Yachting News 13th January 2010
Greetings yachties,
In this issue:
Find more photos like this on Yachtyakka
Irish hits rock in Clipper 09-10 Race
Alinghi’s Sails are made in the USA
Holding Tanks
Des Top News
Dubarry Renew – Dee Caffari.
Puma Leg 4 part 2
Abby Sunderland – test sail
Alinghi – Weather
Cape Horn
Jessica Watson – Where is she now?
Groupama3 – update
BMWOracle
Bob Munden – Fastest gun ever
Blocksail TV
Sea Shepherd Attack
My Planet
Enjoy
Irish entry Cork hits rock in Clipper 09-10 Race
Falmouth Coastguard raised the alarm with international rescue services after being alerted to a sinking racing yacht in the Java Sea, 200 miles northeast of Jakarta, with 16 people on board including five Britons.
Cork, skippered by Richie Fearon, as they leave Geraldton, Western Australia for Singapore at the start of Race 5 in the Clipper 09/10 Round the World Yacht Race. Credit Clipper Ventures PLC
Cork, skippered by Richie Fearon, as they left Geraldton, Western Australia for Singapore at the start of Race 5 in the Clipper 09/10 Round the World Yacht Race.
At 2000 on Wednesday, 13 January, Falmouth Coastguard was contacted by the yacht Team Finland reporting that the Clipper yacht Cork had gone aground and struck rocks near the small Indonesian island Gosong Mampango with the 16 crew taking to life rafts.
Initial reports from Cork’s skipper Richie Fearon stated that the boat was lying on her side on the rock with the toe rail under water and that some hull damage has occurred.
Team Finland was in VHF radio contact with the stricken vessel. As winds were increasing, the crew abandoned Cork to a rocky outcrop. From there, they used the life rafts to transfer to two of their sister vessels in the race; California and Team Finland, which have taken eight crew each safely onboard.
Spotlight falls on Alinghi’s sails
Talks in Singapore to settle remaining issues between GGYC and SNG ahead of the 33rd America’s Cup have broken down with no mutual agreement reached.
On Wednesday, 13 January, Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW Oracle Racing, made the following statement on behalf of Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) regarding the Singapore talks with Société Nautique de Genève (SNG):
“This is very disappointing and frustrating,” commented Russell Coutts.
“On three separate occasions during the two days talks there was a final draft of an agreement. GGYC was ready to sign. SNG’s negotiators were prepared to sign, but it seems they were not given permission.”
GGYC would like to thank the negotiating teams, Tom Ehman and Richard Slater for GGYC and Brad Butterworth and Hamish Ross for SNG, for their tireless efforts to reach a solution.
GGYC is also grateful to International Sailing Federation’s representative David Kellett and the chairman of the International Jury for the 33rd Match for their helpful involvement in the search for a settlement.
Also on 13 January, GGYC issued their third statement on ‘Constructed in Country’.
Can the Swiss defender race with sails made in the USA? This is the question Golden Gate Yacht Club put to the New York Supreme Court today (Wednesday, 13 January).
GGYC has asked the Court to resolve this following the breakdown of two days of talks in Singapore with the America’s Cup defender Société Nautique de Genève at which mutual agreement was being finalized when negotiations ended.
The Singapore meeting followed one last week in Valencia where a previous good-faith effort was also made to settle the matter.
“Naturally we are disappointed to see the chance of agreement taken away,” commented Coutts.
Also at the talks were David Kellett, from the International Sailing Federation’s Executive Committee, and David Tillett, chairman of the International Jury for 33rd Match.
Constructed-in-Country is not a hypothetical question, but a fundamental one. The Deed of Gift is clear. Without mutual consent and in the absence of other rules, Alinghi, cannot construct sails in the USA and claim they are Swiss-made.
BMW Oracle seeks to disqualify Alinghi and to win the America’s Cup in court
by Daphne Morgan Barnicoat
While Brad Butterworth, Alinghi skipper and Société Nautique de Genève representative, was in Singapore engaged in good faith discussions to resolve remaining issues ahead of the 8 February America’s Cup Deed of Gift Match in the presence of David Tillett, the chairman of the ISAF America’s Cup Jury, and David Kellett, the ISAF representative, BMW Oracle unilaterally aborted talks by filing their ninth lawsuit against the Société Nautique de Genève at the New York Supreme Court seeking to disqualify the Defender from the upcoming Match.
“BMW Oracle has already successfully disqualified 18 teams through the US courts to gain access to the Match, now they are seeking to win the Cup without ever racing for it,” said Brad Butterworth. “This latest lawsuit has come as a shock given we were planning a further meeting to finalise discussions today, it demonstrates extreme bad faith. Clearly they are not ready to race. They have completely disregarded the jurisdiction of the ISAF America’s Cup Jury, which they sought so hard to have instated, and have instead reverted to the New York courts where they clearly feel they have a greater chance of success,” he added.
Statement re. Singapore Talks, from Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing
by Jane Eagleson
Talks in Singapore to settle major issues ahead of the 33rd America’s Cup have broken up. No mutual agreement was reached.
“This is very disappointing and frustrating,” commented Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing.
“On three separate occasions during the two days talks there was a final draft of an agreement. GGAC was ready to sign. SNG’s negotiators were prepared to sign, but it seems they were not given permission.”
Alinghi’s 1,000m2 temporary sail repair tent in the outer Dársena of Valencia was blown over and destroyed in winds gusting up to 60 knots this morning. Thankfully no one was inside at the time and there were no injuries in the accident, but with gale force winds averaging 40knots anticipated throughout the day the team is taking safety precautions to batten down the other temporary facilities at the Alinghi base in the Dársena (just inland a gust of 80knots was measured!).
“The weather pattern here in Valencia at this time of the year is so far removed from the ideal conditions that we were experiencing in Ras Al Khaimah for these types of boats. Let’s hope the weather settles down for the racing!” said Ian Pattison who manages the sails.
“Just moments before the tent lifted off in what appeared to be a 60 knot gust we were working in the sail tent checking sails in preparation for sailing tomorrow. I decided that in the interest of our own safety we should vacate the area. It was just moments later that the tent took off. We were extremely fortunate that there was no one inside the tent at this time as someone would almost certainly have been seriously injured or even killed,” he added.
Dubarry Renew Their Backing of Dee Caffari.
Lots of announcements to coincide with the start of the Prebon Tullett London Boat Show last week and again it is the clothing and footwear segment of the market that is seizing the opportunity to make an association between elite sporting performance and everyday use. Dubarry of Ireland have announced their continued association with record breaking yachtswoman, Dee Caffari.
Dubarry supported Caffari throughout her last campaign which culminated in the solo sailor claiming sixth place in the Vendee Globe solo, non stop, round the world race in February of last year. Dubarry will begin their association as the Official Supplier of Clothing and Footwear to the Dee Caffari Racing team in January 2010 as Caffari continues to search for a new title sponsor to support her next Vendée Globe campaign. Dubarry of Ireland will continue to back Caffari and her team up to and including her entry into the 2012/13 Vendée Globe race, where this time she will be looking to improve her ranking and aim for a podium position.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Sea Trial and Photos
Today’s sea trial went well. Sea trials being meant to find problems… we found ourselves a few. Nothing too big or bad but now we have a few extra things to add to our list. We’ll do a bit of work tomorrow and hopefully get out again, this time with the rigger
Port America’s Cup passers-by have been doing a double take recently due to the new arrival of two small weather planes at the Alinghi camp. Jon Bilger, Alinghi’s chief weather man, has the answers …
Can you describe these devices? Are they planes, gliders?
They are a combination of both. They are basically a plane with floats on them, so they can take off from the water and fly, but the idea is that we can measure the wind speed at any height we like. With a boat we’re stuck at six metres but the planes can go to the height of the mast which is the equivalent of a 17-storey building.
What are these planes used for?
We’re using them like a weather boat to measure wind speed and direction. They can fly relatively slow: from 25 knots up to 60 and we can cover a large area. The last America’s Cup was a race area of nine square miles and we have now an area of 450 square miles to cover, so we need some different equipment to do that effectively.
When will these planes be used and who will fly them?
We have two planes and we’ll use them pretty much every day that the conditions are good for sailing Alinghi 5. The company we use is from Australia and we have a couple of experienced pilots to fly them.
Is this a landmark in the history of the AC weather collection?
Back in San Diego, they used helicopters for wind observation, so you had some sailors up in those helicopters to look at wind on the water, but this is quite a different application because we’re actually measuring the wind speed and direction. It’s quite hard to measure the wind speed and direction on a helicopter because of all the down draft, but on these we can do it very accurately.
JESSICA PREPARING FOR MORE STRONG WINDS BEFORE ROUNDING THE CAPE
Tuesday, 12 January 2010 (9.10pm AEDT)
As Jessica prepares to round the infamous Cape Horn, she may first have to face more gale force winds over the next 24 hours, the result of a low pressure system to the south of her current position.
Jessica is currently 150 nautical miles from Cape Horn, sailing in winds of 20 knots and a 3-4 metre swell. She is well prepared for the possible and excited about rounding the Cape.
“It is only 20 knots at the moment, but it looks like we may get some stronger winds before we round the Cape
