Blue Cup Regatta documentary

Athens Greece - 2009 Blue Cup Regatta.... the year after the Passage Yachts team attended this great race/party. This is a great video documentary of the event and the passion for sailing that surrounds it. Notice the fleet of Beneteau Yachts too!

click: Blue Cup Regatta - In Pursuit of Passion

Seminars & Sails: Sunday May 2

Please Join us for our Summer Seminar and Sailing Series

      Join us on Sunday, May 2, for the first seminar in our series of summer seminars. Each month we'll feature one or two seminars on a variety of topics.  In addition, we will host sailboat rides for women who are not interested in the seminar topics but want to join in the enjoyment and learning about boating (sailing is for women only!).  

   This month's featured speakers:

Scott Koehler: Senior Master Mechanic from Svendsen's Marine: This is a hands on seminar of basic repairs and services to a diesel engine. The information you'll learn here will help you in understanding the necessary maintenance of a marine engine and give you valuable information in case of an on the water emergency.

 

 Kimmie Haworth: Columnist at Yachtman's Magazine, TV Producer: Kimmie has been writing on the bay and delta for years and is an expert on where to go and what to do on your boat in our local area. She is full of local knowledge and is entertaining as well!

 

Event Hours:

11:00 AM:  Engine Seminar

1:00 PM: Cruising the Bay & Delta Seminar

Location:
Passage Yachts

Pt. Richmond

These seminars pack the house so please reserve a chair so you won't be disappointed!

 
Hope to see you there! 

The Crew at Passage Yachts, Inc.
 

BMW ORACLE Racing to bring America’s Cup to Strictly Sail Pacific

The America’s Cup Comes to Strictly Sail Pacific!

West Coast sailors and the public are in for a treat as the celebrated BMW ORACLE Racing Team, winners of the America’s Cup, comes to Jack London Square on Thursday, April 15 as part of America’s Cup Day at Strictly Sail Pacific!

COME SEE THE CUP!

Don’t miss this phenomenal opportunity to view The America’s Cup! It will be proudly showcased and on public display from noon until 6 pm on Thursday, April 15.

COME MEET THE RACING TEAM!

The BMW ORACLE Racing Team will make a FREE presentation from 6 to 7 pm! The event includes sailing and design team members in an open and interactive Q&A session. See video highlights from the team show during its winning campaign for the 33rd America’s Cup.

Strictly Sail Pacific Show At a Glance

Location
On San Francisco Bay at Jack London Square in Oakland, California. Just across the Bay from downtown San Francisco, with easy access from around the Bay Area by ferry, BART or bus.

Hours

Thursday and Friday, April 15 – 16:	10 am – 6 pm
Saturday, April 17:	10 am – 7 pm
Sunday, April 18:	10 am – 5 pm

                                      

Admission
$12 – Thursday and Friday (Adults)
$15 – Saturday and Sunday (Adults)
$24 – Two-Day Adult Pass
$40 – Four-Day Pass (Available Online Only)
FREE – Children 15 years and under (when accompanied by a paid adult)

Advance ticket purchases available. Buy Tickets Now!

See You at the Show!

http://www.strictlysailpacific.com/shows/pacific.asp?show=pa

So do you want to cruise your racer or race your cruiser?

When you have a Beneteau, new or old, maybe the lines are blurred.

In the recent Banderas Bay Regatta (Click here to check out the race website) that took place in Puerto Vallarta March 16 – 20 some 58 boats were competing in the 2 multihull and 5 monohull classes.

These are primarily cruising boats that have made their way down the California and Baja Coasts to enjoy a winter of fabulous sailing in Mexico. By no means are they stripped out racers, but boats that sport solar panels, dinghy davits and all kind of cruising gear.

This year was a great year for anyone bringing a Beneteau to the regatta.

Here are the top boats in the mono hull classes:

DIVISION A: The hard core racing division was won by Cirque, a 13 year old Bruce Farr designed Beneteau First 42s7 skippered by Louis Krug, who has been cruising Mexico for the last several seasons.

DIVISION D: The ‘light’ racing division was won by Wind Child, a Beneteau First 36.7 that did the Bajaha last fall. Another Bruce Farr Design skippered by Rudy Heessels - still a current production boat - narrowly beat out a 20 year old Beneteau First 405!

DIVISION E: The medium displacement division did not have any Beneteau’s in the line up, so honors went to a boat build by the Groupe Benetaus sister company, a Jeanneau 43DS.

DIVISION F: The heavy division saw a boat that must be close to 25 years old, Bolero a Beneteau Idylle 43, walk away a 1^ST place. Bolero had nothing but bullets in the entire regatta! Great job by Thom and Cheryl Landgreen.

DIVISION G: Won by Music, a 2009 Beneteau 40 that we just commissioned last summer. Music also did the Bajaha ’09 and have been cruising Mexico since. Co-skippers Jan Grant and Rick Gio had a great time sliding down the Baha Peninsula and stayed out when a majority of the Bajaha fleet sought shelter the first night out of San Diego.

We are currently doing the final preparations to our Beneteau First 42s7, TIVOLI, to leave for Mexico in the fall of 2010 on an extended cruise: watermaker, solar panels, wind generator, canvas, SSB, big anchors with lots of chain……….next year we will be competing at Banderas Bay.

If you want to discuss how to make your boat ready for the Bay, Ocean or the ’11 Banderas Bay Regatta I will be happy to chat with you.
Torben Bentsen
Passage Yachts

E-mail Torben Bentsen        Cell: 510-851-3082

The First 40 was awarded Boat of the Year by Sailing World Magazine for Best Crossover

Sailing World Magazine announced the best in boatbuilding for 2010 with its 26th annual Boat of the Year Awards. The results will be featured in Sailing World's January 2010 issue.
An independent panel of experts inspected and tested the 14 nominated boats during the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis earlier this year. Decisions were based on extensive inspections and sea trials of the boats. Taking home the honor for the Best Crossover was the Beneteau First 40.
For the complete story visit Sailing World.com.


Here's a video link to an up close look at the boat by Sailing Anarchy at the Annapolis Boat Show.
Beneteau First 40

BENETEAU USA INC. TRANSFORMS FACTORY INTO "JUST IN TIME LEAN MANUFACTURING"

Marion, SC, October 19, 2009: With a huge investment in a new CNC machinery driven woodshop and a complete overhaul of its production areas, Beneteau USA Inc. is in the process of revamping its 250,000 square foot facility into the most modern big sailboat factory in America. Contractors, advisors from parent company Groupe Beneteau, and South Carolinian team members are scurrying to change the 25 year old factory from the past style of eight independent production lines into a new, single line, continuous flow production facility comprising 20 operation positions. The outcome of this new way of building will allow shortened lead times, less work in process and greater flexibility in model mix. The Marion plant will be the only American sailboat plant able to build anything from 30 footers up to 50 footers, all in the same quick-flow process.

“This is an amazing feat for our team, as it truly was an internal initiative that came from the leadership of our Vice President of Manufacturing, Gerard Martineau, working with the full spectrum of production from managers to those on the floor. They have developed a system that is unique in our end of the industry and will eliminate wasted time while improving quality and flexibility,” said Wayne Burdick, President of Beneteau USA. “When the plant reconfiguration work is complete and we are able to turn on the new, lean, mean, production machine, no one else in the US will be able to make cruising sailboats with as much efficiency and flexibility of product mix. This should give Beneteau a strategic advantage to quickly provide the best value in exactly the model our customer wishes to buy.”

“I am proud of all the work by our people in Marion to prepare for this mode of manufacturing. We all went to school together to learn about lean manufacturing, work flow and value stream mapping, and the result proves that this great team of boat builders is equal to any in the world when it comes to new ways of thinking and doing. Great work by this very motivated group will launch us into a new era of excellent quality at the best price and the quickest delivery, continuing Marion’s claim of being the largest producer of sailing yachts on this continent,” stated Mr. Martineau. “In the month of November current production will temporarily cease, so that the remains of the existing independent lines can be moved into the new continuous flow platforms which are already in place. I can’t wait to see the results when we start humming in early December!”

Beneteau USA, the American division of the world’s largest sailboat manufacturer, builds hundreds of 31 to 50 foot production sailboats in Marion, SC and imports sailing and power yachts up to 58 feet in length from its parent company in France.

ROLEX Big Boat Series

Here is shot of some competitors from the Beneteau 36.7 fleet from last week-end.
Passage Yachts chartered a boat to bring the local fleet up to 6 boats for a One Design Start. We also made sure all the crew was easy to recognize in their bright, red shirts from Passage!
The racing in the Beneteau fleet was tight, but ultimately Pat Patterson's 'Summer and Smoke' emerged a winner.

http://marina42.net/cgi-bin/p/m42p-broker.cgi?d=passage-yachts-inc&id=283