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Tornado World Championships
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Club Nautico Santa Eularia, Ibiza, Spain: Day two of the Tornado World Championships started with the same conditions as the day before, the race committee decided to postpone racing for one hour to let the wind settle and shift as predicted.
With no discards on the score sheet it was all to fight for when the postponement flag was taken down. There was an 18 knot breeze outside of the harbour with gusts up into the mid twenties.
In the first race the series leaders Nikolaos and Alexandros were the first to discover the gusty conditions after rounding the windward mark, their pitch pole left them heading back for shore and out for the day with some boat damage. It was the current World Champions, Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigonis, who took full advantage and were able to take the race victory in Santa Eulalia. Second place went to the Australians Brett Burvill and Faris Aznan, followed by Roland Gaebler and Nahid Gaebler.
In the second race Paschalidis and Konstantinos pulled out the turbo and flew into an early lead at the windward mark, they were closely followed by the Italians Matteo and Lorenzo. Both crews fought the race out but the Greeks held onto their lead with the young Italian team having to settle for second place, while the third place was taken by Burvill and Aznan.
There are two more races scheduled for Thursday with racing starting at 1pm local time.
Top five after two races:
1. Iordanis Paschalidis / Konstantinos Trigonis, Greece, 5
2. Brett Burvill / Faris Aznan, Australia, 15
3. Roland Gaebler / Nahid Gaebler, Germany, 15
4. David Krizek / Zdenek Adam, Czech Republic, 20
5. Makus Betz / Nikolas Betz, Germany, 22
Dean Barker Gives PM Funding Deadline
Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker has given the Government a deadline for a decision on funding another America's Cup campaign.
Barker said it was essential to have reassurance of funding within a fortnight to offer contracts to Kiwi sailors who would otherwise be poached by foreign syndicates.
The skipper said he and Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton would spend the next few days working on a proposal for the Government.
Dalton said yesterday the team's priority was securing sailors for another campaign.
"The poachers are out hard, probably harder than normal actually because we have this design team particularly, and a sailing team, but the design team particularly, you know it's 0880 design team for fast multi hulls," Dalton said.
Emirates, the major sponsor for this year's campaign, have said it was too early to say whether it would support Team New Zealand again.
Clipper Race: Henri Lloyd Sets Ocean Sprint Benchmark Time
Different tactics are playing out among the fleet with hopes high for racing the 300 mile Ocean Sprint section of the course in the fastest time possible.
Henri Lloyd has set the benchmark so far with a time of 29 hours 55 minutes, beating Qingdao's time of 30 hours 42 minutes. The two opposing teams are followed by OneDLL in a time of 30 hours, 55 minutes, PSP Logistics in 32 hours 29 minutes, Old Pulteney in 33 hours and 9 minutes and Jamaica Get All Right in 33 hours 49 minutes.
Derry-Londonderry-Doire has now also finished and awaits its result. Olly Cotterell, skipper of OneDLL, describes the tactics at play during the Ocean sprint.
"As it was, the wind did not go round so the only option really available to us when we worked out distances and speeds was to follow the great circle route (shortest route to Rio) with good boat speed under our Yankee 1. This is the tactic that the yachts ahead of us employed as are the yachts immediately behind us.
"We do not know the results yet. I have to say it looks mighty close though. The nice thing about the Ocean Sprint is that anyone can win it and the further down the fleet you are the more likely you are to go for the shortest distance through the gate so this competition is still wide open and should make for interesting viewing."
The overall winner of the two extra points will not be known until all 12 yachts have completed the Ocean Sprint.
Position / Team - Distance to Finish
1. Jamaica Get All Right, 689.8m
2. Qingdao, 699.6m
3. Psp Logistics (Stealth Mode), 831.7m
4. Onedll, 806.9 m
5. Henri Lloyd, 813.9m
6. Derry-Londonderry-Doire, 839.7m
7. Old Pulteney, 903.4m
8. Great Britain, 912m
9. Team Garmin, 1128.4m
10. Switzerland, 1297.5m
11. Mission Performance, 1355m
12. Invest Africa, 1475.8m
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Victory '83 Sets "Modern" Tempo For Racing Twelves
Newport, Rhode Island, USA: The 12 Metre North Americans sponsored by Pine Brothers hosted six of the sleek Twelves sailing on Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound over three days of racing (Friday, September 27 through Sunday, September 29).
"It was really special to have the 12 Metre North Americans follow the America's Cup event," said Dennis Williams (Hobe Sound, Fla.) whose Victory '83 (K-22) turned in a perfect score line over seven races to win Modern Division (for yachts built between 1974 and 1983), which also included John Curtin's Intrepid (US-22) and Rich Moody's Courageous (US-26). "We were out practicing on the day of the last race, so we cut it short so everyone could watch the final race."
"In the Modern Division, the racing was tight, as it always is," said Williams, who was awarded the Pine Brothers Trophy on Sunday at the Prize Giving held at Ida Lewis, since his was deemed the regatta's best overall performance. "The gap between us and Courageous was three or four seconds in the first race; a bit larger in the second and third."
Herb Marshall's American Eagle (US-21), the only Twelve sailing in Traditional Division (for yachts built between 1958 and 1970), started at the same time as the Moderns. Though older than the others, the Eagle - built for the 1964 Cup Defense and famous as Ted Turner's champion in distance races as far back as the '70s and in 12 Metre events as recently as last year's 12 Metre North Americans - challenged the Moderns tactically, adding some close cross-tacking to the on-water ballet. (Turner, forever a fan of the class, supplied Bison meat from his ranch for the 12 Metre dinner on Friday night.)
The Ted Turner Trophy, awarded to individuals who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the 12 Metre class, this year went to three crew members who, according to president of the 12 Metre Americas Fleet Herb Marshall, "have put their lives on the line for all, to allow us to race fast and free." They were Tony Pierce, USMC, aboard Victory '83; Sean Klaboe, US Army, aboard New Zealand; and James Heckman, USMC, who campaigned USA (
12 Metre North American Championship sponsored by Pine Brothers
September 27-29, 2013
Grand Prix
1. New Zealand (KZ-3), Gunther Buerman, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1; 7
2. Laura (KZ-5), Kip Curren, 2-2-2-2-2-2-2; 14
Modern
1. Victory '83 (K-22), Dennis Williams, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1; 7
2. Courageous (US-26), Rich Moody, 2-3-3-3-2-2-2; 17
3. Intrepid (US-22), John Curtin, 3-2-2-2-3-3-3; 18
Traditional
1. American Eagle (US-21), Herb Marshall, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1; 7
Hungarians Take Soling World Title On Home Waters
Balatonfured, Hungary: Hungary's Farkas Litkey, Vezer Karoly and Csaba Weinhard were crowned the new Soling World Champions after a light air race on the last day of the championship, in which the match against Canada's Peter Hall, Paul Davis and William Hall paid off due to a black flag start.
It was a tough week for Solings from the 13 nations and 4 continents, races abandoned due to strong winds and postponements also due to light winds, shifty conditions, but in general good weather at Lake Balaton.
The event organizers were very careful on the safety aspect, flying most of the times the life jacket flag, and also doing a perfect job rescuing Marc Lefevre who decided to try see who was tougher, his head or the Soling boom.
Brazilian team of Nelson Ilha, Fernando Ilha and Felipe Ilha also did a great job finishing third overall, and showing how strong the competition isin South America; The national associations of Brasil and Argentina together with Uruguay and the Yacht Club Punta del Este are the organizers of the next 2014 Soling Worlds to be held from November 22 to 30 in 2014 at one of the most beautiful summer resorts in the southern Atlantic. -- Matias Collins
Final top five
1. Farkas Litkey / Vezer Karoly / Csaba Weinhard, HUN, 32
2. Peter Hall / Paul Davis / William Hall, CAN, 32
3. Nelson Ilha / Felipe Ilha / Fernando Ilha, BRA, 19
4. Bostjan Antoncic / Gennadi Strakh / Karlo Hmeljak, SLO, 32
5. Christian Holler / Peter Farbowski / Michael Praxmara, AUT, 15
Complete results: www.sailing.org/news/36054.php
Madrigali Leads Melges 24 Worlds
Photo by Pierrick Contin, www.pierrickcontin.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
San Francisco, California, USA: The first day of racing at the Sperry Top-Sider Melges 24 World Championship 2013, hosted by The San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere, California delivered three races sailed in bright sunshine and winds ranging from eight to fourteen knots of breeze.
All three races had different winners, with American Terry Hutchinson at the helm of Scott Holmgren's Rose Bud taking the first race, fellow countryman Brian Porter on Full Throttle winning the second and Bermuda's Alec Cutler on hedgehog victorious in the third.
Consistency was a hard to come by commodity throughout the fleet today and almost all of the top ten boats at the end of the day were counting at least one double digit score.
The exception to that rule was Jeff Madrigali at the helm of Kevin Welch's American entry Mikey who managed a 7,2,4 score to lead overall tonight. In second with a 13,10,1 scoreline is Alec Cutler on hedgehog. Third by way of three eighth places is Italian Andrea Racchelli on Altea. Leader Madrigali sits on 13 points with Cutler and Racchelli tied on 24 points.
From our sister publication: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com
Event site: melges24worlds13.com
World Yacht Racing Forum
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Over 250 people attended the 2012 edition of the World Yacht Racing Forum and Yacht Racing Design and Technology Symposium in Gothenburg, Sweden. They heard from speakers including Ben Ainslie, Knut Frostad, Guillaume Henry, Mark Turner, Pat Shaughnessy, Juan Kouyoumdjian, Manolo Ruiz de Elvira, Bill Tripp, Ian Walker, Dawn Riley, Dan McLaren, Richard Brisius and many more.
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First For Lionheart
Photo by Ian Roman, http://www.ianroman.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
A bright and sunny, but slow start to the second day of racing for Les Voiles de St Tropez. The Race Committee raised the AP flag at 11.30, the breeze wasn't much above 4 knots and both the Js and the Wallys who are sharing the same 'field of play' ideally need at least 5 knots to race. The Js got a start at 1310 after the breeze had filled in a little, it was to be a two lap windward leeward course again off Pampelone beach.
"It was all about the first beat, and we got them!" explained Andre Hoek racing aboard Lionheart, "we were fouled at the start by Hanuman in what could have been a protest situation, we were on starboard and were forced to luff up into the wind in order to stay free."
This did not seem to hinder Lionheart as she proceeded to take the first windward mark and then led for the remainder of the race. When asked the prognosis for the rest of the regatta, Toby Brand the Captain remarked, "we haven't as yet digested our win today, but now with equal points between us, Velsheda and Hanuman anything can happen! We are hoping for more wind, as these are not really our conditions."
Kevin Burnham, part of Hanuman's afterguard has similar sentiments, "Hanuman is just not that fast with wind under 8 knots, she's a little 'sticky'.
With the forecast for day 3 to be much the same, Velsheda who prefers these lighter airs needs to make good of this situation.
lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr
www.12mrclass.com
Endeavour Championship at Burnham
Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, UK: The Endeavour Championship for the Topper Sailboats-supported-Endeavour Trophy is taking place at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch next week (11-13 October).
The fleet of 25 invited champions and their crews from all around the country will race a fleet of brand-new Ian Howlett-designed Topaz Xenons to establish the 2013 dinghy Champion of Champions.
Although last year's winners, Ben Saxton and Alan Roberts (RS200) won't be at the event to defend their title, Nick Craig - five-times winner - and crewman Toby Lewis (Merlin Rocket) who finished second last year, plus Jasper Barnham and Graham Sexton (Laser 2000), who finished third are, once again, preparing for a an exciting battle.
Another key player is Christian Birrell (Fireball) who'll be aiming to repeat his Endeavour winning performance of 2010 when he crewed for Stuart Bithell (2012 Olympic silver medallist in the 470). This time Birrell will be at the helm, crewed by Richard Anderton.
The three-day event kicks off on Friday 11 October with the Calltracks-sponsored pre-event training session, run by ABC for Winning coach Adam Bowers. The eight-race, seven to count Endeavour Trophy series starts at 1030 on Saturday morning (12 October) with the plan to run five, 45-minute races back-to-back on windward/leeward courses. The remaining three races are scheduled to take place on Sunday morning (13 October). This is however, subject to change depending on the weather situation.
Confirmed entries to date
29er - Owen Bowerman and Morgan Peach
Albacore - Nev Herbert and Mark Fowler
D One - Charlie Chandler and crew tba
Fireball - Christian Birrell and Richard Anderton
Firefly - Jono Pank and crew tba
GP14 - Andy Tunnicliffe and Chris Robinson
Laser 2000 - Jasper Barnham and Graham Sexton
Merlin Rocket - Nick Craig and Alan Roberts
Miracle - Sam Mettam and Martyn Lewis
Feva - Elliot Wells and Jake Todd
RS100 - Colin Smith and Graham Williamson
RS200 - Matt Mee and Emma Norris
RS400 - Stewart and Sarah Robinson
RS500 - Mike Saul and Meg Fletcher
RS700 - Robbie Bell and Stephen Powell
RS800 - James Date and Toby Wincer
Scorpion - Steve Hall and Oliver Wells
Solo - Charlie Cumbley and Pete Cumming
Topper - Ben Jennings and Giles Kuzyk
Topper 4.2 - Crispen Beaumont and Chris Bownes
royalcorinthian.co.uk/endeavour-trophy
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