week, ranging from weekend sailors to World Champions and Olympic medallists.

via Boating Business – All aboard for 2015 Artemis Challenge.

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Tech firm to debut in Clipper race

10 Aug 2015

The Clipper 2015-16 Race starts on 30 August 2015

TEAM SPONSOR: A leading financial technology firm will extend its sporting prowess by sponsoring a team in the biennial Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

LMAX Exchange will be making its global ocean-racing debut at the end of the month when the 40,000 nautical mile race begins in London.

David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Exchange, said: “We are focused on expanding our global reach even further and believe our unique vision for global FX trading is set to lead industry change not only in the UK but globally. This race is symbolic for us, a physical manifestation of our global growth.”

Mr Mercer is aiming to join the LMAX Exchange team for part of the race, which will be led by skipper Olivier Cardin, 45, the first Frenchman to ever skipper a team in the race.

LMAX Exchange will be one of twelve teams participating in the tenth edition of the event, which trains amateur crew to race across the world’s most challenging oceans under the leadership of a professional skipper.

The firm will host a number of events in major financial centres including London, Sydney and New York, where clients will be invited to the race village.

The Clipper 2015-16 Race starts on 30 August 2015 at St Katharine Docks, London and will return eleven months later on 30 July 2016.

via Boating Business – Tech firm to debut in Clipper race.

Olympic pollution protest10 Aug 2015Rio de Janiero with the cesspit that is Guanabara Bay in the backgroundFLOTILLA: A week before trial events and a year before the Río Olympics a 12km protest cruise has taken place to draw attention to the pollution still present in Guanabara Bay, the venue for the sailing regatta writes Stuart Fisher.Brazil’s Olympic medallist Isabel Swan worked with the Baia Viva movement to plan the protest, which drew a flotilla of over 30 boats from sailing craft to outrigger canoes and sea kayaks, accompanied by the boats of local fishermen who are also affected by the pollution.Industrial effluent and, particularly, sewage are the main problems and have resulted in many dead fish floating in the bay. Two thirds of sewage is untreated.The authorities promised to build eight water treatment plants, but only one of these has been constructed so far.They have admitted their target of removing 80% of the pollution from the bay will not be achieved, threatening the health of those competing.The Beijing course suffered from algal blooms, but these were cleared in the final weeks before the 2008 regatta. Weymouth had no such problems.Calls from many in the sailing world to move the watersports venues have been rejected by the authorities, who want all of the events to be within the city.

via Boating Business – Olympic pollution protest.