Greetings yachties, just back from a busy weekend of yachting.
Artemis leads and BMW Oracle Racing leaves
Sweden’s Artemis climbed to the lead of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena today with a victory over Emirates Team New Zealand.
After six races in winds ranging from 15 to 20 knots the scoreboard now shows Artemis first with six points, and Emirates Team New Zealand and SYNERGY Russian Sailing Team equal second with five points. Only eight teams will qualify for the quarter finals.
With just four races remaining in the round robin, America’s BMW Oracle Racing and the French ALEPH Racing Team, with ninth and tenth places respectively, are on the outside, looking in.
James Spithill and Oracle, the winners of the America’s Cup, decisively won races today against Italy’s Mascalzone Latino and Azzurra, but the late improvement in form still left them in ninth place. With all their races complete the Americans are effectively eliminated.
ICAP Leopard Begins Transatlantic Record Attempt
Today, at 18h 45m 38s UTC, ICAP Leopard, the 100ft super-maxi racing yacht owned by Helical Bar PLC chief executive Mike Slade, crossed the start line at Ambrose Light to begin her attempt on the 2,925 nautical mile monohull transatlantic speed record. ICAP Leopard will need to cross the finish line at Lizard Point before 12h 37m UTC on Saturday 5th June to break the current record held by Mari Cha IV of 6 days, 17 hours and 52 minutes.
Starting in 15 knots of wind, ICAP Leopard will head north to hook into a weather system developing over Nova Scotia this weekend. It is hoped that ICAP Leopard will be able to ride this weather system all the way across, however she may encounter some high pressure on the approach to the UK. It is hoped a fast start will give ICAP Leopard a good chance of getting through the high pressure and across the line in record time.
ICAP Leopard will be carrying a GPS tracker during her record attempt, to follow her progress online go to: leopard3.com
Captains blog – Where are they now?
Day 3
Monday 31 May:
Yesterday was a pretty tough day! We always knew it was going to be to stay up to pace with the front we were riding to try and stay in the stronger SW wind. All day it was reef in, reef out, squalls, change spinnaker according to the wind and sea state due to the fact we were also in the gulfstream. (ie a large river of warm water that snakes along the USA eastern sea board and runs up to 6 knots from South to North)
It is very frustrating sailing trying to make decisions on sail plan to keep the boat rolling along safely but fast. In the early hours of this morning we went back to our A-5 spinnaker for a period but the drivers could not distinguish between the sea and the horizon as we had no moon or stars just as black as the inside of a cow! We were surfing along at 35 knots and decided to reduce sail as it was too risky. Right now we are on the north side of the front in a much better sea way in 20-25 knots of wind making good progress towards the UK with the odd surf up into the 30’s but generally sitting on mid 20’s. Not exactly where we planned to be on the race course but we have to deal with our circumstances and see how it all pans out.
After greeting thousands of fans in Brisbane and Melbourne through the week, as part of the Ella Bache Welcome Home Tour, Jessica is now preparing to sail back to her home on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, where she is expected to sail in on Sunday, 6 June.
Jessica has been based on the northern beaches of Sydney since arriving on 15 May and has kept herself active ever since, swimming with sharks at Manly, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and dining out with family and friends.
On Wednesday, Jessica flew to Brisbane to say hello to her fans at an appearance in Queen Street Mall, then she flew to Melbourne where she made an appearance the next day at Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, signing autographs for hundreds of fans and supporters.
Many parents attended with their children and praised Jessica as a terrific role model for young girls, and even pulled their kids out of school to meet Jessica.
Jessica admitted she is still getting used to her newfound celebrity status.
“It’s very overwhelming. All that time by yourself and suddenly you’re surrounded by so many people, but everyone has been so friendly,” said Jessica.
On a wet Sydney Saturday morning today, Jessica and some friends sailed Ella’s Pink Lady out of the National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour, where it has been on display for the past two weeks.
Last night Alex Thomson’s new HUGO BOSS IMOCA 60 was officially unveiled at an exclusive launch event at the East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf. Hollywood leading lady, Diane Kruger, joined F1 racing driver David Coulthard, and a host of other celebrities, as Thomson’s new yacht was christened in front of an audience of 650 guests. The boat has undergone a dramatic redesign over the last four months under the guidance of yacht designer Juan Kouyoumdjian. HUGO BOSS stands as the most powerful boat in the IMOCA 60 fleet and over the next few months, Thomson will undertake a rigorous testing and training schedule which will involve a transatlantic and Mediterranean sailing programme before heading to Spain for the start of the Barcelona World Race in December.
Records ahead for the Mirabaud LX 2010
Copyright Pierre-Alain Folliet / Mirabaud LX
The experimental Mirabaud LX sailboat, version 2010, has recently been put through its first trial runs. Thomas Jundt’s foiler, which underwent improvements over the winter, is now poised to set new records on Lake Geneva and participate in the Weymouth Speed Week next October.
Geneva, 31 May 2010 – The Mirabaud LX sailboat, version 2010, undertook its first trials during the month of May. Sponsored by Mirabaud & Cie, private bankers, Thomas Jundt’s foiler has impressed the international sailing community since its first launch in 2008. The video of the now famous flying hull-less boat, posted on YouTube, has been viewed nearly 30,000 times. Today, the sailboat’s latest innovations for 2010 are unveiled.
First of all, the float has been modified in order to improve stability by light wind. In principle, the flying boat doesn’t need a hull; however a float is necessary under eight knots of breeze. The volume has thus been increased from 800 to 1200 liters, while the stern now measures 1.2 meters, the same width as an Australian 18-footer.
A new system for adjusting the forward foil has also been developed to improve sailing in choppy conditions. Indeed, the previous mechanical system was unable to anticipate the waves. A crewmember now observes the waves and can manually adjust the foils’ incidence whilst sailing at high speed.
A centerboard that allows a rapid change of foils has also been developed. The current foils limit the boat’s speed to about 23 knots. Smaller foils, which have been designed to attain speeds of up to 28 knots, will be installed during the summer.
Thomas Jundt, the engineer who conceived the Mirabaud LX and crewmember, said after the first trials: “When I look at the Mirabaud LX today and compare it with the first version from 2008, I have to say that I am very pleased. Starting with a conceptual prototype that had room for lots of improvement, we have ended up with today’s nearly perfect foiler. Everything we have done makes sense, and the boat now looks like a fully realized concept. The hardest thing to manage in this adventure, since we all have other professional commitments, is to find the time to do the fine-tuning.”
The Mirabaud LX’s goals for 2010 are to set new records on Lake Geneva, namely for the kilometer, the hour and the Ruban Violet (which uses the same route as the Bol d’Or Mirabaud). The crew will also participate in the famous Weymouth Speed Week in October. Other regattas are also on the agenda, such as the Geneva-Rolle-Geneva regatta, which the team won last year ahead of Jo Richards’ famous Full Pelt.
EUROPEAN 18ft SKIFF CHAMPIONSHIP
The Fraglia della vela di Malcesine and the European 18ft Skiff Association will conduct the European 18ft Skiff Championship, which begins at Malcesine on Lake Garda, Italy today (29 May).
A fleet of 13 teams representing seven countries will contest the championship. Heading the entry list is the current Giltinan Championship-winning team of Seve Jarvin and Gotta Love It 7 from Australia. Jarvin, as well as being the current Giltinan champion, was also the winning skipper in 2008 and crewed with Euan Mc Nicol in a 2005 victory. Another past Giltinan and European champion, Howie Hamlin (USA) will be one of Jarvin’s strongest opponents along with two fellow Australians Grant Rollerson (SLAM) and John Winning Jr. (appliancesonline.com.au).
Entries are:
Flemming Clausen (Denmark)
Howie Hamlin (USA)
Grant Rollerson (Australia)
John Winning Jr. (Australia)
Seve Jarvin (Australia)
Friedrich Renner (Germany)
Miklos Ujhelyi-Gaspar (Hungary)
Norbert Peter (Germany)
Olivier Dumaine (France)
Andreas Pfeningberger (Hungary)
Jarrod Simpson (UK)
Jack Grogan (UK)
Christoph Hagenmeyer (Germany)
New Zealand beats BMW Oracle Racing at La Maddalena
A hard-fought battle between Emirates Team New Zealand’s Dean Barker and BMW Oracle Racing’s James Spithill at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena today went the Kiwis’ way when the American team lost a penalty call in an aggressive luffing match approaching the second weather mark.
“It was close, just half a metre between the boats, as close as you’d ever want to be,” said Barker, describing the incident . “You could lean across and shake hands if you wanted to.”
Sailed in the blustery 18 to 20 knot winds of a building mistral, the match was the only one sailed today as the wind continued to increase in intensity. Racing was canceled for the day as crews prepared for a second race between the Kiwi boat and Sweden’s Artemis.
Race officials later cancelled all racing on Monday when the heavy winds of the mistral are forecast to make conditions impossible for competition. They plan to resume on Tuesday and complete the remaining races of the round robin on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Today, the umpires penalized Oracle when Team New Zealand luffed their opponent, forcing them up head-to-wind, as the boats raced side-by-side towards the weather mark on port tack.
“They made a gain to the left approaching the top mark,” Barker said. “They were in a position where they probably would have led us around if we didn’t make something happen, so we did a couple of luffs. The first one, we were required to give them room to get clear but they didn’t take the room straight away and make an attempt to keep clear so we luffed a second time and could easily have made contact with them if we hadn’t avoided. The umpires saw it the same way and penalized them.”
The confrontation momentarily cost the New Zealanders the lead and gave the advantage to Oracle, so the umpires added a red flag calling for an immediate penalty turn. The American boat circled before rounding the mark but was judged not to have completed a full turn. The umpires called for a second circle before clearing Oracle.
“It was a good hard race for us. We back our crew work against any team and we came out on the right side of that one,” Barker said. “It’s hard because the emphasis has got to be on keeping the boats apart. We can’t afford any more damage here with one pair of boats already out of action.”
more later
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