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Displaying items by tag: Repairs at Sea

#ARC - Ripped sails and breakages caused by chafe were the most common repairs required by transatlantic cruisers in last year’s ARC rally.

That’s according to a survey by Yachting World to detail the kinds of breakages experienced at sea — and what solutions skippers recommend to deal with them.

The magazine polled all 290 yachts that took part in the rally from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean last November and December, which also featured a number of Irish skippers and crew.

And the findings were a mix of the expected and the surprising.

More than half the fleet — 167 out of 290 yachts — experienced some kind of breakage or malfunction in last year’s rally.

Predictably enough, some of these are par for the course when it comes to long-distance ocean crossings, from issues with steering and rigging to blocked toilets.

But the magazine also found that “worrying number of yachts” had problems with their kicking straps and gooseneck fittings — issues it sees “time after time”.

Overpowered yachts, sometimes sailing with old sails, led to sail damage in several cases, while lack of routine maintenance was noted as the common thread between a number of generator problems.

Yachting World has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Cruising

About Match Racing

A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.

In yacht racing, it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consisting of 2, 3 or 4 boats compete together in a team race, with their results being combined.

A match race consists of two identical boats racing against each other. With effective boat handling and clever use of wind and currents, a trailing boat can escape the grasp of the leader and pass. The leader uses blocking techniques to hold the other boat back. This one-on-one duel is a game of strategy and tactics.

About the World Match Racing Tour

Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body – World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Previous champions include Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Radich (DEN), Phil Robertson (NZL) and Ian Williams (GBR). Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD23million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors