Yachting News 6th October 2009

Oct 6th 2009
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Greetings yachties,

Les voiles de Saint-Tropez – The Book,

TP52 Worlds,

Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship

Alinghi- update,

World Yacht Racing Forum,

Bavaria Yachtbau – Restructure,

Open Passage Expedition – update,

Freak wave sinks boats in Maryport Marina,

Clipper – Update

Oman Sail

Enjoy

The world’s most exclusive reunion of restored wooden sailing yachts and the latest sophisticated maxi yachts happened again last week in Saint Tropez.

The book about it: CLASSIC and MODERN YACHTS in SAINT-TROPEZ is produced and ready by mid-November.
You can get a first glimpse of it on www.regattabook.com

Yachting photographers, Juerg Kaufmann and Daniel Forster, and sailing writer, Lynn Fitzpatrick, have teamed up to produce a coffee table book of “Les voiles de Saint-Tropez”. The book shows highlights of the yachts, people and atmosphere the event.

The 10th anniversary of the event was exceptional. This year, Les Voiles celebrated the 100th year anniversary of Tuiga and her sistership, Mariska. Many of the world’s most beautiful traditional yachts such as Elenora, Elena, Cambria, Shamrock and Moonbeam plied the same waters as the stylish Wallys.

The regattabook captures the essence of the event – the excitement, the venue, the yachts, the organizers, the partners, the characters and personalities that sail these yachts. The regattabook will enable you to live vicariously and remember a decade of regattas marking the close of the summer sailing season in the Mediterranean.

For an early November delivery, reserve your copy now at a promotional discount price of 59 Euro, instead of 69 Euro, at regattabook.com

more images here

NZ Sail Finance provide marine finance solutions tailored to suit your budget.

These products include:

new sails, furling solutions, deck hardware, interior and exterior upholstery, performance modifications, exterior refurbishment, rigging and the entire boat purchse.

nzsailfinance will organise the cash to do your own deal, with your supplier of choice.

TP52 World Championship

6 – 11 October 2009.

RCNP, Palma, Mallorca.

NOR on Members page, TP52 Class page (More info) or email Class Manager.

Entries sofar:

Artemis
Audi Q8
Bribon
Cristabella
Henri Lloyd – Weapon of Choice
Matador
Paprec
Quantum
Synergy
Valars

more here

Ten boats were on the waters off Palma today warming up for the 2009 TP52 World Championships. Racing starts Wednesday and the title is up for grabs.

After the 2009 Audi MedCup season the slate is cleaned and the imminent 2009 TP52 World Championships, which start with tomorrow’s Practice Race, represent a whole new opportunity requiring a completely different strategy.

The absence in Palma of Emirates Team New Zealand, recently crowned Audi MedCup Champions, leaves the field open with any one of three or four boats having shown over this season that they have the boatspeed and the skills to win the title which will be settled over the next few days on the Bay of Palma.

For certain most of the teams are familiar with the host club, the Real Club Nautico de Palma and the venue, not least the three teams for whom the Bay of Palma represents their home waters, José Cusi’s iconic Bribón (ESP), Alberto Roemmers’ Matador (ARG) and John Cook’s Cristabella (GBR). Indeed, this year as well as in 2007 Matador has won the TP52 fleet at the prestigious Copa del Rey raced on these same waters.

But conditions are likely to be very different to summer, as the Russian team Synergy’s navigator Francesco Mongelli (ITA) explains:

“In October the sea is quite hot compared to the land and so, if anything, it is more often you get the breeze at night. And there is high pressure dominating just now as so I think we are looking at light winds, maybe one day of 10-12 knots.” Says Mongelli.

more here

US SAILING’S 2009 Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship

International Fleet Heads to Rochester for 13th Biennial Regatta

Rochester, N.Y., USA (October 5, 2009) – With less than two days until the start of US SAILING’s Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship, 35 teams representing five countries (Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands, South Africa, United States) and 15 U.S. states have gathered at host Rochester Yacht Club (RYC). Off the mouth of the Genesee River on Lake Ontario, four days of racing will take place, Oct. 7-10, under the leadership of Principal Race Officer Hank Stuart and the RYC Race Committee. The biennial regatta, celebrating its 13th anniversary of offering women of all abilities the opportunity for top-level competition, features evening social activities and culminates with the traditional Rolex gala and awards presentation where the Bengt Julin Trophy and a Rolex timepiece will be awarded to the winning boat’s skipper.

The second place team at the 2007 Rolex IWKC was lead by RYC’s team skippered by Cory Sertl, who has competed in the regatta 10 times, winning twice – as crew for Betsy Alison in the inaugural event in Newport in 1985 and as skipper in 2001 in Annapolis, Md. A 1988 Olympian and two-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, Sertl kept her 2007 team together and set her sights on this year’s title. Together with crew Amy Moran, Annemarie Cook and Jane Mastrandrea, they will be focused not only on doing well in the regatta but also on one other team in particular, the team that two of their daughters are part of. Moran’s daughter Merritt, a RYC sail instructor and high school sailor will helm an entry including two high school sailors, Sertl’s daughter Katja, and Julie Wiesner, with top-level bow person Martha Parker and 10-year-old Bridget Lawless, the youngest skipper in the history of the event, rounding out the five-person team.

“Before the Road to Rolex Clinic, I did not think I could sail keelboats,” said 17-year-old Merritt Moran (Pittsford, N.Y.). “I didn’t think I was old enough, or experienced enough, but after a couple regattas I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with the boat. I learned that no door is closed in the sport of sailing.” Their official team motto is ‘Have fun! Smile-itude!’

On the flip side, is the oldest crew person to compete, Teresa Smith (Rochester), who is 80-years-old and crewing for 57-year-old Janice Ziobrowski.

Another regatta favorite is Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), who placed third in the 2007 regatta. An Olympic Gold Medalist (Laser Radial) at the 2008 Games in China, Tunnicliffe returns with crew Liz Bower, RYC’s junior sailing director, Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer (Annapolis, Md.) and U.S. Olympian Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), who is the three-time champion crew with skipper Sally Barkow. Barkow is not competing this year due to scheduling conflicts. Tunnicliffe, who was recently short-listed for the ISAF Rolex Sailor of the Year, is the 2008 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. Tunnicliffe, Vandemoer and Capozzi are all members of the US SAILING Team AlphaGraphics, although not together. “We know RYC will put on a great event, both on and off the water,” said Tunnicliffe, who spent the weekend coaching 25 young women in the Next Step to Rolex Program. “We are very much looking forward to the event.”

more here

Grant Simmer, design team coordinator, comments: “The boat came down from Saqr Port and we lifted it out of the water, washed it down and put it in the boat shed. It’s the first time that Alinghi has been to the Al Hamra harbour so it’s quite a moment! It’s very exciting for us because we’ve done a lot of work to get things ready here and to have the yacht in the base is great. We have some work to do on the boat which we’ve been planning since we were in Genoa, so the boys will start now and we should be sailing mid-month. The weather has been great. One of the reasons why we came here is because of the weather. It’s beautiful: steady light to moderate winds and good weather, so we are looking forward to sailing here.”

The Al Hamra golf course is very close to the AC island
(Photo credit: Photo: Carlo Borlenghi/Alinghi)

more here

by Geoff Pound

Reprogramming the American Mind

BMW Oracle is asking the New York Court to reject the UAE venue for the America’s Cup in favour of Valencia saying the team has ‘grave safety concerns’ for its US-based crew.

The thought of sailing their American trimaran named ‘USA’ with an American flag on top of the 200-foot mast within 17 miles of Iran is anathema to the American mind.

Yet, as Alinghi has countered, international sports players like Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are regular visitors to the Emirates and BMW Oracle spokesman, Russell Coutts has sailed annually in off the UAE coast for the last few years.

If BMW Oracle is reflecting the ‘warning lights’ that are blinking in the minds of most Americans, this is all the more reason for the race to be staged in these waters. To engage in a peaceful competition off the shore of an Islamic country and in waters near Iran may do wonders for reprogramming the American mind.

In the meantime, the local representatives of Ras al Khaimah are putting their publicity machine into overdrive.

more here

IN THIS ISSUE

* Tom Whidden: “We probably need two governing bodies”

President and CEO of North Sails, Tom Whidden will be one of two Keynote Speakers alongside double Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux at the next World Yacht Racing Forum.

* Multihulls in the Olympic Games: what they think about it

Cam Lewis and Gilles Chiorri will both be speakers at the next World Yacht Racing Forum. They tell us what they think about the elimination of Tornados from the next Olympic Games. Lewis and Chiorri are experts in this field. Gilles is the iShares Cup event manager whilst Cam is arguably the American sailor with most miles under his belt on multihull.

* All you’ve ever wanted to know about Scuttlebutt

Everyone serious about yacht racing knows Scuttlebutt; arguably one of the best daily sources of sailing information.. Who is behind Scuttlebutt? What is their business model? How did they “fall into sailing”? The World Yacht Racing Forum speaks to David McCreary, the Editor of Scuttlebutt Europe

* World Match Racing Tour under new management

The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is under new management. Regal Faith Ltd, and its consortium of investors based in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia, has purchased the equity of F10 Holdings Ltd, the exclusive rights holder of the WMRT. Match racing veteran Peter Gilmour has been appointed Acting President and will become the Tour Advisor once a full time replacement has been found.

more here

Lenders agree on Bavaria restructuring

By IBI Magazine

German boatbuilder Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH has announced that lenders Anchorage Advisors LLC and Oaktree Capital Management have signed a binding agreement to restructure the company’s balance sheet.

The restructuring will involve a capital injection of €55m in cash and the write-down of over 90 per cent of the senior and junior debt tranches.

Anchorage and Oaktree collectively control approximately 95 per cent of Bavaria’s €960m debt facilities.

The statement issued by Bavaria reads as follows:

“Anchorage and Oaktree have been working collaboratively with [private equity firm] Bain Capital and look forward to Bain’s continued involvement upon consummation of the agreement, which is subject to regulatory and anti-trust clearance.

“Both Anchorage and Oaktree have been lenders to Bavaria for over a year and support the strategic plan developed by the management team and Bain. Upon completion of the transaction, Bavaria’s new financial strength will enable the company to accelerate new product launches, and expand and strengthen its channels of distribution while continuing to support its existing customers and distributors.

more here

Inside out

The front yard of the average Inuit home will contain several snowmobiles, some of them working, some of them being repaired, some in a state of despair. There will also be a few quad bikes, and, if the resident works for the government or one of the town’s big companies, they will have a late model truck or SUV parked in the driveway. Mounted on a wooden stand next to their modest bungalow will be a steel tank containing diesel that slowly drips into their furnace and keeps them warm. Spread around the rest of the yard will be an array of broken toys, wooden sleds, chained dogs and the other detritus of modern northern life.

This is the home of someone who lives on the land, who relies heavily on the environment for their livelihood, culture and wellbeing. Yet they too, as do I and all my southern neighbours, abuse fossil fuels and litter their environment until it becomes uninhabitable. A summer of sailing through the US and Canadian Arctic has made me respect the Inuit and their generous, friendly communities, their easy-come-easy-go attitudes and their toughness. And it has changed my view of the Inuit and how they fit into the climate change equation. My view of them has changed from innocent victims of southern development who are waiting for the south to help them to being our partners in creating this whole mess, and hopefully our partners in solving it.

This realisation came to me at a house party in Tuktoyaktuk when a young man who loved hunting and life on the land said without reservation that Arctic oil and gas exploration was a great thing for him and his people. It meant jobs, more money and training opportunities. And in the south we’re wringing our hands over how oil exploration will ruin their pristine and romantic lives on the land.

more here

Boats strewn everywhere at Maryport Marina

Freak wave sinks boats in Maryport Marina

FREAK ACCIDENT: Recently refurbished lock gates are said to have failed and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to boats in Maryport Marina in Cumbria.

A catamaran was left on its beam ends, while other boats were sunk and pontoons washed out of position as the 6ft wave picked craft up and smashed them against other boats, causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage.

more here

Picking up speed but the Doldrums loom ahead – 05 October 2009
Jamaica Lightning Bolt’s Christine Hunt making the most of the stronger windTrimming to win on Team Finland

With the fleet now clear of the Canary Islands, all of the teams are enjoying nice north easterly winds, allowing them to make good progress towards Rio.

Having been stuck in a wind hole for what seems like days, California’s skipper Pete Rollason is pleased to get moving once more. “At last the wind has started to fill in and we are making reasonable progress towards the scoring gate to collect the last bonus point and start the totally focused charge towards Rio,” says Pete. “Hopefully sailing in a different weather pattern to our competitors will allow us to make some good gains over the coming days. We’re totally motivated and ready to chase hard.”

His thoughts are echoed by Uniquely Singapore’s skipper, Jim Dobie, whose team has also had a run of bad luck through the Canaries. “It’s nice to hear the guys once again calling out speeds of 9 and 10 knots,”
he says. “It has felt like a long time since we could get Uniquely Singapore moving at any reasonable speed.

“Once again we are heading out west, keeping a very good eye on the leaders as they approach the Doldrums and trying to pore over the detail of all the weather info we have to pick our route. If we do this right…the race is far from over,” Jim says.

The consistent downwind conditions are enabling the non-professional crews taking part in Clipper 09-10 to perfect their helming and sail trimming skills. At the front of the fleet and reflecting on his crew’s performance, Team Finland’s skipper, Eero Lehtinen says, “The number of gybes we have performed so far must be getting close to a hundred and spinnaker drops – even unplanned ones – have also been numerous.

more here

Jewel of Muscat Nears Completion in Oman

The Sultanate of Oman, at the Eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is going through a renaissance of it’s maritime heritage. Taking it one step closer to their goal is the Jewel of Muscat project which is nearing completion. The importance of the relationship between modern Oman and its famed ancient seafaring traditions is of paramount importance as this oil rich Sultanate looks to diversifying it’s global perception as it becomes a modern country.
The Jewel of Muscat project is a joint initiative between Oman and Singapore involving the reconstruction of a 9th-century sewn-plank ship on the beach of Qantab village, just outside Muscat, Oman’s capital city. Once the 30-foot (18m) long hand-built hull is launched into the Gulf of Oman, she will set sail on an epic voyage that will finish in Singapore, one of Oman’s oldest trading p artners.
Displaying the characteristics of vessels built in the western Indian Ocean at that time, the Jewel of Muscat’s reconstruction represents a major feat of maritime engineering. Even today, the 1,200-year-old method of sewing the hull planks together with handmade coconut-fibre rope makes the vessel extremely resilient, and during the whole process – from shaping the first planks to hoisting the palm-leaf sails that were woven in Zanzibar – not one nail nor screw was used.

more here