Yachting News 12th May 2010

May 12th 2010
No Comments
respond
trackback

Developing News:

Jessica Watson just Skyped

On May 13 2010, Premier Kristina Keneally and Minister for Ports and Waterways, Paul McLeay, joined Jessica Watson’s mother Julie, and manager Andrew Fraser to video-link with Jessica through Skype ahead of her return this weekend.

more here

facebook

My perfect conditions came to an end late on Tuesday with thunderstorms then this freezing cold southerly wind (brrrr!). Yesterday the wind was gale force but today it’s eased off to 30 knots, giving us great surfing conditions with the sea standing up as it meets the east coast current.

I’ve spent the day on deck watching us surf along with a grin from one seriously cold ear to the other numb one (and right now I’m paying the price with a badly wind burnt face!).

I can’t believe how fast this last week has gone. Only two more sleeps till the finish line! Have I mentioned how excited I am? It’s like the day before Christmas except I don’t ever remember getting this excited about Christmas. Two more sleeps till a hot shower, fresh food and, and, and, everything else! Mind you I think it’s going to take a fair bit longer than that for the whole ‘I’ve just sailed around the world’ thing to sink in. It’s just too big to get my head around!

more here

sailplanner-header

Greetings yachties,

In this issue:

Jessica Watson – Where is she now?

Shake-A-Leg Miami Summer Camp

Hugo Boss – New Boat,

Figaro Transat,

Med Cup – Quantum Win First,

ISAF, World Match Racing Tour,

Med Cup,

Des Top News,

Ken Ring,

Sailing News TV,

Enjoy

l’Hydroptère – L’histoire d’un rêve – The story of a dream (3 min) from Team Hydroptère on Vimeo.

Shake-A-Leg Miami Summer Camp

Take a look inside the treasure chest here

from LuvMyBoat

Hugo Boss In The Water – Radical New Look Revealed for the First Time

Photos by Lloyd Images

Alex Thomson’s sailing campaign got underway again today when the new HUGO BOSS IMOCA 60 took to the water at Endeavour Quay, Gosport giving the yachtsman a chance to see what his new boat is capable of. Thomson’s latest race yacht has been undergoing a dramatic redesign over the last four months and today’s launch was the first time she has been fully unveiled.

The radical redesign has been created under the guidance of renowned boat designer Juan Kouyoumdjian, who has worked closely with Thomson to optimise the ease of use and to allow him to compete at the highest possible level. The most notable change is the two PODS (Oceanic Defence Systems) which replace the old single cockpit and gives the boat a unique and extraordinary new look. In addition, the PODS add significantly improved usage features that are designed to improve the capability and usability of the boat in a number of areas.

The launch marks the next phase of Alex Thomson’s campaign which will see him spend some time getting to know the new boat in the Solent before embarking on a transatlantic crossing to New York. The crossing will give Thomson his first real chance to test the limits of HUGO BOSS which is more powerful than any other boat in the IMOCA 60 fleet.

more here

Champions in the lead

Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) lead the Portugal Trophy, Cascais after posting a strong second and first place from the two TP52 races today.

But for an error by Team Origin (GBR) which required them to take a penalty turn early in the second race, the emerging duel between the Kiwi Audi MedCup champions and the British team might be even closer.

Conditions were ideal for the third day of racing for the 11 strong TP52 fleet, 16-22 knots of breeze and two good tests proved enjoyable tests for crews through the fleet. As the breeze peaked during the both races, several gennaker sails were shredded, a tough punishment for small mistakes, and consistency was never easily achieved.

Since their faltering opening day, when they scored a sixth and 11th, languishing at the back of the pack at the finish of Race 2, Emirates Team New Zealand are back to something close to their best. Now they have won three of the last five starts and lead TeamOrigin by three points as the TP52 Series approaches tomorrow’s Coastal Race.

With 2008 champions Quantum Racing (USA) remaining slightly compromised in the absence again today of skipper-helm Terry Hutchinson (USA), who was still under final observation after taking a knock on the head before yesterday, Emirates Team New Zealand have found themselves an adversary very close to their level in Team Origin who are still only on Day 3 of their TP52 racing experience.

more here

Historic First Female Entry For Match Race Germany

ISAF World Match Racing Tour

Kathrin Kadelback ©WMRT

ISAF World Match Racing Tour – Match Race Germany
Langenargen, Germany

Match Race Germany, Stage 2 of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour, has invited its first ever female entry to take part in the 13th edition.
Twenty six year old Kathrin Kadelback (GER) EWE Sailing Team will be helming with back up from Ulrike Schümann as her tactician.

Both Match Race Germany and the ISAF World Match Racing Tour actively welcome female entries to the Tour series which provides an amazing opportunity for these sailors to race against some of the world class match racers on a level field.

Kadelback is originally a 470 dinghy helm having finished 10th overall at the 2008 World Championships, she then moved into women’s match racing when it became an Olympic discipline as did many of the world’s top female athletes. Kadelback made the decision to step back slightly and helm for Schümann who already had a 4th place at the Games in the Yngling class. This produced a very successful team dynamic and the ladies finished 2nd in the 2009 World Cup.

At the Qualifier for Match Race Germany, the Open German Championship, the helm and crew decided to change positions.

“I moved into skipper position and Schümann chose to be tactician for training purposes and also for fun,” Kadelback explained about the change. This new set up produced a winning overall result out of all the male and female entries and guaranteed Kadelback’s wild card entry to the ISAF World Match Racing Tour, Stage 2.

“Competing at Match Race Germany is a big pleasure for our team as we are able to race against the best teams in the world”, said Kadelback. This will be the first time in Match Race Germany’s history that there will be a female contending and is a proud moment for the two ladies.

more here

Cristabella is one of the oldest boats in the 11 strong TP52 Series fleet but they were able to slip past 2009′s defending champions Emirates Team New Zealand on the final run, to take first gun.

Changes to the crew line up, a new rig and a change of sail brand may have contributed to Cristabella’s success today – one which will not only be an early season morale-boost to owner John Cook and his team – but it proves that race wins in this fleet need not only be restricted to top budget teams with very recent boats, particularly on this race very open race course which was peppered with wind shifts, gusts and changes in wind pressure.

Champions Emirates Team New Zealand looked ominous and were never out of the top two except when they ducked sterns to get to the slightly favoured right of the first beat. They lead around the final windward mark but gybed slightly early, mid way down the final leg, giving opportunity to Cristabella to profit by holding on longer.

Newcomers TeamOrigin (GBR) made an excellent start to their first official practice race in the fleet with their boat which was only named officially this morning. With four times Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie (GBR) steering, and reigning Star Olympic champions Iain Percy (GBR) and Andrew Simpson (GBR) conspiring to make the tactical calls, TeamOrigin 1851 was in contention until the leeward gate at the end of the first round of the 2.1 miles windward-leeward track. A fouled retrieval line on their spinnaker dropped them back into the body of the pack and they crossed in eighth.

The race course area falls under the combined influences of the Cascais shoreline and the stronger gradient NW’ly breeze further out to sea, making for interesting differences in wind pressure between the leeward and windward marks.

On this more inshore of Cascais’ two possible course arenas, today proved that afterguard members, charged with making the tactical calls, will either relish and rise to the challenges, or live to rue missed opportunities.

As Cristabella’s tactician John Cutler noted sagely: ” I think all the tacticians are going to be pretty tired after this week. It is a pretty tough race course with big shifts. And that makes it a hard place to sail. If that is where we are going to sail then we can come first or last and it will be pretty easy to do both.”

Tomorrow sees the first live broadcast of Audi MedCup TV in www.medcup.org which will show all the action from the race course as from 12:50h. The GP42 Series have their first practice race of the season and were all on the water training today, except defending champion Puerto Calero (ESP), who only arrived this afternoon after a difficult delivery passage from the Canary Islands.

Portugal Trophy, Cascais
Official Training Race

TP52 Series
1. Cristabella (GBR), 01:03:24
2. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), +00:08
3. Matador (ARG), +00:20

more here