Thursday, January 31, 2008
Barcelona World Race - Episode 1
Barcelona World Race - Episode 1 Video
The world's first ever non-stop round-the-world offshore sailing race for two-person teams starts from Barcelona and heads through the Strait of Gibraltar... This is one of the best put together race documentary I have seen. Well worth the look! Click Here to Watch Video
Tom Ehman: Judge Cahnwill Will Rule in Our Favor
Click Here to Listen
Doldrums
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Unfinished Business Anna VS. Paige
January 29, 2008
It was a really good race with Paige and we both managed to smile and laugh about it afterwards. The relaxed atmosphere was nice, considering some of the intense tussles and battles we’ve had over the long months leading up to the Olympic selection trials.
US 470 GIRLS WIN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
US Olympic Sailing procedure flawed?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Groupama 3 - On The Move
Off to a good start...
Monday, January 28, 2008
Brits and Aussies Collide
Elliott Willis and Nick Asher (GBR)
Isabelle Kinsolving, Erin Maxwell (USA) have moved up from seventh to third. Photos Jeff Crow- Sport the Library
Asher and Willis, who started the day in overall second position, collided with Aussie No.2 team Mat Belcher and Nick Behrens in Race 8, and have slipped to sixth with Willis carted off to hospital for precautionary chest x-rays. Willis, 24, was knocked off his trapeze after he and Asher, on starboard, bore away fearing the Australians would not attempt to avoid a collision.
“We thought they weren’t going to get out of the way so we tried to … they bore away hard and hit me off the wire,” Willis said. “We capsized and we hit them hard enough to take their shroud out … it was pretty bad,” he added.
While Willis was the only one injured, Belcher/Behrens capped off an horrendous day on the water, unable to complete Race 8 due to major boat damage sustained in the collision, which backed up an OCS is Race 7, leaving them flailing at the tail end of the gold fleet. Results - http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/
Miami Heat
Sunday, January 27, 2008
470 Worlds Day 3 Graham Biehl and Stu McNay
Friday, January 25, 2008
Last Day KWRW by Paul Cayard
There was way too much action to go through it all. The first two races were great for us with a 3, 5 but the third one was bad.
The scores aren't out yet but I think Barking Mad and Mascalzone tied for first. The French were probably third. I think we may have slipped to 7th or even 8th today.
The amazing thing was watching Mascalzone come back through the fleet after being over early in 3 races. They are truly quick. The French were very impressive in their speed too and they have a brand new boat here so we are hoping for some of that with our new boat which will be ready for the next regatta in March.
We are pretty happy with our regatta. Just getting used to sailing together and sorting out the boat and sails. Being down here in Key West at this time of the year is a treat no matter where you finish. - Paul Cayard
US boys go it alone
And it is not just us who were surprised by their lack of representation, lone crew Stu McNay and Graham Biehl were a little lost for answers also.
"We're a little shocked as to why there is only one American men's team as well." Biehl, 21 from San Diego, said.
"We had our Olympic trials last October. A lot of teams decided to take some time off afterwards to refocus for after the Olympics and rest up to get things organised for the next go around,” he added.
Their training partners flew home last week following the Asia Pacific Regatta to return to university.
The boys are now out numbered by their female counterparts who boast three crews sailing, - 2008 Beijing hopefuls Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler, 2008 Asia Pacific Regatta winners Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving and Molly Carapiet/Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer.
"We enjoy hanging out with them (the women’s teams)," McNay, a 26-year-old Yale graduate from Boston said. "Their company and knowledge is great."
While they might be going it alone in the men’s event, they still see the championships as a good opportunity for them to fine tune their sailing and settings.
"We're feeling pretty good."
"We are a young team relative to the others. We have only been sailing with each other for two years now. We have lots of work to do in between now and the Olympics but I'm confident well be able to accomplish what we want," McNay said.
"We're really excited and just getting everything sorted and working towards our goal of a medal … we all know it is going to be light and choppy and difficult so we're trying to put our best foot forward and perform well,” Biehl said. By Clare Murray Sail Melbourne Media Centre
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Good day for Warpath
The sea was very flat as the race course was downwind of a set of barrier islands.
Tomorrow's start is move up to 0930 so 0730 at the boat. The temperature is supposed to drop to 60 and the wind is supposed to be 18-24 knots tomorrow. Back to the fleeces, wool ski hats and the wet weather gear. -Paul Cayard
Humbled...
Check out the press conference from Key West Race Week with Ernesto Bertarelli regarding the courts decision today.
Update: 33rd America’s Cup: Judge Cahn considers SNG’s arguments on invalidity of GGYC challenge.
(New York, 23 January 2008) New York State Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn heard arguments today over whether the Golden Gate Yacht Club has put forth a valid Deed of Gift challenge for the 33rd America’s Cup to its current holder, the Société Nautique de Genève and its team Alinghi.
“We were glad to make our points and found the Court receptive to our arguments,” said Lucien Masmejan, lead counsel for the SNG. “We look forward to a court order properly addressing the issue of the validity of the GGYC challenge.”
Justice Cahn allowed the SNG to further examine arguments put by the GGYC and invited SNG to present additional submissions on Monday on these issues, including on the definition of a keelyacht versus a multihull. SNG’s submissions will be supported by the interpretation from the International Sailing Federation which was presented to the court (in attachment).
A result in SNG’s favour would put the 33rd America’s Cup back on track with a multi-challenge event in 2011 in Valencia, Spain. As Defender of the America’s Cup, the Deed of Gift gives Alinghi and SNG, as trustee, the serious responsibility of preserving the integrity of this world class sporting event.
They're Off!
They're off: the maxi trimaran crossed the start line just off the Créac'h lighthouse in a fine NW'ly breeze of around fifteen knots with one reef in the main and staysail. Groupama 3 is already powering along at over 25 knots bound for Cape Finisterre, which it is likely to reach by the end of today. The weather forecast is indicative of a fine descent for this first day at sea since the breeze should rapidly clock round to the North as it fills to twenty knots, where it will then reach over thirty knots as it shifts round to the East. The first 24 hours should therefore enable Franck Cammas and his nine crew to get as far as Lisbon by tomorrow morning, Friday. -http://www.cammas-groupama.com
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Wind!! No Wind?? Key West Race Week
This is how you get statistically perfect sailing conditions. Monday we had 30 knots and too much to race and today 4 knots and not enough to sail. The average of that is 17 knots. Perfect, right? Just kidding. In reality, Key West is one of the best venues in the world for racing sailboats. Just a bit of bad luck this week.
Tomorrow is supposed to be good; 8-13 knots of wind. I am sure the race committee will be eager to get three races in so it will be another long, tough day like yesterday. But tomorrow is a long way off right now and most of the 2500 sailors are well into their third Margarita or Mudslide at this point. Good money making afternoon for Key West.
I am going to run to the beach out by the airport and go for a swim. At 1700 I am going over to Seaquest, a Westport 130 (Powerboat) for a beer with Rich DeVos. Rich has been a big supporter of sailing for many, many years with various project and campaigns including AmericaOne in 2000. His sailboats are always named Windquest. Last fall I sailed with his son Doug on his TP 52 in Portugal. Really good people. - Paul Cayard
CODE GREEN
Davis warns against soaring Olympics hopes
With Kiwis Tom Ashley and Barbara Kendall setting the pace in their respective fields some are already chalking up medals in Beijing.
Given both the men's and the women's fleet are littered with outstanding talent it is hard not to get excited about the pair's prospects. But Davis said while the signs are promising, the outcome of the championships won't mean anything come the Olympic Games.
"In sport you can never make predictions so we'll just take it one step at a time," the former Olympic sailor said. - By Dana Johannsen Photo / Greg Bowker.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Key West Race Week Photos Day 2
Click on any images to enlarge! Ernesto Bertarelli just beating out Warpath w/Paul Cayard calling the shots! Don’t forget to read Paul Cayard’s daily reports (See entry below this one)
Cayard Update Day 2 KWRW
Onboard Warpath, we had a decent day and are currently in 8th place out of the 25 entires. We had a bad start in the first race and struggled to get 13th. In the last two races we had good starts and stayed near the front of the fleet finishing 8th and 7th. The top boats had a bit of speed on us so we have some work to do to get our mast and mainsail working better together.
The top boat for the day was current world champions, Mascalzone Latino, from Naples, Italy with scores of 2,2,3. Mascalzone, Mean Machine (NED), Barking Mad (USA) and Nerone (ITA) are the top of this fleet and no surprise that they were all at the top today. All are past World Champions in the Farr 40 class.
The one design Farr 40's are so even in speed that even after a 2 mile windward leg, they all seem to arrive at the same time. This makes getting around the windward mark very exciting and sometimes expensive. I think there were a few prangs today, some even with damage. Fortunately, we were not involved in any.
The fleet is gearing up for the World Championship in Miami in April. Key West and the SORC in March are top regattas in their own right but they have the added significance of being usefull in preparation for the World Championship.
The results were not final at the time I wrote this due to some protests. Here is some other information that may be useful:
Be sure to check ESPN.com each evening for a 4-5 minute Gary Jobson production that will feature racing highlights of different classes each day.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Too Much Wind at KWRW
At 1300, the scheduled start time, the race committee's for all four courses abandoned racing for the day and sent the fleet in. Since it was a five mile beat to windward for the Farr 40's, we used the sail in as an opportunity to train in the heavy air. We sailed in race mode with Peter de Ridder and his Mean Machine team as well as Joe Fly from Italy.
We all had our coach boats following us, observing who was doing what from a sail trim standpoint and who was going better. We sailed on both tacks and even switched sides to see if there was any geographical influence on the results. As we approached the harbor the wind had moderated to 25 knots so we set our fractional spinnakers (Farr 40's can have masthead spinnakers now) and went ripping down wind. It was good to get a few gybes in those conditions when it didn't count. It was pretty exciting but we did not do any serious damage.
We got back to the dock about 1530, had our little debrief on what we learned, bailed the water out of the boat, hosed off the wet weather gear, loaded the dehumidifier onboard, fired her up and headed back to the house. - Paul Cayard
Paul Cayard: Racing Starts Today Key West Race Week
Practice over the past three days leading up to today's start saw conditions ranging from 6-8 knots on Friday, to 10-15 on Saturday and 25-30 on Sunday. Not many ventured out today and some of those who did had more excitement than they desired.
This event has 16 classes, from PHRF to IRC, to the very competitive one design classes like Farr 40, Melges 32, Melges 24 and the Club Swan 42. The 16 classes are spread out over four races areas...that means four race committees, lots of buoys, anchors, anchor lines, spare anchor lines, horns, etc. You get the idea... a BIG organization. Peter Craig and his team at Premiere Racing do an excellent job of not only running the event but promoting it, gathering corporate support and offering an event that fosters interest in our sport.
I am sailing with Fred and Steve Howe on their Farr 40 Warpath. I raced with the Howes in 2005 in Sydney in the Farr 40 Worlds where we finished a credible 4th. The Farr 40 Class is extremely competitive (25 entries here) with a nice mix onboard of four pros and six amateurs per boat. The helmsman is required to be an amateur, as well as the owner of the boat. Many of the top names in the sport are tacticians in this Class, including Terry Hutchinson, Dean Barker, Peter Isler, Brad Butterworth, Vasco Vascotto, Tony Rey, Gavin Brady, Morgan Larsson, Jeff Madrigali, to name a few....The other three pros on the boats are usually the mainsheet trimmer, a headsail trimmer and the bow man. Most all the pros in this class also race in the America's Cup.
Having said all that, one of the best things about Key West Race Week is that there are so many passionate amateur sailors here....people who take vacation time and often pay their own expenses to come down here. These are the people who make up the heart and soul of our sport. This is there celebration of sailing.
To honor this passion, a few of us pros participated in a round table conference yesterday afternoon for one hour, just before the skippers' meeting at 1700. Peter Isler, Terry Hutchinson, Larry Leonard, Riccardo Simoneschi, Kimo Worthington and myself reviewed a Farr 40 race from Key West 2007, using a software program called Kattack. Kattack plots the course of each boat and creates a graphical depiction of the race. Each of us was assigned to be the tactician of one of the race boats. The "race" was stopped a several interesting situations where were asked to comment on what was going through our mind relative to the fleet, the wind direction, even our position in the race at that time and weather risks or conservatism was warranted. The session was surprisingly well received, especially considering the Chargers were playing New England at that time. I think Kattack may be available on line to those of you who could not get down here to Key West in person.
Today's forecast is for 25-30 knots of wind. My guess is that if this forecast holds true, Peter Craig and his team will postpone the start of Race 1 which is currently scheduled for 1030 EST. It is the first day of a long week and no point in breaking everyone's gear on day one. The wind may moderate enough in the afternoon for us to get one or two races in.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
IDEC takes 14 days of record!
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Take Down
Photo by © ROLEX / Daniel Forster
2008 Circuito Atlantico Sur Rolex Cup
FORTUNA III rig catches the top of the mast of CANUTO REX