5 reasons adventure sports fans love Egypt

Mark Pawlak    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts, ash, kiteboardingholidays, snowkitingholidays     Adventure Sports, extreme sports, kitesurfers, multi-activity-holidays, watersports

Unrest in Egypt remains top of the news agenda, still it’s a country favoured by the extreme sports and adventure sports community, and as soon as the political temperature falls, they’ll be back.

Here’s why:

It’s great for kitesurfers. Sea temperatures rarely fall below 18C, conditions remain excellent for all standards, and destinations are really well developed.

Kitesurfing on Egypt's flat waters

It’s a scuba fans dream. While all we are seeing above the surface is drama, under the water Egypt has some of the best dive spots in the world. As well as a collection of reefs, there are submarine canyons and the submerged wreck of the SS Thistlegorm to discover.

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New yacht fleet for Clipper race

Ian K    sailingbreaks, Tribe Sailing Blogs     Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, Sailing, yacht, Yachting

A brand new fleet of twelve 70-foot racing yachts has been announced for the 2013-14 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

Sir Robin Knox Johnston will be celebrating 15 years at the top of global yacht racing events with the announcement, which heralds the third generation of Clipper racing yachts.

Photo from Flickr user: Eric The Fish (2010)

He said: “Racing around the world still remains one of life’s great challenges and I’m extremely proud to have witnessed over the past 15 years how the Clipper Race has changed people’s lives and turned almost 3,000 sailing novices into experienced ocean racers.”

Naval architect Tony Castro’s Clipper 70 will be built in China and fitted out in the UK. His design is believed to be perfectly suited for this kind of gruelling sailing event.

The Clipper fleet will increase from 10 to 12 yachts and retain an option for a further four. The new yachts will also have an increased crew capacity of 22, up from 20.

Among the new features are twin rudders, twin helms and a six-foot bowsprit, allowing the inclusion of the huge Code Zero sail to complement the Yankee headsails, staysail and the main.

This new sail will improve the performance during light airs, delivering higher daily average speeds across the 40,000-mile race. The mainsail will be set from a 92-foot mast and have three reefing points.

Rallying call for Biograd boat show

Ian K    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts, New Sailing Holiday Ideas, Sailing Holidays Talk, sailingbreaks, Tribe Sailing Blogs     Biograd, Biograd Boat and Charter Show, Croatia, Croatia Boat Show, Europe, Sailing, Split, Yachting

Boat beginners and experts alike have been urged to book early for a sailing extravaganza being held in Croatia later this year.

Sailing in Croatia will be under the microscope at the Biograd Boat and Charter Show, which runs between October 20 and 23 at the Adriatic Sea resort.

A number of stage lectures are planned for during the day at the event, with experts imparting their knowledge on the nautical world to those eager to learn to sail more efficiently for leisure or competition purposes.

Photo from Flickr user: Tim*A

The city of Biograd will also host a number of activities, concerts and performances in the evenings to keep delegates entertained once the serious boating business has been concluded for the day.

The Biograd event is the second major boating show being hosted in the country this year after the Croatia Boat Show, which is taking place in Split and starts on April 12.

BMW ends Oracle sponsorship deal

Ian K    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts, sailingbreaks     america's cup, bmw, oracle racing, racing, Sailing, Yachting

BMW has announced that it is to end its long-standing partnership with Oracle Racing and therefore its involvement in the America’s Cup at the end of the year.

Backed by the German car manufacturer, Oracle won the coveted yachting race, one of the most prestigious sailing events in the world, by beating holders Alinghi in the final in Valencia in February.

Photo from Flickr user: chatani

“On the design and engineering front, BMW engineers set new benchmarks in terms of intelligent lightweight design,” said Ralf Hussmann, BMW’s sports marketing and brand cooperation general manager.

“In winning the 33rd America’s Cup, we achieved all of our ambitious goals. We will continue to be involved in the sport on a national level.”

Russell Coutts, chief executive of BMW Oracle Racing, added: “The America’s Cup combines a technological challenge with a sporting one and success is measured by the result on the race course.

“In that sense, both the team and BMW are proud that our collaboration resulted in victory.”

Training for ski fitness – expert tips from Olympic physio

Mark Pawlak    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts, ash, bestskiholidays, Our Experts     Freestyle skiing, physiotherapy, ski, ski holidays, ski training, Skiing, winter sports

With everyone making the most of their winter ski holidays, we’re having a look at ski training with the help of former Canadian Olympic ski team physio, Carl Petersen.

We know that on-slope activities can pose a high risk of injury if time isn’t taken to train in advance. And with more people on the slopes, the risk of collision is higher and snow conditions can become more icy.

Photo from Flickr user: plusgood

During the winter season, Carl estimates that two out of every ten patients he sees will be suffering from some slope-side injury. The most common ski injuries are knee ligament sprains of the medial collateral or anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

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