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Ireland Wins Commodores' Cup
Ireland's three boat team, comprising Anthony O'Leary's Ker 39 Antix, Marc Glimcher's Ker 40 Catapult and Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling's Grand Soleil 43 Quokka 8, scoring the most comprehensive victory in the 22 year history of the Commodores' Cup.
The Irish previously won the Royal Ocean Racing Club's biennial flagship event for national teams with amateur crews in 2010, but were unable to defend in 2012. This year they returned with a vengeance finishing the regatta on 268 points, with an unprecedented lead of 173.5 points.
After a disappointing result in the race around the Isle of Wight, Ireland bounced back strongly in the final double points scoring inshore held on a round the cans course in the central Solent in a light northerly. Impressively the Irish boats claimed three of the top four places on corrected time. Antix put in a particularly powerful performance following the damage she sustained when she hit the rocks close to St Catherine's Point that bent the aft end of her keel and split the bottom 1ft of her rudder.
Making his debut at the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup in the Irish team was American Marc Glimcher who had brought his 'turboed' Ker 40 Catapult over from the USA. Rating-wise Catapult was the fastest boat at this year's regatta and across the 27 boat fleet finished highest placed individual boat.
While the Irish have been the stand out performers this year, the fight remained fierce for the remaining podium positions, where French teams scored a coup.
After winning the 2012 event, the performance of GBR's four teams was disappointing with GBR Red the top British team, finishing fourth. Among GBR's 12 boats, Robert Lutener's Ker 40 Cutting Edge was the top performer and second in this regatta. -- James Boyd, sailingintelligence.com
1. Ireland, 268
2. France Red, 441.5
3. France Blue, 446.5
4. GBR Red, 448
5. France Green, 456.5
6. Scotland, 457
7. GBR White, 526
8. GBR Blue, 557.5
9. France White, 613
Full results at: www.rorc.org/raceresults/2014/bdccovos.html
Courrier Dunkerque 3 Wins Tour De France A La Voile
After three last inshore races in Nice, Daniel Souben and his crew won the Tour de France a la Voile. It is the third time that the team of Courrier Dunkerque finishes the event at the top of the podium, after winning the race twice in a row in 2008 and 2009.
Last year's champion Groupama 34, who managed to get as close as 7 points from the race leader just a few days ago, was not strong enough to beat Courrier Dunkerque.
Third place of the podium was disputed until the end today in Nice. Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite was still third this morning when they left the dock, but Team Oman Sail managed to reach their goal, stepping up on the podium for the first time in four participations in the the Tour de France a la Voile. The Omani crew who was in difficulty in the Mediterranean sailed better in the last few days. Last night they were back three points behind Nicolas Troussel, and the three races today in Nice were enough for Oman Sail to win the few points they were missing to realise their dream.
The Corinthian team Normandy Acerel can also be proud of their performance in this Tour. Baptiste Choquenet won the Corinthian ranking but also finished 5th overall, in front of the professionnal team Ville de Geneve - Carrefour Addictions.
Overall ranking :
1. Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben, 1038 points
2. Groupama 34, Franck Cammas, 1020
3. Team OmanSail, skipper, Sidney Gavignet, 956
4. Bretagne - Credit Mutuel Elite, skipper Nicolas Troussel, 954
5. Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet, 917
6. Ville de Geneve - Carrefour Addictions, Nicolas Groux, 898
7. Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellee, 882
8. Toulon Provence Mediterranee, Florian Simonnot, 870
9. Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Olivier Bessire, 776
Offshore leg ranking
1. Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 441
2. Bretagne - Credit Mutuel Elite, Nicolas Troussel 407
3. Groupama 34, 406
Technical ranking
1. Groupama 34, Franck Cammas, 614
2. Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben, 597
3. Team Oman Sail, Sidney Gavignet, 557
Amateur ranking
1. Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet, 917
2. Toulon Provence Mediterranee, Florian Simonnot, 882
3. Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellee, 870
4. Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Olivier Besire, 776
Jorgen Svendsen Wins OK Dinghy Europeans
Steinhude, Germany: Jorgen Svendsen wins OK Dinghy European Champion after all racing was cancelled on the final day as the find failed to appear for the second day in a row. Andre Budzien (GER) took the silver while defending champion Bo Petersen (DEN) had to settle for the bronze.
Svendsen's win, and Petersen's failure to retain it, continues the curse of the OK Dinghy European title. No one has ever successfully defended the European title in this class. In fact no sailor has ever won it twice. Svendsen has won several Danish titles, and was ranked No.1 in the world in the OK Dinghy last year, but this is his first major international title, and it was perhaps a long time coming. He won four out of the six race sailed, but ironically never sailed against the defending champion due to none of the gold/silver fleet races being sailed.
There is now just six months to the next OK Dinghy major championship. The 2014 World Championship will take place in Melbourne, Australia just after Christmas.
Final top five:
1. Jorgen Svendsen, DEN, 7
2. Andre Budzien, GER, 10
3. Bo Petersen, DEN, 12
4. Oliver Gronholz, GER, 17
5. Pawel Pawlaczyk, POL, 17
Full results: www.raceoffice.org/OK-Euro-2014
okdia.org
Six Metre Europeans: One Race But No Champion On Final Day
Falmouth, UK - Chris Hadden and the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club's Race Committee gave it their all to achieve two races on the final day of the Six Metre European Championship, but the wind once again refused to cooperate and their best efforts were thwarted. As a result no Six Metre European Champion, Modern or Classic, could be declared for 2014.
The teams had left the dock at 07.30 for an 09.00 start to the south of St Anthony Head. A light easterly wind filled in ready for race four of the series to start on time and both fleets got away at the first attempt with only Bertie Bicket's Scoundrel I being individually recalled in the Moderns. The first lap went well for both fleets, but the wind began to drop as they approached the first gate and the race committee wisely moved the weather mark in for the second beat.
As the leading boats came up that second beat the wind dropped again to under 3 knots and with a foul tide right on the nose progress became painfully slow. The race committee wisely elected to shorten at the mark and the Moderns just ghosted across the finish line with Paul Smith's GBR107 Valhalla first, Don Martin's CAN111 Blade Runner second and Scoundrel I, who had sailed their socks off after being over the line at the start, third.
Behind them the Classics were soon becalmed with many of the boats forced to kedge. Fifty-five minutes after the first Classic rounded the leeward mark, Chris Hadden had no choice but to announce that they had run out of time.
The next International Six Metre Championship will be the 2015 Six Metre World Cup, hosted by the Societe Nautique de la Trinite Sur Mer, in La Trinite on the south coast of Brittany, France from 29 May to 5 June 2015.
Women's Match Race Golfe Du Morbihan
The world #1 Camilla Ulrikkeholm of Denmark showed today at the Women's Match Race Golfe du Morbihan in Vannes, France, why she holds the top spot of the ISAF world ranking. First she concluded the semi finals with three straight wins over local hero Anne-Claire Le Berre. Then she defeated Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, with the same score in the final. An absolutely remarkable recovery from her 8th place in the round robin.
After a short postponement in the morning, the Brittany waters of Vannes today offered a steady southerly breeze and a little more protection from the sun than the previous days. After finishing their semi final, Ulrikkeholm and Le Berre had to wait for a while as Zuiderbaan and Swedish World Champion Anna Kjellberg took their semi final to five matches. Finally the Dutch grabbed the ticket to the final by just a metre in the fifth match.
All the semi finalists will in just a week's time have their chance to revenge themselves, when the third stage of the 2014 Women's International Match Racing Series (WIM Series) kicks off with Lysekil Women's Match in the beautiful archipelago of western Sweden. Ulrikkeholm has three consecutive titles there, but local hope Anna Kjellberg wants to prevent a fourth Danish victory.
Final results:
1. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN
2. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED
3. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA
4. Anna Kjellberg, SWE
5. Annabel Vose, GBR
6. Morgane Fountaine, FRA
7. Caroline Sylvan, SWE
8. Claudia Pierce, NZL
9. Pauline Courtois, FRA
10. Lucie Scheiwiller, FRA
11. Rajaa Al Owaisi, OMA
12. Anastasia Guseva, RUS
Top five in the WIM Series after two stages of five (skipper name, country, WIM Series points):
1. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 47
2. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 41
3. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 36
4. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 35
5. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 29
Third Course Area Opens for Huge Fleet at ORC Worlds
176 entries from 19 countries to converge on Kiel next week; two classes will use Group Sailing to determine Gold and Silver fleets
Kiel, Germany - Organizers from Kieler Yacht-Club and the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) are pleased to announce that a third course area will be opened for competition when racing starts for the 2014 ORC World Championship on Monday, August 4th, and continues through Saturday, August 9th. This third area will minimize excessive crowding in the record-sized fleet of 176 entries and allow for a better distribution of boats into each of the race course areas.
The new course area will accompany another feature of the event to make for better racing in this huge fleet: Group Sailing. A technique of fleet management usually found in dinghy and Olympic classes, race managers at KYC led by Principal Race Officer Stefan Kunstmann will use this to divide the two largest ORC classes into two groups of equal and manageable size.
The groups will race in a Qualifying Series held over Monday to Thursday, 4-7 August, with each group changing daily according to the previous day's results. The results after racing is completed on Thursday will then determine the top 30 competing yachts who will race in a Gold fleet to be eligible for the World Championship titles and trophies, and a Silver fleet to race for prizes to be awarded for this group.
Another innovation for the 2014 Worlds fleet will be use of the raceQs tracking system for competitors during races of the event. Using an app developed for iPhone and Android, competitors can track their progress during races and afterwards upload the data so that everyone can enjoy 3D replays of the regatta. A dedicated page for this feature has been established at raceqs.com/regattas/orc-world-championship
www.orcworlds2014.com
www.orc.org
Europe Week
Erna Signa which came in second in the 12m racing class. She was built by Fife in 1911 and took part in EW 1914. Click on image to enlarge.
Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Norway's constitution and building on classic yacht regattas held in 1914 and 2000, the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club (KNS) and the Norwegian Classic Yacht Club (KTK) organized Europe Week 2014 which concluded earlier this week. 81 magnificent boats from all over Europe took part: 14 in racing classes, 67 in cruising classes.
The fleet gathered in Sandefjord on 15 July where King Harald, a keen 8mR sailor, opened the event. Weather conditions in the outer Oslo fjord provided for two days of lively sailing, virtually ocean racing, with winds up to 25 kn, corresponding seas and a bit of rain.
But then the high pressure moved in bringing higher temperatures and lower wind speeds for the long cruise and race up to the picturesque village of Son. The Mediterranean-like conditions continued providing a good day of racing on the fjord outside of Son, but with even less wind for race up to Oslo.
Wind in Oslo was so light that the cruising classes' race on Monday had to be abandoned and Tuesday's race was cancelled, but the racing classes got in their final licks.
To top off a great week of sailing and camaraderie, the sailors with friends and families enjoyed the evening festivities in Oslo having a 1914 style party hosted by the organizing authority KNS, a beautiful reception with greetings from the Mayor at the Oslo Radhus (City Hall) and concluding with King Harald presenting the trophies at the Maritime Museum.
The German entry was especially strong, with ANITRA winning the international 12 meter racing class, while SIRA, the yacht owned by King Harald, won the 8 meter racing class. The single British entry, Kelpie, did very well on the water, winning the Cruising Gaff class, and her crew provided plenty of laughs on shore. Also of note, a Russian yacht won the King's special prize for coming all the way from St. Petersburg.
All concerned were thoroughly satisfied with a memorable event, which must be repeated as soon as practical.
sailwave.com/results/Overall.htm
Joint Statement From The AC Teams
Following the announcement of Team Australia - representative of the Hamilton Island Yacht Club, Challenger of Record of the 35th America's Cup - of its intention to withdraw from the competition, the teams Luna Rossa Challenge, Artemis Racing, Ben Ainslie Racing and Team France - jointly with the yacht clubs they represent - confirm their full support to the event, regardless from the host venue that will be selected.
The four teams, who have so far made clear their involvement, also reiterate their commitment to co-operate in a constructive way with the Defender to the sporting and commercial success of the 35th America's Cup, with the aim of bringing this event to the peak of the world's professional sport in terms of media, show, public and the intense sporting competition which has always characterised the America's Cup.
The teams look forward to establish a constant dialogue with the Defender Oracle Team USA with the intent to fully preserve the principle of "friendly competition between foreign countries" - one of the core elements of the Deed of Gift that rules the America's Cup - and to co-operate actively with the Defender to adapt the rules where need be and outline the America's Cup World Series calendar, as well as the format of the Challengers' Selection Series and of the America's Cup finals.
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The Last Word
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