How did your BMW RaceTrack look
opps..who let the dogs out?
Bavaria 50 Time Lord … after the Hobart.
Leander 2009…
…..Skins and Tim are looking dangerous… you can see the down wind shots from Garrick showing the profile of the wake off the different designs…interesting. (www.studio5.co.nz)
And what of the Foils discussion? Well it works, there is some effort and time on the water required to get them sorted – much like the moths. The naysayers may just need to keep a bit mum for a while because what we saw could be the evolution to the R Class.
How the development affects the relationship with the 12’s is probably too soon to really tell, but you can’t stop the development. If one was to pull their head in a bit and see the bigger picture, it may be more beneficial to let the development take place and support it – keeping the relationship smooth. At the end of the day all we want to do is go fast within our own set of rules…. who knows what is around the corner for the 12s.
R607 – TheVirtual – Paul Roe and Jess Hix – M2M1364
Sure, numbers participating in the R Class are not increasing year on year. And it’s a fact that the older R Class boats and sailors may not participate in playing with Foils – is that really a bad thing? I was on the chase boat with two young skiff potentials, first wowing at the fact one of the R crews went directly from a Starling to an R – a skinny R too, and she’s a girl! They thought she was a legend. They also thought that the foiling R was really cool, and then when they watch all the R’s and 12’s going downhill, alongside Z class and Sunbursts… well, they were really impressed….. isn’t that what we are looking for? Having a class that is pushing design, technology is what interest people – people don’t by an MP3 player because it ‘fits rules’ they buy an iPod – cause it’s cool, pushes technology and creates interest…….more here
Click the photo to see TV3 Video
Final results 18fter skiffs
jj-giltinan-2009-pointscore-championship-final
Americas Cup courtroom debate, 45 minutes of lawyers talking about yachting. 
video of the final appeal from the court room
Been out and about this past weekend, checking out whats happening.
more New Zealand Dinghy classes here
From the rumours, lies and in u end o’s file
Busfields quit Dufour to pick up the NZ Bavaria Agent
more later :}
Thank God for PUMA shorts with gortex butt pads
PUMA LEG FIVE DAY 7 QFB: received 20.02.09 1605 GMT
I have been in some smelly situations, but the interior of this boat is rapidly passing them all as a top player in this week’s ‘smelliest place on earth’.
Think of the situation. Essentially we left Qingdao with everything on our bodies we owned. It was cold, and for two days, very wet. Even with great outer wear, for which I have to plug our buddies at PUMA for knocking it out of the park on their first attempt, everything is damp. And occasionally wet. The entire interior is wet, and everywhere you sit is wet. Thank god for PUMA shorts with gortex butt pads.
And there hasn’t been a single second of drying since the start. Blasting across to Japan… Drenching. From Japan through the Black Current… warmer but still very wet on deck. Since then? Non-stop spray. Of the fire house variety. Power reaching (all on port tack) across the Pacific with spray hitting us about every other wave. Zero chance of getting stuff out to dry out the moisture. Combine that with the fact that so much water on deck keeps all the primary hatches shut all the time, and the temperature has now gone from reasonable to quite hot – and you have a pretty sketchy odour right now, living large as if it was a part of the family. By the way, none of us humans smell very peachy either for that matter.
To be honest, our fun fast reaching right after Japan lasted a couple days and slowly turned into drudgingly painful power reaching. That means that the breeze is too far forward for the boat to really get moving, and has all the symptoms of high speed. Water to the face that is and consistent pounding of the bow into every wave. I know I am complaining about going slow, but slow on these boats is under 20, and we are averaging a little over 15 knots. Still not too much to complain about I guess.
And as always, the competition is phenomenal. You would think that in a
12000 plus mile leg you could get out and spread out and relax a bit… anything but that. We live and die on every three hour sched to see how our efforts have been rewarded, or not.
One thing is happening though, the fleet is splitting enough that people are going to start sailing in different weather patterns. What has already happened is that we are all starting to see different breeze variations from the same weather pattern. We have gotten pinned a bit to the southwest of the fleet by the breeze we have been in, while the troops behind have been able to sneak to the east of us. Even though the distance to the finish looks ominous for the boats behind right now, all this could change in an instance. It is a huge ocean out here, and the wind angles can make up some monster differences in a short period of time.
With that said, we also have the scoring gate to contend with as well as two ice gates and the only actual mark we round – Cape Horn. Heck, you could see someone at the back of the pack completely ignore the scoring gate and start planning for the Horn now. You would think this sounds pretty basic, but one thing we also have to contend with is zero knowledge of the distant future with regard to weather. Capey (Andrew Cape – navigator) spends all his time trying to see into a crystal ball with regard to planning our path now with where we want to be a week or even more from now. Pretty tricky stuff. Weather files for the most part don’t go out more than a week.
With all that said, we are still a happy lot aboard. Looking forward to drying out in a day or two, but still in the hunt and happy to be heading to Rio.
Kenny Read – skipper
Mooring on Waiheke for sale
Hi , I am going to sell my mooring on the rock for $2500 with a current inspection cert if you know any one could you tell them before I put it in the Rock papers.
Cheers
bushman
icare property services ltd
icarepropertyservices@gmail.com
BMW Auckland Regatta Report
Results for BMW Auckland Regatta here
Monday 23 February 2009
Eight winners qualify for BMW Sailing Cup
After eight races in the idyllic waters off Eastern Beach in the Hauraki Gulf, the divisional winners have been chosen to face off against each other in next week’s BMW Sailing Cup.
The first day was lost to bad weather but the second two days were described as ‘supreme’ by organisers and competitors in the BMW Auckland Regatta. Conditions on Saturday saw flat seas and breeze in the mid teens, while it was up and down for Sunday’s two windward/leeward courses and harbour race were held, with 8-9 knots and the occasional strong gust.
With her swing keel and talented crew, Rob Basset’s Bakewell-White 52, Wired dominated the big boat fleet in Division A from start to finish. Wired won six of the eight races on line, and secured a two point advantage over the Transpac 52 V5 on PHRF handicap. Bobby’s Girl – the crew of which won last year’s BMW Sailing Cup and represented New Zealand at the World Final in Dubai – was the best of the forty footers within this division, with Bullrush and Higher Ground putting in a valiant effort but lacked the waterline length to compete with their bigger rivals.
more results here
The Mumm 36 Whatever was the overall winner of Division B after securing four line honours victories to match the Elliott 9m swing keeler’s tally of bullets. But Whatever took the handicap honours, over the big red IOR 40 Pacific Sundance and Overload.
C Division was one of the closest matched fleets, consisting of four Farr 1020 boats, a beautiful 10m design Fantail, the Davidson 34 Stratocaster and Hysteria, an Elliott 10m owned by Graeme Cummings who spent Saturday night organising dehumidifiers and heaters to dry out a badly torn spinnaker which required urgent repair before Sunday’s racing. The line honours winner in this division was Fantail, seven points clear of Stratocaster. But Azure took handicap honours, with Max Headroom second and Rainbow IV third.
In D Division the Ross 850 Cool Change (with two wins) lost line honours to the Melges 24 NZsail.com (with four wins), a boat helmed by Olympian Peter Burling and which was the subject of protest during the course of racing. The results for this division place Cool Change in the lead and NZsail.com in second on PHRF, and the SR26 Jagged Edge in third, but remain provisional while the protests are resolved.
This division includes a very broad cross-section of boats, such as the Elliott 7.9 FX, owned by one of the few female skipper/owners in the Auckland race fleet, and the 100 year old vintage classic Scout, thought to be the world’s oldest member of the 6m class and soon to contest the World Championships in Newport, Rhode Island.
The Young 88 class remains one of New Zealand’s strongest fleets. Boats are very well maintained, and a win in the BMW Auckland Regatta for this division places sailors amongst the highest class of amateur sailors. This year the division was easily out-sailed by Triple 888. Panama Jack, sailed by a young crew recently returned from a prestigious international youth match racing victory in Australia, was disqualified from the last race following a protest but maintained a second position, and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron youth team aboard Sister Moonshine achieved the final podium spot.
IRC is an international rating system designed to equalise boats of different size and speed. The difference between the forty footer Georgia One, equipped with a carbon rig and exotic sails, and the Farr 1020 Hard Labour, came down to just one point in last night’s results, with Hard Labour winning the IRC division with 11 points to Georgia One’s 12.
Taeping won every race on Saturday and came second in every race on Sunday, swapping the order of placings in the open multihull division with Olympian Dan Slater’s Line 7. “It wasn’t our zone,” says Taeping crewmember Russell Davis of the boat that needs very light or very heavy conditions to take out Line 7. Taeping’s performance was still good enough for the 44’ cat to win on both line and handicap.
Dirty Deeds, admirably sailed by brothers Greer and Ryan Houston, secured six out of eight line honours wins in the Open 8.5 multihull division, with Jon Bilger’s PredictWind.com taking two wins and the handicap prize.
All amateur crews from amongst divisional winners are eligible to go on to next weekend’s BMW Sailing Cup, sailed for in identical MRX yachts. The winner of that regatta will go on to represent New Zealnd in the International Final of the BMW Sailing Cup in Malcesine on Lake Garda, Italy from 21-26 April 2009. The BMW Sailing Cup is modelled on the BMW Golf Cup, the world’s biggest and longest running amateur golf tournament.
“Congratulations to all winners in a fine regatta, and good luck to those going on to compete in the cup section ” says Jan Dawson of event sponsor KPMG, which has a long history of involvement with New Zealand yachting. “The standard of this year’s fleet was very high. The format of the BMW Auckland Regatta encourages and rewards excellence in sailing and boat preparation, and we are looking forward to seeing the event prosper in future years.”
For those commuting across the Gulf from the city marinas, the BMW Auckland Regatta was an opportunity to revel in waters often left unexplored as far as racing goes, and the open water between the Eastern Suburbs of Auckland and Waiheke Island is both scenic and ideal for racing.
The BMW Auckland Regatta is organised by the Auckland Regatta Trust, a joint initiative between the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, in order to foster and promote amateur sailing in the region.
lots of photos from Zoe Hawkins out on the water here
BMW Auckland Regatta Race Report
Saturday 21 February 2009 – Five races completed in BMW Auckland Regatta
Making up for lost time after racing was cancelled due to high winds and rough seas yesterday, five back to back races made for a gruelling start today to the prestigious BMW Auckland Regatta.
Competitors were eased into the day’s sailing with a perfect ten knots of breeze and flat seas. However the tide change late morning led to choppy seas in conjunction with stronger westerlies averaging 15-18 knots as crews quickly dropped down a headsail size and prepared for the hard work ahead.
There were few surprises in the big boat division, with V5, Wired and Pussy Galore taking the top three spots on line in all five races. Handicap honours though were shared between Bullrush and Bobby’s Girl, with the Bakewell-White 52 Wired getting the double glory of both line and handicap wins in the final two races and coming out of Day One in the lead.
Nobody was surprised when the 44 foot catamaran Taeping took line and handicap honours in the first race of the Open Multihull division today, and she went on to win the next four races, making it a clean sweep. Results were extremely consistent in this division: Dan Slater’s Line 7 finished second in all races, and This Way Up finished third in all races.
Dirty Deeds was by far the best sailed Open 8.5m boats today, with four wins over the line, two of which she also secured the handicap victory. Jon Bilger sailing Predictwind.com said that his boat’s performance – including a win and two second placings – was very good overall, despite being hampered by an unfortunately timed crash tack off the start of Race 3, and a broken jib shackle in a later race. “We are a family cruising boat and we’re just happy to be up there with the racing boats,” he says of the boat that has impressed throughout summer racing for its speed.
The Mumm 36 Whatever, and the new canting keeler Overload, dominated B Division’s line honours positions today, and in C Division the conditions obviously suited Farr 1020s. Azure, Fantail and Max Headroom were dominant, with Mike and Sheryl Lanigan’s Share Delight securing a bullet in Race 3. Azure leads so far on PHRF and Fantail on line.
D division, for sports-style keelboats was reigned by the Ross 8.5m keeler Cool Change, and the Melges 24 sailed by a gun crew including young New Zealand Olympic representative Peter Burling. Both boats secured two line and handicap doubles, and, with the exception of a third place in the final race for Cool Change, taking a complete set of firsts and seconds on both line and handicap between them. Cool Change leads the division on PHRF.
In the event’s only one-design racing, the Young 88 division, Panama Jack, crewed by the youth team that won the Warren Jones Matchracing Regatta in Perth last month, performed consistently through the five races, but Triple 88 leads on handicap and line, with Sweeny Todd and Sister Moonshine also in the top four.
BMW Auckland Regatta is also the third and final regatta in the IRC National Championships Series. Jim Farmer’s Georgia One entered racing with a lead over her close rivals Power Play, Psycho Circus and Hard Labour, and today took out line honours in all five races. But the Farr 1020 Hard Labour, which is by far the smallest boat in this division is sailed by a very consistent crew with excellent local knowledge, was able to secure three wins on IRC, and both Hard Labour and Georgia One go into tomorrow with nine points. IRC results may be minutes apart on line but can come down to seconds in the final calculations, and the IRC national title is one of the most sought after in New Zealand keelboat racing.
The race course centres centre off Eastern Beach in the Tamaki Strait. Two windward leeward and a harbour course will be held tomorrow.
The BMW Auckland Regatta is organised by the Auckland Regatta Trust, a joint initiative between the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, in order to foster and promote amateur sailing in the region.
The event is sponsored by BMW, KPMG, Auckland City Council and Manukau City Council, and is further supported by North Sails, BSP Design, Mount Gay Rum, Whiting Power Systems – Yanmar Marine, OKI and Fullers. More information, including the Notice of Race, the Sailing Instructions, results and latest news, can be found at www.rnzys.org.nz or www.bbyc.org.nz.
for the wave face action on the regatta, go here
Another win by appliancesonline.com.au and a dramatic last minute manouvre by the Gotta Love It 7 team have set the scene for the closest finish in the 70-year history of the Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship.
With only tomorrow’s race left to be sailed in the championship, the leading five teams are separated by just five points and it will be almost a case of whoever wins the race will win the title.
Southern Cross Constructions (Euan Mc Nicol, Aaron Links, Trent Barnabas) leads with a total of 14 points, followed by Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton, Tom Clout) on 15, Active Air-2UE (Matthew Searle, Dan Wilsdon, Archie Massey) on 16, appliancesonline.com.au (John Winning Jr,. Dave Ewings, Tim Austin) on 17 and Rag & Famish Hotel (John Harris, Peter Harris, Scott Babbage) on 19 points.
After a slow start to the regatta when appliancesonline recorded only one sixth and two seventh placings, their last three placings have been two wins and one second placing.
A continuation of this form will see them seriously challenge the three teams ahead of them now on points.
Today’s race was yet again sailed in a light breeze and the appliancesonline team was quickly in the lead as the fleet worked its way from the start in Taylors Bay to the Rose Bay windward mark.
Appliancesonline led Panasonic (Jonathan Whitty, Dan Higlett and Tom Anderson) by 20s as spinnakers were set for the spinnaker run to Robertson Point.
The American team of Obama-Nation (Chad Freitas) was in third place, ahead of Southern Cross Constructions, Gotta Love It 7, Active Air-2UE, Yandoo (John Winning), Pure Blonde (James Francis), SLAM (Grant Rollerson) and Asko Appliances (Evan Walker).
Little changed on the run although Southern Cross moved into third place ahead of Obama-Nation.
Appliancesonline increased her lead to 1m at the Clarke Island mark while the Americans fought back to regain third place ahead of Gotta Love It 7 and Southern Cross.
While the light breeze and overcast sky made for a less than exciting image, the battle for every point amongst the leading teams was enthralling.
Little separated Gotta Love It 7 and Southern Cross for most of the course and it was only on the final spinnaker run from Rose Bay to Robertson Point where 7 edged ahead.
With only 200 metres left to sail on the windward leg, Gotta Love It 7 was secure in second place and it appeared certain that Southern Cross would finish third.
Yandoo was fourth and closing fast on the leaders when Gotta Love It 7’s crew sailed away from the wind towards Southern Cross and Panasonic, which were vying for third place.
With Southern Cross beneath Gotta Love It 7, Yandoo came fast on a starboard tack and gained the all-important third placing behind 7.
There are protests pending (one against Gotta Love It 7), which will be heard by an independent committee tomorrow morning prior to Race 7.
Two spectator ferries have been organized by Australian 18 Footers League to follow this all important Race 7 of the Giltinan Championship.
Today’s result sheet, championship point score (allowing for discards) and three images from today are attached.
More images will be published on www.18footers.com.au and video can be seen on www.sailcam.tv.
lots of movies here
They’re Off
2 handed around Wellington…
and these guys too
Flying start and an early lead for the Chilean team
At 1415 local time (0115 GMT) on Saturday 21st February, the four 40ft yachts in the Portimão Global Ocean Race crossed the start line of Leg 3 in Wellington, New Zealand. Ahead of the seven offshore yachtsmen is a potential of 38 days and 7,500 miles in the most demanding sea areas on the planet as the fleet leave New Zealand and head south-east into the Southern Ocean en route to Cape Horn before turning northwards towards the finish line in Ilhabela, Brazil.
As the fleet prepared to leave Queen’s Wharf, last minute preparations to Team Mowgli were still underway as a courier handed a new masthead wind instrument unit to Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson just 30 minutes before the start and the vital wand was hastily installed before the British duo left the dock. In bright sunshine and 25-35 knots of NNW breeze, the start was high-speed with the majority of boats carrying three reefs and staysail as they reached across the line at 15 knots.
Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme were first across on Class 40 Beluga Racer, chased by single-handed entry, Michel Kleinjans, on Open 40 Roaring Forty with the Chilean duo of Felipe Cubillos and José Muñoz in third on Desafio Cabo de Hornos and Salvesen and Thomson on Team Mowgli in fourth place. As the only boat carrying a Solent headsail, Desafio Cabo de Hornos rocketed away from the start on a power reach with Cubillos and Muñoz quickly building a 1.5 mile lead. Beluga Racer held second place followed by Roaring Forty and Team Mowgli in third and fourth as the Portimão Global Ocean Race fleet gybed, set spinnakers and gennakers and shot south through the heads separating Wellington Harbour from Cook Strait, leaving the spectator boats and 11 yachts competing in a double-handed race organised by the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club in their wake.
A gentle Wellington Northerly
and more here from Clipper
18ft Skiffs JJ Giltinan Championship – Race 4
Sponsored by Winning Appliances and SLAM
(Today’s race sponsored by Asko Appliances)
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Sydney Harbour
Euan Mc Nicol, Aaron Links and Trent Barnabas had to produce all their skills and experience to bring Southern Cross Constructions home a narrow winner in Race 3 of the Giltinan Championship on Sydney Harbour today.
In one of the closest races seen on the harbour, Southern Cross Constructions had to withstand a brilliant finishing burst by appliancesonlin.com.au (John Winning Jr., Dave Ewings and Tim Austin) to win by just 4s in a thriller. Rag & Famish Hotel (John Harris, Peter Harris and Scott Babbage) also produced a strong finishing burst to grab third spot another 19s behind appliancesonline. Although relegated to fourth place today, Active Air-2UE (Matthew Searle, Dan Wilsdon and Archie Massey) still leads the championship with a total of 12 points, closely followed by Southern Cross Constructions and Rag & Famish Hotel together on 13 and Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton and Tom Clout) on 15. Appliancesonline is fifth on 22 points with Smeg (Hugh Stodart, Daniel Phillips and Jim Beck) sixth on 36.
Today’s race was sailed in shifting southerly breeze which fully tested all teams as it constantly changed direction and strength throughout. Pure Blonde (James Francis) won the race to the first windward mark where she held a 2 boat lengths lead over Thurlow Fisher (Bruce Savage), Gotta Love It 7, Southern Cross and Active Air-2UE. The young Pure Blonde crew was outstanding on the long spinnaker run to Obelisk Bay as they stretched their lead to 30s from Active Air-2UE, Southern Cross and Gotta Love It 7, which was trailing 90s from the lead..
With the breeze tending a little west, all teams were forced to gybe several times. The following windward leg back to Rose Bay saw a four way battle develop as Southern Cross and Active Air-2UE put pressure on Pure Blonde, while Gotta Love It 7 edged closer. At the Rose Bay mark Southern Cross led by just 2s from Active Air-2UE, with Pure Blonde 10s back and Gotta Love It 7 a further 15s away. Southern Cross retained the lead (20s) on the run to Athol Bay East mark as all crews had to drop and reset their spinnakers to clear Bradleys Head.
There was yet another lead change when Active Air-2UE took advantage of her windward position on the work to Clarke Island. Active Air-2UE led Southern Cross by 15s with Pure Blonde still third and a 30s gap to Gotta Love It 7 in fourth place. While their three opponents gybed to the northern shore on the second run to Obelisk, the Pure Blonde team continued on their starboard gybe and were rewarded when they picked up a southerly breeze off Rose Bay. It gave Pure Blonde a 10s lead over Southern Cross, while Active Air-2UE was now 40s further back in third place ahead of appliancesonline, which made up good time in mid stream.
Gotta Love It 7 lost out badly on this run and was trailing in fifth place 1m30s from the lead. The pressure was on as the fleet headed into Rose Bay as the five leaders were joined by Rag & Famish Hotel. Southern Cross grabbed the lead back at Rose Bay but the race was far from over. Southern Cross retained the lead downwind and held a 23s margin at the final windward mark. The race to the finish was intense as the five leaders were spread across the course searching for every breath of breeze.
Race 5 will be sailed tomorrow with the final two races set down for Saturday and Sunday. Today’s result sheet, progress point score and three images from today’s race are attached.
More photos will be published on www.18footers.com.au and video is on www.sailcam.tv.
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
Antigua regatta backing threatened by Stanford fraud charge
The funding of Antigua Sailing Week, the headline sponsor for which is Stanford Bank, looks uncertain tonight as news emerged that the regatta’s backer Sir Allen Stanford has been charged over an alleged $8 billion fraud.
America’s Securities and Exchange Commission is reported to have said that the Texan billionaire financier had orchestrated an alleged “fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme”.
One Caribbean businessman involved in the local yacht charter industry whose yachts compete in the regatta said tonight that Sailing Week ‘would be looking for a new sponsor’ to the tune of between US$100,000 and US$150,000.
Stanford Antigua Sailing Week is one of the world’s best-known ‘fun’ regattas attracting several thousand yachtsmen, many of them from the UK, together with more than 100 yachts. It generates enormous income for the island and is a cornerstone of Antigua’s sporting and holiday calendar at the end of April
Boat builder laying off entire workforce
Cookson Boats laying off workers as orders dry up; Pacific Motor Yacht magazine says whole marine industry suffering
18 February 2009
An Auckland boat building company, renowned for building world class racing yachts, is laying off its entire workforce.
Cookson Boats has no future work booked and when their current projects are finished, there will be nothing left for the 62 staff members to do.
The company has been around for more than 30 years, with some of the most notable work building boats for Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup.
more here
© 2009 NZCity, NewsTalkZB
Winners are Grinners
So how do we measure the success of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series?
Well, given that it is the America’s Cup in microcosm, maybe the best analysis would be via the mantra of Mr America’s Cup Dennis Conner who always referred to the quest for the world’s oldest international sporting trophy as “a game of life.”
What constitutes a game of life? It must surely have drama, intrigue, high emotion, low emotion, brain power, technology, personalities, controversy, back-stabbing, front-stabbing, creativity, courage, endurance, sporting excellence, pain, laughter, tears, outrage, theatre, the list is endless.
Looking at it word by word, there was certainly no lack of drama. Any race that hangs on the execution of a penalty turn on the finish line and ends with victory by a one second margin could not have a more dramatic end.
It takes a few seconds to load.
“When it’s calm weather you still need to take pics and video, but everything is easier since the boat is not rocking like it was in an earthquake.”
A gruelling 7,500 miles ahead for the 40ft fleet
On Saturday 21st February, the seven skippers in the Portimão Global Ocean Race will begin the longest leg in their circumnavigation, sailing approximately 7,500 miles from Wellington, New Zealand, to Ilhabela, Brazil, with around 5,000 miles in the Pacific’s, high-latitude Southern Ocean and the remaining 2,500 miles racing northwards through the South Atlantic to the Leg 3 finish line. This 36-38 day stretch of the race can, meteorologically and tactically, be split into two parts: the Southern Ocean section between New Zealand and Cape Horn at the southern tip of Chile, and the Atlantic section as the boats turn north.
The raw statistics for the Pacific Ocean are impressive. The sea area represents one third of the Earth’s surface at 165 million square kilometres – 18 times the size of the USA – and is larger than all the planet’s landmasses combined. The Pacific’s average depth is 4,000 metres and the Mariana Trench, 1,200 miles east of the Philippines at the ocean’s western limit, plunges to an abyss almost seven miles deep. The most notorious weather systems associated with the Pacific are El Niño and La Niña: oscillating weather phenomena caused by interaction between the sea surface and the atmosphere. However, the effects of these two, often devastating, weather systems are confined to the tropical region of the Pacific, far to the north of the projected Leg 3 route for the Portimão Global Ocean Race fleet.
ERICSSON 4 LEG FIVE DAY 4 QFB: received 17.02.09 0446 GMT
We are now leaving behind the cold water and cold air as we enter the Pacific and continue our march to the east. You may wonder why we are all heading predominantly east and not taking a straighter route towards New Zealand.
Well, the answer is simple really. These Volvo 70s like the wind to be free so we can sail fast angles and really keep the boat moving along at wind speed or higher. To this end, we are using the northerly winds we now have to make some miles to the east before we join up with the north east trades in a few days time. If it all pans out then by the time we get headed we will have enough of an easterly position to head south and keep the boat sailing the fast angles that it loves. This should enable us to reach the scoring line at 36 south a lot sooner than taking the direct route.
The Volvo 70s, more than any previous Volvo/Whitbread design, use their incredible reaching performance to sail around unfavourable weather at much faster speeds than sailing direct. What this means in practice for leg five is that for a 12,300 mile leg we will probably end up sailing close to or even more than 1,000 miles further than that in order to arrive in Rio as quickly as possible. We knew it would be a long leg but thinking about the best routing option being so much longer is hard to take! Anyway, back to it, three days gone and only 11,500 nm to go. Or should that be more like 12,500?
Stu Bannatyne – Watch Captain
British sailor Dee Caffari became the first woman to sail around the world solo in both directions when she finished sixth in the Vendee Globe
Dee-lighted
February 16. 2009 at 15:54
© OLIVIER BLANCHET / DPPI / Vendée Globe
Dee Caffari’s first words when she finished this afternoon:
On her finish today: There were people there waving and saying hello and I thought that was pretty cool and then a random motor cruiser came up and shouted Go Dee! And I thought wow I’m close to the finish now. Then when everybody came out towards me… I knew there would be some Ribs and stuff, but this sight was brilliant and it’s such a gorgeous day. The sunset was beautiful and a lovely sunrise and I had dolphins, so I knew it was going to be a good day.
On finishing sixth: If you’d said that in the beginning, I’d have laughed in your face. I had an awesome start, then I made a few mistakes tactically in the Atlantic and the intensity of the race in the South Atlantic was just phenomenal. I sort of said, I’m not sure if I can do this. I was OK in the south, then I lost a bit of confidence in my first storm. Everybody was having lots of problems and that was when all the damage was happening and there was Yann’s injury and I lost all my confidence then.
Her race: Cape Horn was interesting. It was quite nice to hang out and know that the other two were with me. And I had an awesome Atlantic – I suddenly turned the corner and I’d grown into my boat. I did the repair on the main to keep it going a little bit longer. We just decided as a team to go for it and if it fell apart we’d deal with that later. I was really pleased to close the gap and then the Doldrums were a nightmare. A horrible two days, the worst two days of the race. I lost 300 miles to Brian in two days. Then I spent the North Atlantic closing the gap, but I just ran out of runway today. So I didn’t quite get him, but I’m happy to have pushed him all the way to the line.
On setting a new record as the first woman to sail round the world in both directions? That is so cool, isn’t it? I am so very excited, and I am really pleased, and pleased to do the job for Aviva, they have been great and to come in today in shiny yellow is very good.
On her learning curve in the Open 60, nought to 60 to sixth in 18 months? “Literally I started sailing in an Open 60 eighteen months ago. In my first solo race I hated it and cried all the way and got dismasted right before the end. I thought, Oh my God! What have I let myself in for? But I loved this and have grown into the boat all the time.”
And your team? The reason why I’m here is that they did such a good job preparing the boat. I owe them lots of booze and I know I did them proud. They’re really chuffed with their project and we did it together. They did the boat and I just had to go and sail it and they’ve been there whenever I needed them.
From left field
Kerre Woodham: Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner
This post is tagged BMW Auckland regatta, dean barker, Dee Caffari, e-anarchy, jj giltinan, kerre Woodham, leander 2009, louis vuitton, portimao, puma, sailcam, sir allen stanford, time lord, vendeeglobe, volvo ocean race, wildemedia
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