Scuttlebutt Europe #2469 - 14 November
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Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to Kiwis Claim Port Cities Challenge
Emirates Team New Zealand may have been the last crew to arrive in town on Friday and skipper Dean Barker had never sailed in San Diego ahead of Saturday's first race. But his team didn't miss a beat, winning the Port Cities Challenge on this opening preliminary weekend of the America's Cup World Series. The Kiwis were certainly that. Despite winning just one of the six races, they had five finishes in the top three to win by a comfortable seven points over ORACLE Racing Spithill. Artemis Racing was third, one point further back On Saturday, China Team won a race for the first time at AC World Series and on Sunday it was the French teams in the spotlight. First it was Aleph with new skipper Pierre Pennec at the helm, who took a win in race four. But not to be outdone, Energy Team sailed a flawless race six with skipper Yann Guichard to claim their first team win. Representatives of the five Port Cities - San Diego, National City, Coronado, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista - were onboard the race boats during the first contest of the day. Coast Guard Commander Michael Leo Guerrero won bragging rights for the Port City of Chula Vista on ORACLE Racing Spithill, racing to a second place finish ahead of the other boats representing Port Cities, to claim the 'fastest Port City' designation. Fleet Approaches Doldrums Averaging around 22 knots in the fresh conditions, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG blew past long-time leader Groupama sailing team on Saturday night and at the 1900 UTC position report on Sunday they held a lead of 13 nautical miles over Team Telefonica, with whom they have been scrapping all week. CAMPER with Emriates Team New Zealand, the other team who chose the more orthodox western approach, were in third place a further 158 nm back in the 6,500-nm first leg from Alicante to Cape Town. Groupama, who had held the lead for so long after their decision to stay close to the African coast, trailed PUMA by 217 nm and were in danger of suffering more damage as the fleet headed towards Fernando de Noronha, with the Doldrums in their way. After grabbing first place, PUMA had rammed home the advantage, extending their lead over CAMPER and Groupama at every position update, with only Telefonica able to hang on to their coat tails. Despite dropping from first to fourth so quickly, Groupama 4 skipper Franck Cammas took a pragmatic view of the situation and, with over 4,500 nm to run, was far from ready to concede the leg. "The outcome won't be very positive, that's for sure," he said. "That's the risk of our option. We knew it would be favourable in the short term. It was uncertain on the long term and it didn't come out very well for us. "We certainly can lose 100 to 200 milles but many things can happen in the Doldrums. A few knots more and an interesting angle can help with gains. And in a few days we will get the same wind as our competitors." New Sailcloth Barrel Bags from Bainbridge International
Bainbridge barrel bags are available in a variety of sizes, from the 24 litre small bag, to the 43 litre medium bag and the 75 litre large bag. Each bag features a reinforced grab handle and durable zip, with a random sail number in blue, red or black sewn onto the side - making each bag stylish and unique. We'll also be featuring our new range of Low Aspect Ocean Premium Plus woven sailcloth. Designed to complement the existing High Aspect range, it features high tenacity polyester in the warp and fill and is available in 5oz to 10oz weights to suit a variety of applications. Ocean Premium Plus High Aspect and Low Aspect sailcloth is designed to sailmaker and end user alike the very best in performance and shape holding power which, in turn, delivers outstanding longevity. Ocean Premium Plus also incorporates a unique 'ripstop' that sets it apart from standard products. See us at METS, stand 11.117. For more information email: or log on to www.bainbridgemarine.co.uk Slip Slidin' Away The leading duo are separated by around 40 miles with Hugo Boss' Alex Thomson and Guillermo Alatadill still refusing to be dropped by the newer design, indeed sailing almost a knot quicker this evening as they pass into what should be the final week of the race. The bold moves of Maitre Jacques and Groupe Bel, respectively in the Multi 50 match and the IMOCA Open 60 class, are still working for them. Kito de Pavant and Yann Reginiau on Groupe Bel were still in sixth this evening but within 30 miles of the podium which they have set as their target meantime, some 400 miles to the SE of the main pack. The choice of Mike Golding and Bruno Dubois to follow a similar route, to get south, has seen the Gamesa struggle for breeze at times today. They were in lane of lighter, confused airs which marks the boundary between the Bernmuda and Azores high pressure systems and they have had to hitch back to the NW today to search for the better trades, at a small cost. In the Class 40 fleet the leaders Aquarelle.com push on down the track with a healthy lead of over 150 miles now and the best prospect of clearing out of the high pressure zone first, but behind them there are now three main groups still, all struggling with lighter winds. In the Azores, on Terceira the all girl crew on Gust Buster expect to have to wait until Monday or Tuesday for a new rudder blade. Standings at 1700hrs CET on Sunday, November 13th, 2011 IMOCA Multi50 Class40 Running the Rhumblines Since Klaus won the 2011 Australian championship Bronze Medal contested on the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club courses on the Pittwater he has become dedicated in making sure Eva's dinghy Missee Lee will be on the pace for the 2012 Nationals. He has accepted the role as the coach of the Whitsunday Optimist sailing team and has noticeably lifted the standard as the squad members prepare to test their skill against the best in the Nation over the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron courses on Brisbane's Waterloo Bay from January 16-21 2012. Eva Lorenz will head the tropical team challenge in the Australian championship which has attracted the best male and female skippers from all Australian States. Since racing in the 2011 Nationals where Eva finished 46th in the 110 dinghy fleet she has continued to mature into a clever and determined your skipper under the encouragement and guidance of her coach. They possess a special bond of respect with Klaus admiring the tenacious spirit of his kid sister who has shown the talent to be named in the Yachting Queensland Development Squad. However her battle for personal recognition has not been plain sailing for the lightweight girl skipper. Not unlike all other first time sailors Eva Lorenz experienced a number of energy absorbing capsizes but she never lost her infectious smile and the will to never give up. An example of her personal courage was expressed during a windy Yachting Queensland training camp at Yeppoon where the light-weight girl skipper expressed her determination to never be a quitter. After experiencing several wild wipe-outs and some energy absorbing sessions with the bailing bucket Eva completed the session tired wet and happy. Her gutsy effort was admired by senior squad members who carried the light-weight skipper and dinghy on a special shoulder high march up the beach to the rigging area. This was a special occasion showing the young Whitsunday skipper that you don't have to be a winner to be acknowledged. Her exhibition of sustained endurance to master the overpowering elements also convinced Klaus Lorenz that his little sister had shown she was ready to progressively develop her own career in the male dominated sport. -- Ian Grant Join The Virtual Yacht Race from Weymouth to Perth with the Liveskipper Game Be the best and win a trip to Australia to attend the final phases of the world championship. LiveSkipper, a game enabling you to skipper a virtual boat in genuine weather conditions, is teaming up with the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships to organise the official Perth 2011 virtual race. To celebrate this exceptional championship, LiveSkipper is offering you the chance to make for Perth aboard a virtual maxi-foiler capable of making over 40 knots of boat speed. LiveSkipper is synonymous with: www.liveskipper.com/perth2011/ Baltic Sprint Cup New Edition in 2012 The Baltic Sprint Cup 2012 will be slightly shorter than its predecessors - saving time for the competitors - and keeps the formula whereby the fleet travels to some of the most attractive sailing destinations around the Baltic Sea. Total mileage will be 561, with leg lengths of 199, 145, 167, and 50 miles. The finish port will be Klaipeda, Lithuania, and the fleet arrival timed to co-incide with the city's fabulous Festival of the Sea, growing larger and more popular each year. Previous Baltic Sprint Cups have also joined the Festival where the crews are invited to take part in one of the most exuberant parties in the region! Provisional plans see racing under ORCi and ORC Club, for boats with GPH less than or equal to 600. Starting place for the fleet is a brand new marina at Boltenhagen 30km east of Luebeck-Travemuende from which the course goes to Karlskrona, then Vastervik, Sweden before crossing the Baltic ESE to Liepaja in Latvia. In a previous Baltic Sprint Cup a very similar first leg (Luebeck/Travemuende to Karlskrona, following a NE'ly rhumb line saw former Royal Ocean Racing Club Commodore David Aisher achieve spectacular boat speeds in Yeoman, in a fleet of 61 boats in a classic SWly to the delight (and maybe a little trepidation) of his newest crew member, the Vice Mayor of Karlskrona on his first offshore sailing trip. As always, the city councils at all the Baltic Sprint Cup ports are fully supportive of the event and the Lords Mayor are now being invited to become official patrons. The first Baltic Sprint Cup in 2005 was held under the burgee of the NRV - the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and it is with pride that the organization announced that once again the NRV will be the lead organizing club. The Notice of Race will be published soon. For more details see www.balticsprintcup.com ISAF Annual Conference After three days of meetings, ISAF Council drew the conference to a close today as they made the final decisions that will affect the sport moving forward. Council voted that in favour of the Equipment Committee doing everything reasonably possible to get a report in sufficient time for ISAF Council's consideration in May's Mid-Year meeting, a submission, if appropriate, to select the Olympic Equipment proposed for evaluation. Kiteboarding trials will also be held early next year to evaluate the possible inclusion into the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition and future ISAF events. ISAF Council agreed to run the new single ISAF Sailing World Rankings for sailors competing in Olympic class events, based on a 12 month period, alongside existing rankings to give time for testing before going live after the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships will head to a new territory in 2015 after ISAF Council voted in favour of Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia, subject to a successful site visit and satisfactory contractual arrangements. Busan, Korea was also approved to host the 2013 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship subject to a successful site visit and satisfactory contractual arrangements. Kiteboarding development will continue to move along after Council voted in favour of including the discipline in the ISAF Learn to Sail Training Programme Document and to recognise National Kiteboard Training programmes through the ISAF Recognised Training accreditation inspections. Council approved the Equipment Committee recommendations to grant ISAF Class status to the RS:One subject to them signing the ISAF Class agreement and satisfactory building specification. The Soto 40 was also granted ISAF Class status. ISAF Council agreed with all recommendations from the Equipment Committee on submissions about Equipment Rules of Sailing and a large block of amendments to the Racing Rules of Sailing recommended by the Racing Rules Committee. The approved recommendations affecting the current Racing Rules will be published in due course with those affecting the new Racing Rules of Sailing set to be incorporated into the new book which will be finalised by May 2012. Full details of all the decisions made at the ISAF Annual Conference will be published in the minutes of the meetings for the ISAF Council and all ISAF Committees, which will be published on the ISAF Meetings microsite at www.sailing.org/meetings in the coming weeks. Salperton IV Gets Hi-Tech Doyle Sails
The new sail programme included mainsail, reacher, jib and purpose built racing blade genoa. The blade genoa was fitted with C-tech air battens. The sail is produced with high pressure tubing along the leech and when connected to a HP air supply, the batten pockets are pressurised. This system allows for fast sail changes without having to install, remove or store long battens. Following successful sail trials, Doyle Palma Director, Quinten "Quinny" Houry said "The mainsail fits perfectly and looks and feels really fast. The Genoa's have a great shape and will boost performance. The Stratis production system enables us to produce a quality performance sail that we expect to last longer than alternatives". The new sails were produced in the new purpose build sail 1555m2 sail loft in Palma, Spain. More information: Fiona Bruce: 18ft Skiffs: Beko 3-Buoys Challenge Series - Race 5
The team of Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton and Scott Babbage finished only fourth today, behind winner Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon, Aaron Links and Trent Barnabas), but their performances over the five races saw them finish with an overall total of 26 points. Rag & Famish Hotel (Jack Macartney, Mark Kennedy and Peter Harris) also finished on 26 points but lost to Gotta Love It 7 after the countback went to each team's third best placing in the series. Second-placed today was Yandoo (John Winning, Andrew Hay, David Gibson), which finished 2m27s behind Thurlow Fisher Lawyers and also took out third place overall on 30 points. Thurlow Fisher Lawyers finished fourth overall on 31 points, ahead of Kenwood-Rabbitohs (Brett Van Munster) which also finished on 31 points but again lost out on countback. Sixth place overall went to appliancesonline.com.au (Micah Lane), which finished third today, 1m25s behind Yandoo. The Beko 3-Buoys Challenge proved a great success as Thurlow Fisher Lawyers' victory today produced the fifth winner from the five races sailed for the series. Race 1 of the N.S.W. Championship will be sailed next Sunday. The championship will continue each Sunday until 18 December. The best four performances of each team will be counted to determine overall placings. www.18footers.com.au 222 ARC Boats Getting Ready The talk on the dock are off course the weather, and right now it looks very favorable. According to passageweather.com the boats will have nice trade winds from day one with 12-17 knots of northeasterly. But in between all the weather talk and preparations there is always time for a party and to be social in Las Palmas. At midday Sunday November 13, hundreds of ARC participants took part in the Official Opening Ceremony for ARC 2011. Flag bearers from representing Gran Canaria, Spain, Saint Lucia, the European Union and 28 of the main nationalities in the ARC fleet paraded behind the Banda Gran Canaria, with the Banda H Mencey beating a salsa rhythm at the back. Andrew Bishop, Managing Director of World Cruising Club declared ARC 2011 officially "open" and the country flags were proudly hoisted on flagpoles around the marina as fireworks were launched in celebration. The fiesta atmosphere continued with ARC participants and local people taking part in Don Pedro's famous International Dinghy Race. The race across the marina encourages crews, dressed in a variety of fancy dress costumes, to use any tactics they like to outwit their opponents. Later in the afternoon, teams of ARC participants and World Cruising Club staff raced the local 'vela latina' outside the harbour. These lateen-rigged wooden boats are unique to Las Palmas, and the racing was kindly organised by the Federacion Vela Latina and the Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas. ARC activities continue this week, with more crew flying in to join their boats. 202 of the 222 confirmed entries are now in the marina, and the remaining boats are expected in the next few days. -- Jon Amtrup Event site www.worldcruising.com/arc/ Ocean Safety Shows Volvo Safety Gear at METS
The winning combination of Kru Sports Pro and R10 will be on display on Ocean Safety's stand 03.304 at METs, Amsterdam tomorrow until Thursday. The UK's largest independent supplier of marine safety equipment is proud of their offering. "It's great that every crew member is carrying the Kannad R10 and that the majority of them fitted to the Kru Sports Pro lifejackets," comments Ocean Safety's Sales Director Mark Hart. "But most importantly, we are pleased that we are providing the best possible safety back up to the Volvo crews." New Zealand Match Racing Championship
Steven joins Scott's brother Chris Dickson, Phil Robertson, Dean Barker, Gavin Brady and Rod Davis on the list of names engraved on the New Zealand Match Racing Cup. The final day of racing was in complete contrast to Saturday's when only one flight was sailed due to a distinct lack of wind. What little wind did find its way out on to the course was soon consumed by the rain which descended over the fleet in the final stages of the third flight of Round Robin Two. In contrast, Sunday's racing saw an average 18 knots sou'west breeze which ensured the championships were completed. Wellington Spirit Yacht Racing (Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club) Scott Dickson (Long Beach Yacht Club California) Final placings: Optimist Bermuda Open Championship
All the glory came down to the eleventh and final race where Logue had to finish in front of the Dominican National Champion to secure the title. He did just that, securing a third ahead of her fourth place result. Logue who sails with Team LISOT in the U.S. adds the Bermuda Open title just weeks after winning the USODA Southeast Championship in Naples Florida. Jack Parkin, also from the Riverside Yacht Club, placed fourth in the 11 race regatta organized by the Sandy's Boat Club in conjunction with the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association. After losing a day due to a brush with Tropical Storm Sean, sailors enjoyed steady 10 - 16 knot winds throughout the weekend in the Great Sound off of Boaz Island. Top Bermudian Rory Caslin had a similar close battle with Chase Cooper and had to win the final race to secure the title of Bermuda National Champion which he did, finally placing eighth overall to Cooper's ninth in the Open series. Other major prize winners included Lucy Wilmot from the San Francisco Yacht Club who was awarded the Peter Mitchell Sportsmanship award and Top Junior (11 and under), Ronja Gronblom of Finland. Top Bermuda Junior was Mickey Wolmann. On the Green Fleet (Novice) course Bermudian Sean Tucker was the top sailor followed by American Riley Kloc of Barrington, Rhode Island. Bermudian Jordan Etimadi was third. 30 sailors between the age of 5 and 13 took part in the ten race Green Fleet Regatta and Clinic in Hamilton Harbour. The clinic was run by "Green Fleet Guru" Tom Coleman and was sponsored by Riihiluoma's Flying Colours. All Green Fleeters were presented with medals of participation. -- Dede Cooper Erich Bruckmann Letters To The Editor - * From Anthony Shanks: re: Jim Champ's letter: I have heard all of these argument time and again to justify poor administration and judging. This begs the question of when a recreational activity ceases being such and becomes a profession. Professional sport is not a recreational activity but a job. We see referees in sport being pilloried by the press, in rugby you only have to look at the performance of Bryce Lawrence and Craig Joubert at the world cup and in football at many of the refs that disallow perfectly legal goals because of the absence of goal line technology. Why should sailing administrators and judges be exempt from this? Maybe top sportsmen are needed as advisers or judges as they are right at the pinnacle of the sport and probably understand the technical nuances of the sport better than most. With so much at stake for professional athletes it is only right that the administration and judging have at least a professional attitude. Paying them is not enough professionalism is a state of mind. When organising an international event the largest single item on the budget is the international jury and their travel arrangements. A large number of international sailing events are in some of the most spectacular places in the world, with a few notable exceptions!!! Featured Brokerage Brokerage through Orizzonte Yachting: www.yachtworld.com/exclusiveboats/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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