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North Atlantic Record Smashed By More Than 16 Hours
Francis Joyon has just shattered the North Atlantic record: 5 days, 2 hours, 56 minutes and 10 seconds or in other words a time that is 16 hours, 34 minutes and 30 seconds less than the previous record set by Thomas Coville in 2008.
Over the final stretch, Francis Joyon came very close to beating his own outright distance record over 24 hours (666.2 miles) and this enabled the Breton skipper to make important gains over the second half of the crossing, in spite of sailing some distance away from the Great Circle Route.
Morgan Lagraviere Wins Figaro Leg 3
Vendee skipper Morgan Lagraviere crossed the line at 00:03:55 local time (22:03:55 UTC) to take line honours on La Solitaire du Figaro's third and penultimate leg from Gijon, Spain to Roscoff on the north coast of France. His time for the 436 mile long leg was 2 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes and 55 seconds at an average speed of 7.26 knots.
For the 26-year-old Lagraviere, this is the latest step in what has been a meteoric career to date in the Figaro class. Having finished with Olympic 49er sailing, he was top rookie in the 2011 Solitaire du Figaro and finished second to Yann Elies last year. His latest achievement represents his first ever leg win in La Solitaire.
After a brief spell upwind soon after the start out of Gijon on Thursday, Lagraviere took the lead and apart from a short period early on Saturday morning when he tacked offshore to get past Pointe de Penmarch, he never lost it.
Upon his arrival in Roscoff, Lagraviere knew nothing of the forestay breakage on Yann Elies' Groupe Queguiner-Leucemie Espoir, that has put him into content for the overall lead. In fact he had resigned himself to believe that winning overall was not possible after the results on leg one. "This Solitaire was played out in the first leg and there isn't a lot I can do about that now. I am taking each leg as a separate race. I am not thinking of the overall result."
* Upwind conditions while sailing along Brittany's Atlantic coast has caused two significant casualties Saturday on La Solitaire du Figaro's third and penultimate leg from Gijon to Roscoff.
Worst affected was Yann Elies, overall leader of this year's Solitaire du Figaro - Eric Bompard cachemire after two legs, as well as being the event's defending champion. At 0930 UTC his Groupe Queguiner-Leucemie Espoir broke her forestay while lying in 17th place, just south of Les Glenan islands near Concarneau.
Despite being on the wind at the time, Elies managed to prevent his Beneteau Figaro 2 dismasting.
Route Des Princes: Two Sebs Are Better Than One
Photo by Mark Lloyd, www.lloydimages.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Skipper Sebastien Josse, tactician Seb Col and navigator Charles Caudrelier and their crew again proved to be a step ahead of their MOD70 opposition, consistently slicker in their boathandling, tactics and often their sheer boat speed in the inshore races in Lisbon.
In the puffy northerly breeze, blowing off the Lisbon cityfront across the Tagus river, the sunny conditions were great for spectators on the land and on the water, but the changes of wind direction and pressure ensured there was never a dull moment for the 'brains trusts' trying to make best use of these changes, nor for the trimmers and grinders who were always working to their maximum.
After winning Race 5, Sidney Gavignet's Oman Air-Musandam was on target for second overall in Lisbon but they slumped to a fourth place finish in the final contest, just one lap which was won by Spindrift - leaving them to third, one place better than in Spain.
But Gavignet's team will leave Portugal tomorrow for Leg 2 to Dun Laoghaire, Ireland via the Fastnet Rock, with their points lead on the Route des Princes rankings still intact, but now only two points up on Edmond de Rothschild.
With their start advanced due to the forecast for strong winds and big seas at Cape Finisterre on Monday, the Multi50 fleet were given perfect conditions for the start of their 900 miles passage to Dun Laoghaire on Ireland's Dublin Bay.
With the wind blowing out of the north at between 12 and 18 knots the Multi50's made an eight miles loop between the historic old town waterfront at the Praça do Comericio and a buoy to the west of the 25th April bridge, returning back to the turning gate before heading west at speed towards the first of their two bonus points scoring marks. First to Cascais, collecting the bonus point, some 41 minutes later was Yves Le Blevec's Actual. The Multi50s are expected to spend their first night at sea tacking upwind into 15kts of N'ly breezes, and so due to make Cape Finisterre early tomorrow.
Their amended course now takes them to a second points scoring mark at Chausse de Sein to the west of Britanny's Point du raz.
Provisional overall standings after Lisbon inshores:
1. Musandam Oman Air (Sidney Gavignet) 54 points
2. Edmond de Rothschild, 52
3. Spindrift (Yann Guichard) 8
4. Virbac-Paprec 70 (Jean-Pierre Dick), 38
Marion Bermuda Leader Hits The Happy Valley
The Swan 62 Lady B legs it out on Little Harbor 60 Linley III and the J120 Alibi in the Class A start of the 2013 Marion Bermuda Race. Photo by SpectrumPhoto / Fran Grenon. Click on image to enlarge.
Little has changed in the race for line honors on the 2nd full day of racing in the 2013 Marion Bermuda Race. It is just wait and see... and enjoy the pink beaches and the bright Bermuda sunshine or a round of golf while you're at it. Today, the Bermuda fitted dinghies are match racing in Mangrove Bay. Monday is a Bermuda holiday - Hero's Day - and they have fleet races there, too. Many of the Race officials from the US are traveling to Bermuda today.
At 1600hrs Sunday in Bermuda, the Yellowbrick tracking site reported that the closest boat to Bermuda was Shindig, Mass Maritime's Andrews 68 that has led from the start. She was 161 nm out and doing 6.9 knots for the previous hour, well below the record pace she had carried for the first 48 hours. Shindig may finish Monday afternoon while the volunteers and guests are having cocktails at St David's Lighthouse overlooking the finish line.
Shindig would have to finish before 10:13:45 Monday EDT/ 11:13:45 ADT to break the record.
Early wind in the Bermuda ocean races often dangles race records like a time carrot in front of the bows of the big boats. But the record is very elusive. When the top of the course has pressure and speed, the system that is producing the wind is already moving out into the North Atlantic.
A high pressure expands from the West and the South of the original windy area. A 'parking lot' grows right in the middle of the last 100 miles of the course. Racers call it the "happy Valley. A boat would have to average over 9 knots to break the current record from Marion.
Boats behind Shindig are moving faster now compared to the leader, still carrying the pressure.
Positions are updated every hour on the hour on the YellowBrick tracking map. Spectators at home or on mobile devices with the proper app can follow all the yachts in the Marion Bermuda Race on the YellowBrick tracker program sponsored by Kingman Yacht Center. Go to the Marion Bermuda web site - www.marionbermuda.com and click on the brick. -- Talbot Wilson
Lawrie Smith Wins Bmw Dragon Grand Prix
Photo by Christian Beeck. Click on image to enlarge.
HM Queen Silvia Trophy this year goes to the crew of "Alfie" with helmsman Lawrie Smith and his crew Tim Tavinor and Ossie Stewart.
Smith, the reigning world champion and Volvo Ocean Race sailor, went second overall in today's final day. Thomas Muller (NRV) and his crew, who started as overall leader in the last racing day, got a Black Flag Disqualification in the first race today. With throwouts, they took silver medal.
Markus Wieser took the bronze sailed with his crew UKR 7 'Bunker Queen ". After struggling with problems at the helm yesterday, he took first and a second place today and third overall. Best amateur team and thus the winner of the Corinthian standings is the Belgian team of helmsman Ben van Cauwenberg. Second place goes to the Luebeck Yacht-Club with helmswoman Tanja Jacobsohn, who was also the best woman in the field.
Winner Lawrie Smith takes the coveted HM Queen Silvia trophy, and also a road bike: the BMW M Carbon Racer. In addition, the three sailors were given a Tutima watch and prizes from clothing partner Marinepool. Robert Stark, CEO of sailing clothing manufacturer, has confirmed its commitment to the BMW Dragon Grand Prix for next year. The best German team mate Thomas Mueller has qualified for the finals of the BMW Club Cup in late October in Torbole on Lake Garda.
With the donations of businesses and sailors, the organizers can announce that this year the magic mark of one million euros was cracked. The money goes to the CHILDHOOD Foundation of Queen Silvia - the donations were collected over the past nine years. "Anything beyond this million goes to the flood victims from Germany. That's over 3000 Euros", said the main organizer, Manuela Libor.
Seahorse July 2013
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
World news
Transatlantic history, the wider importance of Team New Zealand, Caribbean wrap, Oracle Racing's third contender and US America's Cup reflections. Dobbs Davis, Blue Robinson, Patrice Carpentier, Ivor Wilkins
RORC news
Eddie Warden Owen
Seahorse build table - Glamour
A look at that speedy new Botín 40-footer
Sailor of the Month
Extremes of the displacement spectrum
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Farr 40s at New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta
Skipper Alberto Rossi (far right) and the Enfant Terrible crew. Photo by Sara Proctor. Click on image to enlarge.
Newport, R.I. - There's a lot of history in the Farr 40 class. None is grander than the time-honored tradition that almost every regatta comes down to the last leg of the last race on the last day.
It happened again at the 159th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta, presented by Rolex. Enfant Terrible and Barking Mad were tied on points as the two boats sailed to the finish line under spinnaker out on the Atlantic Ocean. Enfant Terrible needed to hold second place in order to win the regatta. Meanwhile, Barking Mad had to pick off one boat and move into fourth place to pull out the victory.
Enfant Terrible did its job by crossing the line just behind first place Charisma. Skipper Jim Richardson and his crew aboard Barking Mad gave a great effort, but came up a couple boat lengths short of passing Groovederci and had to settle for fifth. Final results:
1. Enfant Terrible, Alberto Rossi, Ancona, Italy, 2-4-8-4-1-2-2-5-2-2=32 points
2. Barking Mad, Jim Richardson, Newport, RI, 4-1-3-2-2-5-3-3-4-5=32
3. Charisma, Nico Poons, Monaco, 1-8-1-1-5/TL-7-1-2-6-1=33
4. Nightshift, Kevin McNeil, Annapolis, MD, 6-2-2-7-5/TL-1-6-4-3-6=42
5. Groovederci, John Demourkas, 3-3-5-3-5/TL-8-5-6-1-4=43
6. Struntje Light, Wolfgang Schaefer, Lueneburg, Germany, 7-6-4-5-5/TL-3-4-1-8-7=50
7. Flash Gordon 6, Helmut Jahn, Chicago, 5-5-7-6-5/TL-4-8-8-7-3=58
8. Flojito y Cooperando, Bernardo Minkow-Julian Fernandez, Mexico City, 8-7-6-8-3-6-7-7-5-8=65
9. Oakcliff-Farr 40-1, Seth Cooley, Oyster Bay, NY, 9-9-9-9-5/TL-9-9-9-9-9=86
Bol D'Or Mirabaud
Photo by Loris von SIebenthal, www.myimage.ch. Click on image for photo gallery.
After an intense and competitive race, Zenith Fresh, skipped by Christophe Peclard, won the 75th edition of the Bol d'Or Mirabaud.
The D35 multihulls Team SUI 9, skipped by Christian Wahl and Alinghi, skipped by Ernesto Bertarelli, complete the podium. Among the monohulls, the Hungarian sailing team, Libera Raffica, won the race for the second consecutive time. This 75th edition gathered more than 3'000 participants. 508 boats took the start and 336 passed the finish line. The Swiss skipper Dominique Wavre was the official guest of this 75th edition.
Favorable weather conditions and bright sunshine, allowed a magnificent start with more than 500 boats under spinnaker on Lake Geneva. The race, very intense in all categories, added some additional spice. A number of innovations marked this edition, notably the fact that the race of every single boat could be followed on the Internet. In addition, the regatta could also be followed on the BOM Live Platform.
Zenith Fresh won this 75th edition with maestria. With almost a two hour lead over the second, the team put an end to the nine year domination of the Decision 35 class in the Bol d'Or.
Skipped by Christophe Peclard, they demonstrated their tactical skills throughout the race, taking full advantage of their lighter boat, a Ventilo M1, ideally suited for difficult weather conditions. The battle for the second place was fierce, as 11 boats passed the finish line within eight minutes. Team SUI 9, skipped by Christian Wahl and Alinghi, skipped by Ernesto Bertarelli, took the second and third place.
Among the M2s, Teamwork skipped by Antoine Thorens won the category and arrived 9th in the general ranking, after 14 hours and 33 minutes of racing.
The first monohull to pass the finishing line was the Hungarian team, Libera Raffica, enabling them to win the Bol de Vermeil. They also won the race in 2012, as well as in 1996, 1997 and 1998. The team already announced their participation in 2014. In the Surprise category, more than a hundred boats fought for first place. Mirabaud 1 skipped by Antonio Palma ended up winning with Luna trailing 51 minutes behind.
Full rankings at www.boldormirabaud.ch
Argentario Sailing Week
Photo by James Robinson Taylor, www.jrtphoto.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Porto Santo Stefano, Italy: The 14th Argentario Sailing Week, part of the Mediterranean Circuit of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge, came to a close on Sunday in Porto Santo Stefano, Tuscany. Three fantastic days of coastal races for the over 40 yachts from France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy who sailed with soft, light winds and under sunny skies in the Gulf of the Argentario.
This edition was particularly successful as the number of yachts which entered was double compared to last year. The Overall winners of the Regatta received a Officine Panerai timepiece: Cambria (Big Boats), Leonore (Vintage), Sagittarius (Classic) and Wianno (Spirit of Tradition).
While the Yacht Club Santo Stefano celebrated the daily winners, Officine Panerai awarded a silver plate to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ranking in each division in the Vintage, Classic, Spirit of Tradition, Big Boats and 5.5 SI classes.
The Classic Yachting event was organized by the Yacht Club Santo Stefano in partnership with the Florentine haute horologerie brand Officine Panerai which for many years has been promoting the culture of classic sailing through the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge, the largest international circuit of regattas for the most beautiful classic yachts still sailing.
The Argentario Sailing Week was supported by the Monte Argentario municipality, AIVE (Italian Association of Vintage Yachts), the Chamber of Commerce of Grosseto and by the local tourism board. -- Tessa Wiechmann
Full results at www.argentariosailingweek.it
Etchells World Championship
Rosignano, Italy: No wind thus no race for the final day of the Etchell World Championship held in Rosignano, Tuscany, Italy and organized by Yacht Club Cala de' Medici.
After 8 races out of the nine scheduled the winner is "The Martian" skippered by American helmsman Marvin Beckmann, from Houston, sailing with tactician Steven Hunt and Ezra Culver.
In the final results the second ranked boat is "Raging Rooster" skippered by American Peter S. Dunkan with Olympic champion Judson Smith and bowman Thomas Blackwell.
"Swedish Blu" skippered by European champion Ante Razmilovich (Hong Kong) together with American Chris Larson and Stuart Flinn got the third place. -- Laura Jelmini
Jennifer Wilson New US Women's Match Racing Champion
In a three-day series at the Chicago Match Race Center that featured everything from light shifty breeze to big wind and waves, Chicago-based Jennifer Wilson and her team of Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Katherine Pettibone (Sacramento, Calif.), Krista Paxton (Royal Oak, Mich.), and Sandi Svoboda (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.) have won the Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy for the 2013 U.S. Women's Match Racing Championship. After defeating Sandy Hayes in a 2-0 Semi-Final, Wilson and team went on to defeat Stephanie Roble and her team in a 3-1 Final.
For winning this ISAF Grade 3 championship, Wilson will receive an automatic invitation to the Open U.S. Match Racing Championship this September in Sheboygan, Wis. as well as the Women's International Match Race Series event this July in Oyster Bay, N.Y.
Final results:
1. Jennifer Wilson, Sally Barkow, Krista Paxton, Sandi Svoboda, Katie Pettibone
2. Stephanie Roble, Maggie Shea, Lindsey Duda, Marth Pitt, Janel Zarkowsky
3. Matie Maxin, Stephanie Wondolleck, Janice Wondolleck, Kerry Sullivan, Vicki Sodaro
4. Sandy Hayes, Cindy Olsen, Martha Parker, Marcy Lake, Lynn Kotwicki
5. Madeline Gill, Ivy Binns, Sarah Ragle, Ann Schwagerl, Liz Hjorth
6. Shala Lawrence, Julie Mitchell, Summer Greene, Tracy Nackel, Julie Servai
7. Clerc Cooper, Chanel Miller, Megan Six, Amanda Baker, Molly Forbes
8. Rachel Austin, Laura Muma, Suzy Leech, Sarah Renz, Lindsey Gates
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