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Alpari World Match Racing Tour Fires Up
Langenargen, Germany: Top match racing crews from around the world are gathering on the north shore of Lake Constance this week ready for the first salvos of the 2013 Alpari World Match Racing Tour, starting on Thursday.
The Tour this year comprises six events, starting with Match Race Germany from this Thursday until Monday, before moving to Korea, back to Europe with the Stena Match Cup Sweden in July, then Chicago Match Cup, the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda, the season concluding in December with the Monsoon Cup, held in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.
For this, its 16th year, Match Race Germany is being held in Langenargen, located close to the Austrian border on Europe's third largest lake, where the event sailed in Bavaria 40S.
The 2013 Tour Card holders are reigning world champion Team GAC Pindar skipper Ian Williams and Swedes Johnie Berntsson (Stena Sailing Team) and Bjorn Hansen (Hansen Sailing Team), runner-up to Williams in 2012. From New Zealand are Phil Robertson, winner of Match Race Germany last year and Adam Minoprio, the 2009 ISAF Match Racing World Champion. France is represented by Pierre-Antoine Morvan and his Vannes Agglo Sailing Team while with the retirement of Peter Gilmour last year, Keith Swinton and his Black Swan Racing team are flying the flag for Australia. A highly anticipated new tour card holder this year is Taylor Canfield from the US Virgin, whose USone team impressively won the final two events last season.
One of the strongest contenders this year is likely to be Adam Minoprio, making his return to the Tour after taking two years off to compete with an Emirates Team New Zealand crew aboard Camper in the Volvo Ocean Race.
Minoprio has managed to get the majority of his crew back including Tom Powrie, Dave Swete and Nick Blackman, with Chris Main join as trimmer, having last competed on the Tour a decade ago with GBR Challenge.
But Ian Williams and his Team GAC Pindar crew remain the benchmark. If Williams wins the Tour this year he will be only person in the 25 year history of the World Championship to have done so for a fifth time.
Tomorrow crews get to practice before racing off Langenargen starts on Thursday.
America's Cup Remains On Track
America's Cup organizers have confirmed that this summer's events remain on track.
In parallel with completing the final arrangements for the America's Cup, a highly experienced panel of sailing and safety at sea experts has been appointed and charged with reviewing the training and racing of AC72 yachts in the 2013 America's Cup.
The Review Committee will make its recommendations following the loss of Artemis Racing crew member Andrew 'Bart' Simpson (GBR) in a training accident on San Francisco Bay on Thursday of last week.
Iain Murray, the Regatta Director, will chair and lead the Review Committee comprised of:
- Iain Murray (AUS, Chair)
- Sally Lindsay Honey (USA, Deputy Chair)
- John Craig (USA)
- Chuck Hawley (USA)
- Vincent Lauriot-Prevost (FRA)
- Jim Farmer QC (NZL)
The U.S. Coast Guard supports this approach and will assist as appropriate. Lt. Jon Lane, with 26 years in the Coast Guard and 10 years experience as a marine casualty investigator will serve as liaison.
The Review Committee will report as soon as possible, given that racing starts in seven weeks.
Download the Review Committee document (PDF): cdn.sparkart.net/americascup/
Official Statement From Sailing Team Germany
Hamburg, May 11th 2013: The tragic death of British Olympic sailor Andrew Simpson prompted Sailing Team Germany (STG) and Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) to withdraw from the 'Red Bull Youth America's Cup'. Having qualified in February in San Francisco, the 'STG/NRV Youth Team' will now not be competing in September. Reassessing the risks involved and the remaining time and opportunities to prepare, the team management decided that it would be unreasonable to carry on.
Following the announcement of the tragic death of the professional and Olympic sailor Andrew Simpson, the German organisers have pulled out of the Youth America's Cup. The 36-year-old Briton died last Thursday when the AC72 catamaran he was on capsized during training for the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco.
"This tragic accident is reason enough for us to fully re-evaluate our participation in the Youth America's Cup. If such a tragedy can occur to the best sailors in the world, then we want to prevent any risk to the health or Olympic ambitions of our competitors at the earliest stage possible. I knew Andrew well from the time we spent on Lasers and I am gutted to hear of his death," said NRV sports director, Klaus Lahme, explaining the decision.
After the tragic incident with Artemis Racing, the management had to reassess the risks and the campaign. Sailing an AC45 is always a matter of calculated risk and risk management through extensive practice. The opportunities to practice on AC45s now just seemed too few in the face of the dangers that have been highlighted so drastically. "We had to make sure, that we are still within our limits and that we are true to our responsibilities for our young sailors. We came to the conclusion, that we will not be able to manage the risks involved to the extend that we think is necessary to act responsible," declared Oliver Schwall, STG managing director and former Tornado world champion.
In February, the German team had qualified for the final in September through a series of qualifying heats with twelve youth teams in total. The AC45 catamarans used in qualifying are also set to be used in the finals of the Youth America's Cup. Although around eight metres shorter, the AC72's 'little brother' is just as spectacular and unpredictable.
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18 Footers Legend Billy Barnett Lauded At Tribute Lunch
Photo by Di Pearson. Click on image for photo gallery.
Sydney Amateur Sailing Club (SASC) was the perfect setting for a tribute to skiff and yachting legend Billy Barnett and a fundraiser to help build a replica of his '18', Myra Too, held on the weekend.
Personalities from the 18's, America's Cup and yachting attended what was also a heritage day at the Club, which is nestled away in Mosman Bay and prides itself on racing heritage boats such as the Ranger class and old gaff-rigged yachts.
Ninety-seven year old Barnett and his lively wife Glory (Gloria) arrived by boat to 'The Amateurs', where over 100 people were waiting to greet them.
Barnett won the 1951 JJ Giltinan Championship with Myra Too, which he designed and built. He captured the Australian, NSW and international 18-footer titles the same year.
Born in Sydney, Barnett built his home and Barnett's boatshed at McMahon's Point, next door to where he grew up. He built many boats, including Dragons, at his shed. Probably his most famous build was the 1967 12 metre America's Cup challenger, Dame Pattie, on which he formed part of the afterguard for Jock Sturrock.
Fellow Dame Pattie crew members, Tony Ellis and Bob Thornton were there to support Barnett, as were Hugh Treharne and Colin Beashel (winning crew from our 1983 America's Cup winner) Col's Dad Ken, who like his father before him (father Alf had the 18 footers Beashel Buoy named for him) sailed 18's, and Rob Brown, both members of the 1983 AC team.
All, except Col Beashel were winning skippers of the JJ Giltinan Championship during their respective heydays. Other Giltinan winners included Dave Porter, Peter Sorensen, John Winning, Michael Coxon and Seve Jarvin, the reigning four-time winner.
The historical skiffs, or 'histericals', as they are known by those who sail them,, race on Sydney Harbour each Saturday out of the Sydney Flying Squadron at Kirribilli in summer. Anyone can come and sail them with some of the legends of our sport. -- Di Pearson
Sydney Amateur Sailing Club: www.sasc.com.au
Sydney Flying Squadron: www.sydneyflyingsquadron.com.au
Atlantic Cup Day Four
New York City: Barring anything catastrophic over the next hour or so it looks like #118 Bodacious Dream is going to win the first leg of the race. They team of Dave Rearick and Matt Scharl have sailed a brilliant race and have done a masterful job of taming the challenging conditions. At the time of this writing, they are just sailing under the Staten Island Expressway and the skyline of Manhattan is just starting to illuminate the sky.
A mere 2.5 miles astern lay the pair of #121 Lecoq Cuisine and #90 40 Degrees who have furiously battled over the last 12 hours. The have barely .5 miles of separation and I think that the podium finish order will be determined by whomever sails cleanest up the Hudson River.
#121 Lecoq Cuisine has the slight edge but anything could happen over the course of the next hour in NYC's crowed waterways. It's still too early to say who will come out on top for these two teams. A few miles back from this pair are the team on #116 Icarus who seem to have caught a bad break last night and have been playing catch up since.Despite sailing a great race thus far, it's going to be tough for them to get into the top three.
Slightly further back from there the battle Between #106 Gryphon Solo and #54 Dragon is still playing out with #106 Gryphon holding a slight advantage but Dragon has clawed a few miles back.
* From Joe Harris on Gryphon Solo:
Greetings from the shivering occupants of GS2. We are just passing the mouth of Delaware Bay and pointed towards the New Jersey shore and then the bright lights of NYC. We have been hard on the wind since yesterday afternoon when an anticipated wind shift into the NW occurred and allowed us to tack onto port and head in the right direction after spending all of Monday getting past Cape Hatteras and over to the Virginia shore.
We tried to set ourselves up well for this wind shift by getting west and did succeed, but it appears that most of our competitors had the same idea and remain a bit ahead of us as we slog northward.
The boat is hanging tough in the pounding but we do have a few leaks that will need to be addressed.
Minoprio Claims GC32 Debut Event
Photo by Christophe Launay, www.sealaunay.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Hopes for the final day of racing at The Great Cup's first ever event, the GC32 Austria Cup within Allianz Traunsee Week presented by BMW, were to complete an eight race round robin before a weather front rolled across Lake Traunsee. Sadly half way through the rain arrived, the wind disappeared and any further prospects of racing were quashed.
While Flavio Marazzi and his Marwin crew set a brisk tone of the day port tacking the fleet with a giant hull fly off the line in race one, it was again Kiwi former Match Racing World Champion Adam Minoprio who continued his relentless string of race wins to end the regatta first overall, eight points ahead of Marwin.
From here Minoprio sets out this year to reclaim the Alpari World Match Racing Tour title, but hopes to return to The Great Cup. "It is definitely a whole lot of fun. The GC32 is a great boat: It is very nice to sail, it gets up and flies a hull in six knots of wind and you can zoom around a track. It is a great package."
From Austria, the Great Cup heads to Marazzi's native Switzerland for the Geneve-Rolle-Geneve on 8th June, followed by the Bol d'Or Mirabaud a week later. Before those Marazzi intends to compete in other 'long distance' lake races in Zurich and on Lake Constance.
The surprise result of the regatta was that of AEZ GC32 Youth Sailing Team, skippered by 22-year-old Max Trippolt. The Austrian youngsters didn't end the regatta well, but won day one and claimed some major scalps along the way, including Minoprio's, to end the regatta a worthy third among the six teams.
Final day overall results for the GC32 Austria Cup:
1. Minoprio 26
2. Marwin (Marazzi) 34
3. AEZ Youth 44
4. AEZ (Hagara) 48
5. SPAX 49
6. Firefly 59
Discounted Entry Fees Extended For Sail For Gold Regatta
Event organisers for the 2013 Sail For Gold Regatta are pleased to confirm that the early entry fee discount period, which was due to close on Friday 10 May, will remain open until the final entry deadline of Friday 31 May.
The Sail for Gold Regatta, the third stage of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup, gets underway from 9-13 June on the Olympic and Paralympic waters of Weymouth and Portland and is the only international multi-class Olympic and Paralympic event in the UK.
As well as the discounted entry fee for the regatta remaining open, sailors are also able to take advantage of reduced-fare ferry deals to the UK thanks to a tie-up with DFDS Seaways and Stena Line. The regatta follows on from the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, the Netherlands, from 21-25 May and with generous ferry deals from mainland Europe, and with the WPNSA site free of charge for training for all competing sailors from Monday 3 June, it's now even easier for competitors to race in Holland and then cross the English Channel for the next stage of EUROSAF competition.
Entries can be made via the event website at www.sailforgold.co.uk and must be received no later than 31 May 2013.
121 Premier Sailing League
Olympic Club, Beijing, China: An important event was held at the Olympic Club in Beijing last week where 121 Group Ltd, the Chinese sister company of 5°West Ltd, shared the concept of the first ever Premier Sailing League event with prospective host cities and event sponsors.
The concept of the 121 Premier Sailing League is to create a totally new sports property which will deliver a high performance sporting league competition, City cultural festivals and a commercial and entertainment programme never seen before in the first ever fully professional sailing league in China. The League would take the form of an annual event taking place between May and October.
Commenting on behalf of SCYA (Shanghai Cruise Ship & Yacht Association), Secretary General - Zhu:
"In the SCYA we have been working for many years to promote the fantastic boat and sailing conditions that China have and the 121 Premier Sailing League I believe takes this to the next and top level. Today in China we welcome already some great sailing events to our shores. However, it is now a great time for us in China not just to bring international sailing events to China, but also to create an exciting new sailing property that not only becomes a success in China but also becomes one of the premier sailing events globally.
For Shanghai, I am very happy to say that we are very keen to be one of the key cities to host this competition. We would like to host the first premier sailing league event in Shanghai. In the mean time, we are also planning to host the first exhibition event this October along with a general Premier Sailing League promotional event so as to build the foundation for the coming year."
1O1O 4G Match Racing - International Regatta
Hong Kong: After three days and 76 matches, the 2013 1O1O 4G Match Racing International Regatta came to an end in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour with young Kiwi skipper, William Tiller, declared the winner.
Having battled with the elements all weekend, Race Officer Inge Strompf Jepsen was on the water early as she searched for the best location to run the final five flights of the round robin stage. Heavy showers earlier in the morning had robbed the harbour of all breeze, but finding a 4kt easterly at Hung Hom and expecting it to build, Strompf-Jepsen laid her course and sent flight 18 away on time in 5 kts of breeze.
In the first flight of the Petit Final, with the breeze holding well at 4.5 to 6kts, Williams was in control from the start and finished 5 lengths ahead of Soh. In the all-Kiwi Final, Tiller edged ahead of Robertson on the first downwind leg, and managed to stay in control for the rest of the race.
In the petit final, Williams finished a boat length ahead of Soh to finish third, and William Tiller recorded his second straight win over former skipper Phil Robertson to place his name on the silverware.
Full results and placings are on the results page at www.rhkyc.org.hk/intlresults.aspx
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