Posts Tagged ‘France’

We woke today as night was turning to day and for some strange reason balloons was our first thought. Where that had come from is anyone’s guess, maybe something we had dreamed – but not wanting to let go we thought some research was required which we are pleased to share with you below – we trust it is not all hot air!

There is little dispute about the date of the first balloon flight in Europe, that was in 1709 in Lisbon when Portuguese inventor Bartolomeu de Gusmao managed to raise a balloon some 4.5 metres from the ground in front of the king and his court. There is some speculation that the Nazcan culture of Peru may have used balloons to map out the Nazca ground figures and lines and that could have been as much as 2,000 years ago and certainly the Chinese were using hot air balloons for signalling purposes during military operations around 2,000 years ago.

But it was the French who first put a man in a panier and raised the balloon from the ground. In the latter part of the eighteenth century the Montgolfier brothers from Annonay, near Lyon in south eastern France, as paper mill owners were trying to float bags filled with hot air.

In 1783 the brothers demonstrated their invention using animals as the test pilots in front of the French court at Versailles and later that year the first untethered flight carrying Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes.

Since then ballooning has come a long way but it was not until the 1950s that the modern era of ballooning really took off and perhaps not surprisingly as a result of military requirements. An American called Ed Yost pioneered the on board heat source after spending years working with the military in western Germany where balloons were being used to drop propaganda on the eastern block. With the introduction of propane gas Yost succeeded in staying aloft for 35 minutes at an altitude of 600 feet at his test site at Bruning in Nebraska.

In April 1963 Yost and his co pilot Don Piccard made the first successful flight across the English Channel. Yost was most uncomplimentary toward his co pilot who jumped out of the basket when nearing the ground. After being arrested by the French authorities a banquet was organised by the local marie and they were hailed as heroes. This was the beginning of recreational ballooning.

In 1973 Yost was contacted by Malcolm Forbes to build a balloon which would fly across the American continent. Although not initially interested Forbes and Yost did eventually take off from Oregon and finally ditched their balloon in Chesapeake Bay.

We shall look at where you can go ballooning around the world over the next few days – there is no doubt about the fact that you get a very different perspective of the world we inhabit as you float by in your basket as you can see in this great video from hotskies.

Now you can see that a lot of hot air is involved and you will have plenty to talk about when you get home having seen the patchwork of fields and streets as you float through the air!!

The main protagonists have just crossed under the Oresund Bridge which you can see below. It is the bridge that runs between Denmark and Sweden and marks the entry to the Baltic Sea. The inaugural Vendee St. Petersburg race for 50 foot multihulls started on Sunday from Saint-Gilles Croix de Vie, in Vendée, on France’s Atlantic coast with the first leg finishing in St. Petersburg, Russia. And there was little more than a frog’s pubic hair, split down the middle and sanded on both sides to separate Franck Yves Escoffier’s Crepes Whaou 3 from Yves le Blevec’s Actual.

The Oresund Bridge which links Denmark with Sweden - photo courtesy of www.wonderfulinfo.com

They still have about 550 miles of the Baltic to cross but unless there is a major upset, victory is now within the grasp of one of the two frontrunners.

The class rules for the Multi50 were drawn up to limit the cost of constructing and maintaining boats, while leaving enough room for designers and sailors to work their magic.

- Maximum length: 15.24 metres (50 feet)
- Maximum beam: 15.24 metres
- Maximum air draught: 23.77 metres
- Canting masts are forbidden
- Six sails on board including a storm sail and a mainsail
- It is forbidden to use certain expensive materials like titanium.
The use of carbon is also limited for some parts.

The winner should arrive within the next 2 days and then it will be a matter of waiting for the stragglers before the return leg from St Petersburg toSaint-Gilles Croix de Vie starts. It is estimated the multihulls will be back in Vendee on June 4th or 5th.

For further information go to the race website which can be found using this linkhttp://www.vendee-saintpetersbourg.org/en/news/headlines.html

A new race reserved for Multi 50s has been created: the Vendée Saint-Petersburg. The first edition of the race is due to start from Saint Gilles Croix-de-Vie on 16th May with a total distance there and back of 3790 miles. Nine crews will be lining up at the start, including two of the latest racing machines in the class: Actual and Crepes Whaou !

The new race forms part of the celebrations of 2010 France – Russia, aimed at restoring and building  the historic links between Russia and France, and to set up cultural, scientific, economic and sports projects between the two countries.

Below is Franck-Yves Escoffier’s Crepes Whaou – photo courtesy of www.vendee.fr

While most races see the competitors heading off to the west to cross the Atlantic, Vendée has come up with a new route for the Multi 50s, (50-foot trimarans), with the Atlantic, the English Channel, the North Sea and the Baltic ahead of them. In all, the race will cover the territorial waters of 14 countries before they finish in Saint-Petersburg in Russia on around 20th May 2010.

The best boats like Franck-Yves Escoffier’s new Crêpes Whaou ! and Yves le Blevec’s Actual could complete the first stage of the race in less than five days at an average speed of 16 knots. The race will be holding a stopover for around ten days in Russia, before the start of the return leg on 31st May 2010, with the finish forecast in the port of Saint-Gilles Croix de Vie around 4th June 2010.

Sunday 30th May is a date to remember: It marks the anniversary of the founding of Saint-Petersburg by Tsar Peter 1st, and the Multi 50s will carry out a parade on the Neva, under the windows of the famous Hermitage museum.

The other original feature of this race between Vendée/Saint-Petersburg is that it will be raced with a crew of three sailors, and the members of the crew can switch over between the two legs.

Nine Multi 50 crews have signed up for the first edition of the Vendée/Saint-Petersburg. Alongside Yves Le Blevec (Actual) and Franck-Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou !), there will be Hervé Cléris (CLM), Erwan Leroux (Fenêtréa-Cardinal), Anne Caseneuve (Croisières Anne Caseneuve), Etienne Hochédé (PIR2), Philippe Laperche (Gamin), Lalou Roucayrol (Région Aquitaine-Port Médoc) and Loic Fequet (Crepes Whaou’s second boat).

The race is due to take place every four years alternating with the Vendée Globe and is sure to generate great interest amongst sailing enthusiasts and the public alike – there is nothing like watching these extreme sail boats powering across the water at speeds of up to 50 knots. The video comes from Whaou56 and shows their trimaran in action – awesome!

It started at the Winter X games in 1998 but has been introduced as a medal event for the first time at Whistler – hot on the heels of snowboard cross which made its debut at Turin four years ago. But why is this newcomer generating so much attention

Ski Cross, or Ski X as it is often written, is a race on skis between four skiers on a man made course which includes twists, turns and spectacular jumps. The race lasts about a minute and then its all over. But the frequency of crashes draws attention – it is good TV viewing with non stop action.

The video below from WorldSportTV explains what it is all about and features the French champion Ophelie David who will be competing at Whistler, Karin Huttary, a former X Games champion from Austria and Enak Gavaggio of France.

A Ski Cross Course needs to meet requirements specified by the FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski) rules. There are men’s and women’s events and both use the same course. Athletes will have to race the course many times during the event.

The course is constructed of obstacles such as traverses, flats, rolls, banks, moguls, and jumps of various heights and difficulties, all connected with turns.

• Length: 800 to 1200 m
• Vertical Drop: 150 to 250 m
• Turns: 50% of the course must be turns of varying size and speeds between the other obstacles.
• Features: 25% of the course must be traverses, moguls, banks etc.
• Jumps: 25% of the course will be jumps 1 to 4 m high.

The excitement is immediate as all four racers start at the same time with racers spending as much as 25% of the race airborne whilst travelling at speeds of up to 65 mph and all the time there is the threat of a wipe out which can be your own fault or you may be taken out by your fellow racers.

After a timed qualification round the qualifiers race in knock out heats head to head with the first and second proceeding to the next round. When there are just 8 racers left there is what is termed ‘the small final’ to determine positions 5 to 8 inclusive and there is the ‘big final’ which determines positions 1 to 4 and therefore, in the case of the Olympics, the gold, silver and bronze medals.

Competitors are not allowed to push or trip or commit any foul play and can be disqualified from the competition if this happens.

The men’s final was held on Sunday and the winner was Switzerland’s Michael Schmid ahead of Andreas Matt of Austria who captured silver and Audun Grønvold of Norway won the bronze medal.

The ladies take to the hill today so do not miss any of the action, one of the favourites will be Ophelie David. Here she is winning the world championship held in Madonna di Campiglio in Italy in 2007. Thanks to sportsnetwork for the video and good luck Ophelie!

Don’t miss the action later today.

After months and months of wrangling in the US courts it’s not the barristers or the bickerings of the billionaires that is delaying the start of the first leg of the America’s Cup – no and you guessed it – it is the weather. The three race series was supposed to have started on Monday but there was no wind. It was then scheduled for Wednesday but there was too much wind and the waves were too big.

Alinghi V and USA 17 are in Valencia, Spain – ready and waiting to race – photo courtesy of George Johns – Alinghi

The racing is now scheduled to start tomorrow – weather permitting – and will consist of possibly 3 races – the third race only being necessary if both boats win one of the first legs.

The 33rd America’s Cup is a Deed of Gift Match to be decided over the three races across two course types. Races 1 and 3 will be contested over a simple upwind-downwind loop totalling 40 miles, whilst Race 2 will be 39 miles long and around an equilateral triangle course comprising a 13 mile beat and two 13 miles reaches.

Of course we know there are only two contestants – the defender Alinghi V is racing under the ‘colours’ of the Societe Nautique de Geneve and is financed by the billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli – the challenger is  USA 17 which is financed by Larry Ellison of Oracle fame and BMW under the ‘colours’ of the Golden Gate Yacht Club.

Both these men are very determined and the stories that swirl around about both protagonists if printed would no doubt land us with a summons to court – so litigious have they become. What we can say is that what we would rather see is a mutual consent event with teams from other countries such as New Zealand, Great Britain, Italy, France and Australia making entries.

As a Deed of Gift Match it has come down to two mega rich individuals who are behaving in a spoilt manner and we believe this is detracting from the charm of the sport’s oldest event.

Ernesto Bertarelli – photo courtesy of Ivo Rovira – Alinghi

Larry Ellison – photo courtesy of Bay Area Sports Guy

Of course the boats have been in Valencia for a while now and not surprisingly there have been some sharp lenses out on the water watching the action. Even if you disagree with the Deed of Gift Match format you will have to agree that the action is going to be very exciting – just imagine the jostling for position at the start line – the boats will hear a 6 minute warning before crossing the start line and then going hell for leather. All 90 feet of them attaining speeds in excess of 30 knots – wow it will be fun to watch.

All we can say is good luck to both teams, we hope there are no accidents and for goodness sake get on with the racing – at the end of the day it is only a sports event.

The action showing both boats in action comes from SailingNewsTV

We did manage a day in the Alpes Maritimes at Isola 2000 last week – it was good to be back on skis – but…………well OK, we were spoilt last year when we were blessed with 3 metres of snow and so it was rather disappointing to find like only 50cms. It did however snow hard in the afternoon and so skiing for amateurs such as ourselves was none too easy.

We were looking at YouTube and found some evidence that we thought we should share – firstly this excellent compilation on how skiing is practised by the very best at their chosen sport – when skiing last week it would have been useful to have had just some of the skills that these guys are blessed with – respect!

Thanks to thesnowfiles for the video

Yes rather impressive you must admit – but, and there is always a but, the following video from roggezzinho demonstrates what can happen when you get it wrong – something we were so close to doing as the snow fell last week, visibility was reduced to zip – oh no it was not a good idea. Thankfully we survived as did the guy in the video.

And of course in researching for this blog we found another video from thesnowfiles which further shows the very terrible consequences of getting a bad line when out and about in the mountains………………………please be careful….but have fun.