April 30, J/24 Nationals, Houston Yacht Club, Galveston Bay, Texas
Thursday saw winds from the NorthEast 6-12 knots (gusting to 17).
Friday 15-20 (with gusts to 25) with a mean Galveston Bay chop of 4 ft with 6 ft between crests...
Saturday saw the final race of the J/24 Nationals run in light air after a Tornado warning and thunderstorms had cleared from Galveston Bay.
J24 Nationals (top five of 60 boats) Pos Bow/Sail Skipper Total Pts 1 29/ 5208 Chris Snow 7 3 1 2 1 1 4 6 25.00 2 01/ 1208 Mike Ingham 3 4 14 1 7 10 12 20 71.00 3 52/ 5259 Zaleski/Zaleski 35 10 7 5 2 4 6 2 71.00 4 53/ 791 John Kolius 5 28 5 16 9 5 1 7 76.00 5 10/ 1132 Stuart Challoner 9 12 3 9 10 12 11 18 84.00For more photos click here
Volvo In-port Race, Baltimore, Maryland. In front of an armada of boats and an estimated 20,000 spectators, movistar pulled off an impressive victory out on Chesapeake Bay in the fifth in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06.
With a light north easterly wind blowing around 8-10 knots, the race got underway as scheduled and it was the American entry Pirates of the Caribbean that was first out of the starting blocks. Paul Cayard (USA) and his band of Pirates, including the newly crowned Miss USA Tara Connor, timed the start to perfection and leapt off the start line closely followed by Ericsson skippered by fellow American John Kostecki.
By the first mark Ericsson had the advantage and passed Pirates of the Caribbean to take the lead, seven seconds in front of the Spanish entry movistar. An intense battle between Ericsson and movistar then ensued which resulted in Bouwe Bekking's (NED) movistar gaining the upper hand to move up into the lead leaving Ericsson to battle it out for second place with Pirates of the Caribbean and Torben Grael's Brasil 1. With five Olympic medals under his belt, Grael's experience paid off and he managed to get an inside advantage and get Brasil 1 round in second place.
Both movistar and Brasil 1 managed to stay out in front as the wind dropped to five knots and by the time the race committee decided to shorten the course, movistar had established an unbeatable lead and took maximum points in the race.
In-port Results: 1st movistar, Bouwe Bekking, NED (2h 21m 32s) 3.5 pts 2nd Brasil 1, Torben Grael, BRA (2h 26m 07s) 3 pts 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, USA (2h 26m 57s) 2.5 pts 4th Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, USA (2h 29m 17s) 2 pts 5th ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse FRA (2h 29m 49s) 1.5 pts 6th ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson NZ (2h 35m 18s) 1 pt 7th Brunel, Grant Wharington AUS (2h 35m 50s) 0.5 ptsAlthough finishing in sixth place, ABN AMRO ONE still comfortably holds on to first place overall, but movistar has closed the gap to within twenty points. Pirates of the Caribbean knocks Sebastien Josse's (FRA) ABN AMRO TWO off the podium to move up into third place overall.
Current Leaderboard - Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06: [position/team name/skipper/race points to date] 1st ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 63.5 pts 2nd movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 44 pts 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 41.5 pts 4th ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 41.0 pts 5th Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 37.0 pts 6th Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki (USA) 30.5 pts 7th Brunel, Grant Wharington (AUS) 0.5 ptsLeg six from Annapolis to Portsmouth via a pit stop in New York commences on the 7 May. The boats are expected to arrive into New York on the 8 May. For further information, log onto www.volvooceanrace.org.
April 29, J/24 Nationals, Houston Yacht Club, Texas, sponsored by Sailing Anarchy.
At 10 A.M. Saturday, with heavy rain falling and a tornado / thunder storm warning for the area, the last race of the National's was postponed until the afternoon and the weather had cleared.
Sailing Anarchy reported Friday: Mike Ingham and his crew showed their stuff in Race 4 (first race on Friday) with a bullet, followed by Chris Snow in second and David Klatt in third - reported Sailing Anarchy. Seven boats were scored OCS and didn't return to restart. Race 5 saw the highest breezes of the day. Chris Snow took first with Zaleski/Zaleski in second and David Klatt in third (again). One mid-deck crew took a boom in the face (think Whack-A-Mole) and had to be evacuated off the course to the emergency room.
He was back for the party though, with a broken nose and a body full of "happy drugs" from the hospital ER. He's going to look like a raccoon tomorrow once the bruising takes full bloom. Also had a snapped rudder - broke just below the pintles/gudgeons. One of the RC boats picked up the debris. By the time Race 6 rolled around, everyone had about as much sailing as they wanted.
There were a bunch of tired folks on the course and a few had headed back to the harbor / bar. The wind actually moderated to 15-18 knots true and some of the boats probably could have flown the Genoa to power through the short steep chop better. Chris Snow came through with another bullet in this race, Daniel Borrer took second, and David Klatt took another third place - [ For complete Sailing Anarchy report click here]
. For J/24 Nationals photo page click here
Team Basilica
April 29, Baltimore Volvo Extreme 40 Grand Prix. Baltimore, Maryland - It was a clean sweep for Tommy Hilfiger on the first day of the Baltimore Volvo Extreme 40 grand prix series.
Randy Smythe and his all American team scored straight wins in the four races that took place in the Inner Harbour within a stones throw of the shoreline and underneath the towering office blocks that line the waterfront.
Spurred on by wanting to impress their sponsor, the fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, who took an afternoon out of his busy schedule to enjoy zipping around the Inner Harbour with his victorious team. Smythe and his team did a good job of reading the tricky wind conditions which saw the breeze go from nothing to 15 knots within minutes. After four races Tommy Hilfiger has established a healthy twelve point lead over second placed Team Holmatro skippered by Tornado Olympic medallist Mitch Booth.
After day one Team Motorola-CHR is placed third overall one point in front of Rio grand prix winners Team Basilica. Herbert Dercksen, CEO Volvo Extreme 40 commented: "Today was amazing. I felt really proud as this kind of racing is exactly what we designed and built the Volvo Extreme 40 for." "At one point we looked up at a neighbouring office tower block and there were people waving out of the windows on five floors."
Saturday sees the teams enjoy a lay day whilst the Volvo Open 70's that are competing in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 take part in the in-port race. The Volvo Extreme 40 racing recommences on Sunday and continues through until Wednesday 3 May.
Results, day 1 1st Tommy Hilfiger, USA (1,1,1,1) 40 pts 2nd Team Holmatro, NED (2,3,3,2) 28 pts 3rd Motorola CHR, GBR (5,2,4,3) 23 pts 4th Team Basilica, GBR (4,4,2,5) 22 pts 5th Volvo Ocean Race, GBR (3,5,5,4) 19 pts[ For web site click here]
ABN Amro crew demo January 2006
April 28, Hydroplaning Moth's. If you haven't seen or heard of the foiling Moths, you will get a kick out of their video's. With hydroplaning foils that completely lift the hull from the water, this class is so ahead of its time. The video's shows how the hull lifts from the water and goes through boat handling maneuvers. N.B. Skill and agility is a requirement!
April 27, Geronimo Breaks two Records. Despite an extremely difficult final section, Geronimo crossed the finish line of the San Francisco-Yokohama record course at 13:21:23 GMT (15:21:23 French time), beating Steve Fossett's record by 4 days, 16 hours, 37 minutes and 28 seconds. Geronimo also set a new record for the passage from Hawaii to Yokohama, which was also previously held by the US sailor.
A superb performance by covering the 4,482 nautical miles from San Francisco to Yokohama in 14 days, 19 hours, 4 minutes and 4 seconds. In reality, Geronimo actually travelled 5,600 miles. "The last 1000 miles were incredibly violent", reported Olivier de Kersauson just a few minutes after crossing the line. "The crossing was magnificent. Everything was excessive, with the weather changing and shifting around at a mad pace: it was exhausting and exhilarating, except for the final section, which was more of an exasperation. In fact, we had to do it in traditional st yle: going as fast as possible by the shortest route. There's no real chance of applying a strategy in these waters. It's interesting in the nautical sense, because I've never known conditions that were so variable and so demanding".
Volvo Battle of The Bay, Baltimore, Maryland. The duel between the Volvo Open 70s on Chesapeake Bay on Saturday 29th April - is to be broadcast live across the United States and around the world via the Volvo Ocean Race's official website. It will also be broadcast to spectator boats following proceedings on the bay.
This contest, the fifth of the Volvo Ocean Race's highly successful series of in-port match races, has the potential to be the best so far. Many are expecting this to be the time when Mike Sanderson's (NZ) seemingly unbeatable ABN AMRO ONE faces its most serious challenge a scenario made even more likely considering the current forecast: a very light easterly breeze on a gloriously sunny day.
Light winds will not suit ABN AMRO ONE but will certainly appeal to the teams aboard Sanderson's closest rivals on the points' table, Bouwe Bekking's (NED) second-placed movistar and Paul Cayard's American entry, Pirates of the Caribbean. And Brasil 1, sailed by five-time Olympian and dual gold medallist, Torben Grael, cannot be ignored.
Much interest will also focus on Ericsson and the revamped Australian entry, Brunel, which rejoins the Volvo fleet in Baltimore after undergoing extensive modifications in Melbourne. Ericsson, which has not excelled since winning the opening in-port race in Spain, will enter the arena on Saturday with Neal McDonald (GBR) back at the helm and two new crewmembers, navigator Mark Rudiger (USA) and Ian 'Barney' Walker (AUS).
The man who is the voice of the Volvo Ocean Race, Guy Swindells, will again be joined at ringside by yachting commentator and author Rob Mundle aboard a media boat operating inside the course exclusion zone on Chesapeake Bay. All the action will be broadcast from 12:45 EDT (17:45 BST). The race commentary can be heard by simply going to the race website, www.volvooceanrace.org, and clicking on the live broadcast icon.
Semaine Olympique Française. A quiet blue sea and bright sunshine welcomed the sailors ready to race their 4th day in Hyères at the Semaine Olympique Française regatta. Unfortunately the conditions at the end of the morning were more suited to sunbathing than sailing! The racing committee postponed all classes waiting for the sea breeze. Appearing timidly early afternoon with 5-6 knots near the coast, the wind was just enough to start racing. The soft sea breeze didn't keep its promises; the most wind recorded was 10 knots on Bravo course but dropped an hour later after operating a big shift. Sailing on Bravo, 470 women, 470 Men silver and Finns had their course shortened to be able to complete decently their day only race.
The American Yngling team of Sally Barkow/ Carrie Howe/ Debbie Capozzi scored a third place finish -- their seventh consecutive single digit finish -- to open up on a seven point lead over the British team helmed by Sarah Ayton, while a second UK team (helmed by American Nancy Haberland) is now is third place, just one point further back.
Results after 7 races (with one discard): Yngling (26 entries): 1. Sally Barkow/Carries Howe/Debbie Capozzi USA (6)-6-1-4-2-5-3 21 pts 2. Sarah Ayton/Emma Rawlinson/Sarah Webb GBR 4-5-8-1-9-1-(49) 28 3. Nancy Haberland/Annie Lush/Lucy MacGregor GBR 2-9-13-2-(ocs)-2-1 29Paige Railey (USA) moves up to tie Sophie Turckeim (FRA) as the two leaders separate from the rest of the Laser Radial fleet. Anna Tunniclife (USA) is tied with the Chinese XU Lijia Xu in third place.
Laser Radial(80 entries), 8 races one discard: 1. Paige Railey Clearwater YC USA (BFD)-4-1-1-7-1-1-1 17 pts 2. Sophie de Turckheim FRA (BFD)-1-2-2-3-4-4-1 17 3. Lijia Xu CHN 1-5-6-6-1-2-9-(49) 30 4. Anna Tunnicliffe NCYC USA 3-6-2-8-1-(13)-5-5 30[ For all results click here]
April 26, Semaine Olympique Française. Medium easterly breeze and choppy waves in Hyères provided more good racing at the Semaine Olympique Française regatta. With six single digit finishes in the Yngling class the American team of Sally Barkow/Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi holds a single point lead over their British rivals Sarah Ayton/Emma Rawlinson/Sarah Webb.
Results after 6 races (with one discard): Yngling (26 entries): 1. Sally Barkow/Carries Howe/Debbie Capozzi USA (6)-6-1-4-2-5 18 pts 2. Sarah Ayton/Emma Rawlinson/Sarah Webb GBR 4-5-8-1-(9)-1 19 3. Sharon Ferris/Raynor Smeal/Ashley Holtum NZL(22)-3-2-6-1-10 22Sophie de Turkheim (FRA) and Page Railey (USA) have finally discarded their 1st race disqualification to lead the 80 boats Laser radial fleet in first and second place respectively. Lijia Xu with 15 points is only three points from the lead in third place, she is showing the greater consistency with scores within the top six. Despite loosing two places in the overall results, she was by far the best performer in the women single handed dinghy fleet on Tuesday after winning the first race and placing second in the next. American Anna Tunnicliffe is in fourth with 20 points.
Laser Radial(80 entries): 1. Sophie de Turckheim FRA (BFD)-1-2-2-3-4 12 pts 2. Paige Railey Clearwater YC USA (BFD)-4-1-1-7-1 14 3. Lijia Xu CHN 1-5-6-6-1-2 15 4. Anna Tunnicliffe NCYC USA 3-6-2-8-1-(13) 20Americans Mikee Anderson-Mitterling and David Hughes continue their assent in the 470 Men's fleet. With two single digit finishes they've moved into 12th place. In the 470 Women's class, Amanda Clark/ Sarah Mergenthaler have some solid finishes but the burden of a DSQ plus a Black Flag Disqualification has the team mired in 14th place.
[ For complete results click here]
April 25, Geronimo Record Attempt. Becalmed 1000 miles from their destination, the weather is trying the patience of Geronimo's crew. After more than 12 days at sea, the Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran is pressing on with her difficult passage to Yokohama, having covered 4,700 nautical miles since beginning her record attempt in San Francisco. Geronimo's progress has been a rather complicated affair for the last four days.
"We're tacking in between 1 and 4 knots of wind in a pretty calm sea and asking ourselves what it would take to find some more wind; but we've had to submit - tactics are just impossible. We can't get around this system. The calms stretch 700 miles to the south and to the north the currents are very strong. In this part of the North Pacific, the weather is a bit unstable. There are a lot of small depressions and anticyclones, and some anticyclones can turn into depressions.
The 11-man crew aboard Geronimo still have 1,000 nautical miles to cover before they reach Yokohama. "It could be 700 miles of flat calm, followed by 500 miles of beating against a 9 to 12 knot wind on our nose. And if the simulation is right, 45 knots in the last few hours along the coast, with a risk of thick fog: we daren't allow ourselves to believe it!". At 16:40 (French time) Sunday, Geronimo had covered 4,530.32 nautical miles at an average speed of 17.16 knots, and had 1,030.18 miles left to Yokohama.
[ click here for latest Geronimo position]
Volvo. Unlike basketball or football, sailing gets little airtime or attention in this country. ESPN, for instance, is not televising the North American leg of the Volvo Ocean Race this time around after losing money on the America's Cup broadcast. But that hasn't stopped executives from betting that money they spend on the race will yield a return.
Organizers of the Volvo Ocean Race have attracted more than $50 million in sponsorships for the Baltimore and Annapolis stopover, which continues through May 7. Local companies paying cash and donating services to see their names on signs and advertisements include Constellation Energy Group Inc., Comcast Corp., Verizon and Brown Advisory Securities LLC. Other sponsors include the state of Maryland, the City of Baltimore and Anne Arundel County.
Constellation Energy, which is spending $500,000 to be the title sponsor, is targeting corporate energy buyers who are primarily male, average age of 45 and earn at least $60,000 each year, said Malinda Small, managing director, brand implementation. The company analyzed how this target demographic spends its leisure time to figure out what kind of events to sponsor. Golf and sailing were top on the list. "Sailing is something that resonates with them," Small said. This is the same demographic the company is targeting when it sponsors the Constellation Energy Classic golf tournament.
Volvo Group and Volvo Car Corp. are jointly spending more than $10 million to have the Volvo name associated with the race worldwide. The race allows Volvo Group to get its name in front of the more than 2,000 suppliers, dealers, shareholders and customers the company entertains at each of the race's eight port of calls, said Margorie A. Meyers, a spokeswoman for Volvo Group North America Inc. "It's a good fit for us because we are a global company," with production facilities in 25 countries, Meyers said. Sponsoring the race on a global scale would not make sense for a company that, for instance, operates solely in North America, she said.
Though interest in sailing is higher in Maryland compared to other parts of the country, "the United States is probably the lowest on the list for knowledge of sailing and popularity of the sport," Meyers said. -- Excerpts from a story by Julekha Dash, Baltimore Business Journal [For full story click here]
April 24, Star Class Eastern Hemisphere Championship 2006, Naples, Italy. Mark Mendeblatt & Mark Strube (USA) got involved in a battle with Fredrik Lööf & Ekström Anders and reigning World Champions Xavier Rohart & Pascal Rambeau (FRA) in race five, which saw all three crews finish low down the fleet. However, where the Americans and the eventual winners could afford the poor result, an earlier finish of 28 effectively put paid to any medal chances for the French crew.
Mark Mendeblatt & Mark Strube went on to take second in the final race and secure the silver medal, just ahead of Luca Modena & Michele Marchesini. The Italian pairing took the final bullet of the championship to finish just a point behind the Americans and overtake Diego Negri and Luigi Viale (ITA) for third place.
Final Results (67 Stars competed): 1. Fredrik Lööf/Ekström Anders SWE 6-12-2-1-(38)-3 24 pts 2. Mark Mendeblatt/Mark Strube USA 5-8-10-3-(29)-2 28 3. Luca Modena/Michele Marchesini ITA 9-5-(20)-6-8-1 29 other US results: 7. John Dane 111/Austin Sperry USA 8-1-(17)-9-11-10 39 20. Mark Reynolds/Magnus Liljedahl USA (dnf)-37-7-12-25-19 100[For more click here]
Semaine Olympique Française. More than 1000 sailors from 50 nations have gathered in Hyères to race in their first Grade 1 event regatta in Europe - the Semaine Olympique Française. For the first time in France, the new racing format, adopted by ISAF last November for the 2008 Olympics, will be put into action. On the last day, the best 10 boats in each class will contest the last race for the top 10 positions. The 38th SOF will also be the first time for the windsurfers (over 150 entries) to compete in Hyères on the new Olympic board the RS:X.
On the first day of racing, after waiting 4 hours on the water for good racing conditions, the Finn fleet finally started, following Canadian Chris Cook around the course. The only race sailed in the Yngling class went to the Dutch trio led by Annelies Thies. Two British teams took 2nd and 4th. In second place, American sailor Nancy Haberland (sailing with Annie Lush and Lucy MacGregor) is temporarily replacing Shirley Robertson in the British boat. The double Olympic Gold medallist is due to have twins in 3 months! American's Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi were sixth in that 26-boat Yngling class.
In the 80-boat Laser Radial fleet, North Americans Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) and Lisa Ross (CAN) are tied for second behind the Chinese Lijia Xu. A black flag disqualification in race two pushed Paige Railey (USA) deep in the fleet after taking a fourth in the opener. Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl (USA), in tenth place, are the top North Americans in the 86-boat 470 Men's fleet.
Volvo & Baltimore. If you looked at a map of Earth and tried to plan a round-the-world ocean race, Baltimore might not seem an obvious place to stop. In fact, the route here looks a little like somebody made a wrong turn and dead-ended in Charm City. Other cities around the world that play host to the 35,000-mile Volvo Ocean Race this year perch directly on the sea so that skippers don't need to pick their way through crab pots and miles of shallow water.
Nevertheless, this is the third straight time that the ocean racing yachts have made the 120-mile slog from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in Norfolk, Va., to Baltimore. The first boat drifted in (last) Monday for a three-week stopover, kicking off an event that is expected to draw a half-million people to see the boats and to generate $52 million in economic activity. The only other U.S. port the boats will visit is New York City, for a two-day pit stop.
The reason the race came to Baltimore in the first place is a story of force of will by a small group of local sailors. The reason it stays is in part due to an organization that doesn't dissolve when the race is over and to proximity to a major population center that the race sponsors hope will absorb their branding. After every Volvo competition -- this year's race ends in June in Sweden -- the racetrack changes. Volvo management will look at sailing factors, such as how well the ports were equipped to handle the race, and nonrace factors, including media penetration and regional enthusiasm. Cities must bid for the race.
Other cities weren't picked for various reasons. Newport, R.I., which bills itself as the "Sailing Capital of the World," was dismissed in part because of concerns about quirky spring weather. New York Harbor was saddled with security and cost concerns and, as with the city's 2012 Olympic bid, seemed to lack local enthusiasm. Charleston, S.C., while attractive for many reasons, didn't have the organizational know-how and financial underpinnings. Baltimore and Annapolis won the right to be a stopover in 1997-1998 after a nine-year campaign by a small group of local sailors, including ESPN commentator Gary Jobson.
The lobbying campaign moved in starts and spurts, with the race management saying no to Baltimore in favor of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 1990. Jobson, an internationally known sailor who lives in Annapolis, spent the next couple of years quietly but persistently chatting with skippers and talking up the Chesapeake Bay. Also, the fan turnout in Fort Lauderdale wasn't what race organizers had hoped for. So in 1994, after going to Fort Lauderdale for a second time, race executives renewed their interest in Baltimore, a historic port that was heavily promoting its revitalized waterfront.
This time local businessman George Collins agreed to finance a local entry, Chessie Racing, and a deal was struck. And in 1998, an estimated half-million people came out to view the boats for what was then known as the Whitbread Round the World Race and to talk to sailors. Although ownership of the race changed hands from an English brewery to a Swedish carmaker and no one stepped forward to fill Collins' shoes, the ability of Baltimore and Annapolis civic leaders to put on a good show with plenty of spectators helped ensure the region a second visit in 2001-2002. Despite a drop in attendance for the second visit, Volvo gave the nod for a third visit to Baltimore.
The Volvo Ocean Race's Baltimore stopover is a complicated endeavor. Ocean Race Chesapeake raised $3 million in cash and in-kind donations to bring in trailers, set up offices, pay race committee staff and hire boats, Barnhill said. Baltimore paid $300,000 this spring to dredge parts of the Inner Harbor so that the boats, which have longer keels than they did in previous years, could get in. Annapolis spent roughly twice that amount to dredge its harbor, which had two mounds of silt that would have caused the boats to run aground.
The net economic benefits are huge because the race requires relatively little financial outlay from the city, said Michael Bradley, an economics professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. "It comes fairly cheap as compared to the cost of, say, bringing a new NBA franchise to Baltimore," Bradley said. He stressed the intangible benefits to the city, as well as an increase in civic pride and a boost to Baltimore's image. -- Excerpts from a story by Annie Linskey, Baltimore Sun [ For full story click here]
April 21, Volvo Team Ericsson skipper John Kostecki has stated a decision will be announced in the "next few days" clarifying whether his commitments to Michael Illbruck's Transpac 52 campaign will prevent him from taking part in some of the remaining legs of the Volvo Ocean Race.
The American revealed how he has asked Illbruck to allow him more time to help Ericsson "do as well as possible", but the German construction giant is keen for his skipper to return and oversee the team's development as preparations intensify for their expected entry into the Breitling TP52 MedCup in May.
"We would really be sacrificing our TP 52 project, which we have been working on for eight or nine months now. We have put a lot of time and effort into that and I don't want to see that project sacrificed. I've some personal dedication to that. "It's going to be a balance." said Ericsson skipper John Kostecki
Kostecki also suggested the Ericsson sail programme, and a below-par rig, have been the chief reasons behind the string of poor results which see them at bottom of the leaderboard. Ericsson changed their sail suppliers in the immediate run-up to the race start in Spain and the lack of time they had to develop their new inventory has put them at a disadvantage. Now he admits he would be content for the team to post some respectable places and stamp their authority on the remaining In Port races.
He also admitted the team should have learned more from Team ABN AMRO throughout their development and utilised the knowledge they obtained in their two boat testing. "In hindsight we should have paid a lot more attention to ABN AMRO because they have spent the time testing with two boats, and also have some innovative ideas because they have a lot of experienced offshore sailors and Open 60 ideas that came on to their 70. I think it¹s proven to be pretty fast. They also have, I think, one of the best sail designers out of North (Sails) which also helps. I also feel they have the best sail loft finishing their sails. "I feel our rig isn't as good as everyone else's, but we can't change it. We have to do the best with what we have."
"If we were to win a leg that would be a great boost to us and our sponsors. I think the most important thing to us now, beyond doing well overall, is to show improvement. In these shorter legs we have a chance to do that."
Library photo by: Riva.Com
Ellen MacArthur's Asian Challenge . It has been yet another challenging leg for Ellen and the crew onboard B&Q, as they crossed the finish line yesterday (19.04.06) at 18:20:36 GMT, to establish record number six in a total elapsed time of 3 days, 1 minute and 55 seconds. The 580-mile leg from Shanghai to Taipei saw frustration for everyone onboard as they were thwarted by light airs, navigating through a sea of boats and the delay waiting for customs clearance.
Since Taiwan claimed independence after the Communist victory in mainland China in 1949, an uneasy relationship has existed. A repercussion of this is that there is no direct navigational route between mainland China and Taiwan, and all shipping must clear customs in Japanese waters before entering Taiwan. Ellen and the crew had to wait for customs clearance at a waypoint off Ishigaki Island in Japanese waters, and light conditions delayed their estimated arrival time, forcing them to wait overnight until a customs boat was available to clear them for their onward journey.
Having arrived into Taipei later than expected, this now means a quick turnaround as the crew must prepare the trimaran for the 465-mile leg to Hong Kong departing today (20.04.06) estimated start time around 1200 GMT. The crew have set themselves a target time of 2 days 16 hours for this next record. - http://www.teamellen.com
April 20, Geronimo attempt on Pacific Record. Yesterday, on her seventh day at sea, the Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran covered 462 nautical miles at an average speed of 19.28 knots, as she continues to make excellent progress in the second half of a course that promises to present a complex challenge.
A strategic return northwards Having been forced a long way south of the direct route, the Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran has been heading back north towards Japan on her record attempt ever since passing Hawaii on Sunday. After seven days at sea, Geronimo and her crew have covered 3,178 nautical miles, leaving "only" 2,344 to cover to reach Yokohama. However, this latest track, which isn't really one at all, is giving Olivier de Kersauson cause for concern, as he explained in his latest audio report last night.
"It's going pretty well. We're making nearly 500 miles a day, which is a good average. The problem is that those 500 miles bring us only 380 closer to the finish line". Geronimo must also cope with several areas of calm in the days that lie ahead. "We can see several cycles of calm to the north and west. The last 1,200 miles could be hazardous".
This latter section of the course may give the maxi-trimaran yet another opportunity to show just how adaptable she can be. "Geronimo is performing well. Apart from breaking a batten in a gybe yesterday, which we were able to replace quickly, we've had no problems at all. Once again, the boat is showing just how reliable she can be".
[ click here for latest Geronimo position]
Left to right: Zodiac Inflatable, kite sailor Manu Bertin and kite-surfing board on which he crossed the English
Channel, the Mediterranean and the Straits between Maui and the main
island of Hawaii, and for the Atlantic attempt - his catamaran surf board with wing kitesurf mast and seat.
April 20, Kite Surfing the Atlantic. At the age of 43, Manu Bertin, the founding father of kite-surfing (kite sailors around the world now number more than 200,000) has lost none of his enthusiasm for a challenge, in mid-April from the island of La Gomera in the Canaries to kite-surf across the Atlantic. It was from this same island that Christopher Columbus set out to discover the new world.
For his attempt at an Atlantic crossing, he will be using three different floating craft pulled by his kite: his board catamaran, a board and an inflatable dinghy - named Cochise for periods of rest and eating.
Following will be a 50-foot catamaran "Baies du Monde" with four crew which will assist him with logistics and supplies, but which he will not go onboard during the attempt.
The sporting goal for Manu Bertin is to go as far as possible towards the Caribbean, which is some 3000 nautical miles to the west. It is a daring challenge, as the environment is hostile, there are many innovations, but if the northh-easterly trades blow, he will make g ood headway. In addition to the physical preparation he has 11 years experience of kite-surfing behind him.
2006 US Sailing Team. US SAILING, the national governing body of the sport recognizes the top-five ranked sailors in each of the boat-classes selected for the next Olympic regatta. The US Sailing Team was first created in 1986 to recruit and develop top sailors in the country for upcoming Olympic Games. For the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, those classes are: 49er, 470 (Men and Women), Finn, Laser, Laser Radial, RS:X (Men and Women), Star, Tornado, and Yngling.
Rankings on the US Sailing Team are based on attendance and performance at qualifying events. Athletes who have qualified for the US Sailing Team are identified as strong contenders for an Olympic berth and, as members of the Team, they will be assisted with coaching, training, and other benefits.
49er (Skiff) 1. Morgan Larson (Capitola, Calif.) / Pete Spaulding (Lafayette, Ind.) 2. Dalton Bergan (Seattle, Wash.) / Zack Maxam (Coronado, Calif.) 3. Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.) / Michael Karas (Seattle, Wash.) 4. Sam Kahn (Santa Cruz, Calif.) / Paul Allen (Santa Cruz, Calif.) 5. Jonathan Goldberry (Corte Madera, Calif.) / Matt Noble (Richmond, Calif.) 470 Men (Men's Two-Person Dinghy) 1. Mike Anderson-Mitterling (Coronado, Calif.) / David Hughes (San Diego, Calif.) 2. Stu McNay (Boston, Mass.) / Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) 3. Justin Law (Newport Beach, Calif.) / Michael Miller (Charleston, S.C.) 4. Adam Roberts (San Diego, Calif.) / Nick Martin (San Diego, Calif.) 5. Charlie Modica (Jupiter, Fla.) / Forbes Barber (Manchester By-the-Sea, Mass.) 470 Women (Women's Two-Person Dinghy) 1. Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.) / Sarah Mergenthaler (Harvey Cedars, N.J.) 2. Erin Maxwell (Stonington, Conn.) / Alice Manard (New Orleans, La.) 3. Carisa Harris (San Carlos, Calif.) / Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.) 4. Caroline Young (Tampa, Fla.) / Evan Brown (Tampa, Fla.) 5. Allison Jolly (St. Petersburg, Fla.) / Molly O'Bryan (San Diego, Calif.) Finn (Heavyweight Dinghy) 1. Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) 2. Darrell Peck (Gresham, Ore.) 3. Geoffrey Ewenson (Annapolis, Md.) 4. Andrew Kern (Chicago, Ill.) 5. Bradley Nieuwstad (Santa Cruz, Calif.) Laser (Men's One Person Dinghy) 1. Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) 2. Brad Funk (Clearwater, Fla.) 3. Royce Weber (Surf City, N.J.) 4. Kyle Rogachenko (Worcester, Pa.) 5. John Pearce (Ithaca, N.Y.) Laser Radial (Women's One-Person Dinghy) 1. Anna Tunnicliffe (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) 2. Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) 3. Danielle Brennan Myrdal (Kaneohe, HI) 4. Genoa Griffin (Tampa, Fla.) 5. Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Neil Pryde RS:X Men (Men's Windsurfer) 1. Ben Barger (St. Petersburg, Fla.) 2. Seth Besse (Guilford, Conn.) 3. Steve Bodner (San Francisco, Calif.) 4. Bob Willis (Chicago, Ill.) 5. Mark Powell (Coconut Grove, Fla.) Neil Pryde RS:X Women (Women's Windsurfer) 1. Nancy Rios (Cocoa, Fla.) 2. Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) 3. Karen Marriott (Lakewood, Colo.) 4. Angela Hurley (Wheat Ridge, Colo.) 5. Lisa Kremer (Worthington, Minn.) Star (Men's Keelboat) 1. Andy Horton (Newport, R.I.) / Brad Nichol (Hanover, N.H.) 2. George Szabo (San Diego, Calif.) / Eric Monroe (Corona Del Mar, Calif.) 3. Mark Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.) / Hal Haenel (Los Angeles, Calif.) 4. Rick Merriman (San Diego, Calif.) / Rick Peters (Venice Beach, Calif.) 5. Andy MacDonald (Laguna Beach, Calif.) / Brian Fatih (Miami, Fla.) Tornado (Multihull)* 1. John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) / Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, TX) 2. Robbie Daniel (Clearwater, Fla.) / Enrique Rodriguez (Key Largo, Fla.) 3. Don Thinschmidt (Holland, Mich.) / Andrew Wierda (Miami, Fla.) 3. Michael Grandfield (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) / Michael Kuschner (Coon Rapids, Minn.) 4. Norman Chum (Houston, TX) / Gary Chu (Racine, Wis.) 5. Martin Malcheski (Little Suamico, Wis.) / Benjamin Malcheski (Little Suamico, Wis.) *Due to a competitor-generated dispute, six teams have been named to the US Sailing Team in the Tornado Class Yngling (Women's Keelboat) 1. Sally Barkow (Chenequa, WI.) / Deb Capozzi (Bayport, NY) / Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, MA) 2. Hannah Swett (New York, NY.) / Melissa Purdy (Tiburon, CA) / Liz Filter (Stevensville, MD) 3. Carol Cronin (Jamestown, RI) / Kim Couranz (Annapolis, MD) / Margaret Podlich (Annapolis, MD) 4. No qualified team 5. No qualified team[ For web site click here ]
Photo: Rivacom
April 19, Geronimo on Pacific record attempt. Geronimo and her 11-man crew have maintained a very respectable average since they crossed the start line in San Francisco on April 12. After precisely 5 days of racing, and despite a fairly slow first day (294 miles), the trimaran has covered a total of 2,217 miles at an average of 18.48 knots. Since a large anticyclone bars their the route through the North Pacific, taking the option of a southerly route has enabled the crew to maintain good speed, despite the fact that this option lengthens the route to Yokohama by over 1,000 miles.
These circumstances have allowed Geronimo to pass between the Hawaiian Islands and make the waypoint at Diamond Head after 4 days and 19 hours to set a new reference time for the passage from San Francisco to Honolulu (Hawaii) at an average speed of over 18 knots. The fact of passing Honolulu also gave Olivier de Kersauson and his crew the opportunity to mount an attempt on the Honolulu-Yokohama record of 13 days, 20 hours set by Steve Fossett.
"For our attempt on the San Francisco-Yokohama record, the weather systems have sent us on a southerly course, so we took the opportunity to route via Honolulu to challenge the record to Yokohama. Geronimo must head back north towards Japan, which is going to be a complex problem. It's getting rather hot, and this has been a tiring leg right from the start. We'll be trying to get our breath back a bit in the next few hours so that the crew can recover. We all need it. The second part of the course is complicated, because there's no wind to the north. We're making good averages because we've plenty of wind and the sea is beautiful, with starry skies", concludes Olivier de Kersauson.
[ click here for latest Geronimo position]
Paul Cayard and his Pirates invade Baltimore Tuesday.
Photo: Martin Stockbridge
April 18, Volvo Leg 5, Day 17. After the three podium places for leg five were taken earlier today by ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), movistar (Bouwe Bekking) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), the remaining three boats in the Volvo finished in quick succession.
Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) held off Ericsson Racing Team (John Kostecki) to take fourth place by whisker, finishing 12 minutes ahead of the Swedish boat, while ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) brought up the rear in sixth position, finishing just under an hour later.
The Pirates of the Caribbean had arrived Baltimore, Maryland at 1122 GMT Tuesday (0722 hrs local time) finishing third on leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race after 15 days, 19 hours and 12 minutes at sea. Bouwe Bekking (NED) and his team racing the Spanish entry, movistar, had finished second at 00:14:15 GMT [Tuesday] after 15 days, 8 hours, 4 minutes and 15 seconds at sea.
movistar finished in a solid second position, proving that their win on in leg three from Melbourne to Wellington was no fluke and they are, indeed, a team to be reckoned with, as always anticipated. Prior to the start of the Volvo Ocean Race from Vigo in Spain last November, movistar had always been considered a contender for the overall victory in the event, but, after leg one when the team was forced to retire with serious damage to the boat and a last place finish on leg four when the boat suddenly started to take on water as the team led the fleet towards Cape Horn, movistar has had some catching up to do.
Much of the stopover in Rio de Janeiro was spent doing essential work on the boat after she limped into port a week later than the leading boat, leaving the crew little time to tune the boat up for the in-port race, a week before the start of leg five. Movistar bounced back to post a second place in the Rio inshore race and today's finish position has been a result of determined effort on the leg by the crew who pushed the boat every inch of the way.
Volvo Ocean Position Tuesday:
Leg 5 Leg Total Leg Points Overall
elapsed time Points Points Overall Position
ABN AMRO ONE 15d 02h 47m 52s 7.0 10.0 62.5 1
moviestar 15d 08h 04m 15s 6.0 9.5 40.5 2
Pirates of the Caribbean 15d 19h 12m 48s 5.0 7.5 39.0 4
Brasil1 15d 12h 11m 25s 4.0 5.5 34.0 5
Ericsson 15d 21h 23m 24s 3.0 5.0 28.5 6
ABN AMRO TWO 15d 22h 31m 59s 2.0 3.0 39.5 3
Leg five has seen a shake up on the overall leaderboard. Although ABN AMRO ONE has an advantage of 22 points as the team stretched their lead to 62.5, movistar now moves up from fourth place overall to second, with 40.5 points, and ABN AMRO TWO drops down a place to third. Pirates of the Caribbean exchanges third overall for fourth but the bottom of the leaderboard is unaffected and Brasil 1 and Ericsson maintain their fifth and sixth places.Although ABN AMRO ONE has a strong advantage in the top spot, the race for second place is very open and there is everything to play for in the next in-port race scheduled to be held in Baltimore on April 29.
[For Volvo web site click here]
Photo: David Branigan/Oceansport
April 17, Volvo Leg 5, Day 16. Today at 1857 GMT, 1457 local, after 15 days, 2 hours, 47 minutes and 52 seconds, skipper Mike Sanderson steered ABN AMRO ONE, the Dutch yacht affectionately known as Black Betty, under the Annapolis Bridge and across the finish line south east of Sandy Point, 18 nautical miles from Baltimore's Inner Harbor, to add another leg win to their tally of three wins and a second place in the Volvo Ocean Race so far.
Finishing in almost drifting conditions, at one point having us a kedge anchor to prevent the boat drifting backwards on the outgoing tide, Mike Sanderson was relieved to have kept the lead from movistar who was challenging them right to the very end.
ABN AMRO ONE set the pace on day two of leg five from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore, but was overtaken the following day by Spain's movistar with Bouwe Bekking in charge. Positions in the fleet then changed almost on an hourly basis, with ABN AMRO ONE sinking as low as fourth before slowly reeling in the fleet and challenging movistar as they approached the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha on day five.
ABN AMRO ONE heads the overall leaderboard with 62.5 points, 22 points ahead of movistar in second position overall, who was just 17 miles behind ABN AMRO ONE when she crossed the finish line.
Position update at 2000 GMT Monday: ABN AMRO ONE finished moviestar 17 miles to finish Pirates of the Caribbean +112 Ericsson +194 Brasil1 +202 ABN AMRO TWO +220[For Volvo web site click here]
12207 Taylor Lutz [Houston, Texas] at the Championship
Optimist Open South American Championship, Colombia. For the first time in its 33 year history a non-American has won the 194 boat Optimist Open South American Championship. Timothy Seet of Singapore benefited from the second discard after the final race to beat his team mate, reigning Asian champion Sean Lee, by a margin of just 4 points, both sailors scoring 6th or better in all races.
The championship has been won on a number of occasions by North Americans, most notably twice in the '80s by USA Laser Olympian Mark Mendelblatt, but never by a non-American. The win is a further step in the rise of Asian youth sailing demonstrated by the Optimist Worlds gold taken by Wei Ni (CHN) in 2004 and the ISAF Youth gold won by Wee Chin Teo (SIN) last year.
Further evidence of the rise is that the girls' gold and over-all bronze was taken by Rufina Tan of Malaysia and girls' silver by Griselda Khng (SIN). In the "closed" South American scoring 2004 champion Edgar Diminich of Ecuador lost out on countback to his younger compatriot Jonathan Martinetti. Manfredo Finck (URU) was third - Robert Wilkes [For more click here]
Optimist South American Championship in Colombia. USA sailors (amongst the 194 Opti sailors at the Championship) were:
USA 14752 Nick Johnstone USA 12207 Taylor Lutz [Houston, TX.] USA 14239 Declan Whitmyer USA 14141 Jordan Factor USA 13773 Mac Agnese USA 13295 Antoine Screve USA 14770 Pearson Potts USA14669 Robbie Johnson USA 9793 Dodge Rees USA 13829 Chanel Miller USA 14421 Nicholas Clemence USA 14846 Jason Kuebel USA 12212 Will Haeger USA 13600 Eliza Richartz USA 13312 Georges Kutschenreuter Pearson Potts Team Leader Marek Valasek Entrenador Todd Fedeszyn Entrenador Robin Kuebel Rep Paìs[For web site and results - click here]
April 16, Volvo Leg 5, Day 15. As ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) and movistar (Bouwe Bekking) prepare to enter the final stage of leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore, USA, the weather is ensuring that the final 135 miles up the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore°Øs Inner Harbour will be a fight to the bitter end.
Assistant race meteorologist, Jennifer Lilly explains: "The trip up the Chesapeake is shaping up to be relatively slow and especially challenging ®C at least for the leaders. Present forecasts are painting very light winds, possibly from the north. If this plays out as forecast, the leaders could be sailing nearly dead up wind, with plenty of tacks as the bay narrows going north towards the finish. In addition, the local tidal currents of the bay will play into this hugely. Combine that with the challenges of heavy shipping, shallow sand bars, fish traps and crab pots, you have got a navigator's nightmare."
The forecast conditions are not ideal for leading yacht, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), but the light breeze could very well suit movistar (Bouwe Bekking), who has been hard on her heels for the last week. Just one mistake from ABN AMRO ONE is all that is needed for movistar to make her move and retake the lead.
ABN AMRO ONE is currently 134 nautical miles from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. "It's pretty tough being in the lead," says Mike Sanderson, "because you sail into the new calm patches first, and movistar is coming roaring up behind us. We are working very hard to try and be the first in Baltimore. We still have a little bit of something to pay back movistar from Wellington and it would be nice to hold them off to the finish, even if it is light airs."
The change in forecast now indicates that the first boat could cross the line as early as tomorrow (Monday) evening 2130 BST, 2230 GMT or 1630 local time in Baltimore. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), looking safe for the third place on the podium is expected to arrive 24 hours after the leader.
Position update at 2200 GMT Sunday: ABN AMRO ONE 187 miles to finish moviestar +36 Pirates of the Caribbean +198 Ericsson +253 Brasil1 +262 ABN AMRO TWO +288[For Volvo web site click here]
Photo; Rich Roberts
April 16, Congressional Cup. Gavin Brady, a native of New Zealand but a resident of Annapolis, Md. for 14 of his 32 years, felt right at home in Long Beach Saturday when he won his third Crimson Blazer in the Long Beach Yacht Club's 42nd Congressional Cup presented by Acura.
"This yacht club gave me a break when I was young, so this is a really special event for me," he said. It was just a while in coming. Brady's first two wins were in 1996 and '97, and since then he had been in the semifinals six times and the finals four times before this victory that put him one behind Rod Davis and Peter Holmberg, who have won four Congressional Cups each.
Brady represented the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club but his crew was mostly American. Like himself, tactician Chris Larson and pitman Ian Gordon live in Annapolis and Rey is from Newport, R.I. Bowman Jeff Brock and main trimmer Skip Baxter are Kiwis. They'll all share the $10,000 first-place prize.
Williams, ranked No. 7 in the world, said he was not disappointed in second place and $5,700. "We were just discussing how our crew has sailed in three Congressional Cups [among them] and Gavin's team has what -- 40?" Williams said. Or, as Williams' tactician, Bill Hardesty of San Diego, said, "There are eight teams here who would like to trade [places] with us, so we can't complain."
Saturday's sailing conditions were the best of the five days of competition: 10 to 12 knots of pure, cool Long Beach sea breeze from the southwest slot between Santa Catalina Island and the Point Fermin peninsula up the coast. Brady's wins over Dickson and Williams were virtually uncontested, ranging from 13 to 21 seconds---not routs but totally in control.
The new consolation fleet race for a $1,000 prize was won by New Zealand Simon Minoprio, followed by countryman Cameron Appleton, Brian Angel of Redondo Beach, Peter Wibroe of Denmark and Johnie Berntsson of Sweden. Finland's Staffan Lindberg did not compete.
Final Standings (with round robin scores):
1. Gavin Brady (15-3) $10,000
2. Ian Williams (15-3) $5,700
3. Mathieu Richard (13-5) $4,800
4. Scott Dickson (8-10) $4,400
5. Simon Minoprio (8.-10) $3,800
6. Johnie Berntsson (8-10) $3,000
7. Cameron Appleton, (7-11) $2,700
8. Staffan Lindberg (7-11) $2,300
9. Brian Angel (6-12) $1,900
10. Peter Wibroe (3-15) $1,500
[For video highlights through the event web site - click here]April 15, Volvo Leg 5, Day 14. Still leading the pack in the final 600 miles of the Volvo Ocean Race leg five from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is 600 miles east of the Florida coast and 260 miles south west of Bermuda. Conditions Friday were a wake-up call for the chasing pack as they waved good bye to the champagne sailing they have had for the last few days and saw the return of 20 - 25 knots of wind and a lumpy sea state. Once through the high pressure ridge, there is more of the same to come as they start to cross the Gulf Stream.
There have been more losses again this afternoon as the fleet enters the high pressure ridge. Movistar is now 43 miles behind ABN AMRO ONE, losing 16 miles in the last six hours. Third-placed Pirates of the Caribbean is now 161 miles behind the leader and has lost 28 miles this afternoon, sailing the slowest in the fleet. Ericsson (John Kostecki) who is three miles ahead of Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) has lost 11 miles and Brasil 1 10 miles in the last six hours. The only boat to make a gain is ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) who has yet to enter the ridge.
Position update at 1200 GMT Saturday: ABN AMRO ONE 624 miles to finish moviestar +43 Pirates of the Caribbean +161 Ericsson +201 Brasil1 +204 ABN AMRO TWO +237[For Volvo web site click here]
Scott Dickson and crew driving upwind in their desperate and successful bid for the Congressional Cup semifinals. Photo: Rich Roberts
Congressional Cup -- Good Friday was wet and gloomy in Long Beach, but there was one bright spot: hometown sailing favorite Scott Dickson qualified for Saturday's semifinals of the 42nd Congressional Cup presented by Acura.
Dickson, who will meet first-place Gavin Brady in a best-of-three match while Britain's Ian Williams Races France's Mathieu Richard, started the last day of the double round robin in a three-way tie with New Zealand's Simon Minoprio and Sweden's Johnie Berntsson, with Finland's Staffan Lindberg and Brian Angel of nearby Redondo Beach a step behind and three rounds to go.
Final Round Robin Standings (ranked by tiebreakers) - the top four go into the semifinals:
W-L
Gavin Brady (New Zealand) 15-3
Ian Williams (Gr. Britain) 15-3
Mathieu Richard (France) 13-4
Scott Dickson (Long Beach) 8-10
Simon Minoprio (New Zealand) 8-10
Johnie Berntsson (Sweden) 8-10
Cameron Appleton (New Zealand) 7-11
Staffan Lindberg (Finland) 7-11
Brian Angel (Redondo Beach) 6-12
Peter Wibroe (Denmark) 3-15
[For web site click here]April 14, USA Yngling Team win at Princess Sofia Trophy, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The USA Yngling team of Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) kicked off their European sailing season with a major win today (Friday) at the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The reigning Yngling World Champions had one mission going into today's final medal race: finishing ahead of the British team led by Sarah Ayton, who was just two points behind when the teams got on the water this morning. The USA team, which won the Women's World Match Racing Championship last year, used its match racing skills to cover the British team, crossing the finish line two spots ahead of Ayton.
"Sally and her team came out prepared to do some match racing today and their experience paid off," said US Sailing Team Head Coach Gary Bodie who was on the water watching the race today. "Sally's team was ahead of the British the entire race, it got tight in the end when the breeze started to build, but Sally, Carrie and Debbie did a fantastic job staying in front of them." The team crossed the finish line in eighth place today, while the British finished last in tenth place.
Canada's Christopher Cook took a third in the final race in the 41-boat Finn fleet to capture the bronze medal in that class, while Amanda Clark & Sarah Mergenthaler (USA) finished third in final race of the 470 Women's Class to move up to sixth place in that 49-boat fleet. Anna Tunnicliffe took a second in the Laser Radial finale, which left her 10 points short of the third spot on the podium. An OCS in that race moved the other American finalist, Paige Railey, down to the eighth spot. Brad Funk (USA) finished the ISAF Grad 2 regatta in seventh place in the Laser class.
Later today, the winners will receive their medals from Queen Sofia of Spain. This weekend, the USA sailors are heading to France to compete in Hyères at French Olympic Sailing Week, which starts April 22 and runs through April 28.
Volvo Leg 5, Day 13. Friday 12:00:00 GMT - Now smack in the middle of a stationary front, the fleet has covered less than 100 nm in the last six hours, causing all sorts of stress for the crews; however, the mid-fleet battle between Ericsson and Brasil 1 continues unabated.
The skippers have been bemoaning the fluky conditions but the bad news is, there's more of the same unpredictable pockets of squalls and light patches over the next 24 hours or so, although the leaders should soon be experiencing the benefits of the Gulf Stream to give them an added lift in the right direction.
Position update at 1200 GMT Friday: ABN AMRO ONE 916 miles to finish moviestar +41 Pirates of the Caribbean +178 Ericsson +206 Brasil1 +213 ABN AMRO TWO +285[For Volvo web site click here]
Photo: Riva.Com
Geronimo on Pacific record attempt. To reach Yokohama and Japan, Geronimo is for the moment sailing South to find beam winds and currents. "The direct route is not a viable possibility," explains the skipper of the maxi trimaran, who determines the route to follow with his navigator American Larry Rosenfeld. "Larry knows the Pacific well and has a lot of information at his disposal.
Despite the size of the area to cover, the Pacific is fairly well-monitored and the data Larry gets is very reliable overall." This Friday morning, a little over 36 hours into the course, Geronimo was travelling at an average speed of 20 knots, still mostly south of the direct line, in order to avoid the many fast low-pressure troughs to the north tout and make the most of the northeast trades from 30 degrees latitude.
[ click here for latest Geronimo position]
Mathieu Richard (left) and Johnie Berntsson mix it up in a wild spinnaker luffing duel. Photo: Rich Roberts
Congressional Cup, Long Beach, Calif. There's not much room left at the top of the 42nd Congressional Cup presented by Acura. New Zealand's Gavin Brady (12-3), Great Britain's Ian Williams (12-3) and France's Mathieu Richard (11-4) are in and five other skippers will be jousting today (Friday) for the lone remaining slot in the final four sailoffs scheduled Saturday.
Williams, standing in first place alongside Brady, said, "It shows the quality of the field when we get to this stage and five other guys have a chance to reach the semifinals." The five: Long Beach's New Zealand transplant, Scott Dickson; New Zealand's Simon Minoprio and Sweden's Johnie Berntsson at 7-8 and Finland's Staffan Lindberg and Redondo Beach's Brian Angel at 6-9.
With three races remaining in the double round robin on Friday, New Zealand's Cameron Appleton (4-11) and Denmark's young Peter Wibroe (3-12) are left to compete for the traditional consolation prize: a copy of Arthur Knapp's book "Race Your Boat Right."
While Richard cooled off with four losses in his last five races after a 10-0 start, Brady has become the hot sailor with 10 wins in his last 11 races, including six in a row. So, with his position in the semis secured, how will he sail Friday?
There are just three races left to determine who will race in the Semifinals and finals on Saturday.
Round Robin Standings Thursday pm:
1. Ian Williams, 12-3
1. Gavin Brady, 12-3
3. Mathieu Richard, 11-4
4. Johnie Berntsson, 7-8
4. Scott Dickson, 7-8
4. Simon Minoprio, 7-8
7. Brian Angel, 6-9
7. Staffan Lindberg, 6-9
9. Cameron Appleton, 4-11
10. Peter Wibroe, 3-12
[For web site click here]
Photo: Nico Martinez
The XXXVII HRH Princess Sofia Trophy, 8-16 April, Palma de Mallorca, Spain - The top ten sailors of each class competing in Friday's final medal race at Spain's Princess Sofia Trophy may not have got a lot of sleep Thursday night, as the winners in most classes had not been determined.
Six U.S. teams have made the cut and finished in the top ten of their respective fleets: For USA's Yngling skipper Sally Barkow and her crew Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi, Friday will be an especially big day: they've been the leaders in their fleet throughout most of the regatta but are closely followed by the British team skippered by Sarah Ayton, who's just two points behind.
Yngling 1. Sally Barkow/Carrie Howe/Debbie Capozzi USA 4-1-2-(ocs)-1-4-2-2-(10)-1-8 25 points 1. Sarah Ayton/Victoria Rawlinson/Sarah Webb GBR 3-2-1-3-6-3-1-5-(17)-3-(10) 27 3. Ulrike Schumann/Runa Kappel/Ute Hopner GER 9-5-5-6-13-1-(11)-(14)-4-4-1 46 Laser Radial 1. Evi Van Acker BEL 3-1-3-5-5-8-5-5-1-7-7-9 42 points 2. Virginia Kravarioti, GRE (9)-3-2-3-2-3-7-6-7-8-9-(28) 50 3. Sophie De Turckhelm GRE (31)-21-12-1-1-4-(35)-4-2-2-10-2 59 4. Anna Tunnicliffe, USA 7-2-1-1-3-10-(20)-(20)-19-12-1-19 75 5. Paige Railey, USA 8-2-1-4-8-1-12-1-(dne)-6-(15)-6 76 470 Women: 6th Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler Laser: 7th Brad Funk Finn: 3rd Christopher Cook (Canada), while Zack Railey (USA) missed the cut in the Finn fleet by just six points.[For web site click here]
April 13, Volvo Leg 5, Day 12. "A old cold front has gone stationary around 25 degrees north - just ahead of the fleet as they head northwest towards the Chesapeake Bay and the finish in Baltimore. Over the next 24 hours, winds will gradually veer from east-southeast to southeast and perhaps even south-southeast. The general trend should be for the breezes to decrease gradually with time," according to race meteorologist Chris Bedford.
This means the crews will have to sail through a huge mass of cloud with squalls of heavy rain, gusty and variable winds, mixed with some frequent lightning for good measure. It will be extremely hard to predict the squalls and a little bit of luck will be needed. To complicate matters, on the other side of the front, as well as a 10-knot increase in wind speed, the wind will shift to the east and north east and there will be a large area of gale force north-easterly winds north of 25 degrees north.
Increasing the fun of this leg, will be the development of multiple small low pressure waves along the stationary front, each forecast to move east-north-east along the front. "I would not be surprised to hear reports of 50 knot gusts coming from the boats as they sail north of the front," says Bedford.
At 1600 GMT today (Thursday), the gap between ABN AMRO ONE and second-placed movistar was 30 nautical miles, but movistar has the upper hand in terms of speed. At 1410 GMT this afternoon, ABN AMRO ONE bore away sharply to the west, followed at 1540 by third-placed Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and 15 minutes later by movistar, indicating a shift in wind direction, or maybe they just know something we don't.
Volvo Ocean Race Positions Day 12 at 1600 GMT Thursday:
1. ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 1315 miles to finish
2. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +30 miles
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +58 miles
4. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +87 miles
5. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +109 miles
6. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +155 miles
[For Volvo web site click here]
Photo: Rich Roberts
Congressional Cup, Long Beach, CA. Light air continues to plague the Congressional Cup presented by Acura, but Mathieu Richard is obviously enjoying it. He breezed through the first ten rounds of the round robin undefeated.
But rather than head back to the yacht cub after round 10, the Long Beach YC race committee decided to squeeze in one more round. Denmark's Peter Wibroe was pretty happy about that call. It set the stage for his 16 second win over Richard, and moved Wibroe out of last place. Racing continues on Thursday with the match race finals scheduled for Saturday.
Round Robin Standings:
1. Mathieu Richard, 10-1
2. Ian Williams, 9-2
3. Gavin Brady, 8-3
4. Staffan Lindberg, 6-5
5. Johnie Berntsson, 5-6
5. Simon Minoprio, 5-6
7. Scott Dickson, 4-7
8. Peter Wibroe, 3-8
8. Brian Angel, 3-8
10. Cameron Appleton, 2-9
[For web site click here]The XXXVII HRH Princess Sofia Trophy 8-16 April. After Tuesday's frustration, the wind blew on Wednesday in Palma, Spain showing its best and providing competitors with a great day of sailing. All classes sailed 3 races and 4 races were sailed in the 420 and Europe. These 2 classes will start the races of the Final round today (Thursday).
As of Wednesday - US competitors make the top places in two Olympic classes: Laser Radial: 1. Evi Van Acker BEL 3-1-3-5-5-8-5-5-1 28 points 2. Virginia Kravarioti GRE 9-3-2-3-2-3-7-6-7 33 3. Sari Multala FIN 10-5-21-3-2-1-32-3-3 48 4. Anna Tunnicliffe USA 7-2-1-1-3-10-20-20-19 63 5. Paige Railey USA 8-2-1-4-8-1-12-1-dne 64 Yngling 1. Sally Barkow / Carrie Howe / Debbie Capozzi USA 4-1-2-ocs-1-4-2-2 16 points 1. Sarah Ayton / Victoria Rawlinson / Sarah Webb GBR 3-2-1-3-6-3-1-5 18 3. Mandy Mulder/Anneureke Bes/Floortje Hendriksen NED 2-8-15-ocs-5-5-8-4 47[For web site click here]
Photo: ALC Rivacom
April 12, Geronimo crossed the start line on Pacific record attempt, at 07:40:42 local time Wednesday off San Francisco under grey skies with a light south-westerly breeze of between 5 and 10 knots.
"It's a complex course, and therefore an interesting one", explained Olivier de Kersauson before the start. "The Pacific is governed by three or four different weather systems, which makes some passages rather challenging. Unlike the Atlantic, these are waters we aren't very familiar with". Having set off in highly variable wind conditions, the maxi trimaran will have to clear San Francisco Bay before she finds more favourable weather. The current record: San Francisco (USA) - Yokohama (Japan): Steve Fossett - 19 days, 15 hours, 18 minutes, 9 seconds ®C 1996
The crew list: Olivier de Kersauson, Didier Ragot, Larry Rosenfeld (USA), Jean Charles Corre, Lucas Zamecnik, Xavier Douin, Antoine Deru, Philippe Laot, Rodolphe Jacq, Pas cal Jagut, Kazuhiro Nishimura (Japan), Matt Bryant (USA).>
moviestar catching-up. Photo: Team moviestarVolvo Leg 5, Day 11. Wednesday -- it might look like plain sailing as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet scorches through the Caribbean en route to Baltimore, but it's a little more complicated than it appears, particularly for ABN AMRO ONE.
In the last six hours, the leader's nightmare has became reality; they have slowed to 14 knots while the chasing pack hunts them down at 17 knots or more. The order has not changed tonight, but the entire fleet is cutting into the lead of the Dutch boat and is likely to continue to do so over the next six hours.
As the Volvo Ocean Race teams carry on rising north, now parallel to the Caribbean Islands, the winds have lightened and the temperature has dropped to give the sailors idyllic sailing conditions. Some of the teams are enjoying the easy trade wind sailing whilst others are worried as they see their leads are being eroded.
All the yachts have gained on the leader ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) in the last 24 hours, putting the pressure on Sanderson. He admitted that even though it must look like plain sailing from onshore, all the teams could be thrown a curve ball by the weather in the near future. "For now we are still sailing up the side of the Caribbean and so are in the north east trades, which are shifting around fairly systematically from day to do, both in strength and direction. But the forecast has us dealing with the bad side of a couple of lows as well as a high pressure ridge between the Caribbean and the entrance to the Chesapeake."
Bouwe Bekking (moviestar), like Sanderson, is not having a good day as the teams compress behind them too. "Had two shocking skeds after another, but then we knew that this would always happen, the guys behind us have more breeze. But it makes me very grumpy inside, and I know that's not good to show, as that can influence them all in a bad way. So trying to do little things in my off watch, this makes them feel good: like making an extra cup of coffee for the guys on deck, mopping out the bilges, washing the dishes etc." Despite his mood, it should be noted that movistar has gained a massive 20 nautical miles on ABN AMRO ONE in the past 24 hours.
The fierce sea battle which has been waged over the past few days has finally cooled down for the time being, as Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) pulls out a 19 nautical mile lead in front of fourth placed Brasil 1 (Torben Grael). The Pirate Ship has headed up to a more northerly course, sailing over the same track, as the top two yachts, while Brasil 1 and Ericsson Racing Team (John Kostecki) stay slightly further south west but sail a similar course.
The weather forecast indicates that there will be plenty of re-start possibilities, something that the crew of ABN AMRO ONE has been dreading. The forecast shows two low pressure systems and a high pressure ridge for the fleet to negotiate between the Caribbean and the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay.
Race meteorologist, Chris Bedford, explains: As the fleet continues to head north the breeze should remain out of the north east, decreasing slightly over the next 24 hours, before building again. Occasional squalls will continue to be an issue for the teams and the navigators will continue to study the Bermuda High and any weather moving off the US east coast in order to best plan their approach to the Chesapeake Bay.
"Looking ahead, the North Atlantic or Bermuda High is located around 40N and 30W, with a large ridge extending southwest towards the Bahamas. As the fleet sails through the trade winds they must position themselves to pass through this ridge on their way to the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, a large area of high pressure moving off the US east coast late this week will move across the rhumb line, adding the potential for some light winds along the course."
Volvo Ocean Race Positions Day 11 at 2200 GMT Wednesday:
1. ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 1613 miles to finish
2. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +29 miles
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +57 miles
4. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +79 miles
5. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +100 miles
6. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +159 miles
[For Volvo web site click here]
Tuesday: Mark Callahan, bowman for Scott Dickson, checks close encounter with Gavin Brady's boat.
Congressional Cup 2006, Long Beach Yacht Club, CA, April 11-15. With France's Mathieu Richard leading the way by winning all five of his matches, the five European competitors in the 42nd Congressional Cup presented by Acura won 18 of their 25 races Tuesday to claim the top three positions on opening day (Tuesday).
Close behind Richard, who is eighth in the current International Sailing Federation (ISAF) rankings, stand Great Britain's Ian Williams (No. 7) and Finland's Staffan Lindberg (13) at 4-1. Conversely, the three New Zealanders -- four if you count local Scott Dickson who has lived in Long Beach for a decade -- were 7-13, an atypical mark for a small country that turns out champion match racers like sheepskin slippers.
STANDINGS (after 5 of 18 rounds): 1. Richard, 5-0 2. tie between Williams and Lindberg, 4-1 4. tie between Brady and Minoprio, 3-2 6. tie between Wibroe and Berntsson, 2-3 8. tie between Angel and Dickson, 1-4 10. Appleton, 0-5[For web site click here]
Photo: Laurent Theillet
The XXXVII HRH Princess Sofia Trophy. The regatta (8 to 16 April) has adopted the format of the 2008 Olympic Games. An impressive first day in the Bay of Palma had wind of 330 deg, 15 to 20 knots.
Tuesday's lack of wind tested everyone's patience and in the end, the only U.S. sailors who ended up racing today were the Yngling sailors, Sally Barkow/ Carrie Howe/ Debbie Capozzi (USA) lead the Yngling class with a one point lead over Sarah Ayton/ Victoria Rawlinson/ Sarah Webb (GBR) Hannah Swett/ Melissa Purdy/ Liz Filter are in eight place in this 26-boat Yngling fleet.
Mikee Anderson-Mitterling/ Dave Hughes (USA) sit 23rd in the 76-boat 470 Mens fleet -- two place ahead of Stuart Mcnay/ Graham Biehl.
Amanda Clark/ Sarah Mergenthaler are in eighth place in 49-boat 470 Women's class.
Zack Railey (USA) is the top North American in the 41-boat Finn class, presently in 11th place.
Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) is just one point out of the lead in the 76-boat Laser Radial class with Paige Railey (USA) in third - just two points further back. Brad Funk (USA - 16th place) is the top North American in the triple digit Laser class.
US competitors made the top three places in two Olympic classes after Tuesday's racing:
Laser Radial 1. Virginia Kravarioti, GRE, 13 points 2. Anna Tunnicliffe, USA, 14 3. Paige Railey, USA, 16 Yngling 1. Sally Barkow / Carrie Howe / Debbie Capozzi, USA, 8 points 1. Sarah Ayton / Victoria Rawlinson / Sarah Webb, GBR, 9 3. Anna Basalkina / Galina Loukashova / Ekaterina Maximova, RUS, 25Volvo Leg 5, Day 10. Happy sailors and fast speeds are the order of the day for the Volvo Ocean Race teams. No one can deny the constant trade winds speeds and slightly cooler temperatures are a welcome relief to the sweltering heat of only a few days ago.
The only slight cloud over the good moods is the fact that this weather doesn't give the teams many opportunities to swap positions apart from the wind angle lifting allowing different sails to be used. This can benefit some teams and their sail wardrobe but can also be other's worst nightmare.
"The last 1000 miles looks slower at times, with lots of opportunities for gains and losses; just the sort of forecast we are after. We have been slowly chipping away at the two boats in front of us and we hope we are well placed to make some gains nearer the Caribbean. All in all, there's not much to complain about; if you didn't enjoy sailing a VO70 in the trade winds you should definitely be doing another job!".
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) carries on pulling away this afternoon after having a slightly slower night where Sanderson purposely lost a few miles to the chasing pack. Stan Honey and Sanderson took the hit to cover their backs and belay their worries and now seem to be back to form this afternoon as they take out another eleven nautical miles on second placed movistar (Bouwe Bekking) in six hours.
Yesterday Paul Cayard noted how his sail for this wind angle may not be the fastest and this added to the paranoia of having something caught round the keel forced Anthony Merrington and Erle Williams to jump over board to check. Unfortunately for them there was nothing there to account for the slow speed. But their speed is back up today allowing them to overhaul the Brazilians. Could this be due to a change of sail as the wind lifts for them?
Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 1600 GMT Tuesday:
1. ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 2125 miles to finish
2. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +48 miles
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +93 miles
4. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +95 miles
5. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +116 miles
6. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +183 miles
[For Volvo web site click here]April 11, Congressional Cup 2006, Long Beach Yacht Club, CA. Two-time winner Gavin Brady is the popular favorite, with Great Britain's Ian Williams and France's Mathieu Richard close behind, in the 42nd Congressional Cup presented by Acura Tuesday through Saturday, but a dog fight looms through the rest of the field.
With a $41,000 purse at stake, the six-man crews will sail 10 Catalina 37s, rotating boats daily. Racing will be twice around a windward-leeward course set off the shoreline adjacent to the Belmont Pier, the action, starts at noon today (Tuesday).
Competitors will sail a double round robin schedule Tuesday through Friday. The top four teams then advance to the best-of-three sailoff semifinals and finals on Saturday, when America's premier match racing event also will see some fleet racing for the first time.
Instead of parking their boats on the final day, the six competitors who fail to reach the semifinals will run a fleet race for a $1,000 winner-take-all prize, using a windward-leeward course plus a parade leg along the beach.
The Competitors (with current ISAF world rankings) Ian Williams Gr. Britain 7 Mathieu Richard France 8 Staffan Lindberg Finland 13 Johnie Berntsson Sweden 18 Peter Wibroe Denmark 19 *Gavin Brady New Zealand 21 Simon Minoprio New Zealand 32 Cameron Appleton New Zealand 60 Brian Angel Redondo Beach 64 Scott Dickson Long Beach 85 * Winner 1996 and 1997.[For web site click here]
April 10, Asian Challenge. The tour of Asia marks the last big commitment that Dame Ellen MacArthur has to her sponsor, B & Q, and its parent company, Kingfisher. MacArthur first signed with Kingfisher in 1998, when she was starting out on what was to become a glittering career. Since then, the company has backed all her campaigns, including her 2000-01 Vendée Globe race, on board the monohull Kingfisher, and her round-the-world record on the trimaran, B & Q, which finished last year.
The Asian tour started in Yokohama, Japan, at the end of March and MacArthur is making her way in ten stages along the length of China and on to Vietnam, Malaysia and eventually Singapore, where she is expected at the end of next month. Along the way she is setting benchmark record times between stopping at ports that include Taipei, Hong Kong and Shanghai, where the boat is expected to arrive tomorrow.
The experience has been an eye-opener for MacArthur and she has been thrilled with the impact she is making, particularly in China, where she is treated as a pioneering hero of the sport she loves. "The whole thing has been extraordinary," she said, relaxing during a rare moment off duty at her hotel on Qingdao's waterfront. "Everything is so different and you have to deal with things differently, and sometimes from the opposite end to the way you normally would. The thing about the Chinese people is they are really, really keen to learn about things. They want to understand what it's about and they are incredibly competitive and motivated. They want to do everything and they want to do it well.
That's what you feel. You saw that when we were with the kids in the (Optimist) dinghies - they didn't get in the boats and have a laugh, they got into them and they were on a mission."
While MacArthur has enjoyed the benefit of the funding needed to design, build and campaign her boats, Kingfisher has had outstanding returns on its outlay of Å0á30Å0à558-10 million, with one independent assessment suggesting that the sponsorship has generated media exposure for the company worth up to Å0á30Å0à55150 million.
Full story by Ed Gorman, reporting for the Times of London from Qingdao [ click here]
Team AMBRO ONE
Photo: Team AMBRO ONE
Volvo, Leg 5, Day 9. With speeds rising to over the 400 nautical miles in 24 hours mark, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet is nearing the half way point of the race at rapid pace, causing thoughts to turn to not only the remainder of the leg but the rest of the race. Andrew Cape, navigator on second placed movistar (Bouwe Bekking): "With the fleet now back in the Northern Hemisphere you get the impression the race is near the end. The bulk of the distance has been travelled and certainly the most dangerous stages completed. The points scoring system for the remaining four smaller offshore legs allow the opportunity for a complete reshuffle of the minor standings. Dwelling on time again perhaps because I am now an old bugger, the Volvo Race has flown by and in two months time will be a memory like the others."
As the weather looks likely to stay constant for next 24 hours, we should see no major tactical differences in the team's routes but as Paul Cayard pointed out, today, all is not lost in the race to the finish. Squalls are the only weather feature in these constant north-westerly trade winds, which affect the progress of the yachts.
"Last night there were plenty of squalls, and after getting hammered by one and losing five miles to the fleet on one sked, we managed to get the good side of the next two and make some big gains on the next sked, mostly on Ericsson who were right behind us all day." Paul Cayard commented. "I am hoping for some squalls tonight so we can have a chance to break this routine with Brasil 1. As we approach the east coast, we will have to deal with more dynamic weather features and then there will be some options and decisions to make tactically."
Unfortunately for Cayard, his team couldn't break the routine with Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) last night, as the blue boat overhauled them, moving into third. Currently they are 11 nautical miles in front of the Pirates extending their lead, but similar to the rest of the fleet are losing on the leader.
Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Monday:
1. ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 2454 miles to finish
2. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +45 miles
3. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +80 miles
4. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +89 miles
5. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +103 miles
6. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +169 miles
[For Volvo web site click here]
The light winds of the doldrums
Photo: Team Ericsson
April 9, Volvo, Leg 5. ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) has dodged the Doldrums beautifully and is now on their way in a building north easterly trade wind. "It was a pretty painless Doldrums," wrote watch leader Mark Christensen. "The lightest winds we saw were six knots and we only had to deal with one small cloud," he added.
Things are looking great for ABN AMRO ONE at the head of the fleet. The reaching conditions of 12 Å0Ö3C 18 knots of breeze are the conditions the boat excels in and, during the last six hour period, she has pulled out her lead to 26 nautical miles from movistar (Bouwe Bekking) in second, although movistar is currently sailing faster.
"You can choose to believe in superstition and the legend or not," says ABN AMRO TWO's navigator Simon Fisher. "In French circles, the very mention of an animal with a little fluffy tail and big ears is a jinx of the highest order for mariners. So when Seb (Sebastien Josse) discovered the Nesquick bunny smiling away on the tin of hot chocolate, it was brutally ripped off and disposed of in a hope that it may change our fate in this leg."
No luck so far! Each of the five boats chasing ABN AMRO ONE has lost out today, but the highest loss in the chasing pack was that of ABN AMRO TWO who is now another 15 nautical miles behind movistar. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) continues to hold off advances by Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), who are only two miles behind them, while Ericsson is now 81 miles behind movistar and ABN AMRO TWO is 136.
Volvo Ocean Race meteorologist, Chris Bedford, explains the weather:
"The fleet should be in the north easterly trade winds for a little less than two days, during which they will be constantly looking for the strongest band of wind, while planning their strategies for navigating the Bermuda high - which lies between the trade winds and the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. Differing strategies will likely lead to some diverging routes over the next few days. The east west spread is not large yet, but will likely grow before the fleet moves to negotiate the best path around the Bermuda High.".
Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Sunday:
1. ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 2873 miles to finish
2. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +29 miles
3. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +69 miles
4. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +70 miles
5. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +93 miles
6. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +152 miles
[For Volvo web site click here]
Hot trimming on Brasil1. Photo: Brasil1
April 8, Volvo, Leg 5. 12:48:51 GMT Saturday: No sooner than movistar and ABN AMRO ONE completed their battle for the top points at the scoring gate than a battle for the next two places was happening. Pirates of the Caribbean and Ericsson were fighting it out to see who would be third and fourth.
It wasn't quite as close as the first rounding, but it went Pirates way by ten minutes eventually. The rounding positions and timings were as follows: movistar 2051GMT, ABN AMRO ONE 2052GMT, Pirates 2244GMT, Ericsson 2254GMT, Brasil 1 2324GMT Friday, and finally ABN AMRO TWO at 0115GMT today Saturday.
Almost immediately after the rounding, ABN AMRO ONE stormed into the lead, read Bouwe Bekking's description below, and by 0400GMT they were five nautical miles in front. At 1000GMT they were nine miles ahead and always showing speeds about a knot or more faster than the other boats.
From south to north 1310 GMT Saturday ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), the leading yacht in leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race crossed the Equator and passed from the southern hemisphere back into the northern hemisphere. The crew is not expecting a visit from King Neptune on this occasion, but Captain Paul from Pirates of the Caribbean has informed us that he has three equatorial virgins on board and King Neptune was expected later today.
The next challenge for the fleet, the Tropical Inter Convergence Zone - the windless zone known as the Doldrums, is already upon the fleet. With oscillating breeze and patches of no wind at all, the Doldrums must be negotiated before the fleet finds the north easterly trade winds in a few day's time and sets off at pace once again.
Sails continue to be a hot topic as this leg is widely considered to be a very different leg of the course, requiring a careful selection of sails. "Very subtle changes in wind angle and speeds make all the difference in who has the edge and our course is often decided by the sails we have onboard more than anything else," explains John Kostecki from fourth placed Ericsson.
This afternoon (Saturday), movistar has lost four miles to ABN AMRO ONE who is now 13 nautical miles ahead and sailing fractionally faster. Pirates of the Caribbean, Ericsson and Brasil 1 are in a close contest with the Pirates leading the Swedish boat by six miles and Brasil 1 a further two miles behind. Unfortunately for the second Dutch boat, they are still in last place and have slipped a further six miles behind their elder brethren onboard ABN AMRO ONE.
Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 1600 GMT Saturday:
1. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 3298 miles to finish
2. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +13 miles
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +26 miles
4. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +32 miles
5. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +35 miles
6. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +79 miles
Bouwe's thoughts: "A very exciting last 40 miles into Fernando Island waypoint for the crew of movistar. And one we won't forget soon either. ABN AMRO ONE was closing in quickly in these reaching conditions. All was looking safe, but then with about 30 miles to go, we parked up under a huge rain cloud. When the rain eased away, I nearly had a heart attack: they had sailed through without any problems and halved our lead in no time. Game on from that point."We pushed as hard as possible with our big Code Zero up, wind varying between eight to 15 knots. If the breeze was over 12 knots, the black boat was much faster. Under that we could hold, but only just. With seven miles to go, I knew we would manage to hold them off. We didn't have much time to look at the beautiful island. At 2051GMT (Friday) we passed the scoring gate, one big cheer and carried on, as we were close to setting a spinnaker once rounding the island.
Capey (Andrew Cape - navigator) let us go in between some rocks, cutting the distance to a minimum. Then the spinnaker went up on movistar, quickly followed by ABN AMRO ONE. Then it was some close sailing for several minutes, but they were hard on our heels. I have to admit, even how much I hated this happening to us, it was a pretty awesome sight when then rolled over the top of us, with a boat length in between us.....raw power!!!
"As it was night time we were not able to respond like we did in Wellington, as we sail from sunset to sunrise under a different set of rules than the normal yacht racing rules. At night you have to maintain your course when another vessel is overtaking you. Once they passed us, we hooked onto their massive stern wave, and our boat speed jumped up quickly, the performance went up by 20 percent, no wonder they passed us so quickly. But they must scratch their heads, so much quicker and still movistar had been so long ahead."
"There is a long way ahead of us, but we are very pleased with this result, and there will be some tricky scenarios we have to tackle. The Volvo 80 (ABN) will gain a lot in the trades, but the race is not over until we finish in Baltimore."
[For Volvo web site click here]
April 7, Volvo, Leg 5. At 2052GMT or thereabouts on Friday, movistar crossed the waypoint with the slightest of leads to take the 3.5 points for first to the scoring gate. A fantastic race to the waypoint Fernando de Noronha, a marvellous result for the Spanish boat. ABN AMRO ONE followed movistar minutes later to take the points for second and now the pressure is eased for the moment for Mike Sanderson and his team.
Behind the leading two a battle just as intense is developing. Ericsson has been chipping away at Pirates over the past two scheds and is now just two miles behind. Both boats are sailing at 12 knots and they have 26 to go. Another battle royal is in progress for the 2.5 and the two points. ABN AMRO ONE has the highest 24 hour run currently, sailing consistently faster than the leader in the reaching conditions. They have made up 12 nautical miles in the past twelve hours with only nine nautical miles separating them from the Spanish yacht. At 1600 GMT movistar's speed over the ground was 12 knots compared to 16 knots on ABN AMRO ONE, but as all the teams know well, it only takes one bad cloud and your rival can sail straight past you. The result of this sprint to Fernando should be known by the 2200 GMT and it's anyone's guess.
Third placed Pirates of the Caribbean has not gained on the leaders in the past 24 hours, with Paul Cayard admitting it's been a tough day being caught under a large cloud and stopping. Adding to this, the wind speed and direction is also not helpful for them as he says they do not have a sail for the conditions. "Sometimes it is "Horses for courses" out here with everyone having slightly different sails and each having their "sweet spot" and each inventory having its "holes" or areas that aren't covered so well. These sails are designed knowing the course and how many hours you will sail in all the conditions. You try to build your sails to achieve the best results in the conditions you expect to see most often and accept that you will be weak in some conditions."
At the back of the fleet ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) has lost another ten nautical miles and are now 32 miles behind Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) with Ericsson Racing Team (John Kostecki) making two nautical miles up in fourth.
Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 1600 GMT Friday:
1. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, 3651 miles to finish
2. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, + 9 miles
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +29 miles
4. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +36 miles
5. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +41 miles
6. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +73 miles
[For Volvo web site click here]America's Cup. Harry Dunning is the principal designer for the Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team. He has been a professional yacht designer for over 20 years, including long stints at Farr Yacht Design and the Reichel & Pugh design office. As a sailor he has competed in many of the world's top events, including Fastnet and Sydney-Hobart races, among many others. He played a lead role in the design of the two Stars & Stripes boats from the last Cup, USA 66 and USA 77, both of which have been acquired by the Mascalzone team for training. The following are some of his quotes from an interesting interview with him posted on the official website of the 32nd America's Cup.
"The biggest change is that the size of the 'box' for the boats has become extremely small for the 2007 series. This has narrowed the playing field considerably and decreased the range of basic design parameters which need to be explored. The weather is of course critical. Our weather analysis has all been coordinated by our team meteorologist. Our approach, as far as the design work is concerned, is to augment the data available to all teams with data and analysis of our own. This data is then statistically reduced and worked into the VPP analysis. Major design decisions are based on this analysis. I think that we will see considerable innovation and refinement with small and moderate details of the new boats. But I do not expect big differences in shape and configuration with respect to the boats we saw during the 2005 Louis Vuitton Acts."
When Dunning was asked, how relevant money is to the America's Cup, he responded, "It cannot be argued that it is very, very important. Money buys more research, equipment, and the best people. But Alinghi showed in the last Cup that it is possible to dominate the event without necessarily having the biggest budget. The bottom line is that money is critical, but past a certain threshold the most important ingredient is talent." [ For full interview - click here]
April 6, Volvo Leg 5. The Volvo Ocean Race fleet has broken into the south easterly trade winds and the true performance of the Volvo Open 70 is on display once more, performance that in the past had been the sole province of the racing multihull, not the world girdling monohull. Currently the Volvo Open 70s are all sailing two knots faster than the true wind in which they sail. Thursday night, there is a mere 335 nautical miles separating Bouwe Bekking°“Å0â1s boys on movistar from the long awaited Island, Fernando de Noronha and potentially first place at the scoring gate.
They have managed to pull out a further four miles in the past six hours, now 29 nautical miles in front of second place. Their sailing configuration seems entirely suited to the conditions and, bearing in mind some of their performances in the rough stuff of the Southern Ocean, you have to wonder what would have been the leaderboard situation had they managed to avoid the damages that have beset them on previous legs.
Pirates have slipped back into the clutches of ABN Amro One courtesy of a hole in the wind at about 1335GMT (Thursday). It affected Brasil 1 also, but the greatest sufferer was Pirates who saw ABN Amro One come over the horizon and draw alongside. An understandably miffed Paul Cayard explained his frustrations to our radio reporter Guy Swindell's in an interview which is on the website°“Å0â1s Latest Audio page. Suffice to say, Cayard says that it is inevitable that ABN Amro One will come by even if they make mistakes as they have such raw speed.
Despite his pleasure in his own boat's performance, Cayard says that it has been hard to get his head around the concept that there is one boat which is so much faster then the rest. He puts the speed difference down to One's second generation status. They had the time to build their second boat with the knowledge from the first, optimising the strength and the weight and making the build as heavy as possible. This, coupled with greater overall beam, makes for a much more powerful boat with the possibility of a wider sheeting angle, something very useful at the moment with a lot of reaching on the menu. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org
Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Thursday:
1. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, 3927 miles to finish
2. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, +29 miles
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +32 miles
4. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +41 miles
5. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +45 miles
6. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +66 miles
[For Volvo web site click here]
RC 44 Class announces the launch of its new website. The RC 44 is a light displacement high performance one design sailing boat. It was designed by three times Americas Cup winner Russell Coutts, together with naval architect Andrej Justin.
The RC 44 was created for top level racing in international regattas under strictly controlled Class Rules. The concept and the design features of the RC 44 are dedicated to the amateur helmsmen racing in fleet racing sailing events.
The objective of the Class is to develop a high level and entertaining racing program, and to keep the absolute one design aspect of the RC 44 by ensuring that all boats are as identical as possible in terms of construction, shape of hull and appendages, weight and weight distribution, deck layout and equipment, sail plan and performance. The RC 44 is produced by a limited number of licensed builders who are required to adhere to the same building procedures.
With a powerful sail plan, the RC 44 is intended strictly for racing, either match racing or day sailing fleet races. The boat is targeted at the day sailor who wishes to sail a high performance one-design class. It has no comforts for cruising, and with a big open cockpit, a fairly narrow beam and the huge sail plan it produces a lot of excitement. The philosophy was to create something special for the racing sailor - a bit like owning a sports car versus a 4-wheel drive!
The boat features a removable stern scoop with a two-piece mast, both developed to provide for easy transportation, assembly and winter storage. The class rules and the construction of the boat are being tightly controlled to protect the one-design concept and reduce development costs for participants. For fleet racing it will be an owner driver class with strict limitations on the number of professional crew.
[For RC44 web site click here]
The French K-Challenge team has found a title sponsor and has been re-born with a new name: 'AREVA Challenge'. Areva is an international power company with over half of its 58 000 employees based in France. The team made the announcement at a press conference this morning in Paris.
AREVA Challenge also stated it would build one new boat, to be launched in November of 2006, which it will race in 2007. As K-Challenge, the French team has achieved good results for a smaller challenge, racing 2000-generation boats. The highlight came in the match racing series of the Trapani Louis Vuitton Act 8, where the team won seven of 11 matches, including victories over the heavyweight teams of Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand.
The team moved its operations to the Port America's Cup on Wednesday morning with its freshly re-painted boat arriving under tow in the morning. All 12 teams are now based in the Port America's Cup, with Emirates Team New Zealand, AREVA Challenge and China Team the only yet to sail from Valencia this spring. -- http://www.americascup.com
Mascalzone LatinoCapitilia Team. The new hull, ITA 90, with its carbon black color, was designed by the Mascalzone LatinoCapitilia Design Group led by Harry Dunning, and manufactured with advanced material composites. A new boat, with new colors, destined for a new base. The four floor base occupies an area of approximately 1.300 square meters and a volume of approximately 18.000 cubic meters, making the overall workspace 3.900 square meters.
The hull of ITA 90 was built for Mascalzone Latino Capitilia Team by Marine Composite of Andora, Savona. It was then transferred to Burriana, in the province of Castellén, to Ximo Lopezs boatyard, Longitud Cero, where it was finished and fitted out.
The deck is cambered and the bow has an inflexion that makes it seem higher. The rule requires that the profile of the sheerline between hull and deck would be a fair continous, concave, curve, with a minimum radius of 20 meters, with a minimum radius of 20 meters.
The mast was built by Hall Spars of Bristol, Rhode Island, U.S.A. Most of the deck was supplied by Harken. The research and development group is composed of designers, scientists, and engineers, and counts on the vast experience of many America's Cup veterans. Other than Dunning are: Will Brooks, Derek Clark, Rick Harris, Chris Mairs, Joe Laiosa, Mark McCafferty, Fabrizio Marabini, Duncan MacLane, and Nicola Sironi. Marco Savelli and Giovanni Cassinari are the sail designers.
[Click here for Video of the new boat]
On board Pirates of the Caribbean, hot and windless and some of the crew chill out in the only shade they can find. Photo: Pirates of The Caribbean
April 5, Volvo Leg Five. The biggest surprise is that race leader ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) dropped from fourth to last place Tuesday night but has managed to crawl back up to fourth this afternoon with a mere one nautical mile separating them from Brasil 1 (Torben Grael).
The overnight position jumping was extensive as Brasil 1 at 1900 GMT yesterday leaped into third place overtaking ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) with Ericsson Racing Team (John Kostecki) sneaking round the outside furthest west of the fleet to take fourth. But by 1000 GMT this morning, the young guns had taken their third place back by sailing the furthest east of all but could not catch The Lost Souls on The Black Pearl (Paul Cayard) who have gained dramatically on the leader, making up 21 nautical miles in the past 24 hours.
The second surprise occurred this afternoon as Ericsson Racing Team moved in six hours from fifth into third and ABN AMRO ONE moving from last into fourth. They are presently sailing at seven knots and nine knots respectively with ABN AMRO ONE eight nautical miles to the west of the Swedish yacht.
To the far east of the majority of the fleet, is ABN AMRO TWO, who after their big push in the early hours, has practically stopped and has only sailed 13 nautical miles in the past four and a half hours, leaving the team in last place this afternoon.
Leg Five, Day 4, 1600 hrs GMT: movistar 4245 distance to Baltimore Pirates of the Caribbean 09 distance to leader Ericsson 20 ABN1 21 BRA1 24 ABN2 34[For Volvo web site click here]
Rolex Women's Match, St. Petersburg Yacht Club, FL. Sandy Hayes (Scituate, Mass.) won 2006 the Rolex Women's Match March 30-April 2 on Tampa Bay. Sailing with Hayes were Sandi Svoboda (Detroit, Mich.), Alexis Ackman (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Phyllis Karlberg (Scituate, Mass.). Eight teams competed in Sonar class keelboats in the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) grade 3 match-racing regatta. World match racing champion and four-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Betsy Alison conducted a two-day match-racing clinic as part of the half-clinic/half-racing format. Hayes and second-place finisher Kathy Lindgren gained automatic invitations to the Rolex Osprey Cup, an ISAF Grade 1 match racing event scheduled for October.
"I didn't even realize we had won until the awards," said a surprised Sandy Hayes. "Since we had a three-way tie after all of the round robins, it basically came down to who beat who until one person was left standing. And it was my name at the top. I don't even feel like I should've won. On the first day I lost the first two matches by just letting them go by me. I felt so stupid. They were basic mistakes. So on the second day, heading out to the race course, we reviewed what we had to do and I told my crew that if we won I'd buy them all Porsches, since the St. Pete Grand Prix was going on beside the yacht club. Now I'm going to have to buy them cars!"
On Sunday morning, there almost wasn't a regatta. As co-chair Pat Seidenspinner explained, "There was only a bit of fog and no wind, but later in the morning, a light southerly breeze appeared and the race committee decided to take the competitors out into the bay. The breeze filled in and racing started just before noon." By the end of the weekend, a total of 39 matches were held and using the ISAF rulebook for match racing, the overall winner was determined on a tie-breaker formula of "who beat who."
Established in 2002, the Rolex Women's Match annually strives to improve opportunities for women sailors. Results and photos are posted on St. Petersburg Yacht Club website www.spyc.org and the Rolex Women's Match website www.rolexwomensmatch.com.
Final results: 1. Sandy Hayes (Scituate, Mass.) with Sandi Svoboda, Alexis Ackman, Phyllis Karlberg 2. Kathy Lindgren (Sheboygan, Wis.) with Denise Cornell, Amy Lundeen (Kathy's daughter), Robyn Barnett 3. Jo Ann Fisher (Annapolis, Md.) with Lynda Hiller, Liz LaBorde, Laura Jeffers/Amy Linton 4. Chafee Emory (Newport, R.I.); 5. Louise Bienvenu (New Orleans, La.) with Lisa Luongo, Marcy Lake, Michelle Hitter 6. Sue McDowell (Bay Village, Ohio) with Bev Keeler, Debbie Gibbs, Sue Michos 7. Karen Park (St. Petersburg, Fla.) with Laura Bryant, Sherry Welch, Susan Wallace 8. Debby Grimm (New Orleans, La.) with Janice Griglack, Jeanne Winters, Tirza Dabdoub
B&Q prior to start. Photo: Offshore Sailing TeamAsian Record Circuit. Ellen MacArthur and crew of the trimaran B&Q crossed the start line off Dalian at 09:01:53 GMT Tuesday to start Leg 3 of the Asian Record Circuit. Ellen and an international crew of four (Loik Gallon, Charles Darbyshire, Shaun Weng and Erwan Lemeilleur) will be looking to establish record number four of this circuit in less than 24 hours covering 265 miles to reach Qingdao, the sailing venue for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
MacArthur and her team decided to start leg 3 from Dalian 18 hours earlier than their scheduled to take advantage of the strong north-easterly conditions forecasted for today and tonight. For the first three hours they were beginning to wonder if they had made a wrong decision as light winds barely moved B&Q through the water but finally the wind shifted into the north and is expected to accelerate quickly over the next few hours building this evening to a NNE breeze of 20+ knots.
Skipper Paul Cayard (USA) drives Pirates of the Caribbean as Rio fades in the background on Monday. Photo: Pirates of the Caribbean
April 4, Volvo, Weather torments fleet - In the past 24 hours it's all change out on the race course for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, with Bouwe Bekking and his crew on movistar moving from last place to first by a whopping 31 nautical miles. Every other team seems to have had their fare share of good and bad luck though, changing positions hourly.
Overnight yesterday's leader ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) fell from first to fourth in the tricky airs. The Dutch yacht gybed west at 0200 GMT following Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and ABN AMRO TWO's (Sebastien Josse) lead. The rest of the fleet soon joined them in this tactic but by 0400 GMT they had all bunched up to within a few miles of one another.
Movistar then made their move and headed off on a more northerly course from the pack. This was a radical decision, which could have been suspect but has paid off nicely for the team. The lost souls onboard the pirate ship followed suit, but it was a little too late to catch the Spanish team, but the move still propelled them into third place, with the young guns on ABN AMRO TWO taking second. The three teams left ABN AMRO ONE, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) and Ericsson Racing Team (John Kostecki) were then temporarily becalmed for a couple of hours.
By midday today, there was a 20 nautical mile separation of the fleet, with The Black Pearl on the west with the breeze holding and ABN AMRO TWO to the east with practically no breeze at all. The Pirates overtook and moved into second place being chased by ABN AMRO ONE and Brasil 1 both of whom are catching up slowly.
At 1600 GMT (Tuesday) the suspense carried on with movistar only making two knots over the ground for the past fifteen minutes against the Pirates' seven knots and ABN AMRO TWO's five. These conditions are very stressful for the crews as they dodge the big black clouds menacingly floating in their path to the scoring gate.
The dilemma in this area comes from the two different cloud formations which provide very differing localised conditions. In general terms a vertically growing cloud can be thought of as a mini low pressure which, if you are on the right side of it. can propel you round. Whilst if you get stuck on the downwind side, the wind caused by the cloud and the local wind can cancel each other out. Rain clouds act in the opposite way with the wind flowing out or away from the cloud.
Passing these clouds on the most advantageous side is obviously the main aim for the yachts but this is not as easy as it sounds. The constant position changes have shown this, as some crews fall foul of them.
Jennifer Lilly, assistant race meteorologist explained today the next few days' weather. "Looking ahead, conditions are expected to stay much the same over the next 24 hours. The ridge of high pressure extending north along the coast will weaken as a trough of lower pressure to the northeast of the fleet becomes the dominant weather feature for the next 24-48 hours. As the fleet makes its way north, the teams will find continued clouds and showers as the winds back slowly to the more stable south-easterly trade winds. As a result we can expect to see the fleet remain relatively close together as they make their way north."
Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Tuesday
1. Movistar, Bouwe Bekking, 4376 miles to finish
2. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +23 miles
3. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +28 miles
3. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +28 miles
3. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, +28 miles
6. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +29 miles
[For Volvo web site click here]
Photo: Ivo Rovira/AlinghiVevey
Alinghi's first new generation boat arrives in Valencia. The first of two new boats to be built for the 2004-07 campaign left Décision boatyard in Vevey on Thursday to be trucked 1,230 km overland to Spain. The boat tightly wrapped for the trip south, has taken 25 boatbuilders, from both Décision and the Alinghi shore crew 20,000 man-hours to complete.
Jean-Marie Fragnière, intermediary between Alinghi shore crew coordinator Michel Marie and the boatbuilders, commented on SUI91's departure: "It's always a little bit sad to see an Alinghi boat leave the yard, but it's also a big sense of achievement." SUI91 has now been wheeled into the shed here in Valencia for work to begin on making it ready to sail.
Grant Simmer, Alinghi managing director and design coordinator was relieved to see the boat tucked away safe and sound: "We now have quite an extensive work program to ready the boat for sailing and we will introduce the boat into our testing program once we have finished with several other test priorities." Meanwhile the sailing team continues with the two boat testing program out of the Alinghi base with SUI64 and SUI75.
American Pirates of the Caribbean at start at Rio
Photo: David Branigan/Oceansport
April 3, Volvo, Leg 5. 4 p.m. CDT Monday - the first day of leg five from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore has been very eventful, despite wind holes plaguing the fleet. After the initial sprint of into the lead by Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) on the way out of Guanabara Bay, the yachts have been swapping positions regularly.
Overnight the race leaders ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) pushed into first, making it business as usual but, in the last six hours, the fickle breeze has given their stable mates ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) some luck as they overtook and led the fleet north by only one mile. In second Ericsson Racing Team was chasing them down hard with their new skipper John Kostecki at the helm.
This morning ABN AMRO ONE and the lost souls onboard The Black Pearl hugged the Brazilian coast only two miles more westerly than ABN AMRO TWO, Ericsson Racing Team and Brasil 1 (Torben Grael). Both lost out several miles and first and second places with this move, showing how small distances can amount to big losses in these fluky conditions. The two yachts quickly realised they were down on speed and made their move east to join the pack of three at 1230 GMT but it was too late to catch Kostecki and Josse.
Up until an hour ago ABN AMRO TWO were just holding onto first but unfortunately for them the fleet concertinaed up again and Mike Sanderson (ABN AMRO ONE) and his team regained the lead. Currently Pirates of the Caribbean and ABN AMRO ONE are side by side at the front with ABN AMRO TWO, Ericsson Racing Team and Brasil 1 within striking distance.
The crews have 1000 nautical miles to race before they reach Fernando de Noronha, the scoring gate in this leg, and, as the point°“Å6€7Å0á30Å0â91s gap narrowed even further after the in-port race in Rio, every team is desperate for the extra points received at the gate. Simon Fisher, navigator onboard ABN AMRO TWO summed up the young guns' attitude towards this sprint. "The boys are definitely fired up for this leg, and we are throwing as many people as we can at the first few days of the race as we negotiate some tricky conditions on the way up to the trades [trade winds]"
He described how exciting the night was as Pirates rolled past them in a gust but after just five minutes they were doing the same to The Black Pearl and shortly after they were both becalmed. "It's a risky business sailing through the big rain clouds that stretch along the coast here but some seem to be completely un-avoidable. Get on the right side of them and you get more wind, and a good push down the course. However, end up on the wrong side and all of a sudden you are sitting in no breeze, pointing in a direction you really don't want to go with torrential rain filling your boots as you try and get the boat going again."
Unfortunately for movistar (Bouwe Bekking) the past 24 hours haven't been pleasant with a mystery object around their keel and to top it off Bekking received a smack on the head. He explained his frustration today, "We were going nicely the entire afternoon, but then dropped from first to last in matter of minutes. We just had zero speed, did several back downs, and finally got rid of it. Not sure what is was, but it resulted in missing the train. Movistar got stuck under a rain cloud together with Brasil 1. ABN AMRO ONE was only 200 metes to the right, kept some pressure and was out of sight quickly."
"I spend most of the evening/night in my bunk with a terrible headache. Just after the start a jammer came undone and the boom crashed straight in my melon. Big bump on my head, but luckily no stitches." Luckily for Bekking he maybe cheered after seeing the 1600 GMT position report, as it shows movistar has made up a massive 14 nautical miles in six hours, which in the conditions is a great achievement.
Amazingly, after 24 hours at sea the fleet are all still within eight nautical miles of one another, making it anyone's guess who will be in the lead this time tomorrow.
Sunday start at Rio - Brasil 1, skippered by Torben Grael, was keen to be the first out of the starting blocks in home waters but unfortunately was a little over eager and as the starting gun fired they were on the wrong side of the line and were recalled by the race committee.
Further drama came shortly after the start when overall race leader ABN AMRO ONE's head sail dropped to the deck due to a broken halyard. Mike Sanderson (NZ) and his team made a quick recovery but sailed out of Guanabara Bay in sixth place behind the fleet.
Under the leadership of new skipper John Kostecki (USA) and with a special send-off from their Godmother, Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Ericsson led off the starting line and out of the bay. Rio de Janeiro provided a spectacular backdrop as the fleet sailed out past Rio's famous landmark of Sugar Loaf Mountain and to the turning mark off Copacabana Beach.
Paul Cayard and crew on Pirates of the Caribbean at the start
Photo: Oscar Kihlborg/Volvo Ocean
In the light airs under Sugar Loaf mountain the three front runners; Ericsson, Paul Cayard's (USA) Pirates of the Caribbean and ABN AMRO TWO skippered by Frenchman Sebastien Josse, bunched up as the wind dropped to 5 knots. As they approached the turning mark before heading out to open seas, The Pirates managed to sneak past Ericsson and eventually rounded the mark 32 seconds in-front. Josse and his young crew onboard ABN AMRO TWO were battling hard and passed the turning mark 48 seconds behind Ericsson. Bouwe Bekking's (NED) movistar were next to turn, rounding just less than two minutes behind the early race leaders.
Brasil 1 attracted a large fleet of followers, who were marshalled by the Brazilian navy, as they headed away from Rio. Grael and his team were fifth to round the mark, 42 seconds behind movistar. ABN AMRO ONE was the final boat to round, over 13 minutes behind first placed Pirates of the Caribbean.
As the coastline of Brazil disappears from view and the breeze continues to build, the teams will now be looking forward to the next milestone on the leg, the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha, where they can pick up bonus points on the leg. Leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race takes the fleet 5000 nautical miles to Baltimore. The boats are expected to arrive between the 17-19 April.
[For Volvo web site click here]
April 1, Scuttlebutt Europe #945. If you read only one issue of Scuttlebutt Europe each year make it this one - go to link at bottom for complete ScuttlebuttEurope April 1:
VOLVO OUT, JMC IN - Sources in Southampton are telling Scuttlebutt Europe that Volvo's car division, owned by Ford Motor Company in the USA, will not be continuing as a sponsor of what is now known as the Volvo Ocean Race. A Ford executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, told our reporter "Nice race, great sport, especially for our demographic, but we think this has done more good for the Volvo Marine division in Europe than the car division, particularly here in North America. And as much as we think Volvo Penta engines are just swell, that's a separate company entirely, and we're not much interested in spending millions of dollars promoting their products."
"Just how many more Volvos are going to be purchased with the limited exposure the race has seen in the USA? Haven't all the rich guys bought their second wives Volvo wagons to drive the kids around in already? Any Junior regatta parking lot looks like a Volvo showroom now! We seem to have done just fine in that market segment, perhaps it's carry-over from the last VOR marketing, but we've hit the wall, we're just not going to get that much bang for the buck another time around."
Stepping into the void, and rather quickly, according to our sources, is China's Jiangling Motors Company, a state-supported company which has been marketing the "LandWind" sport utility vehicle throughout Europe this year, the first Chinese automaker to extensively go after this huge market.
"The brand name 'LandWind' just couldn't be better for a big sailing race!" said company executive Hwiang Phat. "We're going to use our JMC moniker rather than the full Jiangliang Motors Company, as test marketing of that name left our focus group of SINS journalists giggling about a 'Jing A Ling' Race and grabbing their crotches most provocatively. Perhaps the open sake bar with the luncheon we gave them was not such a good idea...."
ALL CARBON OPTIMISTS - In a vote sure to spark global controversy, the International Optimist Dinghy Association voted today at their annual meeting to allow radical changes to that most venerable of junior sailing classes: the Optimist. Carbon fibre is now allowed as a recognised material... and through a loophole in the rule change, may be used for ANY part of the boat including the hull.
Said Opti parent Beaurigard McTavish: "Let's be perfectly honest here, all this happy talk about sailing being for everyone is balderdash. It's for the children of the gentry. So what if an all carbon Optimist costs Å0á30®¢30Å0á30®§558000? The higher cost will keep some of the rabble out of our nice, Corinthian sport."
AIM HIGH! - The Ultimate PWC Repellent Advanced Tactical Weaponry for the catamaran sailor . The AIM-9M is now available for consumer sales through PWC Repellant Corp of Grand Cayman Island, with guaranteed no-hassle-from-customs shipping to anywhere in the world. Perfect for scaring off Somalian pirates, jet skiers or just clearing a spot at that crowded town dock, the AIM-9M is an accessory no serious sailor should be without. [Click here for how to use against PWC's]
ELLEN TO CREATE NEW MISS BUDWEISER TEAM FOR WORLD RECORD - Ellen MacArthur has stepped off B&Q trimaran at Dalian China, leaving her team to complete the next legs of their Asian Record Circuit. Ellen is headed for Coniston Water, Cumbria, for a photo shoot leading up to what she has termed "my greatest life dream".. to break the world on-water speed record, on the same waters that claimed Donald Campbell in his ill-fated "BlueBird K7" back in 1967.
Famed for its Miss Budweiser hydroplane racing team, which dominated US racing for decades, the Anheuser Busch company has given Ellen and her Offshore Challenges partner Mark Turner essentially a blank cheque. Rumours of a one hundred million US dollar budget are "wildly off the mark" says Turner, but said that the promised funds were "open ended, and as much as we're going to need."
GERONIMO LEAVES SAN DIEGO FOR HAWAII - The maxi trimaran Geronimo has diverted from its scheduled trip to San Francisco and is reportedly headed directly for Hawaii as fast as possible. A new crossing record? High speed testing? No... getting out of California waters to avoid huge fines and possible forfeiture of the boat. California law allows for a $100 fine per incident of littering in State waterways, that includes privately held marinas.
Geronimo's infractions? Cigarette butts. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Complaints first surfaced in Australia where the boat put in for repairs, but she was gone before more than a few cartons' worth of filters were tossed in. The situation in San Diego had reportedly grown far more severe, with skipper Olivier de Kersauson reportedly flicking a lit cigarette directly at a Coast Guard officer giving him and his crew a warning. "That was the last straw", said a USCG official speaking off the record. "Those Frenchies can smoke all they want, this is a free country, but they can't toss the butts into my kids' drinking and swimming water. We're going to hit them with a $100 fine for EVERY cigarette butt we find within a 100 yard radius of that fatcat's floating Formula 1... this city is about to land one big windfall. Ha. Let them smoke that!"
AMERICA'S CUP - More trouble in the Valencia AC Basin, as there are signs of an open, and enlarging, underwater vent at the entrance to the new harbour. "Our dredging seems to have struck nature's equivalent of a high voltage line" said mayor Rita Barbera. "The dredging barge guys noted a strange bubbling and hissing sound after their final pass through the channel. In the past few days the water in that area has become increasingly disturbed, with a marked temperature increase. It's very puzzling."
[Click here for full April 1 Scuttlebutt Europe #945]
N.B. The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year. -- Mark Twain
April 1, but joking over: The Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 is ready to set sail on Sunday when the next stage of the race gets underway. Leg five will see the competitors sail 5000 nautical miles through the Atlantic Ocean to Baltimore, Maryland. Leg five promises to be a hard fought battle as the skippers and navigators face some difficult decisions due to the complicated currents and often fickle winds of the Western Atlantic.
The teams are likely to approach the leg in three sections; Rio to the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha where they can pick up some vital bonus points, the scoring gate to the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay, and finally the last 100 plus miles up the Chesapeake to Baltimore where the leg points await.
Throughout the leg there will be some tough decisions to be made, as Assistant Race Meteorologist Jennifer Lilly explains: "Once passed Cabo Frio each team will have to choose whether they want to continue north along the coast, risking fickle winds to gain the advantage of less current and daily thermal winds off the land, or whether they want to head farther offshore risking stronger counter currents to have a more stable breeze."
There will be no respite even into the last 100 miles of the leg. "The last section of this leg will be quite different from anything along the course so far. Past Virginia Beach and Norfolk the fleet will enter Chesapeake Bay, a narrow shallow opening, with tricky winds and an obstacle course of crab pots, fish traps, commercial shipping, naval warships and recreational traffic," explained Lilly.
In previous races the leg has been won or lost in the final approach to Baltimore as race veteran and Ericsson skipper John Kostecki (USA) explains: "The Chesapeake provides a lot of challenges - there are large shoals, lobster pots, current and possible variable winds due to land on both sides. The three or four times that I have sailed up there I have struggled with the challenges of the Chesapeake."
Pirates of the Caribbean skipper Paul Cayard also remembers some testing times in the Chesapeake: "We will have to see what happens as we approach the U.S in terms of fronts and then anything could happen into the Chesapeake. Based on experience, there will be a lot of re-shuffling and we could see boats parked up. It should be very exciting for the spectators as it really could come down to the wire."
After a victorious in-port race in Rio, ABN AMRO ONE has pulled out a sixteen point lead over their sister-ship ABN AMRO TWO at the half-way stage in the race. Skipper Mike Sanderson hopes the next leg will go their way too: "I am expecting the next leg to be good for us. The boat was designed for moderate airs reaching and therefore this should be a good leg for us. Hopefully we can start to see a little edge over the fleet." With just eight points separating second place from fifth, there will be an intense battle for the podium places.
The Spanish entry movistar is just half a point behind third-placed Pirates of the Caribbean. Bouwe Bekking and his team have had a tough time but believe that their troubles are now behind them as Bekking explains: "I am confident that we have the right sails and a good team. We are aiming for a podium position and with second to sixth place very close, we are looking forward to the competition.
"A lot on this leg comes down to technique and concentration. The physically strongest crew will come out on top and I think that is one of the strong points we have for this leg. Our prime goal is to beat Pirates and ABN AMRO TWO. Of course winning is the first goal but we have to look to the overall and if we do that we are in good shape."
Due to the hot conditions that the teams will experience, hygiene will also be an important factor on this leg as Kostecki explains: "This leg can be very hot and sticky and at times unbearable. When I sailed this leg eight years ago many of the crew had skin problems and I got infections in my legs. You have to be very careful with hygiene and make sure you stay healthy."
The leg gets underway at 13:10 (local) on Sunday 2 April. Live audio commentary will be broadcast at www.volvooceanrace.org. Tune in to Guy Swindells English commentary with guest Rob Mundle. Spanish speaking listeners will hear the events unfold through the voice of Amanda Blackley and guest Maria Bertrand. The boats are expected to arrive into Baltimore between the 17-19 April.
Current Leaderboard: [position/team name/skipper/race points to date] 1st ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 52.5 pts 2nd ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 36.5 pts 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 31.5 pts 4th Movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 31.0 pts 5th Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 28.5 pts 6th Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki (USA) 23.5 pts[For Volvo web site click here]