Greetings yachties,
I hope you have had a chance to watch some of the live racing on sail.tv on the home page? I know I have enjoyed catching up with the latest action after I check my virtual Volvo 70 on Sail on line. 
In this issue:
ISAF – Making Waves latest issue here,
Abby Sunderland,
AC 34 – ISAF report here
Start them young,
LouisVuitton World Series,
Jessica Watson sets sail again
Lady Gaga,
Superyacht Business News, here
Enjoy
Today was a very quiet day windless day. It has been a long time since I’ve jumped up and down over a 5 knot gust! It should be picking up soon though and in a few days I’ll have 30-40 knots. Really looking forward to that! For now it is rest and prepare…
Valencia Sailing
Valencia Designers Meeting (part III): Interview with Giovanni Ceccarelli
We continue our coverage of the 34th America’s Cup designers meeting that took place on May 18th in Valencia with the third installment. Today, we talk to Giovanni Ceccarelli, the Italian yacht designer, one of the 19 participants in that meeting. In the 31st America’s Cup, Ceccarelli was the chief designer of Mascalzone Latino while in the 32nd edition in Valencia, he was in charge of design at +39 Challenge.
Valencia Sailing: What vision did you personally express then? What boat did you say you would like to have in the 34th America’s Cup?
Giovanni Ceccarelli: First of all, let me tell you one thing. That meeting was a very important step towards a transparent and democratic America’s Cup, the fact we were invited and asked to give our personal view. Without any doubt that meeting was a sign of openness.
Valencia Sailing: Of course, having an open discussion is nice but do you think that at the end your opinion, and that of the other designers, will be taken into account or do you think BMW Oracle went to the meeting with a project in their pocket?
Giovanni Ceccarelli: No, I don’t think they already have a design in their pocket. I think they have their vision which is to race this America’s Cup with a new boat that can offer close, fast, much more athletic and dynamic races. It’s true that the yacht rule is legacy of the Defender but it’s also legacy of the sailing world in general and I mean the entire sailing industry.
The America’s Cup has an influence on every aspect of the sailing industry and as a result it must always create new trends, experiments and for that reason, I think the new boat must reflect all that. I don’t think they already have a pre-defined idea for the new yacht, whether it’s a monohull or a multihull. In fact, they presented a monuhull concept and two multihull concepts, let’s say a small trimaran of 20 meters and a big trimaran of 25 meters. The monohull was approximately 27 meters long.
Grandchildren of Ken Beashel. The oldest is 18-months-old.
The photo of the kids comes via Warwick ‘Commodore’ Tompkins of the Mill Valley-based Wylie 38+ Flashgirl. Tompkins used to compete against Beashel in the ’60s and ’70s. Beashel then started Beashel Boatworks in Pittwater, specializing in wooden boats. He built the skiff in this photo, which features a bulb keel. Colin, one of Beashel’s sons and dad to the two boys, now runs the boatyard but was seen at the helm of a number of Australian America’s Cup challengers in his day. Beashel’s other son, Adam, has been with Team New Zealand and other high-end campaigns.
Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy’s Mascalzone Latino, both currently second equal, will be key to resolving the other top places. Tonight, all four boats are at the top of the points table with only one point separating them.
Strong gusty northwest winds curtailed racing for much of the day and only two races were sailed in 20-knot winds, close to the top limit for competition, before race officials abandoned racing until tomorrow.
A bad gennaker takedown that led to a crew injury knocked TEAMORIGIN out of the running for a top place. The British boat, skippered by Ben Ainslie, had made a strong start, only to be overtaken by Mascalzone Latino on the first leg of their race together. Ainslie closed down on the Italian boat and led by three seconds at the end of the first run.
Things went wrong on the gennaker drop and as it went overboard, a sheet wrapped around the leg of trimmer Mike Mottl and started to drag him over the side.
“We had to slow the boat down to cut the rope off his foot and then got going again,” said mainsheet hand Chris Salthouse. “We were obviously all very concerned about his injury, Mike was very brave to continue to race hard thoughout the rest of the race and we hope he will be back on the boat as soon as possible.”
Hospital authorities tonight reported that Mottl had no broken bones. They were still assessing muscle injuries.
Racing ended prematurely at 1900, when there was a steering linkage problem with ITA 90, one of the Mascalzone Latino boats. Fortunately, the organisers now have the option of using one of the BMW Oracle Racing boats, USA87, which was damaged earlier in the regatta. The BOR shore crew has been working around the clock to affect repairs and the boat could be available for racing, if necessary, on Thursday.
1. Artemis, 6-2, 6 points
=2. All4One, 5-3, 5 points
=2. Emirates Team New Zealand, 5-3, 5 points
=2. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 6-2, 5 points *
=2. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 5-4, 5 points
6. Azzurra, 4-5, 4 points
7. TEAMORIGIN, 4-5, 4 points
8. Luna Rossa, 3-6, 3 points
9. BMW Oracle Racing Team, 3-6, 3 point
10. ALEPH Sailing Team, 2-7, -2 points *
* Penalties deducted by Jury/Umpires
Live television returns for decisive days of Louis Vuitton Trophy
The final four days of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena will be televised around the globe, live, beginning on 3rd June. In territories without live television, fans can pick up the programme on a live internet stream.
With 10 of the best sailing teams in the world duelling on the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean off Sardinia, the Louis Vuitton Trophy is a premiere sailing competition featuring America’s Cup style match racing.
The television production will be the next best thing to being there, with inputs from two on board cameras, two chase-boat cameras and a helicopter, as well as VirtualEye animation graphics, on board audio, and expert commentary.
The live television feed will be available both online and from broadcasters. The internet feed will be streamed on the event website, louisvuittontrophy.com with English and Italian commentary.
Broadcasters taking the live television feed include Italy’s RAI network, Russia’s NTV, ESPN360 in the USA, and SailingChannel in Europe, while SailTV will stream the broadcast over the web. The SailTV web player for the Louis Vuitton Trophy has also been distributed free as an embed to dozens of top sailing sites worldwide.
In addition to the live production, the 36-strong television production crew is making six highlight shows (of 26 minutes each) as well as a final 26-minute wrap-up programme. These are being shown around the world by select broadcasters, including BSkyB in the UK, Italy’s RAI, Canal+ in France, NTV plus in Russia, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SailingChannel across Europe, as well as Eurosport Asia.
A shorter series of programmes (4X20 minutes) are being shown in Spain, Sweden, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa as well as on Fox Sports in the Middle East, South America, Africa and the United States and ESPN/Star in Asia.
The action at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena has been among the best yet, and as the field of 10 gets whittled down to a final champion over the final four days of competition, the racing is only going to get more compelling. Don’t miss it.
more sailtv here or the home page
Well after a few busy weeks in Sydney and brief visits to Brisbane and Melbourne, Ella’s Pink Lady and I are back on the water sailing up the coast with Big Wave Rider. We’re not planning to arrive until Sunday the 6th, so we’ve got plenty of time to take it easy and stop off at a few places.
I’ve been having an amazing time back on land, but I am even more thrilled to be back on the water again. It’s strange being back on Ella’s Pink Lady and getting used to her motion and all the noses again. And as great as it is to be sailing with crew,it also takes a little getting used to. Ella’s Pink Lady doesn’t have a big cockpit, so it took a bit of working out (and a few elbows in faces!) where everyone needs to be, during a tack or jybe.
In between everything in Sydney I’ve also finally had the chance to catch up on reading a lot of my messages and mail. I’ve really enjoyed hearing from so many people particularly young girls telling me about their dreams. I remember how un-confident I use to be and it’s made me realise that without the support and encouragement that Mum and so many others gave me back when I was first learning to sail, I’d never have made it around the world and would still be that un-confident little girl.
This post is tagged Abby Sunderland, AC 34, isaf, Jessica Watson, Lady Gaga, latest issue here, LouisVuitton World Series, Making Waves, Superyacht Business News
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