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NORAUTO Dominates Day One In Windy Sotogrande
Adam Minoprio steered NORAUTO to five straight victories on a breezy first day at the GC32 La Reserva de Sotogrande Cup in the south of Spain.
The warm Poniente westerly breeze was blowing around 14 knots at the start of the afternoon but later picked up to gusting 20 knots, with the fleet putting a reef in their mainsails after two of the five races. It didn't matter what configuration the GC32s were racing in, however, NORAUTO was the master of all situations.
Team Tilt, with helmsman Sebastien Schneiter recently returned from competing at the Olympic Games in Rio 2016, was looking sharp, coming second in three of the five races. However gear failure led to a retirement from Race 4 which has added expensive points to their score. However the Swiss still hold second place overall on the leaderboard, on equal points with third-placed Team ENGIE who sailed a great day, completing all races and finishing second in race four.
Teams competing at the GC32 La Reserva de Sotogrande Cup
ARMIN STROM Sailing Team (SUI) skipper Flavio Marazzi
Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco (MON) skipper Pierre Casiraghi
Mamma Aiuto! (JPN) skipper Naofumi Kamei
NORAUTO (FRA) skipper Adam Minoprio (NZL)
Realteam (SUI) skipper Jerome Clerc
Team ENGIE (FRA) skipper Sebastien Rogues
Team Tilt (SUI) skipper Sebastien Schneiter
Provisional results after day 1
1. NORAUTO, 5 points
2. Team Tilt, 18
3. Team ENGIE, 18
4. Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco, 21
5. Realteam, 21
6. ARMIN STROM Sailing Team, 28
7. Mamma Aiuto!, 39
RC44 Cascais Cup
It was a day of mixed fortunes for the top teams as fleet racing got underway today at the RC44 Cascais Cup. In light to moderate conditions off the Portuguese sailing mecca, three races were held in an 8-10 knot northwesterly and a long but shallow Atlantic swell.
Igor Lah's Team CEEREF got off to the strongest of starts, comfortably winning the first two races.
However in the third they were "too greedy…" Shaving the committee boat, they were a second or two early and were immediately called back to restart. Sadly they were subsequently unable to recover adequate ground and came home ninth. "That was a pity. But we know we can do it - we will not make the same mistake," concluded Lah.
Adhering more closely to their 'consistency pays' mantra was John Bassadone's Peninsula Petroleum. A 2-4, followed by a win in today's final race, leaves the Gibraltar-based team leading.
Fleet racing continues tomorrow at 1200 local time.
RC44 Cascais Cup - Fleet race ranking (after three races)
1. Peninsula Petroleum, 8 points
2. Team Aqua, 10
3. Bronenosec Sailing Team, 10
4. Team CEEREF, 1
5. BlackWater Sailing Team, 16
6. Team Nika, 19
7. Artemis Racing Youth, 20
8. Charisma, 21
9. Artemis Racing, 23
The 30th Anniversary Quantum Key West Race Week Is Scheduled January 15-20, 2017
The regatta that started as a mostly fun series among casual racers and grew to the most important international regatta hosted in the U.S. is shaping up to be memorable: A new host venue in Old Town, the Waterfront Brewery, brings the nightly action back to the waterfront, Quantum Sails is back as title sponsor, the Florida Keys return as presenting sponsor and entries are building with the regatta just four months away.
Enter before October 1 to save between $3 and $5 per foot on your entry fee. Starts will be hosted for one-design and rated classes, and for the second year running monohull and multihull cruising classes. Don't have a boat? No problem. Charter opportunities are available through the National One Design Sailing Academy of Canada.
Also, all Quantum Sails customers are eligible for free entry to race week with the purchase of a new suit of racing or performance cruising sails from Quantum before October 31. (Contact your sail consultant for full details.) Visit the regatta web site, Quantum Key West Race Week, for more information
Or to go directly to the online entry application form
Extreme Sailing Series Makes Its Madeira Debut
Extreme Sailing Series veterans Red Bull Sailing Team from Austria sneaked an early Act 6 lead today after a challenging light winds opener in the Madeira Islands.
Stunning conditions had greeted the fleet yesterday as they took to the waters of Funchal, the capital city of the Portuguese archipelago, for practice racing. Bright blue skies and a fresh breeze saw the lightning-fast GC32 catamarans revelling as they 'flew' around the Extreme Sailing Series' newest venue on their hydro-foils.
As the first and only race got underway Red Bull Sailing Team got an early advantage, leading the international fleet off the start line. It was to be anything but plain sailing for Roman Hagara's men however as they were soon overhauled by wildcard team Vega Racing, the first USA-flagged team to compete in the Extreme Sailing Series in eight years.
Led by American Moth sailor Brad Funk, and with a top crew including British dinghy star Nick Thompson, Vega Racing looked to have laid down an early marker as they rounded the first mark ahead. But their glory was short-lived as they sailed into a wind hole, allowing the majority of the fleet to skirt round them.
The quest for the top spot became a four-way battle between Red Bull Sailing Team, Alinghi, SAP Extreme Sailing Team and home team Sail Portugal - Visit Madeira. The top teams split from one another in a desperate attempt to find more breeze, and when they came back together it was Red Bull Sailing Team with the narrowest of leads.
Standings after Day 1, 1 race (22.09.16)
Position / Team / Points
1. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Stewart Dodson, Adam Piggott, Brad Farrand. 12 points
2. Alinghi (SUI) Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Timothe Lapauw, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, 11
3. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Mads Emil Stephensen, Pierluigi De Felice, Renato Conde, 10
4. Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari, 9
5. Sail Portugal - Visit Madeira (POR) Diogo Cayolla, Frederico Melo, Nuno Barreto, Luís Brito, Joao Matos Rosa, 8
6. Vega Racing (USA) Brad Funk, Tom Buggy, Nick Thompson, Ze Costa, Mac Agnese, 7
7. Land Rover BAR Academy (GBR) Neil Hunter, Chris Taylor, Will Alloway, Sam Batten, Rob Bunce
Enfant Terrible, Plenty Resume Rivalry In Zadar
Zadar, Croatia: Enfant Terrible and Plenty have been doing battle on the Farr 40 International Circuit for several years now. Those two top-notch programs have resumed their rivalry this week in the waters off this historic city along the Dalmatian coast.
Skipper Alberto Rossi and his Italian team aboard Enfant Terrible were on fire in 2013, winning the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship and also capturing the International Circuit crown. Plenty, a New York-based boat owned by Alex Roepers, accomplished the same feat during a magical 2014 season.
Those two boats have been at the forefront of the highly-competitive class ever since and have engaged in dogfights at numerous regattas. So it is no surprise to see Enfant Terrible and Plenty atop the leader board at the D-Marin Farr 40 Zadar Regatta.
Rossi steered Enfant Terrible to a pair of first place finishes and the Italian entry held the lead by tiebreaker over Plenty after Wednesday's opening round of racing. Roepers and the Plenty crew got the best of the battle on Thursday and holds the overall lead at the midway mark of the four-day regatta.
The Farr 40 Class Association made its debut in Croatia in mid-May off Sibenik, which is located about an hour and a half further down the Dalmatian coast from Zadar.
Preliminary results:
1. Plenty, Alex Roepers, USA, 14 points
2. Enfant Terrible , Alberto Rossi, ITA, 15
3. Struntje light, Wolfgang Schaefer, GER, 17
4. Pazza Idea (Corinthian), Bresciani Pierluigi, GER, 21
5. MP30+10, Luca Pierdomenico, GER, 23
Industry News
The Yacht Racing Forum and the World Match Racing Tour are delighted to announce a long-term partnership. Founded in 1999, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is the world's leading professional sailing series.
The Tour has been involved alongside the Yacht Racing Forum since its debut in 2008 in Monaco. In July 2015, Swedish company Aston Harald acquired the event through its subsidiary Aston Harald Sports, marking a major step forward for the World Match Racing Tour with the introduction of the one-design M32 high performance catamarans.
The new partnership with the Yacht Racing Forum is part of the Aston Harald Sports commercial strategy, aimed at further developing the World Match Racing Tour, M32 Series and the M32 catamaran's class.
The Yacht Racing Forum 2016 will take place on November 28 - 29 in Malta; it will be co-hosted by Yachting Malta and Yachting / Events.
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HanseGroup, the German builder of the Hanse and Dehler brands, has introduced the Crossover and Free Ride sail.
The Crossover sail is marketed for the Hanse brand and Free Ride for Dehler yachts.
The sail features an asymmetrical cut and consists of lightweight CZ laminate.
The size of the sail depends on the model and is about twice the size of the self-tacking jib.
For example, on a Hanse 455, this means a 44sq m self-tacking jib with 92.6sq m Hanse Crossover sail.
This sail size is particularly recommended for light winds and helps to accelerate the yacht.
The new sail has been developed by Elvstrom specifically for the German boatbuilder.
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Superyacht owners around the world will now benefit from reduced servicing down times after a significant capital investment by leading composite rigging producer, Future Fibres, in a new large-capacity braiding machine for its rigging service centre in Valencia, Spain.
The new state-of-the-art Herzog braiding machine has enabled Future Fibres, supplier of the world leading ECsix multistrand carbon rigging, to better serve its many superyacht clients in the Mediterranean and across the globe.
The new Future Fibres machine is located at its Service Centre in Valencia. Future Fibres is the rigging division of Southern Spars - the world's largest carbon spar manufacturer and a part of the global North Sails Group.
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Australian Sailing has announced a partnership with AWH Media (Boats on TV / World on Water) to work together in the pursuit of developing and promoting sailing.
The parties will work together to promote sailing through video programs and digital content, and to grow sailing's on-line and on-screen presence in a variety of formats.
Increasing the reach of the weekly 30-minute TV and on-line program World on Water will be a feature of the partnership, as well as the two-hour Boat Club TV show which already screens in many of Australian Sailing's member clubs. World on Water already screens on free-to-air TV in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, and it is anticipated that this will expand in the future.
Client and product promotion, advertising and sponsorship is available in both the "World on Water" and the club in-house video "Boat Club TV". Contact us on or phone +61 430 317 717
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The newly revamped Valencia Boat Show, celebrating its eighth edition in 2016, will take place from October 31st to November 6th. One of the changes includes relocating the event in the Marina Real Juan Carlos I to the front of the EDEM headquarters. The Boat Show will be held opposite the former Alinghi base, the headquarters of the EDEM business school and Lanzadera building, the business accelerator that supports entrepreneurial leaders, both of which were founded by Juan Roig, President of Mercadona.
One of the reasons for the change is due to the large number of boats that will be exhibited on the water. Visitors can now take part in sea trials and on water boat tests (by prior appointment) from October 31st - November 1st. "We needed more space on the water for easy boat manoeuvre and space for the exhibitors" explains event organisers. There is also wider exhibition space on the actual dockside allowing for the increase in size and distribution of stands at actual sea level.
The entrance to the Valencia Boat Show will be next to Tinglado 2 and the area which extends past the EDEM headquarters, the Lanzadera building, former Alinghi base and the old America's Cup docking area. The cost for one ticket to access the show will be 5 euros from Monday to Friday and will be free on the weekend.
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East Boothbay, Maine, USA: Hodgdon Yachts is pleased to announce the appointment of Audrey Hodgdon as the company's new Director of Sales and Marketing, with immediate effect. Audrey is the sixth generation member of the Hodgdon family to work at the company and for the past two years has been the Marketing Manager. She joins a strong sales team, which includes Cyril Le Sourd, based in Monaco and Eric Leslie, based in Newport, RI.
Audrey's career background includes working in New Zealand at High Modulus, a composites design and engineering firm in the marine industry. More recently she worked at Diversified Communications, an international media and event management company.
Having started in 1816 during the era of clipper ships, Hodgdon is America's oldest boat builder. Still family owned, this East Boothbay, Maine company has evolved into a leader in advanced composite construction while maintaining exceptional skills for world class traditional and modern interiors.
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Effective October1, 2016 Doyle Sails New Zealand is to undergo an ownership and management change as part of a strategic restructure.
Volvo Ocean Race winner, Mike Sanderson, director and head of sales, will take over as the majority shareholder and CEO.
Fellow owner/directors David Duff and Richard Bouzaid will also increase their shareholding with Duff appointed Managing Director and Bouzaid as Director of Design. Chris McMaster, currently Managing Director of Doyle Sails New Zealand, is to move into a consultative role that will allow him to step away from the day-to-day operations of the company while still making his expertise available to Doyle Stratis customers.
These changes mark a renewed strategy for Doyle Sails New Zealand to continue the fast growth of its presence in the high end performance market. Sanderson, Duff and Bouzaid all having significant experience in a wide range of high performance race campaigns, including the Volvo Ocean Race and Americas Cup.
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The Last Word
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