2012-09-03

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London 2012 Paralympic Sailing Competition

Photo by onEdition. Click on image for photo gallery.

Weymouth and Portland, Great Britain: The Dutch Sonar crew were the most consistent performers in the class on the second day of racing at the London 2012 Paralympic Sailing Competition as a late Australian disqualification dismounts them from the overall lead.

Overnight leaders Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Stephen Churm (AUS) failed to keep clear of Great Britain's John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas (GBR) in Race 3 and were disqualified at 19:36 local time having finished third. The Australians finished second in Race 4 and drop to third.

Udo Hessels, Marcel van de Veen and Mischa Rossen (NED) were extremely impressive recording a second and a bullet in shifty Portland winds. They move from fifth to gold medal position on 13 points.

Top Five
1. Udo Hessels, Marcel van de Veen, Mischa Rossen (NED) - 13 points

2. Paul Callahan, Tom Brown & Bradley Johnson (USA) - 20

3. Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris & Stephen Churm (AUS) - 21

4. Jens Kroker, Siegmund Mainka & Stephen Churm (GER) - 21

5. John Robertson, Hannah Stodel, Stephen Thomas (GBR) - 21

Sydney 2000 2.4mR gold medallist Heiko Kroger (GER) continues to impress in the London 2012 2.4mR fleet after the German picked up his first bullet of the Paralympic Sailing Competition to take the overall lead.

Thierry Schmitter (NED) won Race 3 and sits one point behind Kroger. Overnight leader Helena Lucas dropped to third overall after an 11th in Race 4.

The fleet resume racing tomorrow at 11:10 on the Portland Harbour Course.

Top Five

1. Heiko Kroger (GER) - 13 points

2. Thierry Schmitter (NED) - 14

3. Helena Lucas (GBR) - 17

4. Mark LeBlanc (USA) - 23

5. Paul Tingley (CAN) - 25

Jen French and JP Creignou (USA) dominated the second day of SKUD18 racing at the London 2012 Paralympic Sailing competition after they notched up double bullets.

Having recorded a third and a fifth on the opening day the two race wins pulls them into gold medal contention on ten points. Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) lead the fleet on eight points closely followed by Alex Rickham and Niki Birrell (GBR) on nine points.

The SKUD18 fleet are set to resume racing at 11:00 local time tomorrow on Portland Harbour.

Top Five

1. Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) - 8 points

2. Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell (GBR) - 9

3. Jen French and JP Creignou (USA) - 10

4. John McRoberts and Stacie Louttit (CAN) - 14

5. Marcos Gualandris and Marta Zanetti (ITA) - 23

www.sailing.org/paralympics/london2012/

King of the Mountain Swinton Crowned in St. Moritz

Photo by Andrew Carter / Alpari WMRT. Click on image to enlarge.

St. Moritz, Switzerland: A fantastic Final battle between two-time event winner Mathieu Richard and Keith Swinton was won by the young Australian whilst Pierre-Antoine Morvan gave his overall Alpari World Match Racing Tour challenge a boost with a third-place finish today.

Light and shifty Maloja winds held out just long enough on Lake St. Moritz to complete a tense Final battle between former Champion Mathieu Richard (FRA) Loire Atlantique Sailing Team and Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing, who made it to his first Tour event Final in his first year as a Tour Card Holder for his best career result to date.

The race for Alpari World Match Racing Tour glory will resume at Match Race France in Marseille from 24 - 29 September. All of the teams have the option of using their score from that event as a contributor to their overall points total so it'll be all to play for once again in France.

St. Moritz Match Race - Final Result:

Mathieu Richard (FRA) Loire Atlantique Sailing Team vs. Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing 2-3

St. Moritz Match Race - Semi Final Results:

Mathieu Richard (FRA) Loire Atlantique Sailing Team vs. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Vannes Agglo Sailing Team 2-0

Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing vs. Laurie Jury (NZL) Kiwimatch Sailing Team 2-1

St. Moritz Match Race - Finishing Positions:

1. Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing

2. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Loire Atlantique Sailing Team

3. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Vannes Agglo Sailing Team

4. Laurie Jury (NZL) Kiwimatch Sailing Team

5. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team

6. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing

7. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team

8. Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar

9. Jerome Clerc (SUI) Team CER

10. Eric Monnin (SUI) Okalys Corum

11. Josh Junior (NZL) Wellington Spirit

12. Phil Robertson (NZ) WAKA Racing

Overall Tour Championship Standings - after 5 stages:

Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team - 93p points

Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar - 87

Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing - 69

Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Vannes Agglo Sailing Team - 69

Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing - 64

Phil Robertson (NZ) WAKA Racing - 56

Laurie Jury (NZ) Kiwi Match - 49

Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team - 35

Mathieu Richard (FRA) Loire Atlantique Sailing Team - 28

Jordan Reece (AUS) Estate Master Sailing Team  - 22

wmrt.com

Ocean Safety's Offices Have Been Close to the Action this Summer

It was a busy season on the race scene for the UK's largest independent supplier of marine safety equipment. The location of Ocean Safety's service and supply centres in Southampton and Plymouth meant that their products and assistance were only a stone's throw from the docksides where the must-see yachts checked their safety inventories ahead of one of the busiest regatta programmes that this summer has ever seen in the UK.

Ocean Safety's south coast offices just happened to be next to the venues of the two J-Class regattas of the summer, held in Falmouth and the Solent. All four of the Js, Ranger, Rainbow, Velsheda and Lionheart, were carrying Ocean Safety kit including lifejackets, liferafts and MOB equipment. Safety advisors from Ocean Safety were on board to check equipment for servicing dates, provide new products and replacements and give general advice.

Other superyachts and raceboats serviced and supplied by Ocean Safety were not far from the company's front doors either. The mighty schooner Athos, at 203 ft, called at Ocean Village in July for a rig inspection and safety equipment. The record breaking Leopard, the graceful 55m Adela, and the 42m classic globe-trotting motor yacht Bystander also stopped by for the Ocean Safety treatment.

www.oceansafety.com

Bittersweet Victory for Oman at Act 5, Cardiff

Photo by Mark Lloyd,
www.lloydimages.com
. Click on image for photo gallery.

The pressure mounted on the final day of the Extreme Sailing Series Act 5 in Cardiff, and it was more than apparent out on Cardiff Bay. Leigh McMillan helming The Wave, Muscat was in the hunt for his fourth straight win, to match the Alinghi record set in 2008, and things were generally going his way until the fourth race of today.

A penalty at the start of that race for infringing the leeward boats put McMillan at the back of the nine-boat fleet. In a single moment, the door opened even wider for their stable-mates Oman Air, skippered by US sailor Morgan Larson, and Austria's Red Bull Sailing Team to get back in the frame. Two races later Oman Air went into the lead by just 2 points leaving McMillan and Hagara on equal points.

Going into the final double-points race, all eyes were on the two Omani teams and the Austrians. Morgan Larson ensured his team got the best start, McMillan was also fast off the start line but for Hagara it was a false start – the team's hopes of their first 2012 Act win were over as the fleet sailed away. "We tried to win the Act here and we had a good chance," said Hagara. "We were leading on the first two days, but then on the third day we had a bad day, no good starts at all so we had to fight all the way then we had a false start in the last race today. We had a chance to win, but the OCS was really hard."

Next stop on the Extreme Sailing Series will be Act 7 in Nice, France. OC Sport, the organisers of the award-winning Extreme Sailing Series, have been forced to cancel Act 6 in Trapani, Sicily, that was due to start in just 10 days time as the Province of Trapani and the regional government of Sicily failed to execute their financial and operational obligations necessary to host the event.

Full report on that here:

www.extremesailingseries.com/news/

Extreme Sailing Series 2012 Act 5, Cardiff, Wales Final Standings:

1. Oman Air (OMA), Morgan Larson, Will Howden, Charlie Ogletree, Andy Maloney, Nasser Al Mashari, 199 points

2. The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Bleddyn Mon, Hashim Al Rashdi, 188

3. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT), Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Pierre Le Clainche, Graeme Spencer, 181

4. GAC Pindar (GBR), Andrew Walsh, Anna Tunnicliffe, Mark Bulkeley, Adam Piggot, Richard Peacock, 178

5. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN), Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Pete Cumming, Mikkel Røssberg, Jonas Hviid, 174

6. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Christophe Andre, Romain Petit, Romain Motteau, 173.3

7. Alinghi (SUI), Ernesto Bertarelli, Jean-Christophe Mourniac, Pierre-Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, 167

8. ZouLou (FRA), Erik Maris, Philip Mourniac, Jean-Sebastien Ponce, Patrick Aucour, Bruno Jeanjean, 124

9. Team Wales, Dave Evans, Torvar Mirsky, Tudur Owen, Hannah Mills, Ed Powys, 104

Extreme Sailing Series 2012 Overall Series Results after Act 5

1 The Wave, Muscat, 48 points

2 Oman Air, 41

3 Red Bull Sailing Team, 41

4 Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, 36

5 GAC Pindar, 29

6 SAP Extreme Sailing Team, 24

7 Alinghi, 22

8 ZouLou, 19

www.extremesailingseries.com

Once In A Blue Moon: The 2012 Ronstan Bridge To Bridge

A certain amount of lunacy abounds whenever a blue moon arrives. Add on top of that 20 plus kiteboarders, a dozen plus windsurfers an AC 45 or two, a foiling kite trimaran, a Hobie Trifoiler, a Pro Sail 40, an Extreme 40, an SL33 and 12-25 18 foot skiffs and top it off with the worlds fastest sailing vessel all racing from the Golden Gate to the Bay Bridge and what do you have?

Insanity!!!

The winner was IKA Course Racing World Champion Johnny Heineken who set a new course record of 14mins 14sec, pulling an horizon job on the rest of the competitors.

www.heinekenracing.com

and

www.pressure-drop.us

Complete results from the St. Francis (PDF):

www.stfyc.com

San Francisco Bay Sailing Speed Record set by L'Hydroptere DCNS

Photo by Erik Simonson,
www.pressure-drop.us
. Click on image for photo gallery.

On Friday, l'Hydroptere DCNS, the fastest sailboat on the planet, set the first certifiable one-mile sailing speed record on San Francisco Bay. A race committee under the authority of the Yacht Racing Association of San Francisco Bay (YRA) and the San Francisco Bay Area Multihull Association (BAMA) declared a preliminary one-mile speed record of 37.5 knots (43.2 mph / 69.5 kph) based on visual timing that will be certified on analysis including precise Global Positioning System (GPS) plots.

The race authority set a one nautical mile course angled between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island, in winds of 16 knots gusting to 20 knots. The beginnings of an ebb current kicked up tight, square waves. The boat made five passes at a record run between 2 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. The second run was fastest.

The all-French crew for skipper Alain Thebault consisted of two of the world's most celebrated ocean racers, Yves Parlier and Jean Le Cam, his long-time co-skipper and expert ocean racer Jacques Vincent, and boat captain Warren Fitzgerald. They were joined for the record run by the world's fastest sailor, kiteboarder Robert Douglas, who holds the outright sailing speed record of 55.35 knots (set on a special speed track in Namibia).

The winds were lighter than usual for San Francisco Bay, but had winds been high enough to demonstrate the boat's full speed potential, safety considerations in the heavily trafficked bay suggested a limit of 45 knots. The boat has flown at 56 knots, and reached a top speed on the bay of 44.5 knots on Wednesday. -- Paul Olivia

www.pressure-drop.us

Baltic to Celtic, Foncia Have Early Lead

Michel Desjoyeaux and the crew of FONCIA appeared to be making the most of the early jump which they established off the start line in front of Kiel's big Sunday afternoon crowd, and were leading the MOD70 European Tour fleet on the complicated, intense passage up the east coast of Denmark already making fast miles on the first hours of Leg 1 to Dun Laoghaire, Ireland.

FONCIA, which has Volvo Ocean Race winner Charles Caudrelier as navigator, thrilled the spectators who lined the bank of the Kiel Fjord when they sprinted off the start line on port gybe under gennaker in 12-14kts of SW'ly breeze, to seize a big, immediate advantage.

The French crew, which had already won the inshore Betfair City Race series were able to then collect the bonus of 3 points before showing their rivals the way out of the Fjord. In contrast, the start of Steve Ravussin's Race for Water, with Franck Cammas on the helm, cost them when they failed to cross the line at the gun and had to sail back upwind, immediately losing some three minutes on the leaders.

The seemingly ever consistent Groupe Edmond de Rothschild left in second place with Yann Guichard's Spindrift racing taking the one bonus point for third.

Under full mainsail and gennaker the fleet were accelerating north on Sunday evening, climbing to nearly 25kts boatspeed at times but constantly on the lookout for shipping traffic on this busy area en route out to the Baltic Sea.

These first miles might be fast and relatively easy, with FONCIA in command and Race for Water positioning themselves slightly more to the east compared with their rivals, working their way out to the Storebaeltsbroen bridge, but the winds are expected to build and veer for an unpleasant, testing passage across the north tip of Denmark, with 30 knot headwinds at times, set only to diminish as they approach Belgium.

The 1238 miles passage looks like it will fall into four stages: a fast passage up the east coast of Denmark, mainly headwinds down to the Channel, a light, tactical battle along the English coast in a high pressure ridge, building breeze to Land's End and a sting in the tail being light or very winds for the final 200 miles up to Dublin.

www.mod70-europeantour.com

The Stars Come Out In Winter

The history of the International Star Class is perhaps the richest of any racing keelboat in the world, and much of that history has been written in South Florida. It's now time to update that history with a new classic - the Star Winter Series Presented by EFG International.

With the Olympic Era over (for now), used Starboats are a great value for sailors looking for a combination of top competition and a fabulously rewarding boat to sail. A stunning performer in all conditions, the Star is a surprisingly good value for any two-person team, and with one of the sport's best-organized Classes, it holds its value extremely well. For a wealth of information on the history and design of the Star, check the Star Class website.

Beginning in 2012, Starboat owners and crews will be able to show off their Stars during the inaugural Star Winter Series (SWS) Presented by EFG International - a four-weekend plus a 4 day midwinters series designed to maximum racing time while minimizing hassle and expense.

Store your boat all winter long just meters from host Coral Reef Yacht Club, and get up to 20 days of sailing between November and March.

Click on
www.starwinter.com
for more information on logistics, prices, support, and charters.

Running The Rhumblines

The important advantage of sail power and waterline length paved the way for the Swan 45 Tulip to predictably win the line honours over the Whitsunday Sailing Clubs sprint race course last week.

Her owner skipper Bernie Van't Hof has continued with the dominating form which allowed the Tulip crew to score a come from behind 1 point win in the Telcoinabox Airlie Beach Race Week IRC cruising class championship.

However while the Tulip crew mastered the variable breeze to claim the first to finish award her smaller and lower handicap rivals, the Scott Jutson designed 42 Another Fiasco (Damien Suckling), Harold Menelaus steering the John Reichel and Jim Pugh designed 36 Treasure V111 and John Galloway's Ron Holland 10.5m Queensland Marine Services filled the top three places on handicap.

Skipper Damien Suckling who has the personal distinction of winning the 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart Performance Handicap trophy set the pace for handicap honours.

Both he and crew applied a sensible tactical strategy which allowed Another Fiasco to maintain the required boat speed to outpace their .975 rating and hold a strong grip on the fastest corrected handicap.

They progressively saved their time to finish with a 36 second win over Treasure V111 while Queensland Marine Services held on to fill third place 18 seconds ahead of the series leader Craig Piccinelli's Wobbly Boot.

Peter Mitchelson continued to prove there are many more good sailing miles left in his ageing Austral Clubman 8 Lorna Rose Too when he intelligently steered his faithful old yacht to a deserved line and corrected time double.

The crafty skipper set up the win when Lorna Rose Too answered the challenge from Brian Fleming's Concubine to secure the line honours with a handy 1 minute 12 second margin which gave them enough leeway to win the line and handicap double while C-Eagle (Bob Beale) and Riff Raff (Dan White) filled the minor places on corrected time. -- Ian Grant

Wight Vodka RS Elite Nationals

More testing conditions on the Solent today, but despite a delay while the wind shifted and settled in the middle of the day, three races were completed as scheduled.

Crauford McKeon's Kandoo team tested their nerves - after their lobster pot issue yesterday were buried at the start of race 7 and simply couldn't find a way back, finishing 18th and using their second discard. This demonstrates how evenly matched the boats are and how easy it is to drop down the fleet. Kandoo came back with 2, 1 to lead the championship with just one race to go - but they cannot afford another mistake so it is far from in the bag.

In contrast Andy Jameson in Eloise has the most consistent series, adding 5, 3, 3 and laying in second overall, two points ahead of Tiff Brien in Kin whose 2, 5, 9 kept them right in touch.

Kiss had the best day, with Martin Wadhams team posting 3, 1, 6 in their new boat to maintain 4th overall going into the last race. The top four all have a chance to win this championship, and there have been races with nearly all of them well back in the pack so the stage is set for the showdown on Sunday morning.

The Class dinner at the Royal Yacht Squadron last night began with Wight Vodka cocktails on the lawn and everyone looking glamorous as they sat down to dinner with a stunning panoramic view across the Solent. None of this could have happened without the sponsorship of Wight Vodka, Crewsaver and a host of support from many Isle of Wight businesses.

Top six with 1 race to go:

1. Kandoo III- Crauford McKeon, Paul Botterill, Rupert Holmes, 15 points

2. Eloise - Andy Jameson, James Grant, Lizzie Vickers, 21

3. Kin -Tiffany Brien, Graham Bailey, Simon Brien, 23

4. Kiss - Martin Wadhams, Paul Fisk, Amanda Wadhams, 28

5. Pipefish - Peter Lister, Pippa Wilson, David Hales, 31

6. Aeolus - Jono, Lyn & David Brown, 33

www.RSsailing.com

Featured Brokerage

2009 138' Royal Huisman J-Class. US$ 18,000,000. Located In Newport, RI.

Not Offered for Sale or Charter to US Residents whilst in US Waters.

HANUMAN is the modern recreation of Tommy Sopwith's beautiful 41.3m/135.5' "Super-J" class yacht, Endeavour II, from the renowned Royal Huisman shipyard.

Winner of the World Superyacht Awards 2010 as "SAILING YACHT OF THE YEAR" and joint winner as "BEST SAILING YACHT 30M-44M", HANUMAN is the excellent combination of beauty and extremely high quality of construction.

Brokerage through Y.CO:
www.yachtworld.com/ycoyacht/

Complete listing details and seller contact information at

uk.yachtworld.com

The Last Word

Men who do things without being told draw the most wages. -- Rodney Dangerfield

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