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Louis Vuitton Trophy – First race

Just arrived

Abby Sunderland,

Groupama 3 – Jules Verne Trophy,

BMWOracle Racing in Nice,

The Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur

Where is she now?

Enjoy,

Round Robin 1 : TeamOrigin – Synergy, breaking news

POSTED: 0910 CET

Day 1 of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur has dawned bright and sunny with a 10-knot northerly wind blowing.

An 8-knot north/northwesterly was blowing on the Baie des Anges, or Bay of Angels, this morning close to shore, but farther offshore the wind was more from the southwest. The forecast has it increasing this afternoon to 16 knots from the southwest.

The first match this morning sees TeamOrigin and its golden skipper Ben Ainslie taking on Russia Synergy, a new team to AC class racing. Ainslie has won three gold medals in the Olympics and is a formidable foe for Russia Synergy, which is led by Poland’s Karol Jablonski as skipper. Jablonski is no slouch, however, having won the match racing world championship and three DN Ice Boat Gold Cup championships.

Synergy will race GBR-75 while TeamOrigin is aboard FRA-93 and enters the start box from the starboard end.

The scheduled 0900 warning signal was postponed for 10 minutes when the clew ring on TeamOrigin’s A2 headsail pulled off. The sail was replaced and a new warning signal was scheduled for 0910.

POSTED: 0940 CET

TeamOrigin led Synergy at the first windward mark by 46 seconds. Synergy started at the pin end of the start line, but had to perform an 270-degree penalty turn after entering the racecourse due to a red flag penalty in the pre-start. A red flag means the penalty must be completed at the soonest possible moment. Lacking a red flag, the penalty may be completed at any time prior to finishing.

POSTED: 1000 CET

TeamOrigin sailed as much as a knot faster on the first run of its match against Russia Synergy and has opened a comfortable advantage at the leeward gate. Russia Synergy trailed by 2:04 at the gate, a loss of more than 1 minute on the 2-mile run.

POSTED: 1018 CET

TeamOrigin kept its foot on the throat of Russia Synergy up the second beat and increased its lead to 4:06 at the second windward mark. The wind has faded to about 5 knots from the north/northwest. The two crews are on the run to the finish.

POSTED: 1033 CET

With the Bay of Angels virtually calm skipper Ben Ainslie led TeamOrigin across the finish line at 1026.32 to win Match 1 of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur. Russia Synergy finished 1:03 behind. Synergy made a big gain on the final run due to a windshift, but was too far behind to overcome the 4-minute deficit at the last windward mark.

The next scheduled match is Emirates Team New Zealand versus TFS — Pages Jaunes, but it is currently under postponement. The wind on the Bay of Angels has died away to almost nothing. The forecast calls for the wind to build up to 15 knots from the southwest this afternoon.

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more later, need to chop some more fire wood, boatsluts coming over for a rum

Simons new toy

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From Mom:

Many thanks to Trond Hjerto from the sailing vessel Maryam for the photos of the crew!

Last contact had them all in good spirits, warming up as the head further and further south. Winds had been light at times except for a day of stormy 20-25 knot winds a few days out. They should have a steady 20 knots to blow them into Fort Lauderdale in the next day or so.

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Already off Spain

Jules Verne Trophy 2009 – 2010

Groupama 3 had reached Cape Finisterre this Friday lunchtime. As such Franck Cammas and his nine crew were set to rack up over 500 miles in 24 hours midway through the afternoon, which remains a good average speed for this first day in predominantly beam winds and close-hauled conditions. The downwind conditions along the Portuguese coast should enable them to quickly make up their deficit in relation to the reference time.

Groupama 3 – © Yvan Zedda

In 2005, Bruno Peyron and his crew set out from Ushant on their successful Jules Verne Trophy campaign with some highly favourable conditions to escape the Bay of Biscay and benefit from the Portuguese tradewinds. In this way, the giant catamaran was able to cover nearly 600 miles on its first day. This won’t be the case for Groupama 3, but this was already part of the plan on leaving Brest. Indeed, by setting out in a strong NW’ly breeze and, most strikingly, pitted against big, highly chaotic seas with waves in excess of 6 metres, the giant trimaran didn’t have a hope of reaching an average of more than twenty knots.

“The wind frequently switched direction on this first night at sea, which meant that we weren’t constantly able to carry the optimum amount of sail area on Groupama 3. We thought we were free of this phenomenon this morning, but right now the wind still has a tendency to shift 40°… The true NW’ly wind should return soon at which point we’ll be able to pick up speed over the course of the afternoon. In any case, we couldn’t take any risks with the start and for the time being all’s well! We’ve just broken a helmsman’s helmet, but it’s already been repaired…” indicated Franck Cammas during the radio link-up this Friday lunchtime.

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BMW Oracle Racing move into top gear

The BMW Oracle Racing team is hard at work preparing for the Louis Vuitton Trophy taking place in Nice, Cote d’Azur from 7-22 November, where eight competing teams will match race equalised ACC boats in the regatta.

BMW Oracle Racing in training for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, Auckland, New Zealand.

Photo Credit Gilles Martin-Raget.

While the American challenger for the 33rd America’s Cup is in San Diego, preparing for the match in February, in Europe, the team is getting ready to take on the Louis Vuitton Trophy, the first in a number of regattas organised by Louis Vuitton and the new World Sailing Teams Association.

BMW Oracle Racing will be represented in Nice by an all star line-up, led by team skipper and CEO, Russell Coutts (NZL), who is hoping to sail with the team in the early stages of the regatta.

“I’m certainly looking forward to getting on board and doing some racing,” Coutts said. “The Louis Vuitton Trophy is a fantastic idea and it will be great for us to compete against some of the best sailing teams in the world.”

The team will get off to a fast start in the regatta, sailing immediately, having been matched against the new Italian team, Azzurra, in the first match of the first flight of racing in round robin one. The American squad is scheduled to face the winner of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, Emirates Team New Zealand in flight 12, in what should be a highlight match.

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Four matches slated to begin Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur

Strong winds are forecast for afternoon schedule.

The Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur, the inaugural event of the World Sailing Teams Association, is scheduled to begin tomorrow with four matches featuring all eight teams planned on the Baie de Anges, or Bay of Angels, off Nice.

Match 1 pits England’s TeamOrigin versus start-up Russia Synergy with the warning signal scheduled for 0900.

TeamOrigin features four-time Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie as skipper and helmsman and three-time medallist Iain Percy as tactician. The team is loaded with experience and placed fifth at the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series last February in New Zealand.

“We started well at that event but had our issues at the end,” said Ainslie. “The format here is different from in New Zealand since the home team doesn’t advance to the final, so every race counts. We’ll have to be wide awake tomorrow morning.”

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Where is she now?

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This post is tagged Abby Sunderland, BMWOracle, groupama 3, Jules Verne Trophy, Louis Vuitton Trophy, Racing in Nice