Yachting News 4th February 2010

Feb 4th 2010
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Greetings yachties,

4 sleeps to the raft race

Join my yachtclub for the inside word on upcoming tastings.

Where is Jessica Watson now?

Tasman Trespasser 11 – Almost Disaster,

Jury rules on AC33,

Solo Challenge,

Jules Verne Trophy – Groupama3, is sending it,

DesTop News,

Illusions go match racing,

Singapore Airlines Sail Auckland 2010,

Indian Navy Solo Sailor,

Extreme Sailing,

more later

Flash back

An Almost Disaster Day 16

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Shaun experienced the worst conditions yet over night. Extremely strong winds and massive swells continued to belt into him at so much force that at about 4am this morning one of the sea anchor bolts was sheared in half! When it was light enough Shaun braved the conditions to retrieve the sea anchor, hurting his back in the process. Once safely back on the boat the sea anchor ropes took over two hours to untangle and re-set up and then finally Shaun was able to pop a couple pain killers and lie down!

As you can see on the map, Shaun is still being taken west however the storm should start to abate tonight and next week is forecasted to bring favourable rowing conditions.

Even under immense duress this morning, Shaun was still able to share a funny story which shows he is still mentally on top of the game. After two days in the cabin it was time for a bowel movement….so Shaun ventured outside in the terrible conditions, set his bucket up and was half way through his business when a large swell hit the boat, unbalancing him and….well you can guess the rest!…..

more here

International Jury rules on AC33 arguments

The International Jury for the 33rd America’s Cup in Valencia has ruled on a number of issues of contention, including the start time, and use of wind detection equipment and skin friction technology.

On Wednesday, 3 February, Tom Ehman, Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) spokesperson, released the following statement:

The International Jury for the 33rd America’s Cup has confirmed the start time for races will be 1006.

This was one of five decisions reached by the Jury following hearings in Valencia in which Golden Gate Yacht Club’s requests for redress were heard for improper actions taken by the defender, Société Nautique de Geneve.

The Jury gave Race Office Harold Bennett the discretion to use his experience and judgment on what constitutes fair and safe conditions for racing. GGYC submitted that SNG’s planned low wind limits would unfairly advantage Alinghi 5 and disadvantage USA.

GGYC’s yacht USA has also been cleared to use onboard wind-detection equipment as well as fast and green friction-reduction technologies. SNG had previously arranged rules to permit both these things, but had a last minute change of mind, and then attempted to prevent USA from using them.

“This brings some degree of common sense back to the rules,” commented GGYC spokesman Tom Ehman. “The pinnacle event in our sport, contested by the world’s best sailors, ought to allow racing in conditions that even kids in the Optimist trainer class would say were too light to be any fun.”

more here

Triple gybe

Groupama 3 got through the ridge of high pressure overnight, but she did have to put in three gybes to finally hit the Cape Verdean tradewinds and switch onto a direct course towards the equator. With a lead of 140 miles over the reference time, Franck Cammas and his men will be able to drop down towards Brazil on a single tack.

After having traversed the low off the Canaries on Wednesday evening, the giant trimaran had another tricky section to negotiate in the form of a transition zone prior to the tradewinds: indeed the NW’ly breeze clocked round to the N before progressively veering round to the NE as it eased. The crew put in an initial gybe as night fell (1700 hours UTC), but it wasn’t sufficiently conclusive as the breeze dropped to around a dozen knots. A further manoeuvre was necessary at 1900 UTC to hunt down 25° W and at midnight the tradewind system suddenly kicked in and began pumping out around fifteen knots of breeze: Groupama 3 was finally able to pick her way southwards, whilst gaining sufficient ground to the West so as not to have to get too close to the Cape Verde archipelago.

more here

Tradewind transition

Jules Verne Trophy 2009 – 2010
Franck Cammas and his men have managed to smoothly skirt around the low over Madeira and have only been gently slowed off the Canaries. With a lead of nearly 150 miles over the reference time this Wednesday morning, the routing has been confirmed as favourable as far as the equator.

Groupama 3 – © Team Groupama

It has been fast work reversing the trend! After two and a half days at sea, Groupama 3 has now racked up a big lead over Orange 2 and the separation is set to increase still further this Wednesday, as the weather situation is proving to be more favourable than forecast. Traversing the low pressure off Madeira went according to the initial scenario with a N’ly wind of up to thirty knots on relatively manageable seas. This enabled Franck Cammas and his nine crew to maintain an average speed of nearly thirty knots for almost the whole night…

more here

Yachtyakka Jules Verne story here

Illusions go match racing

Bright sunshine, gentle breeze, a well practised team of race officers and umpires, and 16 enthusiastic Illusionists made for an excellent weekend’s racing in the annual Match Racing Championships at Bembridge Sailing Club, writes Rudy Jurg.

I wonder what Justin is up to between matches! Photo Credit Mike Samuelson.

Fifty-four starts on Saturday, 30 January, and a few less for Sunday’s finals kept everyone on their toes as they tried to follow Mike Sam’s masterful schedule of races with hooters and whistles going off throughout each start and finish sequence. Each year the standard of racing seems to improve and this year was no exception.

In the black group on Saturday, Ian Southworth (winner in 2008), Raymond Simonds and Rudy Jurg all finished with five wins to their credit, with last year’s winner Graham Bailey and Ed Peel on four wins each. In the red group, Mark Downer and Graham Sunderland notched up six wins each, with Justin Biddle on five and Colin Simonds with three. Unfortunately, Ian was nursing a very sore shoulder so decided to withdraw from Sunday’s finals which gave Ed Peel the opening he was hoping for.

more here

Bembridge Sailing Club

All Set For Start Of Racing At Singapore Airlines Sail Auckland

New Zealand’s Olympic class sailing elite are right now gathering at Kohimarama Yacht Club for ISAF Grade One Singapore Airlines Sail Auckland 2010.
So far 144 are entered with registration happening later today and racing set to start at midday Thursday. After four days of racing medallists will be decided late on Sunday, and with plenty of exciting match-ups, this year’s regatta promises not to disappoint.

In the Men’s RS:X fleet New Zealand’s most recent Olympic sailing champion, Tom Ashley is back on the water, this his first regatta after only recently returning to an intensive training schedule after a well-deserved breather.

Ranked world #1 during 2006 and back in 2003, New Zealand’s Jon-Paul Tobin will also be on the water for Singapore Airlines Sail Auckland. And young Dutch sailor Dorian Van Rijsselberge is in Auckland for the regatta, hot off a win in the Men’s RS:X at last week’s ISAF Sailing World Cup US event, US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR.

more here

Indian Navy Solo Sailor at Sea

We are back at sea after a memorable send off by the Governor of Falklands and HMS York, among others, at 1000 h on 01 Feb 10. Thanks to the hospitality of the Falklanders and the British armed forces, the crew though busy with repair work on board, had a great time ashore and is back to the task of finding their rested sea legs. Mhadei is moving along nicely with a much lighter steering post repairs and considerably less swell than that experienced during the last leg. Apart from a couple of hrs of gusty winds touching 40 kts as a front passed over us yesterday it has been good sailing so far with clear skies and moderate winds. In fact as I write there is a beautiful yellow moon rising ahead of us leading the way to Africa, 3000 Nm across the Atlantic. Gales are predicted for the next two days but we will see when we meet them, presently its time to enjoy the sail on a calm moonlit night.

more here