“The Alinghi Team will also begin their matches with the dance from the Swiss billionaire’s home village. “We are happy to see this honorable traditional dance revived for the Rugby World cup,” said Bertarelli.

“Called the Hakyodel, it involves the players chanting out the words to a challenge in an archaic Swiss language whilst waving their cowbells in a threatening manner at the opposition.”

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Scuttlebutt News:

Conversations within the sport of sailing – Pieter Taselaar

# How long have you been in the class?

This is my second year in the class, and after one year of getting a feel for the boat and figuring out if I really liked it, I decided to step it up and think this is one of the few larger high performance boats which will continue to grow worldwide and attract the best competition.

I firmly believe that in terms of big boat one design racing, the Melges 32 is rapidly taking over from classes like the Farr 40, and if you look at it objectively, it is one of the few high performance large one design classes that is growing at the moment and is attracting a lot of talent.

# What attracted you to the Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series in Scarlino, Italy?

After winning the Acura Miami Grand Prix (in March), I had a choice of either doing the East Coast Championship with seven boats participating, or going to Scarlino with 21 boats competing. The Worlds this year will be at Porto Cervo, Italy, and 45 boats are expected to compete. I think in order to be competitive in a class like this (like the Farr 40 was 2 years ago), one has to travel and sail regattas in the world where the most competition is.

The Italians love sportboats and take the sport very seriously and are very competitive so I thought it would be more beneficial to go to Scarlino. I didn’t charter a boat but shipped my own boat Bliksem to Italy. I think in order to compete at the highest level, one has to forget about geographical boundaries and look for the toughest racing and competition, and this happens to be in Italy, to a large extent because the Worlds will be held in Sardinia this year.

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and here

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New Zealand Leadership Week, 26th June – 3rd July 2009

New Zealand Leadership Week highlights the strategic relevance and value that great leaders, and great leadership, provide for our country. A range of organisations, institutions and schools organise activities and events to get their members, clients, local community, employees or students involved in debating, discussing, or celebrating leadership.

By working together, we aim to raise awareness of both the importance and impact that great leadership makes and also to showcase the work that is being done to develop leadership capability in New Zealand.
The week begins with the 2009 Sir Peter Blake Leadership Awards ceremony on Friday 26th June.

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Ireland has lived up to its reputation of being a friendly and welcoming country by embracing the Volvo Ocean Race. Race officials and police have estimated more than 500,000 people visited the race village or the shores of Galway Bay to soak in the race atmosphere. That includes a peak of 62,000 people for last Saturday’s In-Port Race. The fleet tomorrow embarks on Leg 8, bound for Marstrand. It’s a short leg, estimated to last four to six days, but full of complications. The start is scheduled tomorrow at 1600 Stockholm time.

Warm regards,
Ericsson Racing Team

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Ishares Cup on ‘Real TV’ While Sail.TV asks Fans for Footage.

June 5, 2009

Yesterday we covered the relaunch of Boatson.tv and scratched the surface of the complex business models and issues relating to delivery of a niche sport via broadband. Today, two stories about differing approaches to sailing on TV. Hot on the heels of the Boatson.tv news comes an announcement by Sail.tv that they have updated their offer including the ability for amateur film-makers to upload their content. This ‘User Generated Content’ (UGC) is what has driven sites like Youtube – allowing unknown talent to be showcased where it otherwise might not get an audience.

Meanwhile, one of the most savvy commercial rights holders OC Group, have announced the television schedule for the iShares Cup. Supported by Sunset & Vine, OC have gone for a more traditional distribution strategy of selling content to more traditonal (albeit satelite and cable) networks.

Sail TV’s objective is:

to be the worlds leading aggregator for all video content that involves the sport of sailing… In the first instance Sail TV wants to encourage event organisers to post content onto the site where a new, “User Videos” section has been added… The upload function will be available to all Sail TV viewers by the end of the June.

A quick look at the site today reveals some features that in our opinion make the offer more compelling than Boatson.tv; the content is fresher – with yesterday’s Korea Match Cup footage available to watch, but Sail.tv’s biggest differentiator is an on-demand feature which means you can watch a particular film without being dictated what you have to watch at any given time.

Sail.tv also allows for their ‘player’ to be embedded into other websites – decreasing the opportunity to sell site specific ads, but increasing the opportunities for viewers.

The online sailing video portals provide an invaluable service to the sailing fan-base providing high definition footage of some of the most obscure races that would otherwise never get an audience. Like many internet based businesses that are dependent on advertising revenue, the business models are still to be tested.

There are only a handful of sailing properties that have the entertainment value, commercial smarts and production values of the iShares Cup. Even with the experience of OC Group and Sunset & Vine, the spectator friendly series will only be available to viewers in the UK with Sky Sports (2, 3 & Extra). Viewers in the US will have to get hold of Sun Sport Florida to watch.

Despite Mark Turner’s views on impression based valuations, OC issued a statement yesterday saying:

Last year the iShares Cup TV series was broadcast by 16 international TV networks across 119 territories reaching an audience of 199.9 million homes per programme, equating to 40 hours of programming each month. This year, with the 2009 iShares Cup just underway, 24 international networks across 130 countries have already confirmed they will broadcast the 6-part TV series.

These numbers are becoming increasingly irrelevant. The 199.9 million homes number is seen by sponsors as meaningless. Just because 199.9 million homes have a subscription to the channel does not mean that 200 million people are watching. The closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics only managed 252 million viewers. In contrast, 2500 youtube views are real – people who not only watched the content in its entirety but made an active decision to seek it out.

It’s a very complicated subject, one that we will revisit in coming months. Meanwhile as fans, enjoy the sailing, wherever you watch it.

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By Paul Lewis nzherald.co.nz
Kiwi Carl Williams, who sailed at Beijing last year, has lost his job with BMW Oracle. Photo / Brett Phibbs

It seems a contradiction in terms – on the one hand, build a second multi-million dollar multi-hull yacht. On the other, make people redundant.

Yet that is the reality of the America’s Cup right now. With the February 2010 multi-hull challenge fast approaching, BMW Oracle have taken further steps to cut costs at their Valencia base – affecting people involved with the conventional monohull challenge which, by most counts, will not take place until 2011.

There are conflicting reports on the numbers involved – up to 18 have been mentioned but a BMW Oracle spokesperson, while apologising for not knowing precise details, said the number was more like eight or nine.

One was the Kiwi fitness trainer Paul Wallbank, found dead last weekend in his Valencia apartment in mysterious circumstances after being laid off (see story p3).

Carl Williams, a former Star world champion who represented New Zealand at the Beijing Olympics last year, is one of the sailors laid off in redundancies which are understood to involve mostly shore crew.

Williams is currently said to be involved in the Volvo round the world yacht racing in Ireland and has also made it known that he may try his hand at cycling.

It is not known whether any other Kiwis are involved – but there were plenty to choose from. BMW Oracle had a total of 17 Kiwi sailors involved in the last America’s Cup regatta in 2007. There have been changes since but there is still a large Kiwi contingent in Oracle’s sailing and shore teams.

In fact, BMW Oracle and Emirates Team New Zealand are the only Cup syndicates still alive. All the others have gone into abeyance; a hibernation until the multi-challenger America’s Cup sailed in conventional monohulled yachts takes place again.

Team NZ has had to make redundancies too, re-hiring sailors on a daily rate for their participation in the Med Cup in Europe this winter.

Before things get back to a conventional footing, however, the big boat challenge between holders Alinghi and Oracle will have to be held.

That’s where the picture gets a little clouded – because Oracle are building another giant multi-hull after completing and testing the 90-foot rocket ship, known officially as BOR-90 but to some as ‘Dogzilla’. It has wowed many with an apparent ability to produce speeds of up to 40 knots from a 20-knot breeze.

BOR-90 cost something like $15 million and, while many may wonder about the reasons for building a second, ETNZ boss Grant Dalton says it is normal practice, money permitting, to build a second boat after absorbing the lessons from a prototype.

However, there are persistent rumours that Alinghi have now chosen a venue other than Valencia – but are keeping quiet about it until the official deadline for announcement in August. Those rumours suggest a Middle Eastern venue – Dubai or Abu Dhabi or the like – where the winds are lighter than those liked best by Dozgilla.

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A bumpy ride through the Gulf Stream

Following an initially slow start to leg 5 in Charleston, South Carolina, at 1430 UTC on Thursday, the Portimão Global Ocean Race fleet soon dug into stronger breeze. By 2200 UTC, Felipe Cubillos and José Muñoz on Desafio Cabo de Hornos had built a three mile lead over second place Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme on Beluga Racer as the Chilean and German rivals averaged just over ten knots in torrential rain.

Reporting from Desafio Cabo de Hornos, Cubillos was the first skipper to describe the conditions. “After three hours of racing we are in 20 knots of breeze keeping slightly ahead of the Germans making very similar speeds,” he explained. “The breeze looks good for the next few days and this is good news,” predicts the Chilean skipper and 15-25 knots is forecast, although there is small technical problem on board the bright red Class 40: “There is bad news, though,” he warns. “There is always something that fails and after an hour some of our electrics went down and we have neither wind speed nor wind direction data. I think all the heavy rain has caused a short circuit,” Cubillos reasons. “Whatever the case, this lack of wind information is going to make it an exciting race!”

In the latest 0620 UTC position pole (05/06), Herrmann and Oehme on Beluga Racer have moved to the front of the fleet, sailing furthest north with a lead of just under three miles over Desafio Cabo de Hornos. Furthest south, Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson hold third place in the double-handed fleet on board Team Mowgli, 11 miles behind the German team, and solo sailor Michel Kleinjans on Roaring Forty is just nine miles off the starboard quarter of the race leaders.

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 6 2009

Bangs and Upsets

Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza to meet Ian Williams (GBR) Bahrain Team Pindar in Korean Match Cup Final

Gyeonggi, Korea (June 6, 2009) – Yet more costly turnarounds and huge drama marked the penultimate day of the Korea Match Cup. Unbeatable on Friday, ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing Adam Minoprio suffered three straight defeats in his quarter final races today against Team Shosholoza’s Paolo Cian, putting him out of the competition.

With the wind starting light and getting lighter until the sea breeze pumped up mid-afternoon, Minoprio found himself forced over the line early in the first race and infuriatingly repeated this in the second. 2-2 and for the decider it was gloves off. Minoprio picked up a penalty in the pre-start, but crossed the line with a four boatlength lead. But the wily Italian closed in and finally overhauled Minoprio on the second beat. Minoprio recounts: “We did a nice little manoeuvre at the top mark to get on the inside and ahead, but we held him up at the top mark to try and get rid of our penalty. We went for the luff and we thought we could swing behind the stern to get rid of our penalty and we just connected with his stern – there is an I-bolt on the back of the boat to hold the backstay on and we just got that. So we got another penalty and it was game over.”

A dejected Minoprio concluded: “We are hugely disappointed. Things today fully did not go our way.”

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE
5 JUNE 2009

MINOPRIO GETS IN HIS STRIDE

Quarter Finals Underway at Korea Match Cup

Gyeonggi, Korea (5 June 2009) – While America’s Cup legend Peter Gilmour was the class act of the first two days of racing at the Korea Match Cup, so today it was Emirates Team New Zealand’s Adam Minoprio who got on to a strong winning streak, with a run of eight races and just one loss.

“Today everything seemed to click into place,” beamed the 24 year old Kiwi as he stepped ashore on the brand new pontoons at Jeongok Marina. “We were feeling very comfortable in the boat and all the calls I was getting back from the guys were accurate. Our time and distance was right on, so I think we just sailed a very good day.”

In conditions similar to yesterday with the sun burning through early morning mist, followed by a light 8 knot sea breeze establishing itself, so in winning four of his five remaining races in the round robin put Minoprio on eight points out of eleven matches. This equalled him with Britons Ben Ainslie of Team Origin and Bahrain Team Pindar’s Ian Williams and, unexpectedly, Sweden’s Bjorn Hansen, an 11th hour entrant in the regatta, but by virtue of who Minoprio had beaten he came out on top, followed by Williams. At the mid-afternoon dockside conference between race organisers and crews, Minoprio chose Team Shosholoza’s Paolo Cian as his quarter final opponent, while Williams picked Torvar Mirsky. The four skippers not to make it through to the quarter finals are Sebastien Col, the 2008 winner of the Korea Match Cup, Philippe Presti, Laurie Jury and local Korean hero Byeong Ki Park.

In the first-to-three quarter final, Minoprio and his team are the only ones to end the day two races to zero. In both races Minoprio won the start from Cian and led around the course. A more nerve wracking match was when Minoprio came up against Peter Gilmour in flight 19 of the round robin. Minoprio copped a penalty in the pre-start when his stern touched Gilmour’s as they separated, while in the ensuing tacking duel up the first beat, with the boats repeatedly splitting tacks and missing each other by millimetres, the inevitable happened when after a big luff from Gilmour, Minoprio’s stern collided for a second time. But on this occasion Gilmour was penalised for not providing Minoprio with enough time to avoid him. Penalties cancelled out, Minoprio went on to take the win.

After three days in the locally-built KM36 yachts the crews evidently are feeling very comfortable with them and happier throwing them around the race course. “In a good breeze you can push it close – these boats are very agile. They make for very good racing,” states Minoprio. One of the loudest crashes came in the pre-start in the match between Ian Williams and Torvar Mirsky when the young Australian had found himself unable to prevent his boat T-boning the Bahrain Team Pindar boat midships.

For France’s Mathieu Richard, after a slow start to the regatta the highlight of his day was beating Torvar Mirsky, thereby just squeaking into the quarter finals on five wins. “Normally it is a little bit easier, but here you had a lot of work to do. We made some mistakes in some matches which we could have won,” said the joint World Match Racing Tour leader. For example against Minoprio he sailed into the restricted area around the start box and rather than calling for water, copped a penalty instead.  Richard tomorrow faces Ben Ainslie in the quarter finals.

Another success story of the day was that of Bjorn Hansen who not being a ‘Tour Card’ holder (that would guarantee him entry to all Tour events) only got the go-ahead to compete at the Korea Match Cup two weeks out from the start. Hansen who runs a match racing centre in Stockholm and won Match Race Sweden in Marstrand two years ago, was the only person to spoil Minoprio’s score line today. The matches against Minoprio and Mirsky were both particularly close, although he planted a penalty on Mirsky in the pre-start.

“It is an interesting place to sail. It is not very big, but they are great boats and it is nice to every now and then sail with the genniker,” commented the Swede.

Korea Match Cup continued at pace today with the quarter finals already started so that the semi-finals can be broadcast live across Asia, Oceania and the USA at 2pm local time tomorrow.

Article provided by James Boyd

QUARTER FINAL PAIRINGS
Minoprio v Cian             2-0
Williams v Mirsky           1-1
Gilmour v Hansen           1-1
Ainslie v Richard            0-0

Sights on 2012 – London Paralympics

“For us it is about having a competitive Kiwi entrant at the games in this division. Our team will need more than sailors and talent for this dream to become a reality,” Tourelle explains.  “Whether I am contributing in the boat or through the support I can offer in other ways won’t be a point of conflict for us as far as I can see.  The challenge ahead won’t allow time for insignificant things like that.”

“One of the keys to the success of our campaign will be acquiring a second SKUD 18 to enable a richer training environment. This will be a critical success factor and one we would like to overcome pretty quickly. We have a number of boats which could be available, but of course it is the usual catch cry of limited funds.” Dempsey added.

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on line here

IRC – New Zealand allows Unendorsed Certificates

Boat owners will now be able to apply for an ‘unendorsed’ IRC certificate – one where they get a rating by simply measuring the boat themselves, saving on the time and expense of weighing and measurement by an official measurer.

The use of unendorsed certificates is very common in most other countries who have used IRC, and the decision to allow unendorsed certificates will help New Zealand’s IRC fleet grow by making the process substantially cheaper and easier for the owners.

The decision was made by the IRC Owners Association which is a group of boat owners committed to generating competitive racing for IRC boats throughout the country. The Association hopes to get an increase in smaller boats using the rating rule so that divisions can be created based on boat length, which will give fairer and more rewarding racing.

The Owner’s Association says that as a measurement based rule it rewards boat preparation and sailing ability and not rewarding mediocrity. The IRC Owners Association are committed to seeing it succeed in New Zealand and supporting the many yacht owners who have an IRC certificate.

The 2009/2010 IRC Racing Calendar is currently being planned with the National Championships being held during the Line 7 Regatta in Wellington. There will also be IRC divisions in the Auckland to Noumea race and Around North Island Race. The IRC 2009/2010 calendar will be published shortly.

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This post is tagged Adam Minoprio, alinghi, Ben Ainslie, Carl Williams, e-anarchy, Ellen MacArthur Trust, Ericsson Racing Team, etnz, grant dalton, Ice Yachts, IRC Unendorsed, ishares cup, Jim Young, Julius Baer, Marine Media, max ranchi, melges, new zealand herald, New Zealand Leadership Week, Paralympics, peter blake, peter gilmore, portimao, skud 18, World Match Racing