On the Water

Remember that Yamaha sweepstakes I mentioned a while back, the one that was intended to boost interest in Yamaha's mobile phone services? Evidently it worked. According to an interview with Yamaha National Marketing Manager Bryan Seti in the recent edition of Mobile Marketer, the promotion brought 6,000 people onboard the program over a period of 10 weeks. Looking at the calendar, that's 10 of the slowest weeks you'll find for generating interest in a watersport. …Read More

Photo by Guilain Grenier/BOR The struggling Defender crossed the finish line flying a protest flag—5 minutes 26 seconds in arrears in a graying twilight, temperatures dropping (what, you forgot gloves?) —but the second and final race of the 33rd America’s Cup match will be remembered as a second drubbing by the high-tech challenger of a team [...] …Read More

Powered by an international crew and a technologically advanced wing sail, Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle put on the afterburners on the second leg of the second race and left Alinghi in the dust. …Read More

It wouldn’t be fair to say the mood was gloomy as Alinghi 5 docked out on Sunday morning to face match point in America’s Cup 33. It would, however, be fair to say that the crowd was thin. The resolve of the team and the cheers of family did not match the restrained ebullience in [...] …Read More

Closing at 40 knots (or thereabouts), USA (BMW Oracle) and Alinghi 5 nearly had a head-on collision in the pre-start. Things got even more interesting after that, but the advanced wing technology aboard the American trimaran proved superior. …Read More

Sea-Doo RXT-X 260, BRP iCatch Trailer, MasterCraft X-25 all capture NMMA Innovation Awards at Miami Boat Show. …Read More

You know it’s early in Race 1 if Alinghi is ahead © Gilles Martin-Raget/BOR It’s cold in Valencia the day after Race One, threatening rain, windy and gray and gloomy. Time to go sailing. No, not the crew of the catamaran Alinghi 5, seen here, where “re-mode” would be the theme, perhaps with a tinge [...] …Read More

One expected aspect of MIBS 2010, The Great Recession Version, is the scarcity of new models being introduced by the boat companies. One reason for this is understandable–the backlog of inventory left over from the economic meltdown that put people’s plans to buy a boat on hold. You can’t push new until the dealer network [...] …Read More

  HB Marine and Independence Green Yachts yesterday announced a partnership that will form a joint venture to develop the Independence 60 Luxury Yacht that IGY started a few years ago. The Independence 60 is billed as the “world’s first ‘no compromise’ sustainable yacht.” A combination of solar cells, hydrogen production and storage and fuel cells [...] …Read More

USA steaming along © KL The advantage shifted twice in the prestart, then the Defender got away first by more than a minute, which in these boats is a huge distance. But. USA passed Alinghi 5 less than 15 minutes into the first race of America’s Cup 33, and from there the challenger never looked [...] …Read More