New Zealand Ocean Racing has advised that it has formally withdrawn its entry to The Ocean Race (TOR) 2022/2023.

Headed by New Zealand sailor and alumni of The Ocean Race, Bianca Cook, New Zealand Ocean Racing had been working to compete in the V065 class of the famed round the world race. Unfortunately, the unavoidable impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with a lack of sponsorship, has made continuing with the campaign untenable.

“This is not a decision we ever wanted to have to make. We’re devastated.” says Cook. “We have always been realistic about what we needed to achieve to get us to the start line in 2022, and sadly we just couldn’t make that happen. The effects of Covid-19 and the withdrawal of Auckland as a race stopover have made it impossible – despite our best efforts – to get to Alicante for the Race.”

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Forecasts say Tropical Cyclone Batsirai is increasing in intensity and is expected to pass north of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius on Wednesday evening and make landfall in central Madagascar on Saturday afternoon.

Forecasts say Tropical Cyclone Batsirai is increasing in intensity and is expected to pass north of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius on Wednesday evening and make landfall in central Madagascar on Saturday afternoon.

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System says Batsirai has been upgraded and classified as Category 4. The system, a joint United Nations and the European Union Commission project, says the cyclone’s wind speed had increased to 231 kilometers per hour on Wednesday morning.

Madagascar’s meteorology directorate has warned seafarers and issued cyclone alerts in 16 districts projected to be in the storm’s path.

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Cyclone Batsirai slammed into the Indian Ocean island late Saturday, battering the southeastern coastline until it moved away late Sunday, leaving 91,000 people with damaged or destroyed homes, according to the state disaster relief agency.

It was Madagascar's second destructive storm in two weeks, after Cyclone Ana killed 55 people and displaced 130,000 in a different area of the country, further north.

The island nation, which has a population of nearly 30 million, was already struggling with food shortages in the south, a consequence of a severe and prolonged drought. The World Food Program said Batsirai had made the situation worse by destroying crops that were just two weeks from harvest.

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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia- January 28 2022. On Tuesday January 22nd, 2022, the tropical storm Ana formed over the Indian Ocean started moving westwards, passing over northern Madagascar and crossed over to Mozambique and subsequently reached Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The tropical storm then made landfall on the 24th of January 2022 in the five countries.

The passage of ANA presented with heavy rainfall, and strong wind causing rivers to overflow, floods, and landslides resulting in casualties, and widespread damage over the entire northern area of Mozambique. Many public infrastructures are damaged including healthcare facilities and homes, as well as, interruption to basic services and healthcare deliveries to the affected people.

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Ahead of the One Ocean Summit in Brest, OceanOPS - the Joint Centre of the World Meteorological Organization and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO - will launch the Odyssey Project endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The Odyssey Project will support the Global Ocean Observing System.

On the 8th February, diverse international stakeholders – including citizens, scientists, sailors, shipping industries and fishing companies – will takes part in the kick-off meeting of the Odyssey Project to express their engagement within the international ocean observing community providing sustained support for ocean observations.

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A chunk of Antarctic ice that was one of the biggest icebergs ever seen has met its end near the island of South Georgia. Scientists will be studying its effects on the ecosystem around the island for some time.

Perhaps you remember iceberg A68a, which enjoyed a few minutes of fame back in 2017 when it broke off an ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula. Hardly your everyday iceberg, it was one of the biggest ever seen, more than 100 miles long and 30 miles wide.

The iceberg drifted slowly through the icy Weddell Sea for a few years, before picking up steam as it entered the Southern Ocean. When last we heard from it, in 2020, it was bearing down on the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic, a bit shrunken and battered from a journey of more than a thousand miles.

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