OUTTERIDGE IS NACRA 17 PRESIDENT
Australian sailor and gold medalist Nathan Outteridge has been appointed interim President of the International Nacra 17 Class Association. He takes over from Marcus Spillane (IRL) who was recently elected as Vice President of World Sailing.
Nathan is a multiple Youth World Champion, 49er Class gold and silver medalist, Moth Class World Champion, America’s Cup helmsman and current helmsman of Sailgp Team Japan. He also campaigned for the Tokyo Olympics in the Nacra 17, twice finishing second at the World Championships, but was not selected to the Tokyo Olympic team by Australia.
Tokyo will be the Nacra 17’s second Olympic cycle. Nathan’s primary focus will be to improve safety through better maintenance practices, preparation at regattas and testing of design features.
The Nacra 17 Class remains compelling viewing for Olympic fans, with dynamic racing and high speeds in foiling catamarans. It was one of the first Olympic classes to showcase mixed gender crews competing together and this has since been embraced by the IOC, leading to many more mixed events on the Olympic slate.
AGerman research icebreaker has returned home after drifting 3,400km locked in Arctic ice – all part of a study to gain new information about the earth’s climate. The RV Polarstern is back in Bremerhaven, the end of a voyage known as the ‘Mosaic’ expedition to research the climate system in the central Arctic. She left Tromsø, Norway, on September 20 last year. Mosaic is short for Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate.
Orchestrated by Bremerhaven’s Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), hundreds of scientists from 20 countries took part in the initiative, swapping places over the duration of the voyage. More than 80 research institutes were involved.
Researchers were able to collect data about sea ice, the ocean, ecosystems and biogeochemistry at temperatures as low as minus 42.3o Celsius. Seven icebreakers and research ships were used to replenish supplies and allow personnel changes.