Our Australian skipper Mark McRae, with four crew, recently delivered the Open 85 ‘Trading Network Alye Parusa’ from Albany through Bass Strait and the Tasman Sea to Auckland, New Zealand. The all Australian crew of 5: Mark McRae, George Beres, Ted North, Harald Federson, Tom Whitaker had a mixed bag of weather ranging from 0 knots calms to 65+ knot storms and 10-12 meters waves.
After completing the inaugural the Antarctica Cup Ocean Race www.antarcticacup.com/ which finished on the 07th May 2008, the Russian maxi yacht wintered in Albany on a mooring in Princess Royal Harbour. During the ACOR sailing event Fedor Konyukhov circumnavigated Antarctica from west to east within the corridor 45 South – 60 South. Fedor sailed a distance of 16,500 nautical miles (30,558 kilometres) Albany – Albany, non-stop, single-handed.
From May to September Mark McRae took care of the boat in Albany and did a great job. The boat was very well looked after and was always safe even in 50+ knots squalls blowing across Princess Royal Harbor.
 On the 09th October the boat was out of the water at Roe Marine shipyard in Auckland for new antifouling and servicing of the ballast system. Also a new set of sails is currently being built by North Sails France with the cooperation of North Sails New Zealand. Mark submitted a work list to the shipyard which consists of 20+ service/replacement items. The last time the boat had a major refit was at Pendennis Shipyard UK during the summer of 2007. After that Fedor Konyukhov made a half way round the world delivery from UK to Albany in Western Australia covering 15.000 n/miles, the Antarctica Cup Ocean Race added a further 16.500 n/miles, and the delivery to Auckland a further 3,500 n/miles. All up the boat has sailed 35,000 n/miles between refits. Even the 3,500 n/miles from Albany to Auckland was not champagne sailing for Mark and his crew. The boat has worked hard in the Southern Ocean conditions for many months and deserves proper attention
By 01 of December all jobs must be completed and Mark will sail the boat to Sydney to take part in The Rolex Sydney- Hobart Race 2008. The boat is an official Russian entrant for this race. The crew will be international with 9 Russian sailors and 3 Australian sailors. Mark will be skippering the boat. This is will be the first Sydney – Hobart experience for the Russian crew.
Another Russian crew of 9, together with Fedor Konyukhov, is coming to Hobart by 03 of January 2009 to sail the Hobart – Cape Horn – Falkland’s Islands leg as a part of the training course for participation in the next Antarctica Cup Ocean Race scheduled for January 2010. Fedor Konyukhov will be leading a Russian crew of 4 and Mark McRae will be watch captain for the Australian crew of 4. Total there are will be 10 crew on board for the Antarctica Cup 2010 fully crewed campaign.
We also received an invitation from Bob Williams to participate in the inaugural ‘Great Australia Ocean Race’ starting in Albany in April 2009 – www.ozirace.com/. This is a 6,750 n/mile race around the great coastline of Australia heading east out of Albany and taking boats from the frigid southern waters to the tropical north of Australia and back to Albany.
 As a Russian yacht we are supposed to sail in the Baltic Sea but the Southern Ocean is a great platform for unique sailing projects. We have a proven relationship with Bob Williams – the Chairman of Antarctica Cup Management Pty Ltd and organizer of both the Antarctica Cup Ocean Race event and the new ‘Ozirace’. These events present great challenges and attractions to Fedor Konyukhov who would like to share his experience with young Russian and Australian sailors and let them see for themselves the power and beauty of the ‘Deep South’ so many times described by Fedor in Sat-C messages from the boat during the inaugural Antarctica Cup Ocean Race.
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