Round the Island Race

The JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, organised by the Island Sailing Club, will take place on Saturday 20 June with a total entry of 1,779 boats.

Professional and Olympic sailors line up with family cruisers, sportsboats, classic yachts and one designs, in Britain's most popular sailing area. Top of the ratings IRC0 is headed by current race record holder Mike Slade's 30m super maxi ICAP Leopard. The crew comprises Volvo Ocean Race, America's Cup and Admiral's Cup sailors headed by Mike Slade's professional boat captain of 18 years, Chris Sherlock.Tony Todd's Performance Yachts 100 Liara is the new kid on the block. Built by Southern Ocean Marine to a Dixon Yacht Design, she was launched in New Zealand in February 2009. Skipper Ross Appleby, a graduate from Southampton University, has taken Tony Todd's previous yachts to success in the ARC, Guadeloupe to Antigua Race and Nelson's Pursuit Race. Given Liara's 5m draft, Ross will be denied some traditional tide cheating manoeuvres, presenting an interesting challenge. On handicap, ICAP Leopard is rated 25% higher than Liara, so if Leopard finishes the race in four hours Liara can finish in five and still beat her.

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WESMAR Bow Thruster on Oil Support Vessel

WESMAR (Western Marine Electronics) of Woodinville, Wa. has announced the installation of their ABS design approved bow thruster for dynamic positioning on the 175 ft FSV Gulf Fury, the newest and fastest oil support vessel for Gulf Fleet of Lafayette, Louisiana. Gulf Fury, joins a fleet of 17 other Gulf Fleet vessels.

“She is our first total ABS classed DPS-1 vessel. With this classification and with WESMAR’s V2-20 ABS design approved bow thruster, the Gulf Fury is viewed highly in the industry, creating opportunities for us around the world,” said Ryan Pecoraro, Technical Engineer and Project Manager for Gulf Fleet. Gulf Fury was built for deep water offshore work around platforms that are not attached to the sea bottom, traveling back and forth doing crew changes and carrying cargo for the rigs, 24 hours a day/7 days a week. This work requires close maneuvering in adverse conditions, and holding the boat true, and this is where the WESMAR bow thruster is of great value, says Pecoraro.

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Analysis: Diamond Offshore's Fleet & Focus

A strong competitor in the offshore rig market, Diamond Offshore currently offers 45 offshore rigs, making it the fourth largest fleet of competitive offshore rigs.

Of its total fleet, 14 are jackups, 30 are semisubmersibles and one is a drillship. Currently, Diamond has approximately 90% of its rig fleet contracted, and in June 2009 alone, the total revenue generated by contracted rigs exceeded $320,000,000. The majority of Diamond's rig fleet is currently performing drilling operations. In fact, 34 rigs are presently drilling, and three are performing workover operations. One is waiting on location, one is undergoing inspection, one is being modified, and one is en route to a new location. Four rigs are ready-stacked at this time.

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NYK and Kawasaki to build and lease drillships

Japan: NYK and Kawasaki have signed an agreement to jointly lease deepsea drillships in Brazil.

The two companies, along with Mitsui, have placed a major order with a South Korean builder for a vessel with offshore exploration capabilities and the ability to drill in water depths of up to 3,000 metres. According to The Nikkei, NYK and Kawasaki plan to build the vessel and lease it to Brazilian state-owned offshore giant Petrobras until 2012. Petrobras, which had plans to spend US$28 billion over five years on offshore oil exploration, has been having financial difficulties since the onslaught of the credit crunch. Many foreign countries, especially China, have since voiced interest in acquiring rights to the large oilfield which was discovered off the Brazilian coast last year.

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Grand China Logistics places largest shipbuilding order

Ningbo: Zhoushan Jinhaiwan Shipyard has secured a bumper order for 30 bulkers from fast emerging Grand China Logistics, one of the largest single orders placed in China of all time.

Broken down, the vessels in the order were made up of 18 176,000-dwt Capesizes and 12 80,000-dwt Panamaxes. With a total contract price of above $2 billion, the newbuildings are scheduled to be delivered between the third quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2012. Further, Grand China will invest in Zhoushan Jinhaiwan by acquiring 50% of the yard's stakes, according to the Kaiji Press.

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