Its hard to believe we are almost half way through December and the Hot Pink Inflatable PFD is starting to show up in stores! Danielle from The Harbour Chandler was happy to model hers for us. A list of dealers that have or will be offering it can be found on our website. If there’s someone on your shopping list who this would be perfect for, there could still be time to put one under the tree!

One of the really interesting people we sponsor is Derek Hatfield, skipper of the Spirit of Canada Open 60. Derek’s goal is to represent Canada in the Vendée Globe 2008 sailing solo around the world. Right now he is racing the solo 2007 Transat Ecover-BtoB, a transatlantic sailing race between Salvador de Bahia (Brasil) and Port-La-Forêt (Finistere, Brittany).

Derek is sending us daily updates and today we’ll start sharing those with you. To set the scene they have been hit with some really intense weather which is putting all the entrants to the test. You can hear an interview with CBC Radio on December 5th about some of the challenges he is facing.

Seeing all of the damage reports coming in from the fleet after the upwind pounding we were getting, I was hoping to get away with little damage. But, just as the wind started to weaken, disaster struck this morning when I discovered the outer forestay very loose. Upon checking the fore peak and assuming a pin had come out of the hydraulic tensioner, I discovered the compartment full of hydraulic oil from the cylinder. I’m assuming the hose has ruptured due to the pounding away in the front of the boat. I’ve taken the genoa forestay down and stowed it away for the rest of the race as this is something I cannot fix during the race. It’s very disappointing at this point to be hampered without the genoa but unless something else happens, we should be able to finish the race without a problem, just a little slower than anticipated. The goal is to qualify for the Vendee Globe and that’s what we aim to do.

Otherwise it a great sunny day outside and the waves have subsided to the point that the boat doesn’t bang anymore.

I’m really excited to be at the Annapolis Sailboat Show this week and not just because I am out of the office and have left rainy cold weather in Vancouver for the sunny and hot weather of the east coast. There are some beautiful new boats on the water and great new products to check out. And at the Mustang booth we had something new to launch as well – a limited edition Hot Pink Inflatable PFD! Kate from Fawcett Boat Supplies offered to be our model during the show.

We knew from the reaction to the Team FisherGirl PFDs there would be a lot of interest in them. Right from the time the show opened there was a lot of interest and this lady was our first customer who I convinced to let us take a picture with our rep Chris.

Over the next few days I’m looking forward to meeting more Mustang customers, some of the sailing media that I’ve worked with and haven’t met yet and look at some of the new boats on the water.

Talk about a challenge. Derek Hatfield, skipper of the Spirit of Canada Ocean Challenges Team are getting ready to compete on the world stage and be the first to fly the Canadian flag in the Vendée Globe solo race around the world. Now that’s a challenge! Derek’s will be racing in the Open 60 Spirit of Canada race boat and will be taking along our best off shore gear, including an Ocean Commander.

The IMOCA (International Monohull Open Class Association) requires every Open 60 prove that its self–righting and built to the design specifications. This critical test requires that the boat be self righting without any outside assistance. This test was completed last month. Derek was actually inside the boat with hatches closed while the boat is turned upside down in the water with a crane. Check out this video.