Around The World Of Sailing

Linky Sailing News

Racing Star Worlds 2004 & 1971. Hyeres

News Peyron's plans. Do you need an bigger alternator? Meg Galliard

Great Lakes Bridge Tender . HMS Detroit

College Sailing Wisco hosts MCSA dinghies.

1st boat in the moorings

Book Scout Look Out: Bibblecomb Held Prisoner

Author James L. Nelson reports, "Speaking of Biddlecomb, he continues to be held captive in the dank dungeons of Simon & Schuster. S&S does not seem interested in publishing more, but neither do they want to put them out of print, and until we can get the backlist we are not able to take the series elsewhere. So for all the readers who have asked if there will be more Isaac Biddlecomb books, the answer is, we sure hope so, and have every intention of getting him through the Revolution (we are as curious as anyone as to who wins the war) but for the immediate future Isaac in incommunicado."

This is bad news for naval fiction fans. In my opinion (& not just becuase my nameis also Isaac) Nelson's Revolution at Sea Series featuring Biddlecomb is one the finest run of historical novels ever. Superior to the better known but overated O'brien novels.

Nelson continues to write, working on the Civil War . I reccomend that work. Also, keep Biddlecomb's morale up by reading about him in titles like All the Brave Fellows.

New James L. Nelson Book

James L. Nelson’s latest book - and his first work of non-fiction, Reign of Iron is now available. Reign of Iron is the story of the conception, building, and battle of the ironclads Monitor and Merrimack (or Virginia as she was known in the Confederacy).

Reign of Iron is the most detailed account yet written of these ships, but the story is told with the pacing and entertaining qualities of a novel. So far, the reviews have been quite good:

Richly detailed and colorfully written, Reign of Iron is a pleasure to read and the most complete study of the subject in years.

Civil War Times Illustrated

Nelson, author of the Revolution at Sea series of age-of-sail adventure novels, knows how to narrate a naval crisis. The resulting blend of skillful storytelling and historical detail will please Civil War and naval engineering buffs alike.

Publisher’s Weekly

Peyron Comments & Makes Plans

Just a few days away from relaunching his maxi-catamaran Orange II (after four weeks of work on her), Bruno Peyron offers his congratulations to Geronimo on her arrival after a difficult trip. The Jules Verne Trophy record has been broken, but the absolute circumnavigation record (58 days, 9 hours, 32 minutes and 45 seconds) still holds. Bruno Peyron explains, " We now have a clearly defined task ahead of us for the winter of 2004-2005: that is winning back the Jules Verne Trophy and trying to beat the absolute WSSRC record. The whole of the Orange II team is up for it and the countdown has already begun. Before that happens, I challenge the skippers and owners of Giant Cats this Summer to enter into a truly honourable fight, where fair play is the rule!

A new challenge has been launched...

"One of the lessons that has been learnt from Geronimo's difficult trip is certainly the deep frustration caused by attempting a record attempt in very different weather conditions from her virtual competitors, which clearly does not allow for a fair fight. The only way to eliminate this element of chance is to agree to a direct confrontation and therefore to accept a truly competitive race. I'm thus taking advantage of the finish of the circumnavigation by the latest Giant to throw down the gauntlet to all the G-Class boats, on the date of their choice and on the route they decide on, between the First of June and the 15th of August in Northern Europe or between the First and 30th of September in the Mediterranean. I hope that the first to accept this challenge will be one of the two fastest "Giants" in the world, so that this duel will live up to the high ambitions of these exceptional craft

From the Maxi to the Mini...

Moving away from news about the Orange II giant cat, 28 years after the first Mini transatlantic race, of which he was one of the pioneers, Bruno Peyron will set sail from Pornichet tomorrow morning for the Select 6.50 event, which marks the start of the 2004 Mini season. Named "Mini Explorer", the Pogo 2 boat will raise her Orange sails, tipping her hat to her elder sister, in the middle of a flotilla of 70 boats, all itching to start.

The aim, which has finally been admitted today, after being kept secret for several months, is now clear. Bruno Peyron intends to line up for the start of the 2007 Mini Transatlantic Race, which will mark the 30th anniversary of the event. "In 1975, I designed my first prototype for the 1977 Mini Transatlantic Race. Almost thirty years on, I still find the utmost pleasure in rediscovering the values, which lead you to love the sea. It's still a good idea from time to time to test oneself out again in various categories — and so I'm taking my leave from Orange II just for a weekend and I can't hide the joy I find in doing this!"

Geronimo is 2nd fastest

The 2004 round the world record season has concluded with the finish of the French trimaran Geronimo. She crossed the line today having circled the globe in 63 days 13 hours.

This is the second fastest circumnavigation under sail. Olivier de Kersauson and crew will once again will hold the Jules Verne Trophy. However, they failed by nearly a week to beat Cheyenne's world record of 58 days.

Finishing 19 hours faster than Orange saves some face for ODK and crew. Unlike last year they sailed fairly quickly from the Equator to the finish. Their leg time of 227 hours was .... hours faster than last year, but still second best by 38 hours to Cheyenne.

Round the world record sailing is a brutal bottom line business and Geronimo's second place finish is worthless in the speed, time and distance world of record breaking.

Geronimo Finishes

The Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran crossed the Jules Verne Trophy finish line at 13:17:26 GMT (15:17:26 local time) today, Thursday 29 April.

Geronimo and her crew therefore circled the globe in 63 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes and 46 seconds (subject to ratification by the WSSRC within the next 24 hours).

Geronimo crossed the line between Lizard Point and the Créac'h lighthouse in mid-channel, her time being monitored by radar and satellite rather than by sight from either of the lighthouses at the ends of the line.

Launch Season

This forest of masts is transformed into

launched boats by the Torresen Marine Service Department.

More photos in the Torresen Marine Photo Log

US SAILING Places Moratorium On International Grand Prix Rule Working Party

US SAILING has decided to place a moratorium on its participation with the International Grand Prix Working Party (RWP) to allow time for wider review of national opinion among U.S. offshore racing interests. In the meantime, the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) and the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) will continue the work to develop a new international handicap rule for Grand Prix racing boats.

The RWP was created to develop a new set of rules that would promote international competition at the Grand Prix level through encouragement of fast, fun and sea worthy offshore boats racing within narrow rating bands. US SAILING has met with the other stakeholders, the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) and the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and informed them of their decision.

"Launching a Grand Prix alternative Rule represents a major investment in resources and to ensure success we need to make the best assessment possible of the community it is meant to serve, from owners and builders to event organizers," said Janet Baxter, US SAILING President. "An appropriate mechanism for inviting, organizing and distilling grand prix opinion will help to define the development of a grand prix program that will suit U.S. sailors".

"Although the RWP did a fantastic job at surveying potential constituents, discussing all the issues of Grand Prix racing and formulating rule proposals there remain differences on key elements of such a rule," said Baxter. "In addition, U.S. interests in Grand Prix developments could be shared by a wider community than has provided formal input to the RWP."

Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC, continues to be enthusiastic about developing an international rule. "We appreciate the work and involvement of US SAILING to date and look forward to continuing working with them in the near future."

"We have received strong support from a number of countries and potential owners to develop a rule that will allow us to recreate the international yacht racing circuit and we shall continue to work towards this goal," comments Chris Little, Commodore of RORC. "We welcome the outcome of US SAILING's consultation and look forward to continuing working together towards the rule's creation."

No time limit has been set for the moratorium by US SAILING and they will continue to stay in close contact with the work of the joint RWP and keep that group advised of developments and U.S. opinion will be taken into account throughout all RWP developments.

The RWP is in the process of appointing a manager to co-ordinate the development of the rule, encourage potential owners to build boats to the new rule and create an international circuit of events.

A Technical Group under the independent Chairmanship of Andy Claughton, of the Wolfson Unit, is currently assessing the various technical options of the proposed rule and will report its recommendations in early May. The draft rule will be presented to interested parties, including designers, sailmakers and potential owners for their comments before the rule is finalized for publication before the end of the year.

Readers Write about Fossett

In lite of the fact that Steve Fossett is retiring from sailing a reader writes, "Will we see Cheyenne in the Mac Race this July, or was that last article just wishful thinking?"

Well, I don't know if it was wishful thinking but it was written on April 1st. Maybe impish thinking?

Looking Forward to Racing

My little console. Pole out. Pole in. Those were black and yellow.
Tack line which is white. Don't adjust the tack line.

Think. Then the halyard. Cleat on mast. Mystery caribener hanging from
boom. Don't use that when hoisting. Found that out on 1st race set.

Laps and cycles. You are within site of land. Around people, and boats.
A powerboat comes through. We suffer as we pound chop. Then our light
weight boat benefits from a following wake. We surft our way upwind.

Out pole. Kite comes out of bag. Pull tack line out. Hoist. Pull
fast. Explosive strength I guess. Better to take short pulls, or long
hand fulls? Balance upset by bouncing boat.

Ready for the take down. Blow pole. Smoke tack line. Wait for kite
to get to windward of boat. OK it's being blown back. Wait for it.
OK, smoke the halyard and hit the rail.

Skipper not afraid to do a port approach. Not afraid to be on the line.
Commit and go for it.

Up wind,downwind. Gybes and tacks. 2 lengths ahead from the start.

Tack from hike to sort of sitting on side deck. Single lifeline, didn't
see others wearing flotation. Scramble across the cockput. Not used
to bear feet. Yes, sandals would work. Hope the new windward side. Hike.

Scan and breath look for breeze. Are boats to right in more pressure
or are they just tender boats? Water shows breeze?

Eerie sunset ride home with spinnaker on a plane.

Jules Verne Daily Update

Geronimi is beyond Cheyenne's 58 day time for sailing around the world. The French Trimaran is now trying to finish her voyage under the 64 day time of Bruno Peyron's Orange, a face saving gesture at best.

This page shows the daily mileage of each boat, total miles sailed, average per day, projected overall time, the running total of miles for both boats, and the difference in miles for Cheyenn/Geronimo at comparable stages.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Wadlow/Spaulding 2nd at Hyeres . Match Race

News US Open 50 in England. Sledding on Alchemy. Piracy consultant. Sanderson's summer
Great Lakes Cutter commissioning

College Sailing NC State honored. South Atlantic Dinghy Champs won by Charleston with USF also qualifying.

Muskegon's under construction ferry terminal

1 More Day For Geronimo

The Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran changed tack this morning at the centre of the anticyclone off south-west Ireland, and has finally set her bows straight for the Jules Verne Trophy finish line. She is expected to cross the line tomorrow afternoon.

This change of tack is far from insignificant, since it is without doubt the final change of heading in a very long list. It's also the first time for a very long time that the boat has sailed with the wind coming from her left on a port tack. As the skipper explained at midday today: "It's like having to reformat your body, which has become so used to living on the starboard tack. Over and above the fatigue, the lads are having difficulty moving around - we're all a bit clumsy. It's bound to take a few hours for the helmsmen to recover their reflexes and our brains to cope with finding their way around the boat now that she's heeling the wrong way..."

The sea is coming from the northeast, as forecast, and must therefore be climbed wave by wave, since Geronimo's route is due east at the moment. It's hard to make good speed on such a cart track as this. Over the next few hours, the wind should freshen to between 30 and 35 knots and move round to the north, much closer to the direction of the waves. This rotation will also allow the trimaran to fill her sails and step on the gas a bit to cross the line on this same tack... otherwise they could find themselves close-hauled again, as they were on the approach to Cape Horn at 50°South all those days ago.

"We'll take stock of everything tomorrow. But it's a hard slog right to the end, and for now we're concentrating on what's left to do", concluded Olivier de Kersauson.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Bermuda Race Week. Star Worlds jury error

News Team NZL raises $. Cup boats back to Newport

Great Lakes Ontario ferry arrives. Gull problems

College Sailing St. Mary's wins Thompson Trophy

Look likea life jacket, eh? Actually it's an artists conception of one made of carved wood, titled 'Lifejacket and Hose Rack'. On Display at Calvin College's Devos Communication Center

Geronimo Projections

The position reported by Geronimo at 23:17 GMT on Tuesday 27 April (01:17 Wednesday, French time), Day 62 of her circumnavigation, put her 645 nautical miles from the Jules Verne Trophy finish line, between the Créac'h light (on the French island of Ushant) and the Lizard light (in Cornwall, England).

On her equivalent day (3 May 2002), the catamaran Orange was 959 nautical miles from this same virtual line, which was originally fixed in 1993 by the initiators of the Jules Verne Trophy.

The Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran was therefore 314 nautical miles ahead of Bruno Peyron's crew, which is equivalent to 21 hours' sailing at an average of 15 knots.

All of which suggests that Geronimo will arrive off Ushant during the daylight hours of Thursday (Day 63) and will very probably beat the French catamaran to the line.

Nevertheless, she will not match the record for sailing crewed around the world via the 3 capes set by the catamaran Cheyenne on 5 April this year.

Water Level Update

Below you'll find water level info that pertains to Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Reference Point- Measurements in Inches

Difference from Chart Datum -1
Difference from last month +3
Difference from last year +6
Difference from long term average for April -17
Difference from Record High -49
Difference from Record Low +15
Forecast for 23 May 2004 +4

Click for information on other lakes.

Securing Your Boat

This article concludes our April theme series docking and
docklines. This article shows you how to secure your boat
either by tying to a post or a cleat.

When you come to a dock that features a horn cleat you will
want to use a cleat hitch. Start at the horn of the cleat
furthest from the load of the line. Start with a round turn
and then a figure 8 on the opposite horn. Finish with a
half hitch turned under to lock the line in place. This
simple method is all that is required. Extra raps around
the cleat add nothing while wasting time.

Two basic knots for tying to posts are the clove hitch and
the round turn and two half hitches.

The clove hitch can be used to secure a line to a post, or a
fender to a lifeline .

To tie it, make a loop around the piling, following with a
second loop that crosses over the first. Go around the
piling and tuck in the bitter end and the tighten.

The second knot is the
round turn and half hitches. This is a versatile knot that takes strain well and can be readily untied. To tie make a round turn around the
dock post, put the bitter end over the working part, then
throw in 2 half hitches and tighten.

Geronimo May Salvage One Record

Yesterday's average of 23.5 knots point-to-point reflects an excellent day's surfing of the kind for which Geronimo was designed and developed. The ability to skirt around the depression, pick up speed and get in front of it requires this potential for pure speed that only large multihulls can offer. This was only the second day of downwind sailing since New Zealand, and one that instantly created some smiles and good humour on deck. Today looks like being a slower day as the crew tries to make the jump to the anticyclone off Ireland, although tomorrow promises to be a tougher proposition altogether, with over 30 knots of headwind and a pretty rough sea.

With over 300 nautical miles in hand at the end of Day 61, the 11-man crew are beginning to take seriously the proposition that they could win the Jules Verne Trophy which slipped from their grasp last year between the Azores and Brittany, precisely where they have been racing today. There's no flat calm this year, but rather a collection of this and that; anticyclones and depressions wandering about the Atlantic at random. Their finish may be complex in terms of the number of weather systems and wind directions, but at least the whole picture is alive and moving, even if it's not in the right direction. Right down to the line, this voyage will have been an extraordinarily testing one for the boat, her crew and their nerve. Not only must all these stand up to the strain for a few hours more, but they must be managed perfectly against a clock that becomes more demanding with every hour.

Of Interest

I often send out emails under the Subject 'Of Interest'. Here's some items I've come across that are of interest to me and hopefully to you the rowing reporter reader.

Around the World in 80 days, the Movie. Why would a Disney movie based on a book by a dead French Author be of interest to sailors?

3 words-Jules Verne Trophy- and all the high speed sailing chaos and excitement it has brought!

While you are at it read Jules Verene's book, and Cam Lewis' Around the World in 79 days.

The Jules Verne Trophy

While winning the US Olympic trials Paul Cayard suffered a near dismasting. In a now famous incident he steeped another mast in under 20 minutes and sailed onto an olympic berth.

At the Star Worlds Cayard and Trinter's rig luck ran out. According to Cayard, "The boat rolled over to wind ward, the pole dug into the water, and our favorite rig snapped in half. We also destroyed the main and jib." A $ 5,000 mishap.

I suppose the good news is that this didn't cost Cayard a berth in the Olympics, and it occured before the Olympic regatta. Probably the best case scenario.

Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter after dismasting at the Star Worlds

College sailing has begun qualification for the spring championships: women's dinghy, co-ed dinghy and team racing. If any team looks certain to be strong at the championships it is Harvard. They are ranked # 2 in both the co-ed and women's rankings. This past weekend they won the NEISA women's championship. The # 1 ranked women's team Dartmouth was 5th. Last fall Harvard took 2 of the top 3 spots in the single handed championships and were 3rd in the Sloop championships . Oh, by the way, they won the dinghy and team race championships last spring.

From the Midwest Michigan State qualified for the women's nationals for the first time since the disco decad- the 1970's. They were led by B divsion skipper Laura Schmidt who has an Olympic campaign underway.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Baird takes Congressional Cup . Star Worlds. Days 1 & 2. Day 61 for Geronimo

News Lynn Stedman passes. Onbaord Cheyenne . Kevin Hall interview

Great Lakes Ferry proponent. Rochester ferry security. Port Huron Offshore 100

College Sailing Wisconsin and MSU qualify for women's nationals

Geronimo at Speed

Last night, the Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran hooked up with the southern edge of the depression, as forecast. It seems that weather forecasts for the North Atlantic are much more accurate than those for other less frequented waters... After a 60th day in which they covered 314 nautical miles across the southern section of the Azores High, the 11-man crew are now enjoying a rare day of surfing.

As the skipper confirmed by radio at 12:00 GMT today: "We're heading for southern Ireland under gennaker, and surfing well at between 23 and 27 knots. Geronimo isn't suffering at all in these excellent sea conditions and we can really press on without having too much concern over the state of the beam. It's fantastic to be able to helm the boat like this. It's been a month since we've been able to surf properly. A lot of us are on deck and the atmosphere is electric, it's something of a rebirth". Despite the fact that Geronimo keeps all non-biodegradable waste on board, she is still lighter by around one tonne of consumables after 60 days circling the globe, and is therefore much livelier - it's almost as if she has finally caught scent of home.

By midday today, she was no more than 1,300 sea miles from the line as the crow flies, but when we take account of her obligatory detour to 50° North, the total distance left to cover is more like 1,500 nautical miles, which will require her to average over 15 knots. It's certainly within the reach of these 11 Frenchmen as long as they have a little wind…

Baird Wins All American Congressional Cup Final

The 40th Congressional Cup had run out of time and Terry Hutchinson had run out of wind when Ed Baird came from behind on the last leg to win a sudden-death championship race by 1 minute 41 seconds Saturday.

Baird, at 46 the oldest competitor in the fleet, was the only semifinalist among Hutchinson, New Zealand's Gavin Brady and Australia's Peter Gilmour who hadn't won the event's traditional Crimson Blazer.

"Whenever you can win a Swedish Match Tour event, it’s fantastic," he said, "and to be able to climb over the group that's here and wind up on top is special."

The Congressional Cup is the only American stop on the eight-event 2003-04 SMT. Baird, from St. Petersburg, Fla., took the weakest round-robin record into the semifinals (11-7), but eliminated Brady (12-6), a two-time winner, 2-1.

Meanwhile, Gilmour (16-2) chose Hutchinson (12-6) as his semifinal opponent after the Annapolis, Md. sailor had warned, "I wouldn't pick us."

Sure enough, Gilmour was stunned, 2-1, downgrading the anticipated title showdown between himself and Brady to a sailoff for third place, won by Brady by 1 minute 15 seconds.

That was sailed five minutes ahead of the title match after the race committee announced that the scheduled best-of-three final was reduced to a single race because the Sailing Instructions said no race could be started after 1600 (4 p.m.) and it was already past 3 o'clock.

Also, the wind near the beach was the lightest it had been in the five days---3 to 6 knots with only momentary flirtations with 12---and when the decisive match started it soon became clear that the half-mile windward course was so badly skewed that the boats could sail between marks without tacking or jibing.

Hutchinson gained on a favorable wind shift immediately after the start and was able to tack on Baird's nose and lead by 53 seconds, 1:23 and 34 seconds at the three marks before sailing into the fateful leg. With half a mile to go for the title, he did a simple bear-away spinnaker set that took him left and into the lee of one of the oil islands in the Long Beach outer harbor.

Baird, seeing no profit in pursuing his opponent, did a jibe set and went to the right---and into whatever breeze remained on the course.

"I thought, 'We can either jibe here and maybe stay in the race or we can sail into what they've got and it will be nothing for us, too," Baird said.

It was the smartest move he made all week. Soon, down in the shadow of the island, Hutchinson's sails were sagging and his boat was dead in the water as Baird glided on a steady course to the finish.

Hutchinson said later, "We couldn't jibe. That breeze that Ed got never got to us. Trust me, I would have loved to jibe."

As Hutchinson crossed the finish line he and tactician Chris Larson summoned chief umpire Jack Lloyd for an animated discussion, then drifted over to talk to principal race officer Bobby Frazier. They thought the last race should have been abandoned because of "unfair" conditions.

"We're asking for the race to be thrown out and for our round-robin results to stand," Hutchinson said. "We beat Peter in the semis, so at that point we finished higher in the round-robin then Ed did, so we should be the winners. We don't want to be sore losers, but I don't feel justice was done in that race."

He added with a smile, " I'm not one to whine when I lose a race, [although] I used to be."

The umpires listened to the team's case presented by Larson and crew member Morgan Trubovich but let the result stand.

Baird said, "I feel sorry for Terry and his guys. They sailed well all week and were in a clearly advantaged position in that race. [But] they could have gone either way."

Frazier said, "If the time limit hadn't been there I would have abandoned the [championship] race and moved the course out three miles to where we had wind."

Gilmour said, "Why couldn't we have changed the Sailing Instructions to drop the time limit? All of us [sailors] would have agreed. We could have sailed until 7 o'clock. I think the only person happy is Ed."

Baird collected $6,000 of the $25,000 total purse for his first SMT victory, which put him in fifth place in the rankings behind Gilmour---still the leader with wins in two of four events, Sweden's Magnus Holmberg, Denmark's Jesper Radich and Brady.

Video highlights of each day's racing may be replayed on the Long Beach Yacht Club Web site, www.LBYC.org. Sportshow TV is producing a half-hour highlight video to be aired later by the Outdoor Life Network.

Saturday's results:

ROUND 18

Scott Dickson, Long Beach, Calif., def. Cameron Appleton, New Zealand, 1 minute 14r seconds.

Kelvin Harrap, New Zealand, d. Allan Coutts, New Zealand, 0:44.

Terry Hutchinson, Annapolis, Md., d. Mattias Rahm, Sweden, 1:04.

Jes Gram-Hansen, Denmark, d. Ed Baird, St. Petersburg, Fla., 0:03.

Peter Gilmour, Australia, d. Gavin Brady, New Zealand, 0:26.

Final round-robin standings: 1. Gilmour, 16-2; 2. tie between Hutchinson and Brady, 12-6; 4. Baird, 11-7; 5. tie between Gram-Hansen and Harrap, 10-8; 7. Dickson, 7-11; 8. tie between Appleton and Rahm, 6-12; 10. Coutts, 0-18.

SEMIFINALS

Baird d. Brady, 0:03; Brady d. Baird, 1:04; Baird d. Brady, DNF.

Hutchinson d. Gilmour, 0:52; Gilmour d. Hutchinson, 0:35; Hutchinson d. Gilmour, DNF.

PETIT FINAL

Brady ($3,000) d. Gilmour ($2,500), 1:15.

FINAL

Baird ($6,000) d. Hutchinson ($3,500), 1:41.

College Sailing: MCSA Women's Championship

MCSA Womens Championships
Univ of Notre Dame
April 24, 2004

Congratulations to the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University who will represent the MCSA at the 2004 ICSA North American Womens Dinghy Championship.

Regatta Highlights:
Saturday, nine races in each division were sailed in Notre Dame's 420s to complete a rotation. Courses were windward/leewards and modified olympics. Winds were 5-10 knots from the NE, shifting E and building throughout the day. Two protests were filed, with one withdrawn and another resulting in a DSQ. Iowa was penalized 20 pts per division for failing to sign their RP form. A special thanks to our Judges, George Griswold and Allan Teske. Also to Diamond Lake Yacht Club for the use of their facilities.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TOT
1
Wisconsin A 1 5 3 1 2 2 1 2 1 18
B 1 3 4 7 1 7 8 2 2 35
2 10 17 25 28 37 46 50 53 53

2
MSU A 4 3 5 4 3 1 2 6 4 32
B 3 4 6 3 3 4 4 3 1 31
7 14 25 32 38 43 49 58 63 63

3
Michigan A 6 7 2 2 1 3 3 4 2 30
B 6 9 2 9 2 2 3 4 3 40
12 28 32 43 46 51 57 65 70 70

4
Northwestern A 2 2 4 3 6 5 5 3 3 33
B 4 1 3 2 8 8 6 6 4 42
6 9 16 21 35 48 59 68 75 75

5
Miami A 7 6 1 5 4 4 4 1 8 40
B 2 2 8 6 7 3 7 9 6 50
9 17 26 37 48 55 66 76 90 90

6
Notre Dame A 5 1 7 6 9 7 6 8 5 54
B 8 6 9 8 6 5 1 1 7 51
13 20 36 50 65 77 84 93 105 105

7
Minnesota A 3 4 6 9 5 6 7 7 6 53
B 7 5 5 4 9 6 DSQ 5 5 56
10 19 30 43 57 69 86 98 109 109

8
St Thomas A 9 8 9 7 7 9 8 5 7 69
B 5 8 1 1 5 9 2 8 9 48
14 30 40 48 60 78 88 101 117 117

9
Iowa A 8 9 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 96
B 9 7 7 5 4 1 5 7 8 73
17 33 48 61 73 82 96 112 129 169

A division = 9 Races

TOT
1. Wisconsin 18 Anne Porter 05 / Anna Bargren 07
2. Michigan 30 Christina Falcone 07 / Meredith Cochran 06
3. MSU 32 Mary Vorel 05 / Jamie Ziegler 04
4. Northwestern 33 Lindsey Duda 05 / Liz Snow 05
5. Miami 40 Jocelyn Pollak 07 / Anne Simiele 06
6. Minnesota 53 Jenny Wilson 06 / Sara Gross 05
7. Notre Dame 54 Katie Roney 04 / Katie Thompson 05
8. St Thomas 69 Danielle Lindaman 06 / Natalie Osdoba 06
9. Iowa 96 Lauren Trolley 05 / Lindsey Schneider 06

B division = 9 Races

TOT
1. MSU 31 Laura Schmidt 06 / Rebecca Wilson 06
2. Wisconsin 35 Kelly Ferron 06 / Christina Weber 04
3. Michigan 40 K Dewitt 07(1,2) C Delphin 06(3,4,5-9)/ E Burke
06(1-2) L Vandenbousche 07 (3456) K Dewitt(7-9)
4. Northwestern 42 Betsey Melson 05 / Mane Kyle 04
5. St Thomas 48 K Ballard 04 (1,2,5,6,8,9) L Allen 06 (3,4,7)
J Curell (1-6,9) K Ballard 04 (7) L Allen 06 (8)
6. Miami 50 Sarah Paisley 04 / Abby Heckler 07
7. Notre Dame 51 Kristen Braman 06 / Liz Ketterhagen 05
8. Minnesota 56 Carolyn Krech 06 / Anniki Lane 06
9. Iowa 73 Jenny Springsteen 04 /
Kristen Martin del Campo 04

College Sailing: Spring FuJ Regatta

University of Iowa
Spring FuJ Regatta
April 17-18 2004

Saturday
Conditions proved to be absolutely perfect at Lake MacBride with
temperatures hovering around 80-85 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We were blessed with great northeasterly wind starting around 10 mph and building
throughout the day to 15 mph. There were no protests or breakdowns filed on either Saturday or Sunday although one FJ sustained minor damage in a collision and another lost its mast after a pin failed in its side stay (fortunately
no one was hurt and the boat was re-rigged and raced again). Windward-leeward, triangle, and modified Olympic courses were sailed.

Sunday
Tired racers were greeted by 25 mph winds with gusts up to 40 mph out of the
south and cooler temperatures. 'A' fleet was able to finish 2 triangle
course races with numerous capsizes. After a disastrous rotation with capsized
boats drifting into the rocks and racers too tired to right their boats, race
committee cancelled competition for the remainder of the day.

On a lighter note: Congratulations to the University of Wisconsin KK
for a first place finish, Wisconsin Women for second place, and Marquette for
third place!

Congratulations to Wisconsin for winning (by default) the 1st annual
boat racing tournament and the University of Chicago for the Last Man
Standing award.

Final Results:
FUJ SPRING REGATTA 2004
IOWA
04/17/04 - 04/18/04

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 TOT

1
Wisconsin KK A 1 1 3 1 3 3 4 1 17
B 1 2 2 2 2 3 6 3 21
2 5 10 13 18 24 34 38 38

2
Wiscowomen A 3 2 2 4 4 1 2 5 23
B 5 4 3 3 1 2 1 1 20
8 14 19 26 31 34 37 43 43

3
Marquette A 6 6 1 3 2 4 1 3 26
B 2 1 1 1 3 1 2 7 18
8 15 17 21 26 31 34 44 44

4
Iowa A 2 5 6 8 1 2 5 4 33
B 3 3 5 8 4 4 3 4 34
5 13 24 40 45 51 59 67 67

5
Minnesota A 4 3 4 5 5 5 3 2 31
B 4 5 4 5 5 6 5 2 36
8 16 24 34 44 55 63 67 67

6
St. Thomas A 5 4 7 6 7 8 6 7 50
B 6 7 DNF 10 8 7 4 6 59
11 22 40 56 71 86 96 109 109

7
Iowa2 A 9 8 5 2 6 6 7 9 52
B 7 8 9 7 6 10 10 8 65
16 32 46 55 67 83 100 117 117

8
Carlton A 7 7 8 7 10 7 8 6 60
B 8 9 8 6 9 8 8 9 65
15 31 47 60 79 94 110 125 125

9
Chicago A 8 9 9 9 8 10 9 8 70
B 10 6 7 9 10 5 9 5 61
18 33 49 67 85 100 118 131 131

10
Iowa State A 10 10 10 10 9 9 10 10 78
B 9 10 6 4 7 9 7 10 62

Linky Sailing News

Racing Congressional Cup
Transat AG2R.

News Fossett retires 180,000 Lasers. Star Worlds Preview. Sleep lessons

Great Lakes Employee owned shipping. Cutter collision investigation.

College Sailing This weekend Nationals Qualifiers: NEISA Women's @ Boston , MCSA Women's at Notre Dame

Transat News

IN BRIEF:

* TWO NEW FRENCH ENTRIES ADD TO THE TRANSAT LINE-UP TAKING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ENTRIES TO 40 BOATS...

* 12 ORMA 60 MULTIHULLS AND 18 IMOCA 60 MONOHULLS WILL CROSS THE START LINE ON 31ST MAY ALONG WITH 10 50-FOOTERS...A CONSIDERABLE INCREASE ON THE LAST EDITION

* 14 OF THE 40 COMPETITORS HAVE NOW QUALIFIED AS THE FIRST RACES OF THE SEASON APPROACH FOR THE ORMA AND IMOCA CLASSES...

Visit http://www.thetransat.com for further information

IN DETAIL:

The formidable line-up set to leave Plymouth Sound in The Transat on Bank Holiday Monday, 31st May 2004, has swelled by a further two boats this week in the form of Karen Leibovici's Open 60 Atlantica and Défi Vendéen, with André Jantet taking over the helm of this competitive Open 50 from regular skipper Jean-Francois Durand.

Including these two new additions, 40 boats are now entered in The Transat. The line-up now comprises twelve 60ft multihulls and eighteen Open 60s, compared to seven trimarans and nineteen Open 60s in the race's predecessor, the Europe 1 New Man STAR in 2000. While in the 50ft classes there are five multihulls and five monohulls, compared to two multis and seven monos four years ago. The tally of Open 50 monohulls is respectable this year considering there is still some doubt over the participation of the 50 foot monohull class in the Vendée Globe. Although, new skipper André Jantet will be hoping this class will become eligible to compete in the solo, non-stop round the world race starting on 7th November.

Karen Leibovici raises the tally of female competitors taking part in The Transat to three. As with Catherine Chabaud and Ellen MacArthur in the race four years ago, the Open 60 class will once again have two female skippers, although sailing two of the oldest Open 60s (1989 Anne/1991 Karen) they are unlikely to repeat MacArthur's class win on Kingfisher in 2000.

Leibovici cut her teeth in the Mini class winning the Mini Fastnet in 2001, finishing ninth in the Transat 6.50 Charentes Maritime-Bahia later that year. She is racing the 'red cigar', Jean-Luc van den Heede's famous yawl. This finished second in the 1993 Vendée Globe and was raced around the world four years later by Catherine Chabaud. Her opponent is racing a boat of a similar vintage. Sailmaker Anne Liardet has had a more lengthy if more sporadic career in single-handing having competed in both the Mini and Figaro classes, famously racing the 1990 Route du Rhum on a trimaran while pregnant with her second child. This time her Open 60 is the former Fleury Michon raced in the first two Vendée Globes by veteran single-hander Philippe Poupon and, subsequently, as UUNET that Philippe Monnet sailed solo, non-stop around the world westabout in record time in 2000.

This week has seen the qualifications continue in both the ORMA and IMOCA classes. Bonduelle and Norbert Sedlacek's Austria One have both been undergoing the IMOCA's class' extreme stability tests. One of these involves the boat (with its mast removed) being turned upside down while the skipper is inside. With the boat fully inverted, the skipper must show he can right the boat from inside. This is achieved on Open 60s with relative ease by gradually canting their keel.

To date 14 of the 40 competitors have successfully qualified for The Transat, the latest being Mike Golding's Open 60 Ecover, the ORMA multihulls of Philippe Monnet's Sopra Group and Marc Guillemot on Gitana X, and Jacques Bouchacourt's Open 50 OKAMI. At present Branec III, TIM, Great America II, Atlantica, Sodebo, Groupama, Gitana XI, Objectif 3, UUDS and VMI are attempting their qualifying passages.

Those not qualifying this week in the 60ft classes are preparing for their first races of the season. The inaugural 2004 Grand Prix for the ORMA multihulls starts on 30 April in La Trinite-sur-Mer. Eleven boats are entered including Yves Parlier's extraordinary new catamaran Médiatis Région Aquitaine, making her race debut. A week later on 9 May is the start of the Open 60's 1000 Mille de Calais offshore race. Twelve boats are currently entered in this including the brand new Marc Lombard Open 60s of Bonduelle and Sill.

SEVENTH EDITION : 1984

With 91 starters, the early stages of the race it was the catamarans Jet Services of Patrick Morvan and Gilles Gahinet’s 33 Export that dominated until they were forced to retire through damage to the hull and mast problems, respectively. But it was the capsizing of Philippe Jeantot (Credit Agricole) in the middle of the Atlantic that was to cause a controversial finish to the race. Philippe Poupon on the trimaran Fleury Michon VI was first to finish in Newport in 16 days, 11 hours and 55 minutes, but Yvon Fauconnier on Umupro Jardin V was declared the winner after standing-by Jeantot for 16 hours. His finish time of 16 days, 22 hours and 25 minutes were reduced by 16 hours to 16 days, 6 hours and 25 minutes. Philippe Poupon on hearing the news during the middle of his victory press conference, could not disguise his immense disappointment and broke down in tears.

Out of the top 10 finishers only two skippers were not French and the race was the first occasion multihulls finally proved themselves the undisputed champions of the ocean, with the first monohull, Warren Luhr's early generation Open 60 Thursday's Child, finishing 10th. All the top 10 skippers had completed the course in under 17 days. The race was truly becoming a transatlantic sprint.

Geronimo: Structural Problems

Concerns are mounting on board Geronimo following Olivier de Kersauson's assessment of the delamination in the trimaran's forward port beam. This is the beam that worked hardest in the Southern Ocean and was therefore subject to the greatest impact. The problem was first detected in the Doldrums and unfortunately "the cracking noise of delamination is increasing; it gets worse upwind, so since we're sailing at 60 degrees to the wind…. The other thing is that it's in a place where we can't get at it at sea… We're just hoping that it will hold and that we won't have to slow down".

Nevertheless, the 11 crewmembers have a little more to smile about today, having caught up with the current Jules Verne Trophy holder (Orange in 2002) since crossing the Equator. They have been making between 18 and 20 knots close-hauled through the trade winds and are now concentrating on the depressions that could finally allow them to route for Brittany and escape the homecoming promised by all the forecasting models… close-hauled all the way!

In the middle of the day, the Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran was west of the Cape Verde Islands and had covered over 23,000 sea miles since the start (as measured by adding together all the daily point-to-point distances).

Congressional Cup- Gilmour Strong Again

With five flights remaining to determine the semifinalists at the 40th Congressional Cup, today was moving day as skippers and crews jockeyed to be among the top four that will advance to Saturday’s concluding day at the event of the Swedish Match Tour.

After suffering two defeats yesterday, Peter Gilmour regained his form and the overall lead. His Pizza-La Sailing Team won all four matches today to leapfrog yesterday’s leader Gavin Brady. Sailing loose, the Australian skipper is at 11-2 and firmly in control of this event.

“Our boathandling is working for us,” said Gilmour, 44, who trailed in two races that he won. “When we’re behind we just look for the small gains.”

Brady, a two-time winner of the Congressional Cup, stumbled into second after losing two matches to the Nordic duo.

Brady and his Oracle BMW Racing crew lost their first match to Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen after leading for much of the race. They failed to cover Gram-Hansen on the run to the finish and lost by 14 seconds. They lost the next race to Sweden’s Mattias Rahm by 40 seconds.

Oracle BMW Racing’s tactician John Kostecki hardly seemed flustered by the happenings. “We didn’t sail well today, we weren’t very smooth. It’s alright to make mistakes in the round robins as long as you get into the semifinals,” Kostecki said.

Brady, Kostecki and crew have a 10-3 record, but 9.5 points due to a penalty yesterday from the on-water umpires.

American Ed Baird made the biggest move of the day. Baird and his Team Musto crew, including tactician Andy Horton, won all four matches and gained sole possession of third place, at 9-4, after being part of a four-way log jam for third yesterday.

“Two of the guys have sailed with me a lot before and three others haven’t,” said Baird. “It took a while to find our comfort level.”

After the top three there is a two-way tie for the fourth semifinal spot between American Terry Hutchinson, the 1992 Congressional Cup winner, and Gram-Hansen. Both skippers were 2-2 on the day, and are tied at 7-6 overall.

Kelvin Harrap (NZL) holds sixth with a 6-7 record, followed by Cameron Appleton (NZL), Mattias Rahm (SWE) and Scott Dickson (USA), who are tied at 5-8. Allan Coutts (NZL) rounds out the field.

Coutts is winless in 13 starts, but is keeping it all in perspective. “The guys are sailing great,” he said of his crew. “I let them down when I gave two races away at the start.”

With five flights scheduled for tomorrow, Hutchinson has the inside track on the fourth spot for the semis. His Team Annapolis Volvo holds the tiebreaker against Gram-Hansen after beating them twice in the round robins.

Hutchinson again lamented lost opportunities today, particularly one against Gilmour. Hutchinson controlled Gilmour in the pre-start of their Flight 10 match and led him toward the line.

Then he saw Gilmour, on his windward quarter, head up to start. Being nervous that Gilmour might gain an advantage, he also turned hard on the wind.

Both crews wound up starting early and had to dip back below the line to clear. Hutchinson turned his head toward the committee boat as he sailed back toward the line to watch for the signal that he was cleared to start.

Hutchinson saw Gilmour’s flag lowered, indicating his opponent was cleared to start, and also saw his flag start to come down. At that point he looked forward as he turned his Catalina 37 upwind.

What Hutchinson didn’t realize was that he hadn’t cleared. Although he saw his flag start to come down, it was re-hoisted due to an error on the committee boat. That forced Hutchinson to return below the line to start properly while Gilmour sailed away.

After losing by 41 seconds, Hutchinson protested to the umpires, claiming that he was materially prejudiced by the flag being lowered. “The race committee said it was halfway lowered,” Hutchinson said.

“We determined that he wasn’t prejudiced,” said Jack Lloyd, the chief umpire from New Zealand.

As with yesterday, the umpires were busy again today. But not nearly as exaggerated yesterday when they said they issued 16 penalties. In reality, it was six penalties. Turns out, one of the skippers played a joke on Lloyd, placing a 1 in front of the 6 on his notes before the press conference.

“We’re thinking of giving Gilly those 10 penalties tomorrow and Saturday,” Lloyd quipped, referring to practical jokester Gilmour.

Even if Gilmour is flagged for a legit penalty or two, he’s confident his crew would be able to overcome the deficits. Their slick maneuvers got him back into two races today in which they trailed.

“We snapped a quick jibe in against Kelvin at the windward mark which allowed us to win that match,” said Gilmour. “Then we hung in there with Cam and he eventually wilted.

“It reminded me of the opening round of the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2002,” Gilmour said, referring to the OneWorld Challenge when they opened challenger racing 8-0. “We probably weren’t the fastest boat but we had the slickest crew work. I like having the best crew work.”

Fossett Retires from Sailing

Two weeks after returning from his successful Round The World Sailing world record at the helm of his 125' maxi-catamaran Cheyenne, American skipper Steve Fossett announced today that he has decided to pull back from front line international speed sailing - after 11 years of spectacular record success - in order to focus on key 2004-2005 projects in aviation (altitude, speed and distance gliding plus the round the world solo airplane) as well as other new (as yet undisclosed) sporting projects on land and in the air. Cheyenne will be put up for sale.

"The round the world record has fulfilled my highest ambition in sailing" admitted Fossett Tuesday "and this just seems like the right time to stop.'"

His focused and committed approach has made him the greatest record-setter in the history of speed sailing with over two dozen total world and race records set. And 13 of the 22 current records listed as 'outright' in the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) record book (http://www.sailspeedrecords.com) are held by Fossett - including the amazing new RTW at 58 days 9 hours on the 125' maxi-cat Cheyenne - and the 2001 New York - UK TransAtlantic rocket ride of 4 days 17 hours (aboard the same boat, then known as PlayStation).

"It has been an exciting - and very fulfilling - 11 years. In the past we've defended our records by re-taking 4 of them when broken: the 24 Hours (twice), Round Britain & Ireland, and Isle of Wight - but I don't want to make a program of that. My mind is on aviation projects right now. I should sell Cheyenne to someone who wants to do the Oryx Cup RTW Race - or maybe even try to break some of our records."

Steve Fossett sailing record facts:

Current holder of 13 official Outright World Records plus 2 Singlehanded Records
Current holder of 9 major distance race records.

Records were set on 3 boats:

PlayStation 1998-2000 105' ; PlayStation / Cheyenne 2001-2004 125' catamaran
Lakota 60' trimaran
Stars & Stripes 60' catamaran

Only 7 of his records have ever been broken.

By comparison:

Bruno Peyron holds 2 Outright records:
Transpac Race Course
Pacific Ocean

Brian Thompson, Adrienne Cahalan & Helena Darvelid jointly hold 3 Outright records:
24 Hour
Antigua-Newport
Cowes-St. Malo

No one else holds more than one "Outright" world record.

Steve Fossett's Sailing Records

13 Outright World Records:

Round the World 58d 9h 32m 45s Feb-April 2004
TransAtlantic 4d 17h 28m 6s(25.78 kts) Oct 2001
Round Britain & Ireland 4d 16h 9m 36s Oct 2002
TransAt-Discovery Route 9d 13h 30m 18s Feb 2003
TransMed (Marseilles-Carthage) 18h 46m 48s May 2002
Fastnet Course 35h 17m 14s Mar 2002
Newport-Bermuda 1d 14h 35m 53s Jan 2000
Isle of Wight 2h 33m 55s Nov 2001
Round Ireland 44h 42m 20s Sep 1993
Hawaii-Japan 13d 20h 9m July-Aug 1995
Pacific Ocean East to West 16d 17h 21m Aug 1995
Miami-New York 2d 5h 54m 42s May 2001
Plymouth-LaRochelle 16h 41m 40s Apr 2002

2 Singlehanded World Records:

Pacific Ocean (Yokohama-SF)-World 20d 9h 52m Aug 1996
Newport-Bermuda-World 40h 51m 54s Jun 1999

9 Race Records:

Newport-Ensenada 6h 46m 40s 18.45 kts) Apr 1998
Chicago-Mackinac 18h 50m 32s Jul 1998
Swiftsure 14h 35m 29s May 1997
Long Beach-Cabo San Lucas 3d 2h 59m Nov 1995
Pineapple Cup (Ft Lauderdale-Montego Bay) 2s 20h 8m 5s Feb 1999
San Diego-Puerto Vallarta 62h 20m 11s Feb 1998
Round St. Martin (Heineken) 2h 4m 23s Mar 2003
Windjammers (SF-Santa Cruz) 4h 41m 2s Aug 1997

Singlehanded Race Record:

California-Hawaii
(Singlehanded Transpac) - Race 7d 22h 38m July 1998

Superceded World Records:

24 Hour Record 687.17 nm (28.63 kts) Oct 2001
24 Hour Record 580.23 nm (24.18 kts) Mar 1999
Pacific Ocean Record (Crewed) 16d 17h 21m 19s Aug 1995
Transpac 6d 16h 7m 16s July 1995
Round Britain & Ireland 5d 21h 5m 27s Oct 1994
Cowes-St. Malo 6h 21m 54s Dec 2001
Isle of Wight 3h 35m 38s Sep 1994

Linky Sailing News

Racing Transat AG2R. Congressional Cup Day 2. Geronimo goes on.

News Steve Flam. USA's 49er team

Great Lakes Slip reservations

College Sailing Dartmouth @ Dellenbaugh with Yale winning.

Congressional Cup Day 2- Brady Rallies

The sound of crunching fiberglass was a sour note in Gavin Brady's otherwise brilliant day Wednesday when he extended his win streak to eight by winning all four of his races and took over first place in the Long Beach Yacht Club's 40th Congressional Cup, the fourth event on the Swedish Match Tour.

A windward mark collision with fellow New Zealander Cameron Appleton---Kiwi vs. Kiwi---in the last round of the day was ruled a foul on Appleton because Brady was on starboard tack at the mark, while Appleton was on port. But after crossing the finish line 57 seconds in front Brady was informed by umpire John Standley that because, in the umpires' view, he didn't try to avoid the incident a half-point would be deducted from his score.

That left Brady, 30, a two-time winner of the event in 1996 and '97, with an 8-1 record halfway through the double round-robin but only 7.5 points, a half-point ahead of first-day leader Peter Gilmour of Australia. The '88 winner lost to Brady and Long Beach's Scott Dickson on a 2-2 day and stands 7-2. There is a four-way tie for third at 5-4.

"It's ludicrous," an angry Brady said at the dock. "Cameron never did anything to keep clear."

Standley, an Australian, agreed---but noted Rule C8.6 of the event's Sailing Instructions: "When the match umpires . . . decide that a boat has broken [Racing Rules of Sailing] 14 and damage results, they may, without a hearing, impose a penalty of half of one point."

Rule 14 requires even a right-of-way boat to avoid a collision if one seems imminent.

Appleton, 26, informed that Brady was upset about the ruling, said, "He should be---and rightly so. He caused the incident that didn't need to be caused."

Standley said, "If we had seen [Brady] let the main sail go to bear away or try in any other way to keep clear, he wouldn't have been penalized. But he tried to do nothing. He did not try to keep clear."

Brady said that to let Appleton pass in front would have, in Brady's mind, handed his opponent the lead because at the moment of decision he didn't know Appleton was about to receive a penalty.

Later, by chance, they were assigned adjacent seats on the dais at the press conference. Appleton, appearing subdued, said lit