Greetings yachties,
Merry Christmas yachties. While we are all sharing time with friends and family, a few are still at sea racing hard 
.
In this issue:
Camper update,
Rolex Sydney – Hobart – more here,
Hell on High Water,
SOL – AGage explains how accurate Sail on line is,
Sea Urchins Magazine,
Grant Dalton, – a big year for ETNZ,
Americas Cup YouTube channel here,
SL33 test bed catamarans,
Enjoy
this is what santa does in his spare time – click here
spur of the moment sailing in Plymouth
It’s a win for Telefonica! They crossed the finish line at 1757, just two minutes ahead of CAMPER
Team Telefónica will charge into 2012 as leaders of the Volvo Ocean Race after snatching victory over CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand in a thrilling finish to the first stage of Leg 2 from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi.
The final 24 hours came down to an intense match race between Iker Martínez’s Telefónica, winners of Leg 1 from Alicante to Cape Town, as well as the Cape Town In-Port Race, and CAMPER.
The stakes were high as the two teams headed towards the secret safe haven, with CAMPER needing to finish in front to leapfrog Telefónica and go top of the leaderboard.
Chris Nicholson’s team got close, leading for long periods over a thrilling final battle between Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but in the end Telefónica came through, grabbing the definitive lead with just eight nautical miles to go and eventually winning.
Telefónica finished at 1757:20 UTC, followed by CAMPER at 1759:17 UTC.
Nicholson’s three wise men shepherd CAMPER into the lead
12 hours later
CAMPER TAKE THE LEAD AS MISERABLE CREWS FIGHT CLOUDS
While Chris Nicholson took CAMPER past Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) and into the lead early this Christmas Eve morning, the hopes of Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) and PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA) were dashed again in the minefield that is the Doldrums.
“Last night was a night that started with so much promise,” said Read, whose team are now in fourth place and languish over 133 nautical miles (nm) behind the new leaders.
“We worked ourselves back into it yesterday afternoon and up until midnight. In the frustrating way this little adventure has gone so far, we get ourselves within six miles of Groupama 4 and then the next thing we know, we’re parked and they’re 35 miles ahead again,” Read said in a radio call to race headquarters in Alicante. He is trying to be positive, telling himself that ‘what goes around, comes around’, but all it takes is one cloud to dash the hopes of 11 men.
The position for Groupama 4 is slightly worse. The crew missed a massive cloud that could have propelled them out of the Doldrums, and although they are still in third place, they are over 95 nautical miles behind CAMPER. “Offshore racing is like that,” says MCM Yann Riou. “One day you feel very strong, the next very miserable. You have to take it as it is, or do another job.”
Jules Salter, navigator of fifth-placed Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam (Ian Walker/GBR), says, “You can never see what you have missed in the Doldrums until it is too late”.
New leader CAMPER and second-placed Telefónica, 21 nm behind, are relishing the new westerly breeze and are making good speeds of 12-14 knots with much better angles to the wind, while 161 nm back, Ian Walker and his men are struggling to keep Azzam moving.
Although the crew of CAMPER are happy to be in the lead, they are also philosophical. “Good days don’t matter too much unless it is the last part of the last day of a leg. So, just like the bad days, you take it for what it is, forget about it and keep sailing as you as you were – as fast as you possibly can,” says MCM Hamish Hooper.
CAMPER’s decision along with Telefonica to opt for a more easterly crossing of the doldrums zone has for the time being at least paid dividends with CAMPER managing to pull in a 108 mile deficit on yesterday’s leader Groupama.
CAMPER is now in second place just 28 nautical miles behind new race leader Telefonica. Groupama is another 43 miles further back.
CAMPER and Telefonica’s tactical decision to split from the fleet when entering the doldrums saw them enjoying boat speeds of up to 15 knots while the more westerly boats were struggling to get over 10 knots.
CAMPER Skipper Chris Nicholson says however that it is still early days and that the unpredictable conditions could still deliver another shake-up.
“I’m pretty happy with how we’ve gone so far in getting across the doldrums and am confident that we’re positioned in the right spot, but a lot will come down to the sort of shape we exit the doldrum in and pick up the new breeze.
“So until then I’m not making any assumptions and we’re going to keep on pushing hard for every metre of advantage we can get. Things can change very quickly out here and it wouldn’t surprise me if we see a few more lead changes over the next day or two.
Wild Oats XI Leads Investec Loyal Out Of Sydney Harbour
by Jim Gale/Rolex Sydney Hobart media
Despite her electric mainsail winch failing just 11 minutes before the start of the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart, Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI led the rest of the 88 boat fleet through Sydney Heads. In the final minutes before the start, Wild Oats XI’s mainsheet was led through headsail winches as crew frantically worked below decks on the winch’s electronic drive. The pressure didn’t prevent Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards winning the start at his favourite pin, or western end of the start line.
Just metres behind the five-time Rolex Sydney Hobart honours line winner was Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal, the biggest threat to Richard’s ambition of a sixth line honours victory on the silver grey racer.
Bell declared before the race that he would go for broke, putting as much pressure on the race favourite as possible, and he began the race the way he intends to sail it, forcing Wild Oats XI to tack back to the west as she tried to get away from the tightly packed spectator fleet under Clifton Gardens.
Eventually, with all her winches back on line as they approached Sydney Heads and after slam dunking Investec Loyal as the two boats tacked towards the turning mark, Wild Oats XI seemed to hit her stride at last and began inching away from her rival.
txt From Outrageous Fortune: “found a crack in the starboard spreader, reinforcing with ali strap – hope it holds or we will lose the rig”
news item on TVNZ here
update: “All fixed, Boyd used 3mm alloy and riveted it round the spreader. Strong as bro. Have found cracks on all spreaders. Apparently it is a Beneteau problem. They solve it by putting boots in.”
“What we are doing is supporting it – we’re wrapping a bit of aluminum around it, rivet it and glue it on.
“We’ve come a long way. We’re not going to stop.
“There’s no way we’re not going to race.”
One of just seven overseas entries in this year’s race, Outrageous Fortune sailed from home to Sydney in just over a week.
The crew of eight is comprised entirely of New Zealanders, with only one having completed a Hobart before.
Fowler said he had tried to get on a Hobart boat before, but ultimately decided to bring his own, which is now New Zealand’s sole standard bearer in this year’s race.
“In New Zealand, we know the Sydney Hobart is happening, but I think due to the cost of it, a lot of us unfortunately can’t make it,” Fowler said.
Race the Tasman Double this Christmas weekend on SOL
Tasman Double 2011 – Sydney to Hobart. SOL invites you to race your 90ft monohull in the traditional 625nm Boxing Day run from Sydney to Hobart.
How accurate is the Sailonline simulator?
Just how accurate is the ocean racing simulator run by Sailonline.org?
And just how well sailed are the courses?
by AGage
Recently SOL finished a facsimile of Leg 1 in the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race . A few minor differences in the polar were noted, by the time SOL reached the Noronha mark – namely, sailonline were little faster in the light airs, while the real boats were a little faster in the heavy breezes – but this is somewhat expected as the SOL polar was modelled after the 2010 designed yachts. SOL uses the NOAA GFS gribs for it’s weather data during the race, updated according to NOAA’s schedule – four times daily. So, provided with accurate boat performance and weather data, how does SOL perform?
Answering this question normally, only a technical mathematical answer could really be given. But the recent running of the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), parallel to a facsimile of the course and boats on SOL, the ’Sailonline World Race’ (SWR), offers a unique opportunity to get a ‘real world benchmark’ of just how accurate SOL is.
And just how good are those who compete there….?
Numbers still provide a good comparison though – and Elapsed Time is the obvious metric to compare. Team Telefónica, a Spanish team, won Leg 1 of the VOR in 21 days 5 hours and 14 minutes. Leg 1 of the SWR was won by the boat ’76Trombones’, sailing out of Canada, in 21 days 10 hours and 56 minutes. The time posted by 76Trombones, would have resulted in a 2nd place had a boat in the VOR set it.
Now, just reading those times, they are obviously close, but there is, in fact, only a shade over 1% between them. 1.1% more precisely. That is simply amazing, over 3+ weeks or more than 500 hours, of ocean racing.
Now also consider budget and effort. Technology etc. While it is clear that a lot of time and dedication went into creating the SOL simulator (and I refer almost exclusively to the server-side of things here), it rather pales when compared to multi-million dollar budgets and building on years of manufacture & design experience and development. Likewise the number of man-hours Telefónica must have dedicated to this race – even divided by 9 to compute a ‘per race’ figure – probably equals the entire life-time of the lone skipper/navigator of 76Trombones (yes I pulled that ‘lifetime’ figure out of nowhere, but it seems realistic to me). I can hardly imagine more diametric opposites in both cases…
During the race the real boats had 11 crew – and, sure – a lot more to do than the virtual, ‘armchair’ equivalent, but even 1 of them dedicated to navigating and routing, still had 8 or more hours a day to dedicate to the matter, in between other duties on-board – OH, as well as being a world class professional and highly paid for his/her services. This roughly equates to the navigator on 76Trombones dedicating 1/2 his days, 7 days a week, for over 3 weeks, to the race – as well as lead his, normal, non-SOL life (in which I have no doubt he is likewise of world class in chosen field)…. While not quite as opposite as multi-million dollar teams vs an individual, there is still an enormous gap.
Yet despite this, there was only a little over 1% between the times recorded by the 2 boats, one real, one virtual. I just have to say it again, that is awesome! Clearly, when the yacht performance and meteorological data is accurate, SOL provides a very accurate simulation of the real environment. And clearly, when competing there, not only are you acting within such a realistic environment, but you need to post a ‘world class’ performance to finish well…
One final note: There is an officially supported virtual simulation of VOR, the winning time on which was over 17 hours behind Telefónica (12+ behind 76Trombones). That’s close to, but SOL is 3 times closer! The VORG winning time was more than 3% outside the actual winning time. Indeed, over 80 boats on SOL beat the winning time on VORG, more than 6% of the SOL fleet! (VORG measures time quantized to 10 minutes)
It should also be mentioned that differences between the two simulations meant that for most of the race, the conditions were such that SOL should compute a slower average boatspeed – namely sailing into diminishing winds is faster, the longer the simulator assumes ‘constant weather’.
So: a serious ‘Well Done’ to Sailonline.org, 76Trombones …. and the top 80 finishers 
Truly a world-class effort and result, achieved on a world-class ocean racing platform.
New South Wales Weather and Warnings here
A new magazine aimed at children and celebrating the oceans has just been released. Sea Urchins magazine covers all aspects of sea life and conservation, the magazine offers an insight into oceans across the world and the different jobs people do. With information on marine species, diving and also fun games, tests and competitions, the magazine aims to spark a sense of adventure and curiosity in children, as well teaching them about the importance of sea conservation.
Well, 2011 was a really big year for the team
Well it wasn’t all work … on board CAMPER for the race to Fiji
Grant Dalton looks back on a busy year….
I guess this can be a Christmas blog. That means I reflect on the year – the good the bad and the ugly.
Not so sure about the ugly or even the bad; there hasn’t really been too much.
Probably I should start right at the beginning of the year because at that stage I didn’t think we were going to make it. We had enough money to stay afloat till March, courtesy of Matteo de Nora and Stephen Tindall but that was it. I was hunting sponsors hard. Have a look around, it’s tough out there and the America’s Cup is way too expensive.
When you add those two together the prospects for a commercial team surviving were slim. Right now we are not seeing another commercial team – except perhaps Team Energy.
The tide turned when Emirates reconfirmed and although most people think that was always going to happen, in fact pre Christmas they looked like they were gone. Prior to their confirming our longest continuous sponsor, Toyota, had also confirmed. But even with these two, plus Government money, we were a long, long way from making it. However from then it was a bit of a whirlwind of travel, presentations and hoping. Omega came next, again a long time sponsor, then a critical call, Nespresso came in. Camper followed and armed with these sponsors we called it on.
We still had a lot of money to raise but by now, Matteo and Stephen were standing by. More recently both the Luna Rossa deal and a still to be announced partner have made things a lot more comfortable.
I guess the bad was/is the exchange rate. Yes we hedge but only so much. Most of our money comes in Euros but is paid out in NZ$. Compared to the last campaign we need 15% more just to be in the same place – impossible in this market you would think but in fact we now have this money.
While on the bad the cost of the America’s Cup. Statements about’ “cost reduction” were just that, statements. In fact it’s more expensive and no real cost control measures exist. If the sport is to survive, and I include Volvo as well, someone has to get serious about this. To date the Cup has four teams, including us, the other three are funded by billionaires, which is hardly a good model.
And so the racing for the year. Leading the AC45 World Series, second in the Volvo so far and a third in the X40 season even with multiple crew changes. That’s not bad considering that all that was happening last Christmas was the Volvo boat build. Add to that the two SL33 cats which now both have new wings and an AC72 that is in full build now.
Throughout the year while the sailing has been going on the designers have been working on the new boat. By mid-2012 we will get to see their creation. Andy and the shore team have also totally refitted our base, as well as run all the operations on the ground here in New Zealand.
So has it been a good year. No, it has been a great year, amazing actually. Now and again I push back in my office chair and say to myself, “can you believe where we have got to; really we shouldn’t exist.”
Emirates Team new Zealand take the two SL33 test bed catamarans out on the Hauraki Gulf to measure wing performance.
follow the chatter on sailing anarchy here
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.
This post is tagged Americas Cup YouTube channel here, Camper update, grant dalton, Hell on High Water, Rolex Sydney Hobart, Sea Urchins Magazine, SL33 test bed catamarans
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