Extreme sailing series 2011

Celebs & sailors shout out!

Hear what the sailors and celebrities think about Extreme Sailing Series

From ExtremeSailingSeries

The Extreme Sailing Series™ is set to expand as OC Events, creator of the award-winning circuit now in its 4th season, confirm a worldwide 2011 series.
The expansion is part of a new five-year vision for the professional sailing circuit that has changed the way sailing is seen, becoming one of the hottest properties in the sport.

OC has also concluded this week the acquisition of the Extreme 40 Class, including the design and build rights from TornadoSport.
TornadoSport, headed up by CEO Herbert Dercksen, created the game-changing concept in 2005 along with Mitch Booth and Daniel Koene when they launched the Extreme 40 catamaran that was designed by Yves Loday and built today by Marstrom Composites in Sweden.
The acquisition will include management of the Class, technical support for the teams, and boat sales.
As previously announced, the Extreme Sailing Series™ is committed to the Extreme 40 as the main act until at least January 2013, and will seek the input of current teams with regards to possible evolutions of the boat and rules for the 2011 season.

The Extreme Sailing Series™, one of just four circuits with ISAF’s (International Sailing Federation) Special Event Status, is renowned for delivering top class professional racing that uniquely attracts the world’s best sailors from a range of disciplines (America’s Cup, Olympics and ocean racing skippers), racing in many different formats, with a public focused act staged in a ‘stadium’ format.
Over the past 12 months, the events have included conventional long course ‘windward/leeward’ fleet racing, coastal courses, the short course 15-minute close-combat ‘stadium’ races, one against one speed duels, and now since February this year, as a regular feature, match racing.

The circuit has been focused on commercially run teams since its inception, and will continue to develop the return on investment for the team sponsors – by both controlling costs (budgets remain in the tens of thousands per market), and visiting more markets to extend the global reach of the event.

The 2011 Extreme Sailing Series™ will see an eight event global circuit across Europe, the USA, the Far East and the GCC region.
After being approached by more than 60 host venues from around the world in the past six months, there is a current shortlist of 18 for the 2011 circuit, with 2012 discussions also well progressed.
The 2010 host venues of Trapani (Italy) and Andalucia (Spain) are already confirmed as part of their multi-year contracts, and OC Events will announce the other venues during October and November.
A ‘typical’ 2011 event will consist of five days of racing, as opposed to three last year.
The first two days being ’open water’ courses, where the venue permits, before the action heats up in the close-quarters ‘stadium’ racing over the final three days.
“We are looking to expand and improve the Extreme Sailing Series™ on all fronts,” said Mark Turner, Chairman of the newly merged OC ThirdPole outdoor events group that owns the circuit organiser, OC Events.
“With multi-format competition at top class venues of different types - city centres, ocean facing, rivers and lakes, top class race management and on-water umpiring, development of the outstanding B2B VIP experience that has been at the heart of the event since the beginning, and a bigger than ever entertainment package for spectators on the water and on shore including our Sailing Rocks™ gigs, the Extreme Sailing Series™ will be going up a level.
We have plans in place to expand the TV production and distribution, growing both the news service and the successful worldwide TV series, as well as the online content.
We plan to expand the presence of other classes as warm-up acts, to both race and show-off, like the Moth dinghies and windsurfers this year.”

With strong demand, and a 11-boat limit in place for 2011, a Preliminary Notice of Race is published today with a pre-entry procedure.
Whilst there is an encouraging amount of new team potential, existing teams that have helped grow the circuit will be given priority should the limit be reached.
Other evolutions in the rules are expected to ensure that the team budgets remain under tight control, in the value-for-money commercially funded circuit.

“We have invested heavily in this event since 2007 with good reason. It offers an exceptional return on investment to all stakeholders, in particular, for the ever-improving quality brands that we already have as team sponsors. We shall be announcing some excellent new partnerships at venue, event and team level in the coming months,” confirmed Turner.

Links :

• YouTube : introduction / 9 great international venues
  

Total lunar eclipse for the winter solstice tomorrow

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes behind the earth
so that the earth blocks the sun’s rays from striking the moon.
This can occur only when the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned exactly,
or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle.

From MrEclipse

A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the early morning hours of December 21, 2010 (for observers in western North America and Hawaii, the eclipse actually begins on the evening of December 20).
The entire event is visible from North America, Greenland and Iceland.
Western Europe will see the beginning stages of the eclipse before moonset while western Asia will get the later stages after moonrise.
During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red and more rarely dark brown to very dark gray.

One of the great things about lunar eclipses is that they are completely safe to view with the naked eye.
No special filters are required to protect your eyes like those used for solar eclipses.
You don't even need a telescope to watch the eclipse although a good pair of binoculars will help.


An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of Earth's shadow.
The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other.
The outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks some (but not all) of the Sun's rays. In contrast, the inner shadow or umbra is a region where Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon.
One is reminded that Christopher Columbus got out of some difficulty with Native Americans when, knowing that a lunar eclipse was coming, threatened to take the moon away.

Then only part of the Moon passes through the umbra, a partial eclipse is seen.
If the entire Moon passes through the umbral shadow, then a total eclipse of the Moon occurs.
It is also possible to have an eclipse where the Moon passes through only the penumbra.
Each of these eclipses has a unique and distinct appearance (see Visual Appearance of Lunar Eclipses).
For more information on how, what, why, where and when of lunar eclipses, see the special web page Lunar Eclipses for Beginners.

Links :

• NASA eclipse website
• Wired : Lunar eclipse tonight will cast rare shadow on winter Solstice
  
• YouTube : I / II
  

Image of the week : world’s largest living structure

This image was acquired by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS)
on 8 November 2010 at a resolution of 300 m

From ESA

This Envisat image features the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s Queensland coast (see Marine GeoGarage position)

It is the world’s most protected marine area, one of its natural wonders and a World Heritage site.
Spanning more than 2000 km and covering an area of some 350 000 sq km, it is the largest living structure on Earth and the only one visible from space.

Links :

• National Geographic video
• YouTube
  

Deep sea exploration with the joint Indonesia-USA Ocean Expedition

NOAA and Google entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to increase access and reach of NOAA data through the expertise and innovative tools at Google.
This map and its products are a result of collaboration between NOAA and Google and establish a foundation for improving data and product integration and access.

From GoogleLatLon

Come on a tour to never-before explored Indonesian waters.
The INDEX-SATAL 2010 Expedition is the first-ever joint ocean research voyage by the Republic of Indonesian and the United States.
To experience it yourself, watch the Google Earth YouTube video tour above or explore the area more interactively with the Google Earth plug-in on our Ocean Showcase.

Much of the Coral Triangle remains unexplored, and this partnership aims to help reverse the decline of coral reefs in the area and to protect natural resources.
The expedition began in the SATAL region around two island chains stretching north of Sulawesi.
It was undertaken by scientists from the USA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, and the Indonesian Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

“Telepresence” was used to send data in real time to scientists who stood watch at Exploration Command Centers in Jakarta and Seattle.
This same technology brought the excitement of the expedition to visitors at the Exploratorium in San Francisco as well.

Little Hercules, a remotely operated exploration vehicle, descended 6000 feet under the sea to capture images and videos of exciting sights like hydrothermal vents and creatures like the deep sea octopus seen below:

Mapping and discovery data from expeditions like this will help all organizations involved better understand ocean resources and how to protect them.
More information about the still mysterious ocean will ultimately further economic and environmental initiatives such as the management of sustainable fisheries, the conservation of the marine environment and the preservation of fragile corals.

Dive deeper at Oceanexplorer.noaa.gov, or download this KML for viewing in Google Earth.

Links :

• NOAAnews : U.S. and Indonesian Scientists find biodiversity runs deep in Sulawesi Sea
• FederalNewsRadio : NOAA expedition uses telepresence to transmit real-time HD video from seafloor to scientists ashore
• MSNBC : Coral Triangle trip reveals possible new marine species
  
• http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/rss/google_earth.html
  

Ocean science giant Alvin set for upgrade

This video walks the viewer through a deep sea dive with Dr. Anna Louise Reysenbach aboard the submarine Alvin

From BBCnews

Few research tools in the history of science can match the achievements of Alvin, the US manned deep-submersible.

It was this 46-year-old vessel which discovered the hot volcanic vents on the ocean floor that transformed ideas about where and how life could exist.
The sub is also famed for finding an H-bomb lost at sea and for making one of the first surveys of the Titanic.
But this veteran of the abyss has been withdrawn from service this week as it gets ready for a major re-fit.

Alvin is to undergo a two-phase, $40m (£26m) upgrade that will allow it eventually to stay down longer and to go deeper - much deeper than its current 4,500m (14,800ft) limit.

"Going to 4,500m means we can dive in about 68% of the ocean," explained Susan Humphris from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
"When we go to 6,500m, we will have access to 98% of the ocean. That will make a huge difference; there is so much more to see down there," she told BBC News.

Dr Humphris has been speaking here in San Francisco at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, the world's largest annual gathering of Earth and planetary scientists.

Alvin made its first dive in 1965. (see history of Alvin)
Since then it has carried some 1,400 people on more than 4,500 dives.
The vessel undergoes a big service every few years, but the latest will be its most significant to date.

The key upgrade in the National Science Foundation-funded work will be the integration of a new $10m titanium personnel sphere - the "cockpit" in which the pilot and two research passengers sit.
Forged from giant ingots weighing 15.5 tonnes, this protective ball is 16.2cm (6.4in) larger in diameter than Alvin's current sphere.
Its walls are thicker, too, to cope with the greater pressures at 6,500m.

15.4 tonnes of titanium were required to make the new sphere to carry the crew
The new sphere will have five viewports instead of the existing three.
These windows will provide larger and overlapping views, which will give researchers a much better idea of what is happening outside the sub.

The WHOI has brought a mock-up of the new sphere to the meeting to show the community what the finished cockpit will be like.

The upgrade will start in January.
When it returns to the water in 2012, Alvin will be a lot more comfortable

Other improvements in the first phase will include a new floatation foam, a new command-and-control system, better lighting and cameras, increased data-logging capabilities, and better interfaces with science instruments.

Not all its components will be changed in the first-phase re-fit, however, and it is only when all the sub's critical elements have been upgraded, including installing lithium-ion batteries for enhanced power, that Alvin will be permitted to go to 6,500m.
That could be in 2015.

"People don't realise that in many ways it's a lot more difficult taking people to the bottom of the ocean than out into space," explained Dr Humphris.
"When you go into space, you're going from one atmosphere of pressure to zero; when going to the bottom of the ocean, you're going from one atmosphere to 650 atmospheres. Alvin is our space shuttle, if you like."

The vessel is a research workhorse.
Its final dive before the refit occurred on Tuesday when it went down into the Gulf of Mexico to inspect corals, to see how they might have been affected by the recent Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout.

Its greatest contribution to science, however, is unquestionably its discovery in 1977 of a system of hydrothermal vents off the Galapagos Islands.

Dr Humphris says she has lost count of the number of times she has dived in the famous sub
Before its crew saw the vents' extraordinary array of animals thriving in the mineral-rich, hot waters gushing from cracks in volcanic rock, everyone assumed all the deepest places in the oceans would be like deserts - there would be no life.

Today, we know different, and at this year's AGU meeting, UK scientists have been presenting their discovery of vents at 5,000m, the deepest yet observed.

This system was found in waters at a location known as the Mid-Cayman Rise just south of Cuba. It was explored by robotic vehicles; the Rise is beyond the current capabilities of the manned Alvin.
But one of the discoverers, Dr Bramley Murton from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), knows Alvin from a dive he made in the vehicle 10 years ago, and said it would be "phenomenal" to take the upgraded sub to see the new the Mid-Cayman Rise system "face to face".

"These places are extraordinary," he told BBC News.
"You see sights you can barely imagine - rocks covered in bacteria that fluoresce purple, green and blue, and very strange animals. It's a different world down there."

Dr Humphris said Alvin scientists often get asked - as astronauts do - to defend the value of sending people to risky places when robots could do much of this work.

"My answer to that is simple," she said.
"Watch a video of the Grand Canyon and then go there yourself; then you'll realise why we go to the bottom of the ocean with human-operated vehicles. It is this question of having an eye and brain actually looking in 3D at something. I think your whole perspective changes."

"There's a big difference between looking at something on a flat-screen TV and then going down and being there, and being able to see things within their environmental context."

Peter Girguis has no doubts about the need for a human-operated vehicle.
The Harvard University researcher is chair of the deep-submergence science committee.

He told reporters here: "Eighty percent of our biosphere - that is 80% of the portion of our planet that is habitable by life - is deep ocean, deeper than 1,000m.

"Everything that we typically think of, the continents and all that, is a minority.
And Alvin has been enabling us to study about two-thirds of that for many years now.
The Alvin upgrade promises to enable us to have a better capacity to go to deeper depths to study processes that we know are all interconnected.

"Our climate, the health of our ecosystems, the sustainability of our fisheries - all depend on processes that take place in the deep ocean."

Links :

• OurAmazingPlanet : Upgraded sub could reach 98 percent of ocean deep
• UNOLS : Alvin upgrade project imaging system