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ORACLE Wins Again... Now 8-6
Photo by LUNA ROSSA / Carlo Borlenghi. Click on image for photo gallery.
The elusive match point for Emirtates Team New Zealand was again out of reach in San Francisco today.
And as Oracle crossed the finish line ahead, the longest America's Cup in history was set to continue for another day.
Only one race was sailed after the start was delayed for 30 minutes and it produced another win for Oracle.
Skipper Dean Barker said the team was ready for another race this afternoon but again the weather called the shots. The delay meant the race committee ran out of time to run a second race.
NZL5 has sat on match point for five days as a vastly improved Oracle has chipped away, winning five races on the trot.
Baker was upbeat after racing: "We don't want to trade positions. We would still rather be on match point," a reference to the points table, led by Emirates Team New Zealand by eight point to six. Nine points are needed to win the America's Cup.
"It's a battle and Oracle has stepped it up a lot. We are racing against a boat that is much better than when it first started.
"It has been a rough road the last couple of days. It is very, very close. We have to sail well, get ahead and win. We are motivated to work even harder to make sure we do finish this thing off."
Tomorrow's forecast is for winds at the upper end of the range.
Standings (first to 9 points wins)
Emirates Team New Zealand - 8
ORACLE TEAM USA - 6
Race 16 performance data
Course: 5 Legs/10.21 nautical miles
Elapsed time: OTUSA - 30:43, ETNZ - 31:16
Delta: OTUSA +:33
Total distance sailed: OTUSA - 11.8 NM, ETNZ - 11.7 NM
Average speed: OTUSA - 23.21 knots (27 mph), ETNZ - 22.46 knots (26 mph)
Top speed: OTUSA - 38.05 knots (44 mph), ETNZ - 36.61 knots (42 mph)
Windspeed: Average - 12.0 knots, Peak - 14.1 knots
Number of tacks/gybes: OTUSA - 10/10, ETNZ - 10/10
* Team New Zealand have put their hands up for their second sail decision blunder in two days, a mistake that contributed massively to today's costly loss to Oracle as the America's Cup final tightened.
Oracle got a massive jump on the Kiwis at the start line to leap out to a 5sec lead at the first mark and were never troubled as they claimed a 33sec victory to stay alive.'
Team New Zealand lead 8-6, still needing one win to claim the cup, but they have been stuck in that position for six days now, with Oracle recording five consecutive victories in sudden-death scenarios.
Anticipating lighter winds, Team New Zealand's decision to use a large code-zero sail up front as well as their jib back-fired, with the extra sheet acting as drag across the first short leg.
Oracle, with less sail on, simply blasted away from them on that reach to set up a wire-to-wire win.
The defenders didn't raise their code-zero sail until they were half way through the first downwind leg, hitting lighter airs, where it gave them enough edge to not only hold off the Kiwis but stretch their lead 13sec. -- Duncan Johnstone in Stuff.co.nz
www.stuff.co.nz/sport/americas-cup
Excellent First Day For Groupama C
Dull, windy, choppy... The scene was set off Falmouth for this World C Class Championship, which kicked off today. And actually it wasn't just the first day of racing, it was also the first time Groupama C had sailed in such feisty conditions. And the least that can be said is that things went rather well.
She has a stable, fast flight downwind and a very impressive speed and heading upwind. With the wing tilted and standing up on her foil, Groupama C locked into 18 knots of boat speed and showed just what she was made of. It was hard not to enjoy it. The upshot was three wins out of the three races run.
Naturally the faces of Groupama sailing team were beaming from ear to ear on their return to the strip at Mylor harbour. This was particularly true given that Franck and Louis had returned the boat in tip-top condition, which isn't always the case among our rivals. Most notable of these was the Swiss boat, which racked up two second places with Billy Besson and Jérémy Lagarrigue at the helm, and saw its second boat capsize causing some damage to the wing. And actually others came very close to the same fate too...
Such misfortunes remind us that there's still a long week ahead and a lot could happen in the meantime. In essence these boats are fragile and in terms of points in the bank, Groupama C doesn't have a big lead over her closest rivals.
This evening, we're savouring it though. -- Yann Riou, www.cammas-groupama.com
Provisional results after three races:
Boat - Skipper - Nation - Points
1. Groupama C, Cammas, FRA, 3.0 points
2. Lombard Odier 1, Besson, SUI, 6.0
3. Fill Your Hands, Eaton, CAN, 10.0
4. Alpha, Downey, ESP, 14.0
5. Patient Lady VI, Bontemps, FRA, 15.0
6. Lombard Odier 11, Heenskerk, SUI, 27.0
7= Wild Horse, Coyolla, POR, 36
7= Cogito, Guck, USA, 36
7= Canaan, Gooderham, CAN, 36
7= Aethon, Clark, USA, 36
7= Invictur, Phipps, GBR, 26
Marlow Excel Dinghy Series Upgrades
The upgrades to the Excel Dinghy Series launched at the beginning of the year prove successful for new breed of high performance Olympic classes. The higher performance 49er rigs, the 49erfx and Nacra 17 all demand higher performance than ever from their ropes.
Excel Elite 90
Excel Elite 90 utilises the super high strength Dyneema SK90 yarn which is 15% stronger than the Marlow standard SK78 equivalent. The cover features a highly durable blend of Technora and polyester which improves abrasion resistance 300% compared to a full polyester cover.
Excel Racing GP 78
Compared to Excel Racing 78, the cover features a highly durable blend of Technora and polyester which improves both abrasion resistance and also grip in wet hands.
British sailing team member and 49er European champion Dylan Fletcher explains "Performance and reliability are key factors, the members of Team GBR are upgrading some high load lines such as spinnaker halyards to Excel Elite 90. The added abrasion resistance and improvement in strength can only benefit our performance and decrease needless retirements due to gear failure."
Audi Soling Worlds
Balaton, Hungary: With less wind than yesterday but enough to at sometimes hike hard, two more races were finished today, reaching the championship minimum limit, the wind was cold from the North but today with a nice sun and almost no clouds, a perfect sailing day at Balaton.
AT the first race a few competitors arrived late to the starting line due to an early start of 10:30hs and those who started and went first to the right side, then all the way to the left side made big gains.
It was a duel of titans, at the first race HUN 11 with Farkas Litkey, Vezer Karoly and Csaba Weinhard took the bullet over CAN 225 with Peter Hall, Paul Davis and William Hall, but at the second race it was the other way around.
AT the first race the third place was for GER 308 with Karl Haist, Irene Haist and Johannes Berggren, candidates to keep the Tony Clare Trophy for the best woman placed at the championship. In the second race the third was team PIONER UKR 1 with Igor Yushko, Sergey Pichugin and Dmitriy Yarmolenko.
No matter the changes at the scoreboard, once more 9 different countries are placed at the top 10 at the event , these coming from all over Europe and also North and South America. -- Matias Collins
Top five after five races:
1. Farkas Litkey / Vezer Karoly / Csaba Weinhard, HUN, 8 points
2. Peter Hall / Paul Davis / William Hall, CAN, 13
3. Johan Offermans / Wick Hillige / Niels van Braam, NED, 39
4. Igor Yushko / Sergey Pichugin / Dmitriy Yarmolenko, UKR, 40
5. Roman Koch / Maxl Koch / Gregor Bornemann, GER, 42
Racing continues through Wednesday 25 September.
175 Years
A cutter finishing in the harbour at the Royal St George Regatta, 1871, as recorded by Richard Brydges Beechey. The larger schooner at anchor on left may be Egeria. Click on image to enlarge.
The word on the grapevine is that the Royal St George Yacht Club, currently the Mitsubishi Motors "Sailing Club of the Year", is planning a special festive event to celebrate its 175th birthday. The whisper is that it will be a gathering to honour those members who have won major events and titles right up to and including Olympic medals.
We've been allowed a glimpse of the list, and it's very impressive. Which is what you'd expect from a club which has shown an extraordinary ability to adapt successfully to changing circumstances, while displaying a special talent for recruiting promising sailors from all round the country when they come to Dublin, either to go to college or to work.
Yet even as they keep a weather eye open for potential members who will give as much to the club as it will give to them, the club's administrators never lose sight of their past. And what a past it has been. Like many great clubs, it started modestly enough around 1838 as the Pembroke Rowing Club in south Dublin. But the oarsmen of the Dodder soon reckoned that the cleaner waters of the new harbour out on Dublin Bay, where Dunleary had recently been re-named Kingstown, would provide more pleasant conditions than the fetid Liffey.
As for their sport, several key members were thinking of moving into slightly larger craft, driven by sail. Suddenly, the new club took off. Boat sizes and numbers increased exponentially, the membership became rather grand and extremely wealthy, and by the 1850s the little Rowing club had morphed into the Royal St George Yacht Club, with handsome and frequently extended premises on the waterfront, and a membership list which seemed to include just about every great landowner in Ireland who had the slightest interest in the rapidly growing sport of yachting...
... It will be quite a gathering, this cheering of the champions. All things considered, we can surely agree that the seagoing section of the Pembroke Rowing Club has done rather well. -- WM Nixon
A lot of article and photos between those ellipses... another superb article in Afloat magazine:
World Yacht Racing Forum
Taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden, The World of Sailing and Yacht Racing is a fast growing sport and full of new opportunities. WYRF and YRDTS will bring together over 400 industry leaders and decision makers for two-days of debate and discussions giving participants the opportunity to contribute, learn and share strategies with industry leaders, peers and colleagues. The WYRF brings innovative thinking and exclusive insight to the major issues and opportunities facing the growing yachting industry.
Over 250 people attended the 2012 edition of the World Yacht Racing Forum and Yacht Racing Design and Technology Symposium in Gothenburg, Sweden. They heard from speakers including Ben Ainslie, Knut Frostad, Guillaume Henry, Mark Turner, Pat Shaughnessy, Juan Kouyoumdjian, Manolo Ruiz de Elvira, Bill Tripp, Ian Walker, Dawn Riley, Dan McLaren, Richard Brisius and many more.
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Sperry-Topsider Melges 24 World Championship
The Sperry-Topsider Melges 24 World Championship 2013, which takes place from September 30 to October 5 at the San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere, California, has attracted a star-studded entry of 60 professional and Corinthian teams from around the world.
While more than half of the entries come from the USA, the 59 boat fleet also includes teams from 12 other countries including Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland.
The event sees the Melges 24 World Championship fleet return to San Francisco for the first time since the 2003 worlds when the prevailing breezy conditions produced some of the most spectacular racing in the class's history.
Amongst the top contenders to lift the title must be Italian Flavio Favini at the helm of Swiss entry Blu Moon. Favini last tasted Melges 24 World Championship glory when he won in 2001 in Key West, Florida and would dearly love to add a second worlds victory to the Melges 24 European title he just claimed this August in Italy.
Also looking to chalk up a second world title in the class that bears his name will be Harry Melges III aboard Zenda Express who returns to the helm at world championship level for the first time since he was crowned world champion in Travemunde, Germany in 2002.
Serial one-design champion and America's Cup campaigner Terry Hutchinson will be making a return to San Francisco Bay were he previously sailed as helmsman aboard the Swedish AC72 Artemis Racing. Hutchinson won the Melges 24 North American Championship in 2008 on his home water in Annapolis, Maryland but finished ninth there at the worlds the following year.
Hong Kong to Vietnam Race
The entry list for this year's edition of the biennial Hong Kong to Vietnam Race features sixteen boats from around the globe, from the Dubois 90, Ragamuffin 90, through three TP52's to the smallest competitor, A35 Red Kite II and featuring a lone multihull, MACH2.
Ragamuffin 90 from Australia has her sights firmly set on Line Honours and the 2004 race record of 42h 45m 41s set by Grant Wharington's Skandia, with her skipper, Syd Fisher, at 86 likely to be the oldest competitor.
Fisher is unlikely to have things all his own way. Sam Chan's Freefire is joined by Byron Ehrhart's Lucky, fresh from the USA with an impressive track record including overall winner of the 2010 Middle Sea Race. Rounding out a trio of TP52's is Ray Roberts' One Sails Racing from Australia which comes with pedigree, having won both Line Honours and IRC Overall for the 2006 edition as Island Fling. Owner and helm on that occasion was Paul Winkelmann, who is back for another bite at the cherry with a new 'Fling, this time a brand new HH42 designed by Judel Vrolijk.
While the initial focus will be on the boat which completes the race in the shortest time, there are two smaller IRC Racers, in the form of Anthony Root's A35 Red Kite II and Niccolo Manno's Anteros 36 Krampus, which could very well pull some surprises in the IRC standings. Red Kite II has consistently won her division in RHKYC's Cat.1 offshore races, winning IRC Overall in the 2011 San Fernando Race, while Krampus is newer to the offshore scene, but built as a stripped out racing machine.
Providing the north east monsoon cooperates and regardless of which boats perform best on time or on handicap, the sixth Hong Kong to Vietnam Race promises all competitors the 'grin factor' which comes as part of the 656nm run to Vietnam.
The race starts on Thursday 18 October.
www.rhkyc.org.hk/hkvietnamrace.aspx
blu26 Class Championship - Bayern Cup 2013
Click on image to enlarge.
Perfect conditions this weekend on lake Tegernsee where the Yacht Club Bad Wiessee held the blu26 class championship. 14 teams from Germany and Switzerland sailed a total of 7 races and enjoyed the bavarian hospitality from the Yacht Club and the Sailingcenter Tegernsee.
The team of Dennis Gehrlein from the Flensburger Sailing-Club won the championship just one point ahead of Fabio Muller and his team from the Zurich Yacht Club. In third place, also just one point behind, finished Beat Muller from the Zurich Yacht Club.
Full results (PDF): www.ycbw.de
Brazilian Extreme Sailing Series Season Finale Venue Confirmed
The Brazilian city of Florianopolis is now all set to host the 2013 Extreme Sailing Series finale between the 14th-17th November, where the conclusive races of the Series will be played out for the overall 2013 Series championship title.
The final Act, presented by Series Main Partner Land Rover, will be the culmination of nine months of global touring for the Extreme 40 teams after starting their annual Stadium Racing tour in Muscat, Oman back in March. Before the final showdown in Florianopolis, last year's Brazilian Host Venue Rio de Janeiro, will be the setting for two days of hospitality sailing for some of the Extreme 40 teams who will be taking VIP guests sailing in this iconic city.
The Series looks set to go down to the wire with long-time Series rivals The Wave, Muscat and Alinghi leading the charge from the relentless onslaught of the Danish SAP Extreme Sailing Team and the Austrian Olympic champions on Red Bull Sailing Team. As has been the case in every Host Venue this year, Series organisers OC Sport will reveal plans in the coming weeks of a home nation Brazilian invitational team - but before that, the fleet will meet in Nice on the French Riviera, 3-6 October for the penultimate Act of 2013.
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