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American Teen Embarks Upon Voyage Around the World

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Sixteen-year-old Abby Sunderland aims to break her brother’s record of being the youngest American sailor to circle the globe alone. Just five months ago, Zac Sunderland returned from his solo voyage circumnavigating the globe. Wild Eyes, her 40-foot racing yacht, was taken on a rough trip from Ensenada to Marina del Rey to be prepared for a long voyage around the world; but this rough short voyage only encourages Abby. She knows this trip is nothing compared to the rough seas she’ll be handling far away from home.

In July, Abby’s brother completed a highly-publicized adventure in exotic ports and rough seas, including a confrontation with pirates as well as barely avoiding a collision in the Panama Canal with a freighter.

Abby plans to embark on her voyage before the turn of the New Year, with a goal of being the youngest person to complete this trip nonstop, alone and unassisted. All food and necessities for the entirety of the trip will be aboard her vessel from the start, as well as freeze-dried food and a water desalination device. In order to make the record, she may not make landfall or accept assistance beyond advice.

This dream of sailing the world came about when Abby was only 13, but her older brother Zac was the first to have a go at the adventure. While Zac traveled in higher latitudes and warm climates, Abby plans to sail down the Pacific, down and around South America and Cape Horn, and then head east in the Southern Ocean. This is a more direct and more dangerous route.

Her parents didn’t believe she was ready at 13, but now at 16, they believe her sailing ability and emotional maturity are at levels where she would be able to take on this voyage.

Currently, sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson is about 6,000 miles into a similar sailing Journey, with aims to be Australia’s youngest person to sail the world unassisted and non-stop.

As yacht brokers, Atlantic Yacht and Ship is America’s oldest and most respected yacht brokerage. They are a supplier of power & custom motor yachts who specialize in the brokerage of Yacht for Sale, quality Motor Yachts, Express Cruisers, Sport Fisherman, and Trawlers.

Incorporated in 1959, and with over 50 years of continued service within the national and Fort Lauderdale yachting community and yachting industry, Atlantic Yacht and Ship commits to provide product knowledge and attention to detail that is unparalleled in the industry.

Specializing in quality motor yachts, Atlantic Yacht & Ship is located just 5 minutes from Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Fort Lauderdale: The “Venice of America” and the yachting capital of the world.

Tags: Abby Sunderland, around the world, atlantic yacht and ship, circumnavigating the globe, fort lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale yachting community, Quality Motor Yachts, sailing around the world, Wild Eyes, yacht brokers, yachting around the world, yachting capital of the world, yachting industry, Zac Sunderland
Posted in AY&S News, World Travel, Yachting News | No Comments »

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race Contestants Face a Number of Challenges

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

The annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is currently underway and facing a number of challenges. Wild Oats XI is hoping for its 5th consecutive win of the race. In 2005, the vessel made a record breaking finish, covering the 1,163-kilometers race in just one day, 18 hours and 40 minutes, crossing the line at Constitution Dock in Hobart.

The first race was held in 1945. ICAP Leopard, a British Yacht, took the lead by just a hair on Saturday, with defending champion Wild Oats XI in a close second pushing tightly against Alfa Romeo.

Early on in the race, a duel occurred between Alfa Romeo and Leopard, the two-time winner of the Fastnet ocean races. Alfa Romeo and Leopard led the first four hours of the race out of Sydney Harbour; Wild Oats trailed just behind the two all along the southern coast of New South Wales state.

The local weather forecast called for winds, so neither leading yacht was thought to break any race records. The two yachts who were in the lead were estimated to cross the finish line in Hobart on Tasmania late Monday morning.

When Wild Oats faced an early issue with a spinnaker, Alfa Romeo took the lead out of Sydney. Leopard followed the leading two out from the harbor into open sea. After transporting and installing a replacement mast from England, Skandia’s new namesake Etihad Stadium had a late beginning to the race. The repairs cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and rigging issues in the mast caused the skipper to retire the boat before even having a chance to leave the harbor for the race.

Nobody was sure how the race would turn out, as winds were much lighter than expected. In previous years, the race had faced severe storms. Eleven years ago, six sailors died and seven vessels sank during a storm that crossed paths with the fleet on the first evening of the race in 1998. Two years ago, eight sailors abandoned their sinking yacht, and three faced critical injuries and had to be airlifted to a hospital.

Specializing in quality motor yachts, Atlantic Yacht & Ship is located just 5 minutes from Fort Lauderdale International Airport inFort Lauderdale: The “Venice of America” and the yachting capital of the world.

Tags: Atlantic Yacht & Ship, fort lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale yachting community, Quality Motor Yachts, yachting capital of the world, yachting industry
Posted in World Travel, Yachting News | No Comments »

Fort Lauderdale Boasts Port for World’s Largest Passenger Ship

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

The world’s largest passenger ship ever built is about to set sail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Royal Caribbean’s new Oasis of the Seas makes her maiden voyage this weekend, sailing to the islands of St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and to Nassau in the Bahamas. But who cares where you’re going, when the ship itself is beyond a fun-filled destination?

After a 2-day sneak preview cruise for the media and travel agents, the Oasis has generated a lot of buzz. The ship includes the first stand-alone Coach store at sea, and features a mini-golf course, ice-skating rink, climbing walls and surf machines.

Nearly as tall as a 20-story building and 100 feet longer than an aircraft carrier, the 225,000 tons the vessel features 2165 crewmembers, sixteen decks for passengers and beds for nearly 6,300 guests.

The Oasis was built featuring groundbreaking design features with a split structure opening up the interior space to the outdoors. This provdes hundreds of cabins that feature balcony and ocean breezes.

Neighborhoods were created aboard the vessel, where a carousel and aquatic theature are located in a boardwalk area, and the main showroom and a variety of nightclubs, jazz clubs and a comedy club reside on Deck 4 in Entertainment Place.

Central Park features an open atrium displaying over 12,000 live trees, plants and vines. Stone walkways wind through the park, and a variety of restaurants line the walk. Guests can quickly forget they’re out to sea while on the Oasis, a self-contained resort with endless ameneties and entertainment including productions of the Broadway hit “Hairspray.”

Also based in Fort Lauderdale, Atlantic Yacht and Ship is America’s oldest and most respected supplier of power & custom motor yachts. Atlantic specializes in the brokerage of quality Motor Yachts, Sport Fisherman, Express Cruisers, and Trawlers. With over 50 years of continued service within the yachting industry and community, Atlantic Yacht and Ship is committed to providing unparalleled product knowledge and meticulous attention to detail. We are pleased to have vast experience, referral clients and testimonials that speak for our dedication and level of customer commitment.

Tags: atlantic yacht and ship, Custom Motor Yachts, Quality Motor Yachts, yachting industry
Posted in World Travel | No Comments »

Nautical News- Treasured Sailboat Goes to Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Mississippi welcomes a hefty donation toward a Biloxi museum, to which Tulane University granted $390,000 and a historic sailboat in exchange for a promise for the museum to preserve the sailboat for at least 99 years.

In the 1950s, a young Ralph Wood Pringle was one of a short list of mariners permitted to steer Albert Baldwin Wood’s beloved vessel. Pringle, a great-nephew of Wood, recently recalled, “She was very fast and a lot of fun… She was balanced perfectly; you would hold the tiller and there would be no pressure on it. He had the mast raked just right, tilted just a little aft.”

Pringle’s great uncle Albert Baldwin Wood was the general superintendent of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board in the 40s and 50s. Pringle recently participated in relocating the Nydia from Wood’s alma mater of Tulane University, and secured it in a new and more high-profile location: the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi.

Built in the Johnson Shipyard around 1898 and believed to be the only Johnson boat left, The Nydia “represents the ultimate in boat-building skills, a pure example of Biloxi boat building,” according to executive director of the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi, Robin Krohn David.

The museum plans to display the Nydia in the museum’s main atrium, with her mast rigged. The Nydia was constructed in Biloxi’s Back Bay, of cypress and steam-bent oak. Johnson Ship Yard was owned by a Biloxi native William N. Johnson, who was renowned for creating fast vessels.

Atlantic Yacht and Ship is America’s oldest and most respected supplier of power & custom motor yachts. Atlantic specializes in the brokerage of quality Motor Yachts, Sport Fisherman, Express Cruisers, and Trawlers. With over 50 years of continued service within the yachting industry and community, Atlantic Yacht and Ship is committed to providing unparalleled product knowledge and meticulous attention to detail. We are pleased to have vast experience, referral clients and testimonials that speak for our dedication and level of customer commitment.

Tags: Albert Baldwin Wood, atlantic yacht and ship, Biloxi, Custom Motor Yachts, Maritime Seafood Industry Museum, Mississippi, Quality Motor Yachts, sailboat, The Nydia, Tulane University, yachting industry
Posted in World Travel, Yachting News | No Comments »

Despite Opposition, Australian Teenager Jessica Watson Plans to Yacht Around the World

Monday, October 5th, 2009

In the coming days, Australian teenager Jessica Watson is set to resume her record bid to sail non-stop around the world. On September 9, just off North Stradbroke Island, Watson was on her way to Sydney on a test run and crashed into a 63,000 tonne cargo vessel. This caused damage to the rigging as well as stress to the internal structure of her yacht.

After investigations, Maritime Safety Queensland believed the teenager had probably “dozed off” before the accident. She also neglected to turn on a collision warning beacon. Despite urges for her to cancel her attempt to sail around the world, Jessica plans to continue with the voyage. In the meanwhile, she has been completing trials off the Gold Coast in her 33-foot yacht.

Since the accident, critics have put Watson and her family under scrutiny over the dangerous record-break attempt. Anna Bligh, the Queensland Premier, as well as other senior politicians are questioning her high-risk voyage. On Monday Bligh stated “This is a very high-risk venture, frankly it’s one that I would be reconsidering, but ultimately it’s a decision for them.”

Despite opposition, Watson is also overwhelmed with messages of support. Repairs are being conducted on the mast and sail, and Watson feels confident about heading to Sydney again this weekend. Last month 13-year-old Laura Dekkers was denied by a Dutch court ruling to embark on a solo round-the-world voyage. The current record holder is fellow Australian Jesse Martin, who completed the journey ten years ago at the age of 18.