Perhaps Ernee has been building Cheezezilla for a while?

Year :      1986
Length :     14,00 m
Width :      12,00 m
Weight :      1300 kg
Materials :     Carbon aramid -  PVC Foam – Nomex
Construction :     Wet lay-up on mannequin
Designers :     Grégoire Dolto & Patrick Dubois
Engineers :     Grégoire Dolto & Patrick Dubois
Prizes :

Winner of many regattas on lake Geneva
A foiler-type 14 m long, 12 m wide trimaran built in collaboration with the Burkhalter shipyard in Yverdon, and designed for racing on lake of Geneva. She wont most of the majors races.

Year :      1984
Length :     14,20 m
Width :      4,50 m
Weight :      1200 kg
Materials :     Glass fibre epoxy resin -  PVC foam
Construction :     Wet lay-up on a plug
Designer :     B. Farr
Engineer :     R. Bowler
Prizes :     Winner of many trophies in Europe
A 14.20 m long boat designed specifically for navigation on lake Geneva and on lake Garda. The boat’s to-the-limit design enables it to navigate with 11 people on trapezes fixed at the extremity of aluminium ladders.

Decision Boat Builders

Increasing the ‘flight envelope’
When first asked to propose a new multihull for Ernesto Bertarelli, with the Bol d’Or as the target, the first concern of co-designer Jo Richards and myself was how to resolve the wind equation of Lake Leman, where typical winds range around 360 degrees and from 0 to 30 knots…

Our first given was the fact that the best existing boats are now too specialised, the catamarans being fastest in very light air and the trimarans, originally developed from the old Formula 40s, dominant in a breeze. The task: to be able to beat either in their favoured condition.
The concept of the ‘drive-train’ We worked first on the ‘engine’ in close collaboration with Patrick Mazuay, designer at North Sails, using Flow-Membrain, and Alessandro Castelli, using the sail optimisation program SailOpt. The Lake Class box rule limits overall height (24.5m) and length (19.6m), but not sail area.

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Year :      2000
Length :     12,50 m
Width :      8,70 m
Weight :      1800 kg
Materials :     Carbon – Nomex
Construction :     Prepreg in  moulds
Designers :     S.Schmidt & J.Richard
Engineers :     SP Technologies
Prizes :     Winner of the Bol d’Or trophy in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

Winner of many regattas on lake Geneva

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Toby and I have spent 2 days in Southampton interviewing potential wet crew. We have been extremely lucky in both the number and quality of the applications we have received. It is proving extremely difficult to make a decision. It’s about getting the right team together. Choosing from the people we have interviewed so far is hard, they are all equally well-qualifiedand.

In the meantime, adverts online have drawn in applications for both carers who can drive and drivers. We are sorting through the CVs now and will be in touch soon.

I have to say a HUGE thank you to a few people and companies… contacting last year’s Sponsors has been a last-minute affair.

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follow Hilary here

“I had the jib sheet wrapped around my foot when we went into a tack and I got flipped into the rig.”

Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race

Michael Pammenter, being transferred to hospital, after injuring his foot during the start of leg six

Saturday 11 April 2009, 18:45 GMT

As the fleet leave Rio behind and head out from Guanabara Bay, Telefonica Black leads Ericsson 4 and PUMA offshore. Telefonica Blue, Green Dragon, Ericsson 3 and Delta Lloyd trailed the leaders.

Hundreds of spectator boats crowded the fleet as they did a lap of racing before heading out to sea in a 5-10 knot sea breeze. The wind was very streaky across the bay, making for plenty of lead changes early in the race.

Riath Al-Samarrai was out on the water for the start and we’ll have his report shortly.

We’ll also have a brief evening story following the 22:00 GMT position report, along with morning and afternoon reports on Sunday.

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follow the boats here

Last leg here

Photo Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race

Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race

Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race

Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race

Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race

500 more images here

As of 1983, and concurrently with designing monohull racers, Gilles Vaton developed his first racing trimarans. They had the following innovative features:
- slender, planing hull
- vertical wave-piercing bow
- ground-effect from the wing-arms, arched and profiled in aeronautic fashion
- foils fitted to the outriggers
- wing-shaped mast with wind-activated swivelling (taken up again recently on the best ORMA multihulls)
The giant 26-metre foiler-trimaran Charles Heidseick IV inaugurated the concept,
followed in 1985 by the foiler PACA , its staggering performances confirming the
excellence of the project.

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The programme has seen us dropping, hoisting, gybing, tacking and sail changing more often then you can say bluQube! This is great sailing not only for us as a team, but also for me as a single handed sailor. It’s the prime opportunity for me to experiment and fine tune the sail handling manoeuvres, and top of our list is spinnaker gybing – not that I envisage much of that during the OSTAR!

Its also a perfect opportunity to test out the sail wardrobe in a variety of conditions, and we are taking the opportunity to draw up the polars for the boat in all the conditions we face. This will leave us with a wealth of information for the coming season.

Since we started sailing together on the 3rd, Hannah and I have had a thorough tour of Dean and Reddyhoff’s marinas here on the south coast. From East Cowes we sped down to Haslar, prior to an evening on Spit Bank Fort, before making our way down to our current destination. An evening in Weymouth may sum up our tour, as we head to the Royal Dorset Yacht Club to celebrate Steve White’s achievements in the recent Vendee Globe.

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A couple from George

Kite surfer sparks 10-crew rescue

A helicopter searches for the man
A helicopter searched off Flatholm and Steepholm as lifeboats were launched

A man kite surfing the Severn Estuary sparked a rescue effort involving five lifeboat crews, four coastguard land teams and the RAF rescue helicopter.

The alarm was raised at about 1830 BST on Tuesday after his friends lost sight of him as he approached the Welsh coast from Weston-super-Mare.

He was heading for Cardiff but was found near Aberthaw power station, Vale of Glamorgan, around 15 miles away.

Swansea coastguard said the man was given hot tea and “advice”.

The man left Weston at about 1730 BST and was expected to arrive in Wales about an hour later, but when his friends had not heard from him, they raised the alarm at around 1830 BST.

It is thought the kite surfer, who was wearing a dry suit and was equipped with a rucksack, was blown off course.

Swansea coastguard coordinated the search, with land teams from Penarth and Barry, Weston-super-Mare and Burnham called to help.

Map of the south Wales and north Somersetn area
The kite surfer was heading for Cardiff but landed at Gileston Beach

Penarth and Barry inshore lifeboats and Barry Dock all-weather lifeboat were launched on the Welsh side, and both Weston lifeboats on the English side.

The rescue helicopter from RAF Chivenor was tasked to search around Steepholm and Flatholm, considered the likely course of the kite sailor.

The Barry coastguard team had arrived at their base on Barry Island for their usual Tuesday training session when they were paged to search along the coast.

Meanwhile, the kite surfer landed on the Welsh coast and rang his friend.

After a search of the coastline, he was found sheltering on Gileston beach, near Aberthaw power station at around 2130 BST.

The Barry coastguard team took him back to their base for “hot tea and advice”.

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and here

However they can get into trouble

Torbay Sailing Club

ADULT SAILING AND MUCH MORE ….Come along … its all fun, they said

Well actually it was, for most of it. ….  Robin offered me his Laser to sail in the adults race …. so far so good … gentle breeze – all will be fine… leave work early and rock on down to Waiake.

Hmmmm … light sea breeze, building maybe… what the hell, you are the friggin commodore and USED TO give Alex plenty off assistance.

Sailed past the raft, no real problems, actually getting into it a bit, feeling the light chop, all good, laser humming along quite well. I wonder if I could catch Robbie….. yeah, this thing is creaming along. Lets get a bit closer to reef…..yep thats good …I think I have got her…

Planning commisseration now …”oh sorrry robbie, I saw you doing your best, but ….  you probably need a bit more practice .. better luck next time.”

Whoa tack now  …. back foot across … blah blah ….know all that already – (actually not much I dont know). “Oh good tack robbie” …. hmmmm beyatch she might recover some lost ground … wheres the reef … yep thats ok … right lets tack NOW.

Ah …   bugger .. stuck in irons … “bye robbie” ….. argh ….. shizer, what a mess – wheres the bloody mainsheet ….

Thats ok … my downwind prowess is legendary and I have memorised every word every coach has ever spoken to Alex …. “follow the hollow ” thanks Grant …. “Move forward … catch the wave then trim your weight to stay on it….pump !”

All good … making some ground … (never mind, the black caps opening batsmen suck as well) ….what!…. now go around the reef starboard green mark …. bugger I could do with some chips and a beer …. ok lets get on with it

Blah Blah …. round the green mark and on to the downwind …….zzzzzzzzzzz …..this boody thing is honking …. oh bugger …. mainsheet tangled around kicking strap … “Houston we have a problem “… actually its knotted …ahhh … this is .gonna be a tragedy…. zzzzzzz …. “great save, john !”, someone called ” ….. (actually I had nothing to do with it steve )”,   I bet it looked spectacular……

Ummm……I think that I need to gybe to keep away from the reef …… ok … lets develop an action plan ….better do something quick …ok ….granny gybe, thats the plan… would that work …..

…..WHACK ….

no dispute there …. boom won ! You need stitches boy … so off to A&E I went for 3 stitches.

Epilogue …Won the adult sailing trophy for the that night….. I guess that when you put your body on the line for reasons of sportsmanship or incompetence …then you deserve to.

I will be back …might jack up padding on the boom though

The Commodore

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Milford Cruising Club

next event

As summer wanes join us at our “Luau”. Live band – spit roast – tropical fruit –
mai tai’s – what more could you ask for………?

hawaiian-night

Silver medal for New Zealander at major European regatta

Date Released: Saturday 11 April 2009
Released by: Zoe Hawkins

Next to world championships and Olympic medals, a podium finish at The Princesa Sofia Mapfre Trophy in Palma, Spain, is one of the most coveted achievements for Olympic level sailors.

This weekend 25-year old Aucklander Mike Bullot earned a silver medal in the Laser class at the regatta. In a fleet of 134 boats he secured five top ten finishes and 64 points, placing him just six points behind the GBR victor Nick Thompson, and five points ahead of the third placegetter Stipanovic Tonci of Croatia.

Racing concluded on Friday night New Zealand time with an intense battle in the Medal Race staging the best top ten sailors in each class against each other, for double points. After a slow start Mike, who placed fifth in the 2008 Laser World Championships, and second in the Sail Melbourne Regatta last December, fought hard and ultimately placed third in this race, and secured the silver medal.

In final standings Mike’s teammate Josh Junior finished in eleventh, and Andy Maloney 23rd.

Sara Winther finished up 13th in the Laser Radial class, and Justine Sellars placed 18th in the women’s RS:X boardsailing division that Barbara Kendall won at this event in 2007.

The Princesa Sofia Mapfre Trophy will now conclude with the prize giving ceremony in presence of the Spanish Royal family’s regatta patron.

The next event for our Olympic class sailors is the Hyeres World Cup, starting on 19 April in France.

Friday 10 April 2009, 21:00 GMT

By Riath Al-Samarrai

Who would want to sit on the Ericsson 4 substitutes’ bench?

The team lists are in and once again Torben Grael’s crew is unchanged, meaning they have now kept the same 11 men onboard for the entire race.

“Why would we want to change?” the Brazilian asked. “It is always good to have as few changes as possible. We tried to do the same with Brasil 1 in the last race, but we knew we would change for Knut (Frostad, the current race CEO) for the Southern Ocean legs because we had no experience there. We also changed the navigator for technical reasons.

“This time we have had the luxury of practising for almost a year. Your problems should come in that period and not the race. The advantage is we don’t want surprises in how people behave and sail. And no one is afraid of being dropped. There are many advantages.”

A look at the leaderboard would appear to support his stance, but crew consistency is far from easy to attain.

Between arriving in Alicante and now, on the eve of leg six, there have been 50 changes to offshore personnel, with sailors replaced either temporarily or permanently.

Delta Lloyd and Green Dragon have been the most prolific shufflers, each making 11 changes – the equivalent of a full crew – while Ericsson 3 have made nine, PUMA and Telefonica Blue six, Team Russia five, and on the Black boat just three.

Some changes are unforeseen – such as injuries – while it has not been uncommon for sailors to leave a team because of performance, social or personal issues.

But for many teams it is a viable strategy in a nine-month race where fatigue is inevitable.

PUMA’s Rob Greenhalgh said: “This latest edition of the race is tougher as legs are longer and stopovers shorter. As a result there is little time for recovery and recuperation.”

In real terms, it means the rotation of crew can be desirable to reduce the impact.

Greenhalgh’s skipper, Ken Read, is open in his belief that rotation is a good idea. “I think if I did this again I would do way more rotation than we are doing,” he said. “This race is brutally hard, both physically and mentally and there are enough good sailors out there to make it worthwhile. You bring in fresh guys, like we do with Shannon Falcone and Jerry Kirby, and they just lift everyone around them.

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VOLVO OCEAN RACE CREW LIST LEG SIX: RIO DE JANEIRO – BOSTON

DELTA LLOYD

1. Roberto Bermúdez De Castro/ESP – skipper
2. Wouter Verbraak/NED – navigator
3. Sander Pluijm/NED – media crew member
4. Stuart Wilson/NZL – watch captain
5. Nick Bice/AUS – watch captain
6. Andre Fonseca/BRA – helmsman
7. Ben Costello/NZL – helmsman
8. Ed Van Lierde/NED – trimmer
9. David Pella/ESP – trimmer
10. Gerd-Jan Poortman/NED – Bowman
11. Morgan White/AUS – bowman

On: Wouter Verbraak/NED – navigator
Ben Costello/NZL – helmsman
Ed Van Lierde/NED – trimmer
Nick Bice/AUS – watch captain

Off: Frits Koek/NED – navigator
Edwin O’Connor/IRL – trimmer
Martin Watts/GBR – trimmer
Guillermo Altadill/ESP – watch captain

ERICSSON 4

1. Torben Grael/BRA – skipper
2. Jules Salter/GBR – navigator
3. Guy Salter/GBR – MCM
4. Brad Jackson/NZL – watch captain
5. Stu Bannatyne/NZL – watch captain
6. Dave Endean/NZL – pitman
7. Horacio Carabelli/BRA – trimmer
8. Tony Mutter/NZL – trimmer
9. Joao Signorini/BRA – trimmer
10. Ryan Godfrey/AUS – bowman
11. Phil Jameson/NZL – bowman

No changes

ERICSSON 3

1. Magnus Olsson/SWE – skipper
2. Aksel Magdahl/NOR – navigator
3. Gustav Morin/SWE MCM
4. Thomas Johansson/FIN – helmsman
5. Richard Mason/NZL – watch captain
6. Magnus Woxen/SWE – trimmer
7. Eivind Melleby/NOR – helmsman
8. Martin Strömberg/SWE – trimmer
9. Jens Dolmer/DEN – pitman
10. Anders Dahlsjö/SWE – bowman
11. Martin Krite/SWE – bowman

On:   Richard Mason/NZL – watch captain

Off:  Arve Roaas/NOR – trimmer/helmsman

GREEN DRAGON

1. Ian Walker/GBR – skipper
2. Ian Moore/IRL – navigator
3. Guo Chuan/CHN – MCM
4. Neal McDonald/GBR – watch captain
5. Damian Foxall/IRL – watch captain
6. Anthony Merrington/AUS – helmsman/trimmer
7. Phil Harmer/AUS – helmsman/trimmer
8. Andrew Mclean/NZL – pitman/trimmer
9. James Carroll/IRL – pitman/trimmer
10. Justin Slattery/IRL – bowman
11. Freddy Shanks/GBR – bowman

On: Ian Moore/IRL – navigator
Anthony Merrington/AUS – watch captain
James Carroll/IRL – pitman/trimmer

Off: Wouter Verbraak/NED – navigator
Tom Braidwood/AUS – pitman/trimmer
Chris Main/NZL – helmsman/trimmer

PUMA OCEAN RACING

1. Ken Read/USA – skipper
2. Andrew Cape/AUS – navigator
3. Rick Deppe/GBR MCM
4. Sidney Gavignet/FRA – watch captain
5. Robert Greenhalgh/GBR – watch captain
6. Rob Salthouse/NZL – helmsman/trimmer
7. Justin Ferris/NZL – helmsman/trimmer
8. Erle Williams/NZL – helmsman/trimmer
9. Shannon Falcone/ANT – bowman/pitman
10. Casey Smith/AUS – bowman/helmsman
11. Michael Müller/GER – helmsman/bowman

On:  Shannon Falcone/ANT – trimmer/pitman
Off:  Jerry Kirby/USA – bowman/pitman

TELEFÓNICA BLUE

1. Bouwe  Bekking/NED – skipper
2. Tom Addis/AUS – navigator
3. Simon Fisher/GBR- strategist/helmsman
4. Gabriele Olivo/ITA – MCM
5. Jonathan Swain/RSA – watch captain
6. Jordi Calafat ESP – helmsman
7. Xabier Fernandez/ESP – trimmer
8. Pablo Arrarte/ESP Spanish – trimmer
9. Laurent Pages/FRA – trimmer
10. Daryl Wislang/NZL – bowman
11. Pepe Ribes/ESP – bowman

On:  Laurent Pages/FRA – trimmer
Daryl Wislang/NZL – bowman
Pepe Ribes/ESP – bowman

Off: Iker Martinez/ESP – co-skipper/helmsman
Michael Pammeter/RSA – bowman
David Vera/ESP – bowman

TELEFÓNICA BLACK

1. Fernando Echavarri/ESP – skipper
2. Roger Nilson/SWE – navigator
3. Anton Paz/ESP – media crew member
4. Antonio (Ñeti) Cuervas-Mons/ESP – bowman
5. Gonzalo Araujo/ESP – watch captain
6. Jaime Arbones/ESP – watch captain
7. Pablo Iglesias/ESP – helmsman
8. Javier de la Plaza/ESP – helmsman
9. David Vera/ESP -  trimmer
10. Maciel Cicchetti/ARG – trimmer
11. Michael Pammenter/RSA – bowman

On:  Anton Paz/ESP – media crew member
Maciel Cicchetti/ARG – trimmer

Off:  Mikel Pasabant/ESP – MCM
Francisco Rivero/ESP – bowman

Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race

A big reception from the local schools

On Tuesday 7th April, the Portimão Global Ocean Race fleet was the centrepiece for a visit by 90 students handpicked from ten schools around the island of Ilhabela. Throwing the boats open to students is an accepted part of round-the-world-race etiquette and every circumnavigation race will – as a matter of course – arrange a series of school visits in each stop over port as a method of communicating the reality of yacht racing and as a public relations exercise between the race organisation and the host city or port.

The Portimão Global Ocean Race has already proved to be a unique event in format and style, but the school visit earlier this week once again underscored the individuality of the race. While school children in some of the more frequently visited round-the-world-race stop over ports may be slightly blasé about the arrival of an offshore racing fleet whether the prefix is Velux, Volvo or the now extinct Challenge Business pay-as-you-go race, the experience was entirely fresh for the group of seven to nine-year-olds from Ilhabela.

Firstly, most of the children weren’t even alive when the 1997-98 Whitbread Round the World Race called into the port São Sebastião across the channel separating Ilhabela from mainland Brazil: indeed the adult population – with the exception of the team at North Sails and the local Yanmar agent – have hazy recollections of the visit. Secondly, the local sailing event of the year – Rolex Ilhabela Sailing Week – is based in the exclusive Yacht Club de Ilhabela (YCI) and a close-up view of the yachts competing is not easy to achieve. However, due to the generosity of the YCI, the students were allowed into the club’s hallowed grounds and given access to the private marina that doubles as the race base for the Portimão fleet during their stay on Ilhabela.

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Andrew McKenzie & Lexie Langley

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This post is tagged andrew mackenzie, black cat, cape horn, cheezezilla, club, Cruising, decision 35, global, hilary lister, katie miller, lexie langley, milford, ocean, portimao, race, sailing, torbay, volvo, zoe hawkins