Despite some dreadful weather this summer the Junior Offshore Group (JOG) had a great season of competitive racing, writes Kathy Claydon.

A Doldrums regatta is taking place amongst the Vendee Globe fleet, a fascinating tussle with nine boats within 100 miles of the lead, fighting to see who will win the big advantage of emerging into the southeasterly trade winds first.

The Dorset-based marine equipment supplier Blue and Green Marine has won two honours at the prestigious DAME Awards.

It is one wipeout after another as the Volvo fleet endures yet more heinous conditions as it races towards the scoring gate on leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Frenchman Thomas Coville and his 105 foot maxi-trimaran Sodeb'O crossed the start line of the solo round the world race against the clock at 1354:14 on Tuesday, 18 November.

After a break for the traditional Charity Pursuit Race and the abandonment of week five racing as 30 knot winds swept the Solent, competitors were glad to get back on the water for week six of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series, writes Barnaby Smith.

As the leaders negotiate the Cape Verde islands and set up for the Doldrums, Cowes TV has a round up of the leading positions and the fortunes of the British skippers.

The Little Brig Sailing Trust, operators of the world's smallest tall ship, Bob Allen, has reached the final of the People's Millions 2008 on Meridian TV.

Michael Perham has started his round the world record attempt and Cowes TV's cameras were there when he left Portsmouth.

The past 24 hours have been the most testing in the Volvo Ocean Race so far, as the fleet battled high winds and a confused sea on leg two to Cochin in India.

Coniston Records Week 2008 has been another successful year for the UK's powerboat racers with a whole host of record attempts being undertaken and a fantastic number of new world and national records set.

Strong winds welcomed Belgium sailor Michel Kleinjans to South Africa as he stormed across the finish line to win the single-handed division of the Portimao Global Ocean Race.

With small gains and losses being made as the leading pack position and reposition themselves for the Doldrums crossing, the strategy now is conservation and consolidation in the Vendee Globe fleet.

Coville is ready and waiting to start his single-handed round the world record attempt, however, a small low is upsetting the trade winds and has forced the skipper of Sodeb'O to postpone his departure by around 24 hours.

Pete Goss and his crew on Spirit of Mystery are recreating the heroic journey of seven Cornishmen who sailed to Australia more than 150 years ago, but, stuck now in the Doldrums, their boat wallows in an oily sea with a dark overcast sky.