Thursday, August 28, 2008

Will it hold up?







Photographer: Gilles Martin-Raget

Team conducts engineering tests in preparation for sailing.

The BMW ORACLE Racing design team is carefully reviewing the team’s new 90-foot trimaran boat in a series of dockside engineering load tests in Anacortes this week. The tests are the final step in the team’s preparation to sail the boat for its initial shakedown in Anacortes, WA where the boat was built.


“The loads on the boat and mast are enormous,” said BMW ORACLE Racing design coordinator Mike Drummond. “We are going through the boat carefully to check systems and loads before we physically hoist the sails.”

The static load tests are a standard part of any new boat commissioning. The boat was launched on Monday. The enormous mast was then installed dockside. The tests will continue dockside until the team is ready for the maiden sail expected some time over the Labor Day holiday weekend in the USA.

The team partnered with Van Peteghem and Lauriot Prévost (VPLP) of France and one of the most successful skippers in multihull racing, Franck Cammas, to design the innovative trimaran. Led by Mark Turner and Tim Smyth, the BMW ORACLE Racing construction team built the carbon fiber composite boat at a purpose-built facility in Anacortes. Bringing unique technological competence and setting new standards in the area of intelligent lightweight design, BMW has been a key partner in developing the boat. - http://bmworacleracing.com/

Experience of a lifetime...


Olympic Games Final Report
From: Amanda Clark & Sarah Mergenthaler USA 470 Women's Team
Dear Supporters,

We’ve just returned home to the USA from the Olympic Games. The last four weeks in China was the experience of a lifetime. We finished the Olympic regatta in 12th overall. This was not the position we had hoped for heading into the racing, but we can safely say we gave it all we had and left everything on the waters of Qingdao. The 470 racing took place in the earlier part of the sailing competition, which turned out to be the light wind week. We had flashes of brilliance with 5 finishes in the top 10 during the ten-race regatta but we had difficulty putting consistent results on the board.

The highlight of our racing was undoubtedly day #4 (races 7 & 8). We launched at 11am for a 1pm start (it was a 45 minute tow to our race area). The day looked promising with surprisingly clear skies and even a little cumulus developing on shore. Perhaps a meaningful thermal would bless they day’s racing? But alas, when we finally arrived at the start, there wasn’t a breath of wind. We bobbed around until 4pm when the evening land breeze began to fill. The race committee was quick to start us, hoping to keep the fleet on schedule. Because all of China is on one time zone and Qingdao is on the eastern frontier, dusk comes early, even during summer! We had a wonderful 8-12 knots for both races and even got to pump downwind. We rolled two consistent scores: 7, 6, which was good enough to boost us into the top 10. By the time we reached the ramp in the Olympic Harbor it was 7:30 and pitch black. Thankfully, US Team Leader Dean Brenner was there to meet us, trolley and American flag in hand. We were exhausted but thrilled to turn in a consistent day.

We spent August 21-24 in Beijing at the Olympic Village. It was incredible to live and meet with U.S. athletes from other teams. We also got the chance to attend a few events including the gold medal games for volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and handball. On August 24th we capped our Olympic experience by marching in the Closing Ceremony and what a show it was! China has set the bar extremely high for all future Olympic host cities.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to represent the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games. The Olympic ideal has had a profound effect on our lives. Competing in the Games has made us better sailors, better sportswomen and better people. The Olympic movement is humbling and awe-inspiring. We hope use our momentum to give back to sailing as it has given so much to us. We would like to thank each and every one of you for your support, enthusiasm, good wishes, emails, phone calls and ongoing interest in our sailing. We truly believe we would not have made it to the Olympics without such an incredible support system behind us. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

We would especially like to thank: Our Families, US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (especially Dean Brenner, Katie Kelly, Gary Bodie & Sarah Hawkins), Coach Bunny Warren, Gill, Kaenon Polarized, Snapper Rock, Mills Sails, SeaMar Gloves, New England Ropes, Kinesys Performance Sunscreen, Shelter Island YC, Surf City YC, New York YC, Seawanhaka Corinthian YC, Shrewsbury Sailing & YC, NJYRA, the Lightning Class, Sailing Foundation of New York, Southport Sailing Foundation, and the Oyster Bay Sailing Foundation for believing in us!

Very Best Always,

"don't break the vessel"


On board Puma Ocean Racing Volvo 70 - North Atlantic.
We are always in a dilemma. When practicing, or in this case delivering the boat across the Atlantic Ocean, we have to learn, with the goal being keep making the boat and team faster. But, at the same time, if we break the boat we will have to limp back to Rhode Island or up to Halifax, or wherever the wind would take a wounded boat in the North Atlantic. That would be bad, real bad. After all, we do not want to miss the start of this race.

Don’t worry, we aren't broken. Actually, we're anything but. The boat is handling like a dream out here and the crew is settling into a routine onboard. What I have ringing in my head though is our illustrious Operations and Shore Team Manager Neil Cox stating one very specific demand about 2 minutes from pushing us off the dock in Newport in his best Australian tongue, "Mate, whatever you do, don't break the vessel." I guess those words are better than one of the many songs he famous for singing around the base.

We Coxy, it is pretty hard to tame the monster at times. Navigator Andrew Cape got us nicely situated on the back side of a cold front and we just knocked off 254 miles in 12 hours. Not quite record pace but pretty quick none the less. And this is all happening while having "don't break the vessel" ringing in our ears. We have had a couple of interesting happenings onboard.

Our media guru Rick "Danger" Deppe wanted to label his clothes and gear with his initials - including his headlamp. Unfortunately for Rick, he put on the headlamp prior to the indelible ink drying and effectively stamped his initials backwards on his forehead. My guess is that those are there for a few days. He looks like the front of an ambulance. Anyway, all is good here.

We're getting back into the rhythm again, one of being wet and eating lousy food.

-Kenny

Inside the Volvo 70


Click on image to enlarge.
The Botin Carkeek Yacht Design rendering of the second generation Volvo Open 70.

British Sailing Team Honoured...



Photo by onEdition L-R Skandia Team GBR gold medal winners Pippa Wilson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb.
Britain's podium-topping sailors were today welcomed home to London, and to the news that leading long-term investments provider Skandia has confirmed its continued support of the British sailing team for the next four years.

Skandia Team GBR, the British sailing team in the Olympic and Paralympic Classes, was honoured at London County Hall, with Ben Ainslie, Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb, Pippa Wilson, Paul Goodison, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, among those awarded keepsake trophies - bespoke models of their own boats - from Skandia. A number of young sailors hoping to gain selection to compete at London 2012 were also present.

Skandia Team GBR supports more than 70 sailors in the Royal Yachting Association's World Class Performance and Development squads - 18 of those sailors were selected to represent Team GB at Beijing 2008, with a further six chosen to compete at the Paralympics next month.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Like a Virgin...



Photo by Jeff
"Virgin Money..."
Speedboat goes red as a new sponsor signs on. Richard Branson has inked a deal with Alex Jackson to sponsor their sailing program. She will sail this weekend in Newport, RI with the Virgin Money logo on the hull and sails as well as the Union Jack on one of the rudders! Can you say sailing billboard?!!

GP 42 Near Miss takes practice race...


Photos Pierre Orphanidis
Trofeu Quebramar- Chyrsler 2008 Regatta - Cascais:
It seemed event organizers came to an agreement with the gods of wind in order to hold the opening practice race in near-perfect conditions. When the starting gun was fired at 3pm a constant western breeze of 15 to 20 knots was blowing over the Lisbon bay. The race committee was able to hold 2 starts and a complete race in a course that stretched from Cascais to the Tajo River.

Four of the 8 yachts of the GP42 fleet were on the starting line, Near Miss, Desafío, Roma GP42.2 and Canarias Puerto Calero, all of them with a guest from the media on board. New comers Bodegas Luis Alegre were making some last-minute changes, Madrid were waiting for a new boom to substitute the one they broke during the delivery, while Caser-Quum were also fine tuning their yacht.

All 3 starts were very close and the entire race proved to be a relentless fight between all 4 yachts. Roma GP42.2, helmed by Paolo Cian led from the start but Bertrand Pacé on Near Miss overtook at the second leg. Desafío, helmed by Laureano Wizner, could have come in front of the race but at the approach to the first top mark the Spanish were involved in a port-starboard incident with the young crew from Canarias Puerto Calero and were forced to take a penalty turn. http://www.gp42.it/

Day 2 TP52 Regatta


© Ian Roman//AUDI MEDCUP. CARTHAGENA - SPAIN - 27/8/08. Region of Murcia Trophy. Day 2 . Race 3.
Race video day 2.

Report by Paul Cayard
We onboard El Desafio won the day today with a 3, 1. Mutua Madrilena had a 2, 2 for equal points and now leads the Series. El Desafio moves up to third place, just two points out of first.

Same wind, sky and waves as Tuesday. The race committee still had some trouble anchoring in the deep water but we eventually got two good races off. Very shifty conditions made it a challenge for the tacticians. John Cutler onboard El Desafio did a great job for us. The big waves and puffy wind made it a challenge for the trimmers and the helmsman. It was a day where you had to keep adjusting things to keep the boat in the grove upwind and downwind. It was never easy on any boat.

Quantum Racing had a bit of a bad day with a 4, 8 and Bribon a bit better but not what they would have preferred with a 9, 3. It just goes to show how competitive this fleet is. Just a couple of mistakes and you go from having a good race to finishing 9th. The scores are now very tight with the top 6 teams almost swapping positions each race.

There was one breakdown today, Platoon. On the first windward leg of the second race, after winning the first race of the day today, their headstay broke and they had to withdraw. They were well positioned at the time. The helmsman of the Platoon is three time gold medalist Jochan Schumann.

The light Trans Pac 52's were hitting speeds of 17 knots down wind with the big waves and 20 knots of wind.

Tomorrow is the "Coastal Race". In this race, you have one start but two scoring points, the midpoint and the finish. So getting a good start and being in front at the first windward mark is doubly important in this race.

The series resumes with 4 windward leeward races schedules for Friday and Saturday. - Paul Cayard

For complete results go to http://www.audimedcup.org/
Cayard Sailing Website

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week











Photographer: Jack Atley/Andrea Francolini
No short – edge of surprises
Audi Hamilton Island Race Week-
IRC division 1 results have delivered Alan Whiteley’s Melbourne based TP52 Cougar II its first win on corrected time from Bob Steel’s sistership Quest. Despite coming to a crunching halt when they hit an outlying rock off Surprise Rock at low tide - the impact sending Quest’s helmsman Jamie Macphail flying forward causing him to break the port wheel post at the base - Steel and his crewnot only managed to continue racing but finished second on the podium ahead of Andrew Short’s Shockwave – Club Marine.

Today three IRC Division 1 boats found out the hard way where the name Surprise Rock came from. A mark of the 26 nautical mile Course 12, the Banyham Island Course, eventual line honours winner Shockwave – Club Marine bumped over the reef surrounding the Island while Quest and Michael Hiatt’s Living Doll took much harder hits. A thrilling tacking duel in Dent Passage, where many races have been won or lost, played out this afternoon before Shockwave – Club Marine claimed its first line honours victory from five races.

With Black Jack bow down with her big Code 0 flying and closing the gap on Shockwave in the closing miles as the two rounded the northern tip of Hamilton Island, it looked like the 80 footer was going to be relegated to second. But once the maxi turned the corner into Dent Passage and her huge sails filled with the sprightly 12 knot sou’easter, she gathered speed and was able to cover the Peter Harburg skippered pocket rocket Black Jack in an exciting battle to the finish.
Most of the week the two have raced within throwing distance but today the Mark Richard’s skippered Wild Oats X couldn’t hang onto Black Jack, letting them slip through on the first upwind leg which is how the positions on the track remained. Steven David’s Reichel Pugh 66 Wild Joe had its best day of the regatta, rounding Banyham Island in second and finishing fourth over the line. Read More...

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

5th Audi MedCup event


Ian Roman/AUDI MEDCUP
Report from Paul Cayard - Day 1

Today was the first day of racing here in Cartagena, the 5th Audi MedCup event of 2008.
Perfectly blue sky with 15-20 knots of wind and a nice seaway welcomed the fleet to this historic maritime city. The city was founded in 227 BC by the Carthaginian General Hasdrubal. Since then the Romans, Byzantines and the Muslims, and finally the Christians, have all ruled the strategically located city. Anyway, it is older than California, so I am trying to read a bit about the city and go for walks around all the ruins to learn something before leaving on Saturday.

Back to the racing. Two races were held today. The race committee attempted a third race but they could not get their anchor to hold in the 90 meter water with the then rough sea. Onboard Desafio, we had two very good starts today. Unfortunately, right at the start of the first race the traveller broke and that hurt us a lot at a very critical time.

We battled around the course and finished 9th. In the second race, we sailed fast and were always amongst the lead group to finish 4th. We are currently in 7th place, tied with Platoon for 6th.

The points are all very close as is always the case after the first day.

In the first race Bribon went the correct way on the first run and second windward leg to go from 8th to first. In the second race, Quantum got to the first mark first followed by Platoon, Bribon, Desafio Espasol and Mutua Madrilena. We all held our positions around the four legged course.
Three races are scheduled for tomorrow and the forecast has a bit more breeze than today. The waves will no doubt get a bit bigger overnight.

1. Bribon 42. Quantum 63. Matador 84. Mutua Madrilena 115. Artemus 126. Platoon 137. El Desafio 138. Caixa 149. Audi Q8 1510.Synergy 20

For complete results go to http://www.audimedcup.org/

Cayard Sailing Website

System check...


Sally Collison/PUMA Ocean Racing
PUMA Ocean Racing, il mostro goes through its Incline Test. The keel is fully canted to 40 degrees as a required test for the hydraulic ram system.
Team Russia's Kosatka is out through its incline test training at their training camp in Portland, UK.

Monday, August 25, 2008

The big show...









Thanks to credit " Photo Gilles Martin-Raget/ BMW ORACLE Racing

Anacortes, WA, USA, August 25, 2008- BMW ORACLE Racing’s new 90-foot multihull yacht touched water for the first time today and the trimaran was commissioned with the traditional bottle of champagne smashed across the bow.
In a team gathering at the water’s edge, the carbon fiber boat was lowered into Fidalgo Bay in front of the boat yard where it was constructed on the Anacortes waterfront. Melinda Erkelens, Golden Gate Yacht Club board member and BMW ORACLE Racing team member, broke a bottle of Moët et Chandon as she commissioned the new BMW ORACLE Racing 90.
"We have learned a lot and developed a lot of new technology in building this boat and I’m really looking forward to testing it on the water," said team CEO and Skipper Russell Coutts. "It is going to be an interesting challenge and we will need to build up slowly and carefully to testing its full potential," Coutts said.
The team expects sea trials to begin in early September once the fit-out is complete and structural load tests are conducted dockside.

J22 Worlds wrap up...


By Edgar Westerhuys - Two disappointing races on the last day, again incredibly light winds; if only it would have.. but thats sailing, you cant force the wind. We started with a good 14 knots on the way to the start, going down rapidly just before the first start to even as low as 1.0 knot in the last beat to the finish of the 2nd race. The strategy we had was to go right in the beats because of an expected big righthand shift ahead of a front coming through. But again it was Leftchester that paid out, the locals felt or knew because many of them were ahead coming from left in both races.

Congratulations to the World Champion Greg Fisher & team, unbelievably good how consistently they sailed in such difficult circumstances!

35th overall is not where we came for but we had a nice event anyway, we sailed some good races in the 20ies and the 3rd place of race 2 was really really cool of course. We sailed against big names in the World of sailing: Chris Doyle (4th Overall at this Worlds), Terry Flynn (14th), Anthony Kotoun - the team from the Virgin Islands who were 1st in Saturdays Hospice Regatta - (2nd and also the J24 World Champion earlier this year), Bill Hardesty (5th and World Champion 2008 in the Etchells class), Kelson Elam (16th) and Mark Sadler (19th and World Champion J22 last year in South Africa). We learned a lot even though we had sailed and trained already mucho this year. Especially starting and first beat tactics in a group of 105 boats was difficult, I dont think the J22 class has ever before held an event this big with this many boats on 1 starting line.

After the price giving - with hot dogs and all - and de-rigging of the boat, we immediately cruised with our RV back to Canada. That was actually a really nice trip through the states New York and Ontario, we passed through the huge wine and corn fields and through little villages with beautiful houses straight from movies like Forest Gump “Life was like a box of chocolates..” Big pick-ups on the drive way, post boxes on the side of the road, white wooden houses with verandes with big rocking chairs, the yellow traffic lights dangling underneath large overhanging trees… great to see! Passing the customs went a lot faster than when entering the US, we werent allowed on the camper van - park which we had choosen so we just parked our RV on a parking lot close to Toronto and slept like rockets. Early wake-up from Bas who drove us to a small village called Rockport where we had a great breakfast with egg roll and coffee.

We delivered the camper to where Gideon had picked it up. The beautiful girl behind the check-in counter wasnt there unfortunately, so only Gideon will have her in his memory for ever.. Taxi to Pearsons airport where we are now waiting for our flight to leave in a few hours. Amsterdam here we come!

Thanks for following us and thanks for all the messages in our guest book! Thanks again of course as well to our sponsors without whom this event wouldnt have been possible for us:
AM
Technisch Handelsburo Verhoef
MIBA bearings
Gaastra

Next year the Worlds will be in Italy - Lake Garda. Who knows we compete again, it all depends on where our lives have headed in ‘09. In the Netherlands we have some nice events ahead of us this year, with the chance of winning the Year Ranking 2008 as a bonus. Currently we are ranked #1 so we won’t let that one be taken away from us!

JST out. - http://www.jabulanisailingteam.eu/ - http://myyc.org/result - See Photos

Groovederci captures the 2008 M 30 North American Championship


Newport, RI. After seven tight races in Rhode Island Sound and Narragansett Bay, Deneen Demourkas’ Groovederci showed superb speed and consistency in capturing the crown of M 30 North American Champion for 2008. The team from Santa Barbara, CA posted a score line of 1,1,2,2 on the first day and after all racing was postponed on day 2, they held a three point lead over Bodo & Nick von der Wense’s Turbo Duck heading into the final day of racing. John Podmajersy’s Illusion was just one point behind Turbo Duck as the sailors rigged their boats on Sunday morning in little to no breeze yet again.

PRO Peter “Luigi” Reggio decided to move the racecourse out of Rhode Island Sound and set up inside Narragansett Bay just North of Gould Island for Sunday’s racing. The day started out looking pretty bleak as the boats all were left adrift for a few hours after arriving at the racing area. Shortly after noon, however, a nice southerly breeze began to funnel up the bay and as soon as it started Luigi and the RC team from the Storm Trysail Club were in place and ready to go. Read full report...

Saturday, August 23, 2008

More photos of BMW Oracle Trimaran


Click on images to enlarge!!!



Photo Neil Rabinowitz / BMW ORACLE Racing
A few more shots of BMW ORACLE new 90 ft trimaran being rolled out of it's shed.

J 105 North Americans


Photo by Photo Courtesy Peter Lyons lyonsimaging.com
(Stewart's Daily Log) Day 2 consisted of 3 races under uncharacteristically puffy conditions on the city front of San Francisco Bay. In a building flood tide, despite several general recalls and "I" flags, the race committee managed to get off three races. The winds were as predicted at 12-20 knots with the shifty breeze making racing tough short taking the city front and creating quite a show for spectators on the shore.

Race 1 was won by Donkey Jack (Scott Sellers), second place was taken by Convexity from Chicago (Donald Wilson) continuing their first place win from the second race of Day 1, with third place taken by (un) Natural Blonde (Rob Cooper).

Race 2 was won by local favorite Good Timin (Dave Wilson/Chris Perkins), second place was Donkey Jack and third was Blackhawk (Scooter Simmons). In the final third race today, Aquavit (Tim Russell) took first place - Rhymenocerous (John Horsch) second place and Jam Session (Adam Spiegel) in third. -

Competitors look forward to a full day of racing back on the Berkeley Circle tomorrow for another three races. The St. Francis Yacht Club race committee boat will recover from the missing flag staff and ensign that an unnamed competitor managed to dislodge from the stern of the W.L. Stewart during close maneuvers! Results

Going Fast at the J22 Worlds

(By Edgar Westerhuys) Fast is what we were today!! but lets not start with the sailing part.. first of all thanks for all cheers at the guest book and via email from all papas, mamas, friends, fans and other species who follow our daily moves! much appreciated and it looked like the wishes worked today!

Only one race sailed, after that the gradient wind and the thermal (sea breeze) started fighting but none of them won.. we were toasted at the water and were sent to shore after 3 hours of talking to other teams, laughing and swimming during waiting. It has not been more hot since we have been here, at least 90F - 32 celcius, incredible, TG this yacht club has a pool..! And TG the organisers keep on giving beer cans BudWeiser at the water (big thanks to them for this great event in all aspects!) to all competitors after sailing!

We had a good time and a lot of fun yesterday by the by in and one the way to East View’s HUGE shopping mall. In the beginning of the week we already had been to another mall and we had saved the phone number of the taxi driver who took us back to our camper. A really nice Big Black guy named Wesley with a great American Cadillac with white leather interior. Wes with base ball cap, golden chain around his neck and a Starbucks coffee cup in his cup holder. Not someone to play cards with and win from if you get me..:) So we called him again to go to East View. Talked about his favorite football club, we poshed about sailing here all the way from the Netherlands, about the drugs we take every day in Amsterdam and so on untill Bas suddenly asks Wesley the - today millions of time repeated - famous question “hey, have you seen my lipp stick, I lost it in your cab” ….. HAHA you should have seen his eyes.. Bas simply meant his labello factor3000 for at the water but lipp stick sounds a bit different) hehe

We are on shore also already famous for the Tshirt Marjolein is wearing saying ‘my team does it better’.. hehe.. we get a lot of questions… Our boat Rug Burn also has some history apparently because we got a number of times the question if we by any chance had found some dirty magazines inside the boat… no we didnt, but its something I have to check with Kevin the owner! Rug Burn - for all Dutchies who read this, American know - is referring to the geschaafde knieeen (burned) die je kan krijgen van een partijtje rollebollen op het tapijt (rug) toepasselijke naam komende uit het verderfelijke Amsterdam!!

Well, thats if for the less serious part. The one and only race from today was however also a fun one! We started close above the mid-line start-boat - yes there are 3 starting boats marking the line because the line simply has got to be very big for 105 boats - and had a good but sharp start we thought.. untill we heard our bownr on the radio/VHF, caguen la leche, bummer, back! TG we were close to the midline boat and could quickly re-start to try to catch up to at least some of the 105 boats. And that worked! I think we must have had the best boat speed of the field today; we went right and were helped by a right shift and a bit more wind at the right, crossing boats, ducking boats, staying alive in bad air, it all worked. We kept on going and were around 35th place at the first windward mark! Also downwind good speed, greatgreat leeward mark rounding where we passed at least 5 boats and again a tactically good second beat with again very good boat speed (I will take our settings back to NL for the Jabulani..) Finished as 28th, not bad with a start minutes later than the rest! Went up 1 place in the overall ranking: 26th.

Tonight its steak and fish + a Rock band so its gonna be fun again. Thats it for now, gotta take a dive as well.

JST standing by on channel 09.

oh, heres by the way the site from Tucker Thompson - sailed with Tucker at Mumm30s and at the ‘Exposure’ some years back - with some video footage of this weeks sailing: http://www.t2p.tv/guide/j22w08.php

For Results Click Here

Friday, August 22, 2008

J22 WORLDS - Another day at the office...


Team Jabulani Sailing- By Edgar Westerhuys
First race again a floater even though there was more wind than the first race on Wednesday, we sailed the same bugger result; below 6 knots is just not our cup of tea. Bullshit of course, other teams have the same chop and light breeze but simply have beter sarts and go faster than we do.. anyway, other teams from the top ten also sailed double digits this first race today but we were not pleased!

2nd and 3rd race of today went much better with a 27 and a 25: the wind picked up again to 13 to 14 knots, we had very good boat speed and better starts got us in the top quarter but DA** what are these guys in the US sailing fast… think in Europe you sail fast? come sail overhere..

We are at 27th place overall now: http://myyc.org/result
Top 20 is still the goal for us, as I write this the Chicken BBQ has started so I better hurry up. Morale is still high, we are a great team; all of us have their frustating times now and then but we manage to keep each other positive and sharp; we just wanna sail fast&#$%FAST and win races but top 20 is the best we can get for now, we push for more though! Tomorrow and Sunday there will be more breeze and that should help us.

Our boat USA 1503 RUG BURN is perfect, couldnt be better, its us who have to make it go faster.. we will go shopping tonight in one of the massve malls overhere and prob drink some GTs before we hit the camper-van beds!

JST out from Rochester YC.

Orca Class 40


Peter Gustafsson


The new Class40 box rule has created conditions for the fastest growing offshore racing fleet in the world. Its success is mainly based on the Class40 prime subjective: to introduce affordable and manageable offshore yacht for both professional and amateur sailors, that could be sailed shorthanded or fully crewed. -http://www.orca-yachts.com/

Miss World and the Green Dragon Team



Photograph: David Branigan/Oceansport
Formaer Miss World wishes Green Dragon sailing success...
Rosanna Davison with Paul Keeley of Failte Ireland (right) and skipper Ian Walker (left) and his crew when the former Miss World called to say 'Bon Voyage' to the Green Dragon Team for the 39,000 mile Volvo Ocean Race around the world that starts from Alicante in October and visits Galway in May 2009.

BMW ORACLE Racing - New 90 ft trimaran


Photo Photo Neil Rabinowitz / BMW ORACLE Racing
New boat unveiled in Anacortes
Anacortes, WA, USA, August 22, 2008- BMW ORACLE Racing said today it was very pleased to confirm that after nine months of intense activity its team in Anacortes is in the final stages of preparing its new 90-foot multihull yacht for sailing.

The carbon fiber trimaran emerged from under wraps at its purpose-built construction shed here for the first time today. The trimaran is the third yacht constructed for the team in this waterfront community 100 miles north of Seattle, and is an outstanding achievement by its designers and builders, the team’s CEO and skipper, Russell Coutts said.

"This is a very special boat and represents a special achievement by a hugely committed team who are among the world’s best at what they do," Coutts said. We have learned a lot in getting to this point and now we are looking forward to testing it on the water."

The yacht is a key element of the team’s preparation for the next America’s Cup, representing San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), on which a ruling is expected from the New York State Court of Appeals in the next six months.

The team partnered with Van Peteghem / Lauriot Prévost (VPLP) of France and one of the most successful skippers in multihull racing, Franck Cammas, to design the innovative trimaran.
Led by Mark Turner and Tim Smyth, the BMW ORACLE Racing construction team has worked in a purpose-built composite yacht construction facility housed in a 100-foot x 200-foot, three-story shed. Janicki Industries in nearby Sedro-Woolley provided high-tech precision tooling.
"Today, everyone is proud to have reached this milestone in the final launch preparations," Turner said. "Our team has worked hard and we have enjoyed great local support." Turner said the team is delighted by the expertise available in Anacortes, which has a well developed cluster of marine infrastructure, aerospace-quality tooling and other support operations required for such a high-tech undertaking.

Bringing unique technological competence and setting new standards in the area of intelligent lightweight design, BMW has been a key partner in developing the boat. BMW aeronautical engineers, Christoph Erbelding and Thomas Hahn, have stayed with the design team since the 32nd campaign providing unique expertise in finite element analysis, which is a key tool for fulfilling EfficientDynamics requirements in the automotive industry.

Erbelding works with the rig team in Valencia and Rhode Island, while Hahn is based with the hull structures team at Anacortes; both are integral team members in ensuring the boat is as stiff and light as possible while delivering maximum performance.

The team continues the final fit-out of the boat as it prepares for some preliminary sea trials here next month. - http://www.bmworacleracing.com/

J22 Worlds - What a day!


By Edgar Westerhuys:
This is one-design sailing at its best… read on, today we wanted to sail better after yesterday’s very slow doll-drum race, and we did.

Yesterday we heard from a local that Rochester is also referred to as Leftechster… meaning, if you dont know which side of the beat to choose, go left. Today’s first race wasnt that we didnt know where to go, left side of the starting line was favoured and there was more breeze on the left (after waiting for 2 hours), but Leftchester made it even more certain for us: we wanted the left side PIN-end. And we got the PIN-end!!! Best boat off the line with full speed and a possibility to tack on port and cross the WHOLE fleet of 104 other J22s. We didnt do that immediately, sailed our lane on full speed and tacked to the middle when we got headed, crossed all boats. Played the shifts, boat felt really good and the breeze even strengthened to 14 knots (thank god). Other boats came closer, the top 30 is reallyreally fast here, bownr 8 and bownr 89, but we kept our first position with good speed and solid tactics. Only close to the first windward mark after the first beat of 1.7nmile (!) it was 8 who overtook us so we rounded the first mark as 2nd, great downwind leg with nice waves and a solid 2nd beat, still 2nd at he top mark. Downwind 89 overtook us unfortunately but 3 on the finish was great!

2nd race with 16 knots and blue-sky-Tshirt/weather, just perfect. OK start, a big mess at the first windward mark; imagine 50 boats coming almost within 1 minute together at the mark.. we got around quite clean, downwind rides got better and better with bigger waves and excellent surfs. 35 at the finish. 3rd race: 20th at the finish, excellent boat speed both upwind and downwind, if we keep this conditions we will only sail better.

24th overall for now, with discard (after tomorrow) it will even be better.

Compliments to Team Blok they had a very good day and are now at 5th overall position! Their new boat (and themselves) are kicking ass! But there are 9 more races to sail so the heat is on..

The races are roller coaster races, both mentally as physically, 1 small mistake means you loose 20 boats… but thats what one-design sailing should be!

After sail again excellent; Mexican night this time, tacos and all the additives… great organization! - Edgar