Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Le Black is back....

Alinghi's future plans....

Here's the video on Mirabaud LX

Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008


Photo Pierre Orphanidis
Ready for the first event of Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008
Santa Margherita Ligure: A few hours separate us from the start of the Regate Pirelli – Trofeo Carlo Negri in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy, organized by the Yacht Club Italiano, the opening event of the Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008.

The line up for the inaugural event of the Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008 is impressive and scores of America’s Cup and Olympic sailors will be racing on the waters of the beautiful bay of Santa Margherita.

All boats are now side by side on the Italian city’s yacht club pier and despite the cold and rainy weather, shore crews are putting the final touches on the GP42 yachts in order to have them race ready for tomorrow, Thursday, first day of the event.

There are great expectations for this season’s newcomers in the class, Roma GP42.2 and Airis from Italy, Near Miss from Switzerland and MADRID from Spain, that have decided to have a new boat designed and built in order to participate in this growing class and that will undoubtedly use every minute before the races in order to fine tune their yachts and crew. Read more...

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Rosebud Racing signs on new sponsor




Dockwise Yacht Transport (DYT), the world's leading yacht logistics company with its own fleet of semi-submersible ships, has announced that Rosebud Racing has joined forces with the company to become Rosebud Racing/Team DYT.

The Farr-designed Rosebud was launched in June 2007 as the world's first STP65, a "box-rule" collaboration between the Storm Trysail Club and the TransPacific Yacht Club. Owned by Roger Sturgeon of Ft, Lauderdale, Fla., it has set the racing world on fire with its recent performances, including winning the overall IRC handicap title in the famed Rolex Sydney Hobart Race at the end of 2007. In that race, Sturgeon also became the first American in 30 years to take overall regatta honors, joining only two other Americans who can make the same claim: Jim Kilroy (Kialoa III in 1977) and Ted Turner (American Eagle in 1972). -http://www.yacht-transport.com/

Monday, April 28, 2008

Audi TP52


Photo Audi Medcup
A glittering launch for Italy's new TP52 which heads to Alicante.

Groupama 3 back home...


Photo Yven Zedda
More than two months after its capsize off New Zealand, the maxi trimaran Groupama 3 is back in the yard in which it was created, after being transported by cargo ship across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as far as Lorient. On the programme, no less than six months work in order to be ready to make another attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy. -www.cammas-groupama.com

Top heavy?


Do we have everything?

Hauling A$$...


Subzero Images
Speedboat hauling the mail during sea trails - she has been report to be on a ship and heading to the US!

Moon Boots!


Not sure if it's designed for motorcycle riding or sailing!?!? But one thing is for sure you will make a statement at your next Beer Can race! I think I'll stick to my blue Puma's sneakers!

Quantum Physics


Terry Hutchinson, Quantum Racing Skipper
Quantum Racing are back in 2008 with a full scale attack on the elusive top step of the Audi MedCup Circuit podium.

Terry Hutchinson, tactician on Steve and Fred Howe's Warpath in 2006, will not only skipper but will also steer the new Botin & Carkeek design which is rapidly nearing completion at Chimo Lopez's Longitute Zero at Burriano near Castellon.

Quantum Sails' President Ed Reynolds will have much the same job as he had with both Warpath and Lexus Quantum, taking an overall view of the project when in build, and then becoming coach and manager during the competition phase.

"Longitude Zero do an amazing job. There were a couple of reasons we choose to build in Spain. Designers Botin & Carkeek have lot of experience with the builders, and it was less expensive to build in Europe than in New Zealand or the United States. This is not true now - with the Euro being so strong."says Reynolds.

The new boat should be ready in mid-April. Reynolds says it will be a very different boat to the last generation of Botin & Carkeek designs: "I think this will be a pretty dramatic departure. It is much more of a bigger boat concept with a higher prismatic coefficient, lower wetted surface aft and more flare, simply put a 'big' TP52." - http://2008.medcup.org

TP52 all over the place...


'New TP52 Mutua Madrilena arrives in Valencia - photo Audi Medcup'
The new Mutua Madrilena arrived in Valencia this week amidst a growing flurry of TP52 activity.
Vascotto and the Mutua Madrileña team are back and mean business, changing from Botin & Carkeek, who designed their 2005 winner Pisco Sour and their 2007 Mutua Madrileña, to a new Judel/Vrolijk design which has just arrived in Valencia from Italy for the final fit out and launching.

“The boat looks fantastic and we are really happy with the construction of the boat.” Vascotto confirmed from the deck of their new boat. The new boat was built at Farno on the Adriatic by Carboland which is managed by Albino Scarpone who was instrumental in the build of the last Luna Rossa America’s Cup boats.
“Obviously Rolf (Vrolijk) has designed a boat which took some of the best parts of the old Artemis which won quite easily last year but I gave him plenty of freedom. I just asked for the fastest boat in the fleet!” Vascotto suggests.

“I don’t think that there will be much difference between the boats. This is the fourth year and so the difference between one generation of boats and the next gets smaller all the time, and the so the gap becomes always smaller. But for sure Rolf has tried to improve still further the construction of the boats and the ideas he has had last year are maybe made a little more extreme this year.” - http://2008.medcup.org/news/

50 Knots or Bust!


l’Hydroptère heads back in the water after being retrofitted to take on the mythical speed barrier of 50 knots. We'll keep up update on that!

What-the-ka?


What-do-you-think?

Cagliari RC 44 Cup Final


Photo: Coypright Francesco Nonnoi, Yacht Club Cagliari. Led by Team Hiroshi – Città di Mlano, the RC 44 fleet is seen during the last race of the Cagliari RC 44 Cup.
[Team Aqua report on RC44 Regatta- By CAMERON APPLETON]
With two races to sail on the last day of the Cagliari RC 44 Cup, Team Aqua was fourth of the overall ranking, just one point behind the podium. Armando Giulietti’s Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano was sitting at an enviable position, seven points ahead of Banco Espirito Santo. However, the situation was more complicated behind the leader, with four teams separated by five points.

The first race took place in a light sea breeze. Team Hiroshi, BMW ORACLE Racing and Banco Espirito Santo went straight for the left of the course whilst Team Sea Dubai (third overall until then) opted for the right. Every point was crucial and all the leading teams were impatiently waiting for the first crossing to see who was right or wrong. Well, both options seemed to pay. Hiroshi rounded the windward mark in first, just ahead of Team Sea Dubai and BMW ORACLE Racing. The same scenario took place downwind, all the leading teams going to the right except Team Sea Dubai who went to the left.
The tension was seriously rising as they neared the leeward gate, which they rounded in the same position once again. The only change within the leading boats finally took place on the last downwind leg, when BMW ORACLE Racing overtook Team Sea Dubai; a point that was going to cost them the podium. Team Aqua, who was also looking for a place on the podium, finished seventh whilst Banco Espirito Santo – second overall till then – dropped down the ranking because of an eighth place in this race.

At this stage, Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano could not loose the event any more. Team Sea Dubai was only two points ahead of BMW ORACLE Racing and two more ahead of Banco Espirito Santo: all but a comfortable advantage against Russell Coutts and Ben Ainslie.

Well advised, Larry Ellison got a perfect start on the pin end of the line. Also well in the game, and more central on the course, Team Sea Dubai and Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano managed to reach the windward mark a few boat lengths ahead of Oracle. The hunt for the last remaining points was on, and fascinating, with Banco Espirito Santo sailing precisely and smoothly to try to catch up on the leaders. Was it the pressure, bad luck? Team Sea Dubai went from first to third, then sixth and finally seventh over the arrival line, to the despair of their crewmembers. On the other hand, the experienced Ben Ainslie managed to lead Patrick de Barros to the third spot, grabbing the last place available on the podium behind Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano and BMW ORACLE Racing.

Sixth of the last race, Team Aqua ends up fifth overall whilst Igor Lah’s Team Ceeref is seventh, ahead of Beecom, Cro-A-sail and Mascalzone Latino.

Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano increases its lead in the 2008 Championship Tour, ahead of Patrick de Barros and Igor Lah. Armando Giulietti will carry on sailing with the Championship Tour leader’s gold wheels in the next event, the Austria Cup (May 28 – June 1).

From Aqua’s cockpit:
Chris Bake:
“We didn’t have the day we were expecting. We made a few mistakes, our communication was not optimal, and we were also a little bit unlucky. In this class, there is no room for such errors. On the positive side, our boat speed was good and the week was great.”

Fleet race, final results after eight races (no discard):

(Name of team, helmsman, No of victories / defeats, points)
1) Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano, Armando Giulietti, 1, 2, 6, 4, 1, 3, 1, 1 – 19 points
2) BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison, 6, 1, 5, 2, 8, 6, 2, 2 – 32 points
3) Team Banco Espirito Santo, Patrick de Barros, 4, 5, 8, 3, 3, 1, 8, 3 - 35 points
4) Sea Dubai, Joki Hellmich, 3, 4, 1, 7, 5, 5, 3, 7 – 35 points
5) Team Aqua, Chris Bake, 9, 3, 7, 1, 2, 4, 7, 6 – 39 points
6) Ceeref, Igor Lah, 7, 6, 2, 6, 4, 9, 4, 4 – 42 points
7) Team Organika, Maciej Nawrocki, 5, 8, 3, 9, 7, 2, 6, 8 – 48 points
8) Beecom, Isao Mita, 2, 7, 9, 8, 6, 8, 5, 5 – 50 points
9) Cro-A-Sail, Miroslav Reljanovic, 8, 9, 4, 5, 10, DNF, 9, DNF – 67 points
10) Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato, DNS, 10, 10, 10, 9, 7, 10, 9 – 76 points

RC 44 Championship Tour 2008 (after 2 events):

1) Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano, 40 points
2) Team Banco Espirito Santo, 75 points
3) Ceeref, 78 points
4) Sea Dubai, 81 points
5) Team Aqua, 84 points
6) Cro-A-Sail, 112 points
7) BMW ORACLE Racing, 120 points
8) Team Organika, 136 points
9) Beecom, 138 points
10) Mascalzone Latino, 164 points
11) Magia Alike, 184 points
11) Ekipa 44, 184 points
11) Jelik, 184 points
11) Jelik, 184 points

Chris Bake: "We made a few mistakes, our communication was not optimal, and we were also a little bit unlucky." - Team Aqua

Annapolis NUDE



Even lighter breezes marked the second day of racing at the 2008 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD. Full report...

Thursday, April 24, 2008

TP52 Audi launch



About a month old but still a great video on the new Audi TP52! Very cool looking boat!

Larry Ellison puts on a clinic at RC44 Regatta



Francesco Nonnoi - Yacht Club Cagliari
BMW ORACLE Racing wins match racing series at RC 44 Cagliari Cup.

BMW ORACLE Racing today won the match racing series of the RC 44 Cagliari Cup finishing the round robin with an 8-1 record. In their first-ever match racing regatta together, BMW ORACLE Racing team owner Larry Ellison was at the helm with team skipper Russell Coutts calling tactics.
“It’s been fantastic racing,” Ellison said. “We have a great team and beat some of the best match racers in the world. The entire team won the regatta. I am enormously proud of this team.”

The RC 44 Cagliari Cup began yesterday with a round robin for the highly-competitive 10-boat fleet. The two-day match racing series was sailed in strong, blustery Sardinia breezes, producing some incredibly close matches and exciting lead changes. BMW ORACLE Racing’s only loss of the nine-race round robin was a one-second delta at the finish.

Six other BMW ORACLE Racing crew members were competing on two other entries and those two teams finished second and third in the match racing. “Larry deserves the win; he sailed really well,” said BMW ORACLE Racing helmsman James Spithill who took second place honors helming Team Ceeref. Posting a 7-2 record for the series, Spithill had BMW ORACLE Racing crew members Michele Ivaldi and Joey Newton on board.

The BMW ORACLE Racing team opened today with a win in their first match of the day against French match racer Sebastien Col. Ellison and crew led Team Hiroshi around the course. In the second race of the day against Mascalzone Latino, BMW ORACLE Racing posted another win following a textbook start where Ellison got the advantage and led around the course.

Following a break in the action to allow the strong Sardinia breeze to moderate, it was the match of the day against double Olympic gold medalist and current Finn world champion Ben Ainslie, sailing with Patrick de Barros on Team ES Bankers Dubai. Ainslie, who has BMW ORACLE Racing crew Max Sirena, Noel Drennan and Daniel Fong on board, as well as sailing team coordinator Julien di Biase, led at the start. In a drag race upwind, BMW ORACLE Racing overtook at the bottom mark. Ellison extended the lead to finish 5-6 boat-lengths ahead of the de Barros crew who finished third overall with a 6-3 record.

The RC 44 circuit is part of the BMW ORACLE Racing team’s overall 2008 sailing program. Other team members sailing with Ellison and Coutts were Dirk de Ridder, Ross Halcrow and Brad Webb.
The fleet racing series of the regatta starts tomorrow and concludes on Sunday April 27.

Match Racing Final Standings:
(Name of team, helmsman, No of victories / defeats, points)1) BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison, 8/1 - 8 points2) Team Ceeref, James Spithill, 7/2 - 7 points3) Team Banco Espirito Santo, Ben Ainslie, 6/3 - 6 points4) Team Aqua, Cameron Appleton 6/4 - 6 points5) Cro-A-Sail, Morten Henrikson, 5/4 - 5 points6) Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano, Sébastien Col 4/5 - 4 points (1 penalty)7) Sea Dubai, Markus Wieser 4/5 – 4 points8) Team Beecom, Jesper Radich 3/6 – 3 points9) Mascalzone Latino, Jes Gram Hansen 0/9 – 0 point9) Team Organika, Mateusz Kusznierewicz 0/9 – 0 point - http://bmworacleracing.com/

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Cagliari RC44 Cup Day One


Gilles Martin-Raget
Ben Ainslie, Larry Ellison and James Spithill share the lead after day one of the Cagliari RC 44 Cup

[Source RC44] With four wins and one defeat, Team Banco Espirito Santo, BMW ORACLE Racing and Ceeref lead the match racing event of the Cagliari RC 44 Cup. With up to 25 knots of wind under a great sunshine, the day was simply superb!

Cagliari, April 23, 2008 – Whoever thinks that match racing should be competed on board slow boats should come to Cagliari and watch the ten RC 44’s match-racing in 25 knots of wind, surfing down the waves and yet crossing the arrival line merely separated by a handful of seconds.

This is indeed what happened throughout the day in Cagliari on day one of the RC 44 Cup. The ten boats – and their (mainly) pro skippers – offered an extraordinary show off the coast of Cagliari, sailing no less than 21 matches in the best possible conditions.

Leader of the event after day one, Larry Ellison and his crew onboard BMW ORACLE Racing impressed a lot of people by the quality of their performance in those difficult conditions. They started the day with a win against Cameron Appleton’s Team Aqua, crossing the arrival line eight seconds before their opponent after a very intense match. Even closer, the match between James Spithill’s Team Ceeref and Ben Ainslie, onboard Team Banco Espirito Santo and won by Spithill by 3 seconds! But the closest of all matches took place in the next flight, in a dual between Cro-A-Sail (Morten Henriksen) and BMW ORACLE Racing: one second between the two boats on the finish line and a joyfully celebration for the Croatians.

At the end of the day, three teams share the same number of points in the leader board of the match race event: Team Banco Espirito Santo, BMW ORACLE Racing and Ceeref. However, Larry Ellison’s team is the provisional leader thanks to victories against its direct opponents. A great achievement for the only non-professional helmsman involved today.

Five flights are yet to be sailed and the game remains open. Indeed, Team Aqua (Cameron Appleton) and Cro-A-Sail have both won three matches and are still well in the game.

They said:
Ben Ainslie, Team Banco Espirito Santo: “It was fairly hard for me to adapt to this boat, particularly during the pre-start. Luckily, the team helped me a lot. They are great, and this is definitely a day when the team counts for as much – if not more - as the helmsman. But what a day! It was awesome, and certainly one of the best sailing days I have had for a long time.

James Spithill, Team Ceeref: “This is simply the best level you can get in match racing, worldwide. You have match race world champions, America’s Cup skippers, world champions of several classes. It’s just very tough. The boats are great, and very fast. Thanks to their speed, there are always great passing opportunities. It’s very exciting.

Morten Henriksen, Cro-A-Sail: "The highlight of our day is obviously the victory against BMW ORACLE Racing. It was so close we didn't even know who had won. Other than that, we have been a bit lucky as we got two points against competitors who suffered gear failures. But we are happy to be well in the game."

Jes Gram Hansen, Mascalzone Latino: "It's the first time I sail back with Mascalzone Latino since the Cup, so I am really happy although our results weren't good today. For us, it's a new boat, a new team and It was very windy so we suffered. But we had a great time."

Russell Coutts, BMW ORACLE Racing: "This is the first time I was sailing with Larry, so we are very happy it went so well. I have to say: he did a great job. We didn't break anything, we never broached and we sailed well. It was just an awesome day!" - http://www.rc44.com/

Cool shot of the day!


Transat AG2R - Just rippin right along!

Larry and Russell hit the water...


Gilles Martin-Raget

Gilles Martin-Raget

Gilles Martin-Raget

Gilles Martin-Raget

BMW ORACLE Racing competes in first regatta of the 2008 season.

BMW ORACLE Racing competes in the team’s first competition of the 2008 season starting tomorrow at the RC 44 Cagliari Cup in Italy. Skipper Russell Coutts and team owner Larry Ellison are sharing afterguard duties in their first regatta together.

“This is Larry’s first time sailing the RC 44s and he is really enjoying it,” said BMW ORACLE Racing skipper Russell Coutts. “On our first day of training yesterday, we saw 25 knots of fresh sea breeze off the Sardinia coast. We had a great time shaking down the boat and tuning up with some practice starts and drop set maneuvers. Larry is looking forward to helming this week in both the match racing against the pro skippers and in the fleet racing events against the other owner/drivers. It’s a competitive fleet here and promises to be great racing.” - More news at http://www.bmworacleracing.com/

Puma Ocean Racing New Boat Photos






onEdition Photography
A Massive Undertaking: PUMA Ocean Racing ís new boat for the Volvo Ocean Race2008-2009 prepares to move out of the Goetz Custom Boats facility Tuesday morning in Bristol, Rhode Island on its way toward Newport Shipyard where it will be launched into the water next week.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Largest Wally Yacht built so far... Nice!



Fano, Italy – The Wally 148, that is the largest Wally built so far, has been successfully launched in the port of Fano, during a private ceremony organised by the WallyEurope building team and the yacht crew.

The 45-meter (148-foot) sloop will be towed to Ancona on April 12, to have the keel installed, scheduled for mid April, and proceed with the stepping of the mast at the end of the month.
After these operations, the sea trials will start before the delivery of the yacht to the owners, scheduled for the first half of June. - www.Wally.com

Hyères Olympic Week





Photos FRANCK SOCHA
The second day of racing.

Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères was blessed with ideal racing conditions and sunshine. The clouds and rain cleared quickly by mid-morning with the apparition of a steady 15 to 20 knots Mistral.

The class favourites claimed the top positions in most events with wind lovers making again the most of the day.

It was a faultless day for Nick Thompson (GBR) and Australians, Tom Slingsby and Sarah Blanck in the Laser classes.

2004 ISAF Youth World Champion, Nick Thompson has added two more bullets to his impressive score to take the lead in the 156 boats Laser fleet. Despite three race victories, World Champion and World #1 Tom Slingsby has to count an OCS from Monday’s second race and is recorded in 29 position overall. He should come back to the score when a race is discarded after Tuesday racing. - full report

Just back the truck up some more....


Lets just hope she never ends up this way out sailing - Speedboat undergoing some stability test!

Larry Ellison to race RC44's


Photo Jacques Vapillon

Cagliari RC 44 Cup: a gathering of the best amongst the best

[Source RC44] With recently crowned World Champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz (Star) and Vincenzo Onorato (Farr 40), the second regatta of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2008 promises to be a fantastic sailing event. Indeed, Ben Ainslie, Russell Coutts, James Spithill, Sébastien Col, Larry Ellison, Cameron Appleton and many more will fight hard for the title on board ten strict one design RC 44’s in the superb venue of Cagliari.

Cagliari, April 22, 2008 – Just one day to go until the start ofthe second event of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2008! The tension is rising on the pontoons of Cagliari. Indeed, this regatta - organised by Yacht Club Cagliari with the support of the City of Cagliari - assembles some of the world’s best sailors on board ten strict one design RC 44’s.

Two of the competitors, Mateusz Kusznierewicz (Team Organika) and Vincenzo Onorato (Mascalzone Latino) have won prestigious world champion titles last week, in the highly competitive Star and Farr 40 Classes. Two fantastic achievements and an extra motivation for the other teams to beat them!

Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano (Armando Giulietti and Sébastien Col), the current leader of the Championship Tour and winner of the first season regatta in Dubai, will lead the charge. Also in Cagliari with great ambition, Chris Bake and Cameron Appleton - winners of last year’s Championship Tour - will be keen to climb on the podium after their fourth place in Dubai last month.

Triple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie will discover the RC 44 yachts on board Patrick de Barros’s Team Banco Espirito Santo. So will Larry Ellison, helming both the fleet and the match race and sailing for the first time with Russell Coutts on a BMW ORACLE Racing branded RC 44.

The Cagliari Cup will start on Wednesday April 23 with the match racing event. Unbeaten in match racing since two regattas, Team Ceeref (Igor Lah / James Spithill) is the logical favourite of this event. After a full round robin, hopefully completed in two days, the team owners will take the helm for three days of fleet racing; a contest that is probably more open than the match. A long distance race - the DHL Trophy - will allow the fleet to discover the beauties of Cagliari's surroundings. The winner of this race will be awarded with the DHL Trophy, whilst the points of the regatta will be incorporated in the fleet race ranking.

Other teams will look for precious points on the Championship Tour, such as Miroslav Reljanovic’s Cro-A-Sail, dominator of the first RC 44 season in 2006, DIMC’s Team Sea Dubai with Marcus Wieser at the helm, or Isao Mita’s Team Beecom (JAP). - www.rc44.com

Video from the Farr 40 Worlds Day 4

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Three Time Farr 40 World Champion


© ROLEX/Daniel Forster
Congratulations to Vincenzo Onorato and the crew of MASCALZONE LATINO, winners of the 2008 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship for the third time!

Hyères Olympic Week: Ready to Go Andrew Campbell






Photos Gilles Martin-Raget
Hyeres - S.O.F. - [From Andrew Campbell] The 40th annual Semaine Olympique Francais is primed and ready to go this Sunday after two weeks of battling Mistral and Easterly winds. The training over the last month has seen extremes of weather with weeks of 25+ offshore Mistral winds blowing cold air off the mountains from the north as well as wet and chilly spring Easterlies that jack up short waves. Both breezes make for challenging and entertaining wind conditions, and it seems as though they will continue through the upcoming regatta. Today, the day before the event’s official start has proven to be marred with almost unsailable patchy seabreeze. Tomorrow could be another buster with rumors of strong easterlies filtering through the boatpark pipeline.

After having spent hours of boat work fixing leaks, re-rigging lines and re-riveting spars to ensure my equipment will hold up for the regatta. As soon as I arrived on the training course two days ago my boom broke into two pieces at the first mainsheet block and I promptly turned downwind for the dock. Because the breeze was in the teens and the waves were up, the snapped aluminum spar was bit dangerous swinging essentially out of control off to leeward. As I neared the harbor entrance I lucked waving a coachboat down and pulled the boat and scratched my head for a while wondering how in the heck I could have broken a piece that I had just fixed, realizing that it was only 5 months old to begin with. So, 350 euros (about $550) later I put a new boom and new top section up yesterday to make sure I was going to last through the SOF.

The last minute details are all falling into place here though, I’ve spent the practice race day ashore sorting coachboat charter and I’ll run to the airport in Nice to pick up my coach flying in for the event. The action is non-stop and I’m excited to try a few of the new techniques developed over the last month as well as start getting a feel for the same boat at slightly lighter bodyweights in anticipation of lighter air in China in August. Please keep up to date for Hyeres here at CampbellSailing.com. I’ll be posting regular daily reports about my humble perspective of the Laser course. http://www.campbellsailing.com/

Protest!!!


JOE FLY and BARKING MAD mark rounding - ROLEX/Daniel Forster
This is what happend: Last day Farr 40 Worlds

The day initially lined up as an all-Italian battle pitting defending champion Mascalzone Latino (ITA), the leader of the series since the first race, against Joe Fly (ITA), the second-place, well-sailed boat. In reality Barking Mad (USA) became part of the winner's fate when it was fouled by Joe Fly during the first mark rounding of race nine (Saturday's first race). Mascalzone rounded in the same group and filed a protest against Joe Fly.

Barking Mad tactician Terry Hutchinson explained, “From my perspective, we were fouled by Joe Fly at the top mark. We did not protest them because we did not want to be... It is tough racing, It's hard enough. You get into these situations and I think Mascalzone and Joe Fly were having a good regatta against each other. Mascalzone Latino witnessed the infringement (against Barking Mad) and they were within their rights to file a third party against them in the situation. That leaves the umpires to decide the decision.”

In the end, the international jury - chaired by Tom Ehman - decided in Mascalzone's favor and disqualified Joe Fly, giving the win to Mascalzone, and dropping Joe Fly to second overall for the championship. - Regattanews.com

Cayard's last words on the Farr 40 Worlds


MASCALZONE LATINO crosses the finish line seconds before JOE FLY in the battle for the World Championship, race nine. ROLEX/Kurt Arrigo.
Just a quick one to say its over. Joe Fly of Italy won on the water but Mascalzone Latino is protesting them. The Jury will decide who won the 2008 Farr 40 Worlds.

We had a mediocre day, not sure exactly the scores but I think we will finish up around 10th overall. As I said yesterday, it is not what we were shooting for and certainly we are capable of more but then many here can say the same.

I compliment our crew for never giving less than 100% despite our frustrations. The Warpath team is a good team and will be back to the Farr 40 Worlds another day.

Thanks to Fred and Steve Howe for being such great owners!

For complete results go to http://www.farr40worlds.com/

Out for now. - Paul Cayard

Friday, April 18, 2008

Speedboat Sea Trials & Photos



Speedboat - Viaduct Harbour - April 2008 - Richard Gladwell

Speedboat - Viaduct Harbour - April 2008 - Richard Gladwell



Speedboat - Viaduct Harbour - April 2008 - Richard Gladwell
Interesting setup on the rig configuration and not much freeboard on the Juan K yacht.