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The 64th edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race is now underway and with a unique team that may not be fast but on a mission:

"Top to Top" is an organization brought together by a Swiss family who is taking on some of the world greatest physical feats to bring awareness to Global Climate Change.

You can follow their progress in the Sydney-Hobart Race Here: Race Tracker

Hope all a

Sailing Anarchy - a great sailor's resource - has posted the following bad news regarding the Volvo Ocean Race entry from Russia.

Ruskies Out

A press release that bums us and we're sure everyone else out too...

Team Russia today announced it has suspended racing upon arrival in Singapore at the end of Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race due to insufficient funds to continue the campaign.

The team has been actively approaching sponsors in recent months to secure enough financial support to continue the Volvo Ocean Race onto Qingdao (China) and beyond. However no sponsorship has been forthcoming and the team has no alternative but to suspend racing until further financial support can be secured.

I have been following Liz Clark since before she left on her voyage to sail in search of surf. She is held up on a lovely South Pacific Island while doing much needed repairs and though her story is geared towards the surfing community, reading her blogs tells many tales of how she lives a sustainable lifestyle, supports her local community even if it changes with each leg and a positive attitude when she has to learn and do things she may not have thought of before embarking on this trek.

Sailing Anarchy - a great sailor site - reported the following today -

Ships Must Slow Down to Protect North Atlantic Right Whales

December 8, 2008

Right whale and calf.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

Ships in southeastern Atlantic and mid-Atlantic U.S. waters must slow down to protect endangered right whales starting this week.

Skiing, riding: popular winter play for the sailor who's not able to sail during the winter months. In a curious pursuit for some information on carbon emissions and snow-making, came across some conscious college students from Middlebury College in Vermont. They are a tiny example of the many many students around the world who care about tomorrow.

Snow Bowl Becomes Carbon Neutral
Sarah Bryan
Issue date: 11/20/08

Three years ago, students in Professor Jon Isham's spring Environmental Economics course were assigned to develop a solution for current environmental problems. Five students, four of whom were members of the Middlebury ski team, sat down to brainstorm ways in which the College could become actively involved in the pressing issue of carbon dioxide emissions. Within a few weeks, the group had organized a plan to make the Middlebury College Snow Bowl a carbon neutral resort. By the end of the year, their project came to fruition, as the Snow Bowl became the first carbon neutral ski area in the United States.

[Source: Vendée Globe] At around 13h00 (UTC) this afternoon, Loïck Peyron's IMOCA Open 60 racing in the Vendée Globe dismasted while sailing 180 miles south of the Crozet Islands and 650 miles from the Kerguelen Islands.

Peyron, the only skipper in the solo round the world race to have competed in the first edition of the race in 1989 , was in third place around fifteen miles from the new leader, Sébastien Josse (BT),

On newsstands right now is the December issue of Cruising World magazine with a fantastic section on "How To Sail Green."

 Check out their blogs too; the magazine has been giving good ink to ocean conservation issues and things that we sailors can do to improve our awareness and reduce our impact.  

Sailor's For The Sea is another ocean-conservation-for- sailors organization that has, in recent months, been doing more publicly.  The group is backed by former America's Cup sailor David Rockefeller Jr. and there is a great write-up about David and the group on the site.  Check it out here.

On Tuesday, November 25th Oceana and other partners, including San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Native Village of Shishmaref, Alaska, petitioned the federal government to protect the health and welfare of the Arctic and, ultimately, the world by establishing comprehensive regulations for greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The petition brings forth extensive scientific information on climate change impacts already happening in the Arctic and how those impacts will affect the rest of the planet, and requests the Environmental Protection Agency take immediate actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially came to a close on Sunday, marking the end of a season that produced a record number of consecutive storms to strike the United States and ranks as one of the more active seasons in the 64 years since comprehensive records began.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

From The London Independent:

Is this the end of the bluefin tuna?

The most expensive fish in the sea – celebrated by Homer, venerated by the Japanese – may not survive an EU decision to maintain catch quotas in defiance of scientists, reports Michael McCarthy

Saturday, 29 November 2008

They are among the most legendary and majestic fish in the sea – and beyond doubt the most valuable. A decision taken this week, however, means that the bluefin tuna of the Mediterranean are probably now also the most endangered fish in the sea, with overfishing pushing the stock towards the brink of collapse.