Congratulations to Mr R Dempster who entered our competition to win a free weekend in Gibraltar held at the recent London International Boat Show.

The prize includes flights from the UK, accommodation in a luxury serviced apartment, champagne dinner in the marina as well as a fabulous cruise aboard Ocean Odyssey.

A total of nearly 500 people entered the competition which was drawn in the Head Office of Ocean Village on 31st January 2012.

Above : Tamara Ecclestone opens the Show

It was another successful year for Ocean Village Marina at the London International Boat Show, opened this year by Tamara Ecclestone. Held in London from 6th to the 15th of January 2012 the show brings together sailing enthusiasts from every corner of the marine world – in one day we could speak to not only to a classic yacht owner but then to the owner of one of the world’s most hi-tech catamarans and then to the owner of a superyacht looking for a new berth. Diverse indeed!

We ran a competition to win a luxury weekend in Gibraltar which was won by Mr R Dempster who we now look forward to welcoming to Gibraltar.

Above : Michael Kent meets a classic sailor

There was widespread interest in the new facilities available in Ocean Village Marina and this year we especially noticed a trend for owners wishing to bring their boats to Gibraltar, not only for the tax and cost benefits, but also to enjoy the sunny climes which enable sailing throughout the year.

Above : Karl Bisset chats with a member of the Accomplish More team

We exhibited on the Gibraltar Tourism stand and over the course of the show spoke to hundreds of people to tell them about the advantages of berthing in Gibraltar and also to give general tourism advice about Gibraltar.

Highlights of the show included entertaining a member of the House of Lords on the stand who has decided to base his yacht in Gibraltar, a visit from a former Miss World, meeting with numerous ex-servicemen and hearing their stories about times gone by in Gibraltar (including one gentleman who first travelled here by car from the UK in 1929!) but perhaps the most exciting news was of aother world record attempt beginning in Ocean Village Marina Gibraltar.

Above : Former Miss World popped by to wish Gibraltar well

Accomplish More – is the name of a unique British project which aims to smash the world circumnavigation record. This hi tech aluminium wave breaking boat will set off from Ocean Village and attempt to travel around the world in around 30 days. This is possible due to the revolutionary design, the lightweight materials and the remarkable drive of the team involved. Headed by Alan Priddy (himself the holder of 38 sailing records) the team includes numerous leaders in their fields from fuel specialists, navigators and even a psychiatrist to keep them all in fine fettle! We’ll be covering their progress on the blog over the next few months. The first outing for the vessel looks like being part of the Queen’s Jubilee Flotilla down the Thames in June. For more information see their website here : http://www.company85globalchallenge.com Their moto : British from Start to Finish!

And of course it was Karl’s birthday!

Above : Nice hat Karl!

Now 16, she has spent more than a year sailing the ocean on her 39-foot ketch, named “Guppy.”

Dekker, who has taken several breaks on land during her voyage, told Australian TV she doesn’t mind the solitude of her boat.

“I’m totally used to it,” she said. “For me, it’s really normal!”

Dekker’s father has been quoted as saying she could complete her trip as soon as this February or March. For now, after successfully crossing the Indian Ocean, Dekker’s voyage has taken her to South Africa, where she recently ventured off the  Guppy and regained her land legs to take in the sights at a nature preserve in Port Elizabeth.  Read about her travels at her blog.

Brian Stevendale, Business and Development Director for Gibraltar’s most prominent mixed-use marina resort, Ocean Village, says, “This move by easyJet makes good sense as Gibraltar rises in stature as a destination for both leisure and business travellers. The economy is thriving, particularly in the sectors of financial services and gaming, which creates increased demand for business travel, and tourist arrivals are now in excess of ten million each year. When our planned World Trade Center located adjacent to the Ocean Village site is inaugurated, easyJet, and indeed the other airlines serving Gibraltar, may want to revise their schedules upwards yet again.”

Paul Simmons, easyJet’s UK Director, was interviewed on Radio Gibraltar on Thursday and said that whilst easyJet had delivered a Gibraltar to London Gatwick service ever since they purchased GB Airways back in 2008, it had got to a level where demand was outweighing supply and the four new weekly flights had become necessary.

Simmons stated that there was a good possibility that the additional service would be extended from summer into the winter season as he believed that the route would be a success. With 20 bases across Europe, easyJet finds it very straightforward to turn on additional flights as soon as they see clear demand.

Simmons added that the target “load factor” for Gibraltar to London Gatwick was 80 to 85% of the 156 seat Airbus A319-100. He believed that easyJet could achieve this load factor throughout the summer and “wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t think it would work”.

The news coincides with the opening of Gibraltar’s iconic new £50 million aircraft terminal to the public from 3 November. With building works almost complete, a period of staff training and testing of operating systems and equipment takes place prior to the terminal becoming a security restricted zone in accordance with EU aviation regulations – this window allows for public viewings by way of guided tours from 3 to 8 November. The Government is expected to release a statement shortly on the terminal’s official opening, predicted for the first half of 2012.

As part of the commitments entered into with Spain as a result of the 2006 Cordoba Agreement, the terminal building will have direct access onto Spain although this part of the terminal is incomplete as Spanish authorities delay the building of their installations. easyJet’s Simmons noted that their Basel Airport base granted access to Switzerland, Germany and France without customs or border restrictions and it made for very easy travel. He believed that the new Gibraltar terminal was a “right size” terminal which would serve the passenger well in this modern era and give the Rock a boost – even more so when the Spain-side entrance was operational.

easyJet joins bmibaby, British Airways and Monarch who operate services to Gibraltar out of East Midlands, London Heathrow, Liverpool, London Gatwick, London Luton and Manchester between them.

For information on marina berths and residential real estate please contact us below:

The annual PMY (Power & Motoryacht) Survey has recorded the Top 100 largest yachts since 1994 and a quick glance at the figures for 2011 show that the number of superyachts is increasing every year.

They use the example of  the 73m ‘Coral Island’ which when delivered to her Saudi owner in 1994 made her debut at number 14 – the longest newly launched vessel in the survey that year. Since then she’s moved down the list every year but two and this year she’s barely hanging on at Nº92 – and will surely drop from the Top 100 completely next year.

Eclipse Retains number 1 spot

Roman Abramovich’s 170m Eclipse retains the top spot she claimed last year. Previously the number one ranking was held by ‘Dubai’ the motor vessel owned by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. The longest spell at the top recently was held by ‘Savarona’ who retained top billing for much of the nineties before being slowly bumped down the list by ‘Octopus’ which held onto Nº 1 for two years.

This trend to ever larger vessels has encouraged many newer marinas to offer special services to super yacht owners (such as Ocean Village Marina in Gibraltar) whilst other such as Vilanova Grand Marina-Barcelona have exclusively targeted vessels between 20m and 60m.

31.01.2012

It was another successful year for Ocean Village Marina at the London International Boat Show .more here

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24.11.2011 – Ocean Village Girl has Record in Sight

Laura Dekker set off from Ocean Village last year in an attempt to become the youngest person to single-handedly sail the globe.more here

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31.10.2011 – More Gibraltar Flights by easyjet

This week low-cost airline easyJet strengthened its commitment to Gibraltar by adding four extra weekly flights to its London Gatwick service.more here

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04.10.2011 – Larger Berths Now Vital for Marinas

The recent growth in the size of the megayachts and superyachts has led to interesting changes for the marina industry. In order to survive and grow they must offer facilities to attract vessels never envisaged 20 years ago.more here

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30.09.2011 – Rooftop Wine Tasting at Gibraltar’s Ocean Village Marina

Tickets are now available for a fabulous event organised by the Ipanema Restaurant in Ocean Village in aid breast cancer. A wonderful opportunity to sample fine wines and delicious barbequed meats from the restaurants famous Brazilian menu. Sponsored by The Leeds Building Society. more here

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30.09.2011 – Fashion for First Place at Leisure Island Gibraltar.

It’s fashion with a purpose on the 30th of September in Ocean Village Marina Gibraltar. The swimmers of the GASA will be showing the latest collections from Gibraltar’s finest fashion boutiques and designer suppliers. All profits will go to their fundraising to send a team to the 2013 Island Games. more here

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03.09.2011 – Sailors paddle for survival in Gibraltar’s Cardboard Boat Race.

The now infamous annual Ocean Village-sponsored Cardboard Boat Race took place on Saturday 3 September under bright blue skies.The soggy sailors battled the calm marina waters in front of a large animated crowd with their varying degrees of success providing an entertaining spectacle. more here

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30.08.2011 – Preparations for the Cardboard Boat Race continue.

Next weekend (Saturday 3rd September 2011) sees the annual Ocean Village Cardboard Boat Race. This great fun day out attracts a crowd of families and supporters to cheer on the valiant attempts of the various crews to complete the course. more here

Prior to the races, the lovingly crafted cardboard vessels were displayed in Casemates Square before being carried down to the launch site at the Ocean Village Marina to be scrupulously inspected by the judges. After all borderline cases were deemed fit for entry by the stringent evaluators, the fleet went under starter’s orders.

The junior race was an exciting and close fought affair with the ‘The Paint Shop’ craft winning out to the junior ‘O’Reilly’s’ boat. The senior event was even more eventful with spectacular sinkings at launch, however the coveted ‘Titanic Sinking’ prize was secured by the Molinary & Robert vessel that sank so gracefully and conclusively on the outward leg.

There was a terrific senior race between the one-man senior ‘O’Reilly’s’ boat and the magnificent seven-man ‘The Camel Says’ craft in which the former won out in an exciting photo finish. ‘Scooby Snacks’ nabbed the ‘Most Original Boat’ award but sank unceremoniously at the start whilst ‘The Most Creatively Dressed’ team award went to J P Haulage, another sinking victim early on in the race.

Miss Gibraltar, Michelle Gillingwater Pedersen, was on hand to present the various prizes and awards to the intrepid sailors.

To ensure that even the tiniest of tots were kept entertained before and between races, Leisure Island was transformed into a children’s activity area. The bouncy castle was in huge demand and the colouring competition and treasure hunt also proved to be ever popular. Miss Gibraltar in-trainings were treated to mini makeovers while the boys seemed more interested in chatting with Captain Jack Sparrow who was on a recruiting mission for mini pirates. Phil Valverdi provided the commentary and music.

The event, organized by the William Tilley Lodge, raised money for Down’s Syndrome and the GBC Open Day Charity.

To stay up to date with events at Ocean Village keep an eye on Ocean Village’s Official FaceBook Group – facebook.com/OceanVillageGibraltarOFFICIAL or follow us on Twitter twitter.com/#!/OceanVillageGib.

Here’s a brief guide to getting started:

You will need:

• Cardboard
• Water proof tape (duct tape or gaffer tape is best)
• Box Cutter/ Scissors
• Newspaper
• Something to draw with
• Paint (optional)

But What to Build?

Here you can aid your chances of success by using a little science by calculating the displacement of your design so that you will have some certainty about the buoyancy of your design. Here’s the basic number: a cubic foot of water weighs about 28 kg. That means that a 80 kg person will float in a boat that is 1 foot by 1 foot by 3 feet – of course, that could be a bit uncomfortable! But at least you would know just how much boat you will need for you (and your crew) so you don’t overdesign it and add unnecessary weight.

What’s your aim?

Many people enter the race with different goals – some choose to design a craft that completes the course in the quickest time, others merely seek to survive whilst some choose style over substance and try to capture the judges hearts with the best designed craft.

Tips and Tricks

• You can have strength and still keep your boat light if you laminate layers of cardboard. In fact, try placing one layer so that the corrugations run in one direction, then placing the second layer so that the corrugations run at a 90-degree angle to the first layer.
• To fold cardboard across the corrugations, consider scoring the line of the fold with the butt end of your utility knife or other rounded edge of a tool.
• Don’t step on your cardboard! If you break the corrugations you’ll sink quicker.
• If possible to keep your cardboard dry, don’t forget to seal the edges with caulk or silicone. If water gets into your corrugations, you can have great fun watching it get drawn through the corrugation just like in a drinking straw. That may be OK when you have time to do something about it, but if you see this happen in the middle of a race . . . !!

For a complete guide into how to build a boat in less than three hours see here