Yachting News 19th April 2010

Apr 18th 2010
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Greetings yachties,

In this edition:

Jules Verne

Jessica Watson On Ten News

BMWOracle

Transat

Young 88 National Championships

Vela & Vela Boatshow

PALMA DE MALLORCA

GV-Ropegripper

The Oyster BVI Caribbean regatta

Sea Otter Classic Mountain Biking

Enjoy,

BMW ORACLE Racing returns to competition this month.

The BMW ORACLE Racing team will return to competitive sailing at the end of the month following its win in the 33rd America’s Cup in Valencia in February.

First on the agenda is the RC 44 Austria Cup, the second regatta on the 2010 RC 44 Championship Tour where BMW ORACLE Racing will be represented by two boats.
Team owner Larry Ellison (USA) and team CEO Russell Coutts (NZL) will be competing under the BMW ORACLE Racing banner, while the winning skipper of the 33rd America’s Cup team, James Spithill (AUS), will be at the helm of a boat currently named ‘Boat 17’. Crew from the BMW ORACLE Racing team will be sailing on both boats.

The RC 44 Austria Cup is a popular stop on the circuit, set amongst the Austrian Alps on Lake Traunsee. The beautiful mountain lake is surrounded by ‘postcard perfect’ vistas, but the weather can be unpredictable, offering up challenging conditions for racing.

more here

Top Cup racers take out Young 88 National Champs

What do professional America’s Cup sailors do on a weekend off? They go yacht racing, of course, in the eleventh Harken Young 88 National Championships.

A contingent of sailors from Emirates Team New Zealand, helmed by Jeremy Lomas, won the Young 88 National Championships organised by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and sailed off Auckland this weekend.

Twenty boats contested the event, which took place in more than 15 knots of ever shifting breeze over two days of racing. Lomas steered Flash Gordon, a boat that both won the event in 2004 and placed second in 2008, to victory. Flash Gordon finished up on 16 points, well ahead of second place getter Sister Moonshine (Will Tiller) on 23, and Danger Zone (Grant Turnbull) on 28 points.

For Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker, who for this event sailed as crew with Lomas, it was his third Young 88 championship. The large numbers of boats racing and the high standard of competitions means it is without question the best keelboat racing in New Zealand, he says. “The standard is very high. The guys sail these boats a lot and they know how to make them go fast and sail well. That and the shifty conditions, with a bunch of boats doing similar speed makes for interesting racing.”

Flash Gordon won three of a possible eight races, and Sister Moonshine took out two. “Racing was very close,” says event spokesperson Mike Leyland. “Many finishes came down to seconds.” Leyland said that the on water umpires did a terrific job of keeping everyone honest, and that both class and safety regulations were policed by the association.

Flashback won the event on handicap, ahead of Nijinsky and Legless.

more here

MATADOR MOVES UP AND CONTAINER CONFIRMS

Guillermo Parada moves Matador up to the second position in the TP52 class Container confirms her leadership after the today’s coastal race for the Mini Maxis PALMA DE MALLORCA.

The wind had trouble establishing itself again today, and the postponement flag had to be raised at around 11:00 this morning.
Finally, in around 8 knots southwesterly wind, the committee boat gave the start signal of the first race of the day, at 13:43 hours.
The TP52′s, RI’s and ORC’s have shared racing area, opossite to the Arenal. In the TP52 class Matador did two very good races, with skipper Guillermo Parada at the helm, finishing both of them first, ahead of Artemis, with Paul Cayard calling tactics. The Swedish boat had remained unbeaten till today, when he did a second and a third place, but benefited from the discard after race six, which helps her hold to the first position in the overall standings. Matador is second, just one point ahead of John Cook’s Cristabella, which is third. Weapon of Choice, former Matador, closes the classification, but the final standings will not be decided until tomorrow.

Maxis and Wallys, and Traditional and Classic Yachts had their coastal race today, a course of 24,6 miles and 21,81 miles respectively. In Maxi Wally Richarson’s J One won today’s both races, kicking Magic Carpet of Daniel Gallichan out of the first position which she had held from the first day, which is now just half a point behind. Behind, Y3k did two four places, and sees Italian Indio getting dangerously close, half a point behind. We’ll have to wait till tomorrow to know the final standings.

more here

more images from 2010 regatta here

by Paul Cayard
Saturday, April 17, 2010

A decent sea breeze filled in today around 1400 and two races were held in 8-9 knots from the southwest. The wind was more shifty and the race course more open than the usual, “must go left” Palma.

Matador came back on form today and won both races leading all the way. They had slightly better starts than we did. Both races were very competitive with us and Cristabella, Matador and ourselves always within 5 both lengths. Very good training for the upcoming Med Cup season.

We finished second and then third. So the points going into the last day are: Artemis 9, Matador 12, and Cristabella 15, Weapon of Choice 19.

I got a bad case of Volcanoitis in the last 24 hours and decided to leave tonight. I am in Barcelona waiting for a flight tomorrow morning to the states. Hopefully the plane will leave from the states tonight and hopefully Barcelona will stay open long enough for us to leave tomorrow. 7 airports in northern Spain have closed tonight. The ash is spreading down south so I figured that if I wait to Monday it may be too late. I have a very short window to be in SF before leaving again this coming Friday for Russia and then 8 weeks of sailing in Europe. Torbjorn Tornqvist, the owner of Artemis was very understanding. It is going to be a long season with lots of racing so no need to get over stressed in April. I felt bad leaving the guys there as they all want to get home to their families. I hope the jet stream cranks up and blows the ash off to the north east so everyone can get out on Monday.

So no final report from me tomorrow.

more here

Between Barcelona and Lisbon on the train -

I could never explain well enough what the situation is like over here in Europe for anyone who wants to travel somewhere or get a hotel room.

Since making the decision to try to escape one day early, here is what I have encountered:

1. Got to my hotel in Barcelona and had them tell me that the hotel was oversold, but that had covered me in another hotel.

2. Was boarding the flight to Atlanta this morning when the airport authority ordered the airport closed.

3. Waited there as told by Delta, and lived through all the “we’re going”, “no, we’re boarding in 20 minutes”, “no it’s canceled”, “wait, we’re going at 12:00″. During these three hours I was asking Torbjorn’s pilot, Henry, who was in Palma with Torbjorn’s plane, about the likelihood that Barcelona would reopen, as well as about Madrid and Lisbon. Finally, Delta pulled the plug at 1300.

4. Onto plan C. Get a car or train to Lisbon for tomorrow’s flight to Newark which my travel agent Elin had booked before Plan B. (Plan A was flying through Frankfurt on Monday in Business Class arriving into SFO at 1200, nice and fresh. That plan got nixed on Friday).

5. No cars available in BCN.

6. Called Russell Coutts’ PA Alex who is Spanish. She had been stranded in Paris and was on a 13 hour bus ride to Barcelona. All the while, she had been working on getting Russ out of London where he had been stranded since Friday. He eventually took a train to Paris this morning and is now driving from Paris to Madrid…18 hours.

7. Alex had a network modem and got me a train to Madrid and a car to rent there to drive to Lisbon, all from the bus.

8. I then went to the same train station in Barcelona where she was arriving by bus to then take a train to Valencia where she lives.

9. When I got to the train station it was total chaos. The line to buy a ticket was out the door. Thank God she had sorted it all for me and bought the tickets on line.

10. I then started to think that driving 8 hours tonight from Madrid to Lisbon might not be a good idea. So I asked her about a train. At first, nothing. Then she did something else magical and found one that leaves at 1030 tonight and get to Lisbon at 8am tomorrow. “Perfect…let’s buy it”

11. What about Lisbon airport? Is it still open? Called Torbjorn’s pilot Henry again. Yes, still open but Palma and Madrid closing. The cloud is still creeping South! Lisbon expected to stay open. Better start moving Southwest!

12. Called United to reconfirm the flight. With all the hecticness, that reservation had been voided somehow. My heart was in my throat as the agent told me this very calmly. I knew this flight was my last chance.

13. I resurrected the reservation. Thank goodness.

14. Then my credit card would not work. Unbelievable! If he could not issue the ticket I would not have a reservation and the flights for the rest of the week are oversold. All the people in Europe who want to go to the USA are running like rats down into the Southwest corner.

15. I had one more credit card…one I never use it…. it is for my kids. I used it!! And it worked!

So, I am now on the train. Surely, I am not done jumping through hoops. Going to try to sleep a bit as I am pretty fried and I will need energy tonight for sure. If I get on the plane, I can sleep all I want.

Obviously in cases like this you don’t ask what it costs or if you can get an upgrade. All that is out the window.

Fortunately, Artemis won the regatta so I feel a little less badly for leaving them. But my poor teammates are stuck in Palma I am afraid. Maybe they will take the Artemis RIB or a ferry to Valencia and drive to Lisbon.

I am sure by now you are seeing it on the news in the States or wherever you live.

In summary; We have a situation over here! Looking for my next hoop.

Video from 2009

Making stern-to mooring a pleasure

A British inventor has come up with the answer to the problems of stern-to mooring in the Mediterranean and UK, with an ingenious new product that is guaranteed to turn any crew member into a mooring expert!

Protect your toes and save your temper, GV-Ropegripper will make your Mediterranean mooring a pleasure.

GV-Ropegripper is the brain-child of Gordon Vickers, a British inventor with years of boating experience in the Mediterranean, where the widespread practise of mooring ‘stern-to’ creates a frustrating set of challenges for yacht and motorboat crews alike.

Mooring with your stern towards a fixed quay or jetty has, at some point, given every boater a headache. First you must locate an underwater mooring line (aptly referred to as the ‘slime-line’) and transfer it forward to the bow. This procedure can be helped with a boathook and a steady hand, but it can be fiddly and get very messy.

Then the fun really starts, you have to grab the ‘slime-line’ under the guardrail taking a loop inboard through a fairlead to wrap the foremost part of the line around the anchor windlass. Once you have done this and applied the requisite amount of tension to keep your stern a safe distance from the quay, you get to the really tricky bit. To relieve the torsion on your windlass mechanism you must now secure the tight side of the looped mooring line to the deck cleat without losing tension, your temper or any fingers and toes in the process.

more here

Magrathea’ and ‘Twice Eleven’ take overall honours in Oyster BVI Caribbean regatta

By Barry Pickthall

The Oyster BVI Caribbean regatta ended on a high note back at Nanny Cay with today’s Class winners in the Pantaenius Cup race also securing the overall honours. Chris and Susan Shea sailed a masterful race on their Oyster 72 ‘Magrathea’ to save their time over class 1 rivals, Mariusz Koper’s Oyster 72 ‘Katharsis II’ and Stuart Smith and Barry Cooper’s Oyster 82 ‘Oceana’ , while David and Tamsin Kidwell’s Oyster 435 ‘Twice Eleven’ repeated Friday’s victory in class 2.

Today’s race from St Peter Island Resort, took the fleet on a stiff beat up the Sir Francis Drake Channel to round Ginger Island before running down behind Cooper and Salt Islands and reach between Dead Chest and Peter Island to finish off Nanny Cay. The sparkling 20knot conditions provided a fitting end not just to the regatta, but Alan Brook’s jovial eight year tenure as race officer to the Oyster fleet.

“I wanted this to be as memorable for the competitors as it was for me” he said at the finish after what turned out to be a classic trade wind race.
Magrathea’ was first to reach the Ginger Island turning point, just ahead of Robin and Carla Stoop’s Oyster 82 Rivendell, leaving the ‘Oceana’ crew pinching dangerously high in their dirty air to just squeeze round the steep cliff face. ‘Katharsis was 4th round but first to get their spinnaker drawing and managed to cut inside Oceana. Magrathea’ chose to pole out their headsail instead, and taking a more direct downwind route down to Peter Island, kept their lead until Katharsis’ and ‘Oceana’ could start to make their chutes pay on the tighter reach to the finish.
The Class II fleet had an equally exciting race with Mark Howard and his crew on the Oyster 56 ‘ Amanzi’ 7 seconds ahead of Vincent Bloem’s ‘Windflower’. But neither could save their time against the Kidwell’s evergreen Twice Eleven’, the oldest and smallest yacht in the fleet.

more here