Sailing on the Internet

December 23, 2012

If you have nothing else to do around dinner time on December 25, you could be watching sailboat racing on the Internet. The start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart will be televised in Sydney on Australia's Channel 7 and streamed on the Yahoo 7 Sports and Rolex Sydney Hobart sites. The race starts at 18:00 with TV coverage starting at 17:30 Pacific Time. There will also be live streaming of the Sydney sailing radio show Sailing Chix with Nix from Northern Beaches Radio, with commentary starting at 1:00 p.m. December 25 PST. No American boats are entered this year.

Update as of 17:53 PST on Christmas Day: Yahoo 7 has shut us out. "This video is not available in your location." How dumb is that? And the video is not on the event site either. If anyone knows of a URL where we can watch, please post it (along with your geographic location) on our Facebook page. From Rolex Sydney Hobart Christmas night: "Everyone who has commented, sorry. It was agreed that the race start would stream outside of Australia, however a technical oversight limited this. It was extremely disappointing."

You can also watch for the possible start of Giovanni Soldini's Team Masarati's attempt to break the New York to San Francisco monohull record using the former Volvo 70 ABN Amro Two. They're currently waiting for the best weather forecast. After several attempts by many boats, Warren Luhrs' 60-ft Thursday’s Child arrived in San Francisco after 80 days and 20 hours in 1989. In 1994, Isabelle Autissier, aboard Ecureuil Poitou, took 62 days and 5 hours. Then, in 1998, Yves Parlier onboard Aquitaine Innovations dropped the record to 57 days, 3 hours, 2 minutes. This is the reference record for Giovanni Soldini and his crew. See http://maserati.soldini.it.

Team Maserati hopes to depart New York for San Francisco soon on the Route d'Or around Cape Horn. ©2012 Team Maserati

The original record of 89 days was held from 1854 to 1989 by the Clipper Ship Flying Cloud. The overall course record was set by the catamaran Gitana 13 in 2008, when Lionel Lemonchois and his nine crew made it in 43 days. Watch their arrival on San Francisco Bay here.