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The Gold Goes To Sir Keith Mills
Photo by onEdition. Click on image to enlarge.
Saturday 1st June was certainly a day to remember, a day of highs, and more highs and, it was a day for Round the Island Race records to tumble. It was the day when Great Britain's most successful Olympic sailor, Sir Ben Ainslie and his all-British crew aboard J.P. Morgan BAR, trounced the existing Round the Island Race multihull record, held for 12 years, by an impressive 16 minutes.
In the monohull fleet the biggest boat in the IRC classes, Mike Slade's 100ft ICAP Leopard was not far behind. He crossed the finish line 40 minutes after Ainslie, shaving almost ten minutes off the monohull race record he had set back in 2008.
The most coveted prize, the Gold Roman Bowl and JPMAM Salver for First Overall IRC went to 5 West, the TP52 owned and helmed by Sir Keith Mills and Robert Greenhalgh.
The Silver Roman Bowl and JPMAM Salver for Second Overall IRC went to Pace and Johnny Vincent. The Observer Trophy and JPMAM Trophy for First Monohull to finish went to Mike Slade and ICAP Leopard.
Last year's overall Gold Roman Bowl winner, the TP52 Weapon of Choice (which sailed as Manroland Sheetfed in 2012), has picked up a time penalty for a rule infringement, putting her out of contention for the big prizes today.
Phil Cotton's 30ft Seacart trimaran Buzz is confirmed as winner of the Grand Prix multihull class on handicap, with a half hour lead on Sir Ben Ainslie's record breaking 45ft catamaran J.P. Morgan BAR on corrected time.
One of the five Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust boats, EMCT 2/Scarlet Oyster is confirmed as finishing third in class.
Next year, the Race is held on Saturday 21st June and the Island Sailing Club, the title sponsor J.P. Morgan Asset Management and the family of Race Partners all look forward to welcoming everyone back to Cowes.
Line Honours Overall (First over the line)
1. J. P. Morgan BAR (Sir Ben Ainslie) 2hrs 52mins 15sec
2. ICAP Leopard (Mike Slade) 3hrs 43mins 50sec
Line Honours Monohulls
1. ICAP Leopard (Mike Slade) 3hrs 43mins 50sec - winners of the Observer Trophy and J. P. Morgan Asset Management Trophy
2. Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson) 4hrs 12mins 1sec
Line Honours Multihulls
1. J. P. Morgan BAR 2hrs 52mins 15sec
2. Buzz (Phil Cotton) 3hrs 54mins 47sec
Full results are available here: rtir.me/results
Video of Ben Ainslie Racing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nLf4O6-FfM
Richard Wins Again at the Korea Match Cup
Mathieu Richard has won the Korea Match Cup after beating Taylor Canfield 2-0 in the Final. Attributing his win to great team work and mental resilience, Richard and his French team mates on GEFCO Match Racing Team looked very at home today on the KM36 keelboats racing in light to moderate breezes under bright blue skies. Their mastery of Jeongok Harbour was well rewarded with a prize of 625,000 Korean Won, around US$55,000, from a total prize fund of approximately US$222,000.
The Korea Match Cup is the only title on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour to have eluded the four-time World Champion Williams. "We feel strong here, we feel this is one of the best events on the Tour, and we'll be back next year for at least one more shot at the title."
Present to watch the final day's racing was the Governor of Gyeonggi Province, Kim Moon Soo, who is promoting the region as a major destination for sailing and marine tourism in Asia.
Final Results
Mathieu Richard (FRA) GEFCO Match Racing Team beat Taylor Canfield (ISV) USone 2-0
Petit Final Results
Adam Minoprio (NZL) Team Alpari FX beat Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar 1-0
Semi Final Results
Mathieu Richard (FRA) GEFCO Match Racing Team beat Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar 3-1 Taylor Canfield (ISV) USone beat Adam Minoprio (NZL) Team Alpari FX 3-0
Overall Results
1. Mathieu Richard (FRA) - GEFCO Match Racing Team, 31 points
2. Taylor Canfield (ISV) - USone, 28
3. Adam Minoprio (NZL) - Team Alpari FX, 24
4. Ian Williams (GBR) - Team GAC Pindar, 20
5. Keith Swinton (AUS) - Black Swan Racing, 17
6. Johnie Berntsson (SWE)- Stena Sailing Team, 15
7. Phil Robertson (NZL) - WAKA Racing, 12
8. David Gilmour (AUS) - Team Gilmour, 10
9. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) - Mekonomen Sailing Team, 5
10. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) - Vannes Agglo Sailing Team, 3
11. Kim Taejeong (KOR) - Gyeonggi Match, 0
12. Park Gunwoo (KOR) - Busan Match, 0
Off They Go!
From on board the French Navy's ship Le Flamant at precisely 1300hrs local time Bordeaux mayor Alain Juppe fired the starting signal of the 44th Solitaire du Figaro-Eric Bompard cachemire, setting off the inaugural leg, from Pauillac to Porto.
In ideal wind conditions, a 10 to 12 knots breeze from the north, double past winner Jeremie Beyou (Maitre Coq) made the best start at the Committee end of the line, but shortly after the signal the fleet split in two groups, one sailing off the northern bank and the other, led by Frederic Duthil (Sepalumic), picking up to the south side.
The last passage of the fleet in front of Paulliac produced enthusiastic rounds of applause by the public assembled on the harbour breakwater, with Jeremie Beyou (Maître Coq), Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) and Frederic Duthil (Sepalumic) putting on a show passing just metres off it. Best of the non-French was Nick Cherry, who managed also to keep his position in the top 10 and first rookie was Simon Troël (Les recycleurs Bretons).
According to the first official position report, the leading trio was made of Paul Meilhat (Skipper Macif 2011) Jeremie Beyou (Maître Coq) and race veteran -17 participations- Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) although only 1,1 miles were separating the first from the last boat.
The most spectacular comeback was Michel Desjoyeaux's (TBS) who bounced back from mid-fleet to the 5th place.
Next on the menu 350 miles and to Cape Finisterre, in a progressively building breeze forecasted to reach up to 35 knots off Cape Ortega.
Team New Zealand Spurns Big Rule Changes
The head of New Zealand's America's Cup team has sharply rejected the idea of major changes to the sailing competition's high-tech catamarans in the wake of an accident that killed a British sailor.
Grant Dalton, managing director of Emirates Team New Zealand, told reporters yesterday that he supported new safety rules put forward last week by event organisers.
But he dismissed suggestions by some sailors, including members of the Artemis Racing team that suffered the accident, that big changes such as smaller sails or power-assisted on-board controls were necessary.
"That's not going to happen. That's a fundamental change to systems that if they couldn't get right in the first place, that's their problem," Dalton said before heading out for a practice session on San Francisco Bay.
Software mogul Larry Ellison won the cup in 2010, and the defending champion is entitled to choose the venue and set the rules for the next competition.
Ellison and his sailing team hoped the big, fast boats, called AC72s, would boost interest in the event, but their cost and complexity kept some competitors away, and only four teams are competing for the trophy.
The competition is scheduled to kick off in July and culminate in a final match in September.
The New Zealand team designed and built its AC72 specifically to withstand the strong gusts and currents of San Francisco Bay, Dalton said.
Making significant rule changes now that require altering the boats would be unfair, he said.
"Anything that increases the safety for the guys on board is a good thing. If it doesn't benefit one team over another then we're in favour of that," he said.
"As Artemis has shown, if you get this engineered wrong - and it's not hard, we could have yet, we just haven't seen that boundary - they just disintegrate," he said.
Dalton said the carbon-fibre boats have shown themselves to be a poor choice for the cup races.
"Much of this is a folly. There's nothing more easily seen than that there are only three teams (challenging Oracle), now sort of two and a half teams," Dalton said.
Portoferraio Edition Audi Sailing Series
Portoferraio, Italy - What was to be a dramatic final day of racing in Portoferraio drew to a close with nothing. Due to the complete absence of wind, the very patient Race Committee was unable to start Race Six, the round that would have enabled teams to discard their worst score. Portoferraio is now complete with only five valid races on the scoreboard. Saturday's scores stand as final.
Again, it is with great congratulations to Lanfranco Cirillo aboard Fantastica and his tactician Michele Paoletti, with crew comprised of Daniele De Luca, Claudio Celon, Riamondo Tonelli, Eros Paghera, Enrico Verdinelli and Enrico Turrini as they are Portoferraio Audi Sailing Series winners. For Cirillo and team, this is their second win in a row as they also claimed victory in Porto Ercole about three weeks ago.
Following Cirillo's success in Portoferraio, he is now seated first overall in the 2013 Audi Sailing Series Ranking, ahead of Pozzi by one point. The two have placed a massive gap in points between themselves and Edoardo Lupi's Torpyone in third and Onorato fourth. Tomasini Grinover is now seated fifth overall.
Top Ten Results (Final - After Five Races)
1. Lanfranco Cirillo/Michele Paoletti, Fantastica, 27 points
2. Roberto Tomasini Grinover/Vasco Vascotto, Robertissima, 27
3. Vincenzo Onorato/Gabriele Benussi, Mascalzone Latino, 33
4. Andrea Pozzi/Lorenzo Bressani, Bombarda, 35
5. Naofumi Kamei/Manuel Weiller, Mamma Aiuto!, 37
6. Mauro Mocchegiani/Branko Brcin, Audi Ultra Giacome, 39
7. Jason Carroll/Cameron Appleton, Argo, 40
8. Andrea Ferrari/Mirko Bargolini, Spirit of Nerina, 42
9. Malcolm Gefter/Sam Rogers, Celeritas, 49
10. Edoardo Lupi/Pietro Sibello, Torpyone, 50
Is 'Bucket & Chuck It' All The Etchells Can Offer The Fairer Sex?
There's not much interest in recruiting women into the Etchell's class as it prepares for the world championships in Rosignano Solvay, Italy this week if the response to an Irish 'bio break' query is anything to go by.
There was a howl of resistance - mainly Australian in origin - against any special provision for women when Irish skipper Richard Burrows from Howth asked about about mother ship facilities for his female crew at this weekend's pre-world Italian championship.
Burrows is sailing with son David and daughter Samantha at this week's Italian championships and next week's worlds at the same venue.
"Bucket and chuck it" appears to be the mantra. Easy for some!
There will be no facility in high temperature and long days on the water. Is this the way forward at an international world championships or should regatta organisers make such a provision?
Or is it a wider issue where it appears class traditionalists would probably prefer if women were not taken as crew in the class? -- Afloat magazine
Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy
Four months may seem a very short time for those who already celebrated their 100th birthday. Still, the clock is ticking for the organizers and the participants to the third edition of the Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy. As a matter of fact, the event, that will gather the old ladies of the classic yachts circuit, has been scheduled for October 3rd 2013 and will once more be representing the focal point of classic racing at the Voiles the Saint-Tropez, hosting event of the regatta.
The Centenary Trophy will gather one hundred years and more old yachts that will compete with an especially created handicap system in a pursuit race, a format that has been proving extremely attractive not only for sailors but for the public alike, as easy to understand and follow. Past winners are Italy's Five tonner Bonafide (launched 1899) that beat the strong competition in 2011, while in 2012 it was Richard Allan's fore and aft cutter Marigold (1892) to receive the exclusive trophy, created by Wakely and Wheeler of London in 1911. The event is organized by The Gstaad Yacxht Club in co-operation with the Societe Nautique de Saint-Tropez.
The Gstaad Yacht Club was founded in 1998 by a group of sailor enthusiasts with the vision to "create a unique global yacht club away from the waters, instead of another local club by the waters". Since December 20th, 2003, GYC has its own clubhouse with 400 members from over 20 different nations.
Mary Rose Re-Opens
Despite a £23 million handout from the Heritage Lottery Fund the custodians of the Mary Rose Trust will be charging a staggering £72 per family ticket to visit the Tudor warship when she re-opens for tourists tomorrow.
The ship was raised from the seabed in 1982 and has had a museum built around her, exhibiting her contents.
The new Mary Rose Museum will open at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - the very same dockyard at which the warship was built over 500 years ago.
The opening marks 30 years since the year the hull of Mary Rose was raised from the Solent in 1982 and 437 years after she sank on 19 July. The ship sank, with the loss of 450 crew, in full view of King Henry VIII while leading the attack on a French invasion fleet during the Battle of The Solent.
Marseille-Carthage (Tunisia) Single-Handed
Kito de Pavant, set off this Friday, 31 May, at 13:32:45 (French time UT+1) to take on the Mediterranean crossing yachting record single-handed, between Marseille and Carthage (Tunisia). The sailor crossed the starting line, located in the harbor of Marseille, on board the 60' monohull Groupe Bel (18.28 m). Under mainsail with 2 reefs and ORC, the boat set off like a shot with a 35 knot North-westerly on a sea that was already rough. Kito is expected tomorrow in the Bay of Tunis. Bel Group and its employees hope that Kito will beat his own record of 1 day and 21 hours for this single-handed crossing on a monohull, which he established in June 2009.
With a direct course and of little distance, this Mediterranean record could seem simple at first sight, but few are the skippers to have taken it on and they take it very seriously. For one thing, when the Mistral sweeps across the Mediterranean it can be rough, making sailing conditions particularly testing. For another, you need to be careful of the frequent thunderstorms below Sardinia and the wind as you approach Tunisia, just as the maritime traffic becomes denser.
Thanks to a West by Northwest and then West wind, he can envisage a crossing on one tack on the weather beam, i.e. without gybing; a maneuver that is always hazardous single-handed. The breeze should also be strong (30/35 knots) for the whole of the 458 mile course (850 km), which raise hopes of good average speeds to Carthage. The theoretical time given by the on-board computer is a little over a day at sea, which should enable Kito to beat his own record by 45 hours and maybe even rival the unbreakable monohull performance of Giovanni Agnelli and his 20-man crew.
Records approved by World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC):
Monohull single-handed June 2009, Groupe Bel, Kito de Pavant, 1d 21 hr 20 min 29 sec, speed 10.10 kt (30 km/h)
Monohull with crew Sept. 1998, Stealth, Giovanni Agnelli, 1d 5 hr 2 min 6 sec, speed 15.77 kt (47 km/h)
Multihull single-handed Sept. 2012, Sodebo, Thomas Coville, 1d 1 hr 36 min 36 sec, speed 17.62 kt (53 km/h)
Multihull with crew May 2010, Banque Populaire V, Pascal Bidegorry, 14 hr 20 min 32 sec, speed 32 kt (60 km/h)
Auckland To Fiji Ocean Race: Vodafone Finds The Breeze
Emailing this afternoon from a location 210 nautical miles North-East of Cape Reinga, and nearly 300 nautical miles from the startline at Westhaven Marina in Auckland, TeamVodafone Sailing have reported breezes of up to 20 knots, and boat speeds of 23-26 knot.s They set their first reef and trinquet at 1000hrs today, and have now added a second reef.
"All is well and we are ticking off some miles today," says crewman Stu MacKinven.
Earlier this morning they reported a much lighter SSE breeze and a sloppy sea.
A crewman onboard Equilibirum reported to the sailing website Livesaildie.com that they were frustrated waiting for the Easterly to kick in. The website reported that spurts of breeze were followed by patches of nothingness - making trimming the kite in the dark very difficult. At 1300hrs, Equilibrium was in third place, about 23nm behind V5, doing about 10knots and heading due North.
TeamVodafone is expected to arrive in Musket Cove at between three and four days. To establish a new record, it must complete the race in less than 103 hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds - the time it set in the 2011 edition of the race. However, the keelboats will need to finish in 103 hours, 38 minutes and 16 seconds to set a new monohull record.
A front is expected to cross over the racecourse from Monday night, providing rain and a stronger push from the South. -- Zoe Hawkins
www.rnzys.org.nz for bulletins and access to the Yellowbrick tracker
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