Formula 1

Maybe you’re not old enough Legendary Formula One racing driver, Sir Jack Brabham, triple world champion and the only guy to win in a car he built. Brisbane businessman, Peter Harburg, still remembers though and has christened his former Stark Raving Mad Reichel Pugh 66 “Black Jack”, after Brabham’s nickname.

The great old man of 82, christened Black Jack by cracking a champagne bottle, wrapped in a chequered flag, on the bowsprit. He said “My first sailing experience was onboard a catamaran. It wasn’t the best day on the water, so I can’t wait to get onboard this one, just once. I think this boat might go a little faster than that catamaran though.” More here with link to pix

Locked Up

Coast Guard Sector Detroit received a report of a woman falling overboard, from a recreational boat near the center of Lake St Clair, late Sunday evening. The caller was not able to recover the victim and had trouble communicating the situation, operating the boat and anchoring. A Coast Guard small boat from Station St Clair Shores was on a patrol and found the distressed boat; on boarding, the skipper was found on deck, heavily intoxicated and unconscious. A woman was found in the cabin, also intoxicated, unconscious and with a low heart rate. A third passenger, said to be a 25 year old woman, who appeared to have fallen overboard, is still missing.

The two survivors were taken ashore and the surviving woman was then transported to St John's Hospital for treatment. The skipper was locked up by Macomb County Sheriffs. He deserves to be, in our opinion.

Want to Help?

South African sailmaker Mike Coburn was over the moon to get a job with Team Shosholoza, after recovering from a bone marrow transplant. A grateful Coburn had planned to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust by cycling 1000 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End, UK, in November. He even challenged Leopard to a race around Britain's Isle of Wight to raise awareness for his cycle campaign. He was confident he could cycle around the island faster than Leopard could do it on the water, but he never found out because, on the eve of the race, he was admitted to hospital with a platelet count of zero and internal haemorrhaging.

Since then he has been on six drips a day ad remains in a serious condition. Yet, he has gone on appealing for sponsorship and promotion of the cycle challenge, via email and skype. His last e-mail said “Please support us, http://www.cycle4leukaemia.org is very close to my heart and I know that, if anything happens to me, my team, Cath Vise and Haig Youens on bikes and Pat Jolly in our support car, will continue with it.”

This is one helluva brave guy, still fighting for a good cause, whilst he fights for his life. If you need more convincing read the full story here If you’re already convinced go click on his Donate button.

Bits ‘n Pieces

IMOCA champion Bernard Stamm has confirmed that Cheminées Poujoulat II will be taking part in The Artemis Challenge at Skandia Cowes Week.

France moved to the top in the multihull fleet, whilst the other leaders remain unchanged, as the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship hit the halfway stage.

With less than 3 months to go until the start of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09, the Telefónica team continues to unveil the main players in Spain’s attempt to bring home the first Round-the World victory in Spanish history. David Vera, Laurent Pages and Roger Nilson are now officially the latest additions to the Telefónica team.

Plans are under way for a “Metrique Mediterranean Cup” to take place in Cannes, May 2009. This will be open to all Metre boats and is supported by the 12m and 8m classes.

All this stuff and more you’d already know about if you kept checking SA Sailing News.