Very off topic for the ABC, but we are passionate about sailing and felt this might interest our audience? A welcome rest from hearing the word; BREXIT. 

First contested in 1851, the America’s Cup is the oldest trophy in international sport, predating the modern Olympic Games by 45 years, and is yachting’s biggest prize.

The trophy’s roots date back to when a syndicate of businessmen from New York sailed the schooner America across the Atlantic Ocean to represent the United States at the World’s Fair in England. The schooner won a race around the Isle of Wight and, with it, a trophy called the £100 Cup. (It was subsequently inscribed, incorrectly, as the 100 Guineas Cup.)

After winning the trophy, the United States embarked on what would become the longest winning streak in the history of sport, a 132-year stretch of domination that saw boats representing the country successfully defend the trophy 24 times from 1870 through 1980—until 1983, when Australia II became the first successful challenger to lift the trophy.

The America’s Cup has always been a game changer in the world of sailing and the 35th edition of the race is no different.

Twenty years ago, the average max speed was 12 knots – today, it’s 40 knots in less than 12 knots of wind. Today, you don’t even hear the wind because you’re going so fast. Yeah, we’ll let that one sink in for a minute.

While sailing these machines, crews constantly sail on the edge between ridiculously fast and total catastrophe, combating situations and G-force speeds when manoeuvring. At this point, we should probably mention the sailors are not strapped in either – so that’s like driving an F1 car without a seatbelt.

A match is a race between two boats and to become the challenger. Team New Zealand eliminated the other challengers including Team BAR led by Ben Ainslie. The finals are between Team New Zealand and Team Oracle, starting on the 17th June 2017 in the Great Sound Bermuda - best of seven races. The New Zealand (Helm Peter Burling) boat is fast, but the Americans with ultra-aggressive Australian Skipper, Jimmy Spithill, are not hanging around either.  

Image: Team New Zealands Capsize At America's Cup, June 6 2017 - the shore crew were in for a long night.   

This is wonderful bit of filming, enjoy: 

Around 49,000 young Scots are carers – but only a fraction have been receiving the benefits they are entitled to.

Now the Scottish Government and Young Scot are making a concerted effort at the start of Carers Week to raise awareness of the support they could be entitled to.

Only about 3,900 people in Scotland aged 16-24 receive Carer’s Allowance.

The social media and digital campaign, which launches today, will aim to reach carers aged 16-24 who may be entitled to Carer’s Allowance but are not claiming it.

Carer’s Allowance is one of 11 benefits being devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

It will be delivered by Scotland’s new social security agency.

The allowance is currently administered by the Department of Work and Pensions. The weekly rate of £62.70 is available to those aged 16 and over who spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone in receipt of a qualifying disability benefit.

200,000 disabled face cuts in their benefits as figures show sharp rise in rejected claims

And Social Security Secretary Angela Constance has confirmed that the Scottish Government will invest more than £30million a year to increase Carer’s Allowance to the same level as Jobseeker’s Allowance by summer 2018.

Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman said: “Carers make an immense contribution to our society. Their dedication and commitment to caring for loved ones – often making significant personal sacrifices to do so – deserves our thanks and respect.

“That is why this government is committed to doing all we can to help carers. Whether it is strengthening the rights of carers through legislation, committing to increasing the Carer’s Allowance with our new social security powers, or working with our partners to raise awareness with carers of how they can access the support they’re entitled to.

An urgent re-think of the current four-year freeze in benefits is needed to protect struggling families from further damage as inflation jumps to 2.9% -  a four-year high -  Child Poverty Action Group warns.

Chief Executive of the charity Alison Garnham said:

“Unless there’s an urgent re-think of the current freeze on benefits, the living standards of ordinary families will slip and slide downwards with serious consequences, particularly for children.   Families are saying they can’t manage.  They need some leeway.  Now is the time to ensure that benefits for working and non-working families once again reflect their needs and so rise with inflation.

“The failure to uprate benefits in line with inflation is the single biggest driver behind child poverty rising to 4 million and why it’s set to rise to over 5 million by the end of the new parliament.”

ABC Note:  The pound has been falling because of BREXIT and as such inflation is rising. The UK could go into recession in the next two years until the uncertainty is resolved. The election result has certainly compounded matters.

It is an ill wind that blows no good and higher inflation leads to higher wages and shrinks debt in relation. 

Stephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors, said on Monday that it’s “hard to overstate what a dramatic impact the current political uncertainty is having on business leaders, and the consequences could – if not addressed immediately – be disastrous for the UK economy”.

Very sadly we were due to take a team of Essex University students sailing today (12^th June) but we have had to cancel due to the blustery conditions. Our sailboat was a Westerly Griffin - ideal for cruising in coastal waters.  

The trip to Rowhedge was a thank-you for the work done by some of our student team, especially for the content the team have added to the ABC website. The directory has been growing and we are going to be building-up that resource; even more in the autumn.

The planned trip was from Brightlingsea to Rowhedge, from which you can see the Essex University towers.

Saturday was the Rowhedge Regatta and some wonderful Filmography from Fiona Brown, shows the traditional Brightlingsea One Designs (BODs) in action.

The race back Saturday was robust. You can see the BOD’s reacting to some strong gusts in the sheltered waters at Rowhedge.  

I am very sorry once again to our fledgling yachties. It would have been hard work and very wet and it is better to start sailing in more gentle conditions.  

Thank you to the University Essex Community Sailing Club for offering to host us. Our next trip is to the Houses of Parliament… now what could possibly go wrong with that…?

Are you at Essex University, or thinking of becoming a student. Do register with the Student Union, VTeam. Our team are managed by Tomas Kasiulis who has done a fantastic job. Our VTeam students are gaining valuable work experience and training while we are endeavouring to open-up opportunities for students, to have new opportunities and gain life-skills.

'It's work Jim, but not as you know it....'  if we can borrow from Star Trek. 

If you fancy doing some good for society whilst sharpening your skills, we have the opportunity, if you have the motivation. 

Image: The Colne River. Essex University is in Wivenhoe Park. 

Film below: BOD's and Smacks racing to Rowhedge (Regatta) Courtesy Fiona Brown Communications & Event Management.   

• In Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2017, 89% of adults in the UK had recently used the internet (in the last 3 months), up from 88% in 2016; while 9% had never used the internet, down from 10% in 2016.

• Virtually all adults aged 16 to 34 years were recent internet users (99%), in contrast with 41% of adults aged 75 years and over.

• 90% of men and 88% of women were recent internet users, up from 89% and 86% in 2016.

• Recent internet use among women aged 75 and over had almost trebled from 2011.

• 22% of disabled adults had never used the internet in 2017, down 25% in 2016.

• Northern Ireland is catching up with the other UK regions in recent internet use, reaching 84% in 2017, however, it remained the region with the lowest recent use

Chief Treasury Secretary David Gauke has been appointed work and pensions secretary.

David Michael Gauke was born 8 October 1971) is a British Conservative Party politician and a solicitor. He has been the MP for South West Hertfordshire since 2005. Gauke is a lifelong supporter of Ipswich Town.

Hilary Hoynes is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of California Berkeley. Her research focuses on poverty, food and nutrition programmes and the impact of government policies on low-income families.

Professor Hoynes earned her PhD in Economics from Stanford and she was Professor at the University of California Davis prior to joining Berkeley.

Her work on food poverty is interesting indeed. One million people have visited UK food banks and this work explains the effect on children of malnourishment when growing up. 

ABC Note: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people living in the U.S. It is a federal aid program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), though benefits are distributed by each U.S. state's Division of Social Services or Children and Family Services.

SNAP benefits cost $70.9 billion in fiscal year 2016 and supplied roughly 44.2 million Americans with an average of $125.51 for each person per month in food assistance

Additional Information: Courtesy of Wikipedia. 

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a quarterly sample survey carried out by interviewing people about their personal circumstances and work.

The Labour Force Survey latest results published 17th May 2017

Latest results for Northern Ireland:

The latest NI seasonally adjusted but down 0.8 pps over the year (from 6.1%).

There was a decrease (1.5 pps) in the employment rate (68.4%) over the quarter and (0.8 pps) over the year. This represents the largest quarterly decrease in NI employment rate since January – March 2009 falling from 69.9% in October – December 2016. However, it should be noted that the latter was the highest employment rate recorded on the quarterly series.

The latest NI unemployment rate (5.3%) was above the UK average of 4.6% however, it was below the European Union (8.0%) rate and Republic of Ireland (6.6%) rate for February 2017.

According to the BBC the DUP [Democratic Unionist Party] ever mindful of their own electorate, will enter the days ahead slowly (vis entering into arrangement with the Conservative Government). One senior DUP source said that his party would be wary of backing the Conservative plans for welfare or social care if they adversely affected Northern Ireland while another said he hoped the party could make the Conservatives "more compassionate" in economic and welfare issues.

Image: Democratic Unionist Party celebrate winning ten seats at the 2017 General Election.

Theresa May’s failure to win a majority means that single market membership must be back on the table, SNP MP Stephen Gethins has said.
 
Despite repeatedly insisting she would not do so, the Prime Minister called a snap election to secure a mandate for her extreme Brexit plans – only to lose her majority in the early poll.
 
When announcing the early election, Theresa May said that: “We need a general election and we need one now because we have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union agrees its negotiating position and before the detailed talks begin.”
 
Commenting, SNP’s Westminster Europe spokesperson Stephen Gethins said:
 
“The election result was a comprehensive rejection of the Tory plans for an extreme Brexit – and single market membership must now be back on the table.  
 
“Theresa May couldn’t have been clearer. She called this election to secure a mandate for her negotiating position, and the electorate snubbed her.
 
“The Tories expected to come back with a thumping big majority – but instead they’ve come back weakened and reliant on the votes of the DUP.
 
“Scotland needs a seat at the negotiations to leave the EU – and it’s time for the Tories to ditch their plans for an extreme Brexit.”

“This election was about bread and butter issues - what needs to change for ordinary working people. And no wonder: if current trends continue, in five years’ time 3.5 million people will be in insecure work – and the average wage is still £1,200 less than it was in 2008.

“The next government must deliver a new deal for working people. They should implement popular policies from the campaign – like banning zero-hour contracts, pushing up the minimum wage and delivering a long overdue pay rise for nurses, midwives and all public servants.

“And it’s clear that there is no mandate for a no-deal Brexit. The government should go back to the drawing board and negotiate a Brexit deal that puts UK jobs, decent wages and workers' rights first.”