@rolex fastnet race

Falmouth, Cornwall | The West Country of England is a sailor’s dream. Small, picturesque and historic ports and harbours pepper the coast, many with deep water berths, long navigable rivers and excellent pubs. Falmouth in Cornwall is one of our favourites, where we stopped off for a few days to visit a good friend. This was one of the major ports for Britain’s shipping trade from the 18th to the early 20thCentury, with ships from all around the world anchoring in the harbour to await instructions from their agents as to which port in the British Isles had the best market at that moment. It was also a major fishing port, especially for Pilchards. As a consequence, the town has a rich maritime heritage which lives on to this day, with serious racing for the fine historic Falmouth work boats (with their distinctive coloured tops’ls) and six sailing clubs throughout the Falmouth Estuary. It is also a popular cruise ship destination. The National Maritime Museum in Falmouth is a gem, with exhibits ranging from the first Mirror Dinghy, to a workshop demonstrating traditional boatbuilding and a 1.68m long ‘boat’ called Fathers’ Day that crossed the Atlantic in 1993! There was even a surf exhibition when we visited, as this part of the UK has a strong surf culture, borne of the Atlantic rollers and swell that land on the exposed Cornish and Devon coasts. The shanty-style music that accompanies this video is called ‘The Wellerman’ and has its origins in the whaling industry in Otago, New Zealand.

The people of Porto hold a huge celebration for the festival of São João (Saint John) on 23rd June. And by luck we were in Porto on the day after the festival, when the Rabelo Boat Regatta is held on the River Douro in the heart of the City. These shallow, flat bottom boats were originally used to transport the Port wine from the vineyards on the steep slopes of the extensive Douro River to the wineries in Porto, for ageing. These traditional boats were beginning to disappear by the early 1980s, so the Winery Brotherhood initiated the regatta, in which all of the major wineries are represented by their own boat each year.

Rolex TP52 World Championships 2025 Cascais | One of the serendipitous pleasures of travelling in Europe is in coming across some sailing venue or event that was not part of any plan you had. So it was for us when we took a shore excursion in Lisbon, which stopped briefly In Cascais. It was all happening here; a large fleet of Optimists coming ashore at the Club Navale, the Mirpuri Foundation setting up their base for The Mirpuri Foundation Trophy race in early July and a number of TP52s on the hardstand preparing for the Rolex TP52 World Championship, being held from 1st-6th July. Maybe next time we’ll actively plan to come here!

The three entries in the CYCA’s Ponant Sydney Noumea Race headed out of Sydney Harbour under blue skies and a light variable breeze. Grant Wharington & Adrian Seiffert’s Wild Thing 100 with its new rig unsurprisingly led the fleet through the Heads followed by John Linton’s Llama II and Peter Elkington’s Pacman sailing double-handed with Scott Cavanough.

Sail Port Stephens – Off the Beach Sports Boats | Tim Peachy’s Leech 650 \‘The Cube’ battled Burke Melia’s Thompson 7 ’Deliberate Distraction’ towards the finish of the Sports Boats Division. Beautiful colours in the late afternoon sun

Sail Port Stephens – Off the Beach Sports Boats | Tim Peachy’s Leech 650 \‘The Cube’ battled Burke Melia’s Thompson 7 ’Deliberate Distraction’ towards the finish of the Sports Boats Division. Beautiful colours in the late afternoon sun.

Tim Peachy’s Leech 650 \‘The Cube’ battled Burke Melia’s Thompson 7 ’Deliberate Distraction’ towards the finish of the Sports Boats Division. Beautiful colours in the late afternoon sun – Mondrian would be proud!

Manly Beach - Good Friday | Big Seas at Manly produced by the intense low pressure system south-east of Norfolk Island.

The CYCA’s presentation night for the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore series as well as the CYCA’s Ocean Racer of the year was a successful night for Smuggler winning the series and Seb Bohm taking out the Ocean Racer of the Year award for 2024/25. Congratulations to all the many other divisional and category winners on the night. @seb bohm. @cruisingyachtclubofaustral1612 #smuggler

On a beautiful late summer's day BCM caught up with the MHYC fleet sailing around Manly East and West.

Foiling Windsurfer in action at Clontarf

Cole talks about her next project – she is competing for Monaco in the Admiral's Cup this year which includes Fastnet. We took the opportunity to jump on board First Light and grab a very quick interview on the run with Cole with just a phone. The sound is a bit rough but audible and worth the listen. #colebraueroceanracing. #zaoceanracing #onestopmarine #middleharbouryachtclub

Cole talks about her followers and how she interacts with them so successfully. We took the opportunity to jump on board First Light and grab a very quick interview on the run with Cole with just a phone. The sound is a bit rough but audible and worth the listen. #colebraueroceanracing. #zaoceanracing #onestopmarine #middleharbouryachtclub

– Cole talks about the Class 40 boat, First Light, which took her around the world last year. We took the opportunity to jump on board First Light and grab a very quick interview on the run with Cole with just a phone. The sound is a bit rough but audible and worth the listen. #colebraueroceanracing #zaoceanracing. #onestopmarine

Cole Brauer talks about her emotions now that her relationship with First Light is coming to an end. We took the opportunity to jump on board First Light and grab a very quick interview on the run with Cole with just a phone. The sound is a bit rough but audible and worth the listen.

BCM's RSHYR 2024 - Thanks team!

RSHYR 2024 | Race Start – Under 50’ Fleet. An important part of our coverage of the event every year is trying to ensure that we talk to and capture as many of the fleet as possible on the docks, the chopper and our camera boats at the start of the race. This year we counted over 43 of the sub 50 footers that made it into our video.

RSHYR 2024 | Race Start – Under 50’ Fleet. An important part of our coverage of the event every year is trying to ensure that we talk to and capture as many of the fleet as possible on the docks, the chopper and our camera boats at the start of the race. This year we counted over 43 of the sub 50 footers that made it into our video. #rolexsydneyhobart #cyca

Christian Beck’s LawConnect won the race to be first out of the Harbour again and followed that up by winning Line Honours in a time of 1 day, 13 hours & 35 minutes. Matt Allen/James Mayo’s chartered Master Lock Comanche retired with sail damage on the first night and Grant Warrington/Adrian Seiffert’s Wild Thing 100 completed the race with broken mainsail battens and other damage. #rolexsydneyhobart #cyca.