Greetings yachties,
Just got this from Marco Nannini
“I need a co-skipper for legs 4 and 5 of the Global Ocean Race. Please email me at media@marconannini.com if you’re interested.”
In this issue,
Nek Minute Pizza Guy Gets Ran Over ,
Volvo Ocean Race – latest updates,
Laura Dekker – latest update here,
SSANZ - facebook page here,
GOR – latest news here,
Laura Dekker circles the globe – more here,
Global Ocean Race update,
OptiworldsNZ,
Rolex Sydney – Hobart – latest update,
- A selection of the multimedia elements from the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: stunning photos, exclusive audio interviews and dramatic video action here,
Jessica Watson – another challenge update,
Telefonica win leg 2,
Live stream audio innerviews with Camper here,
Clipper update,
Enjoy
Cessna Citation and BSL Race Tracker frequency
In the GOR’s 21:00 GMT position poll, Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild are leading the fleet to the Leg 2 finish line on Cessna Citation averaging 9.7 knots in Cook Strait with just 54 miles remaining. Ross and Campbell Field on BSL in second place are in the Karamea Bight, south of Cape Farewell, averaging 5.4 knots with 134 miles of Leg 2 remaining.
As the two Class40s approach and cross the Leg 2 finish line in Wellington Harbour, the GOR’s Geovoile Race Tracker update frequency has been increased to hourly. Once Ross and Campbell Field have crossed the finish line, the frequency will return to once every three hours
follow the chatter in Wellington here on crew.org
Cessna Citation closes in on Cook Strait
After 29 days and 7,000 miles of racing through the high-latitudes of the Indian Ocean, the five, double-handed Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s are being severely tested as they approach the Leg 2 finish line in Wellington, New Zealand. At the head of the fleet, on race leader Cessna Citation, Kiwi yachtsman, Conrad Colman, and his British co-skipper, Sam Goodchild, escaped an area of light airs off the west coast of South Island on Wednesday evening GMT, only to run into strong headwinds and punishing seas along the continental shelf with under 200 miles to the finish. The second Kiwi team, Ross and Campbell Field on BSL, came to within 70 miles of Cessna Citation at 03:00 GMT on Thursday as they chase Colman and Goodchild along the coast.
Down to the wire for the Leg 2 finish
A tough Christmas Day for the westerly Class40s in the double-handed Global Ocean Race (GOR) was followed by a headwind hammering for the two leading boats to the east on Boxing Day in the Tasman Sea. With the fleet’s distance accordion beginning to squeeze in a tune-up to the Wellington arrival overture, boats are closing up as diverse weather effect the fleet after 7,000 miles and 27 days in Leg 2 from Cape Town.
After a very tough and demanding crossing of the Indian Ocean, Cessna Citation in first place and BSL in second face an area of light winds on their final approach to Cook Strait and the finish, while Campagne de France in third will carry the breeze longer. Below Tasmania, Financial Crisis in fourth and fifth placed Phesheya-Racing will keep in strong, following winds as they transfer into the Tasman Sea.
more images of pre-worlds here
It Is All Happening Here
Many of the 33 teams that have arrived at Napier Airport have received a warm welcome.
“This is really super, being welcomed at the Airport and delivered to our motel after a quick tour around town” said Huub Lambriex, father of one of the Dutch competitors.
Every team arriving at the Napier Airport is being picked up by one of the many volunteers, given a quick tour around town, an introduction to the Napier Sailing Club and delivered to their motel with a Welcome Pack.
At present there are 33 teams in Napier. Yesterday was a Special Day with a typical Kiwi Christmas Lunch organised in Eskdale Reserve Park. 160 people participated and enjoyed the sunny weather and Christmas Ham. “Most competitors got into the Kiwi spirit of Christmas, only a few went for a sail afterwards. The rest was too relaxed” said Nigel Rippey, Event Director.
They came – they saw – they conquered – so they dunked Jessica
Round the world yachtswoman Jessica Watson and her crew of “juniors” aboard the Sydney 38 Ella Bachécrossed the finish line in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race at 3.12pm today – the youngest-ever crew to compete in the race – all are under 21.
Not only were they youngest-ever crew in the hands of one of the youngest skippers in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s race ever, but they finished second in the highly competitive eight-boat Sydney 38 One-Design division and ahead of their coach Chris Lewin aboard Deloitte as One.
In the final chapter of their race, Ella Baché beat another Sydney 38, Bruce Foye’s Australian champion, The Goat, by just four minutes.
The prize for Watson, who finished sailing the world solo, non-stop and unassisted in a voyage that ended in May 2010, was to be ungraciously picked up by fellow crewmember Will Broughton and the two of them plunged into the waters of Kings Pier Marina in Hobart. It was hardly respectful treatment for the 2011 Young Australian of the Year.
more here
Team “Another Challenge” – Sydney to Hobart 2011
This morning Pete (right) decided that he was too classy to eat his cereal out of the packet like normal so here you can see him and Alex eating coco-pops as fast as possible before the wind blows them away or a wave dumps over them!
Rolex Sydney – Hobart 2011 Beneteau race for IRC divi 3
Kiwi Yacht Outrageous Fortune in light blue
Photo By: Rolex / Daniel Forster
INVESTEC LOYAL Line Honours Winner of the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2011
more video from regattanews.com here
Investec LOYAL wins the Sydney to Hobart after a protest from the race committee for ‘Outside Assistance’ was dismissed.
Investec Loyal has just crossed the Hobart finish line to win Line Honours in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart! Congratulations guys for a brilliant job!
INVESTEC LOYAL wins the Sydney Hobart 2mns ahead of Wild Oats …. But race committee is protesting them for outside assistance! Stay tuned
where are they now?
Yahoo 7 Sport here
Regatta News video of the race here
follow the chatter on Sailing Anarchy here
Gary Linacre talks about the protest against Investec Loyal.
Investec Loyal beats Wild Oats XI in Sydney to Hobart thriller
by: D.D. McNicoll, From: The Australian
Investec Loyal leads Wild Oats XI in a thrilling finish of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Picture: Brett Costello Source: The Australian
INVESTEC Loyal has taken line honours in the 67th Sydney to Hobart yacht race, beating fellow supermaxi Wild Oats XI in a tight finish.
Loyal reached the finish line at 7.15pm (AEDT) today, after starting on Boxing Day, and was greeted by thousands of onlookers.
They cheered loudly at Hobart’s Constitution dock as the 2010 runner-up beat five-time winner and current record-holder Wild Oats XI.
It was the first deciding tussle on the Derwent River since 1997.
Doozy at the front, oozing just behind
By Lisa Ratcliff/Rolex Sydney Hobart media
The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours contest is shaping up to be a doozy and Wild Oats XI’s co-navigator Ian Burns believes overtaking opportunities may present themselves to Investec Loyal all the way to finish of this epic 628 nautical mile race.
The closest finish in the race’s history was in 1982 when Condor of Bermuda beat Apollo by seven seconds.
The 2003 race was another close one when Skandia beat Zana by 14 minutes 24 seconds. In 2007 Wild Oats XI beat City Index Leopard by 27 minutes 23 seconds and in 1997 Brindabella and Exile duelled in the river with Brindabella taking line honours by 9 minutes 28 seconds.
The Mark Richards-skippered Wild Oats XI regained the race lead this morning and is currently four nautical miles ahead of Anthony Bell’s same sized super maxi Investec Loyal.
“It’s tricky out here,” admitted Burns late this morning. “The good conditions we had running in for the last few hours have somewhat evaporated. We are just keeping the boat rolling along, which is quite a challenge.
The race is well and truly on in the Rolex Sydney Hobart
By Jim Gale, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team
Investec Loyal is clinging to a 1.8 nautical mile lead over Wild Oats XI as the two super maxi’s play cat and mouse down the Tasmanian coast in light and fickle northerly breeze this morning.
Investec Loyal pounced on her line honours rival at approximately 8.00pm on Tuesday evening when Bob Oatley’s yacht, with Mark Richards at the helm, sailed into a patch of dead air, allowing Anthony Bell’s 100 footer to sail around her.
Now the roles are reversed with a forecast of very light and variable winds, including very large patches of no wind at all off Tasmania’s coast for most of the day, which was evident in the short message from Wild Oats XI just after 6.30am.
It was reported from the five-time line honours and record holder: “We’ve got a yacht race on our hands out here! We are high speed running – more wind shifts ahead.”
The night chess game
By Bruce Montgomery, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team
The two leading maxis in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race, Investec Loyal and five-times line honours winner Wild Oats XI were engaged in a fascinating match race 90 miles east of Flinders Island late tonight.
It is a contest of wills and tactics that is likely to decide which will be the first to Hobart, not before late tomorrow. If it is Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal, it will be only the second time in seven Hobart races that Wild Oats XI will have been beaten across the line. She lost to Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo in 2009.
Bell’s maxi, crammed with sporting and media personalities as well as seasoned Rolex Sydney Hobart veterans, is seeking revenge for her second place to Wild Oats XI in last year’s race.
Throughout today, she pegged back the lead that Oats’ skipper Mark Richards had established since the start in Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day. Loyal reeled in a lead of 20 nautical miles and went to the front this evening.
Big southerly and only one retirement in Rolex Sydney Hobart
By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team
Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI continues to lead the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet early this morning; Mark Richards has skippered the super maxi to a 10 nautical mile advantage over Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s annual blue water classic after sailing in rough southerly winds overnight.
Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing (Qld) and Peter Millard/John Honan’s Lahana were giving chase, 13 and 19 nautical miles astern of Investec Loyal. The top 15 yachts reported winds of up to 30 knots last evening around 6.00pm.
Mark Richards said from Wild Oats XI this morning “We are through the worst of it,” and this morning were sailing in a 15 knot southerly 14 nautical miles east of Green Cape. They are expected to enter Bass Strait after 10.00am this morning.
Aboard Lahana, Carl Crafoord, navigator and 25 Hobart race veteran said just after 7.00am today: “We had a good night; no problems. We took time out of Wild Thing and we’ve shaken off Loki. It was very lumpy last night though – we finally shook our reef out at 6.40am.
“Now we’re sailing with a full main and a Code Zero sailing in a 20 knot sou’ wester. We expect to enter Bass Strait around midday,” Crafoord said.
Ffreefire 52
FfreeFire 52 is the first TP52 ever built and she has been based in Hong Kong
by BooBoo
Alot of small things added up to an uncertain bass strait crossing and so we called it early.
The first major was the mainsail mast track, we broke it at the first reef point so the top 2m came out. we then found we could not go past this point without it coming out so were stuck with 2 or 3 reefs. While i was trying to wrap and handsew more kevlar around the top of the bolt rope(the first 500mm of the bolt rope was already 12mm solid rod batten) to make it stay in the damaged track the boys tried the trisail whick also pulled strait through the track damaging the lower section. i guess the track was not made for offshore and not reinforced for trisails or reefed mainsails.
Update from Jess:
‘Ella Bache another Challenge’: 20 Hours into Race:
Good morning, another quick update. It’s been a tough night. The front came through as predicted and although we didn’t get as much wind as some of the forecasts said there might be, it has been very wet and bouncy out here with the wind in the high 20knots and on the bow.
No one’s had a lot of sleep and a few of us are feeling green, but we’re all looking forward to pushing hard today and tonight as the wind starts easing. Jess
Photos PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race
Team Telefonica, skippered by Iker Martinez from Spain finishes first in to the safe haven port on stage 1 of leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 from Cape Town, South Africa, to Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Team Telefónica snatched victory from CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand to win a thrilling first stage of Leg 2 by one minute and 57 seconds and strengthen their position at the top of the overall leaderboard.
Team Telefonica, skippered by Iker Martinez from Spain finishes first in to the safe haven port on stage 1 of leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 from Cape Town, South Africa, to Abu Dhabi, UAE. PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race Team Telefonica, skippered by Iker Martinez from Spain finishes first in to the safe haven port on stage 1 of leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 from Cape Town, South Africa, to Abu Dhabi, UAE.
CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, skippered by Chris Nicholson from Australia finishes second in to the safe haven port on stage 1 of leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 from Cape Town, South Africa, to Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Telefónica celebrated crossing the finish line just before 1800 UTC on Monday with fist-pumps, screams, handshakes and hugs, after more than 15 days’ racing from Cape Town to the secret location in the Indian Ocean.
Martínez described the run in as “final miles of madness” with the pair switching the lead repeatedly, until eight miles from the finish when Telefónica stole the lead from CAMPER, along with their chance of leaping to the top of the overall leaderboard.
Martínez said it was a very difficult game of “cat and mouse” that was played in the dark while dodging atolls. “I’ve never navigated at night so close to the rocks and with so many complicated manoeuvres,” said the skipper.
“A few miles from the finish we thought we had few chances to pass CAMPER and there were three or four times during the night when we were left without wind.
“It was all a bit chaotic but luck changed sides, although the truth is either one of the teams could have crossed the line first.”
Telefónica claim 24 points for first place in the first of a two-stage, 5,430 nautical mile race to Abu Dhabi. The Spanish team remain in poll position on the overall race leaderboard with 61 points, followed by CAMPER on 54, having won 20 points for second place.
The day after Christmas, two hundred miles to the north east of the Great Barrier Reef, the Clipper 11-12 fleet is revelling in the more settled conditions, sunshine, blue skies, flat seas and some serious spinnaker flying.
“Looks like St Stephen’s Day, or Boxing Day, may be a day of champagne sailing!” notes Edinburgh Inspiring Capital’s skipper, Gordon Reid.
“As we make our way north the fleet are all still in close proximity and there is regular VHF chat and banter between the skippers, the view is towards making as much north as possible to avoid Tropical Cyclone Grant. With a bit of luck and fair winds we may yet get on top of it, otherwise it might get messy again!”
In fact Tropical Cyclone Grant has been downgraded for the time being to a Tropical Depression but is still likely to bring winds of up to 40 knots to the fleet, according to meteorologist Simon Rowell, who sends the daily weather files to the teams and provides some analysis. Winning skipper of a previous edition of the Clipper Race, Simon says the winds will possibly gust up to 40 per cent higher when the remains of the cyclone cross the fleet’s path in a few days’ time.
In the meantime the conditions could not be better, according to Gold Coast Australia’s skipper, Richard Hewson.
This post is tagged Another Challenge, Clipper - update, Global Ocean Race, GOR, Jessica Watson, Laura Dekker, Laura Dekker circles the globe, Live stream audio innerviews with Camper here, OptiworldsNZ, Rolex Sydney Hobart, SSANZ, Telefonica win leg 2
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