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Latest News Links Americas Cup - No racing on Day 1 of 33rd America's Cup . . . Dinghy - Tiger victory for Biggs and Hollis at Rutland Water . . . Keelboat - Apthorp and Simpson lead Flying 15 Datchet Winter Warm-up . . . Dinghy - 75 Lasers, only one third sailing . . . Sound familiar at your club? Americas Cup - BMW Oracle gain advantage in first race . . . Americas Cup - Bookmaker makes BMW Oracle Favourite For Cup . . . Dinghy - Rhodes leads OK Worlds after four races . . . Offshore - Groupama 3 has lead of over 525 miles over Orange 2 time . . . Match Race - Vietnam is new venue for World Match Racing Tour event . . . Catamaran - Robertson and Walker take match race at Extreme 40 series . . . Americas Cup - Alinghi complete a full course practice race off Valencia . . . Dinghy - Greenhalgh and Budgen start in 18ft Skiff J J Giltinan Trophy . . . Dinghy - The Long and Winding Road . . . to the Dinghy Show Ticker - News Ticker and RSS Newsfeed available More Sailing News reports here . . . No racing on Day 1 of 33rd America's Cup . . . After waiting for nearly four hours racing for day 1 of the 33rd America's Cup was finally cancelled at 13:50 CET (12:50 GMT).  No racing today for defender Alinghi and challenger, BMW Oracle USA. After waiting under postponement for four hours for the wind to settle, the Race Officer, Harold Bennett, finally called it a day and they returned to Valencia. “It was very light,” said Alinghi navigator Juan Vila. “We had some puffs up to 6 knots but they didn’t last long. The direction also was random, mostly from the west but not enough for a fair race. The forecast didn’t look promising once the wind got variable, so I think it was a good decision not to race today.” Race 1 will now be scheduled for Wednesday 10 Feb, with the time gun due at 10:00 CET (09:00 GMT). Strong winds are forecast on Tuesday and will linger into the early hours of Wednesday morning. USA team meteorologist Chris Bedford commented; “On Wednesday, I’m looking for quite a bit more seaway; we’ll probably be getting some kind of a swell down from the Northeast, along the coast,” Bedford said. “We’ll likely be in a waning Northwesterly that may turn into some kind of a sea breeze in the afternoon, if we’re lucky. That’s what we’re keeping our fingers crossed for.” Tiger victory for Biggs and Hollis at Rutland Water . . . Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis sailed their Merlin Rocket to victory in the John Merricks Tiger Trophy at Rutland Water last weekend. Biggs and Hollis have now scored consecutive wins in the SailJuice Global Warm-Up, after winning the Doublehanded division of the Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy the previous weekend. A total of 164 boats contested a light-airs Tiger Trophy, with the Merlins and Phantoms dominating the top 10, much as they had the previous weekend at Northampton. Biggs and Hollis won the pursuit race, and winning one of the two handicap races the following day was sufficient for overall honours ahead of Merlin rivals, Stuart Bithell and Ed Gray in second. First singlehander in third overall was Andrew Wilde’s Phantom Series leaders in the SailJuice Global Warm-Up, Andy Smith and Tim Needham, could only manage 39th in their 505. They now slip to 2nd overall with Pete Barton’s Cherub taking up the lead. The SailJuice Global Warm-Up combines four of the biggest winter handicap racing events into a unified series, to find out just who is tough enough to race their way through Britain’s toughest winter in more than 20 years. There are more than £2,000 of prizes up for grabs, not only for the winners but for sailors throughout the fleet. Final event is the Hoo Freezer, Hoo Ness Yacht Club - 28 February 2010. Apthorp and Simpson lead Flying 15 Datchet Winter Warm-up . . . Charles Apthorp and Adrian Simpson from Hayling Island SC have taken the lead after the first two races of the Flying 15 Winter Warm-up series at Datchet Water SC. Ian Linder and Kevin Sweetman won the first race with Mark Firth and Tony Mumford in second and Apthorp and Simpson third. In the second race Apthorp and Simpson won ahead of Firth and Mumford with Linder and Sweetman in third place. With six out of eight races to count additional entries are welcome next Sunday. Flying 15 - Datchet Winer Warm-Up Series, Week 1 1st GBR 3591 Charles Apthorp Adrian Simpson HISC 3.0 1.0 4.0 pts 2nd GBR 3851 Ian Linder Kevin Sweetman 1.0 3.0 4.0 pts 3rd GBR 3860 Mark Firth Tony Mumford 2.0 2.0 4.0 pts 4th GBR 3932 Chris Swallow John Tuckwey DWSC 6.0 5.0 11.0 pts 5th GBR 3537 Matt Glasgow Graeme Brown HISC 8.0 4.0 12.0 pts 6th GBR 3653 Adam Mangan Emma Mangan DWSC 4.0 8.0 12.0 pts 7th GBR 3378 Andy Clark Nadia Melnikovia 5.0 7.0 12.0 pts 8th GBR 3718 Brett Dingwall Gary Lane 9.0 6.0 15.0 pts 9th GBR 3559 Dominick Hume David Hume DWSC 7.0 13.0 DNC 20.0 pts 75 Lasers, only one third sailing . . . Sound familiar at your club? Staunton Harold SC has seventy five Lasers at their Club, with only twenty five used on a regular basis. With only one third of boats being used it leaves two thirds of boats for the Activate Your Laser Fleet project to attend to!  The key goal of Activate Your Laser Fleet is to increase adult participation in sailing by reinvigorating activity in the number of under used Laser fleets across the country. At the Activate workshop each Club commits to three key initiatives to work on with their club to achieve this goal. The success of Activate Your Laser Fleet for this region now lies with the representatives of the clubs who attended. The idea is to ensure that the Club’s initiatives are supported and put into practice, and if necessary offer help with accessing funding, writing a fleet development plan, delivering training and suggestions of how to work more effectively to deliver the end goal; activating their Lasers increasing adult participation. Further workshop dates are scheduled for the early Spring months. To learn more or if you feel that your Club would benefit from the support offered by the Activate Your Laser Fleet Project, then contact Tzaneen Mears at the RYA Tzaneen.Mears@rya.org.uk for more information about becoming involved. Full story at www.laserperformance.com BMW Oracle gain advantage in first race . . . In the draw for positions for the first America's Cup race start on Monday, BMW Oracle won the right to enter on starboard giving them the advantage. Latest forecasts for the area are for very light westerly winds near Valencia, shifting to the south and increasing up to 10 knots. Rain showers are forecast. This could mean a wait ashore until coditions inprove. Racing is scheduled to start at 10:06 CET (09:06 UK).  The size of the race course means that the race committee will set the race course with the starting line some 20-25 miles from the coast, making a difficult race to view for spectators. Earlier, apparently to keep up the war of non-cooperation, BMW Oracle owner, Larry Ellison, refused to attend the pre-match owners' event in Valencia. As there are only two owners, it meant Alinghi owner Ernesto Bertarelli was alone on the stage. This maintains the tit-for-tat legal wrangles that have plagued the event, sidelining the other America's Cup teams that took part in the 2007 event. Also driving away likely sponsors as the two billionaires have thrown money and writs at each other. The last minute move back to Valencia for the three race event means that the media rights have gone for a song and Valencia will struggle to justify running the event. Bookmaker makes BMW Oracle Favourite For Cup . . . William Hill the Bookmaker has made BMW Oracle Favourite for the 33rd America's Cup which starts in Valencia Monday morning. Larry Ellison is believed to have spent $200 Million getting team BMW Oracle to the start of the America's Cup and William Hill make them the marginal favourites to win at 4/5 with the holders Alinghi offered at 10/11. "The odds suggest that there is very little in it but BMW Oracle perhaps have a slight edge," said Hill's spokesman Rupert Adams. William Hill America's Cup 2010: 4/5 BMW Oracle, 10/11 Alinghi. Full story at http://www.williamhiill.co.uk Rhodes leads OK Worlds after four races . . . Nick Craig has a fight on his hands if he is to addd a fourth OK world title to his trophy cabinet. Paul Rhodes of New Zealand has a two point lead over compatriate, Karl Purdie, with Craig back in fifth place, 14 points off the leader.  Ben Morrison of New Zealand won the opening race and Russell Page-Wood sailed through to take second overall with Rhodes third. In race 2, Rhodes won ahead of Mike Willliams of Australia, with Matt Steven, another kiwi, in third. On day 2, Australian Andre Blasse won the first race with Nick Craig taking second and Purdie in third. For race 4, Purdie took the gun with Rhodes in second Stevens in third. Craig finished fourth and a much better day for him. Other British sailors included Terry Curtis in 16th and Jono Fish in 23rd. Defending champion, Tomas Hansson-Mild is in 23rd. Monday is a lay day. OK Worlds - Provisional Leading results after 4 races (71 entries) 1 NZL517 Paul RHODES NZL NZL 3 1 6 2 12pts 2 NZL531 Karl PURDIE NZL NZL 6 4 3 1 14pts 3 AUS730 Michael WILLIAMS AUS AUS 7 2 5 5 19pts 4 NZL526 Russell PAGE-WOOD NZL NZL 2 5 7 8 22pts 5 GBR2134 Nick CRAIG GBR GBR 9 11 2 4 26pts 6 NZL519 Matt STEVEN NZL NZL 13 3 9 3 28pts 7 NZL530 Ben MORRISON NZL NZL 1 9 18 6 34pts 8 NZL528 Andrew PARDINGTON NZL NZL 15 6 10 10 41 9 NZL525 Steve McDOWELL NZL NZL 5 18 11 7 41pts 10 AUS678 Roger BLASSE AUS AUS 8 8 4 24 44pts 11 NZL539 Brad DOUGLAS NZL NZL 17 7 8 13 45pts 12 AUS729 Andre BLASSE AUS AUS 26 10 1 11 48pts 13 NZL538 Alistair DEAVES NZL NZL 18 16 12 9 55pts 14 NZL511 Luke O'CONNELL NZL NZL 10 13 14 19 56pts 15 NZL478 Daniel BUSH NZL NZL 11 15 28 14 68pts 16 GBR2118 Terry CURTIS GBR GBR 14 25 16 15 70pts 17 NZL522 Greg WILCOX NZL NZL 23 19 21 17 80pts 18 DEN3 Joergen SVENDSEN DEN DEN 29 20 17 20 86pts 19 NZL504 Adrain MANNERING NZL NZL 16 22 27 25 90pts 20 GER690 Soenke BEHRENS GER GER 22 23 26 23 94pts 21 GBR2136 Jono FISH GBR GBR 20 36 22 22 100pts Groupama 3 has lead of over 525 miles over Orange 2 time . . . Though the tradewinds are now blowing in from the East, Groupama 3 is still not able to set a course due South. The reasons for this are that the high pressure isn’t far to port and the current aim is to hook onto the low pressure system forming off Rio de Janeiro. For the time being the descent towards the Roaring Forties is going well, even though the giant trimaran is being forced to bend her trajectory towards the SSW, so as not to get caught up in the Saint Helena High. Of course this makes the route longer, but as the average speeds are in excess of 25 knots, the deficit in relation to the reference time is non-existent. Groupama 3 still had a lead of over 525 miles over Orange 2 this Sunday afternoon. Furthermore the living conditions aboard have considerably improved since Franck Cammas and his nine crew have been sailing with the wind right on the beam and on less aggressive seas in relation to conditions immediately after the equator… Vietnam is new venue for World Match Racing Tour event . . . The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) has awarded Rainbow International Co. Ltd the rights to organise the first Vietnam Match Cup. This year, the Tour starts in April in France, and will reach Nha Trang City in Vietnam by late September.  The Vietnam Match Cup will take place in the picturesque east coast city of Nha Trang, Vietnam this September. The event will be the eighth stage of the Tour this year, and is the first time that Vietnam has featured on the WMRT schedule. The Vietnam Match Cup will feature a 12 team format with a single Round Robin followed by knockout quarter-final, semi-final and final. The appointment gives Rainbow International the rights to host and promote the event that will be held at one of the world’s most beautiful bays, Nha Trang, Nha Trang City, in Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. Olympic Gold Medallist and third in the 2009 Tour, Ben Ainslie of Team Origin said, “It is really exciting that the Tour will be going to Vietnam. It is an amazing part of the world. It is wonderful for sailing and it is the most opportune time for the WMRT to expand its global reach this year. The Asian events we have done on the Tour have been some of the biggest ever, with very professional event management and some exciting new venues.” 2007 and 2008 WMRT Champion, Britain's Ian Williams of Team Pindar, shares the same sentiments. “This is great news. I have never been to Vietnam before so I truly look forward to visiting one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and experience sailing along its lovely coastline,” Williams said. Robertson and Walker take match race at Extreme 40 series . . . Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson showed her match race experience in the final of the Extreme Sailing Series Asia. Sailing against Oman Sail Masirah, Robertson dominated from the start, at one point sailing backwards to get out of the Omani team's clutches. Robertson's Rumbo Almeria led over the line and kept in front all the way round, giving no room for overtaking and comfortably winning the match, and the day.  "We had a bit of a think about it before we went out. How were we going to gain an advantage and gain the opportunities and the pitfalls. The breeze was up, the boats are pretty difficult in that amount of wind, we were a bit nervous, but we approached the day fresh and approached each match fresh and as the tournament went on we got better and better. "I'm the only girl out there but I have done quite a lot of match racing before and as have some of the other guys on the other teams. You need a fair amount of aggression but also you have to be able to manoeuvre your boat into position and that takes a bit of team work It was great coming into the final, we felt pretty confident and we came out on top - it was a great moment." The six Extreme 40s at The Wave, Muscat for the Extreme Sailing Series Asia demonstrated that match racing in multihulls is not only viable, but spectacular. The crowded VIP viewing platform was given a thrilling demonstration of close quarter combat as the teams took it in turns to race head-to-head, just metres off the harbour wall on the tight, 500metre course. Seven flights, two matches a flight, and the teams had a long day. Ian Walker, double Olympic silver medallist, Rumbo Almeria: "It was very interesting today. Having skippered and been a tactician in the America's Cup, I was interested to see how it would work in catamarans, particularly with the America's Cup being in multihulls this time. I actually think it can work." "We don't get that many passing manoeuvres anyway in the slower, heavier boats and what we saw today was a real premium boat handling. But the most important thing is setting the course so the boats can split at the leeward mark. If it was a one way track, it wouldn't work. But today it was an excellent course and there was a lot of over taking, from what we saw today in these conditions and these boats, I think thumbs up." Alinghi complete a full course practice race off Valencia . . . Valencia Sailing reported that Alinghi 5 completed a full 20-mile-leg upwind/return practice race on Wednesday with Ernesto Bertarelli at the helm. The race started from the official event start boat in 4 knots of breeze, south of Valencia, approximately 7-8 miles from the port, with sunshine and flat seas.  Alinghi 5 crossed the finish line of the first official training race of the 33rd America's Cup after 2:30 hours for a complete Deed-of-Gift upwind/return race. Harold Bennett, Principal Race Officer, the race committee and the race operations team had a very successful test despite the quite difficult conditions. Also out in the course area was BMW Oracle. Apparently they were shooting some promotional video or photos with a helicopter flying close above above the yacht. Full story at http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com Greenhalgh and Budgen start in 18ft Skiff J J Giltinan Trophy . . . The 61st J.J. Giltinan Trophy Championship for the 18ft Skiff will get underway on Sydney Harbour on 12 February when 31 crews from five countries will contest the 18ft Skiff world title. For Britain the 2004 Giltinan winner, Rob Greenhalgh, will race with Dan Johnson and Phil Harmer. They are joined by Andy Budgen who will race with James Barker and Matt McGovern on board Project Racing.  Also racing will be Archie Massey, who with his regular 18 Footer crewman Dan Wilsdon, won the International 14 World title recently. They will be joined by Cameron McDonald on Asko Appliances and are an hot tip for the Giltinan. From the USA will be the 2002 and 2003 champion, Howie Hamlin with Fritz Lanzinger and Matt Noble on Harken. And from Sweden Anders Lewander (skipper of Ericsson 3 in the Volvo Round-the-World race) returns to the 18s after previous campaigns in the 1990s. Defending champion is Seve Jarvin with Sam Newton and Tom Clout on Gotta Love It 7, but favourite coming into the event is 2006 / 07 Giltinan champion Michael Coxon. Coxon is joined by last year’s winning Giltinan champion crewmen Aaron Links and Trent Barnabas in the Thurlow Fisher Lawyers-sponsored skiff he campaigned in 2008. Jarvin and his crew retained their Australian title recently but only on count back from the NSW champions Coxon, Links and Barnabas. Other former winners competing this time around are Australians John Winning (2000) and John Harris (2001). Racing starts with an Invitation Race on Friday 12 February. The First J. J. Giltinan race is on Saturday and racing finishes with race 7 on Sunday 21 February. The Long and Winding Road . . . to the Dinghy Show It´s nearly time to take the long and winding road that leads to the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show. Perched up above north London, the early March date normally means a few snow flurries to cool you as you toil up the hill to Alexandra Palace, birthplace of BBC TV broadcasting in 1936.  Tickets are available now for the show, over the weekend of 6 – 7 March, online or call the ticket hotline on 0844- 811 0409. Tickets brought in advance cost just £11.00 for adults and £9.00 for RYA members, £5.00 for children (5-16 years), free on Sunday, with children who are RYA members going free of charge all weekend. Tickets can also be purchased on the door for £13.00 adult and £6.50 child. If booking in advance remember to give the name of your club when you book your ticket and you could help your club win one of these great prizes. Thanks to show sponsors Volvo plus Suzuki, Rigiflex, Mersea Trailers and Rooster Sailing, for every 10 or more members visiting the show from your club, the club could win: * 10 or more, WIN: 10 Rooster Sailing buoyancy aids * 20 or more, WIN: A set of five Volvo racing marks * 30 or more, WIN: Safety Boat Package comprising: Suzuki 9.9hp Outboard engine, Rigiflex New Matic 360 motor boat and trailer from Mersea Trailers So give the name of your club when you book your ticket and you could help your club win one of these great prizes. Full story at http://www.dinghyshow.org.uk News Ticker and RSS Newsfeed available Sailweb News On-line and Free News Ticker and RSS Newsfeed available. Add the News Ticker to your Club, Association or Company website to get the latest sailing news and results. Add the RSS newsfeed to receive instant news and results. See information above... Full story at http://www.sailweb.co.uk |
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