Last December the maxi yacht “Wild Oats XI” won the 2008 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, sailing 630 nautical miles (1,170 km) in one day, 20 hours and 34 minutes. The Volvo Ocean Race, a 10-leg round-the-world race started in October and will continue until June. The Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge 2009 will start in April, and training sessions are now underway. Sailing as a modern and historic undertaking is alive and well around the world, here are a few photos of sailing events from the past year.
A figure from Antony Gormley’s “Another Place” welcomes one of the Tall Ships to Merseyside as it sails past the Burbo Bank windfarm on the approach to the Port of Liverpool on July 18, 2008, Liverpool, England.
A crew member of the Puma racing team pulls in a sail during the Volvo Ocean in-port race in Alicante, Spain, Saturday Oct. 4, 2008. The 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, Covering 10 legs and 36,995 nautical miles, started Oct. 11 in Alicante and is scheduled to end in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 27, 2009.
The 100-strong fleet sail past the historic three-masted clipper “James Craig” after the start of the annual 628 nautical mile Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on December 26, 2008.
Richard Branson’s boat “Virgin Money” sails in the ocean after departing New York, in an attempt to break the transatlantic mono-hull sailing record, October 22, 2008. About 30 hours into the voyage, the crew started having problems and ripped the boat’s main sail. Not long after that, the voyage was aborted.
The tall ships Lady Washington, right, and Hawaiian Chieftain, left, sail on San Francisco Bay, Monday, Oct. 20, 2008. The tall ships arrived from Grays Harbor, Wash., and were on an educational visit to the Bay area.
The Ericsson Racing Team – Ericsson 4 sails during the start of the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Alicante to Cape Town on October 11, 2008 in Alicante, Spain. The fleet of eight teams participating in the Volvo Ocean Race will race arround the world over ten legs to finish in St Petersburg in late June, 2009.
Australian supermaxi “Wild Oats XI”, skippered by Mark Richards, is seen sailing past Tasman Island at sunrise as it approached the finish line of the 64th annual 628-nautical mile Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on December 28, 2008. “Wild Oats XI” won Australia’s premier blue water classic for a record fourth consecutive year in an elapsed time of one day, 20 hours, 34 minutes and 14 seconds.
A red-sailed ship is seen sailing toward Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts on July 9th, 2008
Ben Ainslie with the JP Morgan Extreme 40 sailing team sail the Extreme 40 catamaran on the River Thames to celebrate Ben Ainslie’s triple Olympic gold medal success on September 5, 2008 in London, England.
Tall ships take part in the so-called Windjammerparade tall ship parade at the Kieler Woche sailing event on June 28, 2008 at the port of Kiel, northern Germany. Organisers of the Kieler Woche (Kiel Week), one of the biggest sailing events in the world, expected more than three million visitors from 70 countries.
Classic yachts sail in the bay of Cannes, southeastern France, during the 30th Régates Royales of Cannes, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008. The Régates Royales was the focal point of the season with more than 150 crews sailing on 10 to 50 meter long classic yachts.
The Maltese Falcon, a clipper sailing luxury yacht owned by U.S. venture capitalist Tom Perkins, sails into San Francisco Bay September 27, 2008. At 289.1 feet (88 metres), the vessel is one of the largest privately owned sailing yachts in the world.
Yachts bustle for a good line at the start of the Big Boat Challenge in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008. The Big Boat Challenge was a warm up race and a chance for the Maxi Yachts to test their boats ahead of the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race.
A Tall Ship comes into Merseyside, sailing past the Burbo Bank windfarm on the approach to the Port of Liverpool on July 18, 2008, Liverpool, England.
A ship sailes under the Flaubert bridge on the Seine river upon its arrival at Rouen’s harbour, western France, during the Sail 2008 armada event, on July 3rd, 2008.
A replica of “Argo”, the mythical ship that bore Jason and the Argonauts on their heroic quest for the Golden Fleece, sails in the Corinth canal in Korinthos, some 80 kms west of Athens on July 2, 2008.
United States Coast Guard cadets stand at parade rest atop the mast of the U.S. Coast Guard training vessel “Barque Eagle”, on July 1, 2008 as the boat rounds West Point off Magnolia and nears Seattle. The boat was taken as a war prize from Germany after World War II and is the only sailing vessel in the U.S. maritime services.
People walk along the embankment of the Neva River with the Russian tall ship Mir illuminated in the background, in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 21, 2008.
Supermaxi “Skandia” all but disappears in a trough as she heads for open water after the start of the annual 628 nautical mile Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in Australia on December 26, 2008.
The Romanian tall-ship Mircea sails into Brest harbour in Brittany, western France, July 10, 2008 to take part in the Brest 2008 international maritime festival.
Billy Gernertt, gunner’s mate for the tall ship Lynx, yells, “Live Free or Die!” before firing a dummy charge from its cannon toward the Hawaiian Chieftain during a mock battle on Commencement Bay in Washington State on Friday July 4, 2008.
Tall ships take part in the so-called Windjammerparade tall ship parade at the Kieler Woche sailing event on June 28, 2008 at the port of Kiel, northern Germany.
The fleet sails out of Sydney Harbor after the start of the 2008 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht race in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Dec. 26, 2008.
Volvo Ocean Race yacht Puma arrives off Cape Town, South Africa in second place during the first stage of the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race November 2, 2008.
The viking longship Sea Stallion of Glendalough sails through the Limfjorden in Northern Jutland on August 3, 2008 after its journey across the North Sea. The ship, a reconstruction of a 30 metre long warship built in Dublin in the viking age, was on its way back to the Viking Museum in the town of Roskilde where it built as a reconstruction of the Skuldelev 2, which was excavated in Roskilde Fjord fifty years ago. Research has established that the ship was originally built in Dublin by vikings in 1042.
The Puma Team sails alongside the Ericsson Racing Team – Ericsson 4 during the start of the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Alicante to Cape Town on October 11, 2008 in Alicante, Spain.
Spectators up the mast on the Tasmanian tall ship James Craig watch the fleet sail out of Sydney Harbour after the start of the 2008 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht race in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Dec. 26, 2008.
Limit sails past Tasman Island towards the finish line in Hobart during the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Australia Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008.
The ARM Cuauhtemoc, a training vessel of the Mexican Navy, named after the last Aztec emperor, sails on the River Mersey as part of the Tall Ships race in Liverpool, England, Monday July 21, 2008.
Volvo Ocean Race yacht Puma arrives off Cape Town in second place during the first stage of the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race November 2, 2008.
