Free Republic

Full Title Not just a pretty face! Victoria's Secret model and wife of Texan billionaire makes sailing history as she becomes first female owner to win prestigious Australian race A former Victoria's Secret model who traded in her stilettos for boat shoes has become the first female boat owner to win the prestigious Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Kristy Hinze-Clark earned herself a place in the record books on Monday after her yacht Comanche crossed the finish line ahead of the rest of the more than 100 boats that began the prestigious event after a bruising two days crossing the...

MOBILE, AL (WALA) - One boater was rescued, but four were still missing as the United States Coast Guard searched the waters of Mobile Bay after sailing vessels participating in a Dauphin Island sailing regatta capsized during a storm. The Coast Guard Sector Mobile received the report at approximately 4:30 p.m. Saturday that the regatta was struck by severe weather causing multiple vessels to capsize and leaving multiple people on the water. The United States Coast Guard said 200 people were on 119 boats during the 57th annual iteration of the Dauphin Island Race.

Called the "Vindskip," the Norwegian design uses the high sides of its container ships as sails, turning the whole vessel into a wind-assisted airfoil. Designed by Lade AS, the Oslo-based company says the hybrid merchant ship -- which would still have a liquefied natural gas-powered engine -- could achieve fuel savings of 60% and reduce emissions by 80%. It's the brainchild of Terje Lade, who used his skills as a speed sailor to develop his aerodynamic design. He says the futuristic container ship works more like an airplane than a conventional sailing ship. .... The ship would be able to...

This is part II of a multipart series about our adventures aboard S.V. Namaste, our 46 foot (length on deck) cutter rigged sloop. Couples aboard a boat are often referred to by their boat's name. Hence, we became "the Namastes." Soon after our arrival in Norfolk, Virginia, Jeanie and I, plus Fiester and Fritz who joined us there, departed soon after a large collection of other cruisers for Road Town on the island of Tortola in the British Virgins. This is an account of our trip. Caribbean 1500 members inspected their own and each others' boats to find any probable glitches. The principal Namaste glitch was that our single side...

This is part I of a multipart series about our adventures aboard S.V. Namaste, our 46 foot (length on deck) cutter rigged sloop. My wife Jeanie, her brother Fiester, our friend Fitz and I left Annapolis, Maryland in October of 1996 aboard Namaste bound for the Caribbean. The others returned home soon after we arrived. Jeanie's and my adventures in the Caribbean continued until mid 2001, when we arrived in the Republic of Panamá. We now live there in a very rural area up in the mountains.PreparationsIn 1995, Jeanie and I agreed that in June of 1996 I would retire from the practice of law on my fifty-fifth birthday....

Most people misunderstand life. November 17, 2014 What we can all learn from a 75-year-old sailor building a 10 ft boat to circumnavigate the globe. (nonstop) Sven Yrvind, a 75-year-old Swedish boat builder, designer, sailor and writer, has something to say about life.  He’s chosen to communicate this philosophy through taking on tough challenges. Faced with a future of scraping by on a crap pension, surfing channels in a retirement home, Sven had different ideas.“TV is not for me. I must have something to live for, problems to solve. Most people misunderstand life. Money does not make you happy. Comfort...

Get yourself a thirty-footer and go! By Matt Bracken 11-25-2013 This essay is directed to all freedom-lovers, but primarily to young unmarried American men. (At my age I count thirties as young, and would readily grant special dispensation beyond that.) It’s dedicated to the guides who showed me the stars, and to thirty great years of both calm and stormy weather. If you are a Millennial who feels that the Land of Opportunity has at least temporarily suspended the offer, leaving you stranded in somewhat less-than-hoped-for circumstances, I’m writing this for you. Maybe you did the Sandbox trip, and maybe...

SAN DIEGO - The family that drew national attention when they were rescued at sea off their sailboat, Rebel Heart, in April is finally setting the record straight. Charlotte and Eric Kaufman and their two daughters were about 1,000 miles west of Cabo San Lucas in the Sea of Cortez when 1-year old Lyra became sick. That was when their adventure of a lifetime turned into a nightmare. It began with a fever, then a rash and then Lyra became lethargic. That was when the couple used their satellite cell phone to call a doctor. He advised them to begin...

Boredom is becoming an insidious problem.Here is a re-post of an article I wrote back in 2001 or 2002 while sitting on our sailboat. She was lying at anchor and I was trying to overcome boredom. It pertains mainly to foreign places but, since the United States are coming increasingly to resemble foreign places, many of the suggestions are applicable there as well. In many places in the United States, it is necessary to learn enough of the local foreign language to get by and the article explains how to do so with ease. That will permit intimate exploration of...

Skipper Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA won the 34th America's Cup today in one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. Spithill steered Oracle's space-age, 72-foot catamaran to its eighth straight victory, speeding past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay to keep the oldest trophy in international sports in the United States. All but defeated a week ago, the 34-year-old Australian and his international crew twice rallied from seven-point deficits to win 9-8 Wednesday.

China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones. The strategy is a Chinese version of what Beijing has charged is a U.S. strategy designed to encircle and “contain” China. It is also directed at countering the Obama administration’s new strategy called the pivot to Asia. The pivot calls for closer economic, diplomatic, and military ties to Asian states that are increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment throughout that region. “The Chinese are deftly parrying our ‘Pivot...

SAN FRANCISCO – A sailor has died after a boat practicing for the upcoming America's Cup races capsized in San Francisco Bay. San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge says two people were seriously injured Thursday when the Artemis Racing catamaran capsized at about 1 p.m. near Treasure Island, a former naval station in the bay. Talmadge says both were brought to shore and taken to the St. Francis Yacht Club, where paramedics performed CPR. One person was pronounced dead a short time later.

THE life of round-the-world sailor Jessica Watson is to be turned into a major movie that will be filmed in Sydney and the Gold Coast next year. Watson, who was 16 when she became the youngest woman to unofficially circumnavigate the globe solo and unassisted, will be immortalised on film in True Spirit, due for release late 2013. The movie will be made by the same production team behind Soul Surfer, the hit biopic of Bethany Hamilton, who lost an arm in a shark attack and returned to be a champion. American producer David Brookwell said he had been looking...

Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 5 ~ Feb. 24, 2012 ~ Effects of the Economy on Boating If the boating market is a barometer of the economy - perhaps we are currently in the eye of the storm.. When the economy heads south, boating is one of the first things people stop doing, and one of the last things people start doing again when the economy warms up. If you listed things from need to not need; food, water, clothing, shelter would be at the beginning the list, and boating would be second to last, right before owning property...

Last week saw the launching of this Weekly FR Boating Thread. 15 posts with 6 boating links – nice start! Launching ~ Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 1 ~ Jan. 27, 2012 Everyone is welcome to come aboard – come on it, the water is fine!This time of year almost all boaters are mired in the midst of ‘off-season’. What do you do to survive your ‘off season’? Listen to boating music, watch boating movies, surf boating YouTube and blogs, busy yourself with Winter boat upgrade and maintenance projects, catch up on non-boating stuff? Where you do your boating...

Dutch teen Laura Dekker on Saturday became the youngest sailor to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world, a year after going to court for the right to make the attempt. The 16-year-old completed her solo round-the-world journey when she sailed into harbour on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT). Dekker, who left the island nearly a year ago to the day -- January 20, 2011 -- beat the previous record by some eight months. As she turns 17 on September 20, she had to complete her journey before September 16 to beat the record...

You can probably imagine the kinds of nightmares a teenager on a solo voyage round the world might suffer from: pirate kidnappings, treacherous coral reefs or perhaps scary encounters with mysterious sea creatures. But not Laura Dekker. The 16-year-old schoolgirl's sleep is haunted by memories of the traumatic experiences she suffered at the hands of the Dutch authorities. And ever since she set her sights on sailing round the world she says Dutch social services have done their best to stop her from pursuing her dream. ~~~~ Earlier this month truancy officers issued her father with a summons claiming that...

Reaching the end of my circumnavigation, I look back with joy at the adventures of the past year. I am also thinking hard, and trying to come to terms with the year prior to my voyage. The Dutch government was not kind to me. As a 13 year old girl, it was never my intention to be the center of world news. From the moment my plans became public, Youth Care and other government organizations tried to stop me. During the first court case, in August 2009, (even before Youth Care had ever seen me, or had spoken to me…),...

[Identical story inWAshingto ExaminerWashington PostGrenwich TimeDaily JournalFOX11AZ.Greenfield Daily Reporter Stamford AdvocateThe Republic] The 18-year-old Watson....finished 37th on Friday of 88 starting yachts.....- nearly two days behind winning supermaxi Investec Loyal in the 628-nautical-mile race... (Summary: Blonde teenage girl and group of kids enter boat race, finish 37th. - This is a news worthy story? Real story below)

Dutch sailor Laura Dekker, 16, has successfully crossed the Indian Ocean and has made port in Durban, South Africa, her agent announced Monday. Dekker, whose is on a controversial quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world, had kept her Indian Ocean route a secret because of concerns about piracy. She has been sailing aboard a 38-foot sailboat named Guppy. ~~~~~~