Shockwave lives on, Volvo drama, Facts about Marine Debris and more

by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World Team on 18 Jun 2012 Last August, skipper George David’s co-owned Rambler 90 better know to Australian sailors as the 2005 launched Shockwave, rebadged as Alfa Romeo, the Reichel Pugh design built by McConaghys for Neville ‘Croaky’ Crichton, made international headlines when her keel catastrophically failed, roughly a half hour after rounding Fastnet Rock in the 2011 edition of the Fastnet Race, causing the boat to turn turtle in less than a minute.

Flash forward a year and George David is smiling, this time for a much better reason than a successful rescue—he now owns the Newport-Bermuda Race record, having set a new course standard of just 39 hours, 39 minutes, and 18 seconds (note: this record is still subject to ratification) over this past weekend in the 48th edition of the Newport-Bermuda Race. That’s a reduction of fourteen hours from the late Roy Disney’s 2002 record aboard Pyewacket.

Meanwhile, in Lorient, France, the sailors participating in the 2011/2012 Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) are dealing with the reckoning that comes after a burly, penultimate offshore leg, and the leaderboard upsets that it represented. Former race leader Telefonica suffered dual rudder breakages in the trying conditions that the fleet experienced after rounding São Miguel in the Azores, essentially pulling them from the running for the overall prize.

This, of course, was great news for Groupama 4, Puma Ocean Racing’s Mar Mostro, and Emirates Team New Zealand’s Camper, whose skipper Australian Chris Nicolson complained of too much speed; they hit 39 knots during this leg.

The three boats now occupied the number one, number two and number three positions, respectively. Telefonica skipper, Spanish 49er sailor Iker Martinez and his men are currently occupying fourth place, but with some in-port racing and another offshore leg (from Lorient to Galway), there is still some runway left for leaderboard changes.

Meanwhile most of the Australian Olympic Squad is missing Kiel Week, except for Finn Olympic representative Brendan Casey who is doing well.

Meanwhile closer to home, Sabbath Laws slows Tonga Search for missing Australians (and Brit.

Today our FishingBoating-world editor Jarrod Day presents some surprising facts about just how slowly marine debris disappears.

Reprinted here for your immediate consideration.

And of course the Audi Winter series rolls on...