Yachting News 30th March 2010
Greetings yachties,
Sorry about the blank look on the home page, mothership updated the wordpress to the latest version and it looks like a piece of code is missing from the backend of the site, mothership is STILL working with the wordpress guys to try and sort the problem. In the meantime enjoy my little collection of yachting news and random humour.
In this edition:
12ft Skiffs – New Zealand Nationals 2010
Edwin Delaat – Sailor
AC33 court cases end
3M riblet technology
Multihull Bash
Bruni Beats Brady Congressional Cup
Paul van Rensburg
Abby Sunderland approaches Cape Horn
Jessica Watson – where is she now?
Tom Ashley
Valencia Sailing talk to Bertrand Favre the Swiss manager of the RC44 Class
Anti-Piracy Guidelines and Flyer
Enjoy
Just a quick update from home base…
Abby has not rounded Cape Horn yet! The light winds have meant painfully slow progress for her today and for Laurence who is waiting in an anchorage off the Beagle Channel to set out for the rendez vous.
The calmer conditions have given her a chance to get outside and check everything with a good chance of NOT falling overboard whereas the past few days according to Abby there was a good chance of not staying ON board!
Paul Cayard at Ullman Sails
WSTA, Louis Vuitton, and the Path to the Next America’s Cup
“We might race the Version Five boats for a couple more years, say, through 2011. Then, in looking at bringing a new class of boat online, what could be clever is to design that rule this year and build four identical boats of the new rule and put them on the circuit, to allow the teams to experience these boats before they actually have to design their own, so that there’s some background and some experience before we have to go out and spend, collectively, 50 or 100 million Euros on a fleet of boats.
“The idea would be that all the design information that goes into the research for the rule — tank-testing, CFD, structural information on the rigs, on the hulls, on everything that goes into those four boats — would be available to all the teams as sort of a starter kit. And, of course, all the data on those boats.
debate on Sailing Anarchy here
Wild Days Rum tasting Kawau Island
An end at last to AC33 court cases
Golden Gate Yacht Club has reached an agreement with the previous America’s Cup Trustee, Societe Nautique de Geneve, to drop all outstanding litigation in the New York courts regarding the recent 33rd America’s Cup Match.
This includes Golden Gate Yacht Club’s (GGYC’s) Breach of Fiduciary Duty (‘BFD’) claim against Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), as well as all other claims over the design and construction of yachts Alinghi 5 and USA.
3M riblet technology
One of the contributing factors to the overall speed of USA during the 33rd America’s Cup came from our official supplier 3M, who have developed friction reducing technologies. Here, our video team takes a look at the ‘riblet’ film that was applied to the hulls of USA.
Rock climbing in Western Australia anybody?
Govt helps Auckland host Volvo Ocean Race stopover
NZPA | Friday March 26, 2010 – 03:18pm
The Government will work with Auckland City Council to help the city host a stopover for the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race, Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee says.
The Government has agreed to contribute $1.5 million from its Major Events Development Fund to support the council’s initiative.
The final piece of the puzzle was revealed today when Auckland was announced as a stopover port for the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race. It will be the seventh time the City of Sails has featured in the event.
Auckland last hosted the event in 2001-02. This time it will stage the leg four finish from Sanya in China and the start of leg five, which will take the fleet into the Southern Ocean once again, round Cape Horn and onto Itajaí, Brazil.
With the confirmation of Auckland, the route for 2011-12 is now set and includes: start port of Alicante (Spain), Cape Town (South Africa), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Sanya (China), Auckland (New Zealand), Itajaí (Brazil), Miami (US), Lisbon (Portugal), Lorient (France) and the finish port of Galway (Ireland).
“Our host port programme around the world is now complete and I can confirm that Auckland has won its bid to become our stopover port in New Zealand,” said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad.
Bruni Beats Brady and Berntsson for the Blazer at the Congressional Cup
Francesco Bruni and his team Azzurra crew squeezed the last bit of breath out of the 46th Congressional Cup Saturday to outsail Gavin Brady, 2-1, and deny the four-time winner an unprecedented fifth Crimson Blazer in the only Grade 1 Open match racing regatta in the United States.
Instead, it was the affable Italian who donned the traditional prize after reveling in a champagne shower and a proper dunking at the dock that blew off the tension of a hard-earned victory.
“We were very scared, especially after the score was one to one,” Francesco Bruni said, fearing that Mother Nature would rule the day beyond all of his sailing skill.
Maritime New Zealand Media Line
29 March 2010: 8.55pm
The skipper of the yacht Tafadzwa, Paul van Rensburg, is not on board the vessel, found drifting around 60 nautical miles (110 kilometres) west of the Chatham Islands yesterday.
The skipper of the yacht Tafadzwa, Paul van Rensburg, is not on board the vessel, found drifting around 60 nautical miles (110 kilometres) west of the Chatham Islands yesterday.
The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) search and rescue mission coordinator Geoff Lunt said two men from a fishing vessel asked to divert to the yacht yesterday managed to board Tafadzwaaround 8am and did not find the missing man.
“Unfortunately it seems Paul has fallen overboard. It appears his life raft, dinghy, emergency beacon and kayak were all still on board the yacht.”
Mr Lunt said the fishing vessel was now preparing to tow Tafadzwa to the Chatham Islands.
“We’re naturally very disappointed not to have found Paul safe on board the yacht. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Unfortunately there is nothing further RCCNZ can do at this stage.”
Mr Lunt said Paul’s dog, Juanita, was found alive on board Tafadzwa and was being looked after by the crew of the fishing vessel.
New Zealand board sailor Tom Ashley has made a strong start at the opening regatta of this year’s Olympic class European circuit in Palma de Majorca in Spain.
The Beijing Olympic gold medalist had to work hard in light and unstable winds between 6-8 knots, eventually finishing in third place overall after two races in the men’s RS:X board sailing on the opening day of the six-day regatta.
In a fleet of 72, Ashley placed third in the first race and sixth in the second, giving him a total of nine points. Israel’s Shahar Zubari, bronze medallist in the 2008 Olympics, snared the early lead two wins.
New Zealanders Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie also made a strong start to the regatta in the women’s 470 double-handed dinghy class.
Valencia Sailing talks to Bertrand Favre, RC44 Class Manager
Bertrand Favre the Swiss manager of the RC44 Class, is in Valencia right now and we took the opportunity to talk to him about the upcoming event the class will hold in the city as well as learn about the latest development of this successful one-design class.
Valencia Sailing: What brings you to Valencia? Why is the RC44 Class Manager here?
Bertrand Favre: We are in Valencia in order to meet with the local authorities and work on the 4th event of the 2010 RC44 Championship Tour that will take place right here during the last week of July, more precisely from July 27th until August 1st.
Valencia Sailing: So, can we consider it a done deal? Will it be a one-off event or the start of a longer-term relation with Valencia?
Bertrand Favre: It’s done deal, not signed yet but after all we didn’t come here to go the beach, we are not on holidays. At this stage, our agreement with the city of Valencia is just for 2010. We are seriously considering coming back to Spain in 2011 and Valencia is, obviously, at the top of our list.
Valencia doesn’t need any introduction, it’s been the host city of the last two America’s Cups. There are some of the world’s best facilities located here, there are very good wind conditions in late July and everything is already in place. The boats will be docked in front of the Veles e Vents building, where the hospitality and media will be also located. We will also count with the assistance of BMW Oracle and our technical area will be located right next to their base.
Still, even after this event is over, a number of teams will remain in Valencia until probably the middle of September, in order to take advantage of the facilities and train, given the fact we will then head to Lanzarote where we will hold our World Championship in mid October.
Another very important factor we chose to come here is that we want to attract more Spanish owners to the class and our aim is to have more Spanish teams in the league. Right now we have one Spanish team, Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, and the Calero family is doing a lot of promotion for the class in this country but we wanted to hold an event in a central location in order to be able to meet with the potential owners. We want them to see first-hand how attractive the RC44 yachts are.
Valencia Sailing: What would you tell a Spanish potential owner to go to the RC44 class and not join, let’s say, the GP42′s and race in the AUDI Medcup?
Bertrand Favre: The fact we are a growing class, for example!! We will have 10 or 11 boats in Austria and then 12 in Copenhagen and I’m very confident we will not have less teams in the future events. We are a strong one-design class that helps the teams, we have cost controls, easy logistics and, equally important, first-rate sailing with the world’s best sailors in our circuit. Finally, in a matter of days we will become an ISAF international class. We only have pending some formalities and a couple of signatures.
Anti-Piracy Guidelines and Flyer
Warnings of an expected increase in pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden were given by Royal Navy sources at a briefing in London last week. A spokesman stated that the number of vessels currently being held by pirates pending ransom negotiations stood at six, roughly half the level experienced over the past year and new targets were likely to be sought.
The spokesman further warned that pirates are now ranging ever further across the Somali Basin. “We cannot rule out the possibility of attacks occurring as far east as the coast of India and as far south as Madagascar” he said.
In response to these warnings the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has updated and re-issued its guidelines to yachts contemplating making a passage through the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin. A single-sheet summary of the guidelines has been sent to marina managers, Port Captains and ships’ Agents in all the places frequented by long-distance sailors with a request that it be displayed prominently and, where possible, copied and given out to visiting yachts.
Most Water Skiers Behind a Boat – Horsehead Waterski Club set world record
STRAHAN, Tasmania — After seven previous attempts, 114 Australian water skiers from the Horsehead Waterski Club were successfully towed by a single boat over one nautical mile – setting the new world record for the Most Water Skiers Behind a Boat.
Photo: The record-breaking waterski run at Strahan captured by Mark Seaton
The previous Guinness world record for the Most Water Skiers Behind a Boat was 100, set in Trinity Inlet, Cairns, in 1986, by Cairns & District Powerboat and Ski Club.
Around 300 people, led by the Horsehead Water Ski Club, Australia’s oldest ski club, were involved in the record-breaking attempt for the most skiers pulled by a single boat over one nautical mile.
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