Yachting News 7th February 2010

Feb 7th 2010
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Greetings yachties,

1 more sleep to the raft race

Mike Perham – Bounty Boat update

Paul Cayard

33rd Americas Cup – Owners Press Conference, no Larry

Five times Giltinan Championship winner Trevor Barnabas – last minute call up for F&P

America’s Cup View – Sir Russell Coutts

Waiheke Boating Club Picnic 2010

Groupama3

Where is Jessica Watson now?

Where is Abby Sunderland now?

Where is the Tasman Trespasser 11 now?

Paul Cayard

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Kind of a quiet day here in Valencia today. No sailing by either team as the wind was still gusty from the west and prudence was the call just 48 hours before race 1.

In TV world we started at 0900 finishing filming a couple of “standups” for our first show, which will air tonight at 2145 CET on Eurosport. I also did a few interviews with Italian newspapers. We finished shooting around 1400 and the boys went to work editing. That is when I get cut loose.

So I decided to go for a long run up Malvarosa Beach which is right in front of my hotel. Then I came back a worked out in the gym. That put me officially over the jet lag and I am feeling good. Now for the reward….we are going to eat at an Argentinean Asador (meat restaurant) tonight.

The forecast for tomorrow is for sailable winds and I imagine both teams will get out on the water. Alinghi put their boat back in the water tonight. We are going to try to film the BMW Oracle “wing up” operation. We are then going to shoot a few pieces on the basics of sail boat racing….the wind direction vs. the axis of the course and why one boat can gain from a wind shift….etc. This and some other material will be edited into show number two for tomorrow evening.

It looks like “game on” for Monday. The wind is forecast to be in the 5-8 knot range starting out from the west and then backing into the south. If the wind speed stays light, it is supposedly favorable to Alinghi. However, I would say no one really knows what is going to happen when these two beasts line up. I am excited to see.

I know it is Super Bowl Sunday tomorrow. I will be watching from here. It starts at 23:45 for me so between the Super Bowl and a 1000 start on Monday for the first race of the America’s Cup, I wont get much sleep in Sunday night.

more here

18 FOOTER LEGEND RETURNS FOR GILTINAN 2010

Five times Giltinan Championship winner Trevor Barnabas will make an unexpected attempt to add to his tally following a last minute call up to skipper Fisher & Paykel in the Giltinan 2010.

When one of his regular crewmen as unable to compete due to business commitments, the boat’s regular skipper Andrew Cuddihy arranged for a replacement to sail the regatta. The chosen replacement then withdrew at the last minute leaving Cuddihy in an impossible position.
Trevor was in the Double Bay park rigging area supporting his son Trent, who sails with Michael Coxon and Aaron Links on Thurlow Fisher Lawyers, so Andrew took the unusual step of becoming a crewman himself and getting Barnabas to be the new skipper. Barnabas first won the Giltinan Championship at Perth (WA) in 1987. During that regatta his winning Chesty Bond skiff carried a mast which stood 45ft above the waterline – believed to be the tallest mast ever carried on an 18 Footer. He went on to further Giltinan Championship victories in 1988 (with the same Chesty Bond skiff), then after a brief retirement came back to record wins in 1997 (Omega Smeg-2UE) in Australia and again in 1997 (Smeg) in the northern hemisphere regatta. His final victory to date came in 1998 when he won with Omega Smeg-2UE in Sydney.

Although Trevor is “retired” from the 18s, he is a very familiar figure at the racing. Not only is he an enthusiastic supporter for Trent, he is regularly recruited by various skippers to steer their boat when outside commitments prevent them from sailing. Trevor also competed in France and San Francisco during the past northern summer and showed that he can still match it with the best in major regattas. The Giltinan 2010 gets under way next Friday when competitors have the traditional warm up Invitation Race.

Race 1 of the seven-race regatta will be sailed next Saturday, 13 February.

more here

Photographs of Fisher & Paykel racing during the current season and the Chesty Bond (1987) with the 45ft mast are attached.

wtf

Arise, Sir Russell

Sir Russell Coutts (NZL) from
the BMWOracle Racing file

The extraordinary thing about Sir Russell Coutts (NZL) is how low key he has been throughout the entire debacle of America’s Cup 33.

Literally.

Dismissed as Alinghi CEO by Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI) prior to AC32, Sir Russell was ultimately hired by Larry Ellison (USA), and helped rebuild BMWOracle after the team’s AC32 disappointments under Kiwi CEO and Skipper Chris Dickson (NZL).

Sir Russell skirted controversy, avoided controversy, and every time controversy emerged, moved on to other topics, other issues, other events, other races. Deftly. Very deftly.

Which is what you expect from chief executives who know how to use their power.

Sir Russell certainly has power, has influence, and is a major factor for BMWOracle. Now he is leading the offense.

Despite his corporate coolness, Sir Russell’s ambitions must be focused not just on winning, but on destroying – in the nicest possible way.

more here

Waiheke Island Boating Club Picnic

Alinghi Design Team. Tom Schnackenberg

(Photo credit: Carlo Borlenghi/Alinghi)

Although he’d never presume to say it himself, it wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to describe Tom Schnackenberg as the father of modern sail design. If that sounds a little pompous, there are few who would argue that he has been the most influential sail designer of the modern era. However his role at Alinghi is to have a broader overview of the design process. The Kiwi modestly describes himself as “floater”. “I’m doing a bit of helping with data analysis, giving the guys my input on the sails, doing whatever people ask me to do,” he says.

When it comes to the America’s Cup, Schnackenberg has seen it all. This will be his 11th Cup campaign, the first one dating back to 1977 when he was involved in designing some sails for the American defender Enterprise.

Schnackenberg helped change the course of America’s Cup history in 1983 when he designed the sails for Australia II, the wing-keeled wonder that snatched away the Auld Mug from the New York Yacht Club. Although the radical wing keel was credited for being the magic bullet that made Australia II such a special boat, skipper John Bertrand preferred to give greater credit to the advanced composite sail designs developed by Schnackenberg.

more here