Jan 21st, 2012 at 8:00AM: 16-year old Dutch sailor Laura Dekker will complete her quest to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world today when she arrives back at the island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean. She is expected to make landfall around 3 PM local time this afternoon, exactly a year and a day after she set out on her voyage.
Dekker gained international attention when she first announced her ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
sailing posts
Teen sailor Laura Dekker to complete round-the-world voyage today
Jan 21st, 2012 at 8:00AM: 16-year old Dutch sailor Laura Dekker will complete her quest to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world today when she arrives back at the island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean. She is expected to make landfall around 3 PM local time this afternoon, exactly a year and a day after she set out on her voyage.
Dekker gained international attention when she first announced her ...New round-the-world sailing speed record set
Jan 11th, 2012 at 8:00AM: A 130-foot trimaran yacht, with a crew of 14, set a new speed record for sailing around the globe last Friday when it returned to port in Brest, France. The ship, which is named the Maxi Banque Populaire V, shaved nearly three days off the previous record, and earned the crew the coveted Jules Verne Trophy in the process.
The ship, which featured a mostly French crew, set sail on November 22nd ...Video of the Day - Sermilik Ice Fjord
Dec 20th, 2011 at 1:30PM:
The Sermilik Fjord is a long, steep-walled waterway in southeast Greenland where hundreds of icebergs calve from Greenland's enormous ice sheets every year. Those looking to sail through the stunning fjord for a closer view of the icebergs depart from Ammassalik Island, where Greenland's seventh-largest town, Tasiilaq, is located.
Today's Video of the Day shares a vivid sample of a ...
Amsterdam's Maritime Museum
Nov 17th, 2011 at 3:00PM: Amsterdam owes its wealth to the sea. In the Golden Age of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Dutch sailed around the world looking for rare products to bring back to Europe. They were one of the great maritime powers and are still important in shipping today.
Amsterdam is a city made for the sea. Its canals are laid out like a spider's web, where every family that could afford it built a narrow ...Volvo Ocean Race begins with a bang
Nov 12th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
A few weeks back, Gadling Labs took a wander around Team Abu Dhabi's VO70 ocean racer and one thing was apparent: weight is key. Non essential components are stripped from the ship, appointments are minimal and everything that can be made out of lightweight composite is incorporated -- even the steering wheel.
Four hours into the race, the team learned a drawback to composite materials: ...
Volvo Ocean Race kicks off from Alicante, Spain
Nov 2nd, 2011 at 9:00AM:
It's dark when I wake up in Alicane, with heavy, blue-grey storm clouds twisting upwards through the Mediterranean sky. Somewhere, 10,000 feet above this small Spanish city the gods are fighting over weather patterns; there's a dash of clear blue sky here and a seam of storm clouds there, a maelstrom of wind, cloud, rain and energy hashed up atmosphere. In my view, it's the perfect condition ...Salvage team searches for Sir Francis Drake off the coast of Panama
Oct 27th, 2011 at 8:00AM: A salvage team has discovered the wreckage of two ships off the coast of Panama that once belonged to naval legend Sir Francis Drake. The ships have not yielded up any treasure, but the team believes that their discovery may lead to finding the remains of the British sailor as well.
Drake earned his place in history when he became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe in 1580. That ...Unconventional new eco-tour will take travelers through Japan's tsunami debris
Oct 9th, 2011 at 2:00PM: While most eco-tours use activities such as bird watching, rafting, and hiking to highlight regional issues, a new tour, led by expedition leader Marcus Eriksen, will take a different approach. Beginning May, 2012, travelers will have the opportunity to sail via yacht through floating islands of debris left from the March 11, 2011, tsunami in Japan. Tourists will see first-hand the pollution ...A classic sailing ship in northern Spain
Sep 25th, 2011 at 11:30AM: If you've been following my travels here at Gadling, you know I've moved to Santander in northern Spain and am busy settling in. I've had my first of many hikes in Cantabria and have even ventured into the chilly northern surf. I need to buy a wetsuit.
One advantage of living in a port is you get to see sights like this, a reconstructed sailing ship from the Golden Age of Sail. Called the Nao ...Naval Museum in Madrid: an overlooked treasure
Sep 12th, 2011 at 12:00PM: After six years of living in Madrid, I've finally made it to the Naval Museum.
It's overlooked by most tourists. In fact, it's overlooked by a lot of madrileños. I've met some locals who didn't even know it exists. Perhaps being so far away from the sea they don't expect there to be a major naval museum downtown. It also doesn't help that it's tucked behind a modest facade that's easy to ...Ancient port discovered in Egypt
Jul 30th, 2011 at 12:00PM:
Archaeologists working in Egypt have discovered a harbor on the Red Sea that was used for international trade.
The excavation at Mersa Gawasis has revealed traces of an ancient harbor. It's long been known that the Egyptians traded down the coast of Africa, but the location of their embarkation was unknown. A famous carving at Deir el-Bahari, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, shows an ...Photo of the Day - Copenhagen canal
Jul 10th, 2011 at 6:00PM:
As we noted earlier this week, Summer is a glorious time in Scandinavia. The region's normally chilly temperatures have mellowed, and activities like cycling, boating and swimming are in full swing. If you need more visual proof, just check out this idyllic scene captured by Flickr user justchuckfl, in the Danish city of Copenhagen. Like many Scandinavian capitals, Copenhagen is an urban ...Captain Kidd's pirate ship to become underwater museum
May 7th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
The submerged wreck of Captain Kidd's pirate ship will become a "Living Museum of the Sea" reports Science Daily.
The Quedagh Merchant was found a couple of years ago just off the coast of the Dominican Republic. It's only 70 feet from the shore of Catalina Island and rests in ten feet of water, so it's a perfect destination for scuba divers or even snorkelers.
Underwater signs will guide ...New Galapagos Islands regulations will change 2012 tours
Apr 10th, 2011 at 8:00AM:
Over the past decade or so, the Galapagos Islands have become one of the more popular tourist attractions in the world. In fact, they've gotten so popular that the fragile ecosystem there has become threatened by the amount of tourist traffic that now visit the area each year. In 2012, a new set of regulations will go into effect that may help protect the Islands, and could have an effect on ...IAATO comments on missing Antarctic yacht
Mar 3rd, 2011 at 8:00AM: The International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) has released a statement regarding the Berserk, a Norwegian yacht that went missing in the Antarctic last week. While calling the incident "tragic," the statement reiterates that the ship was not part of the organization, and was operating without regard to important safety guidelines.
The IAATO is a member-based organization ...Search for missing antarctic yacht officially called off
Feb 28th, 2011 at 8:30AM: After nearly a week of searching, rescue teams have called off efforts to find a missing yacht that disappeared in Antarctic waters last week. The ship had three crew members on board at the time.
The Norwegian yacht Berserk was sailing in the Southern Ocean last Tuesday when the region was beset with bad storms. For unknown reasons, the crew activated the ship's emergency locator beacon, ...Missing Antarctic yacht update: life raft found, ship still missing
Feb 25th, 2011 at 11:00AM: Search and rescue teams discovered a life raft adrift in the Southern Ocean yesterday that they say is from the Berserk, a Norwegian-flagged yacht that went missing earlier in the week. The raft was spotted by a helicopter that had been combing the area the past few days, searching for clues as to the fate of the ship.
On Tuesday of this week, the Berserk was sailing just off the coast of ...Missing Antarctic yacht update: two crew members found
Feb 24th, 2011 at 11:30AM: Yesterday we posted a story about a Norwegian yacht that went missing in the Antarctic with five crew members aboard. Two of those crew members have now been located, alive and well, on the continent itself, and they are reportedly providing clues that could help search and rescue teams find the missing ship.
When the story first broke, we knew that the yacht, christened the Berserk, was last ...Norwegian yacht goes missing off Antarctica
Feb 23rd, 2011 at 11:30AM: A Norwegian-flagged yacht known as the Berserk has gone missing off the coast of Antarctica after activating its emergency rescue beacon yesterday. The 14-meter, steel hulled ship was last known to be sailing rough seas in the Southern Ocean approximately 18 nautical miles north of the Scott Research Base and was believed to have been carrying as many as five passengers at the time.
Rescues ...Cell phone signal helps rescue five American sailors
Jan 24th, 2011 at 12:15PM: After missing for more than a week, five American sailors are safe today. Their sailboat, the Pineapple, developed engine and communication problems after running into bad weather off the coast of Guam. They were lost at sea. A massive search produced no results. Finally one of those on board was able to grab a cell phone signal long enough to call for help.
Relatives and friends of the crew, ...
