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Icebergs

BT yacht – all but submerged but safe,

HUGO BOSS arrives safely into The Azores,

Nick Jaffe – Europe to Australia in a 26ft boat,

Video from British Couple on Yacht Captured by Pirates,

Abby Sunderland – update,

Where is Jessica Watson now?

Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron – Milson Silver Goblets,

Emirates Team New Zealand &  Azzurra – Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur,

ISAF – Extreme Sailing Series Asia,

BMWOracle Wingnuts,

SailingNews.tv – IDEC,

Sydney 18ft skiffs

Enjoy

Iceberg on its way to NZ shores

By Heather McCracken

Scientists on Macquarie Island watched this huge iceberg floating past. Photo / Tessa Bickford

A massive iceberg spotted southwest of New Zealand could be moving closer. The iceberg was seen by Australian scientists working on Macquarie Island, who estimated it to be 500m wide and 50m high. NIWA oceanographer Mike Williams said it was unusual to see icebergs in that part of the Southern Ocean.

“The only precedent for icebergs being seen that far north is the one that came through in November 2006,” he said. The 2006 iceberg, which broke off the Ronne Ice Shelf, came within 90km of the Otago coast. Sightseeing flights were arranged to view the iceberg.

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There is more than a 50% chance that a collection of icebergs will make it to New Zealand, according to the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). The group of icebergs was first spotted near Macquarie Island by Australian scientists two weeks ago, and has since been seen alongside the Auckland Islands. NIWA oceanographer Mike Williams says there’s a strong chance this cluster could reach Banks Peninsula, though it still needs to get the right winds. Three years ago after another iceberg drifted near Banks Peninsula, leading to a boom in tourist flights off the Otago coast.

Audio from Radio New Zealand

NZ National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research oceanographer Mike Williams said four icebergs up to 250m in length had been spotted by fishermen about 80km northwest of the Auckland Islands, 400 to 500km off the coast of New Zealand.

The mass of icebergs was first spotted about two weeks ago by Australian Antarctic Division researchers working on Macquarie Island. Satellite imagery showed the icebergs, were now tracking northeast towards the South Island at about 1 to 2km an hour, Mr Williams said.

Rodney Russ expedition leader on the polar tourist ship ‘Spirit of Enderby‘ and an expert on Sub Antarctic New Zealand said this is the first time in almost 40 years of visiting this area that he has seen icebergs so far north.

‘They currently appear to be moving north at about 1.25 kilometers per hour. It is possible that they might reach New Zealand intact – but they are showing signs of deteriorating and breaking up,’ he said.

‘We first sighted them 10 miles off the eastern entrance to Carnley Harbour in the Auckland Islands. Weather and sea conditions at the time prevented a closer inspection but as conditions improved today and we were able to locate them and sail close by’.

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New Zealand Sailing Charters to off shore islands and icebergs.

First battle won, just in time…

The BT yacht is now inside the harbour in Terceira (Azores), all but submerged but safe from the Atlantic ocean waves that have been battering her since Friday. The BT Team technical crew let out a sigh of relief upon entering the port of Praia da Vitoria this morning. After more than 60 hours without any proper sleep, Charles Darbyshire, Rhys Mellor and Pierre-Emmanuel Hérrise now have to wait for the 60-knot winds to drop before craning the monohull out of the water.

A first major phase of the salvage operation has ended this morning when the tugboat finally reached the safety of a harbour after a very slow journey of over 115 miles. Having decided to speed things up somewhat yesterday afternoon despite the increased risk of breakage, the team had no choice but to do whatever they could to escape the oncoming gale. Soon before 18:00 GMT yesterday, they were only 30 miles away from Terceira but knew they’d have to wait until daylight to actually enter the protection of the harbour.

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The race fleet is here

HUGO BOSS arrives safely into The Azores

But it was Friday that was to bring the biggest storm, winds of over 50 knots (that’s over 50 mph!) hit the fleet with vengeance. HUGO BOSS batten downed the hatches and held on, surviving several big knockdowns throughout the night. Talking from onboard during the storm skipper Alex Thomson said, “it’s horrific out there, just horrific, I have no other words to describe it. These are boat-breaking conditions. You can’t do anything on the boat right now. The boat is not liking these conditions, we need to head south as quickly as possible, the quicker we get south the quicker this wind is going to drop.” It was BT who suffered the worst damage, after reporting the coach roof was torn and the boat was two thirds full of water, and they set off their emergency EPIRB and were force to abandon ship and rescued by a helicopter.

HUGO BOSS came out the other side of the storm, relatively unscathed, damage to the port daggerboard meant a quick swap on deck, but the route ahead looked good and the trade winds were calling them. HUGO BOSS moved into fourth position and race south was truly on. Sunday 15th saw the tables turn for the British duo. At approximately 1820 GMT on Sunday (15/11/09) HUGO BOSS crew Alex Thomson and Ross Daniel, reported a collision with an unidentified object in the water. HUGO BOSS was lying in 4th place when the damage was sustained and it was reported that they were taking on water. A pump worked overnight and the crew confirmed that they were managing the ingress of water.

On inspection in daylight on Monday morning (16/11/09) skipper Alex confirmed the damage was located on the starboard bow and although fairly localised it was allowing a fair amount of water in the boat. The skippers discussed the damage with their shore team to finalise a temporary fix, which allowed them to make for The Azores. Although the damage was small it was not possible to stop the ingress until the area would be free of water, something not possible in the ocean. Regrettably at 1300 GMT on Monday Alex and Ross made the difficult decision to officially retire from the race.

HUGO BOSS has been making steady progress towards The Azores, and arrived safely this morning. The shore team will assess the damage and look to affect repairs before the boat is delivered back to Gosport.

Reporting from onboard HUGO BOSS after the retirement, skipper Alex Thomson said.

“We assessed the damage this morning, frustratingly it is clear that we will not be able to affect repairs whilst at sea. This is a massive blow for the team as we were racing really well. HUGO BOSS had survived the very worst of the storm force conditions that had battered the fleet over the last week. On Friday we were knocked down several times by enormous breaking waves and despite a broken daggerboard the boat took it in her stride with no problem. It amazes me how the team of engineers and boat builders can build something strong enough to handle such conditions but they did and we were fully confident in the boat. We were in a strong position on the race course and although we had lost some miles due to our daggerboard our northerly route had paid off as we remained in touch with the leaders. We still had half the race ahead of us but the hard part was well and truly done and we had trade wind sailing to look forward to. I am brutally disappointed that somebody’s discarded waste has stopped our race. If the hull had not been breeched or if we could stop the water ingress we could carry on no problem and I felt confident we would have done a good job for the rest of the race. As I said last night we feel like we have done the hard bit, so this is a tough blow for the whole team.”

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Nick Jaffe is a 28 year old Australian, sailing from Europe to Australia in a 26ft boat.

At just 26 feet, “Constellation” is a floating island, built like a tank and designed to be all alone on long stretches of deep blue water. She is a Contessa 26′ from 1972… Old, yet strong and reputable. Contessa’s have a long history of ocean sailing, with two popular circumnavigations by Tania Aebi and Brian Caldwell.

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November 19th, 2009

It was a long final passage from Tonga… I don’t really even know how long. I left sometime in October, and I arrived yesterday. I don’t count days anymore, and I think in this last passage I made my peace with many things. I spent several hours every single day just staring at the sea. I have a pose in the cockpit of Constellation… I don’t know what it’s called, I haven’t named it. But I stand bolt upright without holding onto anything, and surf the boat for hours at a time, just looking at the horizon and thinking. It’s clearly meditative, but not in an intentional sense. It’s simply a hypnotic trance one is drawn to without any real thought.

I’ve been scared of the sea for a very long time. I came close to drowning once; I was pulled out beyond the breakers by a rip. I gave up, and sank to the bottom, and my feet touched the sand. Instantly I regained my composure and came back up to keep fighting. I was rescued.

When I was nineteen, I went surfing with a good friend, and I turned the body of a drowned swimmer face up who was not so lucky in a rip of his own. I pulled him to shore, and nearly drowned myself out of exhaustion in doing so. He was heavy, I was tired, and his family screamed at me because I couldn’t hold the man’s head upright out of the water when his waterlogged body was dragged ashore; even though he had clearly been dead for upwards of twenty minutes.

Everyday for the last two and a half years I have been scared of the sea. Every night on passage, I would get into my bunk, turn the light off, and wonder if I was going to wake up. I would get up regularly to maintain a semblance of a watch; glance out of a port hole, see the familiar and wondrous scene of rushing water, stars, whitecaps and silvery reflections, and put my head back on the pillow, again wondering whether I was going to wake up. I wondered many times what it would feel like to be hit at sea. I’ve played the scenario over in my head a million times. Some nights I would sleep with my grab bag.

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British Couple on Yacht Captured by Pirates

In a video apparently shot on land in Somalia Wednesday, Paul Chandler, 59, said: “This is our 27th day in captivity. So far we have been provided with adequate food and water and facilities, and so we are unharmed and in reasonable physical health. Mentally we under great stress and threatened. Our kidnappers are losing patience. They are concerned that there has been no response at all to their demands for money. We ask the government and the people of Britain, and our families, to do whatever you can to at least open negotiations with these people about money, so perhaps our lives can be brought back. We have been threatened that there is a terrorist gang at large in the country looking for us. We are also concerned that these people will lose patience and will not feed us, and I have no doubt that they will not hesitate to kill us in a week or so from now if there is no response. So, please, somebody get in touch, otherwise we are just sleep-walking to a tragic ending.”

Rachel Chandler, 55, also spoke directly on the video, saying: “We are under threat and we are told that we will not be fed and given water so we are very concerned about the future. Our captors are very impatient, now that nobody has been in touch to enter into negotiations. So we ask the government, and the people of Britain, and our family, to do whatever they can to enter into negotiations with these people to buy back our lives. As Paul has said, we are told that there is a terrorist cell, or a fanatic cell, searching for us, and we are also feeling very much under threat now that these people themselves won’t hesitate to take our lives.”

The video of Rachel and Paul Chandler was reportedly shot by a local who sent it on to Channel 4 News. After obtaining the video, the organization said they “informed their relatives in the UK later that day that Mr and Mrs Chandler had spoken to camera. The relatives viewed the pictures today [Friday] and agreed they should be broadcast.”

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In an effort to squelch the pirates operating around the Seychelles, the U.S. military is now sending surveillance drones to patrol the area off Somalia’s coast, and around the island nation. U.S. military officials say unmanned drones, called Reapers, will now be stationed in the Seychelles, aimed at patrolling the Indian Ocean. Vice Adm. Robert Moeller, deputy commander for U.S. Africa Command in Germany, says pirates remain “a pretty significant challenge,” which is why they have increased their presence in the area recently. It may also explain why the government has chosen the Reaper to be their eye in the sky.  With millions of square miles of ocean to patrol, finding, tracking and attacking pirates and their vessels requires a lot of manpower, whereas the unmanned Reaper is capable of all three.

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Abby Sunderland

We had about 10 knots of wind and were making about 8 knots boat speed. We went just as far as we had the entire day before in only a few hours. The auto pilot had broken, but it was such a nice day out everyone was happy to hand steer. We pulled into Fort Lauderdale Thursday afternoon, still a little tired but pretty happy with how the whole trip had gone. We had been under a lot of pressure to get Wild Eyes to Fort Lauderdale in time to be loaded on the Marie Rickmers for shipment to Ensenada. If we had missed the ship, my trip would have to be postponed.

Zac left us that afternoon not too long after we got in. We all (my dad, Mike Smith and I) spent the night in a small hotel room that night, and I was luckily allowed to sleep on the boat for the rest of our stay there. We got a lot of much needed work done. We replaced the solar panels, fixed the strut, got every thing ready so that when she gets dropped off in Ensenada I can hop on and take her right up to Marina del Rey.

The whole trip was an experience, we had some great weather, we went through some hell, plenty of things broke down, and we had some fun; just what you want in a shake down trip. All in all it was a great trip. We put the boat through a lot, and all of us learned so much about handling her. I am more confident then ever that Wild Eyes and I are up to the challenge of sailing around the world.

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Yachtyakka Yacht Club member profile

Etchells line up for Milson silver Goblets

By Peter Campbell

The Sydney Etchells Fleet will enjoy twilight racing on Sydney Harbour this week with 17 boats contesting the Milson Silver Goblets,  with a race each evening from today until Friday, starting from 5.45pm.

The Silver Goblets has always been one of the closely contested regattas on the Etchells calendar and the strength of this week’s fleet indicates that this will continue. Returning to Etchells racing will be Neville Wittey in Yandoo XX while Pittwater sailor Julian Plante has brought North Star down to join the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron fleet.

Form boat of the locals racing in the Silver Goblets is Richard Hammond, back as a skipper in Alchemist, which he owns with Roger Gain.  Alchemist is current third overall in the Spring pointscore. Also competing is fourth-placed Two Speed, owned by Nigel Nattrass and John Dunn while David Sturrock is always hard to beat in Shindig.

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Emirates Team New Zealand to meet Azzurra for Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur

Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker wears his game face while trimmer Don Cowie cranes his neck to check the shape of the mainsail. © photo Credit Bob Grieser/outsideimages.co.nz | Louis Vuitton Trophy, Nice Côte d’Azur.

Petite Final wraps with Synergy overcoming TeamOrigin

One of sailing’s most revered brands will square off tomorrow against one of its most iconic brands when Emirates Team New Zealand races Azzurra in the Final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur.

The final was scheduled to commence this afternoon, but light winds again frustrated competitors and organizers in their attempt to race. Although the championship was put on hold around 1440 CET, three races were held earlier in the day to wrap up the Semi Final Round and the Petit Final.

Azzurra of Italy advanced to the championship by defeating TeamOrigin of the U.K. in their showdown match. After a close first beat, the Italians luffed the British at the top of the leg to gain an advantage at the first mark.

Yesterday the Italians suffered in the strong winds and big waves. But today skipper Francesco Bruni and crew revelled in the 8-knot winds and won by 29 seconds.

“I think that we, as Italians, are used to sailing in lighter wind. We all know that,” said Bruni. “I think that we were driving the boat fast today as trimmer and skipper. Also the acceleration on the start line and how the boat reacts in turns, we’re just more confident in those conditions.”

Emirates Team New Zealand then took to the racecourse and booked its place in the final by defeating the pesky Synergy Russia Sailing Team.

Team New Zealand and Synergy had sailed three ding-dong battles, highlighted by yesterday’s second race when each team was penalised 1 point by a combination of the on-water umpires and International Jury.

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Azzurra wind spotter Gabriele Bruni, brother of skipper Francesco, is silhouetted by the sun.
© Franck Socha | Louis Vuitton Trophy, Nice Côte d’Azur.

The Bruni Brothers

It’s not always smooth sailing being on the same boat as your brother, but overall Francesco and Gabriele Bruni are happy to be reunited on the Azzurra team.

Azzurra have sailed impressively at the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice, gelling as a unit very quickly. Perhaps it helps that two of the key players in the afterguard are brothers: Francesco Bruni, the skipper and helmsman, and Gabriele, the windspotter up the mast.

Ten years ago they were racing a 49er two-man skiff together and represented Italy in the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000. Then in the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series of Valencia 2007, they were racing against each other on two rival Italian teams, Francesco on Luna Rossa and Gabriele on +39 Challenge. Now they are reunited under the Azzurra banner.

Francesco is happy to be back on the same side as Gabriele. “I think that my brother has a very good feeling for the wind and doing his job very well here. After sailing on different teams it is good to back on the same side again.” Fraternal relationships do not always run smoothly, however, as Francesco admits. “I think that the relationship between brothers is always hard, you don’t have any filter.  So communication sometimes is not the best because we are too direct with each other.  When he does something good, I’m very warm with him.  When he does something bad sometimes I’m too hard on him.  But on average, if you count plus and minus, it’s a good plus to have someone very close to you – I mean family wise – on the boat with you.”

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It was a beautiful morning on the water for racing as Azzurra passes in front of the tall ship Senora Del Vento.
© photo Credit Bob Grieser/outsideimages.co.nz | Louis Vuitton Trophy, Nice Côte d’Azur.

Azzurra goes up 1-0 in a straightforward match

M1: Azzurra d. Emirates Team New Zealand – Delta: 25 seconds

Azzurra 1, Team New Zealand 0

The first match of the Final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Cote d’Azur was a straightforward match race. There wasn’t a lot of boat-on-boat action, but the Azzurra crew deserves credit for sailing a smart race. Skipper Francesco Bruni and crew gained the advantage on the first beat and then covered smartly around the course for the win.

With the course axis set at 340 degrees and the range at 1.2 nautical miles, the course was short and placed a premium on winning the pre-start. But with the wind strength around 7 knots, the pre-start was mostly sedate. Azzurra had the starboard-tack advantage, but the two crews seemed more intent on positioning off the line rather than trying to pin a penalty on their opponent.

Both boats started on starboard with Azzurra at the pin end and Team New Zealand three lengths to windward. Team New Zealand quickly tacked to port off the line. Azzurra tacked to port about a minute into the race and both boats enjoyed a slight left-hand shift. Azzurra enjoyed it more as the Italians won the first cross, on port tack, by a boatlength. Bruni and tactician Tommaso Chieffi crossed to the right and then employed covering tactics. Azzurra led by 14 seconds at the first windward mark.

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M2: Azzurra d. Emirates Team New Zealand – Delta: 17 seconds

Azzurra 2, Team New Zealand 0

Azzurra sailed another solid race, winning the first cross and covering around the racecourse to win the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Cote d’Azur 2-0 over Emirates Team New Zealand. Azzurra entered the pre-start of Race 2 on port tack. In the light, 8-knot winds the sailors consider that a death sentence because it’s hard to escape your opponents’ control. But Azzurra skipper Francesco Bruni was up to the task. With about 2 minutes to the start he’d gone far enough forward on Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker to tack to port and lead the match to the outside of the committee boat. At the start Azzurra tacked to port and headed to the right side of the course while New Zealand took starboard onto the course before tacking to port.

With both boats on port tack Azzurra seemed to foot out to leeward of Emirates Team New Zealand. Azzurra tacked to starboard on the right side and when the two yachts converged about 5 minutes after the start Azzurra crossed so easily that Team New Zealand ducked behind to get to the right and minimize its loss. At the top of the leg Azzurra tacked to port and crossed with a boatlength advantage to round the windward mark 18 seconds in the lead. The first run became skewed when the wind shifted left and both boats reached on starboard jibe. Azzurra led by 21 seconds at the leeward gate. Up the second beat the Italians protected the left side of the course and halfway up the leg got Team New Zealand pinned to leeward on starboard tack. The two yachts rode out to the port layline in that manner before tacking for the windward mark. Azzurra led by 18 seconds at the second windward mark.

Barker and Team New Zealand attacked on the run to the finish and after one cross halfway down the run appeared to gain the lead on the right side (looking upwind), but when Azzurra jibed back to port and converged with Team New Zealand, on starboard, the lead was back to 50 meters. Azzurra hung on for a 17-second win and won the series, 2-0.

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©Extreme Sailing Series Asia

BT Takes the Overall Lead in Hong Kong with a Hat-Trick on Day Two of the Extreme Sailing Series Asia

The leading competitors after two days of racing in Hong Kong, BT tops the leaderboard ahead of Oman Sail’s Masirah and Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team

BT controlled the fleet on day two of racing in Victoria Harbour at the inaugural Extreme Sailing Series Asia taking a hat-trick of wins to top the leaderboard two places ahead of European series champions Oman Sail’s Masirah.
Day two saw the six Extreme 40s challenged in a shifty 4-12 knot wind, as they raced just metres from the shoreline on both sides of the harbour.ISAF Special Event logo

It was BT who controlled the fleet, taking a hat-trick of wins to head up the top of the leaderboard with 50 points. Just two points off the pace was the European Series champions, Oman Sail’s Masirah, with 48 points. Newcomers to the Extreme 40 fleet, Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team, are lying in third with 33 points.

Tan Wearn Haw, who is racing onboard the home nation’s China Team, commented: “This is the first time the Extreme 40s have arrived in Hong Kong and I feel very excited about that. We are going to Singapore soon and I feel this is a very good opportunity to show this new type of sailing to a new generation in Asia.”

The inaugural Extreme Sailing Series Asia is in Hong Kong to demonstrate the potential of bringing a full scale series, with public shoreside activities, to the region in 2010/2011. It builds on the success of the past three years of the European Series which this summer saw over 200,000 people turning out to watch the Extreme 40s as they raced in venues including Venice, Paris, Amsterdam and the home of British yachting, Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

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It was at around 1300 hours UTC that Franck Cammas and his nine crew made landfall after two weeks at sea: Groupama 3 had to abandon her Jules Verne Trophy record attempt on the eleventh day after breaking the port beam bulkhead. As such it has taken five days for the giant trimaran to make South Africa where Groupama’s shore crew were waiting to install a `floating’ workshop, given that it won’t be necessary to lift the boat out onto the hard. The giant trimaran is tied up to the pontoon at the Shosholoza base, which is the South African entry in the America’s Cup.

After the gales which Groupama 3 had to avoid just after suffering damage, followed by the tradewinds fuelled by the Saint Helena High, which propelled her along towards Cape Town at over twenty knots, Franck Cammas and his men had to be towed in the last few miles as the engine had been left behind on leaving Brest on 5th November. The wind totally dropped away as they approached port before picking up just enough to enable Groupama 3 to finish the journey under sail, although she had to sit out in the harbour for a while due to the shipping. The crew were able to fill up on fresh produce the minute they arrived, prior to setting to work to get the trimaran back in shape in order to set sail for Brest during the first few days of December.

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Michael Coxon, Aaron Links and Trent Barnabas have taken a tight grip on the NSW 18ft Skiff Championship after only three of the five scheduled races when they scored their third successive win in Thurlow Fisher-City on Sydney Harbour today.The trio, however, didn’t have it all their own way as they had to recover from fourth place on the final lap of the course before going on to a 45s victory.

After leading for a majority of the race, Asko Appliances (Archie Massey, Dan Wilsdon and Cameron Mc Donald) had to be content with second placing, with a fast finishing appliancesonline.com.au, skippered by John Winning Jr., a further 1m6s back in third place. Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin) finished fourth followed By Gill (Dave Alexander) and Yandoo (John Winning). With just two more races left in the championship, Thurlow Fisher-City has a perfect score of 3 points to lead Gotta Love It 7 on 8 points, Asko Appliances 16, appliancesonline.com.au and Smeg (Nick Press) on 21 and Yandoo on 23.

Today’s race was sailed over a four-lap windward-return course in very fluctuating NW winds. Jacqui Bonnitcha, sailing as replacement skipper for Matthew Searle on Red Claw won the start near Clarke Island but Thurlow Fisher-City led narrowly from Gotta Love It 7 mid way up the windward leg with Kinder Caring Home Nursing (Brett Van Munster) in third place. At the windward mark in Athol Bay, Thurlow Fisher-City led Gotta Love It 7 by just three secs., followed by Kinder Caring, Asko Appliances, Thurlow Fisher-Bankstown (Bruce Savage), Gill, De’Longhi (Simon Nearn), Red Claw and Smeg, skippered by replacement Hugh Stodart.

Thurlow Fisher-City retained her lead back to the twin bottom marks. The only change in the leading group was Asko moving into third place ahead of Kinder Caring. The LHS of the course was favoured on the second windward leg and the Asko team took full advantage to grab a 25s lead from Gotta Love It 7 and Thurlow Fisher-City. Another big improver was James Francis’ Pure Blonde which wrked through the fleet to be in fourth place, just ahead of Gill and Kinder Caring.

Asko Appliances increased her lead over the next lap of the course and held a margin of 1m25s at the windward mark the third time. Gotta Love It 7 was still in second place but Pure Blonde had continued her charge to be third, just ahead of Thurlow Fisher-City. Smeg was fifth ahead of Gill with a gap then to Yandoo, which had recoverd extremely well from a disastrous first lap. The race was turned on its head near the bottom mark when there was a combination of wind shifts and a large ship leaving the harbour. Asko was on the wrong end of these changes near Clarke Island which allowed Gotta Love It 7, Smeg (which was now third), Thurlow Fisher-City and Pure Blonde to reduce the leading margin.

Coxon and his team were superb in the difficult conditions on the final windward leg and led narrowly from Asko Appliances and Gotta Love It 7 (only 3secs. separated the three teams) as they turned for home. A brilliant spinnaker set saw Thurlow Fisher-City quickly open up a race-winning break on the run to the finish. Race 4 will be sailed next Sunday with the last race of the championship scheduled for Sunday 6 December.

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This post is tagged 18ft skiff, Abby Sunderland, alex thomson, Auckland Islands, Azzurra, BMWOracle, Emirates Team New Zealand, Extreme Sailing Series Asia, Frank Cammas, Groupama3, hugo boss, Icsberg, IDEC, isaf, Jessica Watson, Jules Verne, Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d'Azur, Milson silver Goblets, Nick Jaffe, Paul Chandler, pirates, Rachel Chandler, Spirit of Enderby, TriLogics, Wingnuts, Yachtpals