1. TransAtlantic Challenge Background - Ever since America's Cup legend Charlie Barr skippered Atlantic to a historic transatlantic record almost a century ago, sailors have been attempting to break the elusive New York-to-the-Lizard (England) time barrier of 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute, 19 seconds under race conditions. The latest attempt on the 110-foot catamaran Team Adventure was sailing at 30 knots in dense fog and pre-dawn darkness 110 miles south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia on August the 10th when the port bow snapped off with a loud bang. Crew member Stuart McKelvey, from New York City said he thought he glimpsed floating debris that looked like the remains of a small boat submerged in the waves seconds after the bow broke.

2. The sailing spectacle of the Rolex Fastnet 2001 and the America's Cup Jubilee must have been a magnificent site on the water and deserves a further mention and room to display more pictures. Coverage on the Internet has allowed interested viewers from around the world to track a yachts progress and enjoy the event from afar by receiving daily updates with attached pictures and browsing the many associated websites. The legendary Fastnet race has gone from strength to strength over the years and to skipper a competitive racing boat has been a lifetime ambition since an old family friend Peter Cantwell built 'Police Car' in Singapore and went on to win the Admiral's Cup for Australia with Sir James Hardy driving during the1979 gale swept disaster year. The race is open to all yachts that comply with the race requirements and has always been considered a supreme challenge to ocean racing yachtsmen in British waters.

03.58.58am, true to its name, the 92-foot Stealth crept slowly out of the gloom and a muffled cannon signalled she had taken line honours in the 2001 Rolex Fastnet Race. The carbon fibre black super maxi with its slate grey sails had made painfully slow progress in the last few hours as the wind in the English Channel died. Her elapsed time for the 608 miles was 2 days 10 hrs 58 mins 58 secs, over five hours outside the record after it took six hours to complete the last 10 to 12 miles according to watch leader Paul Standbridge

In the end the handicap prize could not have gone to a more worthy winner. This was the 20th Fastnet Race for Piet Vroon, the Dutch skipper of the blue hulled Lutra 52 Tonnerre de Breskens who was to take both Rolex Yachtmaster Chronometers and the Fastnet Challenge Trophy under IRC rating as well as the IRM prize, the Fastnet Rock Trophy. "We had a very experienced crew whose combined number of completed Fastnets totals over 80," commented Vroon. "Long races are always tough especially in wet weather conditions, but this year has been fairly uneventful because we didn't break anything and we've had an exceptionally good crew." He added that Tonnerre de Breskens revels in tough upwind offshore conditions - exactly what the boats experienced this time round.

3. One of the prettiest boats to build in Bill Happel's DataBoat files is the Challenger 13 by Dudley Dix Yacht Designs. The complete plans are US$40.00. With 200 hours of labour and no more than US$500 for the best hardwoods and other materials you've got a beautiful boat that will give you years of pleasure and pride. Try the Classic Dinghy building project to develop a great quality time project for Dad with Junior's help or a practical project during the winter. If you've got repairs to be made or a line-up of enhancements you want to add to your boat purchase some boat building books online. He keeps simple things simple and makes hard things easy. That's hard to find these days.