Greetings yachties,
In this issue:
Audi MedCup
l’Hydroptère – Re-launched,
E5.9 – Voodoo Wins,
Veolia Environnement,
Mini650,
Wakaracing,
Jessica Watson – Where is she now?
Full Metal Jacket Racing,
Edwin Delaat,
Monofoil,
Nespresso Cup, – website,
Vendée Saint-Pétersbourg 2010,
Ken Ring Predict Weather
Figaro Transat,
Wilson Trophy British Open Team Racing Championships,
Team Tunnicliffe,
Enjoy
Three teams are new to the TP52 Series on the 2010 Audi MedCup Circuit. The pressure is growing as the official practice race for the Portugal Trophy is scheduled for Tuesday. Wind conditions have been near perfect for final tuning and testing.
As the welcome spring sunshine warmed the docksides around Portugal?s Marina de Cascais, pushing the mercury back up to more seasonable daytime values, so the tension is also rising as the start of the 2010 Audi MedCup Circuit is just two days away.
Wednesday will see the first points-scoring races for the TP52 Series. Today (Monday) saw all 11 TP52?s on the open waters off Cascais making best use of the excellent 10-13 knots of NW?ly breeze.
For the well prepared crews this was an ideal opportunity to speed-check against what are considered the form teams. Others are still up very much up against the clock in their quest to be fully competitive by the time that Race 1 of 2010 comes under starter?s orders at 1300hrs local time.
Informal racing since Sunday seems to have confirmed that 2009?s prime movers have given nothing away in the new 2010 TP52 configurations. Emirates Team New Zealand, the defending champions, won at least two of Sunday?s ad-hoc skirmishes, and Matador (ARG), fourth overall in 2009, have been quick ? showing the benefit of their solid training and early season race programme in Palma and Valencia.
Three TP52 teams are new to the Audi MedCup Circuit. Britain?s TeamOrigin have four times Olympic medal winning Ben Ainslie (GBR) steering the only new build TP52 boat this season. Their radical looking design, the first MedCup TP52 by Argentina?s Juan Kouyoumdjian is using small winglets on the back edge of their keel bulb. By all accounts, so far the not-so-secret weapon may be contributing to their good upwind speed, but the jury is still out on their downwind speed. And, for all that their afterguard have a clutch of seven Olympic medals between them, the majority of the crew are rookies when it comes to the finer points of setting up and racing in the TP52 class.
Sunday was just the first day of training on board the Franco-German Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE and Monday morning Germany?s four times Olympic medallist Jochen Schuemann, skipper and tactician, admitted that they still had technical issues to deal with, as well as trying to get their crew-work up to speed before Race 1 gets under way. Schuemann is no stranger to the class, skippering Platoon powered by Team Germany to fifth place.
Even if the most medalled of all the Olympians here, Brasil?s Torben Grael has had just one day sailing so far with Italy?s TP52 newcomers Luna Rossa, but their sailing team is one of the strongest, their 2008 build Rolf Vrolijk design is a good allround boat and they are tipped to be serious contenders this season.
A relatively moderate, modest start may be expected for the start of the regatta but winds are forecast to increase through into the weekend offering the promise of the exciting, adrenalin fuelled action which the Audi MedCup Circuit has been known for.
Ahead may be a long, gruelling season of up to 50 races at five regattas in four European countries, but all contenders in Cascais know the importance of making the best possible start. With four America?s Cup teams amidst the 11 strong TP52 Series fleet, and a high number of Olympic medallists, the bar is set still higher than ever.
The five strong GP42 fleet is assembling in readiness for their first practise race, scheduled for Wednesday.
For the first time the live Audi MedCup TV programming starts Wednesday on medcup.org, beginning 10 minutes before racing is scheduled.
Quotes:
Ray Davies (NZL), tactician Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
?It is the same old story We need to avoid the shockers and that is what we did do last year, keeping it consistent.?”The level is raised again There have been configuration changes to boats and so it will be interesting to see how everyone settles out of that.?
? We are expecting potentially slightly windier events this year. You have be careful you don?t break something because then you miss the next race as well.?
Terry Hutchinson (USA), skipper-helm Quantum Racing (USA):
” The job this year is the same as it was last year, to see if we can find ourselves on to the podium. A lot of the guys we have here thought that 2009 was in some ways more rewarding than 2008, simply because we were sailing a 14 month old boat and were able to beat two of the three new boats. Here, we have the addition of TeamOrigin and Luna Rossa, those are quite good sailing teams. Luna Rossa are sailing a boat which I suspect is still a very, very good boat. And so I think this just reeks of a lot of hard work all season long. We are quietly optimistic about some of the things we have done, and we are pushing hard to make sure we are either on the top of the podium or somewhere near the top of the podium.”
Mike Sanderson (NZL), Team Director, Deckhand TeamOrigin (GBR):
? Yes, I?m worried expectations will be high, but we are our own worst enemies in that respect. We are competitive bunch and really want to do well, but we need to stay grounded. For sure between us all there is a worry on that front, and to be honest we were well aware of that when we made the decision to come in to the fleet. But we hope we can get out there and mix it up, and really all we can do is go as hard as we can to get up to speed as quickly as we can. We think that the guys we have will do that completely and very quickly, but it will actually take a few days to work out how much work we actually have to do.?
Torben Grael (BRA), tactician Luna Rossa (ITA):
?I have only had one day on the boat so far, so we are still learning, but the boat has done some sailing off Valencia. This is just the start of a long and new campaign and so we are still learning the boat. I sailed before in the TP52 at the King?s Cup. This is a very competitive fleet with some very good boats. I am sure it will be hard racing, but it will be fun racing and I am looking forward to it. There are all these good people here with good boats, but I think the boats mostly go at about the same speeds, so it will be difficult.?
l’Hydroptère was launched in Lorient on the third of May 2010 after four months at the shipyard. Lifted by crane in front of her shed, she was then moored at the pontoon of ‘La Cité de la Voile Eric Tabarly’. She will stay there for one week, in order for the team to prepare and equip her for her first sailing sessions.
After having experienced very high speeds and achieved a double absolute sailing speed record in 2009, Alain Thébault and his crew members are now heading to the open sea.
The ‘speed profile’ of the trimaran has been transformed into a more versatile configuration which enables offshore sailing.
Voodoo (Simon Manning, Andy Robertson and Phil Quinn – RAYC) was the convincing winner of the 2010 Elliott 5.9 Auckland Champs. Winning 6 of the 8 races, Voodoo finished comfortably ahead of current national champions Slam Dunk (Cameron Horne, Brett Elliott and Miles Addy).
The regatta was well managed by BBYC and sailed in conjunction with the SR26 National Champs.
With a forboding forecast on Sunday, the sailors were prepared for a windy and wet day of racing however this did not eventuate. Instead of rain, the two fleets enjoyed mild temperatures, a 10-15 knot breeze with flat water – and some very tight racing.
With a relatively comfortable lead going into the last three races, Voodoo made sure of the regatta with an all-the-way win in Race 6. Slam Dunk was second by a whisker over the fast finishing Sub 60 (Stu Clarke, Chris MacIndoe and Chris Funnell – Auckland).
Veolia Extends Sailing Sponsorship to Kieler Woche.
Kieler Woche proudly presents its new premium partner for one of the largest sailing regattas in the world.
Veolia Umweltservice GmbH – a subsidiary company of Veolia Environnement has a long standing association with sailing and it is a good fit with the company’s brand. The company’s partnership with Roland Jourdain and his IMOCA 60 campaigns are collected together at a purpose built website which is a great example of how sailing can be used to activate sponsorship to communicate a wider message.
Good start at 11:20…
The fleet has set sails at 11:20 this morning and headed towards La
Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) for 465 nm. The wind was 5 / 6 knots east
sector (90 °). A windward mark was moored 1.3 miles off Cabo de San
Lorenzo in front the Island of Tortuga and Nicolas Boidevezi (719 – Défi
G.D.E) took the lead for protos ahead of Paul Marette (265 – Région Nord
Pas de Calais) and Milan Kolacek (759 – Follow me). Among series boats,
it’s Amaury François that was first to head North for his second crossing of the Bay of Biscay ahead Jean-Marc Allaire (464 -
Baker Tilly – AG2R La Mondiale) and Pierre Cizeau (746 – Colibri). Memo:
Ile d’Yeu to leave portside, the South Cardinal buoy named Sablaire to
leave starboard (46°43,7 – 02°19,4W), Belle Isle to be left portside,
the lighthouse of Birvideaux to circumvent and leave starboard (47°29.2N
- 03°17.4W), Belle Ile to leave starboard, mark buoy to leave portside,
the lighthouse of Chanchardon to leave portside, the tower of Antioch to
leave starboard, finish line between the buoy at the Minimes to leave
portside and a tetrahedral orange buoy to leave starboard. That will
meddle offshore and coastal course with all the difficulties that it
brings: night sailing, fishermen fleets, coastal effects, currents, and
tidal phenomenon… The firsts are expected Thursday in the late
afternoon in the Port Minimes.
Sunshine, a Ship and Engine Problems
Saturday, May 08, 2010
I’ve had lots of that lovely sunshine stuff lately and today I’m over the moon to see the cabin temperature sitting on 20 degrees! It’s been a while since it’s been that warm.
But not everything’s going as well as the weather.
The fuel system on the engine is still giving me grief, so I can’t get the engine to start. This isn’t the end of the world, it just means that I’ve got to be extra careful with power usage. If I can’t get it going again, then Jesse and Mike will just have to row Ella’s Pink Lady up to the dock after the finish line. No, only kidding, we’ll work something out. I would be very nice to motor in under our own steam, so I’ll keep trying.
Since I gave up on the food bag system and went for all my favorites a while ago, I’m starting to run out of good food. I’ve had to start eating the stuff I’d normally leave (I know it serves me right!), but on the up side, I’ve got so much spare fresh water, that I’ve been able to use it for washing. Other than that, the dunny has also decided not to play nicely, which is also ore annoying than anything. I mean couldn’t it wait just one more week before refusing to work?
Last night the AIS also picked up the first ship I’ve seen since under Africa, but it didn’t come close and I’m pretty surprised that it’s the only one I’ve seen.
If you’ve had a bit of a look at the voyage map or if you’re familiar with these waters, you’re probably wondering why it’s taking so long to get to Sydney. If I was in any sort of rush or the weather was miserable, yes I could get in before the 15th. But I made the decision with my team a while back to set the 15th as the arrival date, so that I didn’t feel any pressure trying to meet an earlier date. And the reason that we’ve set a date at all, rather than just letting the wind blow Ella’s Pink Lady and I in at random, is because a lot of people needed to book flights and make arrangements.
Full Metal Jacket Racing is a yacht racing team consisting of William Tiller 20(Skipper), Harry Thurston 20(Main), Jono Spurdle 19(Pitman), Shaun Mason 20(Bow) and James Maloney 21(Trim). We are all graduates of the Royal New Zealand Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme. Upon graduation from this programme on the we have decided that we want to further our sailing by forming “FMJ Racing”. While in the Youth training programme we have all competed in many national and international match racing regattas performing extremely well. Combined we have won a total of 12 major youth regattas along with a lot of podium finishes. We have won the three biggest youth match racing regattas (Gov’s Cup, Warren Jones and Harken)
Edwin Delaat,
For immediate publication
Edwin Delaat
Edwin Delaat Owner/skipper of Crac-A-Jac a Farr 727 intends to enter the
SSANZ Triple Series 2010. The Liston college year 9 student is using this
series as another stepping stone to his long term goal of competing in a
Volvo Ocean Race in future. Edwin is competing in the upcoming Auckland
to Fiji Ocean Race this month and is crew member on Starlight Express.
Edwin intends to follow in the foot steps of some of New Zealands greatest
ocean sailors, like his longtime hero’s Sir Peter Blake and Grant
Dalton.He would like to take this opportunity to thank all his supporters
and sponsors and invites people to follow him on his facebook page and
website.
for media details please contact
Adrian Delaat JP
World Sailing Teams Association welcomes the plan for the 34th America’s Cup
On Thursday in Rome, the Defender and Challenger of Record for the 34th America’s Cup issued details of their plan for the next Match.
The two teams, BMW ORACLE Racing and Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, are both among the founding members of the World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA).
At the first press conference of the 34th America’s Cup, they signalled a new era of cooperation between all teams with a promise to engage in consultation and cooperation on all major issues in building the next event.
“We want discussion and debate now in order to avoid disagreement later,” said Russell Coutts, the CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. “Our minds and our ears are open.”
Coutts went on to describe their desire to build a series of regular, annual events that will help to “transform the America’s Cup into a viable, exciting platform which teams and commercial partners will find irresistible…
“A circuit of events will take the America’s Cup to new audiences, where people can see the sailing stars of today and the new stars of tomorrow. Teams will enjoy regular racing and extra visibility in different locations and markets.
“We are working closely with the World Sailing Teams Association on a proposal for their events to be integrated into the big picture of the America’s Cup,” Coutts went on to say.
“Fair and equal representation for the teams and a regular calendar of global events will represent real value that the teams can pass along to their sponsors.”
Paul Cayard, six-time America’s Cup competitor and President of the World Sailing Teams Association, commented positively on Thursday’s announcements:
“I think that what BMW ORACLE Racing is offering to the America’s Cup community is exactly what has been needed for some time. Fortunately for everyone, they are willing to cede a lot of authority to create a more professional and credible sporting event.
“We look forward to collaborating with them to produce a truly spectacular sailing event.”
Later in the press conference, Vincenzo Onorato, Coutts’ counterpart with Mascalzone Latino Audi Team revealed key dates on the road to the America’s Cup.
- The Protocol will be published before 31st August
- The design rule will be published before 30th September
- The Notice of Race, and Sailing Instructions will be published before 31st December
- The Venue will be announced by the same date, 31st December
- The challenge period will be open from October 31st through January 31st, 2011
A NEW RACE BETWEEN VENDEE AND SAINT PETERSBURG
A new race reserved for Multi 50s has been created: the Vendée Saint-Petersburg. The first edition of the race is due to start from Saint Gilles Croix-de-Vie on 16th May with a total distance there and back of 3790 miles. Eight crews will be lining up at the start, including two of the latest racing machines in the class: Actual andCrêpes Whaou !
While most races see the competitors heading off to the west to cross the Atlantic, Vendée has come up with something new offering a brand new route to the Multi 50s, (50-foot trimarans), with the Atlantic, the English Channel, the North Sea and the Baltic ahead of them. In all, the race will cover the territorial waters of 14 countries before they finish in Saint-Petersburg in Russia on around 20th May 2010. The best boats like Franck-Yves Escoffier’s new Crêpes Whaou !andYves le Blevec’s Actual could complete the first stage of the race in less than five days at an average speed of 16 knots.
Vendredi 7 mai, ce sera donc linauguration officielle du village de la « Vendée Saint-Pétersbourg » en présence de Philippe de Villiers, Président du Conseil général de Vendée. Ce sera loccasion pour le public de voir la flotte des neufs trimarans dans le port de Saint-Gilles Croix-de-Vie avant leur envol le 16 mai à 12 heures locales.
Venez nous retrouver sur la web TV www.ocean-fanatics.com pour voir des milliers de vidéos.
In Australia, WA gets rain next week, the SE goes cold and showery in places, then all is mostly fine 12th-20th except for some rain in SA and VIC. Then some heavy rain 22nd-25th. IN NZ, plenty of overnight rain this coming week, from about Wednesday onwards, for most of the country. Queens Birthday weekend for NZ will probably be wet and snowy.
visit Ken’s YouTube channel here
Vive les grains !
A lapproche de larc Antillais, les premiers grains font leur apparition – et vont sintensifier dici à larrivée. Les duos de la Transat AG2R LA MONDIALE doivent donc composer avec les nuages : exploiter les accélérations en bordure et éviter les zones de pétole à larrière. De quoi ajouter encore un peu de piment à la régate !
Venez nous retrouver sur la web TV www.ocean-fanatics.com pour voir des milliers de vidéos.
Competitors at the 2010 Wilson Trophy British Open Team Racing Championships had an early start on day two of the event, with racing getting underway at eight o’clock sharp this morning. Conditions out on the marine lake at West Kirby were close to ideal for the second day of racing, with clearing skies and around eight to ten knots of breeze. All those teams with serious aspirations of a place in the final-eight knock out stages tomorrow knew that a strong performance today was vital. Unsurprisingly then, several teams came out fighting and the early rounds saw some frenetic action, which kept the spectators and the twenty-five water borne international umpires on their toes.
A redress claim for gear failure posted by reigning Wilson Trophy winners, the West Kirby Hawks, after their match with fierce rivals Team Extreme, was upheld overnight. In this morning’s re-sail the Hawks successfully overturned their defeat from the previous day. Whilst this turnaround propelled the local team right back into the hunt, there was no let up in the pressure from the American teams with Team Extreme, the Woonsocket Rockets and New York Red all putting in impressive performances to keep them firmly in the upper echelon of the leaderboard.
By late morning, Team Extreme and the Woonsocket Rockets were tied at the top of the board and when soon after these two teams faced off against each other, it was Team Extreme who prevailed with a 1,2,5 victory over their fellow countrymen. After going down to consecutive defeats from Imperial Poona and the Woonsocket Rockets, Royal Thames did well to regroup and chalk up vital victories over West Kirby sailing Club and New York Red, to keep their top eight prospects very much alive. However a remarkable unforced error just after lunch saw the Royal Thames sailors fail to make it out to the startline in time for their match against the West Kirby Hawks. This handed a welcome victory to the slightly bemused-looking Hawks, who cruised home in a relaxed 1,2,3 formation. The slugging match at the top of the table continued all afternoon with places changing constantly between the top five teams.
At around four thirty this afternoon and with a total of sixteen rounds sailed over the last two days, it was Team Extreme who sat in top position with thirteen wins out of sixteen races. In second was the West Kirby Hawks with twelve wins, ahead of the Royal Thames, New York Red, the George Knights and the Woonsocket Rockets all on eleven victories. Wessex Exempt and the Royal St. George YC closed out the final two of the top eight places at the end of the second day. Behind these teams overnight is a gaggle of ten boats all just one point adrift of the top eight.
The final stages of the Swiss League will be completed tomorrow morning, leaving the top eight teams to battle it out through the knockout quarter and semi-final rounds, for a coveted place in the Grand Final.
Full results at the end of day one can be found at the official website
West Kirby Sailing Club is grateful for the generous sponsorship of the following companies:
Buckley Industrial, Carlsberg, Deeside Services, G.L. Watson, Hilbre Off Sales, Musto, Peninsular Dev. NW, Rondar Raceboats, Serenity Clinic, Uren Food Group, West Kirby Lettings
images by Phil Shepherd.
May 8, 2010
Calpe, Spain
After four days of learning the boats, adjusting to new crew numbers, and tricky wind and sea conditions, Team Tunnicliffe finally knocked off last year’s champion to win the finals 3-1 at the XII International Women’s Match Race Criterium.
10_05_08_calpe_esp1_club_real_nautica
Molly, Liz, Mary, Debbie, Anna (Team Tunnicliffe) At The Awards Ceremony
Photo: (c) J L Studio Photography, May 2010
It was a beautiful day of sailing with a building sea breeze all day. With the building breeze, the wave state built too which made controlling the boat speed upwind quite tricky, but the downwind waves were a lot of fun to surf.
Our day started against Australia’s Katie Spithill. We started the semi’s yesterday and were tied at 1-1 going into this morning. In the first race, we drew a penalty on her upwind for tacking too close. She led us around the course and tried to draw us in on the final downwind leg, but we managed to hang back enough until we could pass her and win the race.
In the second race, we led around the mark but made a mistake downwind, and she passed us. We couldn’t get her back and she went on to tie up the series 2-2. In the final race, we led her off the line, and maintained the lead all around the course to take the win to advance to the finals against France’s Claire Leroy. Claire won her semi final match up against Spain’s Tamara Echegoyen 3-1.
more later… last race of Waiheke Boating Club today… very busy on my island 
A nice double to finish the season off
This post is tagged Andy Robertson, Audi Medcup, Edwin Delaat, Figaro Transat, Full Metal Jacket Racing, Gilles Martin-Raget, Jessica Watson, Ken Ring Predict Weather, Kiwi Match, l’Hydroptère, Mike Sanderson, Monofoil, Nespresso Cup, Phil Quinn, Phil Shepherd, ray davies, Simon Manning, Team Tunnicliffe, terry hutchinson, torben grael, Vendée Saint-Pétersbourg 2010, Waka Racing, Wilson Trophy British Open Team Racing Championships
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