Greetings yachties,

Stuart Streuli – speaks to Ed Baird,

iShares,

Russell Coutts,

Alinghi – Letter to Justice Kornreich,

Sex, Lies and Letters. Like RAK Sand Through The Hourglass

Abby Sunderland,

Ainslie Gets The Gold,

Mount Gay Day,

BlackMatch in Bermuda,

ZZTop – live 1980

Anna Tunnicliffe – Wins US Rolex Womens Keelboat Champs,

Vestas Sailrocket – 2nd Flip,

TP52 Worlds

Sensei 30 – Day Sailer

Enjoy

Stuart Streuli, from Sailing World, speaks to Ed Baird, Alinghi sailing team member, about Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, the venue for the 33rd America’s Cup, the ongoing works in preparation for the next event, the weather conditions, the BMW Oracle lawsuits and Alinghi 5, the Defender’s giant catamaran.

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Coutts reiterates RAK concerns

by William Johnson, Chief Sports Writer

BMW Oracle Racing Syndicate skipper Russell Coutts does not want to sail in Ras Al Khaimah. Fernando Bustamante / AP

Russell Coutts, the non-sailing skipper of the BMW Oracle Racing Syndicate who are due to challenge Swiss holders Alinghi for the America’s Cup off the coast of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) in February, remains opposed to bringing his team to the UAE.

With the Alinghi camp now firmly ensconced in their Al Hamra base beginning preparations for the best-of-three-race series, Coutts made a fresh appeal yesterday to stage the 33rd running of sport’s oldest international competition in the Spanish port of Valencia where it was safely retained by Alinghi in 2007.

Coutts, whose team have a seventh legal action against Alinghi pending, said: “We asked the [New York] Court to restore Valencia as the venue for the 33rd Cup.

“This is something that Alinghi and we do agree on. Both sides told Justice [Herman] Cahn in April that we thought Valencia was the best option.”

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SNG lawyers send letter to Justice Kornreich with new data
GGYC provided misleading information to US Coast Guard and NY Court

Société Nautique de Genève’s legal counsel has brought recently discovered information concerning Golden Gate Yacht Club’s (GGYC) Certificate of Documentation (COD), previously known as the Custom House Registry, to Justice Kornreich’s attention. The America’s Cup Defender obtained the documents submitted to the US Coast Guard by GGYC to obtain the COD through the Freedom of Information Act and discovered that GGYC had asked for priority treatment as it wanted to ship its boat to the United Arab Emirates on 25 September. It has also been revealed that the Challenger withheld information at the 10 August hearing concerning their COD; the GGYC had obtained a tonnage certificate nearly two months prior to the hearing and didn’t disclose its existence to Justice Kornreich or the SNG in court.

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letter here

Au risque d’être réducteur, et un brin provocateur, on pourrait presque parler d’affrontement entre modernisme et conservatisme. Tant le conflit qui oppose Alinghi, le Defender de la Coupe de l’America, et Oracle, son Challenger of record, au-delà des questions de personnes et d’ego, émane d’une vraie divergence de vues sur l’impulsion à donner à cet événement vieux de 158 ans.

Conflit d’héritage, conflit d’interprétation autour d’un document laconique, le «Deed of Gift», fondation fragile d’une bataille navale qui, forcément, traverse les âges et les tempêtes avec heurts. Si les acteurs de ce lancinant feuilleton s’achoppent sur des détails, c’est bien l’avenir de l’aiguière d’argent qui devrait se jouer. Au large de Ras al-Khaimah ou ailleurs. En février 2010 ou plus tard.

«Quoi qu’il arrive, cette 33e édition marquera un tournant dans l’histoire de l’événement. A chaque fois que la Coupe vit une période difficile, qu’elle se fait secouer, il en ressort quelque chose de différent», souligne Brad Butterworth, skipper d’Alinghi.

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Sex, Lies and Letters. Like RAK Sand Through The Hourglass….

……The reason that was most widely reported was the proximity of RAK to Iran, and subsequent reports surfaced that RAK was allegedly providing a route for goods to bypass the US imposed sanctions on Iran. This is like saying that San Diego is an unsuitable venue because 5 miles away, people cross over the Mexican border illegally. It was a risky move on behalf of GGYC. Though the American club has stuck by its argument that the venue is not deed compliant, the focus on the security issue  accuses UAE member state of being ‘unsafe’ and risks diplomatic incident with further reaching effects than the billionaire boy spat.

The RAK Investment Authority issued a statement reiterating the safety of the venue, repeating the point that RAK is in fact less than 1 hour north of Dubai.

But anyway… Alinghi is in RAK and flexing their muscles with their new gym kit and the boat is there and the diggers and cranes continue to build a venue, which given the precedents set by the F1 track in Abu Dhabi and resort complexes in Dubai, could be a stunning complex within the short timeframe available. It’s still incredibly hard to get to for fans, but how many fans are left?

Yesterday came the reply letter from GGYC. Like all these letters, they are addressed to the recipient, but somewhere there must be a BCC for the media. As always in this case, the contents of the letter were printed verbatim on several websites. The tone of this letter is distinctly different from others – far less diplomacy and even a hint of frustration. If anything it seems more raw – without the PR filter – the kind of response you might send without counting to 10.

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On The Edge of Our Seats

Today has been very exciting, and a little nervewracking… Its the final day to decide whether or not we are buying a boat. We’ve all been on the edge of our seats as my dad goes back and forth with the owner and his broker.

Its going to be great if every thing works out and we are able to get the boat. My dad and I will fly back to the boat and start working on her until the ship leaves that will bring her to the west coast.

Its been anything but calm over here, as you can probably imagine. It’s quite hard waiting. If things don’t work out this year I’ll definitely be trying for it again next year. After all of this excitement, the thought of being stuck here doing school and living a completely normal life is not something I’m interested in doing right now.

We are still seeking sponsorship and thanks to Magnetic Entertainment and Matt Tolnick at Kaufman Sports it looks like we may be able to get something going really soon.

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AINSLIE GETS THE GOLD

Team Origin wins Argo Group Gold Cup 3-1 against Kiwi Adam Minoprio

Image: Charles Anderson

A victorious Ben Ainslie lifts the King Edward VII Gold Cup

Hamilton, Bermuda (October 11, 2009) – Ben Ainslie got the gold he’s been chasing all week. In the Argo Group Gold Cup final today, the three time Olympic gold medal winner (plus one silver), Ben Ainslie (GBR) took the finals 3-1.  He has finally etched his name on the coveted King Edward VII Gold Cup along with a host of match race sailing legends. Ainslie and Team Origin also take home the first place prize purse of $50,000. Ainslie sailed for Team Origin with his crew of Matt Cornwell, Iain Percy, and Christian Kamp.

“We had two good races at the beginning today,” Ainslie commented. “ There were big splits out there and the crew were helping and we got it right in those two races. In the third race we didn’t slow down enough to avoid a confrontation with Adam. We have found out some of our tactical weaknesses and the Team and I have some areas to work on.”

When asked how winning the King Edward VII Gold Cup compared to winning Olympic gold, Ainslie quipped, “Bermuda has a lot better atmosphere and I know more people here.”

When he was down 0-2 and carrying a penalty Adam Minoprio made it a match and pulled a classic match racing manoeuvre to gybe on the approach to the finish, get a luffing overlap on Ainslie and push him away from the pin end of the finish line. Minoprio was barely able to turn away from Ainslie and clear his stern and wipe out the penalty on his tack and make it back to the line first for the win. But Ainslie was on his game today and that one win wasn’t enough.

Adam Minoprio (NZL), ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing skipper, and his team of Tom Powrie, David Swete and Nick Blackman took second place. Minoprio is the top skipper in the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) rankings and was second in the World Match Racing Tour going into the Argo Group Gold Cup. He is back on top of the Tour rankings now and headed for the ISAF Match Racing World Championship at the Monsoon Cup with $20,000 in his pocket for coming second.

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A tough day for BlackMatch saw us once again relegated to second place in the Argo Group Gold Cup. Ben Ainslie and his Team Origin crew sailed a fantastic regatta only losing four races and beating us today 3-1.

After Ainslie dominated us in the first two matches, at match point we knew we had to keep things close in the pre-start and on the first beat to stand any chance of getting a race off them. With a starboard entry giving us a small advantage in the pre-start, we managed to force Team Origin past the pin end of the start line and gain a small lead at the start gun. However, a well timed luff by Ainslie saw us gain a penalty shortly after the gun but we managed to hold onto our slim lead until the final top mark. At this point we knew we had to either extend our lead enough to complete our penalty at the finish line, or slow down and wait for the Brits and hope they would give us an opportunity to either gain a penalty back on them or sail them past the pin end of the finish line where we could complete our penalty and still hold an advantage. We quickly decided our best option was to wait for them, so we collapsed our spinnaker and let them close the gap. After they were overlapped inside us both teams gybed for the pin end of the finish line but as we were leeward boat we had right of way and sailed them past the pin end, and into the spectator fleet. At this point it was crucial to ensure we were close enough to them so that they couldn’t gybe around our bow, but far enough back so that if they tacked back to the finish line, we could complete our tack without hitting their stern. Adam did a great job to judge this perfectly so that after both teams dropped their chutes and tacked backed towards the finish line our bow just cleared their stern and after returning to a downwind course and completing our penalty turn we sailed back to the finish to take a much needed victory.

Unfortunately the final race progressed as the first two had, with the Origin boys reading the shifty wind conditions perfectly and sailing a great race to take a much deserved victory. However looking forward, our second place sees us regain the number one spot on the World Match Racing Tour, and command a 12 point lead over our Australian rivals Mirsky Racing Team. So now we are looking forward to the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia in the first week of December, where we endeavour to take the World Title.

Tom Powrie

BLACKMATCH Racing

Lunch with the Rum God

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Greetings again from BlackMatch in Bermuda,

It felt like a case of déjà vu Korea Match Cup today as Mathieu Richard came storming back to win 2 races and level up our quarterfinal match up, however we kept cool heads this time having learnt the hard way and managed to take the deciding race and progress through to the semi finals. The semi final was not such a close affair and we convincingly won three matches on the trot against Switzerland’s Eric Monin to seal our place in the 2009 Argo Group Gold Cup Final.

In the other semi final it was the battle of the Brit’s, three times Olympic Gold Medallist Ben Ainslie pitted against double World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams. In the end it was Ben who came out the victor, continuing to show the awesome form he has had throughout the week in taking the semi final 3-1.

Being such a one sided semi final, the highlight of the day was definitely the quarter final fight back from Richard. Having been handed 3 match points yesterday, we struggled to put the Frenchman away and although we had a great opportunity to do so following an awesome start in the second match of the day, they rolled us on the first downwind and defended their lead well to set up a nerve racking final match. After holding a slight advantage off the start line a fierce tacking duel ensued up the first beat where the French team did very well to keep it close. Nearing the top mark we were to leeward of Mathieu on port tack and tacked onto starboard, they held their course at us on port tack as they believed that we would not complete our tack and by the time they took evasive action there was a collision. The umpires ruled in our favour and they were handed a penalty which saw the match swing dramatically in our favour. From then on in we defended our lead and sailed on to seal our semi final match up with surprise package Monin.

So after 5 days of racing, 24 teams have been narrowed down to just two and in a repeat of last year’s semi final here in Bermuda, we will be taking on Britains Ben Ainslie. Ben has been showing formidable form this week but despite this we are sure we have the goods to defeat him as we managed to do last year.

As far as overall World Match Racing Tour standings are concerned it couldn’t have played out much better for us. Peter Gilmour’s early exit coupled by Mirsky and Richard’s failure not only guarantees us the lead on the Tour, but it will also mean we should have a reasonable lead going into the final event in Malaysia. With William’s yet again missing out on the final here it could spell the end for the Double World Champion’s hopes of a third crown, however things are still wide open and we will be pushing hard to get those extra few points tomorrow.

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October 10, 2009
Rochester, NY

Today, we won the US Sailing Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championships, with a race to spare.  We finished the regatta with first places in the first two races of the day, for a total of 12 points overall, giving us enough of a lead to where we didn’t have to sail the last race.  In second place was Cory Sertl from Rochester NY, with 22 points.  Winning a three-way tie for third, was Carol Cronin from Jamestown, RI with 25 points.

Jaimie Carlson of Rolex USA, Anna, Debbie, Molly, Liz

at the Gala Awards Reception at Rochester YC
Photo: Dan Nerney/Rolex
It was windy and rainy when we woke up this morning for the final day of racing.  The rain stopped, however, in time for us to venture out to the racecourse.  The wind was still up as we got out there, and since we had had wind all night, it was very wavy.  We did our warm up as usual, and then on our downwind run, I saw something in the water.  I was just about to say, ”We’ll round this lobster pot as a leeward mark”, and then I saw the arm waving.  We quickly dropped the spinnaker, and picked up the woman who had fallen in the water.  It was a bit scary because no-one was around her.  She had fallen off her boat during a gybe, so her team was still getting their spinnaker down and working their way upwind.  We gave her some of our spare clothes, as we had learned our lesson earlier in the week.  She was very cold, but seemed to be OK.  After dropping her off with her boat again, we continued our preparation for the races.

On The Way To Another Win
Photo: Dan Nerney/Rolex, Oct 2009

The first race, we had a fabulous start, but sailed ourselves back in the fleet a bit towards the top, as we got stuck between two winds in the middle.  But on the downwind, my team did a fabulous job of keeping us going fast and we surged from 6th place to second by the end of the leg.  Upwind, we passed the leader and then extended on the downwind leg to take the win.

The second race, again we had a great start, but came out only OK at the top mark.  We rounded the mark in 5th, but again surged into the lead on the downwind leg, holding onto the lead to win the race and the regatta.

My team did a great job in putting us in the right position, and staying alert no matter what our situation.  I’m excited to sail with them again in two weeks in St. Petersburg, FL, for the Osprey Cup, a Grade 1 Women’s Match Race event.

We are all very excited with how we finished overall.  We have been saying over the past couple of times we have competed in this event, that we wanted to win it soon.  And now we have.  It was great, and we are all happy.  You can check the results here at the regatta website.

I would like to thank all of our sponsors for this event, particularly Carmeuse for their continued support of my campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London, Gill and North Sails for their support of our regatta, especially Greg Fisher for his set-up advice between races.  Thanks too, to Sperry and Ultimate Marine Group for their support.  Lastly, thanks to Sandy and Kirk Simpson for housing us this week.

Sail Hard,

Anna

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Artemis finishes on the podium in third.

It was a complicated 24 hours. After no race yesterday, we came ashore to find out that Matador had been reinstated in a race that took place last Wednesday! That made for a change in their score of 7 points. Needless to say, this was not the most popular decision amongst all the other teams.

So, we went into today in fourth place, 7 points behind Bribon.

Two races were held today in 8-10 knots. We had a bad start in the first one, but came back nicely by playing the right on the windward leg. Quantum won the race followed by Synergy, Matador, Bribon and us. However, Bribon fouled us in a port-starboard situation just prior to the finish and we protested them. As they did not do a penalty turn, we were forced to go to the jury room at the end of the day to seek our justice. Something no one really wants to do.

In the second race, Matador had a great first windward leg and controlled the race easily. Valars had an excellent race and finished second. We were ahead of Synergy at the last windward mark and just really focused on staying ahead of them as this would give us our third place overall.

So, we did have to go to the jury and I represented Artemis and my long time friend Ross MacDonald represented Bribon. It was not fun for either of us. But in the room, we all agreed on the facts. The jury did so as well, as they had witnessed the incident.

After the decision, Ross and I shook hands in the room. Later, I told the Artemis team about Ross and his integrity and I said that this was a great testament to what sportsmanship and integrity is all about. Two Star World Champions and their friendship will never fall prey to a protest.

So that is the end of the season for the TP52. Pretty respectable for Artemis, 3rd in the Audi MedCup and 3rd in the World Championship.

I am flying to San Francisco tomorrow then to St. Louis on Tuesday to race in the Rolex US Sailing Champion of Champions Regatta on Lake Carlyle. The regatta will feature US National Champions and World Champions of many one design classes and we will all race on Lightenings. I have never stepped foot on a Lightening, but I am really looking forward to the event and meeting the collection of champions!

This post is tagged Abby Sunderland, Ainslie, alinghi, anna tunnicliffe, Bermuda, blackmatch, ed baird, russell coutts, Sensei 30, Stuart Streuli, TP52 Worlds, US Rolex Womens Keelboat Champs, Vestas Sailrocket