Greetings yachties

New Zealand Woman’s Match Racing Olympic Squad

Anna Tunnicliffe

E-Scow Images

Mirsky Racing lead the World Match Racing Tour

Transat – Mini 650,

World Match Racing Tour – Jes Gram-Hansen claims Danish Open,

Audi Med Cup – Final Round ETNZ 52 points ahead,

Rolex Big Boat – San Francisco,

Trophée Clairefontaine 2009

Clipper – They’re Racing

TeamOrigin and the Carbon Trust

Enjoy

NZ Women’s Match Racing Olympic Squad – News

Sam, Jenna & Raynor win Buddy Melges Challenge, Steph, Susannah & Miranda 3rd

NEWS FLASH: We won!  Steph and her team got 3rd.

Off to prize-giving, we will write a squad report sometime soon…… we promise! From Jenna

Day Two

Hi to all,

Day 2 at the Buddy Melges Challenge in Sheboygan, USA.

Today the conditions were tough with the race committee and competitors diligently waiting for pressure and the breeze to settle. Patience was rewarded and 4 flights in round robin 1 were completed. Two flights remain to complete round robin 1 and the plan is to then to go-on to semis and finals tomorrow.

So for the NZ Squad teams the stats are:

Steph, Susannah and Miranda

Today: 2 wins, 1 loss

Round Robin 1: 6 wins, 2 losses

Sam, Jenna and Ray

Today: 2 wins, 2 losses

Round Robin 1: 5 wins, 2 losses

Steph, Susannah and Miranda sailed strongly to cement their place in the semi finals.

In the race they lost against Peru, it was determined in the start as the team made a couple of minor starting mistakes which was enough to give Peru a slight advantage and their speed and boat handling never gave the kiwis a chance to get the lead.

Tomorrow the team is aiming to sail consistently and eliminate the small errors that have proved to be costly in these conditions.

Sam, Jenna and Ray have some work to do tomorrow and must win their final race to guarantee their place in the semis, otherwise the girls will be relying on the final races to determine where they finish in the round robin. The team is feeling positive and were happy with the majority of their day however simple small errors lost races which they will eradicate (oh yes we will) tomorrow.

Highlight of the day was the race between the two kiwi teams. We gave the coach (Laurie Jury) something to write about, with Steph getting a penalty on Sam in the pre-start but Sam gained a slight advantage on the line. However the penalty wasn’t the defining moment of the race as the lead changed four times. Steph and her team secured the win by splitting to the left for pressure in the final downwind leg.

This evening Buddy Melges spoke words of sailing wisdom and greeted the teams with warmth and best wishes. The trophy was presented to the competitors, just to make racing more exciting for tomorrow. It is a replica of the America’s Cup and we would love to bring it back home to the squadron!!

Thank you for all the support especially from Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Yachting New Zealand.

Looking forward to racing tomorrow………….

Steph, Susannah, Miranda, Sam, Jenna and Raynor

DAY ONE

Hi Everyone,

Today was a pretty good day for both teams. After two days of practice in very light conditions, the race committee was obviously worried about wind, with a 9am start scheduled, only to be postponed.  We had a highly competitive card game of scum, dominated by Miranda with showings from Laurie and Steph, Susannah is hoping to do better tomorrow. Anyway…. around 10.30 a light 5-8 knot thermal breeze (sea breeze, but on a lake) filled in and stayed till about 3pm.

Steph, Susannah and Miranda had 5 races and sailed solidly in the light and shifty conditions to win 4 of their matches but unfortunately gave away their second race on the first downwind when they suffered from a couple of “tactical mishaps”. However they capitalized on their mistakes and defended well in the subsequent matches.

Sam, Jenna and Ray had 4 strong races, of which they won 3 and lost 1. The team is sailing well but were disappointed with their loss which was self inflicted by starting early and not able to recover and get back into the game.

Overall the Peruvian team is on 5 wins and 1 loss and one of the Canadian teams (Provan) is also on 5 wins and 1 loss. Interestingly the Peruvians, the Candians and the Isralie team all come from strong fleet racing backgrounds but currently have little match racing experience, which expect to see more of as the class develops.

There are a lot of cameras out on the race course, so if you are watching on the website Sam’s team is in the yellow bibs and Steph’s team are in the orange bibs (Hazard, with high viz orange, we love it!).  The link to the website is http://www.ussailingcentersheboygan.org/n-2009-melgeschallenge-main.php and the results are attached below.

Finally many thanks to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Yachting New Zealand for their support.  I’ve also attached a couple of photos of us training yesterday in our Zhik bibs, we wish we could wear them racing!

Thanks for everyone’s support

Kind Regards,

Miranda, Suzo, Steph, Jenna, Ray and Sam

Samantha Osborne, Jenna Hansen, Raynor Smeal, Stephanie Hazard, Susuannah Pyatt, Miranda Powrie,

Race Website here

We have been in Weymouth, the site for the 2012 Olympics, for three days now training for the Sail For Gold Regatta, the final leg of the ISAF World Cup.  I am match racing this event instead of Laser Radial, even though the World Cup is not wrapped up.  There are 24 teams competing here in the match racing, and we are racing in Elliot 6m’s. Racing for the event starts tomorrow and runs through the 19th.

After the Detroit Cup, I went to Sheboygan, WI for a three-day training camp in the Elliot 6m’s and met my team, of Molly Vandemoer and Alice Manard, up there.  We started training on Monday morning at 9am, which was quite early after getting in very late the night before, but we wanted, and needed, the time on the water in the boats. The breeze during this camp was still on the lighter side, as it had been during the last camp with a max of around 8-9kts, but it was consistent for most of the days.  We did a lot of work on our boat handling. It was nice to have light air for this because it made us be that much more precise with our smoothness of maneuvers.  We wrapped up the end of our camp doing some match racing with international teams that were there for the women’s regatta starting the next day.  The people at Sheboygan YC were fantastic to us again.  Whenever we needed something, someone was there to help us out; it was awesome.  So we could just focus on our training and get the most out of it.
We flew to England on Thursday.  It was a bit of an exciting trip for all of our team.  I was flying a different airline than Molly and Alice, and I was scheduled to depart first.  I got on the plane and left the gate, only to be told by the captain that Newark had been put on a ground-hold for an hour, so we couldn’t take off.  I was a bit panicked because I didn’t think I was going to make my next flight.  But luckily I took off and had 25 minutes to run through Newark airport and catch my next plane.  Just after my flight was grounded in Milwaukee, I got a text from Molly saying that they were getting on a bus to go down to Chicago to make their flight because their original flight down there was delayed to the point that that they would miss their connection and there were no seats on the next flights.  Again, luckily they made their flight and we all met up in London.  We rented a car and drove with our team USSTAG coach, Dave Perry, into Weymouth.  It was about a two and a half hour drive, but it was a pretty drive and very easy.

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Tammy Sawyer Photography

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Valencia Sailing

Image: Per Heegaard

Mirsky Racing Team take the lead of the World Match Racing Tour

Aarhus delivered the strongest winds of the week, with gusts blowing well above 20 knots, providing plenty of action for the spectators lining the rocks.

Narrowly qualifying for the finals over Mattias Rahm in a nail-biting 3-2 series which came to a dramatic close when Rahm incurred a penalty on the final upwind and, failing to wipe it, watched Torvar Mirsky sail through to race in the finals against Jes Gram Hansen.

The Danish local however, took it to a new level and dominated the series, winning 3 straight races.

“The starts were so important today, and Jes’ team had an edge over us in all three races. We fought hard, and often brought the game within distance, but they always held us off and they deserved to win.” Said skipper Torvar Mirsky after the day’s racing had come to an end. “…but we are leading the Tour now, so we are really happy! To make two finals in a row is excellent, and we hope to carry on this form in Bermuda next month.”

With the team jumping to new heights, leading the World Match Racing Tour, they can shift their focus onto the next two events which will be crucial for their hunt for the glory of being crowned as the World Match Racing Tour champions.

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Prototypes, a wide open race!

With 36 prototypes over 85 boats, the fleet of “exclusive bombs” shines this year by its quality. Eight latest generation sailboats are looking for an obvious consecration in Bahia, while a number – at least equivalent – of recent boats perfectly optimized and reliable clearly announce their victory ambitions. The French are naturally the most numerous to apply for Yves Le Blévec’s succession, winner in 2007. But the fifteen foreign sailors flying the American, German, Brazilian, Italian, Swiss, English, Spanish, Norwegian or South African flags arguments are now quite convincing and could enable – more than ever – a Non-French sailor to win in Bahia.

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What about the foreigners?
They are 15, and they will not come as guest stars for the French. The German, Jorg Riechers, has already defeated the Franzosen during pre-season races. His plan Bertrand of this year “Mare.de” (No. 753) is fast, very fast, and the man is ambitious. Four Spanish structured behind Juan Carlos Sanchis (Spasmos No. 403) in a remarkable organization of offshore racing in Barcelona, have professionalized their approach and their preparation. With among them Gerard Marin that has already many experiences this year and has a pretty Proto N ° 727, plan Teixido of this year. The Iberians are ready. Two Americans, Jesse Rowse (Plan Romanelli No. 176) and Chris Tutmarks (Nacira No. 724) want to repeat the Clay Burkhalter’s success, 12th in 2007 and invest the Bay of All Saints, faster even than the great Clay.

Four women on protos …
No the prototypes are no longer the preserve of men. Four women sailors will compete this year. Marine Feuerstein and her Plan Fauroux-Bouvet 2002 (C20 un océan de couleurs N°395) have already trusted the podiums this season. Her “grinta” akin to the one of the Spanish Anna Corbella (Gaes N°385) or the Brazilian Izabel Pimentel (Petit Bateau N°664). The young Caroline Vieille (Fondation Jérôme Lejeune N°439) makes real her dream that she wants to emerge of only in Bahia…

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from Brainaid

Sunday the 13th of September

GOOD START AT 2.17 PM

Weather conditions were ideal. A hot sun had warmed the atmosphere. A
wind of 15 knots established northeast blew allowing skippers to take in
large majority a reef in the mainsail. The sea was relatively flat,
slightly hummocky. Almost perfect. But still some should have read the
instructions of race carefully.

Yes there were many people on the water. Small and large boats wanting
to be the closest to the sailors even if they had act in accordance with
with the instructions of the race committee. Certainly, too, there was
the capsizing of a catamaran of 6,50 m, rescued by other boats, which
added to the confusion. But still…

At the gun it was the rush of “sprinters” with a reef in the mainsail.
But in the first action in the wake of Pierre Brasseur (“Region Nord Pas
de Calais Ripolin”), some took a corner buoy of the starting area for
the turning mark buoy close located 1.6 miles from the starting line.

Around one third of the fleet, like a fleet of followers, went behind
the wake of Brasseur before he, and then the other, realize their
mistake. They lost in the mishap an hour. To Bahia road will be long.
Needless to write that there will be other and probably more complex
incidents, but it is unfortunate to provide oneself an easily avoidable
difficulty. Because of negligence?

The main fault of this belongs to? Pierre Brasseur? Not only, Thomas
Ruyant (Faber France), Rémi Auburn (AT Children’s Project “), Henri-Paul
Schipman (“Maison de l’Avenir Urbatys”) Bertrand DELESNE (” Entreprendre
Durablement”) all favourites of the race.

In this crowd, Juan Carlos Sanchis (Somni-Gaes) that had so many hopes
for his 3rd participation, returned to the port. Sébastien Rogues (“Eole
Génération-GDF-Suez”) collided with Jean-Christophe Lagrange (Zoukati).
He also made a half turn with a hole in the hull and a huge cockade on
the face. But the boy announced: “I’m leaving at 8 pm.”

And while the stunned were looking for their way, others rushed to the
“real” buoy in front of La Maison de la Charente-Maritime. Nicolas
Boidevezi (Défi GDE) was turning in the head. He preceded Fabien Despres
(Soitec), Laurent Bourgues (Prim Soins), Anna Corbella (Gaes 385 ‘) and
Stéphane Le Diraizon (Cultisol). For the series, Davy Beaudart (“Port à
Sec Guy Beaudart “) was the fastest.

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FAIRYTALE FINALE

Local hero and match race veteran Jes Gram-Hansen claims Danish Open

Trifork Racing (Left to Right) Jes Gram Hansen, Rasmus Kostner,Pier Luigi de Felice, Jann Neergaard, Martin Krite

Images: Per Heegaard
Aarhus, Denmark, 13 September 2009 – Having had one year out from match racing and the World Match Racing Tour, local hero Jes Gram-Hansen was not top of the list of favourites going into this week’s Danish Open, organised by the Royal Danish Yacht Club. However match racing for Gram Hansen seems to be like riding a bike, especially when it is in the DS37s he started racing intensively during his match race training as a youth back in the mid-1990s, and better still when he is racing these familiar boats in his home waters off Aarhus.

Racing with his long term sailing partner Rasmus Kostner, America’s Cup trimmer Pier Luigi de Felice who he competed alongside at Mascalzone Latino and ex-Ericsson round the world race crewmen ‘big’ Jann Neergaard and Martin Krite, Gram-Hansen had a battle royal with Australian veteran Peter Gilmour of YANMAR Racing in the semi-finals. He won this nail-biting series 3-1, to go up against Torvar Mirsky in the finals. Mirsky in turn had dispatched Mattias Rahm and his Stena Bulk Sailing Team 3-2 in the semis. After his heavyweight bout in the semis, Gram-Hansen seemed to make easy work of the finals to win against the young Australian, by an emphatic 3-0. “To come from the semis to the final beating Gillie was a good boost for our confidence,” Gram-Hansen confirmed.

While yesterday may have been the day of protests and considerable umpire activity, today was more about boat handling with the wind gods finally turning up the volume, the breeze having veered into the north and gusting into the low 20s. On the water this meant marginally less boat on boat contact but the additional challenge of boat handling as gusts repeatedly struck.

“It was one of the days when all the small details and all the small shifts were going our way. We were also sailing very well,” claimed a dripping Gram-Hansen having just clambered out of Marselisborg Havn, following his victor’s dunking. “In the two first races it was quite windy and the boys just worked fantastically in the boat.”

Since the end of the America’s Cup in 2007, Gram-Hansen has been hoping to find backing to compete in the World Match Racing Tour. This fairy tale result on home waters might change this. “I hope to be back for sure. That is what I love – match racing.”

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The final of the Audi MedCup Circuit beckons and two different strategies will be evident in both TP52 Series and GP42 Series.

On a race area which last year proved one of the most challenging of the season, Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) will seek to clinch the overall Audi MedCup Circuit by keeping their average scores consistently high.

After having won the last three regattas in succession, the dominant Kiwi team will put simple principles of prudency ahead of any thoughts of pushing for a fourth regatta win in order to be sure of emerging victorious next Saturday.

If the weather scenario on the race arena might not prove as regular or predictable as the top teams might have preferred for this season’s finale, thanks to the rugged mountains and deep, long valleys which disturb and channel the wind flow in different directions, to Emirates Team New Zealand’s advantage there is a three way scrap simmering for second to fourth places in the TP52 Series.

Racing starts for the TP52 Series on Tuesday, after tomorrow’s practice race.

The GP42 Series is poised on a knife edge with Spain’s Islas Canarias Puerto Calero and Italy’s Roma Mk 2 locked together on 82 points apiece while Spain’s Caser Endesa, winners last month in Portugal are 17 points adrift.

Emirates Team New Zealand will stick to the formula which has worked well for them this season. This week they will focus on managing the intensity of the racing with being able to switch off when there is time. Staying at a large premier resort nearby, they will, as usual, all eat together as a big group, with the usual relaxed, regular de-brief sessions.

Prime movers in the establishment of a new world series for America’s Cup class, Emirates Team New Zealand’s Ray Davies suggests that the new series would neatly complement the team’s participation on next season’s Audi MedCup Circuit:

“I think the future is very promising for this (Audi MedCup) Circuit. The prospect of being able to bring guests on board for racing, and having faster boats will be great. And the level is very high. Of course it was interesting before if you look back to when there was 26 boats, but the reality was there was only ever eight or ten who were serious, regular contenders. The level now is consistently higher through this fleet.” says Davies.

The Kiwis have 52 points in hand. In the podium struggle, the skipper-helm of second placed Matador (ARG) Guillermo Parada (ARG) says the best form of defence, when it comes to their five points margin over 2007 champions Artemis (SWE) and 2008 champions Quantum Racing (USA), is attack.
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Quotes:

Ray Davies (NZL), tactician Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
“Our job here it is first and foremost to finish it off, to close the deal. But this is a very difficult venue with the terrain which is around it, high mountains and that can make for very unstable breezes, especially when it is blowing off the shore.”

“ So for us it is going to be about real percentage sailing. That will not be easy because usually that would mean not getting into the corners of the course, but here it is often the case that is what you have to do. If you try to stick to the middle of the course then often you miss out on pressure (wind). Certainly this is a venue where there are no set rules. It is very shifty and you really need to keep in the race right until the end.” “ Bigger gains and losses can be made on the runs, so that means always looking beyond the top mark, looking to see where the extra pressure is coming from and protecting what lead you have. That may even mean coughing up some advantage to get back with the pack.”
“ And we have a tight battle behind us for. We will just let that brew us much as we can, but hopefully that will leave us a clear regatta.”
“ We intend to just try and sail clean, to play the percentages and preserve our high averages.”

Guillermo Parada (ARG) skipper-helm Matador (ARG):
“Our strategy here will be to attack. The best form of defence is to attack. During the season I think that we have been the team that risk more in races trying to beat Emirates Team New Zealand while the rest of the teams maybe sailed more conservatively. So we will be focussed on finishing as high as possible, if that means winning this regatta and taking second on the Circuit, then, great. There are few options to beat ETNZ, but we will do our job well and wait and see if they make mistakes, which they have not really yet. Our priority is second place over Artemis and Quantum Racing.”

Vasco Vascotto (ITA) helm on Artemis (SWE):
“Paul (Cayard) and I are like the cat and the fox (in Pinocchio). We are good friends and Paul is always fun to be with but also a very experienced and talented sailor. We have spent a lot of time together over breakfast and dinners and many days on the Wii and the Playstation and so we start from there. The team is very Anglo-Saxon but some of them speak Italian toom so Paul and I have to be careful what we are saying! Seriously, I am very proud to be asked by this team to take part in this adventure at this important part of the season when a result is so important to us.”

Laureano Wizner (ESP), skipper-helm Iberdrola (ESP):
“I feel strange being here only for the last regatta of the season. We are sailing with the boat in exactly the same set up as last year, except having two new sails. The most significant change will be us sailing with new trimmers (Nacho Braquehaes, main, and Tono Pires, jib).”

More than 100,000 people lined the banks of the Humber to watch the start of the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race today. As the cannon fired, the ten internationally sponsored yachts crossed the start line at 1400 BST (1300 GMT) to the roar of the crowds at the beginning of their 35,000-mile challenge.

Edinburgh Inspiring Capital led the charge across the line, followed by the Irish entry, Cork, and Spirit of Australia. The first race takes the fleet from the east coast of the UK to La Rochelle, France. The northerly breeze at the start and the weather conditions forecast for the next few days indicate that the 780-mile race will be a fast one.

By the time the fleet had rounded the second mark Cork had overtaken the Scottish boat, Team Finland had moved up from sixth crossing the start line to second heading out of the Humber and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital had dropped back to third.

Before the race start the world renowned RAF display team, the Red Arrows, drew gasps and applause with their display of precision flying, the Hawk jets flying just two metres apart during some of the formations. On the ground the Band of the Royal Marines played as the home team, Hull & Humber, left Hull Marina to join the rest of the fleet on the river.

The Clipper Race is the only race in the world where the crews come from all walks of life, all ages and with all levels of experience. Prior to their training, some 40 percent of the crews had never stepped aboard a sailing yacht before. Race start day was an emotional experience for the crew and their families and friends who had come to support them on their challenge of a lifetime.

Ahead lies a ten-month-long, 35,000 mile course that will take the race to France before crossing to Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Singapore, China, California, Panama, Jamaica, New York, Cape Breton Island, Cork and the Netherlands. The race will make its triumphant return to the Humber on July 17 2010.

The Clipper Race is the brainchild of legendary yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail non-stop single handed around the world. He wanted to open the sport of long distance sailing to all and allow others to experience the challenges of ocean racing.

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TEAMORIGIN Partner with the Carbon Trust to Create Environmental Sailing Platform.

Advertising Good – Sponsorship ‘inappropriate’ say the Carbon Trust.

It was only a matterof time before a savvy yacht racing team made the most of the glaring environmental advantage that sailing has over things like motorsport. Today the Sunday Times reports that UK America’s Cup Team – TeamOrigin, run by Sir Keith Mills is partnering with the Carbon Trust to appeal to corporate environmental credentials and raise £75 million in sponsorship for the team.

TeamOrigin and the Carbon Trust will  launch a new environmental campaign named The Race for Change – a platform to attract other corporate sponsors.

It’s not the first – or the last time – we will see the lines blurred between not-for-profit and sports sponsorship. The Honda F1 team in 2008 ran a car featuring a picture of the earth and attempted to mix green credentials with hard-core commerical racing. Football (Soccer) team Barcelona carried the UNICEF logos on their shirts and many other sports teams have adopted charities, but this is a little different. By involving the Carbon Trust in sailing, it gives a huge legitimacy to the environmental credentials of the sport. Teams other that TeamOrigin may benefit from awareness generated by the campaign.

Although the current America’s Cup does not involve TeamOrigin and the future of the Cup after February 2010 is unknown, the team can compete in other events while they wait. Specifically, TeamOrigin have an opportunity to compete in the newly announced Louis Vuitton ‘World’ Series which uses old America’s Cup boats, but is not the America’s Cup. Sir Keith, who is also Deputy Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee, perhaps controversially, says that the traditional sponsorship equation where brands use elite athletes to promote their product or service through association is not enough anymore.

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This post is tagged - Final Round ETNZ 52 points ahead, - Jes Gram-Hansen claims Danish Open, - San Francisco, anna tunnicliffe, audi med cup, Clipper Round the World yacht race, Jenna Hansen, mini 650, Miranda Powrie, Mirsky Racing, New Zealand Woman's Match Racing Olympic Squad, Raynor Smeal, Rolex Big Boat, Samantha Osborne, Stephanie Hazard, Susuannah Pyatt, Tammy Sawyer, TeamOrigin and the Carbon Trust, Transat, Trophée Clairefontaine 2009, World Match Racing Tour