Anna Tunnicliffe hikes hard on way to win Sunday. Photo: Rich Roberts
Sunday Radial Worlds. Photo: Rich RobertsJuly 30, 2006 Laser Radial Worlds, Marina del Rey, California. It may take the whole week for the best woman Laser Radial sailors on the planet to come to terms with the unearthly mysteries of Santa Monica Bay, where they opened their 2006 Laser Radial World Championships Sunday.
Light winds and a typically oversize chop of 2 to 3 feet made them work for results on Day 1 of six as Anna Tunnicliffe, 23, of Florida---No. 2-ranked in the world---parlayed a fourth place in the first race with a win in the second into a first-place tie with Evi Van Acker (No. 8) of Belgium (2-3) at 5 points, one ahead of another winner, Germany's Petra Niemann (5-1).
Those women didn't necessarily sail against one another Sunday. The 89 entrants are being split into Blue and Yellow fleets with separate starts for the first three days of qualifying races, with the fleets shuffled daily to balance the competition. Then, according to the standings, the top half will advance into the last six races over the last three days as the Gold fleet, going for the world title. The lower half becomes the Silver fleet. Both will carry over their qualifying results.
Steven Krol of The Netherlands leads the 71-boat men's fleet after a 2-1 performance, followed by countryman Steven Le Fevre with a 4-4.
The Laser Radial is the new Olympic single-handed dinghy class for women. Men sail the full-size Laser in the Games.
Top-ranked Paige Railey, 19, of Florida opened with a third place but had to fight her way back through the fleet to make fifth in the second race. She had to execute a double penalty turn after drawing the dreaded whistle and yellow flag from an on-water judge for violating Rule 42 concerning kinetics at the start.
The rule is being strictly enforced, although Jeffrey Martin, the international executive director of the class, did not consider the overall total of 23 yellow flags, including the men's fleet, as excessive. "That's not bad in these conditions," Martin said, meaning when it's light and lumpy and competitors are struggling to coax their little boats along.
Even so, principal race officer Bill Stump was pleased that all four women's starts got off without a general recall, while the men had one before each of their races. "They behaved themselves after we put up a black flag [threatening disqualification] each time," Stump said.
Anna Tunnicliffe hikes hard on way to win Sunday.
Photo: Rich Roberts
Besides Tunnicliffe and Petra, other winners were France's Sarah Steyaert and Great Britain's Penny Clark, who finished deep in the fleet in their other races---although Steyaert had a protest working as this report was filed Sunday night.
The wind was almost due west---unusual here---and in single digits when racing started, built to a promising 10 or 11 knots in mid-afternoon but then faded, Tunnicliffe won the second Blue fleet race, although she said, "It was difficult. I started really smart for the first beat and sailed for the shifts . . . just sailed by the numbers on my compass. I was farther right than most of the fleet but didn't bang the corner."
In her win, also in Blue, Steyaert found clear air at the start and broke away with three other boats. "I had my best speed downwind," she said, "and when it is just four boats we all have better wind."
Class leaders (after 2 of 12 races)
Women's top five after two races:
1. Tie: Anna Tunnicliffe, Florida 4 1 5 pts
Evi Van Acker, Belgium 2 3 5
3. Petra Niemann, Germany 5 1 6
4. Tie: Paige Railey, Florida 3 5 8
Solenne Brain, France 6 2 8
Men's top five after two races:
1. NED 174736 Krol Steven 2 1 3.0 pts
2. NED 158085 Le Fevre Steven 4 4 8.0
3. SIN 179815 Koh Seng Leong 12 3 15.0
4. JPN 168190 Eiraku Hiromitsu 10 8 18.0
5. USA 182070 Cullman Cam 3 16 19.0
click here for web pageThe Laser Radial Worlds are supported by sponsors Nestlé, producer of Arrowhead Water and PowerBar©; Vanguard Boats, Sailing World Magazine, Body Glove and the John B. and Nelly Llanos Kilroy Foundation.
July 30, 2006 Laser Radial Worlds, Marina del Rey, California. America's Paige Railey and Anna Tunnicliffe, rated 1-2, will have their Olympic ambitions tested by 86 other of the world's best women in their class in the Laser Radial World Championships hosted by California Yacht Club July 30-Aug. 4.
A fleet of 70 men also will compete for their world Laser Radial title simultaneously, and 180 teenagers will contest the World Youth Championships Aug. 7-12---in all, 338 sailors from 37 countries. They'll compete in a dozen races each on ocean courses set on Santa Monica Bay on the western edge of greater Los Angeles.
The focus will be on the women, with the Olympics on their minds. Besides Railey, the defending champion, the fleet will include three-time winner Katarzyna Szotynska of Poland (2001, 2002, 2003), currently ranked No. 15, and 2004 champion Krystal Weir (No. 4) of Australia.
They and the others share ambition stated by Railey in an interview on the ISAF Web site: "My goal is to represent my country in the 2008 Olympic Games and to one day win an Olympic gold medal." And: "I also plan to race in the America's Cup."
The Laser Radial, with 5.76 square meters of area in its single sail, will join its big brother, the Laser (7.06) when it replaces the Europe as the women's singlehanded dinghy in Olympic competition at Qingdao, China in 2008. The Laser became an Olympic men's class at Savannah in 1996, but the men in this event will sail Radials without Olympic implications.
With 19 of the world's top 20 women Radial sailors entered, it's virtually certain that all three 2008 Olympic medalists---gold, silver and bronze---will be lurking somewhere in the fleet. This event may be tougher to win than the Olympics, which allow only one competitor from a country in each class. Here, many will be meeting the same national opponents they'll have to beat later for a ticket to Qingdao, as well as the international adversaries they'll battle there for medals.
Railey, 19, of Clearwater, Fla., and Tunnicliffe, 23, of Perrysburg, Ohio, have been major forces in the class for the past year, with Railey usually on top. They are the only Americans currently ranked 1-2 by the International Sailing Federation in any Olympic class. George Szabo and crew Eric Monroe of San Diego are ranked first in the Star class, but the only other Americans ranked as high as fourth in any class are Mark Reynolds and Hal Haenel in Stars.
Railey, barely out of the Youth group in 2005, was one of four nominees and the only American, male or female, nominated for ISAF's World Sailor of the Year award. She moved up to the major level last year without missing a beat. She won the second of two World Youth titles in July, then the European adult crown a month later, accumulating victories in six of eight events, including the Worlds in Brazil last December and the World Sailing Games in Austria in May.
July 28, U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship, La Porte, TX. Thursday - Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) is practically breathing a sigh of relief today: after years of practice and racing in numerous regattas, the 17-year-old has finally won the U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship on her fourth attempt. This year, she clearly dominated the fleet of 56 boats, winning five out of seven races. But her win may not have been as easy as it sounds, as she was up against sailors like Ann Haeger (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Claire Dennis (Saratoga, Calif.), who finished second and third respectively and both of whom had competed in the event before.
The event was a qualifier for the 2007 US Youth World Team, which represents the USA at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Kingston, Ontario in 2007. Unfortunately, Lihan, who will turn 18 next month, will be too old to compete in that event next year. Instead, Ann Haeger will go to Canada next year. "At least I got my name on the trophy," said a happy Lihan about getting her name engraved on US SAILING's Nancy Leiter Clagett Memorial Trophy for winning the U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship.
This was not the first time Lihan and Haeger raced against each other. Just last month, Haeger finished fourth at the U.S. Youth Championship while Lihan finished 12th. And at last year's U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship, the two finished third and fourth respectively.
This is the first junior national championship title for Lihan, the youngest female member of the 2006 US Sailing Team. She has been on the road since the beginning of May competing in events at home and abroad. And she's not quite done yet, she now travels to California Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey to compete in the Laser Radial World Championship, which starts this weekend. Hopefully for her she'll be able to take some time off from her travels until she enters Yale University as a freshman this fall.
For complete results, daily updates, and pictures, visit the event's website at www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/usjrw/single
Final results: 1. Sarah Lihan Fort Lauderdale, FL. 2-1-[4]-1-1-1-1 7.00 points 2. Ann Haeger Lake Forest, IL. 1-2-[12]-5-2 -2-6 18.00 points 3. Claire Dennis Saratoga, CA. 3-[5]-1-3-5- 5- 2 19.00 points 4. Krysta Rohde Richmond, GA. [57/OCS]-3-2-6-6-8-3 28.00 points 5. Carolyn Prioleau Houston, TX. 4-7-[8]- 2-4 -6-5 28.00 pointsHobie Tiger Worlds, Cangas, Spain. Thursday: Americans Greg Thomas and Jacques Bernier dropped to 5th place.
Hobie Tiger: Top five after 7 races (59 in Fleet): 1. Mourniac/Citeau, FRA, 3-5-1-4-1-(11)-1-2-1-1-4-2 26 points 2. Vaireaux/Romain, FRA, (17)-6-6-2-4-1-7-6-3-4-4-6-5 54 3. Renaud de Malet/Alban Rossollin, FRA, 4-9-(19)-8-2-6-4-1-4-7-5-3-7 60 4. Lauraffa/Heasman AUS 2-(17)-1-13-14-16-9-13-3-2-1-1 92 5. Thomas/Bernier, USA, 1-3-2-15-10-10-2-10-15-10-3-11-19 92 For all results go to: http://www.hobieworlds.com/tiger2006/results/tiger_overall.html92July 26, Hobie Tiger Worlds, Cangas, Spain. Tuesday: Americans Greg Thomas and Jacques Bernier dropped to third place.
Hobie Tiger: Top five after 7 races (59 in Fleet): 1. Mourniac/Citeau, FRA, 3-5-1-4-1-(11)-1 15 points 2. Vaireaux/Romain, FRA, (17)-6-6-2-4-1-7 26 3. Thomas/Bernier, USA, 1-3-2-(15)-10-10-2 28 4. Renaud de Malet/Alban Rossollin, FRA, 4-9-(19)-8-2-6-4 33 5. Jerome le Gal/Mickael Siret FRA, 10-(30)-4-6-18-7-6 51 Next 5 US sailors: 11. John Tomko/Ian Billings USA, 13-(23)-11-22-8-8-11 73 21. Sandra Tartaglino/Luke Butler USA, 5-21-15-34-(44)-19-17 111 29. Scott Miller/Kiki Miller USA 29-(40)-23-11-35-29-28 155 30. Steve Leo/Jeff Fortuna USA (42)-18-18-24-34-39-37 170 41. David Stiemsma/Jerry Mohoney USA (48)-8-36-44-38-44-46 216 http://www.hobiecangas2006.comJuly 25, Hobie Tiger Worlds, Cangas, Spain: On Monday the Hobie Tiger Worlds 2006 started with a two-hour delay. The racing committee postponed the race for safety reasons. Due to fog, the sight was less than a nautical mile. Besides, the breeze was very light and shifty. Around 13:15 hours, the competition started and both the Hobie Tigers managed to sail three races. Thomas/Bernier (USA) leads the Hobie Tiger fleet.
When the fog cleared, the Hobie Tigers went out towards Vigo. The racing course was located in between a shipping channel and a ferry. The water was flat, and a light breeze was swinging from one direction to another, making it a tactical race.
One team making the right decisions today, was Thomas/Bernier. Jacques Bernier: "When I saw the racing course this morning, with the fog, and the wind angle, it looked familiar to a place in Kingston (CAN), and I knew what to do.Ó He told Greg Thomas to sail to the far left of the field and that is how they won the first race. Apart from good tactics, they are used to light, choppy conditions in San Diego.
Tuesday morning [09:33 CDT]: A 15th and 10th in Race 4 & 5 however reduced them to 2nd overall - two more races expected today...
Hobie Tiger: Top five after 5 races (59 in Fleet): 1. Mourniac/Citeau, FRA, 3-(5)-1-4-1 9 2. Thomas/Bernier, USA, 1-3-2-(15)-10 16 points 3. Vaireaux/Romain, FRA, (17)-6-6-2-4 18 4. Renaud de Malet/Alban Rossollin, FRA, 4-9-(19)-8-2 23 5. Mark Laruffa/Brad Wilson AUS, (43)-2-17-1-13 33 http://www.hobiecangas2006.comJuly 24, Breitling Trophy, Peurto Portals Mallorca. The Dutch skipper, resident in Monaco, and his mainly Emirates Team New Zealand crew not only won the top award for this demanding eight race regatta which has run at an almost unrelenting pace, but now also head the overall standings on the season long Breitling MedCup standings.
As top Corinthian helm for the third successive regatta, this time De Ridder kept the top America's Cup skippers and Olympic medal winning helms like Russell Coutts, Dean Barker and Ian Walker behind him.
Now, with three of the season's six regattas completed, three different boats from three different design offices have each won a regatta. Mutua Madrilena lead the overall standings now by five points from Warpath.
And for the third Breitling MedCup regatta in a row, the final day was the trickiest. With a persistent easterly gradient breeze conflicting with the more southerly sea breeze, the net effect was unsettled, challenging wind which puffed up to 11 knots and fell as often to just 6 knots, changing direction by up to 30 degrees.
Top ten overall points to date: 1. Mean Machine-Mutua Madrilena MON, 72 2. Warpath, USA, 77 3. Caixa Galicia, ESP, 117 4. Siemens, IRL, 145 5. Bribon, ESP, 158 6. Lexus, ESP, 160 7. Santa Ana, GBR, 165 8. Orlanda, ITA, 170 9. Anonimo, ITA, 184 10. Cristabella, GBR, 190 http://www.medcup.org
Sunday VITESSE (Jon Halbert) of Dallas, TX, leads and wins J/109 North American championship. Photo: Dan Nerney/RolexRolex New York Yacht Club Race Week, Newport, R.I.. Jon Halbert, Dallas, Texas [in the J/109 class] was one of over 700 sailors who competed this week at New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex. Sunday's final races were an ideal ending to a perfect regatta.
The newly named Farr 395 North American Champion Roger Wagner (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) echoed the theme of the week: consistency. "The crew was working like a team," he said. "The sail changes, the spinnaker jibes were all really good. Yesterday was sort of a rough day out there and our tactics were spot on and today was a shifty day and they were spot on."
In the J/109 class, a protest in the last race caused a delay in deciding the class' inaugural North American champion. In the end it was John Halbert's Vitesse (Dallas, Texas) that won. Vitesse's win in the final race of the series, combined with Gut Feeling, yesterday's leader owned by Ted Herlihy (S. Dartmouth, Mass.), being disqualified from the race added enough points to Halbert's scoreline to give him the win and Herlihy third place. Relentless, owned by Al Minella (Greenwich, Conn.) was second.
Another inaugural championship was the Melges 32 National Championship. It was won by Jeff Ecklund (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) on Star. "It's great being the first Melges 32 national champion," he said. "The class is great and it's a growing class full of really good sailors. Our whole crew is happy and relieved because we've been duking it out against New Wave all week and they've beaten us before." New Wave, owned by Mike Carroll and Marty Kullman (Clearwater, Fla.) finished in second place.
Tom Coates left few surprised by holding onto his lead in the J/105 class. With a third and a first place finish today, he ended with 18 points over second-place Indefatigable, owned by Phil Lotz (New Canaan, Conn.) with 30 points. "It really went our way this week," said Coates, who keeps two J/105s: one here on the East Coast and one in San Francisco. "The scores aren't really indicative of how tough it was out there, how rough it was sailing, and how really competitive the fleet was. We had a flawless sailing week where things went our way, and when we were on the right side of the course it was because of Chris (Perkins)." Coates and his team will compete in the J/105 North American Championship in California next month.
Over 160 boats competed in the fifth running of New York Yacht Club Race Week presented by Rolex. The biennial event hosted 66 entries in the four-day "first half," devoted to IRC, PHRF, Classic Yacht and 12 Meter racing. Full results of each class along with photos can be found online at www.nyyc.org. Video produced by T2P TV can be viewed at www.t2p.tv, compliments of Rolex Watch U.S.A., supporting sponsors of Race Week include Mount Gay Rum and Heineken USA.
PROVISIONAL RESULTS - OVERALL July 23: J/109 1. VITESSE, Jon Halbert, Dallas, TX. 7-10-1-1-14-3-3-1-8-1, 49 2. RELENTLESS, Al Minella, Greenwich, CT. 8-5-6-13-2-4-7-5-1-7, 58 3. GUT FEELING, Ted Herlihy, S. Dartmouth, MA. 2-13-2-8-1-2-4-4-5-20/DSQ 65.5 Farr 40: 1. SLED, Takashi Okura, Tokyo, Japan, 5-15-11-3-3-1-9-4-6, 57 2. NERONE, Massimo Mezzarona, Rome, Italy, 2-1-2-17-9-10-1-13-9, 64 3. NORWEGIAN STEAM, Eivind Alstrup, Oslo, Norway, 1-10-12-2-10-5-4-14-10, 68 Swan 45: 1. BELLICOSA, Massimo Ferragamo, New York, N.Y. 1-2-1-4-6-5-3-1-1-2, 26 2. BANDIT, Andrew Fisher, Greenwich, CT. 5-1-3-2-1-3-4-6-2-1, 28 3. PLENTY, Alexander Roepers, Newport, R.I. 6-3-2-5-4-2-2-3-3-5, 35 Beneteau 36.7: 1. COCONUT, Tom D'Albora, Warwick, R.I. 5-2-6-1-1-1-6-1-5-3-1, 32 2. SEAWEED, Don Finkle, Youngstown, NY. 4-3-2-2-3-6-5-6-1-4-3, 39 3. ELAN, John Hammel, Arlington, MA. 7-7-4-7-2-3-2-4-6-8-4, 54 J/105: 1. MASQUERADE, Tom Coates, San Francisco, CA. 1-1-1-2-3-6-3-1, 18 2. INDEFATIGABLE, Phil Lotz, New York, N.Y. 3-4-3-1-1-9-6-3, 30 3. KINCSEM, Joerg Esdorn, Rye, N.Y. 2-3-2-5-4-8-2-4, 30 Farr 395: 1. ENDURANCE, Roger Wagner, Upper Saddle River, NJ. 2-3-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1, 13 2. TSUNAMI, Ostberg/Aras/Dailey, Rockville, Md. 1-1-2-4-2-2-4-2-3-3, 24 3. AVALANCHE, Craig Albrecht, Sea Cliff, N.Y. 3-2-3-2-3-3-2-4-2-5, 29
STAR, Jeff Jeff Ecklund, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.Jeff Ecklund and his "STAR" crew are the 2006 Melges 32 National Champions! On board with Jeff was Harry Melges, III calling tactics, Hans Melges, Bill Wiggins, Jim Condon "Big Jim", Andy Labanauskas "Rooster" and former "Heart of America" America's Cup team member Bill Chamberlain. "We are all really happy to win the very first Melges 32 National Championship. Newport is a great place to sail. It's awesome." commented Ecklund.
For Sunday's races, overcast skies and somewhat shifty conditions led to a brief race postponement. One hour later the Melges 32s jostled for position at the start under sunny skies and 5-8 knots of breeze. Ecklund and Kullman kept each other close, as if attempting to anticipate each others moves. Both with one goal in mind - no mistakes. Despite the nervousness, the fleet made a clean start. Ecklund jetted off to leeward, Kullman preferring the middle of the course. Half way to the weathermark, the race was abandoned due to a complete shift in the wind some 25-30 degrees. The fleet returned to the starting line.
The additional postponement lasted only a few minutes, resulting in resetting the course at 200 degrees, 1.5 mile legs, on a windward, leeward course. On the second start Ecklund got hung out to dry as he was forced to OCS at the committee boat. Ecklund quickly recovered and got back up to speed. The right side was definitely favored, Kullman in the lead. Ecklund, slowly but surely showed signs of catching up. Into the weathermark the fleet was tight with Kullman around first, then Joe Woods on "Red", Glenn Darden (helm) and Reese Hillard on "Hoss", then Ecklund. Kullman's team set the kite flawlessly, ditto for Darden and Woods. Ecklund's team struggled initially on the set but was quick to turn on the speed. He zipped past Woods and Darden, determined to take the lead from Kullman. Ecklund blasted down the course. Kullman jibed to the left while Ecklund stayed right - and it paid off big time.
Ecklund rounded through the leeward gate in first, a few boat lengths ahead of Kullman. Rick Orchard on "Grins" slid into the second position just barely ahead of Kullman. Kullman took to weather, whilst both Ecklund and Orchard went left. In the end, Ecklund clinched the championship with two points to spare, Kullman finished in second, Woods in third, Orchard was fourth and Geoff Masters on "Melges Asia Pacific" in fifth.
Melges 32: 1. STAR, Jeff Ecklund, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 1-1-3-2-1-2-4-2-1-1, 18 2. NEW WAVE, Carroll/Kullman, Tampa, FL. 3-2-1-1-3-1-1-4-2-2, 20 3. GRINS, Rick Orchard, Duluth, GA. 2-4-2-4-6-3-3-1-4-4, 33 4. Melges Asia Pacific Geoff Masters, Australia. 6-3-7-3-2-8-2-5-5-5, 46 5. Red, Joe Woods, United Kingdom. 5-6-5-6-4-5-5-8-3-3 50 6. Hoss, Glenn Darden/Reese Hillard Dallas, TX. 4-5-6-7-5-6.5-3-6-3 54.5 7. Canvasback, Doug Croker, 7-7-4-10OCS-7-4-8-7-10DNC-10DNC 74 8. Savannah, Walter Kennedy, 8-9-10DNS-5-8-6.5-6-8-7 74.5 9. Quick Fix, John Cooper, 9-8-10DNF-10OCS-9-10DNC-10DNC-9-7-8 90A special thanks to every competitor that traveled - for some, great distances especially Joe Woods and crew from the UK, as well as Geoff Masters on "Melges Asia Pacific" from the land down under - Australia. Without you this would not be possible. And last but not least, Doug Croker and the "Canvasback" team, who provided on the water access Saturday giving way to some amazing photos. A gallery will be posted online at www.melges32.com
The 82nd Bayview Mackinac Race.
Photo: Bacardi/Bayview
July 22, 2006 Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race. How come that while Texas distance Races like the Vera Cruz Race have ever diminishing numbers, the venerable and wildly popular distance race that begins in Port Huron, Mich., and finishes on the tiny but overwhelmingly hospitable Mackinac Island, attracts ever increasing numbers, is it because of the way it is run?
One of the longest fresh water sailing races in the United States and the world, the Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race this year [its 82nd] hosted 244 entries and around 3,000 sailors, also attracting thousands of spectators to Lake Huron's shores. The revelry of competition and camaraderie starts with Port Huron's colorful Black River Parade of Ships on Saturday before the start and continues through to the following Tuesday's closing ceremonies on Mackinac Island, where horse-drawn carriages and bicycles are the only mode of transportation. New this year was the IRC handicap racing offered on the Shore course (where only PHRF prevailed last year).
For Results go to: http://www.byc.com/mack06/results-overall.cfm
July 21, The very first Melges 32 Nationals is already making news as a highly competitive fleet at the 2006 New York Yacht Club Race Week presented by Rolex after one day [Thursday] of racing. In the lead is none other than Jeff Ecklund on STAR, with Melges Performance Sailboats President, Harry Melges, III calling tactics, while from Texas was Glenn Darden (helm) and Reese Hillard on Hoss.
With Tropical Storm Beryl looming just south of New England, three races were held with Ecklund immediately taking charge. Race one commenced around eleven o'clock under overcast skies with somewhat light winds 5-8 knots. Nine Melges 32 teams approached the starting line with great anticipation. The pin end was favored by the majority of the fleet with two exceptions Walter Kennedy on "Savannah" and John Cooper on Quick Fix jetting off to weather. The battle continued at the top mark with Ecklund rounding first, followed by Mike Carroll and Marty Kullman (helm) on New Wave, Rick Orchard on Grins and Glenn Darden (helm) and Reese Hillard on Hoss trailing right behind. Ecklund was quick to put the some speed on the fleet as he really put in gear on the downwind run. The second, third and fourth place positions were constantly being fought for with Orchard, Kullman, Darden and Joe Woods on Red taking it all the way to the first leeward gate. Ecklund safely rounded first, followed by Orchard and Woods respectively. The competition was down to the wire with Ecklund finishing first, Orchard in second and Kullman in third.
Race two brought on Ecklund's impressive need for speed as he clinched another bullet. Kullman was on the move as well, managing a second place finish. STAR had some really good speed. "We got a little more tuned in on the second race," said Kullman. Geoff Masters on Melges Asia Pacific took third.
By the third race, winds had increased to 12-15 and large rolling swells were becoming commonplace. Traces of Tropical Storm Beryl were beginning to be felt with dark, gloomy skies hanging above. Rain drops, here and there were starting to fall. The fleet had a nice, clean start but once again, the excitement was fever pitch as Ecklund - looking as though he potentially would have a flawless day rounded first, followed by Kullman, then Orchard and Doug Croker on Canvasback. Ecklund shot off to the right with amazing speed. Quickly he was miles ahead of the second place boat Kullman. Coming in hot on an extreme angle, Ecklund jibed into the leeward gate and a snafu on the spinnaker douse had a high price. The fleet practically made up the distance he had gained. As the STAR team hurried to get the spinnaker in the boat and back on the track, Kullman was now almost sitting on top of them, followed by Orchard. As the race progressed, Kullman managed to find the right speed and call the shifts, eventually overtaking Ecklund and grabbing first, STAR tacked a little too short and had to duck everybody. That allowed us the opportunity to win. Orchard also did well landing second. Ecklund was left to settle for third. Croker had a phenomenal finish in fourth. Woods was fifth. Going into Friday, day two of the Melges 32 Nationals, the battle will continue with overall leader Jeff Ecklund leading by a very slim margin with five championship points. Working equally hard throughout the day was Marty Kullman only one point out of first with six points total, and in third is Rick Orchard with eight points.
FULL RESULTS 1.) Jeff Ecklund, STAR; 1, 1, 3 = 5 2.) Marty Kullman/Mike Carroll, New Wave; 3, 2, 1 = 6 3.) Rick Orchard, Grins; 2, 4, 2 = 8 4.) Glenn Darden/Reese Hillard, Hoss; 4, 5, 6 = 15 5.) Geoff Masters, Melges Asia Pacific; 6, 3, 7 = 16 6.) Joe Woods, Red; 5, 6, 5 = 16 7.) Doug Croker, Canvasback; 7, 7, 4 = 18 8.) John Cooper, Quick Fix; 9, 8, DNF = 27 9.) Walter Kennedy, Savannah; 8, 9, DNS = 27The Melges 32 is taking one design racing to the next level, so stay tuned to the official web site of the Melges 32 Class Association - www.melges32.com as daily reports, results and interviews will be posted. Also, visit Melges Performance Sailboats online at www.melges.com
The Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship came to a final flourish in Weymouth, Great Britain today, with the seven championship titles decided and Italy lifting the Volvo Trophy for the first time.
Top three places & best USA by class: 420 Boys 1. Sebastian Peri Brusa / Santiago Masseroni, ARG 29 points 2. Sam Kivell / Max Taylor, AUS 29 3. Marcos Adler / Bruno Leal Faria, BRA 33 11. Michael Menninger/ Nicholas Martin USA 75 420 Girls 1. Belinda Kerl / Chelsea Hall, AUS 21 2. Agueda Suria / Marta Martinez-Pons, ESP 33 3. Sarah Tan / Tze Ting, SIN 37 11. Emily Dellenbaugh/ Briana Provancha USA 56 Laser Boys 1. Luke Ramsay, CAN 33 2. Emil Ccedergard, SWE 35 3. Igor Lisonvenka, RUS 45 5. Royce Weber USA 50 Laser Girls 1. Tina Mihelic, CRO 15 2. Marit Bouwmeester, NED 28 3. Maiken Foght Schutt, DEN 29 24. Stephanie Robie USA 126 Board Boys 1. Lukasz Grodzicki, POL 12 2. Fabian Heidegger, ITA 24 3. Pierre Le Coq, FRA 33 21. James Sobeck USA 166 Board Girls 1. Laura Linares, ITA 13 2. Maayan Davidovich, ISR 25 3. Malgorzata Bialecka, POL 28 14. Nancy Rios USA 103 Hobie 16 1. Tom Phipps / Richard Glover, GBR 11 2. Bruno Vilela Frey / Ricieri Vidal Marchi, BRA 34 3. Jenna Mai Hansen / Jonathan Bay, DEN 35 13. Evan Miller/ Kyler Hast USA 94 http://www.youthworlds.orgStephanie Roble To Defend Title At U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship, at Houston Yacht Club, La Porte, TX. Roble will be one of nearly 60 young women sailors competing for US SAILING's Nancy Leiter Clagett Memorial Trophy, presented to the winner of the U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship. The event, sponsored by Vanguard Sailboats, will kick off on Sunday, July 23, with a two-day clinic and followed by three days of racing, wrapping up on Thursday July 27.
If any sailor has had a good opportunity to prepare for the U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship, which starts this coming Sunday at Houston Yacht Club, it would be Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wis.). Roble is currently competing against the world's best young women sailors at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Great Britain. As soon as the event wraps up later this week, the 17-year-old will be packing her bags and head to La Porte, TX, to defend her title and possibly qualify for another spot on the starting line at the Youth World Championship next year.
Since the event was first held in 1986, the Championship has played a major role in the country's development of junior women sailing. Past winners of the event have gone on to compete at the highest levels of the sport. For example, three-time champion Paige Railey (2001, '02' and '04) is the reigning Laser Radial World Champion. Julia Trotman (1986) went on to win a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympic Games. Numerous others have qualified for the US Sailing Team, including the defending champion Stephanie Roble, who in 2005 was one of the youngest members on the Team.
There is no doubt that one of the major reasons for this event being so important in youth development is because of the two-day racing clinic held before racing starts. The clinic, a tradition at all of US SAILING's Junior Championships, is taught by several of the country's best sailors. This year, the clinic will be taught by four past US Sailing Team members: Brett Davis, Leah Hoepfner, Matt Sterett, and Kurt Taulbee. Scott Ikle, coach of the successful sailing team at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, is leading the clinic.
July 20, Reality TV. The casting agency for the television show, Trading Spouses (http://www.fox.com/tradingspouses), is looking for a family to cast for their upcoming season that is involved in yachting and sailing either as a profession or personal pastime. The basic requirements for participation on the show are that 1) Spouses must be married, 2) Spouses must have kids over six years, 3) Spouses must have full custody of their kids, and 4) All family members must be citizens of the United States. The family that makes it on the show wins $50,000. If interested, contact Brooke Krinsky, Casting Associate, at 323-802-0584 or mailto:brookek@rocketsciencelabs.com
Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships, Wednesday in the U.K., there is all to play for coming into the last day [Thursday] of the Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships, as the extremely variable weather caused many a place change. Discards are proving to be the major focus today as some classes have completed nine races giving them two discards to play with, while others are just on the cusp with only eight races completed, meaning they get just one discard.
The weather model for today showed that there would be wind from the SW in the morning and would decrease dramatically during the afternoon but no one could have predicted the strength of the initial breeze, coming up to 20 knots at times inside the breakwater of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy but never really getting going outside, a mere ten knots at most. With this in mind, the race officials decided to send all bar the RS:Xs out early to fit the racing in. The Laser were given poll position in the breeze, while the Hobie Cat 16s and 420s battled it out in considerably lighter conditions.
The first gold medals of the event could have been handed out today, to British Hobie Cat 16 sailors, Tom Phipps and Richard Glover. For Tom Phipps this is particularly amazing as it is his second gold medal, placing him firmly in the history books. Joining him is Lukasz Grodzicki the polish RS:X windsurfer who receives the second gold medal of the day to add to the one he gained last year at the Youth Championships in Korea.
Preliminary Results (Top team plus USA): 420 Boys: 1. Sebastian Peri Brusa/Santiago Masseroni (ARG) 2 - 1 - 5-2-12-(dnf)-1-10 33pts 16. Michael Menninger/ Nicholas Martin (USA) 13-(28)-16-7-18 - 12--8-23 97 420 Girls: 1. Belinda Kerl/ Chelsea Hall (AUS) 4 - 3 -1-6-2-2-(10)-7 25 6. Emily Dellenbaugh/ Briana Provancha (USA) 2-(17)-5-9-11-3-14-13 57 Laser Boys: 1. Luke Ramsay (CAN) (16)-2-1-3-9-8-7-11 41 4. Royce Weber (USA) 10-3-(16)-2-5-12-12-6 50 Laser Girls: 1. Tina Mihelic (CRO) 4 - 1 - 7-1-5-1-(8)-1 20 24. Stephanie Roble (USA) (ocs)-22-17-2-24-20-24-33 142 Board Boys: 1. Lukasz Grodzicki (POL) (2)-1-1-1-(4)-2-1-1-1-2 10 21. James Sobeck (USA) 19-20-(23)(23)-13-12-21-19-23-21 148 Board Girls: 1. Laura Linares (ITA) 2-1-(3)-1-1-2-1-2-2-(12) 12 15. Nancy Rios (USA) 14-12-10-(ocs)(18)-16-6-13-11-14 96 Hobie 16: 1. Tom Phipps/ Richard Glover (GBR) 1-(4)-2-1-1-(5)-1-1-1 8 13. Evan Miller/ Kyler Hast (USA) 13-12-13-12-10-(dnf)-12-9-(dns) 81 Volvo Trophy for the 17 top-scoring national team [out of 47 Teams]: 1. Italy 215 pts 2. England 209 3. Australia 194 4. Israel 176 5. France 151 6. Poland 149 7. Germany 137 8. Brazil 137 9. Netherlands 131 10. New Zealand 128 11. Spain 128 12. SIN 115 13. Denmark 101 14. United States 79 15. Sweden 73 17. Canada 70 For all Results: http://www.youthworlds.org/ClassResults.php?Action=DispClassList&SessionCRC=623517652July 19, Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, Light winds plagued day five [Tuesday], with most of the sailors waiting for the fickle breeze to fill in outside the breakwater. When the breeze filled in, the RS:X class started the first of two races in front of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. After a few hours of postponements, frustrated sailors were finally sent out and races kicked off in ten knots of dying breeze. The wind slowly dropped leaving the 420 and Hobie Cat 16's floating around the course. The young Laser and Laser Radial sailors finally got their start but eventually the race was abandoned, resulting in mixed feelings across the fleet. In the afternoon, HRH The Princess Royal, joined the young sailors on the water and watched the racing with keen eyes. Later she met the RS:X sailors, most of which were excited but nervous to meet royalty in such a relaxed and friendly manner. Racing continues through to July 20, 2006.
Preliminary Results (Top team plus two North American teams): 420 Boys: 1. Sebastian Peri Brusa/ Santiago Masseroni (ARG) 15. Michael Menninger/ Nicholas Martin (USA) 32. Erick Brockmann/ Mikel Noriega (MEX) 420 Girls: 1. Belinda Kerl/ Chelsea Hall (AUS) 4. Emily Dellenbaugh/ Briana Provancha (USA) Laser Boys: 1. Emil Cedergard (SWE) 2. Luke Ramsay (CAN) 4. Royce Weber (USA) Laser Girls: 1. Tina Mihelic (CRO) 8. Hayley McLean (CAN) 22. Stephanie Roble (USA) Board Boys: 1. Lukasz Grodzicki (POL) 12. David Hayes (CAN) 21. James Sobeck (USA) Board Girls: 1. Laura Linares (ITA) 14. Nancy Rios (USA) Hobie 16: 1. Tom Phipps/ Richard Glover (GBR) 13. Evan Miller/ Kyler Hast (USA) Volvo Trophy for the top-scoring national team. 1. Australia 2. Italy 3. England 4. Israel 5. Poland 14. United States, 16. Canada Complete results: http://www.youthworlds.orgJuly 17, U.S. Youth Multihull Championship. Two sisters from Biscayne Park, Fla., have made history at the this weekend by becoming the first all female team to win the event, hosted by Miami Yacht Club. Sarah and Elizabeth Newberry established their position early in the competition with three wins on the first day of racing and never looked back. Skipper Sarah and her younger sister Elizabeth had been practicing together for two weeks leading up to the event because they usually do not sail together.
"I thought we were going to be so bad," said Sarah about how she felt going into the regatta. "We weren't very coordinated to start with, but Elizabeth turned out to be a very good crew." After the Newberry sisters were presented with US SAILING's Arthur J. Stevens Trophy at the award ceremony, the other competitors dunked the two champions in the yacht club pool. Like true champions, the sisters were all smiles.
The U.S. Youth Multihull Championship was a qualifier for the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Sailing Championship, an event open to athletes who do not turn 19 in the year of the World Championship. Because winning skipper Sarah Newberry will be too old next year to compete in that event, the next eligible team will qualify. Eric Raybon and Jason Bilow (both from Shrewsbury, N.J.) who finished second at the U.S. Youth Multihull Championship, will represent the U.S. at the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Sailing Championships in Kingston, Canada.
For complete results, daily reports and photos from the U.S. Youth Multihull Championship, please visit the event's website at www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/multihull.
The Texas GBCA Team, left to right: Mary Miller, Jody Henry, Lucy Wozniak [skipper] and Emma Browning
J24 Womens Open Championship. The Houston boat The Texas Big 4 from GBCA, in the very, light winds of Sunday finished sixth overall, an excellent finish for a new team from the southwest racing against top sailors on their home ground.
Final Results: Division: J24 (17 boats) 1. Quantum Racing Buckley, Sarah 1 1 (3) 1 1 2 3 (8) 12.00 2. No Twisted Knickers Zangerle, Nancy 2 2 1 (18RAF) 2 5 2 1 15.00 3. Airodoodle Demman, Diane 5 3 (18/DNF) 3 6 1 8 2 28.00 4. Pussy G's Circus Kelley, Karen 4 6 4 7 (9) 4 1 6 32.00 5. USA2599 Morgan, Kate 11 4 5 5 3 3(13/20%)4 35.00 6. The Big Texas 4 Wozniak, Lucy 3 (12) 2 4 4 9 4 10 36.00 7. Havoc Dinse, Patti 6 14 6 2 7 (18OCS)5 5 45.00 8. Blown Out Gallo, Danielle 12 (18/40%) 10 6 13/20% 6 9/20% 3 59.00 9. Santanna, Gabriela 7 7 7 (15) 13 10 13 11 68.00 10. Epic Moment Logue, Kerry 9 (18/DNF)18/DNS 11 5 8 11 9 71.00 11. Air Apparent McCarthy, Meg 10 5 8 10 11 12 (16) 16 72.00 12. Night Hawk Borden, Maggie(18/DNF)18/DNS 18/DNS 9 8 7 7 7 74.00 13. Pagramin Popitz, Freddie 8 10 9 13 14 14 12 (15) 80.00 14. Dark n Stormy Mead, Susan 14 8 13 12 15 (16)12/20% 12 86.00 15. Super Sloop Davis, Janie 16 13 (18/DNS) 8 15/20% 11 15 13 91.00 16. Robin II Smith, Jodi 15 9 11 14(18RAF) 15 14 14 92.00 17. Gizmo Kirchner, Bonnie 13 15 12 16 (18OCS)13 17 17 103.00click here for web page
Finn sailor Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic from Croatia came eighth overall.
Finn Gold Cup, July 8-16th. Jonas Hoegh Christensen has proved this week he really is the N.1 Finn sailor in the World by winning the 50th Finn Gold Cup. He had to face some of the best sailors in a fierce competition where the smallest mistakes were paid dearly. One of the most disputed Finn Gold Cup in years; this edition assembled 99 sailors from over 30 countries on the same starting line. Hoegh Christensen's display of skills was impressive in a field of talented opponents and in varied conditions. He is winning by a small 3 points margin from Emilios Papathanasiou.
The Greek won the last race with brio but his second victory in the Championship was not enough to overcome the Dane. The Bronze medal is going to Edward Wright who raced the most constant regatta scoring only top 10 results. He finishes in second position in this last race.Ü Ed Wright has made a rapid progression after stepping from the Laser to the Finn last year. Also coming from the Laser is Daniel Birgmark who is acceding to 4th position after finishing 7th in the last race.
Rafael Trujillo was probably the fastest sailor in this regatta, the early leader won 3 races in the championship but the Bura wind has been fatal for the Athens Silver medallist who after collecting a 38th today misses the podium to step down to 5th position overall. Opposite situation for Guillaume Florent who after a slow start into the championship scored a 5th and two 4th places. He is placed in 6th position after taking one year off.
Sunday - Final results [top five & best USA in 99 Boat Fleet]: 1. DEN 2 CHRISTENSEN JONAS HOGH ROYAL DAISH YC 2 4 2 5 1 3 (33) 6 23pts 2. GRE 7 PAPATHANASIOU EMILIOS OSFP 4 1 5 10 2 (DSQ) 3 1 26 3. GBR 111 WRIGHT EDWARD PARKSTONE 1 (10) 7 2 3 10 7 2 32 4. SWE11 BIRGMARK DANIEL GKSS 11 6 3 8 15 4 (27) 7 54 5. ESP 100 TRUJILLO RAFAEL JOAQUIN NAUTICO LA LINEA (9) 2 1 1 8 1 34 (38) 56 Best USA: 26. USA 4 RAILEY ZACH SFYC 22 21 27 (71) 20 27 22 51 190 88. USA1197 BROWN CONRAD CALIFORNIA 76 84 88 55 79 89 93(DNF) 564 95. USA1213 NADY ANDRAS ST. FRANCIS 92 91 84 80 92 (93) 82 82 603 For complete results go to:July 16, J24 Womens Open Championship. Another great day of racing Saturday on Buzzards Bay, with six races sailed, one drop out enabled the GBCA Texas boat - Lucy Wozniak, Mary Miller, Jody Henry & Emma Browning to 'drop' the 12th finish of race 2 and move on. Unfortunately they lost a jib halyard in race six [one crew member had to be hoisted up the mast to retrieve] and this dropped them down an overall place. Hopefully Sunday there will be a chance to recoup.
http://www.finnclass.org http://www.jklabud.hr/2006/index.php?regata=finn&lang=eng
Series Standing - 6 races scored Information is provisional: Division: J24 (17 boats) 1. Quantum Racing Buckley, Sarah 1 1 (3) 1 1 2 6.00 2. No Twisted Knickers Zangerle, Nancy 2 2 1 (18RAF) 2 5 12.00 3. Airodoodle Demman, Diane 5 3 (18/DNF) 3 6 1 18.00 4. USA2599 Morgan, Kate (11) 4 5 5 3 3 20.00 5. The Big Texas 4 Wozniak, Lucy 3 (12) 2 4 4 9 22.00 6. Pussy G's Circus Kelley, Karen 4 6 4 7 (9) 4 25.00 7. Havoc Dinse, Patti 6 14 6 2 7 (18OCS) 35.00 8. Air Apparent McCarthy, Meg 10 5 8 10 11 (12) 44.00 9. Santanna, Gabriela 7 7 7 (15) 13 10 44.00 10. Blown Out Gallo, Danielle 12 (18/40%) 10 6 13/20% 6 47.00 11. Epic Moment Logue, Kerry 9 (18/DNF)18/DNS 11 5 8 51.00 12. Pagramin Popitz, Freddie 8 10 9 13 (14) 14 54.00 13. Night Hawk Borden, Maggie(18/DNF)18/DNS 18/DNS 9 8 7 60.00 14. Dark n Stormy Mead, Susan 14 8 13 12 15 (16) 62.00 15. Super Sloop Davis, Janie 16 13 (18/DNS) 8 15/20% 11 63.00 16. Robin II Smith, Jodi 15 9 11 14(18RAF) 15 64.00 17. Gizmo Kirchner, Bonnie 13 15 12 16 (18OCS)13 69.00click here for web page
Finn Gold Cup, July 8-16th.
Saturday - Prelimanery results for first seven races [top three & best USA in 99 Boat Fleet]: 1. DEN 2 CHRISTENSEN JONAS HOGH ROYAL DAISH YC 2 4 2 5 1 3 (33) 17pts 2. ESP 100 TRUJILLO RAFAEL JOAQUIN R.C. NAUTICO LA LINEA (9) 2 1 1 8 1 (34) 22 3. GRE 7 PAPATHANASIOU EMILIOS OSFP 4 1 5 10 2 (DSQ) 3 25 Best USA: 26. USA 4 RAILEY ZACH SFYC 22 21 27 (71) 20 27 22 139 88. USA1197 BROWN CONRAD CALIFORNIA 76 84 88 55 79 89 (93) 471 96. USA1213 NADY ANDRAS ST. FRANCIS 92 91 84 80 92 (93) 82 521 For complete results go to:July 15, J24 Womens Open Championship, under the auspices of J24 Fleet 16 and Fleet 16's Women's Racing Program as the Organizing Authority in conjunction with the US J24 Class Association.
http://www.finnclass.org http://www.jklabud.hr/2006/index.php?regata=finn&lang=eng
Day 1- A great day of racing on Buzzards Bay. The wind filed from the southwest with breeze around 18kts. 3 great races were sailed at the end of the day it was Teams Quantum Racing (Sarah Buckley) and No Twisted Knickers (Nancy Zangerle) tied for first with (5 points) each and Pussy's G's Circus (Karen Kelly) in third with (14 points), Lucy Woniak, Mary Miller, Jody Henry and Emma Browning (The Texas Big 4) from GBCA, Texas, placed 4th after a 12th in race 2, caused by two last minute change of course [they were on starboard] to avoid collisions from two port tack boats on port which didn't give way -- one of which immediately retired, and while they won the protest against the other, they lost some 8-9 boat lengths.
Beverly Yacht Club is the host for the event, which is open to all-women crews consists of a seven race series with racing on Friday the 14th, Saturday the 15th and Sunday the 16th.
Buzzards Bay is known for its robust Southwest sea breeze.
Series Standing - 3 races scored Information is provisional: Division: J24 (17 boats): 1. Quantum Racing Buckley, Sarah 1 1 3 5.00 2. No Twisted Knickers Zangerle, Nancy 2 2 1 5.00 3. Pussy G's Circus Kelley, Karen 4 6 4 14.00 4. The Big Texas 4 Wozniak, Lucy 3 12 2 17.00 5. Morgan, Kate 11 4 5 20.00 6. Santanna, Gabriela 7 7 7 21.00 7. Air Apparent McCarthy, Meg 10 5 8 23.00 8. Airodoodle Demman, Diane 5 3 18/DNF 26.00 9. Havoc Dinse, Patti 6 14 6 26.00 10. Pagramin Popitz, Freddie 8 10 9 27.00 11. Dark n Stormy Mead, Susan 14 8 13 35.00 12. Robin II Smith, Jodi 15 9 11 35.00 13. Blown Out Gallo, Danielle 12 18/40% 10 40.00 14. Gizmo Kirchner, Bonnie 13 15 12 40.00 15. Epic Moment Logue, Kerry 9 18/DNF 18/DNS 45.00 16. Super Sloop Davis, Janie 16 13 18/DNS 47.00 17. Night Hawk Borden, Maggie 18/DNF18/DNS 18/DNS 54.00
J80 Worlds, Corpus Christi, Texas. What can best be described as a well kept secret -- well it was difficult to get any reports and or results, however the last race was run on Friday, the Awards given out, the race chair congratulated them selves and Glenn Darden and the crew of L'Glide were crowned the 2006 J/80 World Champions...
Ten Races sailed Final Results top ten of 33 boat fleet: 1. L'Glide Glenn Darden Fort Worth Boat Club 1 2 (5) 4 2 1 4 1 4 1 20pt 2. Quantum Racing John Kolius Houston Yacht Club (9) 1 3 7 1 6 2 3 1 4 28 3. Flyer Scott Young Austin Yacht Club 8 9 1 1 6 4 3 (13) 5 2 39 4. C'est Nasty Rick Schaffer Fort Worth Boat Club 3 7 (11) 5 5 3 7 4 9 5 48 5. Lifted Kerry Klingler Larchmont YC 4 3 10 6 4 11 5 6 3 (12) 52 6. Hammertime Steven Hammerman Lakewood Yacht Club 7 12 9 9 12 (12) 1 5 2 3 60 7. Red Ruairidh Scott Royal Thames Yacht Club 2 10 7 2 7 (23) 9 20 6 8 71 8. Rumor John Storck, Jr. Centerport Y.C 12 11 (16) 10 3 2 14 2 13 7 74 9. Synergy Jay Lutz Lakewood Yacht Club 6 6 2 11 9 (21) 6 18 8 10 76 10. Rocad Racing Ingemar Sundstedt KSSS Sweden 10 4 18 3 8 8 (34DSQ) 8 15 6 80click here for full results
Finn Gold Cup, July 8-16th. As expected the competition was fierce with many sailors hoping to grab
their chance to win in a championship dominated the last
4 years by Ben Ainslie. His absence is opening the field and brings new
hopes in a strong fleet of 99 sailors coming from 31 countries.
Prelimanery results for first six races [top three & best USA in 99 Boat Fleet]: 1. DEN 2 CHRISTENSEN JONAS HOGH ROYAL DAISH YC 2 4 2 (5) 1 3 12 pts 2. ESP 100 TRUJILLO RAFAEL JOAQUIN R.C. NAUTICO LA LINEA (9) 2 1 1 8 1 13 3. GRE 7 PAPATHANASIOU EMILIOS OSFP 4 1 5 10 2 (DSQ) 22 Best USA: 26. USA 4 RAILEY ZACH SFYC 22 21 27 (71) 20 27 117 88. USA1197 BROWN CONRAD CALIFORNIA 76 84 89 55 79 (89) 249 96. USA1213 NADY ANDRAS ST. FRANCIS 92 91 85 80 92 (93) 439 For complete results go to:July 14, J80 Worlds, Corpus Christi, Texas. Day 2 (Thursday) from the Race Chair; well... We've finished Day 3 with Glenn Darden still holding his own...Kolius and Young, both good ole' Texas boys, are still in the hunt... Tomorrow will tell the tale...
http://www.finnclass.org http://www.jklabud.hr/2006/index.php?regata=finn&lang=eng
There were 4 protests tonight with 3 being Disallowed and one resulting in the Swedish Team being DSQ'd in Race 7... However, their overall standing still keeps them in contention...
It should be a very exciting day of racing on Friday...It's still very much any boats to win or lose...Let's just hope for a clean day of racing so we can all get hauled and go the the PARTY in CLEAN clothes... Until tomorrow [Friday]... Good Night... and Great Sailing... The Race Chair.
Eight Races sailed [preliminary] results top ten of 33 boat fleet: 1. L'Glide Glenn Darden Fort Worth Boat Club 1 2 (5) 4 2 1 4 1 15pts 2. Quantum Racing John Kolius Houston Yacht Club (9) 1 3 7 1 6 2 3 23 3. Flyer Scott Young Austin Yacht Club 8 9 1 1 6 4 3 (13) 32 4. C'est Nasty Rick Schaffer Fort Worth Boat Club 3 7 (11) 5 5 3 7 4 34 5. Lifted Kerry Klingler Larchmont YC 4 3 10 6 4 (11) 5 6 38 6. Rumor John Storck, Jr. Centerport Y.C 12 11 (16) 10 3 2 14 2 54 7. Hammertime Steven Hammerman Lakewood Yacht Club 7 (12) 9 9 12 12 1 5 55 8. Red Ruairidh Scott Royal Thames Yacht Club 2 10 7 2 7 (23) 9 20 57 9. Synergy Jay Lutz Lakewood Yacht Club 6 6 2 11 9 (21) 6 18 58 10. Rocad Racing Ingemar Sundstedt KSSS Sweden 10 4 18 3 8 8 (34DSQ) 8 59click here for full results
July 13, J80 Worlds, Corpus Christi, Texas. Day 2 (Wednesday) - Race 5 starting under a p flag, with wind at 17 knots with gusts up to 20 knots, at 115 degrees. The windward mark was 1.5 nautical miles. There was a general recall and started under a I flag. Bow 20 was over early but returned.
Five Races Run [preliminary] results top ten of 33 boat fleet: 1. L'Glide Glenn Darden Fort Worth Boat Club 1 2 5 4 2 14 pts 2. Quantum Racing John Kolius Houston Yacht Club 9 1 3 7 1 21 3. Flyer Scott Young AYC 8 9 1 1 6 25 4. Lifted Kerry Klingler Larchmont YC 4 3 10 6 4 27 5. Red Ruairidh Scott Royal Thames Yacht Club 2 10 7 2 7 28 6. C'est Nasty Rick Schaffer FWBC 3 7 11 5 5 31 7. Synergy Jay Lutz Lakewood YC 6 6 2 11 9 34 8. Rocad Racing Ingemar Sundstedt KSSS 10 4 18 3 8 43 9. Hammertime Steven Hammerman Lakewood Yacht Club 7 12 9 9 12 49 10. Rumor John Storck, Jr. Centerport Y.C. 12 11 16 10 3 52click here for full results
July 12, Final 30 for Morning Light Selection Trials, includes Genny Tulloch of Houston. The 30 will participate in Selection Trials in Long Beach Aug. 5-13, all expenses paid by Pacific High Productions. The final team of 15 will be announced at the end of those trials and will undergo four months of training on the Transpac 52 Morning Light in Hawaii starting in January. Then 11 or 12 will race Morning Light from Los Angeles to Hawaii in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race starting July 15, 2007, without professional assistance on board.
The 30, including five females and representing 14 states, plus Canada, Australia and the West Indies, were selected through résumés and personal interviews, but youth was one firm standard. Together they will be the youngest crew ever to sail Transpac.
The average age of the crew will be younger than the seven men who sailed on Jon Andron's victorious Cal 40, Argonaut, in the 1969 Transpac that averaged 22.57 years of age. Two of those crew members were 17, but the minimum age for Morning Light is 18, as of Jan. 1, 2007.
The film, scheduled to be released in 2008, will chronicle the recruitment, training and performance of the crew through the race in 2007. It will be a straightforward documentary not to be confused with the creative format of the current made-for-TV "reality" shows.
Executive producers are Roy E. Disney and Leslie DeMeuse of Pacific High Productions and Mike Tollin of Tollin/Robbins Productions (TRP). Fred Golding will be the director. The film, to be shot in High Definition theatrical quality, will be distributed by the Walt Disney Co. Robbie Haines, and Olympic gold medalist and veteran ocean racer, is the sailing team manager.
Finalists for the Selection Trials (in alphabetical order): *Lindsey Austin, 21, Honolulu, Hawaii Trevor Bozina, 21, San Francisco, Calif. Chris Branning, 22, Sarasota, Fla. Graham Brant-Zawadzki, 21, Newport Beach, Calif. *Anna Brun, 20, San Diego, Calif. Chris Clark, 20, Old Greenwich, Conn. Charlie Enright, 21, Providence, R.I. Jesse Fielding, 19, North Kingstown, R.I. Raiden Hasegawa, 18, Evanston, Ill. Robbie Kane, 21, Fairfield, Conn. Felipe Lopez, 18, Friday Harbor, Wash. Steve Manson, 21, Baltimore, Md. Robert (Max) Moosmann, 19, Newport Beach, Calif. Colin Ranney, 21, Newport, R.I. John Romanko, 19, Vancouver, B.C. Chris Schubert, 21, Rye, N.Y. Riley Schutt, 21, Trumansburg, N.Y. Omari Scott, 22, Antigua, West Indies Parker Shinn, 19, San Diego, Calif. Andrés Soriano, 20, New York, N.Y. *Jennifer Stone, 20, Haverhill, Mass. *Kate Theisen, 19, Socorro, N.M. Mark Towill, 17, Kaneohe, Hawaii *Genny Tulloch, 21, Houston, Texas Piet van Os, 22, La Jolla, Calif. Chris Vetter, 18, St. Petersburg, Fla. Chris Welch, 18, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. Marcellus Wesley, 22, Washington D.C. Kit Will, 21, Milton, Mass. Jeremy Wilmot, 20, Australia. *---Female More information: www.pacifichighproductions.com/
Prelimanery results for first three races: 1. DEN 2 CHRISTENSEN JONAS HOGH ROYAL DAISH YC 2 4 2 8 pts 2. GRE 7 PAPATHANASIOU EMILIOS OSFP 4 1 5 10 3. ESP 100 TRUJILLO RAFAEL JOAQUIN R.C. NAUTICO LA LINEA 9 2 1 12 Best USA: 18. USA 4 RAILEY ZACH SFYC 22 21 27 70 88. USA1197 BROWN CONRAD CALIFORNIA 76 84 89 249 94. USA1213 NADY ANDRAS ST. FRANCIS 92 91 85 517 For complete results go to:
http://www.finnclass.org http://www.jklabud.hr/2006/index.php?regata=finn&lang=eng
Photo: Chris Kelly
J80 Worlds, Corpus Christi, Texas. The first day of racing [Tuesday] and believe it or not was protest free. Whether due to the excellence of the sailing participants or the Race Management by our PRO... Well, naturally that depends on whom you ask... The weather has been great, winds cooperating and the rain is staying away... Should bode well for a great week... Regatta Chairman
Two Races Run [preliminary] Results: 1. L'Glide Glenn Darden Fort Worth Boat Club 1 2 3 pts 2. Lifted Kerry Klingler Larchmont YC 4 3 7 3. Quantum Racing John Kolius Houston Yacht Club 9 1 10 4. C'est Nasty Rick Schaffer FWBC 3 7 10 5. Hoss Kevin McConnell FWBC 5 5 10 6. Red Ruairidh Scott Royal Thames Yacht Club 2 10 12 7. Synergy Jay Lutz Lakewood YC 6 6 12 8. Rocad Racing Ingemar Sundstedt KSSS 10 4 14 9. Flyer Scott Young AYC 8 9 17 10. Hammertime Steven Hammerman Lakewood Yacht Club 7 12 19 11. Rumor John Storck, Jr. Centerport Y.C. 12 11 23 12. TiAmo bruno pasquinelli fwbc 11 16 27 13. Kicks Bill\Niel Rose/O'Sullivan GBCA 14 14 28 14. Valiente Caleb Everett St. Francis 18 13 31 15. Mojito Steve Rhyne HYC 24 8 32 16. Parsons Project Paul Parsons GBCA 17 15 32 17. AVET Curt Johnson California Yacht Club 13 20 33 18. Heatwave Chris Lewis & Chris Morlan RYA, Castaways, GBCA 15 18 33 19. Wild Hare Claude Welles Austin Yacht Club 21 17 38 20. INFINITY Uzi/David Ozeri/Hinrichsen GBCA 16 23 39 21. Ruthless Clay Morrison None 23 19 42 22. Lickety Split Greg Buck Austin Yacht Club 19 24 43 23. Whiskey Tango jason liem cisc 22 22 44 24. Andal Al Poindexter LYC 20 25 45 25. Ditto Frank Taylor Shreveport Yacht Club 28 21 49 26. YoKo Michael Lattimore FWBC 25 29 54 27. Sting Chris Block/Valerie Bencivenga AYC 26 28 54 28. CLUSTER Walter Caldwell GBCA 27 27 54 29. Angry Chameleon Brian Robinson Eastport Yacht Club 29 26 55 30. No Effort Jud Cary Grapevine Sailing Club 30 30 60 31. Weekend at Bernie's Bernie Nauta Fort Worth Boat Club 31 31 62 32. Spirit Ken Westfall FWBC 34/DNF32 66 33. Ymir Junior Harald Schilling Club Marítimo de Port Ginesta 32 34/DNF 66Optimist North American Championship 2006. Amongst the 189 competitors from a record 22 countries, Singapore's Sean Lee dominated the Optimist North American Championships in Ponce, Puerto Rico from start to finish with a near flawless performance. In addition to the North American countries in Puerto Rico, there was a strong contingent of teams from South America, with the addition of a team each from Germany, New Zealand and Singapore. Singapore's 15 year old Lee proved the star of the show, scoring eight bullet out of twelve races. With a maximum of two discards, he finished the championship with a score of 16 points.
'Winning the IODA South American and North American Championships are good indicators of our intentions to develop the World's best optimist sailors,' said Andrew Sanders, Executive Director of Singapore Sailing Federation. 'Optimist is the boat widely used internationally and is a good breeding ground for future Olympians. It's been a good week for SingaporeSailing having won four championships in one week and now another continental championship. July's a busy month with our eight strong team about to commence racing at the ISAF Youth World Championships this week.
Final Results: 1. Sean Lee Singapore 14 pts 2. Victor Díaz de Leòn Venezuela 23 3. Ivàn Aponte Peru 36 4. Taylor Lutz Houston, USA 37 5. URU Alejo Morales Uruguay 39 13. Diego Reyes Mexico 79 151. Tyler Meyrick Canada 436 Complete results: http://www.optiworld.org/06namresfinal.pdfJuly 11, US SAILING's U.S. Junior Women's Doublehanded Championship, after an impressive and consistent showing, Amanda Johnson (Berwyn, Pa.) and Ellie O'Brien (Westfield, N.J.) won the Championship Monday. The two young sailors, who sail out of New Jersey, showed up at the National Championship well-prepared, optimistic, and eager. Their experience and positive attitude paid off well: they took the lead on the first day of racing and never gave it up. Sailed in Club 420s, the U.S. Junior Women's Doublehanded Championship is sponsored by Vanguard Sailboats and was hosted by Milwaukee Yacht Club, who stepped up to the plate earlier this year after Lake Pontchartrain Yacht Club in New Orleans needed more time to recover from Hurricane Katrina.The regatta win was by no means easy for Johnson and O'Brien: they defeated 41 other teams, all of whom came into the regatta with impressive sailing resumes. After two days of clinics, led by 2004 Olympian Meg Gaillard, the competitors were ready to get to work. With five races completed on the first day of the Championship, Johnson/O'Brien took a quick lead with finishes of 2-2-3-1-4. The rest of the fleet was immediately at least 17 points behind. And that is how the regatta ended: with 32 points total, the winners finished 17 points ahead of the second place team of Ann Haeger (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Lindsey Kent (Thiensville, Wis.). Emily Lambert (Cumberland Foreside, ME) and Liv Gunnarsson (River Vale, N.J.) finished third overall with 57 points.
For their win, Johnson and O'Brien will be presented with the Ida Lewis Trophy at an awards dinner this evening "It was a great event for us," said Johnson in a celebratory mood after coming off the water this afternoon. "We'll be back next year."
Final results: 1. Amanda Johnson (Berwyn, Pa.) Ellie O'Brien (Westfield NJ) 2-2-3-1-4-6-2-[18]-7-5 32 pts 2. Ann Haeger (Lake Forest, lll.) Lindsay Kent (Thiensville WI) 13-8-4-8-1-3-8-1-3-[16] 49 pts 3. E Lambert (Cumberland Foreside ME L Gunnarsson (River Vale NJ) 7-4-9-13-3-1-[43/OCS]-9-9-2 57 pts 4. Sarah Lihan and Caroline Wright (both Ft. Lauderdale FL) 8-1-1-4-15-12-10-5-4-[43/DSQ] 54 pts 5. Caroline Patten (Bernardsville NJ) Margaret Rew (Princeton NJ) 11-[23]-7-3-6-2-4-6-6-17 62 ptsFor complete results, daily reports, and photos from the event, visit the event website at www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/usjrw/double.The U.S. Junior Women's Doublehanded Championship for Ida Lewis Trophy is part of US SAILING's National Championships series. For more information about US SAILING's National Championships, visit www.ussailing.org/championships or contact US SAILING's Championships Manager Liz Walker at 401-683-0800.
July 10, Yngling World Championships, La Rochelle, France. US SAILING's 2005 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and skipper Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) and her crew, Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) and Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), won the bronze medal at the Yngling Women's World Championship, held June 30 - July 8 in La Rochelle, France. Two other US Sailing Team-members, skippered by Hannah Swett (New York, N.Y.) and Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.) secured solid top team positions, finishing fifth and seventh place respectively.
Heading into the regatta as the defending world champions, Barkow, Capozzi, and Howe defeated 34 teams to win the bronze medal on Saturday, finishing behind teams from Spain and Germany. The team led by Barkow started the event strong, with a number-one lead after the first day of sailing. On the second day, the British team climbed past them to take the overall lead before a thunderstorm washed out racing for the rest of the day. On the final day of racing, the Spanish team finished with equal points to their German rivals, but they won thanks to their two bullets earlier in the championship. The British team was disqualified in the final race, which caused them to slip to an overall fourth place.
"It worked out in our favor. I think we had a pretty tough week," said Barkow. "We stuck together as a team to get the result we wanted in the end."
Ranked #1 on the US Sailing Team in the Yngling class, Barkow and her crew were named US SAILING's 2005 Team of the Year after winning eight major regattas, including two World Championships. Skipper Sally Barkow was also named US SAILING's 2005 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. In 2006, Barkow, Capozzi, and Howe claimed gold medals at the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyères, France, HRH Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma de Mallorca, Spain and US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR in Miami, Fla.
The American team skippered by the 2003 US SAILING Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Hannah Swett with crew Liz Filter (Stevensville, Md.) and Melissa Purdy (Tiburon, Calif.) finished only six points behind Team 7 to place fifth, while skipper Carol Cronin and her crew, Kimberly Couranz and Margaret Podlich (both Annapolis, Md.), finished seventh.
For complete results from the Yngling World Championship, including results from the other US Sailing Team-members click here
July 7, 50th Finn Gold Cup, will get underway in the picturesque Adriatic port of Split in Croatia. With 108 entries from 29 countries entered for the regatta it will be the largest for 24 years as well as perhaps the closest. In fact the class is guaranteed a new name on the cup as no previous winner of one of the toughest events in yachting is taking part, although the line-up includes a string of former European Champions and Olympic medallists.
North American entrants are Conrad Brown, Andras Nady, and Zach Railey from the USA, Derek Mess and Christopher Cook from Canada.
Photo: Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget by Satellite Today
July6, Orange II sets new North Atlantic record, crossing the finishing line at The Lizard this evening at 19h24 GMT. Setting out from New York on Sunday, Bruno Peyron and his maxi catamaran with eleven crewmen crossed the North Atlantic in 4 days, 8 hours, 23 minutes and 54 seconds at an average speed above 27 knots via the theoretical route. The Orange II Dream Team improved on the record set by Steve Fossett's PlayStation by 9 hours 4 minutes and 12 seconds, a record that was said to be unbeatable.
Here are some of Bruno Peyron's first reactions a few seconds after he crossed the finish:
Your first feeling?
"It's immense joy... There are smiles on all the tired faces. It's only normal as we have given it our all and sometimes in life doing your utmost is a good thing. We're focused on what is happening at the moment. For me, that makes three Jules Verne Trophies and three Atlantic records. What I like too is the way it happened. Things went exactly as planned. The whole crew reacted just right and at the right moment. We hit a bit of ice. I think at least that that was what it was. But we reacted correctly. The boat is "wounded" but in one piece and safe, so we can be proud of our work. It all feels a bit strange. It's as if we only set out from New York yesterday.Was it a very exhausting record?
It's a physical record that requires commitment. There weren't many of us here. We chose to go with a total of twelve in two watches, so automatically that takes a lot of effort. But it's a pleasant tiredness. On the circumnavigation, it's rather different, as you have to manage things over a longer period. This time we were in the plane on the eve of setting sail and jet lag or not, we set sail immediately. Moreover we hoped we wouldn't have too many manoeuvres to do, but we ended up doing twenty or so. We did them with the whole crew out on deck, even at 35 knots in the middle of the night in the mist, of course. When the watch "on rest" is woken up twice, it is certainly tiring.The damage to the rudder?
We lost between 6 an 8 hours with this incident with the rudder, but really it's not that serious, even if we know we could do better and the boat deserved better. But I'll say it again, it doesn't really matter. It gives our friends and enemies a bit of a chance to try and beat us, and it will give us another chance to come back and try again, even if it wasn't deliberate.Is it possible to cut the time to below 4 days?
Without hesitation, yes. When we did our route planning before the collision with the UFO, this bit of ice, we were in the process of setting a time of less than four days. So, I'll say it again: without hesitation, yes. Crossing in less than four days is possible.2006 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Weymouth and Portland, U.K.. More than 350 of the world's best young sailors from a record 64 nations will compete for seven gold medals in the following classes: singlehanded Laser (boys) and Laser Radial (girls), the doublehanded 420 (boys and girls), the RS:X windsurfer (boys and girls), and multihull Hobie 16 (open).
"This is the most important international youth event of the year," said Dean Brenner, Chairman of US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee. "It's the event where our best and brightest young talent represents the U.S. on the world stage."
The US Youth World Team members qualified for the team after winning a select regatta previously determined as a qualifying event.
The members of the 2006 US Youth World Team are: Girls Singlehanded: Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wis.) Boys Singlehanded: Royce Weber (Surf City, N.J.) Girls Doublehanded: Emily Dellenbaugh (Easton, Conn.) Briana Provancha (San Diego, Calif.) Boys Doublehanded: Michael Menninger (Costa Mesa, Calif.) Nick Martin (San Diego, Calif.) Open Multihull: Evan Miller (Panama City, Fla.) Kyler Hast (Lynn Haven, Fla.) Boys Windsurfer: James Sobeck (East Quogue, N.Y.) Girls Windsurfer: Nancy Rios (Cocoa, Fla.) The 2006 US Youth World Team will be accompanied by: Team Leader David Dellenbaugh (Easton, Conn.) coaches Brett Davis (St. Petersburg, FL.) Mikee Anderson-Mitterling (Coronado, Calif.).For more information on the 2006 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, visit www.youthworlds.org.July 5, Yngling World Championships, La Rochelle, France: Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi (USA) made a strong start to their title defence at the ISAF Grade W Yngling World Championships, finishing second in both of yesterdayís races to hold the overall lead after day one of racing in La Rochelle, France.
After a night of torrential rain, thunder and lightning the fleet were looking forward to some exciting sailing. In the event they were greeted with sunshine and a moderate to light breeze from the west south west. With 37 boats in the womenís fleet and 42 boats in the open, the stage was set for an excellent start to the World Championship.
A number of the womenís teams had been in La Rochelle training and taking part in informal racing for two weeks before the Worlds. Many suspect this should give them an advantage as local knowledge seems to be very important in La Rochelle.
Racing continues in La Rochelle today [Wednesday], with another two races scheduled in both fleets.
Women's Top Ten: 1. Sally Barkow / Carrie Howe / Debbie Capozzi, USA, 4 points 2. Sarah Ayton / Sarah Webb / Victoria Rawlinson, 8 3. Anne Le Helley / Marion Deplanque / Catherine Lepesant, FRA, 8 4. Monica Azon / Sandra Azon / Graciela Pisonero, ESP, 10 5. Mandy Mulder / Marye Faber / Floortje Hendriksen, NED, 10 6. Ruslana Taran / Anna Kalinina / Svetlana Matevusheva, UKR, 12 7. Annie-Claire Le Berre / Julie Gerecht / Alice Ponsar, FRA, 12 8. Janeke Hin / Annemieke Bes / Petronella De Jong, NED, 17 9. Trine Palludan / Maria Gade / Ida Hartvig, DEN, 17 10. Carol Cronin / Kimberly Couranz / Margaret Podlich, USA, 23
Photo: Photo: Jean-Baptiste Epron by Satellite Today
July 5, Orange 11 Record Attempt. At 12h48 today (Wednesday), Orange II only had 650 miles to go, or less than a quarter of the total distance, to reach the finishing line at The Lizard. The maxi catamaran was still recorded averaging almost 30 knots over the previous 24 hours. Bruno Peyron and his crew have never been better placed to smash PlayStationís incredible North Atlantic record held by Steve Fossett with a time of 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and six seconds. "We're still planning on an ETA of around 16 to 17h GMT tomorrow (Thursday) (18 to 19 h CET)", Bruno Peyron asserted before adding the proviso: "But we know full well that you have to be very cautious with this type of forecastÖ If we break both rudders this afternoon, we won't make it home this week and you'll have to come and get us, as we aren't carrying any oars!"
With a damaged rudder, Orange II is going to have to manage her lead. On Wednesday afternoon at 13h GMT, Orange II only had 650 miles to go to cross the finishing line at The Lizard, which is 50 miles less than her average daily distance since setting sail from New York on Sunday. Bruno Peyron's maxi catamaran may be finishing tomorrow evening and in so doing she will shatter the North Atlantic record held by Steve Fossett (4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and six seconds). A word of caution however. Because of her damaged rudder, Bruno Peyron has decided to ease off and use his lead.
America's Cup Act 12, Valencia, Spain. Emirates Team New Zealand heads in to the 'off season' leading on all counts at the 32nd America's Cup. The Kiwis having won a 'winner take all' race over Alinghi on Sunday to claim Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12, which in turn put the team on top of the 2006 Louis Vuitton ACC Championship. Also, the ranking points the team earned in Act 12 allowed it to stretch out a lead over BMW Oracle Racing on the challengers-only Louis Vuitton Ranking.
So it's been a good season for the Kiwis. They were the first of the big teams to launch a new boat, NZL 84, just before Christmas. The team worked the boat up in Auckland and arrived in Valencia full of promise. But the May Louis Vuitton Acts were a disappointment, the team earning third place finishes in both match and fleet racing events.
But Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 was a different matter. The match racing format of the regatta, like a 'mini Louis Vuitton Cup', seemed to suit the team better and skipper Dean Barker and his men sailed with confidence, aggression and skill. In 17 matches, the team was beaten just twice and won in both instances when it was pushed to a final match.
Among the big themes of the 2006 season is that of renewal; A new Port America's Cup, new boats for many of the teams and new challenges for nearly all of them.
The revitalised Port America's Cup is one of the success stories of the season. With a new marina, a successful public America's Cup Park, anchored by the Veles e Vents building, the Port was an enormous success. Nearly 500 000 people passed through the entrances this year, bringing the total of on-site visitors to the Louis Vuitton Acts up to over 1.5 million from 2004 to 2006.
Emirates Team New Zealand: With a new boat and renewed confidence, the Kiwis were a powerful force in 2006 and especially in Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12. Barker and his team were aggressive in the pre-starts, confident in their speed, and powerful in their tactics. The highlight match was a win over BMW Oracle Racing in the semi-final in a match that many are calling an America's Cup classic. The team went on to beat the Cup defender, Alinghi, 2-1 in the final.
"We felt like somebody had put a flame thrower on us but the team didn't crack. You have to feel happy with that," said tactician Terry Hutchinson, describing the pressure his team had faced over the 10-day regatta.
But he cautioned, "We're very mindful of the fact that Alinghi were sailing a three year old boat. We have used a boat (one of two new boats they're allowed to build) just to catch up with Alinghi and they still have a brand new one in the shed. It would be a huge mistake to look much beyond the fact that we beat a guy in a three year old boat.barely."
The Kiwis will take that humble attitude with them into the off-season. The team has more training planned over the rest of the summer, before returning to Auckland in the autumn to begin testing and training over the winter months at home. Emirates Team New Zealand will take delivery of its new boat by the end of the year.
Alinghi: It's doubtful that the Swiss defender is too worried by its loss to Emirates Team New Zealand in the Act 12 final. The team pushed the Kiwis hard and very nearly won, despite having a four-year old boat. It has used SUI 75 to beat each of the top challengers in their new boats at some point over the season, including a 2-0 record over USA 87, a 2-2 record against Luna Rossa and 1-4 record against Emirates Team New Zealand. That means the Swiss have had the opportunity to see the new ideas of all the top teams, without revealing too many of their own. In fact, the team feels SUI 75 is nearly competitive enough to still do the job.
"We didn't have the firepower to beat Team New Zealand in the end, but boy it was close," skipper Brad Butterworth said. "We sailed SUI-75 but I don't see that as any excuse that we didn't win, that would be a soft excuse. We've got a lot of development that's going on and that's been our focus."
BMW Oracle Racing: The American challenger finished the 2006 season with a bang - the team collided with Luna Rossa in the first race of the petit final and with both boats too damaged to continue the series, BMW Oracle Racing was awarded the point it needed to claim third place in Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 by the Jury.
"Nobody likes to see collisions on the race track and this is definitely not the way we would have chosen to win the petite final of Act 12, but we believe the Jury reached the only reasonable conclusion," said skipper Chris Dickson after the incident.
Before that, the team had sailed well, losing an incredible semi-final match up against Emirates Team New Zealand. All three matches were good, but one was a classic, with every match racing tactic in the book employed by both teams in an effort to get a lead. The Kiwis eventually won, but more importantly, it was the type of 'battle-hardening' race the challengers will be hoping to replicate in the Louis Vuitton Cup next year in an effort to create a challenger capable of beating Alinghi.
To that end, the American team is now talking about spending a few months over the winter in Auckland, where they can take advantage of the southern hemisphere summer and the proximity of the rival Kiwi team to further develop their programme.
Luna Rossa Challenge: The Italians came into Louis Vuitton Act 12 leading the season championship table for the first time in the 32nd America's Cup. They ended the Act on a disappointing note, fourth on the table and disqualified by the Jury for a collision with BMW Oracle. More importantly, their new boat, ITA 86, suffered what the team called 'structural damage' in the collision. It is expected to take at least a week to repair.
"I am not going to allow one episode to change what we are doing and what we will do in the future," said a disappointed Francesco de Angelis, skipper of the team. "In the Round Robin we finished second and the race against Alinghi was very valuable. It's a shame we couldn't conclude the race with BMW Oracle because I was happy about the way things were going."
"This has been a very important period for us. We learned a lot of things about ourselves, the boat, the team and our opponents. We have our programme and we are moving ahead."
Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team: 2006 has been a breakout season of sorts for the 'Latin Rascals'. The team finished the season in fifth place, its highest ranking position to date, and did so sailing its old boat. It's a good time for this Italian team.
"We have a huge list of things we know we have to work on and get better at, but we've learned a lot in this Act and we've managed to put ourselves in situations that have allowed us to learn more about our personnel and about our skills and where we need to move on," said Cameron Dunn, one of the helmsman and coaches for the team. "That's the key. We've got 7 or 8 months now to increase our skills in the areas that we need to so that we can be competitive when we go racing against the likes of Team New Zealand who are going to be the top challenger from this Act. But we need to be able to match them boat for boat all the way around the course."
The plan now is to work up the boat, ITA 90, against the one the team sailed in Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12, ITA 77. The new boat has been going through some 'teething' problems, but Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team says the boat will be fine and will be sailing soon.
Desafío Español 2007: The home team had a good, if unspectacular, season. The Spanish see themselves as among the top four challengers, but finished the season as the fifth challenger behind Mascalzone. On the positive side of the ledger, the team sailed its new boat ESP 88 in Louis Vuitton Act 12 and appeared to be getting more from it with each day of racing.
"The result of the season is great for our team," helmsman Karol Jablonski said after wrapping up fifth place in Act 12. "It's been a good year for us. We only had two weeks to get ESP 88 in the water and get it ready to race. It was a tough decision to make but we're really happy with the performance of the boat. It's going better every day and we feel like we're on the right track."
Desafío Español beat one of the big four for the first time this year, but must stop losing the occasional race to the smaller teams if it hopes to become a top challenger.
Team Shosholoza: The South Africans have literally vaulted up the standings in the past 12 months; a meteoric rise highlighted by the team finishing sixth in Louis Vuitton Act 11. The team is seventh on the season table, a spectacular result for a squad that didn't win a race one year ago in Valencia. Shosholoza now expects to beat teams, and is able to hold close to the top crews when they race.
"We can be pretty proud of our little step up," agreed skipper Mark Sadler. "Now we have to take the next step. Especially as these other guys are developing quickly and getting new boats, we have to take a step just to match that."
Victory Challenge: With a new sponsor on board, things are looking positive for Sweden's Victory Challenge who had a solid, if unremarkable season. The Swedes finish the season in eighth place and have slipped behind Shosholoza and Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team compared to last season.
But in other ways, the team has moved forward. Apart from the new sponsor, the team is looking forward to its new boat, currently under construction in Gothenberg, and will resume an ambitious testing programme in Valencia later this summer.
"We have two new masts coming in a couple of weeks and we've recruited a lot of sailors from the Volvo Ocean Race so we'll have two full sailing teams and sail the two boats to crank up our sail development programme. We're going to be busy. We decided not to begin building until quite late, but we'll have our new boat before the end of the year, so we have plenty happening now."
Areva Challenge: The French challenger, having found its new sponsor in Areva earlier this spring is now focusing on its new boat, due to arrive in Valencia by the end of the year. The French team hit a high note in Trapani last year, but has since bumped up against the limit of what it can do in its 2000-generation boat.
"We knew that it would be harder for us this year because of the arrival of several new boats, but also because of the training the other teams have done over the winter," said team CEO Stephane Kandler. "Our objective was to preserve seventh place in the Louis Vuitton Ranking, which we had reached at the end of the 2005 season. We achieved this goal, and look forward to continuing our hard work this autumn when our new boat arrives. However, we remain realistic on our skill level, which sometimes appeared to lack some aggressiveness. We will work on improving our skills over the next year to come."
The team finished in ninth place in Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12, but shares seventh place on the important Louis Vuitton Ranking for challengers with +39.
+39 Challenge: The third Italian challenger also bumped up against the limits of what can be achieved with the oldest boat in the fleet. Iain Percy and his men fought hard during the 2006 season, but were consistently outgunned.
"I can think of many races we could have won if had equal speed boat.far, far more than we lost," Percy said after falling to Areva Challenge in the battle for ninth place in Act 12.
Regardless, the team has come a long way from Louis Vuitton Act 1 in Marseille, when every pre-start seemed to be an adventure for the team. The sailing squad is talented, loaded with Olympic medals, and with the new ITA 85 freshly delivered to the base in Valencia, there is every hope that team could push up the challenger ladder in 2007.
United Internet Team Germany: 2006 was a frustrating year for skipper Jesper Bank who couldn't compete as much as he would have liked with the middle group of challengers. After a strong opening regatta in Valencia last season, the Germans have beaten only China Team and Shosholoza in 2006, and seemed overmatched in many races this year. Like the other bottom dwellers on the ranking table, UITG is restricted by its boatspeed and needs to be perfect around the course to hold close to the other teams.
"I hate to lose," said skipper Jesper Bank after falling in his division semi-final to +39 Challenge. "I could see in the first race that we got everything we wanted. If we get all the shifts right we might stay in touch, but as soon as we get one slightly wrong we can't hold on to them. It's highly, highly frustrating to sail the boat that way. There is no more match racing after early on in the race."
The Germans have a new boat, GER 89, waiting to be worked up and the team announced this month that it will not build a second new boat, instead putting all of its time, attention and resources into 89.a smart move for a first time challenger.
China Team: The Chinese failed to win a race in 2006, but that hasn't got the team down, this is a squad with a long term view of the Cup, which is realistic about its chances. The team is integrating more and more Chinese sailors into the sailing squad with each Louis Vuitton Act and has sailed with as many as eight during Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12. This is an enormous achievement considering the cultural and language barriers the team faces.
Ming Feng, one of the Chinese sailors, describes some of the obstacles he faces: "What struck me first of all was the rhythm of work and the amount of effort the team put in every day. In China we usually finish a day of training around 17h or 18h. Here if we can finish up at 20h30 we consider it to be a good day. The people who work for the America's Cup are all professionals. It is the biggest difference we have found compared with Chinese sailing. That's why the China Team project is so interesting. It is a way of thinking and reacting, and we must acquire it if we want to progress."
The team is building its new boat in China now, and expects it to arrive in Valencia before Christmas for sailing in January.
2006 Louis Vuitton ACC Championship: 1. Emirates Team New Zealand 2. Alinghi 3. BMW ORACLE Racing 4. Luna Rossa Challenge 5. Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team 6. Desafío Español 2007 7. Team Shosholoza 8. Victory Challenge 9. Areva Challenge 10. +39 Challenge 11. United Internet Team Germany 12. China Team Louis Vuitton Ranking (challengers only): 1. Emirates Team New Zealand 125 points 2. BMW ORACLE Racing 123 points 3. Luna Rossa Challenge 118 points 4. Desafío Español 2007 85 points 5. Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team 73 points 6. Victory Challenge 68 points 7. +39 Challenge 60 points 7. Areva Challenge 60 points 9. Shosholoza 55 points 10. United Internet Team Germany 33 points 11. China Team 15 pointsPhoto: Photo: Jean-Baptiste Epron by Satellite Tuesday
July 4, Orange 11 is on schedule to beat the Atlantic record. Yesterday at 16h GMT, the maxi catamaran once again smashed the 24-hour record by reaching an average speed of almost 32 knots and clocking up 766 miles in one day. At the second comparison point today, Bruno Peyron's crew had a lead of almost 200 miles over Steve Fossett's PlayStation, the record holder with a time of 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and six seconds.
At 16h GMT yesterday, the calculators delivered their latest verdict: twenty-four hours at an average speed of 31.9 knots. 766 miles clocked up or 60 more than the previous record also held by Orange II and 14 more than the new historic time set yesterday morning. By smashing the record twice in one day, you certainly cannot say that Bruno Peyron's crew got off to a bad start on this 2006 attempt at the North Atlantic record. "766 miles, that's a nice number, isn't it?" smiled the 'Boss' this morning during his radio session with Jean Maurel, before explaining: We're still continually above the polars drawn up for this record. I won't say which, but I think we've found what it takes. You're always learning something on this boat. That in itself is great."
As they smash the 24 hour record again and again, which was the second objective announced before the start, Orange II is obviously ahead on its main goal of grabbing Steve Fossett's record and finishing in less than 4 days, 17 hours and 28 minutes. At the second comparison point after the Newfoundland Banks, Bruno Peyron's maxi catamaran with the other eleven crewmen had built up a lead of 199 miles over the route taken by PlayStation, or in other words 66 miles more than at the first comparison point. At the halfway point, (at 11h42 GMT today July 4, there were 1380 miles left to go to cross the finish at The Lizard), the situation is looking good.
Photo: Photo: Jean-Baptiste Epron by Satellite Monday July 3
July 3, Bruno Peyron & Orange 11, covered 752 miles in 24 hours... No sailboat has ever been so fast. Having set out at 11h00'06 GMT on Sunday from New York to attempt to snatch the Atlantic record from Steve Fossett (4 days, 17 hours 28 minutes and 6 seconds), Bruno Peyron's crew has already achieved something on this voyage. Orange II has just demolished their own 24-hour sailing record by covering 752 miles in one day. This is already something that will enter the history books and it may just be the start. At a mind-blowing average speed of 31.3 knots, the maxi catamaran is ahead of where PlayStation was on the charts. No sailboat has ever sailed more quickly over 24 hours
Click here for Orange 11 web site
Jury Ruling on collision between BMW Oracle Racing and Luna Rossa. At a hearing on Sunday morning, the Jury for the 32nd America's Cup awarded repair costs arising from the collision between BMW Oracle Racing and Luna Rossa to the American team. Under the process described in Notice of Race for Louis Vuitton Act 12 (NoR 2.4d), the Jury is required to apportion responsibility for damage to the boats.
The Jury ruled that Luna Rossa must pay its own costs, as well as 80% of the repair bill on the American boat. 'Costs' refer to 'extra' costs, like outside contractors, materials, etc., but not for in-house boat builders. Since the cost of repairs to Luna Rossa will be much higher than the cost of repairs to BMW Oracle Racing, the decision that Luna Rossa pays for all its own damage plus 80% of the damage to USA 87, indicates an even higher apportionment of responsibility for the damage caused by the incident. This is consistent with the penalty on the water from the Umpires, and the Jury ruling last night that saw redress awarded to BMW Oracle Racing, including one point which gave them the win in the petit final of Louis Vuitton Act 12. -- BMW Oracle blog
Emirates Team New Zealand wins Louis Vuitton Act 12 and the Season Championship Valencia, Emirates Team New Zealand won a 'winner take all' match over Alinghi on Sunday afternoon on the waters off Valencia to win Louis Vuitton Act 12 and claim the 2006 ACC Season Championship.
The ultimate duel was set-up by Alinghi winning the first race this afternoon, squaring the final at 1-1, and forcing the deciding third race. The teams were surrounded by an enormous spectator fleet who cheered every tack and gybe. Conditions were ideal for racing again with a moderate sea breeze generated by the sunny skies.
After its win on the water, Emirates Team New Zealand returned to the Port America's Cup where it was scheduled to be presented with the Louis Vuitton Act 12 trophy by Rita Barberá, the Mayoress of Valencia, along with the 2006 ACC Season Championship trophy, from Yves Carcelle, the President and CEO of Louis Vuitton. The prize-giving ceremony was scheduled to take place in the public America's Cup Park, a crowded venue on a sunny Sunday evening in Valencia.
RACE ONE:
Emirates Team New Zealand earned its lead with a bold move in the pre-start. With under a minute to go, Kiwi skipper Dean Barker tacked and passed behind his opponent, switching sides to take the right side of the line near the Race Committee boat. While this meant he started downspeed and behind Alinghi, it was clearly the favoured side and within moments, it was clear this was a winning move.Emirates converted that small advantage into a slim lead, but Alinghi was very close behind for the entire first lap of the race course. In fact, rounding the second windward mark the Swiss had never trailed by more than nine-seconds.
The Kiwis didn't feel comfortable with Alinghi so close on the run and gybed to the left side of the race course. When the boats converged again a few minutes later, Alinghi roared in at full speed on starboard gybe, pressuring the Kiwis who tried to gybe directly in front. But the manoeuvre was poorly executed and Alinghi passed NZL 84 to leeward, holding on to win the race.
Desafío Español swept past Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia in a match that saw the Italians punished for some poor crew manoeuvres. Trailing the Spanish around the first top mark the Italians hoisted a spinnaker with a tight wrap in it. They couldn't free the hour-glassed shaped sail and were forced to drop it to the deck to clear the tangle. But the sail got caught in the water, slowing the boat further. Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia eventually set another sail, but the damage was done and Desafío Español raced away for the win and a 2-0 sweep of the series to claim fifth place in Louis Vuitton Act 12.
Victory Challenge extended its petit final match against Shosholoza with a well fought win over Shosholoza. The South Africans trailed around the second top mark by just eight-seconds and Shosholoza was able to split away from Victory Challenge to make some gains in the middle of the run. But Victory Challenge protected well, and held on for the win to extend the series. Both boats finished with red protest flags flying. An earlier attempt to start the match was abandoned seconds after the start gun after some apparent irregularities in signaling a premature start.
RACE TWO:
Both Emirates Team New Zealand and Alinghi hit the starting line at the gun with speed but it was the Kiwis on the left who made the first gain with a nice lift. Emirates crossed ahead and switched sides twice on this beat, attempting to pick the best windshifts and lanes of pressure. The Kiwis eventually found they couldn't cross ahead of a starboard tack Alinghi, but tacked just below them and squeezed up on the layline directly in front of the Swiss. The Kiwis would carry a slim 12-second lead around the mark.On the run, Emirates wasn't too bothered by Alinghi who attempted to sail high to roll over the Kiwis. But Dean Barker didn't bite and sailed low. Alinghi was too far back to affect the New Zealanders who extended the rest of the way around the race course for the win.
ERNESTO BERTARELLI, HEAD OF ALINGHI SYNDICATE GIVES HIS VIEWS ON ACT 12, WHAT'S NEXT FOR ALINGHI, THE AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT AND THE FUTURE PLANS: "The format this time is much better than in the past. I think we have learnt something for the event, that this format with a round robin and the best teams ending up sailing a semi final and a final, gives some very good, close racing."
"We are looking forward to 2007. It is going to be a long year of testing, getting ready and building up the two in-house racing teams so that we can get to the level required to win the America's Cup again next year."
"To win the AC, you are always looking at two things. One is speed: you want to have the fastest boat. And two: you want to have the best crew, so it is crew work, starts and manoeuvres that are going to win you the America's Cup."
BRAD BUTTERWORTH, TEAM SKIPPER AND TACTICIAN, COMMENTS ON THE DAYS RACING: "There are a lot of things that we can do better. It was close, but it came down to the end race and it would have been nice to do a better job all-round. The crew did a good job, they sailed very well, but overall we did miss a little bit of race preparation and that was the telling thing at the end."
"I think we can take a positive out of the fact that we made the final and as the defender we have got a bit on against the other teams. If you talk about positives, you'd say well we were sailing a 2002/2003 generation boat here in 2006 and we made the final. Out of five or six new boats, we made the final. But there is no excuse for not winning and we know we should have sailed better today, it didn't quite work out."
Scuttlebutt of course, is that it as it was the last time for Alinghi to sail against the Kiwi's - presuming that the Kiwi's win the right to challenge in 2007, it was an Alinghi ploy to push the Kiwi's into showing as much as possible...
Victory Challenge versus Shosholoza: Victory Challenge won this race in the pre-start when Shosholoza found itself completely stalled coming out of a very long dial-up. With both boats falling onto port tack well to leeward of the starting line, the Swedes were able to accelerate and tack for the line, while the South African helmsman threw his hands in the air in frustration. By the time Shosholoza started, the Swedes were 100 metres ahead.
But Shosholoza fought its way back into this race, and Victory Challenge could never extend enough to relax. On the beat Shosholoza appeared to have closed the gap, but a nice tactical move by the Swedes to force the South Africans into two extra tack re-established the lead. Victory Challenge went on to win the race and secure seventh place in Louis Vuitton Act 12.
Finals provisional results: DIVISION ONE: Team Name Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Total Emirates Team New Zealand (0:17) 0 (1:24) 2 Alinghi 0 (0:24) 1 BMW ORACLE Racing won won** 2 Luna Rossa Challenge 0 0 0 ** BMW ORACLE Racing were awarded one point of redress and win the petit final for third place in Louis Vuitton Act 12 DIVISION TWO: Desafío Español (0:19) (1:29) 2 Mascalzone Latino Capitalia 0 0 0 Shosholoza1 (0:33) 0 1 Victory Challenge 0 (0:13) (0:45) 2 DIVISION THREE: Areva Challenge 0 (0:01) - 2 +39 Challenge 0 DNF 0 - 0 Areva Challenge wins 2-0, and finishes Louis Vuitton Act 12 in 9thplace. +39 Challenge is 10th. China Team 0 0 0 United Internet Team Germany (1:34) (7:00) 2 United Internet Team Germany wins 2-0, and finishes Louis Vuitton Act 12 in 11th place. China Team* is 12th. * The China Team has sailed the whole series with old Défi [ex French America's Cup] boats, they are currently building in China a state of the art boat for 2007...July 2, Farewell New York: Bruno Peyron and the crew of Orange II get off to a fine start Bruno Peyron announced this morning that he would be crossing the starting line at around 11h GMT, and it was at 11h 00 mins and 06 secs precisely that the Orange II maxi-catamaran set sail off New York on her latest attempt at the crewed Atlantic record. 12 men on board to tackle this legendary record, which has been held since October 2001 by the American skipper Steve Fossett on board his maxi-catamaran PlayStation. Bruno and his men got off to a fine start as after hardly an hour after crossing the starting line the machine was already advancing at more than 30 knots. Fair wind to them.Already racing full speed ahead Bruno announced before the start that there would be no hesitation in pushing his machine to her limits. The tone was set in the first few minutes of racing, as the giant, which is almost 38 metres long was already sailing to the south of Long Island with an average speed of 32 knots being clocked up. The weather conditions are what they were expecting with a 25 to 28 knot north westerly, and Orange II set sail under the mainsail with one reef, the medium gennaker and the staysail.
Finishing before Friday at 4h30 GMT... To smash the Atlantic record, Peyron and his men will have to finish within 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and 06 seconds. They will therefore have to cross the finishing line off The Lizard at the southwestern tip of England before Friday 7th July at 04h, 28mins and 12 secs GMT.
July 1, America's Cup, First Day of Semi Finals [Act 12], Valencia, Saturday. Flight 103 - Match 4; Emirates Team New Zealand beats BMW Oracle DELTA: 0.11 seconds.
It was one of the best match races in America's Cup history, with the boats never separated by more than two boat lengths, and every match racing tactic in the book was employed to try and gain the smallest advantage. At the end, Emirates Team New Zealand prevailed in race that those who saw it will remember for a very long time.
Emirates Team New Zealand then faced Alinghi in the Finals.
Alinghi had cast the lines off this morning not knowing which challenger they would meet this afternoon in the first round of the Louis Vuitton Act 12 finals. Alinghi pulled off the dock just after 1430 to go and take a look at the conditions and Murray Jones (NZL), traveller/strategist, was confident about the day ahead: "Our crew will be a little bit fresher, but the other boat will have been out there sailing in the conditions already. We should have enough time before the race though to get ourselves familiar with the breeze and conditions so I think the advantage will be pretty neutral." By mid afternoon, all was revealed as Emirates Team New Zealand came out on top against BMW ORACLE Racing, winning the right to fight Alinghi in the first match of the finals.
Racing got underway in upwards of 15 knots at 1630. In the pre-start, Alinghi had the early advantage entering on starboard, both teams fought for the right, but ETNZ won it by 4 seconds with Alinghi starting to leeward. In an aggressive manoeuvre, Alinghi, heading out to the left, flicked the Kiwis off to the right with a hard luff and fought hard from the left in a tacking dual up the 1st leg to round 9 seconds astern. Downwind, Alinghi reeled them in by a fraction to round just 8 seconds behind at the left hand gate. Alinghi, pushing SUI75, their old boat, powered away from the mark on port out to the right, punching through the chop, they held on to the Kiwis, maintaining an 8 second delta at the 2nd windward mark. The Defender chased Emirates Team New Zealand down to the finish, but the Kiwis slipped across the line 17 seconds ahead, taking first blood in the best of three.
To win the finals of Louis Vuitton Act 12, Alinghi must now win both races tomorrow [Sunday].
Saturday: BMW Oracle versus Luna Rossa.
Photo: Gilles Martin-RagetThe hot action was in the battle for third place where Luna Rossa's James Spithill put a penalty on Chris Dickson in the prestart. The Italians then started better, but BMW ORACLE Racing closed the game up with a series of tacks in from the left hand side. But more than halfway up the beat, the action really became close. Coming in on port tack Dickson saw the Italians roll into a tack right in front of him. As the ITA 86 stern swung out, it made contact with the bow of the American boat, tearing the bowsprit off. Both boats were damaged and Luna Rossa retired from the race. The Umpires penalised Luna Rossa for tacking too close, but both teams finished the race with red protest flags flying. A protest is expected, and if lodged, the Jury hearing will take place on Saturday night.
In the other matches, +39 Challenge had to retire with a trim tab problem against Areva Challenge, handing the first race in their third division final to the French. United Internet Team Germany beat China team to grab a 1-0 lead in the petit final - third division.
Desafío Español earned a good win over Shosoholoza to advance to the second division final against Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia. The South Africans will face Victory Challenge in a battle for seventh place.
In the other matches, Areva Challenge took an early lead over +39 Challenge when the Italians had jib problems in the prestart. But +39 fought back and nearly passed the French on the final dash for the finish. But Areva held on to win ninth place overall, with +39 Challenge securing 10th.
United Internet Team Germany beat China Team for its second consecutive win, gaining 11th place overall. The Chinese take 12th.
Shosholoza sailed a brilliant race against Sweden's Victory Challenge, earning a hard fought win after a great battle early in the match. The South Africans lead the series 1-0, and can secure seventh place with a win on Sunday.
Desafío Español overcame equipment problems that saw Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia make a pass on the second upwind leg. But the Spanish were too fast for the Italians and regained control to lead 1-0 in the battle for fifth place.
Friday: - The Kiwis kept the match tight for a while, but lost ground on the final run and finished 33 seconds behind.
Photo: Gilles Martin-RagetJune 30, America's Cup, First Day of Semi Finals [Act 12], Valencia. The Swiss defender of the America's Cup won both of its semi-final matches over Luna Rossa to advance to the final, where it will race for the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 crown. Who they will face there has yet to be determined, as BMW ORACLE Racing and Emirates Team New Zealand split their two matches.
It was a spectacular day for racing on the waters off Valencia with bright sunshine and warm temperatures generating moderate sea breezes. The conditions presented many tactical challenges however as neither the wind pressure nor its direction were stable.
Hundreds of spectator boats ringed the two race courses as the stakes were raised to a new level in this series of Louis Vuitton Acts. Shosholoza rose to the occasion surprising Desafío Español with a dramatic passing move just before the finish line in their first match, while +39 Challenge swept past United Internet Team Germany.
DIVISION ONE:
Alinghi wins 2-0. Alinghi proved its mettle on this day, showing why the defender of the America's Cup must still be considered the team to beat. The Swiss swept past Luna Rossa Challenge with two consecutive victories to qualify for the final. In the first match, Alinghi took a small lead on Luna Rossa early on, but down both runs the Italians were looking very fast, making this a close race. The second contest appeared to be well in hand for Luna Rossa when Alinghi started prematurely, but the Swiss closed the game up and on the final run, the Italians allowed the Swiss to separate to the other side of the race course. Alinghi found a favourable wind shift and when the boats converged just in front of the finish line, Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth had the lead - a tremendous win for the defender. Delta's of: 0.15 & 0:29Series square 1-1:
After the start the Americans found good breeze on the right to get back on level terms with New Zealand. There were a number of close crosses until the Kiwis looked to tack straight back at the Americans in a very aggressive move to control the right. A luffing match ensued but USA 87 started moving much quicker than NZL 84. The Kiwis kept the match tight for a while, but lost ground on the final run and finished 33 seconds behind. In the second contest, BMW ORACLE Racing found a nice left shift after the start to take a small lead around the top, but Emirates Team New Zealand made a passing move on the second upwind leg when they found better wind on the right side of the course. The final run was tense, with BMW ORACLE closing right up, but Kiwi skipper Dean Barker protected his position well and conserved the win with a Delta of 1:09.DIVISION TWO:
Series square 1-1. Shosholoza won its first match over Desafío Español on the final run after initially losing the lead. A poor gybe aboard RSA 83 had allowed the Spanish to cruise past their opponents who were slow to get the gennaker setting. However, Tommaso Chieffi steered the South African boat very deep inside the Spanish line, and when it was time to gybe for the finish RSA 83 was ready to pounce. South Africa rolled over the top of the Spanish and took the match by just 4 seconds. The South Africans initially held the lead after the start in the second match but Desafío Español found a nice shift on the right which allowed them to lead at the first mark, and converted the early advantage into a win with a Delta of: 0:35.Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team wins 2-0 * protest pending Victory Challenge was in trouble in both the pre-starts and never recovered. In the first start, they were shut outside the Race Committee boat and by the time they started, Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia was well ahead finishing with a Delta of: 0:15. In the second match, the Swedes were over the start line early allowing the Italians to build a lead they would never relinquish Delta: 0:47. Victory Challenge has lodged a protest that will be heard this evening.
DIVISION THREE:
Areva Challenge wins 2-0. The French Areva Challenge swept past China Team, who has yet to win a match race this season. But China Team skipper Pierre Mas made life difficult for his counterpart Thierry Peponnet, clearly winning the start in the second race and leading up much of the first beat. But in the end, the class of the French team shone through[Delta: 0:58 & 1:30]. they advance to the final where they'll meet +39 Challenge.+39 Challenge wins 2-0. Iain Percy's +39 Challenge won both matches over United Internet Team Germany without too much bother to advance to the final. The Germans narrowly won the first start, but that advantage was soon overcome. In the second match, +39 picked its way up the first beat well, finding all the right windshifts to take a handy lead that was never threatened. Delta: 1:11 & 1:16
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