Greetings yachties,
In this issue:
Zerogradinord – Russell Coutts meets international press
Abby Sunderland leaves this Saturday more here
Jules Verne Trophy – Groupama3 to Brest
Simon Daubney
GGYC seeks redress over NOR and SIs for AC33
Another Gold Within Reach for Percy and Simpson
DoGzilla & Cheesezilla
Old Top Gear Goodwood Festival Of Speed
Kiwi Music Week on Yachtyakka
Freak Waves
Mega Tsunami
Enjoy
Russell Coutts talks to international press watch here
BMW Oracle’s CEO Russell Coutts freely admits to having enough of the squabbling and political posturing. “I’ve restrained myself for two and a half years and I’m not going to put up with this rubbish any longer. It’s time to speak out.”
With less than three weeks before the 33rd America’s Cup kicks off, listen to Russell Coutts’ view of the current situation. ‘Ernesto Bertarelli is allergic to fair competition”
We pick up the conversation as Coutts considers the accusation from Alinghi that his team is ‘always complaining about the rules’.
It’s compelling listening.
As was the case during their last attempt, Franck Cammas and his nine crew have opted to set off from Brest to make for the start line of the Jules Verne Trophy off Ushant: “Closer to Ushant and easier to reach, especially in NW’ly winds, Brest is ideally situated for the Jules Verne Trophy. We were able to witness that last November so we’ll be happy to be back there, especially as we were given a great welcome” says the skipper of Groupama 3.
At that very moment there was virtually no wind, which greatly facilitated manoeuvres in port, as much for the sailors as the shore crew.
With head torches in position, the nine crew for the Jules Verne Trophy attempt took their places on deck without even needing to speak amongst themselves. At the helm, Franck Cammas was calmly dishing out orders, despite the absence of Ronan Le Goff, whose plane from Brazil was a few hours behind schedule. As such the bowman will join up with Groupama 3 in Brest.
Cheered on their way by representatives from Cap l’Orient, the crew of the maxi trimaran have set sail for the Port du Château in Brest, which they should reach by midday.
Simon Daubney Photo credit: Photo: Carlo Borlenghi/Alinghi
“We’re just loving it,” enthuses Simon Daubney about getting to grips with sailing Alinghi 5. “We’re energised by the whole challenge of it.” Daubney is one of the original Kiwis, the ‘tight five’ who have sailed together seemingly for an eternity. But the trimmer is keen to play down any special connection between him and his compatriots. “Alinghi has been going for 10 years so there is a much wider group of people who have been working together as a team for a very long time now. We enjoy the challenge of trying to find ways of getting the best out of the boat at all times, both on and off the water.”
Despite the significant differences between Alinghi 5 and the Version 5 monohulls that preceded it, Daubney claims that fundamentally his job as trimmer hasn’t changed all that much. “What is different is that as a team we were very good at the tinkering with the Version 5 boats and just getting tiny little gains and making two or three incremental gains here and there. Some of the gains were so small you could hardly measure them; sometimes you just went with what you thought felt best.
GGYC seeks redress over NOR and SIs for AC33
Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG) has issued a revised NOR and SIs for the 33rd America’s Cup, but the Challenger Golden Gate Yacht Club has accused SNG of bias in both documents.
Credit: Gilles Martin-Raget
BMW ORACLE Racing, first trials off Valencia for USA
Tom Ehman, spokesperson for the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) issued the following statement:
The America’s Cup defender, Société Nautique de Genève, issued today a revised Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions for the 33rd America’s Cup Match set to begin on 8 February in the waters off Valencia, Spain.
Both documents are riddled with errors, and continue SNG’s practice of interpreting rules, or creating new ones, solely to favor Alinghi and harm the chances of the Challenger.
The Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions are heavily biased in favor of the Defender and its yacht despite input from GGYC and ISAF, the sport’s world governing body, during last week’s meeting in Singapore and a meeting in late December in Sydney.
Therefore, today GGYC has made an application for redress to the International Jury, asking that the Jury be convened as soon as possible to negate or revise the biased provisions before the Match.
Specifically, SNG has:
Société Nautique de Genève has issued the Sailing Instructions and the amended 33rd America’s Cup Notice of Race.
Another Gold Within Reach for Percy and Simpson
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson continued to dominate the 2010 Star World Championship with only the Swiss team of Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria having an outside chance of beating them to gold in Thursay’s final race.
A fourth place finish in Wednesday’s penultimate race gives Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) an eight-point lead over the Swiss world #1 duo of Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria, who were sixth in race five. Percy and Simpson now only need to finish ninth or better in Thursday’s final race to add the 2010 Star World Championship title to the Olympic gold medal they won in Beirjing two years ago.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
What I Miss The Most
Ella’s Pink Lady has been steadily plodding along north and east out into the Atlantic and yesterday I was treated to a day of incredible sunshine. It was so lovely that I actually drifted off to sleep, sprawled out across the cabin top (of course, with my Ella Bache sunscreen on!). The warm sun and the sound of the water against the hull had me nodding off within minutes.
Better still I was woken up by a pod of beautiful back and white dolphins swimming along next to us. As always they were a treat to watch, playing in the greeny, blue swell. Then there was the pretty pink sunset that I could actually enjoy sitting outside without feeling like my fingers and toes were about to fall off. Sorry, I feel like I’m bragging!
Seeing as I’ve been out here for over three months and very almost 100 days, I thought I’d put together a list of what I miss the most. Not that it’s not all totally worth it out here!
An 0700 call this morning for the Alinghi shore crew to relaunch the boat after a day of routine maintainance on Wednesday. The team slipped out of the harbour at 1100 and returned just as dark was falling.
Also on the water today – the BMW Oracle team, providing the photographers with a brief, yet unique glimpse of the two giant racing machines momentarily on the same patch of water…
Alinghi 5 in Valencia close to the BMW Oracle Racing team for the first time
(Photos credit: George Johns / Alinghi)
America’s Cup: LIVE on Eurosport
The 33rd America’s Cup between current holder Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing will be shown LIVE on Eurosport and the Eurosport Player.
SAILING Alinghi (R) from Switzerland powers ahead of Oracle Racing of the US in the final of the Challenger series – 0
More Stories
Eurosport will bring fans comprehensive coverage with:
- LIVE broadcast of the two races, held on February 8 and 10 from 08:30 until the end of the race (expected around 11:00). In the event of a tie, Eurosport will cover LIVE a third and final race on February 12.
Old Top Gear Goodwood Festival Of Speed
Kiwi Music
more wave stories here
This post is tagged Abby Sunderland, BBC, Bic Runga, cheesezilla, Crowded House, DD Smash, dogzilla, Euro Sport, Freak waves, Goodwood Festival Of Speed, Groupama3, Haka, Hello Sailor, Jules Verne Trophy, Mega Tsunami, Old Top Gear, russell coutts, Shona laing, Simon Daubney, Space Waltz, Split Enz, Star Class, Th' Dudes, The Mutton Birds, Zerogradinord
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