Issue # 184

 Today's Sailing News 

From the inshore sailing world of Match Racing and Olympic Sailing today we return to the Southern Ocean.

Monnet crosses Indian Ocean

French sailor Phillippe Monnet left France on 10 January. The purpose of his voyage is to break the record for fastest circumnavigation sailing east to west, or against the prevailing winds. He is sailing an Open 60 monohull UUNET. British Sailor Mike Golding is the current record holder at 161 days. Sailing Daily will provide periodic reports tracking the success of his attempt.

Monnet has passed the 100 day mark at sea.  He is currently at 28° South Latitude and 75° east longitude.  This puts him in the Indian Ocean north of the Kergulen Islands and South of Mauritius.

This position puts him 2/3rds of the way through his voyage.

He is sailing a more northerly course than Mike Golding to get favorable following winds.  Currently he reports: "I’ve got favourable winds not exceeding 10 knots but I’m managing to cover between 160 and 200 miles per day."  

The end point of this Indian Ocean leg is the Cape of Good Hope.  This will be UUNET's last 'Great Cape'.  Monnet should be at the Cape of Good Hope in approximately two weeks.

Keep It Blue Update

French oarsman Jo Le Guen's quest to row across the Pacific to raise environmental awareness has ended.

On 5 April Le Guen was picked up by the merchant ship Paliser Bay.  Ironically it was Paliser Bay that was Le Guen's point of departure from New Zealand.

At the time Le Guen and his rowing boat Keep It BlueNet were at 48° south latitude and 143° west longitude.  This is an extremely remote location far from any land, and 3000 miles from New Zealand.  His boat, which was 29 feet long, 5.2 feet in beam and displaced 990 pounds,  was abandoned. 

 By the 10th Le Guen was at a Naval Hospital in Punto Arenas Chile.  

Le Guen eventually had several tows amputated (3 on his right foot, 5 on his left).  Still he was satisfied with the challenge of Keep it Blue saying, "I tried to go all the way, but my body, nature and life called me back to order. Having said this, I feel that really did go as far as I possibly could."

In recognition of Le Guen's actions, "The Association Bretagne Vivante - S.E.P.N.B. (Society for the Study and Protection of Nature in Brittany) has just awarded the Hermine 2000 prize for the 'Defence of the Environment' to Jo Le Guen for "his remarkable endeavour for the protection of the environment and the relevance of his initiative both in it form and its foundation" says Raymond Pelle, the association administrator."