Greetings yachties,

In this issue:

Happy Sailing and watch out for those Tiger Sharks!

33rd Americas Cup – Live on the world wide web

Scandinavian Cruiser 20

Le Breton Sig 45

Najad 460- boot Düsseldorf

Tiger Shark sightings off the beaches of  Waiheke

Abby Sunderland – has left Marina Del Ray – where is she now?

Rolex Miami Women Match Racing – Anna Tunnicliffe

Record year for RNLI rescues

Hartley 16 Nationals

Key West Winners

Jessica Watson – Half Way – where is she now?

Alinghi TV is here

Speed Sailing Calender

Enjoy, more later

Consorcio Valencia 2007 will organise the America’s Cup on shore

For the first time, Racing will be broadcast Live on the internet

The Société Nautique du Genève (SNG), trustee of the America’s Cup, has delegated the responsibility for organising the media and event activities for the 33rd America’s Cup to Consorcio Valencia 2007. The 33rd America’s Cup promises to be a regatta unlike everything which has been seen so far.

The two fastest boats in history will fight for the America’s Cup over race courses that are up to six times bigger than the ones used in the 32nd America’s Cup. For this reason, the TV coverage of the racing will be key. For the first time in history, the races will be broadcast live and free of charge through www.americascup.com to reach the biggest, widest possible audience, including all the fans who will not be able to be in Valencia to witness live this historic competition

The on-shore action will be concentrated at the Veles e Vents, the landmark building central to Port America’s Cup. A giant screen will be installed for fans and spectators to follow the races live as well as enjoying a host of complementary activities around the Port area. The International media centre with capacity for 150 journalists will be in close proximity to the Veles e Vents.

Jorge Gisbert, General Director of Consorcio Valencia 2007: « We are very grateful to have the event back at Port America’s Cup, in the short term we have available we will do our utmost to set the stage for an unforgettable event here in Valencia. »

To organise this event in a short time Gisbert has surrounded himself with an international team involved in the execution of the 32nd America’s Cup. This team led by Michel Hodara (SUI, 48) consists of seasoned professionals in the field of television, media, public entertainment and hospitality

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Get a glimpse of the new Scandinavian Cruiser 20

UK sailors looking for a new, fast and practical small keelboat will get their first chance to see the Scandinavian Cruiser 20 when it debuts at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show on 6-7 March.

The Scandinavian Cruiser 20 debuts at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show in London.

Built by Danish third generation boat-builder Nis Peter Lorentzen, the Scandinavian Cruiser 20 has been developed from the lines of the Skerry boats of Scandinavia, mixing classic lines with modern materials. Along with great looks, the Scandinavian Cruiser 20 has a modern carbon fibre rig and an underwater profile that enables a sparkling performance that will delight experienced racers with close pointing, dynamic acceleration and pin-point manoeuvrability.

Built to accommodate two people as standard, the Scandinavian Cruiser 20 offers many practical features for both cruisers and racers alike. These include a mainsail which can be reefed for cruising or beginners, a keel and rudder that can be lifted to make launching and recovering simple, a removable outboard bracket to assist when the wind dies, and an outboard that can be easily stowed in the forward storage cabin along with other items required to make cruising safe and enjoyable.

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Valencia Sailing

Closer look at Racer’s Edge, BMW Oracle’s cutting edge wind measurement device

When we read the press release from Catch the Wind that they were providing BMW Oracle with a laser sensor that could measure the wind up to 1,000 meters ahead, we were intrigued. So, Valencia Sailing spoke with Phil Rogers, CEO and President of the company, who shed more light on the device that reads the wind not where you are but where you are going.

Valencia Sailing: Let’s start with a brief background. Where are you located, when was your company founded and what does it do?
Phil Rogers: Our company is called Catch the Wind and was founded in 2008. It’s a spinoff from a company my wife and I founded back in 1990 in order to capitalize on telecommunications fiber optics technology to develop a fiber optic-based laser wind sensors, at that time for aerospace applications. Catch the Wind was founded in order to commercialize that laser wind sensor mainly for the wind energy industry, for wind turbine control. We were able to develop and miniaturize this technology into the handheld laser wind sensor which we call the Racer’s Edge for sailing applications.

Valencia Sailing: What deal do you have with BMW Oracle?
Phil Rogers: We launched our product and we are an official supplier to BMW Oracle. They have the first commercial unit of our product and they are currently using it in Valencia.

Valencia Sailing: What does the Racer’s Edge exactly do?
Phil Rogers: It’s a laser device, about the size of a large pair of binoculars, that can measure the wind up to a distance of 1,000 meters in multiple ranges, enabling to you to get a map of the wind up to 1,000 meters, at multiple ranges. So, a sailing team has a tactical advantage because they can see where the best wind is, one kilometer ahead of them.

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Tiger Shark sightings off the beaches on Waiheke

more sailor chicks here

Checking In

Abby didn’t get to a blog today but we wanted to update you all that she is doing great settling in. She struggled with light winds all of last night and most of today but picked up about 12 knots around 3 pm and had made 24 miles in 3 hours. She has passed out of American waters and achieved her first small goal of getting south of Ensenada by Monday evening to avoid some storm activity that will be forming there.

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Rolex Miami Women Match Racing

Today was a bit of tough day for us at the 2010 US Sailing Rolex Miami OCR.  We ended the day with an overall score of 4-2.  We have one more race tomorrow morning to determine into which group we will advance.

Photo: copyright Walter Cooper, January 2010

Trying Times

Because of yesterday’s delay due to weather, group C didn’t get to race, so they had seven races to complete first thing this morning.  Then group B went out to do their final three races, which left us in a race against the sun to finish our round.  We had four races scheduled, but as we sailed across the finish line of our third race, the sun was setting.

Our first race today was against Jen Provan from Canada.  We controlled her in the pre-start and led her around the course from there.  The next race was against Lotte Meldgaard, from Denmark.  We had a great pre-start, but were caught slightly slower at the gun.  We tried to keep the race close upwind, but ended up rounding just behind her at the top mark.  She managed to hold on to the lead downwind, although we closed the distance downwind to round just behind her at the bottom mark. We tried to engage her again upwind, but she sailed a very tactically smart race and gained her lead back.  From there despite our efforts, she held onto the lead and won the race.  We were a bit bummed at this point, but knew we had to refocus for our next race.

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Record year for RNLI rescues

As figures are released showing that 2009 was the busiest year on record for RNLI lifeboat crews and lifeguards, the charity is calling on the public to support its biggest day of fundraising on Friday, 29 January.

Credit: RNLI / Rachel Martin RNLI giant ‘SOS’ bottle washed up on beach

Last year, the number of annual lifeboat launches exceeded 9,000 for the first time in the RNLI’s 186-year history.

Volunteer lifeboat crews across the UK and Ireland launched a total of 9,154 times in 2009, rescuing 8,186 people. The charity’s lifeguards also had their busiest year, responding to 13,588 incidents and assisting 15,954 people, the highest number since the service began in 2001.

The RNLI’s rescue service is not confined to the beach or open sea. During the November floods in Cumbria the RNLI’s Flood Rescue Team helped hundreds of Cockermouth’s residents reach safety, showing that the RNLI charity can touch the lives of anyone at any time, whether at the coast or even in their own homes if the worst happens during a flood emergency.

The RNLI, a charity that is independent of government and reliant on donations, is calling on the public to respond to its own call for help by supporting RNLI SOS Day on Friday, 29 January. RNLI Operations Director, Michael Vlasto, said that by raising funds the public will be helping the RNLI to go on saving lives in what the charity predicts will be the most difficult year since the current economic downturn began.

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Hartley 16 Nationals

Thames January 20-24th 2010

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Winners Praise A Spectacular Week At Key West

Action from day four at Key West
Key West provided another week of spectacular action in
©2010 Jeremiah T.D, / www.timwilkes.com

Mike Williamson sported a very satisfied look as he sat in the cockpit of his Summit 40 sipping a Heineken and reflected on capturing IRC 2 class at Key West 2010, presented by Nautica.
“It feels very, very good to win this regatta. Key West is well known around the world so certainly it’s a great accomplishment,” Williamson said.

Winners of the other 10 classes at Key West 2010 had similar feelings. There were hearty handshakes and slaps on the back among the Joe Fly crew upon return to the dock on Friday after the Italian team topped the Farr 40 class.

Skipper Giovanni Maspero and tactician Francesco Bruni have brought the Joe Fly programme to North America’s largest winter regatta for many years without winning in either the Melges 24 or Farr 40 classes and thus were overjoyed.

“We are very happy to finally win in Key West. We have always been second and third so it feels good to be the champion,” Bruni said.

Joe Fly put forth a tremendously consistent effort by finishing fourth or better in 8 of 10 races to total 35 points, six better than runner-up Barking Mad (Jim Richardson). “We are quite pleased with our performance. We were by far the fastest boat in the fleet in all conditions. We had a little luck with catching shifts, but our success was due mostly it was our boat speed and crew work.”

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Australia Day!

Every year at school we used to get asked what Australia Day meant to us, this year I couldn’t be much further from Australia, there’s none of the things that make a typical Australia Day celebration out here, no sunshine, beach, no taking the day off or BBQ but this year I really can say I’m proud to be an Aussie! And also how great it feels to have the support of the country behind me!

I’ve still got a lot of the world to see (a lot of Australia too actually!) but the things that are special about Oz to me (other than all the cool scenery!) is our relaxed positive attitude and ‘can do’ approach! I’d like to think that we’re a county that’s capable of coming together to tackle challenges, one that’s capable of showing the world that we can achieve the things that we believe in.

So how am I celebrating? Well last night I was pretty thrilled to get a call on the sat phone from Kevin Rudd who offered to pass on a Happy Australia Day message to everyone from me!

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Half Way, 100 Days & Thank You!

25-Jan-2010

Jessica has now passed the halfway mark in her attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. She has now been sailing for 100 days and is approximately 1,500 nautical miles ahead of where we thought she’d be at this stage of her voyage.

Whilst Jessica still has another 11,000 nautical miles to cover, her parents Roger and Julie and all of her shore team are delighted to know she’s officially homeward bound.

Jessica has been recovering after being hit by a raging storm on Friday in the southern Atlantic Ocean that damaged some of her equipment and left her bruised.

Another low pressure system is expected to cross Jessica’s path in the next 24 hours, with more forecasts of gale-force winds. But we are hoping she manages to avoid this one.

The good news is that Jessica has managed to catch up on some sleep and is again well-prepared.

There have been so many thousands of messages coming through in the past week, it has been impossible to reply to everyone. But Jessica and all her team would again like to extend a huge thank you to all the bloggers and supporters, especially after the big storm.

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Jessica on Yachtyakka here

Alinghi TV is now available to embed on YOUR website/blog/forum

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It is a difficult task in nowadays economical situation to finalize a full events calendar for Speed Windsurfing and Kitebaording, that’s why most of the events below are still to be confirmed. Most of them only need a signature under the contract, but a few are really hard to realize. We do our very best to confirm the remaining events as soon as possible.

The world championships will be held in Fuerteventura for both Windsurfers and Kiteboarders, and we are working hard to get everybody back to Walvis Bay in Autumn for a combined event.

Still missing are several national championship events, we have included those of which we know the dates already.

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This post is tagged 33rd Americas Cup, Abby Sunderland, ACDC, Alinghi TV, Anna Tunnicliffe (USA), boot Düsseldorf, Catch the Wind, Hartley 16, Hells Bells, Jessica Watson, Joe Fly, Key West, Le Breton Sig 45, Mike Williamson, Najad 460, RNLI, Rolex Miami Women Match Racing, Scandinavian Cruiser 20, Speed Sailing Calender, Thunderstruck, Tiger shark, Twitter, valencia sailing