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The Wind Wins The Day
The wind won the day at San Francisco when Day 7 racing of 34th America's Cup was postponed until tomorrow. With an ebb tide of a strong 2.7 knots the wind limit at the start time was 20.3 knots.
The ebb tide flows against the wind direction and creates a challenging sea state for the AC72s.
The wind continued to build as it does at this time of the year in San Francisco and the race committee pulled the plug at 1.31pm when the wind strength was a consistent 25 knots.As the AC72 returned to base gusts of 32 knots were experienced.
On Wednesday wind conditions will start to moderate and so will the strangth of the tide.
Races 11 and 12 are rescheduled to Wednesday, at 1:15 pm and 2:15 pm San Francisco time.
Emirates Team New Zealand leads Oracle 7-1. The winner of the 34th America's Cup will be the first team to score nine points.
The Man Who Would Be Blamed
Russell Coutts is one of the world's greatest sailors. A former Olympic champion, the 51-year-old New Zealander has won the America's Cup with three different teams, including his current squad, the defending champion Oracle ORCL +0.88% Team USA.
He is also the guy whom Larry Ellison will likely fire - to the delight of New Zealand fans who consider Coutts a traitor - if Oracle loses two more races (and, in the process, the Cup) this week.
Ellison is the boss, the billionaire Oracle Corp. founder who owns the yachting outfit of the same name. When he hired Coutts to be the team's chief executive in 2007, Ellison was clear that the sailor's continued employment was contingent on him winning.
Coutts understands the fate awaiting him if he can't resuscitate his team. "Everyone knows that's how Larry runs his business operations, and he's been very successful with that," he said. "I like working with Larry for that reason. You know where you stand."
Full article by Stu Woo in the Wall Street Journal: online.wsj.com
Nord Stream Race
In a phone call tonight at 22.50 h Moscow Time Jan Dabelstein from ORC-yacht "UCA" speaking to Alan Green, Race Director, gave the news that "UCA" has retired from the Nord Stream Race.
All persons are well on board. "UCA" has electrical problems and cannot start her engine to generate electricity. She is proceeding under sail to Visby in Gotland, a port the crew knows well, and expects to arrive tomorrow morning.
The Swan 60 have got their first night behind them, the ORC-yachts their second night already. Although the conditions are rough and unpleasant at times many competitors have taken the time to let us know how they are getting on by sending texts and even photos in some cases.
Tuesday morning at 7am "Outsider" with helmsman Tilmar Hansen already passed the first waypoint at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. „At the same time the wind shifted further east. We are currently sailing towards Saint Petersburg under main sail and heavy genua 1, the sheets slightly eased. If the wind stays like this, we are expecting to pass the finish on Wednesday early morning." If so, "Outsider" would have managed in an impressive way to reach their target of being "First Ship Home".
Fleet tracking is available via the Nord Stream Race website nord-stream-race.com/eng/race-tracker
Marinepool Is The "Official Clothing Supplier" Of The Second 800nm Nord Stream Race
In February 2013, St. Petersburg Yacht Club (SPBYC), in Russia and German Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) announced their cooperation in holding the 2nd edition of the Nord Stream Race, established in 2012.
One of the entries is campaigned by the "German Offshore Challenger" (GOC) initiative, a national project encompassing several German clubs under the patronage of the NRV, which aims for inaugurating a high-performance and motivated young crew to participate on the Swan60 "SGM" in various events of the Gazprom Swan60 circuit.
The Nord Stream Race is organized annually along the route of the Nord Stream Pipleline in the Baltic, which delivers Russian natural gas to Germany. While the first edition was sailed from North to South, this year´s race will see the yachts sail in the opposite direction from Flensburg, around Bornholm and non-stop to the finish in St. Petersburg.
An exciting match race competition for the Gazprom Swan60 Class is organized as a warm up in the natural sailing racing arena of Flensburg. Watch the trailer for the Match Race here: youtu.be
The race is open for the Gazprom Swan60 Class and yachts rated under ORC handicap with the start on September 15th. The Baltic is renown for its challenging conditions at this time of the year. MARINEPOOL is the official clothing partner of the event and MARINEPOOL performance ocean sailing clothing will keep the crews on the fleet of Swan60s dry, warm, comfortable and able to focus on their competition with opponents and the fight with the elements even when the going gets tough.
Making It Pay
Three contributors well placed to justify a Volvo Ocean Race budget:
Richard Brisius, Team SCA Managing Director
It is said that participation in the Volvo Ocean Race can be used to develop the perception of a company when part of a global communications and marketing platform. And I would agree. I would also suggest that it can be used for much more; such projects can also cause a 'leap - frogging effect', enabling companies to compete more effectively in the global marketplace by instigating vital cultural and external changes more quickly.
Sam Dulka, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Numbers play a huge role in sport, none more so than in professional offshore racing. A few degrees too low could change your leg fortunes dramatically. Boat speed is a constant battle, as crew eke out every knot. If we look back at the last Volvo Ocean Race, when Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, the first Arab flagged team to take on the Everest of Sailing, won leg 7 from Miami to Lisbon, it snatched victory by five and a half minutes after more than 3,500 transatlantic miles and 11 punishing days at sea. Every inch counted.
For sponsors numbers play a huge role too. When Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) made history with its Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team, and became the first Arabian stopover in the 2011-12 campaign, we set clear, realistic goals from the start, including metrics best described as ROI (return on investment) and a more qualitative ROO (return on objectives).
Kevin Fylan, Volvo Ocean Race
Whatever it is that originally attracts sponsors to the Volvo Ocean Race the clinching argument is often the chance to build relationships and establish emotional connections with consumers, clients or employees in a sporting event with a unique global reach. The VOR has been a pioneer in activating new markets including China, the Middle East, Brazil, India and Russia. 'That is a crucial factor when speaking to sponsors today,' says race CEO Knut Frostad. A total of 2.9 million visits were recorded at the 10 race villages around the world in the last edition. That is a lot of consumers to meet in person and expectations are even higher for 2014-15.
Full article in Seahorse magazine: www.seahorsemagazine.com
To subscribe to Seahorse Digital £30 for one year with discount promo code SB2 click www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/digital
Round Ireland Speed Record Attempt Cancelled
In spite of identfiying a weather window for a bid on the Round Ireland speed record on September 8th, Sidney Gavignet and Damian Foxall's French based Oman Sail cancelled their attempt when the weather forecast changed. It is the third time this year that Ireland's Damian Foxall and the team of Omansail have ditched plans for an attempt on the speed sailing record.
Instead of a circumnavigation of Ireland, the MOD70 trimaran, completed a training run between its home base at L'Orient, France and the Fastnet Rock off the Cork coast, according to the World Speed Sailing Record (WSSR) Commissioner in Ireland, Chris Moore, at the National Yacht Club.
For a time it looked like an anti–clockwise bid might produce the required conditions to break the 44-hour time, coincidentally marking the 20th anniversary of the 1993 record set by Steve Fossett, Con Murphy and Cathy MacAleavey.
Foxall and the crew came to Ireland in March for a dedicated attempt but were beaten back by gales on the Welsh coast. Their attempt was also foiled by the weather in June too. For now, the 20–year record set by the late adventurer Steve Fossett on the Lakota Catamaran lives on. Perhaps Foxall and Omansail might make it fourth time lucky sometime soon?
From Afloat magazine: afloat.ie
Kru Sport and R10: The Magic Combination
Ocean Safety will be taking a couple of vital safety products to the September PSP Southampton Boat Show which together massively increase the chances of survival at sea for a person overboard. The Kru Sport Pro lifejacket is the choice of racing sailors and when it is fitted with the Kannad R10 AIS Survivor Recovery System (SRS) it provides a crew member in the water with the best chance of being located.
The Kru's waistcoat design makes it very comfortable and barely noticeable to wear and that's why it's more likely to be worn for longer periods by sailors at sea on tough ocean races or long distance cruises.
When the Kru is fitted with the innovative and compact R10 a completely integrated personal safety system is created. The R10's size means it can be also carried in a pocket. The R10 alerts AIS receivers on vessels within a four mile radius with precision position information, so if a crew member falls overboard, the alert will transmit both onboard the yacht, and also on other vessels in the area.
The combination of Kru Sports Pro and R10 is a winning one for providing the best possible safety back up for race crews. Visit Ocean Safety on Stand no. G009 from 13-22 September.
International 14 Worlds
Archie Massey and Dan Wilsdon from Itchenor SC are the early leaders at the International 14 World Championships taking place at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) located on the Toronto Islands. Race 1 went to Massey and Wilsdon with Andy and Tom Partington of HISC in second, Sam Pascoe and Alex Knight of Castle Cove SC third. In Race 2 Pascoe and Knight were winners ahead of Massey and Wilsdon, with Andy Fitzgerald and Richard Dobson of Itchenor SC taking third. -- Gerald New, Sailweb
Event site i14.ca/worlds/
Planet Solar Docks In Paris
The world's largest solar-powered boat has docked on the banks of the Seine River, its final port of call after a three-month voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to study how the Gulf Stream and climate change could influence each other.
The 102-foot-long (31-meter-long) Turanor PlanetSolar catamaran looks like one of Darth Vader's TIE Fighters turned on its side.
Starting from Miami in June, University of Geneva scientists sailed up the eastern seaboard of the Unites States, then across the Atlantic, taking water and air measurements that should allow them to better understand the complex interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere.
The $20 million PlanetSolar's deck is covered with photovoltaic panels that charge a gigantic lithium ion battery. The vessel can last on battery power for up to four days if there's no sun.
PlanetSolar garnered attention last year when it completed a nearly two-year circumnavigation of the globe, the first round-the-world voyage by a solar-powered boat.
2013 UK Etchells Open National Championship
The entry for the 2013 championship included more overseas boats than Cowes had seen for a while, including Nils Razmilovic who travelled from Singapore, Jan Muyskem from the UAE and Alex Lacy from Holland.
The CCYC in Cowes with Andrew Millband as principle race officer were requested to hold the event and with the help of the weather and a couple of smart decisions from Andrew 16 teams left Cowes with big grins on their faces, but the biggest grin was from the winning crew of Matatu SIN 1340 owned and helmed by Nils Razmilovic with Brian Hammersley and Andrew Mills as crew.
And the final race, race 8 of the UK Etchells National Championship saw Nils Razmilovic Sailing with Brian Hammersley and Andrew Mills confirm their position as the UK 2013 National Open Champions by winning that race, while 2nd Overall was Ante Razmilovic, with James Howells in 3rd.
The Fortitude trophy for top ISAF Cat1 amateur boat was won by Richard Burrows sailing with daughter Sam with James Downer, Gill Taylor and his crew with an age range of 18 to 22 were 2nd, while another youth team with Phil Bendon as helm came 3rd in the Amateur category they were also the youngest crew to win a race. Final top ten:
1. Matatu, Nils Razmilovic, 12 points
2. Swedish Blue, Ante Raxmilovic, 15
3. Gelert, James Howells, 29
4. African Queen, Jan Muyskem, 38
5. Matatu Dubh, Richard Burrows, 40
6. Ice, Andrew Cooper, 46
7. Palaver, Tarra Gill-Taylor, 53
8. Esprit, Robert Elliott, 54
9. Exabyte V, Shaun Frohlich, 55
10. Sumo, Peter Rogers, 55
www.etchellsukfleet.co.uk
www.etchells.org
Fireball European Championship
Portoroz, Slovenia: After only three races in very light, tricky and shifty conditions Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff are the new Fireball european champions, followed by vice-champions Dave Wade and Tim Hartley and bronze medalists Matt Rainback and Simon Foskett. These days Portoroz is hosting two of the biggest annual Fireball events, European Championship (8-13 September), followed by Worlds (13-20 September). 62 crews from eight countries gathered for the Europeans and 17 more crews have registered for the Worlds.
British sailors seem to figure the conditions out best. They won all three podium positions, and first seven overall. The 2013 european champions are Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff, vice-champions Dave Wade and Tim Hartley and bronze medalists Matt Rainback and Simon Foskett.
The first women is Czech Eva Skorepova (with Roman Rozek). First Slovenian crew are the youngest participants Eva Peternelj and Valentina Baruca on 19th place overall and on 3rd place in women competiton. -- Jakica Jesih
www.fireball-international.com
Letters To The Editor - editor@scuttlebutteurope.com
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* From Mark Pivac: Its great to see the AC72s foiling around the Americas Cup course. I admire the work of Morrelli and Melvin but maybe they are not aware of some pretty significant foiling that happened a long time before this Americas cup.
ETNZ is not the first course racing boat to foil up wind and downwind, nor the first to do it in a stable way. Nor is it the first to win significant yacht course races. Those honours go to Bret Burvill and Windrush, who won a heat of the 2001 Moth world championships. Windrush was quite different to todays foiling Moths and had surface piercing foils without control wands.
There were many earlier sailing hydrofoils, although few if any competed in established sailing classes. I think this Americas Cup is testament to the groundwork laid by earlier pioneers and just a hint of what could happen in the future.
The next chapter of sailing catamaran development will unfold in Falmouth next week with the C class foiling catamarans being put to the test. Hopefully the Americas Cup and the fantastic video and youtube coverage has introduced more people to the joy of Wing Sails, Foiling and Multihulls and given them an appetite for more.
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