Earlier this year, with the dust now settled around his new outright speed record, we sat down with Sailrocket founder and pilot Paul Larsen to get the inside story on how he shattered the previous record and to find out what he planned to do next. 

You can read the full text of our exclusive interview in the July edition of Sail Racing Magazine (out at the end of June), but in the meantime, as a taster, here is Larsen's description of what it felt like to be strapped into Sailrocket's tiny cockpit for that breathtaking run.

America's Cup organisers are continuing to make slow progress in their efforts to implement the safety changes recommended by an expert panel following the fatal crash of the Artemis Racing AC72 six weeks ago.

In the days following the incident which claimed the life of Artemis strategist Andrew Simpson, regatta director Iain Murray convened an independent panel of experts to review all matters relating to the safety of sailing the AC45 and AC72 catamarans. On May 22 that committee issued a list of 37 recommended changes, but to date only two of them have made it through to become part of the Cup rules.

Francis Joyon put the hammer down in the closing stages of his record attempt from New York to the south west tip of the United Kingdom to shave 16 hours, 34 minutes and 30 seconds off the previous best time set by fellow Frenchman Thomas Coville in 2008.

Sailing fans who had hoped to witness three international teams duke it out in San Francisco next month for the right to challenge for the 34th America's Cup are likely to be left with little of significance to spectate on until August after Artemis Racing's inability to compete rendered the early rounds of the Louis Vuitton Series all but meaningless.

The weather window wasn't perfect by all accounts but it was good enough for French solo supremo Francis Joyon to fly back from France to New York to rejoin his almost 100' trimaran IDEC and leave immediately for a crack at the Atlantic solo record to the UK.

Artemis Racing CEO Paul Cayard has issued a terse response to what he sees as unsportsmanlike comments made by Grant Dalton - his opposite number at the Emirates Team New Zealand syndicate - around the recent changes to the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series format. ETNZ and the only other challenging team, Italy's Luna Rossa, both wanted to delay the start of the series from July 7 to July 19 and do away with the semi final element of the series - with the top two teams after three round robin rounds going straight to a head to head final.

Stuart S. James, former Executive Director of China Team America’s Cup Sailing, sent us his insightful take on where he thinks the America's Cup when wrong and the significance of Artemis Racing's 'return' to training after their fatal AC72 crash.

It is safe to say that everyone who likes sailing will be glad to see the Swedish America’s Cup syndicate Artemis back on the water following the tragic accident that took the life of Andrew Simpson last month in San Francisco.  As a fan of many sports and a participant of sport from many angles it’s always good to see perseverance and passion triumph over adversity. 

The day of the accident that claimed the life of British Olympic sailor Andrew 'Bart' Simpson began like any other in recent weeks. The sight of the Oracle and Artemis AC72s charging spectacularly around San Francisco Bay was by then so commonplace that they'd become just another part of the local landscape, attracting no more comment from locals than views of Alcatraz or the Golden Gate Bridge.  The weather was also normal for San Francisco - clear blue skies with winds in the mid to high teens specking the bay with white caps. 

Ian Gotts takes a look at how the full time sailing teams like Red Bull Youth America's Cup contenders the American Youth Sailing Force train their bodies and their minds for peak performance. Training is important. Really important. You can’t go out on the race course un prepared and expect to win. Whoever said it’s the 5P’s got it right. 5Ps: Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

One of the USA's best known professional sailors, Ken Read has a quiver of America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race campaigns to his name, along a host of other major titles and regatta victories. Having skippered PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG in the last two Volvo Ocean Races, at the end of last year Read took on a challenge of a different kind when he stepped up into the lofty role of president of the North Sails Group. We tracked Read down in his hometown of Newport Rhode Island to ask about his move to desk duties and to find out what plans he had for the North Sails empire under his guidance.

Open Sports Management (OSM) is a new company created last year by Britain's Sir Keith Mills - the former head of the British America’s Cup campaigners Team Origin, and the deputy chairman of the London Olympic Games - to manage the marketing and commercial rights of the IMOCA class. In an exclusive interview with Sail Racing Magazine, OSM's managing director, Austrian Peter Bayer, shares his vision for developing the IMOCA class.

We caught up with Jack Lloyd, Race Director at the Volvo Ocean Race, to get the latest update from race HQ in Alicante, Spain.

The announcement earlier this year that Ian Walker would be heading up Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's back-to-back Volvo Ocean Race campaign may have come as a surprise to many who watched him struggle through the last race with a speed deficit and a fragile boat. Aside from a handful of strong performances in the shorter in-port races (where lack of pace could be offset by slick boat handling and tactical smarts) and a single transatlantic leg win in to Portugal, the Emirati boat singularly failed to live up to its Batmobile good looks. 

Ever since the yacht America arrived in Cowes in 1851 with her sharply raked masts, concave bow and tightly woven egyptian cotton sails, design and technology have been key to winning the cup that bears America’s name. As the technology battle for the 34th America’s Cup rages, let’s take a look at challenges facing the designers and how each team has responded.