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TEAM EMIRATES – The AC72′s are like no yachts to have ever been sailed. Team Trainer David Slyfield is the man in charge of training the crew to handle the demands of sailing each day on the AC72.
Monthly archives for December, 2012
ORANGE BOWL REGATTA
MELGES 29ers – Final day for the 2012 Open Orange Bowl Regatta. Sailors woke up to a solid 17-20 knots of breeze from the Northwest.
Race One is off! The 29er fleet is heading up both sides of the course. What side will win? At the top mark, Duncan Williford and Matthew Mollerus took the lead. Rounding in second was Nic Muller and Kai Friesecke. Close in their heels, was Campbell D’Eliscu and Conner Keiter in third with the rest of the fleet right behind them. D’Eliscu/Keiter pass through the gate in first followed by Muller/Friesecke in second and Sam Gustin and Ian Woodbury in third. These top 3 boats are gone. The rest of he fleet is 2-3 minutes behind the leaders. Back upwind to the top mark, D’Eliscu/Keiter continued to lead with a huge separation between first and second positions. In second was Gustin/Woodbury and Quinn and Dane Wilson were holding firm in third. This team has sailed a great event. They were over early went back and are still managing to place in the top five. D’Eliscu/Keiter take the bullet with Williford/Mollerus over taking Muller/Friesecke at the finish.
The start of Race Two of the day was a tricky one. Both sides of the course look good, but it was the left side of the course that the sailors liked most. With a clean startMuller/Frieseck assume a very comfortable lead. Williford/Mollerus came second with D’Eliscu/Keiter inches behind, trying to make their move into the second place position. Muller/Friesecke maintain and begin to extend their lead as they round at the leeward gate. D’Eliscu/Keiter split from the leaders looking to the other side of the course to try and make a move. Holding their lead all the way around the course, Muller/Friesecke cross the line in first with no other boat around them. D’Eliscu/Keiter came second. These guys are sitting in second place overall and are looking to advance to the first place spot. Hopefully they can make it happen with one race left. In third is the Wilson’s. This team is leading the event overall. We’ll see if they can hold onto the lead going into the final race.
At the start of the final race of the series, 29ers jockey to find a spot at the boat end of the line with a little right hand shift across the course. And their off! But the Race Committee pulled the general recall flag as most of the fleet was over early.
Take Two of the start of the final race resulted in another general recall! Teams were still liking the boat end of the line, but as the wind shifted more to the right, the fleet was called over early as the boat end of the line was too favored.
On the third try, the wind shifts right and also builds a bit more. As the count approaches the final minute, teams still like the boat end of the line. And their off with the fleet split into two — half going left the other going right! Who will reach the top first?
Coming into the top mark, it’s Max Fraser and Jonny Goldsberry in first, but it’s super close with the entire fleet. Ian MacDiarmid and Scott Ewing rounded close behind the leaders with Quinn/Dane Wilson in third. With both Fraser/Goldsberry and MacDiarmid/Ewing splitting around the gates. They do their final battle back to the weather mark. At the final weather mark, MacDiarmid/Ewing lead the fleet followed closely by D’Eliscu/Keiter and Fraser/Goldsberry. At the finish, MacDiarmid/Ewing took the bullet in style. This team had bested the fleet with superior boat speed and handling. Fraser/Goldsberry was second and D’Eliscu/Keiter came third.
Well that’s all folks. Next event is the ISAF Youth World Qualifiers up in Clearwater, Florida on January 18-21, 2013, hosted by the Clearwater Yacht Cl
Article courtesy of Matt Pistay
A QUESTION OF TIMING
VENDEE GLOBE – Current routings have the two leaders reaching Cape Horn at around 1800-1930hrs roughly on the night of Tuesday January 1st. To the advantage of Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire) and François Gabart (MACIF) is that the nights at these latitudes are short and so they should have a maximum amount of daylight on their approach and winds are not expected to be too fierce, so their ice watch should be helped.
Presently Jean-Pierre Dick is probably going to be around 18-20 hours behind, maybe slightly more but that will be quite encouraging for the Virbac-Paprec skipper.
By the same routings Alex Thomson is reckoned to be on a schedule which would have him three days behind and Jean Le Cam about 5 days behind the leader. These are of course theoretical routings based on weather files which are current but will change over coming days.
Four years ago Michel Desjoyeaux passed with Roland Jourdain eight hours and 50 minutes behind. About two days behind them were Le Cléac’h and Vincent Riou who dismasted just after Cape Horn. Marc Guillemot, rounding fifth, was about seven days behind Desjoyeaux. At Cape Horn Brian Thompson was sixth and about 10 days behind. Rich Wilson was 21 days and 10 hours behind at Cape Horn and Austrian Norbert Sedlacek rounding eight days or so after the American Wilson.
At present the leaders Banque Populaire and Macif are round about three days ahead of the record held by Michel Desjoyeaux. And so it is still looking like the winner might have a chance of breaking 80 days.
AC DISCOVERED
AMERICAS CUP – This week on AC Discovered we have exclusive aerial and on board footage of Emirates Team NZ’s AC72. Grant Dalton comments on foiling, speed and energy. We go 101,with everything you wanted to know about the America’s Cup. It’s been a roller coaster 2012 for Oracle Team USA; we take a look back on the highs and the lows.
ORACLE DOCKED 5 SAILING DAYS
AMERICAS CUP – The International Jury for the 34th America’s Cup has deducted sailing days from ORACLE TEAM USA as the final decision in the espionage case brought against the defender by Italian syndicate Luna Rossa Challenge 2013.
Last week the International Jury announced that it found in favor of Luna Rossa, which alleged that ORACLE TEAM USA had breached part of the Reconnaissance Article (37.2(g)) of the Protocol for the 34th America’s Cup by being within 200 meters of the Italian AC72 during a training session in New Zealand in early November.
Citing the importance of the Reconnaissance Article in the Protocol and the importance of a meaningful penalty, today the International Jury announced that it has deducted from ORACLE TEAM USA the final five sailing days, April 26-30, 2013, of the Second AC72 Sailing Period (Feb. 1-Apr. 30, 2013).
The International Jury acknowledged that ORACLE TEAM USA has returned 10 photos as instructed and also levied costs of €11,500 (approximately $15,200) against the team.
JESSICA WATSON’S NEW SAILING CHALLENGE
YOUNG SAILORS - Sailing the 14 is all about fun over the summer, says Jessica Watson, missing a lot of her younger days sailing dinghies, because of her fast move into keelboats for her solo World voyage in 2010.
Watson’s new challenge is sailing her International 14ft skiff Ella Bache, in this year’s Australian Championships, at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron against 25 boats as a new comer to the class.
Whether its crossing the Tasman with the youngest ever crew to contest the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race or doing it solo around world, Watson is looking forward to blasting around the buoys with Cameron Dale in her new challenge the International 14.
“Trapezing and kites and all of this are new and fun, I didn’t realize how much was involved with these boats, its all about having fun over the summer, and learning as much as I can, and taking it from there” says Watson.
As the only female sailor Watson is taking on a field of experienced 14ft skiff teams, from all around Australia, including four time Australian champions Brad Devine and 96kg Ian ‘Footy’ Furlong.
“We aren’t going to be particularly competitive this season, and we aren’t the ideal weight but we will have to see how we go” says Watson.
The solo trip is in the past but the Sydney to Hobart Watson did last year was a great lesson in crew work. “I have spent the last few years doing a fair bit of sailing with other crew”.
“Even on a small boat with just two of us you find it’s a good day if you’re working together as a team”.
“It’s been great coming back from keel boats, everything on these boats (International 14) are exaggerated, you can feel everything, and it will be great to take what I’ve learnt back to my keel boat racing”.
Words and Images by Andrew Gough
PREPARING FOR 800 MILES TO THE ARTIC
Written by SAILING TO ANTARCTICA – A British and Australian team will try to recreate explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 800-mile journey in 1914 to save his crew trapped in the Antarctic.
The Old Bermudan
HAPPY HOUR FRIDAY – New Year’s Eve is right around the corner! Here’s one of our
favorite festive rum cocktails.
The Old Bermudan
6 mint leaves
1 ounce simple syrup (or less, to taste)
3/4 ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
1 1/2 ounces Gosling’s Rum
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 oz chilled champagne
In a cocktail shaker add mint, simple syrup & lime juice. Gently muddle the mint leaves. Add Gosling’s Rum and Angostura bitters. Fill shaker with ice, and shake well for 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass (you may wish to use a tea strainer to remove the tiny flecks of mint). Top with champagne; garnish with a mint leaf. Cheers!
WILD OATS XI BEATS RECORD
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ROLEX HOBART RACE – Bob Oatley’s five-time Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours winner, Wild Oats XI,beat her 2005 record time this morning, in a gentle glide to the finish that kept everyone on the edge of their seats. She finished in one day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds, taking 16 minutes and 58 seconds off her old record.
The time difference was a long one in terms of how the crew would have been feeling in those last 16 minutes of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 628 nautical mile race. Could they or couldn’t they?
At 5 am today,Wild Oats XI’s 2005 record of one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds seemed out of reach, but at about 7 am, her dashed hopes were revived, and as the minutes ticked by, her chances improved.
Initially, skipper Mark Richards and his crew were a tantalisingly 40 minutes outside the record time and were expected to finish at about 8.30 am. However, as the clock ticked, the super maxi picked up speed to around 15 knots and her finish time was upgraded to 8.00 am, then 7.50 am, 7.36 am, 7.23am and 7.13 am with five nautical miles to go.
The breeze eased. Richards ordered a bigger headsail to keep it moving, which ended with their record victory. It remains to be seen whetherWild Oats XIcan go all the way and take the treble (victory on corrected time as well as line honours and the race record).
Dockside, Richards said: “We’re all over the moon. How many places have this level of race with a fleet this size?
“Last year we were beaten by Investec Loyal (now Ragamuffin-Loyal) by three minutes, which was very disappointing. This year we beat them by much more.”
Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin-Loyal that was about 45 miles behind the line honours winner.
“We’ll be back next year,” Richards said.
Of the new record, he said: “We just kept chipping away. You expect it to be light in the Derwent and it did get lighter towards the end. This is a very testing event and the Derwent is very, very, testing. It’s always a tough race.
“We have a great bunch of people on board and we’re all good mates,” Richards said of the mostly long term crew who were aboard in 2005 and are still sailing the boat today.
Of navigator Adrienne Cahalan (who was aboard for the 2005 record) and co-navigator Tom Addis, Richards said: “They did a great job. It’s a difficult job with meteorology to look at, all the updates and critical decisions to make.”
Richards also praised tactician Iain Murray, who has taken time out of his role as Regatta Director and CEO of the America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM) organisation to return to sail the yacht again.
“I can’t wait to give the Oatley family a big hug,” Richards said, grinning from ear to ear.
He said that although the race was a relatively easy one “we had some very hard and fast running conditions; we blew out a spinnaker and had some gear failure, so it wasn’t all smooth sailing”.
Covered live on Channel 7, the tension could be seen in the faces and movements of the Wild Oats XI crew, which included Murray, Cahalan and Addis and Steve Jarvin, who was thrilled to claim the record on his milestone 25thrace, as they sailed the final miles to Castray Esplanade.
Through dint of luck, or just choosing the right boats, Jarvin also holds the record for the most line honours victories in the race’s history, this being his tenth.
Following his boat down the Derwent River aboard a spectator boat, owner Bob Oatley looked close to tears as his ever-evolving yacht made it across the line in record time. Joining Oatley in the celebrations were his wife Val, son Sandy and their families.
“We’ve never given up; we’ll try to do it again next year.
“New wings on the keel helped enormously I’m sure, so did the new jib. The design, the crew, the sails and the modifications are what makes the boat fast,” Oatley said dockside.
“I’m over the moon,” he added, keen to reach Richards, or Ricko, as he’s known in yachting circles, and the crew.
Wild Oats XIwill go into the history books as only the second boat in the history of the race to break its own race record. OnlyMorna, later renamedKurrewa IV, exceeds that record, have cracked its race record twice.
By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team
STAMM READY TO GET BACK IN THE RACE
VENDEE GLOBE – Bernard Stamm’s team say the skipper of Cheminées Poujoulat is nearly ready to leave Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island and make his return to the Vendée Globe race course.
Seeking to find a safe anchorage and decent weather to make his repairs, keynote being his hydrogenerators, Stamm arrived off Dunedin very early yesterday morning, 26th December.
His team make the point that Stamm’s concern about his ability to make electricity has bothered him since the Portuguese coast, within the first few days of the race. The situation became critical to the point that Stamm did not want to cross the Pacific without a power source. Hence he diverted and stopped off on 23rd December in the Auckland Islands. The precisions of repair operations were set, theoretically, by Stamm’s boat captain Gautier Levisse
“ At the start of the Sables d’Olonne, the hydrogenerators were mounted on little trucks on a track to raise and lower them out of the water. And we supported them with chainplates. Off Portugal one of the chainplates was damaged and so broke the track. And then the second also broke. We tried to remove the U-bolts and fix them firmly with lashings. And that took time for Bernard, but the hydros were still too loose. There was some cavitation – air being drawn in and preventing the propellors working right. The only alternative was cutting the transom.”
The level of delicacy and relative precision really left Stamm with no choice but to stop. He halted on the morning of 23rd December in the north of the Aucland Islands. He attacked the first hydrogenerator but a reinforcement of the cut was needed with some lamination and bonding. It was a complicated process. And, Stamm’s team report, his materials were limited and increasingly the weather – incessant rain – became an issue especially for trying to sand the material on the transom and getting epoxy to bond and set. In the end the odds really stacked up against him and with a gale arriving he had no choice but to move, especially considering the strong winds could push Cheminées Poujoulat on to the beach, a fate which had befallen Stamm during the 2008-9 race in the Kerguelen Islands. So he set sail for New Zealand’s South Island.
Stamm anchored at two different locations off Dunedin, moving last night due to a change in wind, but also allowing him to try one of the repaired hydrogenerators. And since yesterday he has been fixing the second unit.
“He’s been trying be protected from wind and waves to work in the best possible conditions, even if everything is relative. In between times, waiting for resins to set he has been taking care of the smaller problems. He should go after daybreak local time, tonight is for us in Europe. ” concludes Gautier Levisse.
Bernard’s team paid a warm tribute to Sophie Luther who lives locally who has helped with sending images and with local media contacts
DEAN BARKER ON THE AC72
TEAM EMIRATES – Sail-World.com’s America’s Cup Editor, Richard Gladwell talks to Emirates Team NZ’s skipper, Dean Barker, after the first 30 days of sailing in ETNZ’s AC72 – Part 1
WILD OATS HEADING FOR 6TH TITLE
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ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART RACE – Five-time Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours winner,Wild Oats XI,is headed for her sixth title this morning in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s annual ocean classic after rounding the Tasman Island light at 0330 this morning and sailing west towards Storm Bay and Hobart for an 0830 ETA at the finish.
If that ETA eventuates,Wild Oats XIwill finish about 50 minutes outside her 2005 race record of one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds.
Owned by Bob Oatley and skippered by Mark Richards, the 100-foot super maxi was on track for the record yesterday when she powered down the Tasmanian east coast at speeds of more than 24 knots before a strong north-easterly. At one stage she was about 30 nautical miles ahead of the 2005 record pace.
However, as she closed on the coast near Fortescue Bay last night, the north-easterly gave way to a weaker westerly, which also meant the race leader was in the lee of the land.
Wild Oats XI’s tactician Iain Murray had anticipated rounding Tasman at midnight, but she was not to do so until 0330am.
Syd Fischer’s maxiRagamuffin-Loyalis 40nm behind, a separation that fluctuated throughout yesterday. At one stage, Wild Oats XI was out by more than 50nm, but it reduced to about 20. This morning Fischer’s super maxi was 43 nautical miles astern of the leader.
Leading the race on handicap are Chris Bull’s well-performed Cookson 50 from NSW,Jazz, which is marginally ahead on corrected time of the Victorian yachtCalm, skippered by Jason Van der Slot NSW.
There have been two retirements in the race:Living Doll(Vic), which retired yesterday with a broken rudder in eastern Bass Strait and is heading to Eden with an ETA of 1200 tomorrow and Primitive Cool which retired this morning with a damaged mainsail. She is also heading to Eden with an ETA of 1500 today.
TO TRACK THE FLEET CLICK HERE
BUBI’S SUCCESSFUL REPAIRS
VENDEE GLOBE – Finally ended up going up the mast today just before sundown with both the spinnaker and main fractionally up when climbing…to be honest I was at the limit of my strengths as there was a lot of swell but I still managed to get up to the first reef to note that the piece of plastic in the mainsail car had basically become unstuck and that the car itself was not damaged and no screws were missing, which is what I had imagined…simply the piece that I had already changed in the Canaries was faulty.
The piece of plastic that goes into the car and which provides the friction when going up the track was missing when I lowered the main yesterday…so they were touching. You had the aluminium from the car against the aluminium on the track. What happens is that the piece of plastic in the car that I had in was not working well with the piece that was in the car I changed in the Canaries…I had to make a kind of invention and change the parts in the car to that which I had changed…anyway I had to cut a pin with a radial and make an invention that I hope will hold as I have no more parts…
Now funnily I have raised the car that I changed in the Canaries with the titanium fixtures of the one I had previously… Well anyway, as long as it all holds we are at 100%. The piece is held in better in this car.
Just like it happened in the Canaries, this repair has not only made me loose repair time but also completely left my out of sync with the racing…I would have intended on being a lot further south but had to go up to find better weather, which I found, but now am stuck in Little wind and everyone is racing flat out ahead and behind in 17 and 18 knots… This situation is quite frustrating in the end, but at least I am heading in the right direction and will start racing fast again…
Bye,
Bubi.
GET YOUR DESTOPNEWS HERE!
DESTOPNEWS – Your weekly video sailing update for the week. Today on the agenda:
1. Jules Verne Trophy — Banque Populaire V — Brest France
2. Optimist World Championship — Napier New Zealand
3. 18 Footers World Championship — Sydney Australia
4. Yann Eliès — Victory in the Solitaire du Figaro
5. Krys Ocean Race — New York to Brest
6. First AC72′s Launch — Auckland New Zealand
2012: AMERICAS CUP IN PHOTOS
AMERICAS CUP - 2012 in review slide show America’s Cup photographer Gilles Martin-Raget captures it all – America’s Cup World Series in Naples, Venice, Newport, and San Francisco. Including Moët moments to capsizes to onshore activities around the AC Village, plus AC72 photos from Carlo Borlenghi (Luna Rossa),Chris Cameron (ETNZ), Guilain Grenier (ORACLE Team USA), Sander Van der Borsch (Artemis Racing).
LIGHTFIGHTER CATAMARAN
COOL DESIGNS - LightFighter Beach Catamaran with free standing carbon wingmast. Check out Lightfighter for more information
WILD OATS XI CLOSES IN ON BASS STRAIT AND RECORD
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ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART – A short time ago Wild Oats XI’s navigator, Adrienne Cahalan, reported that the crew had had a busy night, constantly changing sails as yesterday’s east-south-easterly breeze moved around to the east and softened to 4-5 knots at around midnight. It gradually shifted around to the north-north east, and gradually built in the early hours of the morning.
“We are currently doing 15 knots in 15 knots of wind,” Cahalan reported this morning. “We’ve got a little bit of current too.”
Cahalan expects the wind to build to around 20 knots this morning, making for a very fast ride across Bass Strait.
“We’re now looking at how we approach Tasmania. The next big picture is the approaching front this evening or tomorrow morning. We are working out what our strategy should be,” she said.
Cahalan reported that in the lighter breeze during the night, second placed Ragamuffin-Loyal was able to close in on the race leader, but as the northerly kicked in, Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI pulled away again in the near-perfect downwind conditions, opening a lead of 10 nautical miles.
“It’s better to be ahead in this situation, which isn’t always the case. Usually the boats behind get the breeze first, but that’s not the case at the moment; we’re getting the new breeze first.”
About 30 miles behind Wild Oats XI, Geoff Cropley, on board Peter Millard/John Honan’s 98ft Lahana,reported: “Us and the lead boats are under spinnaker. We’re in a nice north-easterly breeze of around 15 knots and building.”
Cropley said the night had been pretty uneventful aboardLahana, with only one problem. “We did break the tack line on the Code Zero, but apart from that, all is good.
“The breeze died to 4-5 knots from the east around midnight, 1.00pm, but at around 3.00am it started to fill in and build and is continuing to build,” Cropley said. “It feels like we’re in a washing machine though – the leftovers of the south/easterly swell have made it bumpy.”
While the big boats are picking up speed this morning, life remains frustrating for the smaller, slower boats further up the coast. The fleet is now stretched across 140 miles from Jervis Bay to Green Cape, where each boat must radio its position before heading into Bass Straight, and the further along the coast, where they are in softer breeze. Some boats are making very little headway at all.
As Ichi Ban skipper Mat Allen prophesised before the race: “This year the rich will only get richer.”
There have been no retirements at all from the 76 boat fleet.
By Jim Gale, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team
DAY 47 HIGHLIGHTS
VENDEE GLOBE - Day 47 highlights – Wednesday, December 26, 2012
HERE WE COME!
AYSF NEWS – The American Youth Sailing Force (AYSF) was formed first and foremost with the goal of representing the United States in the RedBull Youth America’s Cup. Our team represents the highest level of youth sailing in America and aims to prove that with steady determination, hard work and passion young American sailors can be a leading force on the international sailing circuit.
Historically, youth sailing in America has been planned, organized, and funded by parents. In an effort to not only create a completely youth run organization, but also to separate AYSF from our competition in the Youth America’s Cup, as a team we will delegate all the functions and operations of the team including managing, fundraising, and training amongst its members. We intend to utilize the opportunity created by RedBull as a path for the next generation of young American sailors who want to compete in elite sailing events, and to inspire youth sailors across the nation to challenge themselves by setting and attaining ambitious goals.
That being said, the Youth America’s Cup isn’t the end of the road for this team. Not only will team members continue to compete in future high-profile events, but also the partnerships and the foundation we’ve created will continue to provide equally exciting opportunities to future generations. We are the future of sailing, and intend to prove that we are world-class sailors with real dedication and determination.
“To support the AYSF, please visit the Donate page on our website to make a tax deductible donation (http://americanyouthsailingforce.com/?page_id=621)
or feel free to contact us at americanyouthsailingforce.com <http://americanyouthsailingforce.com> with any questions.”
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