San Francisco, CA - Want to win a one-week BVI charter with the Moorings? Whether racing the the Hobie Regatta at Big Bear Lake, the Centennial Bermuda Race, finishing the VOR in Goteberg, screaming through the gates in San Francisco Speed Week or sailing anywhere, everyone sailing on June 17th is invited to sign up and participate in the sixth annual Summer Sailstice celebration of sail. Regardless of where in the world you sail, by signing up, you become part of the global sailing holiday and are eligible to win prizes including a one-week BVI charter from the Moorings, a Hobie kayak, an Achilles inflatable, a Hunter Xcite, Steiner binoculars and over 200 other prizes supplied by premier marine businesses. All prizes are awarded by random drawing after the sign up deadline of June 21st - the summer solstice. Sign up at http://www.summersailstice.com and go sailing.

About Summer Sailstice: Founded in 2001 by John Arndt, Summer Sailstice is a global holiday celebrating sailing annually on the summer solstice. The goal of Summer Sailstice is to encourage all sailors and sailing organizations in the Northern Hemisphere to participate by sailing and celebrating wherever they are on the longest sailing day of the year. The event is facilitated by a website http://www.summersailstice.com allowing participants to register their participation, win prizes supplied by the marine industry, host an event and connect with other event participants in their area.

On Monday June 12th 2006, the organization of the 29th Zwitserleven Round Texel Race received 418 pre-entries. As of Wednesday June 14th, sailors from all over the world will drop in and the annual catamaran spectacle will start on the Dutch Wadden Island Texel. The complete national multihull top is present, among which last year’s overall winners Mischa Heemskerk and Sander de Boer and record-holders Wouter Samama and Jeroen van Leeuwen. Zwitserleven Sailing Team Booth/Dercksen, part of the Dutch Olympic team, will try again its luck in winning the line honours. A helicopter will give the famous smokey starting signal on Saturday June 17th at about noon.

Round Texel Co-ordinator Edwin Lodder: "For now, the pre-entries are less than in 2005, but we expect late comers. Especially with the good weather forecast for the coming week. After last year’s rough conditions, many participants decided to wait and see what will happen this time." At the moment, the fleet represents ten nationalities. Former overall winner and silver medallist of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Darren Bundock (AUS), and French top sailor Jean-Christophe Mourniac are back to challenge the Dutchmen. The young winners of the Texel Dutch Open 2005, Kearns and Bearns (GBR), will defend their title. This championship, officially recognized by the Royal Dutch Yachting Association, is to be sailed from June 14th until June 16th and exists of course races. Many sailors consider it as a good training for the Zwitserleven Round Texel on Saturday. On Friday afternoon, ten teams will participate in the first TNG Short Track. They will sail knock-out races and the last two boats will battle against each other in the final.

Newport, Thursday 8th June 2006 - Frenchman Bruno Peyron, the skipper of Orange II, has moved to "Code Orange " today, which means that Peyron and the crew of the giant maxi-catamaran may set sail in the next few days on their attempt at the North Atlantic crossing record, between New York (USA) and The Lizard (GB).

1. French adventurer Bruno Peyron is on standby for the "window of opportunity" to break American Steve Fossett's North Atlantic crossing record (from New York to The Lizard, in England)
   • Fossett's record is 4 days, 17h, 28 minutes and 06 seconds. (established in 2001)
   • By comparison, a cruise ship takes 6 days to make the 3100 nautical mile Transatlantic voyage
   • Only Peyron has tackled this record since Fawcett's '01 accomplishment; in 2004, he missed the record by a mere 31 minutes
2. Peyron will use as his weapon the giant maxi-catamaran Orange II
   • The boat is longer (121 ft.) and nearly as wide (59 ft.) as a tennis court
   • It stands, with its rotating wing mast, as tall as the Arc de Triomphe
   • It sails downwind with 5X more sail area than a Volvo Open 70
3. The best weather would be a low pressure system, with constant wind at 27-35 knots (and no waves), that Orange II could ride -- without interruption -- across the entire ocean
   • To beat Fossett's record, a boat speed average of 26 knots must be maintained at all times
   • Peyron holds the 24-hour speed record (established in 2004) aboard Orange II, having averaged 29.42 knots.
   • Peyron holds the around-the-world speed record (established in 2005) aboard Orange II (50 d, 16 h, 20 min, 4 sec, established in 2005)
   
   
    Read full article: 'Bruno Peyron and Orange II Set to Attempt Transatlantic Record' (181 more words)

This year TheBeachcats.com will have on-the-scene reports from the Great Texas Catamaran Race. The race starts June 14th, so watch this space for reports and photos.

If you aren't familiar with the Great Texas, which started in 2003, here is a description from the race headquarters site "The Great Texas Catamaran Race is an off-shore beach catamaran race along the Texas Coast. Starting in South Padre Island and finishing in Galveston, the race covers approximately 300 miles along the Texas coast over the Father’s Day weekend. The race will be conducted in four stages with each stage starting and ending on the beach! This will be the fourth year that the Great Texas Catamaran race is held."

Click here for the Great Texas Catamaran Race, Notice of Race for more info.