A humanitarian project has delivered
Christmas presents to children in
Dominica who have been affected by the
recent hurricanes in the Caribbean.
The Christmas Boats project was
organised out of Antigua by British
sailor Tim Pyne, using old sail bags to
create sacks of presents for hundreds
of children. The project was inundated
with donations raised during the
Antigua Charter Yacht Show, as well
as contributions from the superyacht
community and Antiguans.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from the
island of Antigua,” said Pyne, “as there
are quite strong links between AntiguaBoats deliver Christmas
gifts to hurricane children
and Dominica.” He said that presents
for about 1,000 children have been
donated, including toys and dolls for
children whose schools and homes were
devastated by the hurricanes.
“The response has been really brilliant
and we’ve had all the sailmakers in
Antigua digging out old sail bags to use
as sacks,” he added.
Pyne made the first delivery
from Antigua to Dominica in
mid-December on his 43ft catamaran,
with further deliveries planned by
other sailors making the trip and
working in conjunction with the
SeaMercy organisation.Brunel’s high-flyers
That tiny dot in the sky is pro kiteboarder Nick Jacobsen,
who teamed up with Volvo Ocean Race team Brunel to set a
new ‘tow-up’ world record on 6 December.
The Danish kiteboarder was towed behind the VO65 to
soar to a dizzying height of 277m above Table Bay, Cape
Town, during the Volvo Ocean Race stopover – more than
30m higher than the previous record, which was set behind
a speedboat (for comparison, Alex Thomson’s famous
skywalk, where he towed up behind his IMOCA 60, reached
a comparatively modest 85m!).
Team Brunel sailor Kyle Langford, who is a fellow
kitesurfing fanatic, controlled an 800m line on a winch
that connected Jacobsen to the boat. After reaching the
maximum length the line was disconnected and Jacobsen
controlled his descent back down to the water, which took
66 seconds.
Ydwer van der HeideManuel Jean-Francois / Alamy
18 February 2018