Yachting News May Part 8

May 15th 2009
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Hi Steve,

Unfortunately Hilary broke her mast on Wednesday which then resulted in
no pictures being taken on the water. However I do have some from last
year that we think are still very good pictures and show what Hilary
does.

Kind regards

Laura Kelly

From last year

Photos Mark LLoyd

Court Affirms February 2010 for 33rd America’s Cup

New York, NY, USA: Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich in the Supreme Court of the State of New York today upheld an earlier decision of the NY Court of Appeals to stage the America’s Cup in February 2010.

“Today’s hearing should end any further delay to the 33rd America’s Cup and we can now look forward to some exciting racing in state-of-the-art boats early next year,” Tom Ehman, GGYC spokesman, said following the hearing.

On April 7, 2009, the New York State Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that GGYC is the rightful Challenger of Record and that the next match would be in ten months – early February 2010.

However, in an April 23 letter to GGYC, Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG) sought to unilaterally dictate that the match date be delayed to May 2010 in defiance of the Court, which triggered a motion to hold SNG in contempt of court.

Societe Nautique de Geneve statement

Statement from the America’s Cup defending yacht club, Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG), after the court hearing today regarding the date of the 33rd America’s Cup Match and the pending Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) Custom-House Registry:

“Societe Nautique de Geneve and Alinghi welcome Justice Shirley Kornreich’s decision and confirm that it will be adhered to. The Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup also welcomes the clarity that it brings. We now know that the America’s Cup Match can take place in the Northern Hemisphere regardless of the date, which Justice Kornreich said can be agreed through mediation. In the event of no agreement being reached, Alinghi, representing the SNG, will race BMW Oracle, representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club, in February 2010. In another important decision, Justice Kornreich ordered the GGYC to stick to the specifications of their Notice of Challenge and instructed the Challenger of Record to provide the Custom-House Registry as soon as possible.”

Yardyakka

Ross 930 Update

Splash Palace is still in the shed at Hakes Marine. Due out next week. Repaint of hull and decks, Mast step tidied up, where the runners attach on the transom strengthened, and the rudder realigned. New chainplates on the deck. Also the rig has been stripped and checked. Our aim is to be ready in about a months time to be able to use most of the winter series to tune back up. Also July we will be renewing our cat 3, and aiming to get cat 2.

The RPNYC prizegiving is on the 27th of June. Should be another rum filled night of 930 celebration.

Regards, Geoff.

Splash Palace
Go Hard or Go Home

Local Yachtie heads to RC44

E5.9 Champ Cam Horne is off to Europe on Tuesday for The next RC44 regatta.

Slam Dunk

ROLEX FASTNET ATTRACTS DIVERSE FLEET

May 14, 2009

Applications for the 2009 Rolex Fastnet opened on 1 January and effectively closed two months later when the 300 cap on entries was reached. Organisers, the Royal Ocean Racing Club, immediately set up a waiting list, which currently stands at seventy confirming the enduring and considerable interest in this classic offshore race that this year starts at noon on Sunday, 9 August from the Royal Yacht Squadron line at Cowes.

As one would expect with so many yachts entered, the fleet is a broad cross-section of the international offshore racing scene, with the smallest yacht (Fore Winds from Poland) at 30ft (9.5m) up to the largest at 100 feet (30.5m). Crews range from the full on professional through the Corinthian racers to those just taking part for the adventure and challenge presented by the 608 nautical miles. Entries have been drawn from near and far. The allure of Rolex Fastnet continues to attract competitors from across Europe, the USA and, even, Hong Kong and Australia.

The highlight within the substantial fleet looks to be the current race record holder – Mike Slade’s Farr 100 ICAP Leopard (GBR), which has undergone some surgery since setting a time of 1 day, 20 hours, 18 minutes in 2007; given the right conditions she could well lop more time off the benchmark. Leopard will not be the only 100-footer on the line, Liara the Bill Dixon designed Performance Yachting 100 will be there too. Whilst Liara is performance oriented, she should be no match for a race-prepared Leopard, which looks likely to be cutting a lonely furrow at the head of the fleet unlike 2007 when it took until near the finish to shake off the smaller Rambler. Just behind the big boys will be a much-anticipated battle in the 65 to 75 foot mini-maxi range with the STP65s Rosebud (USA), winner of 2007 Rolex Sydney Hobart, and Luna Rossa (ITA), new this season, set to do battle with Ran (GBR) the 72-foot Judel/Vrolijk design owned by Nicklas Zennstrom of Skype fame.

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A Visitor From Above

- 14 05 09

I rounded Cape Reinga very early this morning and turned the corner to head south. Fortunately, the wind has swung round to the north west giving me a nice sail in under my genneker as we’re mostly on a reach in.

Progress has been graceful, if rather slow at times (5knots) but that’s okay. The sun was out and I made the most of it, spending time out on deck doing a spot of reading and just enjoying the day.

I saw New Zealand this morning for the first time (apart from the lights last night). I haven’t been able to notice a change in the smell of the air yet, what with my being near land again, but I’m sure it’ll come. The night before I arrived in Hobart there was this amazing, highly distinctive aroma coming off the land.

I was out in the cockpit sitting on my beanbag earlier when I heard this sudden loud roar. Looking upwards, I saw a light aircraft flying straight towards me, and it passed very close by indeed! It performed a U-turn and flew over me again. Then my VHF buzzed: “Totallymoney.com, this is customs aircraft”.

They were doing a routine check of the area and had flown by to say hello, which was nice of them! I’m hoping to put in sometime tomorrow afternoon; it really depends on how much wind I see between now and then. Currently I’ve only got 7knots of breeze and so I’m sailing fairly slowly but the forecast says it’ll pick up a bit in the morning (fingers crossed!).

I’m excited to be coming into Auckland, which I hear is quite a spectacular city and I’m looking forward to seeing my dad on Saturday. Although I’m excited, I don’t really want to stop off. I’ve had such fun and enjoyed the sail over from Hobart to here so much that I don’t really want it to end. I’ve had the best surfing conditions of the trip so far in the Tasman sea, and I’ll always remember this short leg over here to New Zealand as one of the best.

©MikePerham2009

The Dreaded Steering…

As I write this I’m closing down on Cape Reinga (the northernmost point of New Zealand) and have just over eighty miles to go until I reach my waypoint there. I’m going to have to put in a quick gybe to get round though as on my current angle I’m falling a bit short.

This morning felt very slow after the past few days of fast surfing conditions as our boat speed dropped down to a mere 4knots at times. The lumpy sea was still around and Totallymoney.com wasn’t feeling too happy. I bunged up the spinnaker as soon as it got light and this definitely helped a great deal. As the day progressed, the wind built up to a steady 16knots and I’m now making a smooth 9knots towards the Cape.

I’ve made the decision to head into Auckland for a quick stopover to replace a part on my archenemy – yes, that’s right: the steering system once again! Whilst in Hobart, we replaced the lower bearing and top sleeve on the port rudder but we didn’t touch starboard rudder as it looked and felt great. I don’t like fixing something that isn’t broken!

Well, now the top bearing is showing some movement. I’ve arranged for two new parts to be sent from France over to the UK and my dad’s going to fly with them out here to arrive this weekend. As last time it took a week to get something from Europe to this part of the world, and we can’t wait that long, he’s flying them out himself. It is very frustrating to have to stop again but that’s the way it’s turned out.

I’ve heard that Auckland is a very impressive place and the sailing is brilliant so I’m excited to be going there. Mum and dad spent four months in NZ a long time ago so they know the place pretty well, which will help out I’m sure.

The moon looks to be rising again sometime soon so I’m gonna grab a hot chocolate, sit on the bean bag in the cockpit and watch the world go by, as I love to do, with a large grin on my face – thinking how lucky I am to be here.

Sponsorship Is Not A Dirty Word

In Europe, sponsorship is de rigueur for both regattas and individual boats, yet it is still an emerging phenomenon in the U.S. Hard to believe that there are still a number of clubs and organizations that view it as a horrid thought that would demean them or their events. I’ve even heard that it might lower volunteerism, as those volunteers would expect to be paid if they know money was coming in over the transom. I have two words to say about that — horse hockey.

The reality is that with costs to run even the simplest regatta going up — fuel, boat maintenance, trophies, etc. — additional monies are needed to make it a first class event. Of course, the event organizers can always raise entry fees, but in this economy, with regatta participation down, that will kill your regatta faster than anything.
What do sponsors want in return for their investment? Has anyone thought to ask? I know from my days at Rolex that I got a huge number of sponsor requests asking for money. In return for that, they would do “whatever we wanted.” It was the usual spots to watch on a sponsor boat, tickets to parties, etc. Not what we needed. Our customers (jewelers) had no desire to go watch a sailboat race. Truth be known, most of them got seasick. Tickets were equally valueless.

So what do the vast majority of sponsors want? Simple — press coverage that actually mentions their name. It’d nice to reach 100 sailors at a local regatta, but not a great ROI. They want to be in Scuttlebutt, Sailing World, WindCheck and all the other top sailing magazines and websites. And they want their name mentioned.

A number of years ago, I was talking with a publisher of a major sailing magazine. I’d called him to discuss coverage of an event we held at American Yacht Club. My first question to him was, “Could you run a magazine without advertisers?” His response, of course, was, “No way.” I then went on to explain that the same applied to sponsors and regattas, and his magazine did not even mention our title sponsor in the article.

How do you get this press coverage? There is a good chance that a member of your club or organization is in public relations. Sign them up to do press releases. It’s not brain surgery and can be done from Mars. All they really need to do is give some brief details of the event — how hard it was blowing, how many races, etc — and the results. Also, if your club has a website, give the link where the results are posted.

Then start compiling a list to e-mail to and put the press release in the body of an e-mail that you send to yourself and blind copy the press contacts. Attachments often hit spam filters and don’t go through. Here is the first one for your list — Chris Gill at WindCheck — chris@windcheckmagazine.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Get your press releases out immediately. The last day of the event. It’s been my experience that once the person charged with writing a press release or article for the club newsletter leaves the club, your chances of getting it done plummet. An e-mail newsletter like Scuttlebutt has no interest in running results from a regatta that ended a week earlier. They publish daily, so timeliness is everything.

But let me return to my comments about the sailing media. Overall, they do a decent job giving sponsors some credit, but they have a long way to go. Any chance they get to highlight a sponsor, they should, but often don’t. In my opinion this is not a well thought out decision. After all, if they give the sponsor some “ink,” they may see the need for the sponsor to advertise with them. Sailing, more than any sport I know, has a huge collection of whiners — people who bitch and moan about what is wrong and have no solutions or the desire to help pitch in and solve the problem. There are a few sites that allow this, and, in my personal opinion, should be ashamed of themselves. It’s been said that bad press is better than no press at all. I strongly disagree. There are sites that bait their readers to get into a pissing contest and say all the wrong things. People respond and then the whiners join in with inappropriate comments. Who needs this? Avoid them and don’t expose your sponsors to that sort of environment.

To that end, I’m proud to write for Wind- Check. They bend over backward to publish everything they can and give sponsors excellent exposure. This is the type of magazine that I want my sponsors to be covered in.

One final thought – send regatta stories and results on anything you run to Chris here at WindCheck. Pictures with captions identifying who or what is in them are helpful too. They do not have a huge staff, so they need input from readers. This is a magazine published in support of boating in the Northeast, so they need material to publish from you. They’ll do everything they can to get your event recognized.

Now I’ll get of my soapbox for a month. Maybe.
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