Welcome, friends, to YachtPals!

With Canada Day today in the Great White (or Wet) North, Independence Day drawing near in the US, and waterfront festivals taking place across the Northern Hemisphere, boat parades, cruising raft-ups, sailing festivals and other semi-organized boating events will be drawing crowds over the next several weeks. Among these, one of the most spectacular on-the-water activities for recreational boaters has got to be gathering on the water for local fireworks displays.  There's just nothing quite like seeing the show from on deck, and it's something to be experienced.

It's over! 37,000 miles in 10 legs over 9 months.  The Volvo Ocean Race has run its course, and the crews are, in a word, exhausted.  Ending up like one long war with 10 well-defined battles, the competition in this Volvo Ocean Race was extraordinary, with every leg a tactical sprint to the finish, and every finish showing how closely matched these teams have been.  After all is said and done, it is the team on Ericsson 4, with Torben Grael as skipper, who took the top of the podium.

Sardinia - Farr 40 sailboats from around the world were to be found in Sardinia this weekend, sailing off the second largest island in the Mediterranean at the Farr 40 World Championship. Sardinia is known for its beautiful scenery and wonderful sailing conditions, and although the seas were lumpy for the Farr 40 crews, the conditions did not disappoint, and the sailors were able to test themselves and their one-design boats to the limit as they raced the island's waters. In the end it was Barking Mad, a sailboat from the USA, that took the overall win, while the Italians on Nerone had to settle for second place.

40 nearly identical Farr 40 sailboats raced over four days off Porto Cervo, in the Costa Smeralda area of Sardinia. The sailing teams, each made up of

Rhode Island - "Varying conditions" might be the best way to describe this year's Block Island Race Week, a popular sailing event on the tiny island in Rhode Island.  The 153 sailboats and 1500 sailors who made up the fleet experienced everything from the wild, wet and windy first races, to race-stopping calms later in the week, trying the skills of each boat's crew as they were forced to adapt, and rewarding those who could with podium places in 17 different divisions.

Mauritius - Well Yachtpals, the excitement has been mounting to fever pitch all week, as the first of the rowing fleet made their final approaches to Mauritius.  On Thursday 25 June at 1908 local time, the out-of-class record breaking boat, Aud Eamus, with 8 rowers onboard, made it across the finish line and safely into Grand Baie Yacht Club after 58 days, 15 hours and 8 minutes at sea. Having started off 10 days after the racing fleet, Aud Eamus becomes the fastest row boat to cross from Geraldton, Western Australia to Mauritus, and the first 8-person boat over the same distance and route, breaking a 38 year old rowing record for crossing the Indian Ocean.