This is the time of year that some of us begin to thirst for any news pertaining to yachting gear. All of my industry sources are keeping their cards close to their chests just waiting for the February boat shows. This is the first article in a series relative to new products.
How about discussing an intangible product for starters? As we are well into the information age, web sites are popping up everywhere. Sometimes it really is too much information for one to process. This very article is part of the Torresen Marine E-newsletter. Information on sailing hardware, sailing events, new boats, used boats; you'll find it here or be able to request specific information. Visit Torresen Marine's web site and view this newsletter by clicking the prompt in the e-mail section.
Today I saw a newsletter from our friends at Harken with product specific advice. Harken blasted themselves onto the marine hardware scene with Peter Harken’s great idea of putting bearings in the blocks we use on our boats thus allowing one to better ease a sheet. Appropriately, they named their newsletter Ebearings. You can find it by e-mailing Harken.
Fresh on the scene is Destination One Design. How do you describe this site other than just using its name? This is a nice site from our friends at Quantum. You can find it at Destination One Design.
Whatever the information need there is bound to be a source. With a little effort one can find a wealth of knowledge to help the mariner with decision-making processes. All of the products are available at Torresen Marine. Our crew is available to help you with all your sailboat needs from questions to product to servicing your boat online as well as in person.
The Torresen Marine on-line Ship’s Store has a new face. Our Internet department has been working diligently the past few months to get the up-to-date site in order and running. The new store is intended to make the on line reference and shopping process a more user friendly and efficient experience.
As local customers you may not have visited the site in the past. We suggest you do, as the store contains more than 180,000 products, in 1200+ categories, by 350+ manufacturers. Our physical Ship’s Store is large, but the capacity of the on line store is much greater in scope.
Product searching has been made easier with several options. Word and part number searches exist as before. We also utilize the navigation path via categories search. This form of searching tends to be over looked, when often times it is the most efficient search available.
The newest feature we are excited to utilize is the customer account record. As a customer you are asked to sign and log into the site with your email address. At this time you will set up a password. Your email address and password fabricate an account that your future orders will be linked into. These orders, along with your physical address and phone number, are stored, making future ordering and past order referencing quicker and more efficient. This new account record will also allow you to track your order from the Torresen Marine site.
With any new implementation, continual updating and service is a must. As you utilize the new store we invite you to offer up suggestions via our customer service link. Our goal is to make the site as easy to use as possible and we need your input.
Over the next year the Torresen Marine Internet department will be updating some of our other web site links too. These updates are intended to simplify and organize the site for a more efficient experience. With that in mind take a look at the new Ship’s Store today. Browse the site and tell us what you think. If you don’t find a product you are looking for drop us an email, call us at 231-759-8596 or stop in our ships store. We will look into availability for you. We look forward to your responses.
Selling your sailboat is a complex transaction, with lots of steps between the first interest and the final closing and delivery. Let the brokerage professionals at Torresen Marine assist you in finding a buyer for your sailboat.
Yacht brokers work much like real estate agents. They are agents whom people consult to find and purchase a boat, and whom people hire to list, represent, and sell boats for them. Traditionally, the seller pays the commissions that a yacht broker earns; yet the brokers have a duty to both buyer and seller in every transaction. Listed below are many of the ways the Torresen Marine Brokerage department can assist you in selling your boat.
1. Professional “know how”: Torresen brokers understand the principles of the brokerage profession. Documents such a Statements of Origin, Security Agreements, Bills of Sale, Transfer of Title of documented boats, as well as Agency Contracts, Listing Agreements, Closing Statements, and Escrow Accounts will be used when appropriate.
2. Determining a Fair Asking Price: To ensure a timely sale, it is essential to ask a fair price. Torresen brokers have access to data from their central agency connections and national network of corresponding brokers. This information is not available to the public, but is necessary to make good decisions.
3. Preparing the Listing for the Public: Torresen brokers will prepare the listing for distribution in various electronic and print media, for distribution to clients and other brokers. Distribution of information will be through multiple tools of online services such as Yacht World, Boat trader Online and others. This will also include the multiple listing services that are available.
4. Preparing the Sailboat: Torresen brokers will advise of any improvements that should be made to compete within today’s market, identify possible problems and solutions.
5. Surveys and Orientation Sails: Torresen brokers will help you determine how any discovered deficiencies from a survey of your boat should be addressed in the purchase negotiations. They will also take part in the vessel’s orientation sail with the new owner to ensure a smooth delivery.
6. The Art of Negotiating the Deal: The Torresen broker can use his position as a middleman to keep the negotiations between the buyer and seller moving to a successful conclusion.
New listings are always welcome at Torresen Marine. Next month we will discuss buying a boat.
repower
One entry found for repower.
Main Entry
Pronunciation: (")rE-'pau(-&)r
Function: transitive verb
: to provide again or anew with power; especially : to provide (as a boat) with a new engine
Repowering around boats is usually conceived as replacing an old engine with a new one. This idea even made it into the dictionary. To “provide again or anew with power” could range from adding fuel when you run out, tuning up the good old engine, rebuilding an old engine and, the ultimate, replacing the old engine with new. The gamut runs from revarnishing old oars or paddles, through tuning an outboard motor, right up to installing a brand new diesel engine. What should be done and when it should be done are points to consider. You would hope to do what is essential before running out of power while away from the dock. When it is easy. What is more complicated and could affect the timing of when. The cliché “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” is astute but heading off the “broke” stage requires some thought.
The first thing to do is to analyze your present means of auxiliary propulsion. If your boat is relatively new, say less than twenty years old, and the propulsion system has had good preventive maintenance, this article will be for reference only. Preventive maintenance is the key. There are many boats powering around that have the venerable old Atomic Four engines that have pushed them along since the late 1940’s, some without ever having been rebuilt. If your engine starts promptly and runs quietly and smoothly, carry on. Don’t ignore the maintenance.
If your engine is beginning to act unreliably, have any suspicions confirmed by a competent technician. Some minor problems, if not corrected, can result in major damage. Correcting the little things on time can greatly extend the life of the engine. If the little things have gotten big, most all engines can be rebuilt once or twice if no major components have been harmed beyond repair. Rebuilding an engine usually costs about half the cost of new.
Repowering to try to get your boat to motor faster is usually a futile endeavor. True, there are some boats that have been built with marginal power plants. These might be helped by increasing the horsepower. They could also be helped by fine tuning the propeller or smoothing the bottom. One must keep in mind that the horsepower must be transmitted to the water through the propeller. If there are restrictions to propeller size, such as the boat’s bottom getting in the way, increasing horsepower definitely won’t help.
If we consider repowering a planing powerboat, the limit is the safety of the vessel. Some of the newer diesel engines can make marked increases in powerboat speed by allowing higher horsepower with greatly reduced weight. Here we must be careful not to make the hull go faster than what can be safely controlled.
These are a few of the considerations about your means of auxiliary propulsion. Each boat is somewhat different. We would be glad to review the particulars of your boat if any of the above has generated questions.
It's almost here, our 26th annual Spring Thaw Open House. This is a one-day event that we have for you, our customer. We want to let you know how much we appreciate your business and help you get ready in anticipation of spring. We have storewide discounts, 10% to 50% off, (excluding engine parts), door prizes and manufacturer representatives to answer all your questions.
Thinking about having some service work done, this is a great opportunity to talk to someone from our service department and get a discount on the parts you will need. If we don't have what you’re looking for, we will be glad to order it for you and you’ll still get your discount (must be paid for the day of the open house). Thinking about selling or buying a boat? Stop in to speak to our brokerage department. While you’re here, enjoy snacks and beverages.
Also, this is a great opportunity to get out of the house. Shake off the snow, come in and think spring and sailing. So mark your calendar, Saturday, March 11, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hope to see you there!
The yacht racing in the south has been hot and heavy this winter. More events are in store for those who are fortunate enough to plan for some well-deserved time off.
Let’s start with the Melges24 World Championship held in mid December at Ocean Reef Yacht Club in Key Largo, Florida. This event boasted 99 boats on the line with seven-leg windward/leeward courses. Twenty-six year old James Spithill from Team Luna Rossa sailed well enough to hold off Gabriele Benussi by eight points. Sounds more like this regatta was held in Italy. Dave Ullman from Team Pegasus came in a strong third. Special note; secret weapon for Spithill’s team was 11 year old Mac Agnese (80lbs) from Ft. Lauderdale putting their crew weight right on the money.
Right on the heels of the Melges Worlds was Key West Race Week. Wind strength started easy on Monday around 7 – 15 knots. Midweek brought winds up to 30+ knots resulting in plenty of action both good and bad. Many broken boats and spars wreaking havoc throughout some fleets. One report from a RC member was that the TP52s were particularly exciting to watch with many wipeouts. Mumm 30’s didn’t use kites on Wednesday. Representing Western Michigan in the very professional Farr 40 class were Brian Torresen on Warpath placing third and Bob Hughes' Heartbreaker from Holland placing fifth. Special note: Dave Ullman? Wow, from a third at the Melges Worlds to Key West Melges24 Champion. This guy is only 60 years old. There is a good article about him at www.ocmetro.com. Check out the Key West action and results at Premiere-Racing.
Up next is the Acura Miami Race Week / TP52 Worlds held March 8-13, 2006.
Another popular regatta coming up is the St. Pete NOOD’s. Muskegon Yacht Club members Ken Gray, Pat Sagan, Brian Smith, and John Schumacher are headed to St. Pete to do battle in the Melges class. The Laser Mid-winter’s East regatta will be held February 23-26 in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Check it out on the Laser web site at Laser International. The JY15s will be hosting their mid-winter’s in Clearwater as well on March 10-12. Their site is jyca.org. Western Michigan sailors attending this regatta are Mark Allen, Greg Heath, and Aaron Boeseneker. The Sunfish Mid-winter’s are being held in Melborne, Florida, March 16-19. See the details at Sunfish.
Regatta action then starts to move North with the Annapolis One-Design regatta this spring. Finally, as spring opens up in the Great Lakes, the Muskegon Yacht Club’s Spring One-design regatta held May 20-21. The Mid-west Melges24 fleets begin to sharpen their claws with this annual regatta on the waters of Muskegon Lake. Contact MYC Melges Fleet Captain John Schumacher for further details. The Melges24’s Mid-west fleets move on to Detroit and Chicago NOOD regattas, then to Traverse City, Charlevoix, and Lake Geneva to settle their scores.
As we speak another offer has been made to get the 10th Melges24 to the Muskegon fleet. More news as it happens.
Portsmouth, R.I. (January 26, 2006) - A top finish by U.S. sailor Nick Scandone (Fountain Valley, Calif.) at the World Disabled Sailing Championship has qualified the U.S.A. to compete in the 2008 Paralympic Games in the singlehanded 2.4mR class. Organized by the International Federation for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) and held in Perth, Australia, the top seven finishing countries qualified for berths to the 2008 Paralympic Games. Nick Scandone finished in fifth place out of a fleet of 19 boats.
Conditions on the Swan River, where the competition was held, were challenging for the sailors, with fluky winds that changed patterns frequently. Today, the final day of the event, Scandone finished 1-10-3, enough to climb to fifth place overall and qualify the U.S.A. Scandone has been a major player in the 2.4mR class in the last few years: last fall he won the 2.4mR Open World Championship and earlier this month was named US SAILING's Rolex Yachtsman of the Year. Scandone was joined on the race course by Roger Cleworth (Lithia, Fla.), who also sailed a successful regatta finishing in eighth place overall, and by US Disabled Sailing Team coach Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.).
Qualifying events for the two other Paralympic classes--the new doublehanded UD-18 and the triplehanded Sonar--will be determined by the IFDS.
While Scandone qualified the U.S.A., he may not be the ultimate representative at the 2008 Paralympics. In sailing, the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials are a winner-takes-all regatta - with only the winner of each event earning a coveted spot on the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team. The U.S. Paralympic Team Trials for Sailing will be hosted by the Rhode Island Sailing Foundation in the fall of 2007.
2008 Paralympic Games - The Paralympic Games will be held in Beijing, China, from September 6-17, 2008. The Paralympic Regatta will be held in Qingdao, a city located about 430 miles southeast of Beijing, and uses the same facilities which will be used at the Olympic Regatta one month earlier.
Miami, Fla. (January 25, 2006)-As expected, a front came through last evening and 610 sailors from 40 countries at the Rolex Miami OCR woke up to a shifty northerly that promised a tactical day. After another fruitful day of racing, the cream has risen to the top in the 12 Olympic events and one Paralympic class competing here on Biscayne Bay, but positions are anything but secured. Tomorrow's stronger, steadier breezes bode well for another full day of racing before Friday's one-race finals (two in the Paralympic Sonar class), where the fleet will have been pared down to simulate the newly adopted changes in the Olympic racing format.
"In the 470 men's class, a dramatic windshift in the second race separated the fleet by a half mile on a one mile beat," said US Sailing Team Coach Skip Whyte. Great Britain's Nic Asher (Lowestoft) and Elliot Willis (Sevenoaks) were one of the unfortunate duos stuck on the wrong side of it.
"We were a long way behind, but we got back okay," said Asher, "and we won our last race, which put us back where we needed to be. All the top guys had one bad race today." Asher and Willis count their eighth in that second race as a throwout, which keeps them at the top of the scoreboard for the third straight day.
Mikee Anderson Mitterling (Coronado, Calif.) and crew David Hughes (San Diego, Calif.) are the top U.S. team, currently sitting in 6th after posting a 6-13-2 today. "It was a 30 degree lefty in that second race, and Nick (Asher) was back with us. Our last race helped a lot, because the people who did well in the second race did poorly. What stinks is we have to keep our bad race, because we also had a 13th on the first day and that will be our throwout."
Asher's and Willis's fellow countryman Paul Goodison (Rotherham) felt he didn't sail "particularly well" today, but he still leads in the Laser class--the largest at the regatta with 90 boats, which sailed in gold and silver fleets today. "It was really tricky out there," said Goodison, a three-time winner of this event. "I didn't start out well, but I did a good job of getting back; I probably passed 60-70 boats total in three races."
The USA's Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) won the first race of the day and followed it up with an 11-15 for a fifth overall, right behind top American Brad Funk (Plantation, Fla.). "Things fell into place nicely in the first race," said Campbell, "but as the day got progressively shiftier, it became more difficult. If we get in a couple of good races tomorrow, it could really change things."
The Star class has had three different leaders in as many days of racing, with current world champions from France, Xavier Rohart (Martigues) and Pascal Rambeau (La Rochelle), moving to the top of the scoreboard after three races today. The top American team is now that of defending champions Andrew Horton (Newport, R.I.) and Brad Nichol (Miami Beach, Fla.), in second overall.
USA's Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) had a fairly good day today, starting off with an OCS for starting early, but recovering with two wins to extend her lead over the rest of the fleet. "You had to think tactically all the time today," said Railey, who in two races led at all marks and has a 12-point lead on her closest competitor.
As solid as Railey are two other USA teams at the top of the scoreboard. They are defending champions John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, Texas), leading the Tornado class by 15 points, and reigning Yngling world champions Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Deborah Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), who hold a 12-point lead.
In the Finn class, a new leader, Christopher Cook (Toronto, Canada), has emerged. Unchanged leaders from yesterday are, in Sonar class, David Schroeder (Miami, Fla.), Keith Burhans (Rochester, N.Y.) and Bill Mauk (Miami, Fla.); in the 49er class, Olympic bronze medalists Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks (both from Portland, UK); in their respective men's and women's divisions of the Neil Pryde RS:X, Great Britain's Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw (both Weymouth); and in the 470 Women's, Great Britain's Christina Bassadone (Southampton) and Saskia Clark (West Mersea).
US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR is an International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 1 event, a designation that indicates its importance in world rankings. It also is a qualifying event for the members of the 2006 US Sailing Team and a country qualifier for the 2007 Pan Am Games.
ALGAE-X International has reached an agreement with Baltimore, Maryland based Fidelity Engineering for the distribution of its fuel conditioning products and systems.
Founded in 1945, Fidelity Engineering Corporation is a recognized leader in the mechanical engineering, contracting and generator business. The company has been built on the principles of integrity, experience, skills, knowledge and innovation. They offer a proud history of accomplishment and a long-term commitment to their clients' needs.
Notable projects include Oriole Park at Camden Yards office complex, the Timonium I & II office buildings and # 10 building complex at the University of Baltimore to name a few.
Fidelity Engineering Corporation has over 25 years of experience providing their customers with quality Kohler power systems in the commercial, industrial, residential and institutional markets. Whether single 50 kW generators or several 2000 kW systems, they have the application experience from sizing and site design to selecting the correct controls and switchgear. Fidelity’s parts and service division sets the industry standard by offering 24-hour a day customer support.
All Algae-X products are available directly to consumers and commercial users by contacting Torresen Marine, Inc. 231-759-8596 or emailing go_sail@torresen.com
Algae-X International is the leader in the development and manufacturing of fuel conditioning technologies, and markets its products to all sectors of the diesel engine market worldwide.
It's down to the wire and overall victory is up for grabs in many of the 19 classes competing at Acura Key West 2006, presented by Nautica.
There was a dramatic change in the Swan 45 World Championship while the Farr 40 and Melges 24 classes remain close going into the final day of the week-long regatta.
Bellicosa, a New York entry skippered by Massimo Ferragamo, posted a first and third on Thursday to seize the lead in Swan 45 class. Howie Schiebler is calling tactics for Bellicosa, which vaulted from third to first in the overall standings.
"I would call it a good day any time we can get a first and a third in this kind of fleet," Ferragamo said. "I think everything is in sync, everyone is doing their job and, starting from me, I have to make sure that I don’t make mistakes."
Things did not go as well for Goombay Smash, which had led the series for the initial three days. Skipper William Douglass (Newport, R.I.) posted a 6-12 line and now trails Bellicosa 29-31.
Tactician Chris Law said Goombay dropped from third to 12th in Race 7 after hitting a mark and having to perform penalty turns.
"We did two penalty turns when perhaps we only needed to do one," Law said. "I take responsibility for today's mistakes and the fact we suffered a 10-point loss to Bellicosa on the day."
Law said Goombay Smash remained in a "winning position" and needed to stop being conservative. Ferragamo said the Bellicosa crew will focus on going fast more than covering Goombay Smash on Friday.
"We are all doing well, we have a great team and everything is coming together," Ferragamo said. "For tomorrow, we have no hopes, or the same hopes as today - to continue to sail well."
Mascalzone Latino, skippered by Vincenzo Onorato, took control of the Farr 40 competition with scores of 2-3 on Thursday. Three-time America's Cup champion Russell Coutts is calling tactics for Mascalzone Latino, which leads fellow Italian entry Fiamma (Alessandro Barnaba) by eight points.
"It was certainly a good day for us. We just need to keep doing what we've been doing for one more day," Coutts said.
Mascalzone entered Thursday tied for first with Warpath (Fred & Steve Howe) and Coutts said the Italians "tacked on" the Californians a couple times. The New Zealand native said Mascalzone will cover the competition again on Friday.
"We'll see who is close on points and keep an eye on them," said Coutts, who has enjoyed teaming with Onorato for the first time. "Vinnie drives the boat well and is pretty relaxed. It's the Italian factor. The whole team is laid back."
There's a tie in Melges 24 with Dave Ullman's Pegasus 505 and Riccardo Simoneschi's Nautica knotted at 17 points apiece after one throwout is factored. Blu Moon, Franco Rossini's Swiss entry, dropped from first to third - five points behind Pegasus 505 and Nautica.
Simoneschi, an Italian and former Star sailor making his Key West debut, notched a first and second on Thursday to jump up from fifth in the overall standings. Ullman, a California sailmaker, grabbed a bullet in Race 7 to overtake Blu Moon and Partners & Partners.
"We'll just go out sailing and see what happens. It's not a worlds so I'm not going to tack on people," Ullman said. "We'll try to beat the other top boats off the line and sail our own race from there."
A heated battle is also brewing in Transpac 52 class, which is professionally-crewed ala the Swan 45s and Farr 40s. Stay Calm II, a class newcomer owned by Stuart Robinson of London, clings to a two-point lead going into the last day. "This is our first regatta with a new boat in a very competitive fleet so we are quite happy with where we stand," said Robinson, who took delivery of the TP52 on January 6. "I've been very pleased with our teamwork and boat speed."
Robinson, who also races a Swan 70, has several members of the GBR Challenge America's Cup team aboard, including tactician Adrian Stead along with trimmers Richard Masson and Lisa McDonald. Stay Calm II must try to hold off Thomas Stark’s Rush and Doug DeVos Windquest.
Moneypenny, a Swan 601 owned by Jim Swartz, maintained its one-point lead over Aera (Ker 55, Nick Lykiardopulo) in IRC 1. Those two boats are also contending for the inaugural US-IRC Championship, which combines results from IRC 1 and IRC 2 at this regatta.
"We certainly didn't expect to be dead even with Aera at this point," said Swartz, a venture capitalist who lists Newport, R.I. as home port.
Swartz was overall winner of the Swan American Regatta in July, just two weeks after taking delivery of the custom-built boat. "Winning this championship would be huge for the 601 and change the perception that it's not a good IRC boat," he said.
Mumm 30 and J/105 class championships are all but final.
Nelson Stephenson and his crew of former collegiate All-Americans aboard TeamBold have won seven of eight starts in the 11-boat Mumm 30 class. Stephenson, seeking his first win in eight appearances at Key West, saw the string of bullets end with a third in Race 8. He’ll also take home the Mumm 30 North American Championship.
Masquerade, owned by Thomas Coates of San Francisco, is running away with the 29-boat J/105 class and Mid-Winter Championship after winning or placing second in every race. Chris Perkins is calling tactics for Coates, who holds a 20-point lead over California rival Rich Bergman (Zuni Bear).
"It's been very competitive out there and I'm just glad we've been on the right side of a few puffs during the week," said Coates, the defending class champ at Key West.
Storm, a J/109 owned by Rick Lyall of Wilton, Conn., received Industry Partner Boat of the Day honors. Veteran sailmaker Butch Ulmer is calling tactics for Storm, which posted a 1-4 result on Thursday. Racing in J/109 is extremely close with just two points separating the top three boats.
Vincenzo Onorato sported a very satisfied look as he stood on the dock at Historic Seaport Wednesday afternoon.
Onorato, skipper of the Italian Farr 40 Mascalzone Latino, had many reasons to be happy. He was sailing off Key West in heavy air with three-time America's Cup champion Russell Coutts and was tied for the lead in an incredibly tough class.
"I am always happy to be racing in Key West, and days like this are the reason why. Warm weather and lots of wind... I love the place," Onorato said.
Northerly winds that steadily increased to 25 knots made for another thrilling afternoon at Acura Key West 2006, presented by Nautica.
Competition can get intense and a bit hairy in the professionally-crewed Farr 40 class when it blows because the boats tend to be so tightly congested.
With Coutts calling tactics, Onorato has done well in the difficult conditions of the past two days and soared to the top of the 25-boat fleet. He steered Mascalzone Latino to fourth in Wednesday's race and is now tied with Warpath at 30 points apiece.
This regatta marks the first time Onorato and Coutts have teamed together. Their goal is to capture the 2006 Farr 40 World Championship.
"It is the most exciting thing in the sailing world to sail with the king," Onorato said of Coutts. "Russell brings a unique champions' attitude to the boat."
Warpath, owned by the father-son team of Fred and Steve Howe, also made a major move up the leader board since the heavy air arrived on Tuesday. Past Volvo Ocean Race winner John Kostecki is calling tactics on Warpath, which placed second in Wednesday's start and is winning the regatta by tiebreaker over Mascalzone.
Fiamma, an Italian entry skippered by Alessandro Barnaba, won Wednesday's Farr 40 race. Tommaso Chieffi is calling tactics for Fiamma, which is making its Key West debut.
"It is very exciting sailing in these conditions. Today was a very tough race because the top five boats were really close," Barnaba said. "We had a nice duel upwind. It was important to keep the boat speed going, which was not easy in that much wind."
Goombay Smash continued to extend its lead in the Swan 45 World Championship. Skipper William Douglass and crew posted a third on Wednesday and is now eight points ahead of DSK-Comifin (Danilo Salsi, Italy).
British match racing veteran Chris Law is calling tactics for Douglass, who has led the series since Day 1 by relying on a conservative gameplan.
"Doug is sailing the boat very well and we are going really fast both upwind and downwind," Law said. "I give a lot of credit to Don Kelly, the boat captain. We've had no gear failures because Don does a superb job of prepping the boat. He makes my job a lot easier."
Jeroboam Canova, skippered by Vittorio Codecasa of Porto Cervo, Italy, was the winner of Race 5 on Wednesday. "Today was very good. Fantastic! Everything was perfect... the teamwork was very good and it was easy to steer," Codesda said. "We were not particularly influenced by the tough conditions, because after many times sailing in Sardinia, we are used to weather like this."
Tactician Gabriele Benussi said Jeroboam got a good start and made the correct decision by heading to the right side of the course en route to earning Mount Gay Rum Boat of the Day. "Vittorio helmed very well and we were first at the first windward mark. Downwind, we increased our advantage over the rest of the fleet with good speed, and on the second leg we built a really good distance between us and the next boat," Benussi said.
Two of the regatta's biggest boats - Moneypenny and Aera - are engaged in a terrific battle in IRC 1. Moneypenny, a Swan 601 owned by Jim Swartz of Newport, R.I., placed second in Race 5 and holds a one-point lead over the Ker 55 skippered by Nick Lykiardopulo.
"Racing has been surprisingly close. The rating system has done a very good job of comparing the boats," said Dee Smith, tactician aboard Moneypenny. "We tied a race, which is really rare. Other races have been decided by seconds. You can't get much closer."
This is the first major regatta for Swartz, who took delivery of Moneypenny six months ago. Smith said the owner was "over the moon" about the boat's performance and the fact his team is leading the inaugural U.S.-IRC Championship that is being held this week.
A total of 17 boats from IRC 1 and IRC 2 are competing for the championship. Gold Digger, a J/44 owned by James Bishop, has won all five starts in IRC 2 and stands fifth in the combined standings.
Partners & Partners, a French entry skippered by Philippe Ligot, took over the lead in Melges 24 class with a second place on Wednesday. Blu Moon, a Swiss boat owned by Franco Rossini, fell to second after leading for two days.
"We were third at the leeward mark, but our kite wrapped on the run and we lost two places," said Chris Rast, helmsman aboard Blu Moon. "Today was all about boathandling."
Dave Ullman (Pegasus 505) was winning Race 5, but wiped out on the last downwind leg. Jeff Madrigali (Pegasus 492) had a clean gybe and wound up snatching victory from his teammate.
"I told the crew to hang in there and we'd see if we could win the final run sweepstakes," Madrigali said. "Dave was going to beat us until he broached. We didn't make any big errors, which wasn't easy in the big breeze."
It has been a day for fire and water onboard almost all the boats racing in the closing stages of the Volvo Ocean Race leg two to Melbourne.
“Water and electronics don’t like each other so much,” wrote Bouwe Bekking from third placed movistar tonight. “We have a tiny leak in the mainsheet winch so Capey (Andrew Cape) had built a cover underneath it to collect the drops of water. But as the boat was bouncing so much, the water flew over the top of the cover right onto one of the computer screens. Computer toasted.”
In second place, ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) had an electrical fire in the nav station. “I came downstairs and there was smoke everywhere. Luckily we were able to switch everything off and put the fire out in time. The next job was to get the electronics up and running again. In the meantime, the boys were just steering off the regular compass. We had to get the computer to talk to the instruments so that I could find out where we were, which we managed to do.
“At the moment we are just missing a few things like our messaging terminal, our Sat C and also one of our compasses has gone down,” said a very relaxed Simon Fisher, casually adding: “For quite a while the whole boat was live and if you touched anything electrical, you got 24 volts through you. The problem with electrical fires is that it is quite hard to tell where the cause is.”
Fisher was confident that the damage to the instruments was not serious and would not affect the boat’s performance in the approach to Melbourne.
The Pirates on The Black Pearl have spent a lot of today plugging leaks. Cayard said, “We were taking on a fair amount of water through our keel pins which have gotten loose due to the structural damage we have.”
The dismasting of Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) has shattered his crew. “Unfortunately, as the start of the next leg is not so far away, we won’t be able to finish this one, and the dream of many of us to sail effectively around the world will not come true,” wrote Grael this afternoon, although the yacht is still racing and has not official retired from this leg. “Now we are back sailing under jury rig. The speed is not great, but it’s what we can get under these circumstances. The boat movement is hard and uncomfortable; everyone is tired and disappointed, but already thinking about the future.”
In sailors' parlance, it blew "stink" Tuesday off Key West.
Howling 20-25 knot winds and heavy seas challenged the fleet of 286 boats competing in Acura Key West 2006, presented by Nautica. The tough conditions left skippers and crews exhausted, excited and hoping for more of the same on Wednesday.
Michael Brennan, owner of the Transpac 52 Sjambok, saw 21 knots of speed while screaming downwind under asymmetrical spinnaker. Boats in other high-performance classes such as Farr 40 and Melges 24 were also going incredibly fast.
"Absolutely awesome sailing today. These conditions are perfect for the Melges because you get up on a plane and just take off," said Philippe Kahn, who steered Pegasus 575 to a pair of Top 10 finishes.
Most of the professional crews in the grand prix classes handled the difficult conditions without incident. Goombay Smash maintained its lead in the Swan 45 World Championship while Blu Moon held the top spot in Melges 24. However, there was some shuffling in Farr 40 as Nerone took the lead away from Day 1 pacesetter Norwegian Steam.
Goombay Smash, owned by William Douglass of Newport, R.I., had another strong day with a 1-2 line to increase its lead in Swan 45 class. Danilo Salsi's Italian entry DSK-Comifin held second, but now trails Goombay Smash by seven points instead of two.
"It was another good day today. We love it when it’s blowing, when it’s heavy out there," Douglass said. "Our tactics were just to sail clean, sail fast, and keep consistent."
British match racing veteran Chris Law is calling tactics for Douglass, a fourth-year veteran of the class who was overall winner of the Swan American Regatta in 2005.
"Our tactics are just to keep out of trouble, avoid protest situations, sail the boat well and keep out of the corners," Law said. "We’re going fast, we have a good crew and we’re just going to try and build on our points lead."
Bellicosa, owned by Massimo Ferragamo of New York, had superb day with a fourth and a first to move from ninth to third in the overall standings. Ferragamo admitted Goombay Smash has established itself as the boat to beat in the world championship.
"They are not leading by chance. (Douglass) is a good helmsman and he has a very strong crew," Ferragamo said. "However, there are still several more days of sailing and a lot can happen."
Skipper Massimo Mezzaroma teamed with tactician Lorenzo Bressani to sail Nerone to a third and fourth yesterday. That effort vaulted the Italian entry from sixth to first in the overall Farr 40 standings.
Mascalzone Latino, another Italian boat, is four points behind in second. Three-time America's Cup winner Russell Coutts is calling tactics for owner Vincenzo Onorato, who placed second in Race 4.
Barking Mad, owned by Jim Richardson of Newport, R.I., had the most impressive performance on the Farr 40 course - posting a pair of bullets. California professional Vince Brun is tactician aboard Barking Mad, which moved from 16th to sixth.
"Our team has always sailed really well when it's windy, that is when we shine," Richardson said. "We got two really good pin-end starts and never crossed behind anybody. We're ecstatic about winning both races today. It certainly puts us in better position... back in touch with the leaders."
Warpath, owned by Fred and Steve Howe of San Diego, notched a 9-3 line on Tuesday and stands third - two points behind Mascalzone Latino. John Kostecki, inshore tactician for Ericsson Racing, is taking a break from the Volvo Ocean Race to call tactics for the father-son team.
Switzerland skipper Franco Rossini and his team aboard Blu Moon put up a pair of Top 5 finishes to hold first in Melges 24 class. Swiss Olympian Chris Rast is steering Blu Moon, which has yet to finish lower than fifth yet leads Partners & Partners (Philippe Ligot) by just one point in the overall standings.
It was an extremely productive day for Pegasus Racing, which has three teams in Melges 24 and posted single-digit finishes across the board. California sailmaker Dave Ullman posted a second and a first in the big breeze to jump from seventh to third in the overall standings.
"We were going really fast today and are certainly happy with the results," said Ullman. In addition to class honors, his Team Pegasus 505 entry won The City of Key West Boat of the Day.
TeamBOLD has turned in one of the more notable efforts of the regatta so far, winning all four starts in Mumm 30 class. Owner Nelson Stephenson of Southport, Conn., the U.S. class president, is seeking his first victory in eight trips to Key West.
United Kingdom took the lead in the International Team competition (The Nautica Trophy), which combines the results of three one-design entries from a particular country. Excellent (John Pollard, Melges 24), Fiamma (Alessandro Barnaba) and Fever (Grant Gordon) make up Team UK, which has totaled 22 points - two better than Italy 1.
There were spectacular wipeouts and equipment breakdowns aplenty as a southeasterly that gusted to 30 knots produced a slew of DNF (did not finish) and DNS (did not start) designations on the results sheet. Rough seas also were a problem and helped bring down the masts on at least two big boats - Lloyd Griffin's Hadley 40 Cash Flow and Pete Hunter's Thompson 30 Wairere.
Day 1 of Acura Key West 2006 served up an international smorgasbord within the grand prix classes.
A Norwegian entry is atop the Farr 40 standings while a Swiss boat took the lead in Melges 24. A pair of American skippers sit in first in the Transpac 52 and Swan 45 classes.
Swan 45 is contesting its inaugural world championship and Goombay Smash, owned by William Douglass of Newport, R.I., is the early frontrunner.
“We’re happy about the day, obviously. The team’s fitting in really well together and we didn’t want to push too hard on the first day," Douglass said. “The weather was good, and that shift we’d been hoping for appeared about halfway through the second race.”
British match racing veteran Chris Law is calling tactics aboard Goombay Smash, which posted a fourth and a third Monday and leads DSK-Comifin (Danilo Salsi, Italy) by two points.
“We went out saying we would like to get two top five finishes,” Law said. “We got off the line in decent shape and stayed out of the corners. We wanted to play it conservative.”
There will be no throwouts in the series, scheduled for nine races. Law said several boats were forced to perform penalty turns and absorbed high scores as a result.
“The boats that beat us today banged the corners. We're not willing to do that because you can't take risks in a no-throwout series,” Law said. “We just played the middle and focused on boat speed. We were real fast downwind. We gained a couple boats on those legs.”
Norwegian Steam, owned by Eivind Astrup, is the pacesetter in Farr 40 class after Day 1. Morten Henriksen is calling tactics for Astrup, who notched a second and fourth and is one point ahead of the Italian entry Calvi-Gameon (Carlo Alberini). They also took home the Nautica Boat of the Day honor. Astrup, an Oslo native who was cross country skiing in Norway prior to coming to warm and sunny Florida, was thrilled to get off to a fast start.
“I think the setup of our boat is good and we had good lanes in both starts,” Astrup said. “We were not covered by other boats and that allowed us to focus on speed.”
Astrup is being cautious because he was leading the Farr 40 Worlds in San Francisco after Day 1 then plummeted. “We are not even thinking about winning. We are focusing on sailing fast,” he said.
Racing on Division 1, which includes the Swan 45s and Farr 40s, was delayed about two hours to allow the breeze to build. At around noon, the wind filled from the southeast at 11-12 knots and enabled organizers with Premiere Racing to get off two good races.
“The race committee did an awesome job of dealing with the conditions. Everyone knew the forecast and the wind filled in nicely,” said Scott Nixon, tactician aboard Ramrod, the top United States boat. "We wound up getting a steady breeze and had good racing today.”
Ramrod is owned by Rod Jabin of Annapolis, Md., a relative newcomer to the class. He posted a 7-5 line for the day and stands in fourth overall after losing a tiebreaker to Mascalzone Latino (Vincenzo Onorato, Italy). Three-time America's Cup champion Russell Coutts is calling tactics for Onorato, who steered Mascalzone Latino to a fourth and an eighth.
“In this class, every boat is good and can win a race," Jabin said. "We just wanted to start safe and clean and avoid the big mistakes.”
Blu Moon, owned by Franco Rossini and steered by Chris Rast, had a strong afternoon with a fifth and a second and was in the lead by virtue of tiebreaker over Excellent (John Pollard, United Kingdom).
Rast, who has represented Switzerland in the Olympics, just joined Rossini's team as helmsman and acquitted himself well.
“This was the first day of racing for our team so we're still trying to find the right way to work with each other. We also have new sails and new equipment so we're still sorting out all the questions,” Rast said. "In view of that, we're very happy with today's results. My contract has been extended one more day.”
Rast said Blu Moon had tremendous upwind speed and gave credit to tactician Tiziano Nava and trimmer Andy Estcourt.
“I listen to a lot of what the trimmer tells me and just point the boat in the right direction," said Rast, who comes from the 49er class.
Rush, owned by Thomas Stark of Newport, R.I., sits atop the leader board in professional-laden Transpac 52 class. America's Cup veteran Ed Baird is calling tactics for Rush, which won Race 2 and placed second in Race 1.
“Whenever you've got Ed Baird by your side you're usually going to be in the right spot," Stark said. “We got two great starts and the crew did a nice job with all the maneuvers.”
Team ABN AMRO were first and second as they rounded the second scoring gate on leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race early this morning. ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) picked up his 3.5 points at 0540 GMT with ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) following just over an hour later at 0648 GMT.
Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) is now approaching Eclipse Island and is preparing to stop the boat to take on essential equipment in order to secure their damaged keel ram. So far the team has been able to make a successful jury repair, but to complete this satisfactorily, they need some additional equipment.
“Everything has been set up for a short stop at Eclipse Island. The shore crew is already there and they have replacement bolts, O-rings, hydraulic oil etc. with them. The stop shouldn’t take too long and a lot will depend on the sea state around Eclipse Island. If the sea state is too rough, then we will sail to Albany, where movistar can hide behind a big headland,” explained Bekking.
There is a margin of 67 nautical miles between movistar and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) currently in fourth place, which, provided the turn around for movistar is slick, will only halve this lead. The minimum period allowed in the rules for a stop such as this is two hours.
Pirates of the Caribbean had an encounter with a shark yesterday which became caught on the rudder whilst the boat was sailing at 20 – 25 knots. The crew dropped the headsail and did a partial back down of the boat, freeing the unharmed shark quickly. They are 68 nm south of Eclipse Island.
Having rounded Eclipse Island, the two Dutch boats are now sailing to windward and it will be an upwind slog the whole way to the finish, just over 1300 miles away. ABN AMRO TWO is only 13 nautical miles behind Sanderson and his team and is sailing nearly two knots faster.
ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington) still has just under three day’s sailing ahead of them before they reach Eclipse Island, but the team is in good spirits and maintaining 16 knots average speed.
As Bouwe Bekking and his team onboard third placed movistar struggled with the hydraulics on their canting keel ram, which was damaged yesterday, a brilliant plan was devised. Australian crewman, Chris Nicholson suggested that the crew should try and fix the ram with other bolts and hope that the seals inside would not be too damaged.
In the dark, with one team sailing the boat, the remaining few got to work. Bekking explains the process, “Not only did the ram have to be taken out, but the water-maker as well. Plus the so-called wet box had to be opened, to reach the clevis pin. You have to disconnect the ram from the keel head, otherwise you can't get the ram out, but this means water can freely run into the boat. You try to fix one problem, and you open another can of worms. And of course like always, pitch dark outside, so even darker inside movistar.
“The jury repairs went ok, but we are in need of more serious size bolts. Oh, yes, all is well onboard movistar; we can still laugh, but need to have a word with some engineers!!”
Elsewhere in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), who has held a substantial lead in this leg, has had his worse fears realised as ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) has overtaken them and now lead by seven nautical miles. Movistar, who is now back up to speed, is breathing down Sanderson’s neck, just five miles astern, while the pirates onboard the Black Pearl (Paul Cayard) are closing quickly, gaining 20 nm in the last six hours.
The leading three boats have now made the crucial turn to the north east and are 320 nm from the second scoring gate at Eclipse Island where the second set of points on offer for this leg can be won. This island lies just 1.5 miles off Albany on the South West corner of Western Australia.
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) has only 473 nautical miles to the second scoring gate at the Eclipse Island this morning, but in the last six hours the yacht has slowed to below ten knots, with wind speeds of around five knots from the north. Meanwhile the chasing pack still has 15 to 20 knots helping them to compress the distance between them and the leader.
Paul Cayard (Pirates of the Caribbean) reported over night how he and his crew are feeling more comfortable with the pirate ship and are up to 90% of full speed.
They are looking forward to getting a chance to gain on the three yachts in front of them but for the moment Paul told us about the more jovial side of life onboard, “It is starting to smell like a kennel onboard. There is no time when you can go on deck and not get wet pretty much to the skin so there are a lot of wet clothes and socks laying around that are starting to smell pretty bad.
“Our Real Expedition freeze dried food is still pleasing everyone so that is a good sign. Usually everyone gets pretty fed up with the food whatever it is after two weeks. We are losing weight through, at least I am. All those rolls that I had justified as necessary stores for three weeks at sea are finally shedding themselves.“
The ever happy guys on ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington) are obviously having a good if not sarcastic day as Grant Wharington explained, “We have had beautiful sailing conditions for the last 48 hours and have been making good progress considering the fact that we have been sailing in average 8 knots less wind speed than the opposition for the last week.
“The Caravan is in good shape generally; the carpets and beds are dry, the aerial well tuned and the generator keeping the appliances well charged but the kitchen I must say is looking a bit shabby! You know the hygiene is a little lacking when towards the end of your coffee it starts to taste like 2 minute noodles or even Morning Fresh not properly rinsed out of the mug. Still a few small leaks through the skylights but the tyres are holding pressure well.”
As decision time for the skippers and navigators looms Bouwe Bekking (movistar) told us exactly why the decisions are so hard to make, “Capey (Andrew Cape), our navigator spends hours here in the nav station, looking into all the options. A crucial decision will have to be made soon, and that is when to start heading north towards Australia. We have to watch out that we don't stick for too long down south, as then your wind angle coming into Aus will get worse, and therefore we will be at a slower boat speed. But computers are a great help for making these decisions.”
Finally the boys on Brasil 1(Torben Grael) have carried on gaining miles on the fleet and are currently speeding along at 22 knots, the fastest of all the yachts. Australian bowman Andy Meiklejohn revealed how the crew are handling the cold, ”Back to today, while not breaking south like in previous years, the temperature has still been cold for the Brazilian guys used to the Rio summer and 40 degrees. Boshesha (Andre Fonseca) (usually found sleeping on the generator box during and after charging) dons fleece lined wetsuit gloves, two balaclava’s and full mid layer, while Knut Frostad (a close neighbour of Santa Clause) is often heard saying “it’s quite warm today.” We have been reaching along in 20 to 30 knot N to NNEasterlies with little sign of that changing, picking off 30 to 40 miles a sked on Grant (Wharington) and co. (ING Real Estate Brunel). I must sign off there, the generator box has just been vacated, isn’t this fun!!!”
Spanish Volvo Open 70 movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has reported a fault with the keel hydraulics on their boat. The fault seems not to have affected their performance today and they continue to close on the leading two ABN AMRO boats. They are still sailing at 11 knots towards the south western corner of Australia, sailing a course of about 68 degrees.
The text of the release from the team is as follows: “movistar has reported a fault with the port-hand hydraulic ram - one of the two rams that operates the canting keel system. The crew and the rest of the boat are fine, and they are maintaining optimal speeds as they near the coast of Australia and close in on the leaders of leg two. They are considering different options, including a stop at the southwest of Australia to evaluate the damage and to make a quick repair before rejoining the race to finish in Melbourne.”
The port of Albany is very close to the scoring gate at Eclipse Island and the boat would be able to score points at the gate, then take a short stop to repair the fault before continuing the 1,300 nautical miles or so to the finish at Melbourne. Given the weather conditions that look likely to prevail for the rest of the 480 nautical mile run to the scoring gate – five to seven knots of wind from initially the northwest, then going easterly – it might be a gentle passage not only for movistar, but also for all the boats in the leading pack.
Volvo Ocean Race Chief Executive, Glenn Bourke, said, “As with every iteration of the Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race, particularly in the early legs of the race, boats have broken components and this is no change. But allowing for a mandatory minimum repair window of two-hours for outside assistance to affect the repairs has proven to be a beneficial change in the racing rules, allowing the teams to compete right to the end for a podium position.
“Mike Sanderson’s comments of two days ago where interesting when he said, ‘We have to overbuild things and in doing so, bury the gremlin, and we have to find the limits gently as to how hard we can push these new boats. Both of which are possible.’ “
“These boats will evolve very quickly as the race progresses,” continued Mr Bourke. “We never envisaged that they would be anything other than world-class cutting-edge racing machines and they are proving to be just that. “
After the relentlessly fast sailing of the past few days, the wind has eased and the tired crews, racing in leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race, have been able to enjoy a few hours respite without being constantly soaked by the huge rollers that break over the boat.
Speeds are still high but less water is coming over the deck, which means less bailing out down below. “It’s funny, though,” writes Simon Fisher, navigator of ABN AMRO TWO, the holder of new GANT TIME 24 hour run world record. “Having pushed the boundaries of what we could do with this boat yesterday, what we once thought was extreme no longer seems so extreme any more. I say we have having a more relaxing time, but we are still charging along at 21-22 knots average with our fractional spinnaker and full main. This was pretty full on for us in the last leg, but now it seems more like the norm.”
In frustrating fifth position, ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington) has rounded the scoring gate at the Kerguelen Islands, scoring 1.5 points. The rest of the fleet is staying south as long as possible, reaping the benefits of the strong westerlies, and banking some miles, before making the critical north easterly turn towards the next scoring gate at Eclipse Island, set off Albany on the Australian coast. In their path is a series of high pressure systems which is starting to affect the leaders’ charge and giving a window of opportunity to the chasing pack.
In his daily report to the Volvo Ocean Race headquarters, skipper of leading boat, Mike Sanderson (ABN AMRO ONE), discusses the breakages experienced among the seven-strong fleet so far.
“We have to over build things and in doing so, bury the gremlin, and we have to find the limits gently as to how hard we can push these new boats. Both of which are possible.”
“When ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) broke the 24 hour record, the conditions were too bouncy for us – we need flatter water than that – but they [ABN AMRO TWO] are a stronger boat and the price they have paid for that stronger boat is less lead in the keel, so upwind and tighter reaching, they are slower than us. Those are just facts of life, so while we had to be at 90%, they were at 100%.”
Andy Hindley, race director for the event, commented: “The rule management group and the race committee had already issued notification in Cape Town that all boats would be reweighed in Melbourne and weight removed from the keels where required to compensate for extra materials added to strengthen the boats.”
Sanderson agrees and concludes, “The race management group will have to give us the two weeks [in Melbourne] to do only the changes the teams and the designers think is necessary to make the boats tough enough, and then we have to re-weigh and take lead off our keels accordingly.”
Meanwhile, Paul Cayard and his pirates aboard the Black Pearl, have had another round of telephone calls and information exchange with the designers of their boat. “We have damage to the secondary support structure in the area of the keel,” explained Cayard late last night. “That means that the main structure is integral, but the bits that bond it to the boat have been compromised, probably only slightly.”
Cayard’s goals now are to get the boat and crew to the dock in Melbourne safely and without incurring any more damage, especially serious damage that could keep them out of the next leg.
As the fleet passed the half way point in leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race, complex weather continues to challenge the fleet. However, Chris Bedford, race meteorologist, says, that given the expected conditions, the leaders should be nearing the second scoring gate of Eclipse Island off Australia, by Sunday.
As the fleet peels off towards the higher latitudes once more, concerns about ice remain on everyone’s minds. Updated ice information was given to the fleet yesterday, just before they passed the final ice gate and started to head further south.
It is likely that the fleet will want to remain in the stronger winds as long as possible incurring some extra distance. The turn northeast towards Eclipse Island will be critical and the navigators will need to identify the optimum time to make the turn. A series of high pressure centres with very light and shifty winds will move towards the Australian Bight and a ridge of high pressure with accompanying light winds will move between the fleet and the scoring gate.
The positions tonight remain unchanged. Speeds stay high at the top of the fleet, but for ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington), the struggle goes on. Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), sailing her own race, is easing back into racing mode and jogging along nicely at 15.6 knots.
Overnight, Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) was overtaken by movistar when the crew noticed cracks in the area of its keel support structure. Water was coming into the boat from those cracks and still is. The rate of water flow is manageable at this time. Paul Cayard has sent this report:
”Sail was immediately reduced. Photos and video of the cracks were recorded and sent to the designer of the boat.
”Several hours were spent discussing this issue with the designers of the boat. A certain level of comfort was achieved and we proceeded, with reduced sail, east at 12 knots through the night.
”This morning we have reviewed the drawings of how this area was designed. It is not clear to us if this is structural damage or superficial. The fact that water is coming into the boat is not reassuring. We have a made a new video and photos in the daylight, and sent them off to the designers.
”We have run tests with 0, 20 and 40 degrees of cant while inspecting the area. 40 degrees is definitely alarming. The cracks open and close as the loads change and the water flow is more and less accordingly. 20 degrees seems tolerable.
”It is not clear to us, and probably will never be clear to us or anyone, how serious this damage is until we reach land. We simply can't properly inspect the area out here.
”On the weather side, the best winds to help us make the progress toward Australia are during the next 30 hours. We currently have winds from the northwest. Eventually, we will fall "of the back" of this system and be hit with less favourable winds from southeast. There is danger in being out here for long time.
”Therefore, considering all of the above, I have decided to run the boat up to 80% of full speed at this time, with a maximum of 20 degree of cant, to make as much progress as reasonably possible in these conditions.
”Naturally we are taking all precautions necessary for any eventuality.
”In general, all is well and stable onboard the Black Pearl.”
First of all congrats to the "kids", well done by setting a new record, from all us of the movistar sailing team. Currently we are 1.5 miles away from our previous record, it will be nice to set a new personal best. You just Know when you have a good sched or a bad one. If the wind is steady, we Know we are ok, but as soon the wind drops a little , you know that it is most likely that the boats ahead are still in better pressure.
The sailing in breeze is becoming now a routine, putting the fears of
breaking anything a bit more behind me, but it still is there. Like last night, a sickening crushing noise came from our primary winch, which is driving the spinnaker sheet. The carbon fibre drum is cracked and the winch ceased completely. Imagine this winch can lift 4 Volvo cars. We have three identical winches onboard, so most likely as soon the breeze drops we will replace the broken winch by the mainsheet winch, and use a smaller winch to operate the mainsheet.
It took us while this morning to wake up Jono (Jonathan Swain). We had to shake him violently before finally he got the point. "Mate, you must have slept fantastic, since it was nearly impossible to wake you up" His response: "Yes, slept like a baby, but since the boat is shaking so much, how would I know, that you tried to wake me, the shaking feels the same!!"
Bouwe Bekking - Skipper
Last evening at 1845 the crew of the Black Pearl noticed cracks in the area of it keel support structure. Water was coming into the boat from those cracks and still is. The rate of water flow is manageable at this time.
Sail was immediately reduced. Photos and video of the cracks were
recorded and sent to the designer of the boat.
Several hours were spent discussing this issue with the designers of the boat. A certain level of comfort was achieved and we proceeded, with reduced sail, east at 12 knots through the night.
This morning we have reviewed the drawings of how this area was designed. It is not clear to us if this is structural damage or superficial. The fact that water is coming into the boat is not reassuring. We have a made a new video and photos in the daylight, and sent them off to the designers.
We have run tests with 0, 20 and 40 degrees of cant while inspecting the area. 40 degrees is definitely alarming. The cracks open and close as the loads change and the water flow is more and less accordingly. 20 degrees seems tolerable.
It is not clear to us, and probably will never be clear to us or anyone, how serious this damage is until we reach land. We simply can't properly inspect the area out here.
On the weather side, the best winds to help us make the progress toward Australia are during the next 30 hours. We currently have winds from the northwest. Eventually, we will fall "off the back" of this system and be hit with less favourable winds from southeast. There is danger in being out here for long time.
Therefore, considering all of the above, I have decided to run the boat up to 80% of full speed at this time, with a maximum of 20 degree of cant, to make as much progress as reasonably possible in these conditions.
Naturally we are taking all precautions necessary for any eventuality.
In general, all is well and stable onboard the Black Pearl.
Paul Cayard - skipper
Southern Ocean Sailing! This is not how I remember my last few trips
through the Southern Ocean. The conditions could be mistaken for trade wind sailing, Sunny blue skies and nice 15 – 20 knts reaching conditions. It is fast easy sailing, the stuff that they advertise in the Volvo Ocean race brochure! But hey! we where also promised huge waves and ice, well maybe later.
Brasil 1 is in great shape after our little pit stop. Thanks again to our shore crew who did a fantastic job of putting our little “stock car “back together again. Now I know how it feels for a Nascar driver to stand in the pits and watch while the others keep racing while the car is being fixed. It feels good to get back out on the track again to try and score some points. With some good luck we might even catch someone, although it would be the same type of luck needed to win the lottery!
There is little else to report on today as things onboard continue to run smoothly, although there is rumoured to be a time change today which always creates some confusion in the watch system. I could report on the talk on deck but then again that would be suicide.
Knut Frostad – watch leader
Portsmouth, R.I. (January 11, 2006) - Nick Scandone (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) today were named, respectively, US SAILING's 2005 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year. From a shortlist of nominees determined by the membership of US SAILING, a panel of noted sailing journalists with national and regional perspectives selected the two sailors for the distinction. During their deliberations, one panelist remarked that the strongest candidates for this award primarily fall into two categories -- the class expert and the versatile sailor.
Established in 1961 by US SAILING and sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A. since 1980, the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Awards recognize outstanding on-the-water achievement in the calendar year just concluded. The winners will be honored and presented with specially engraved Rolex timepieces at a February 24, 2006, luncheon at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan.
Rolex Yachtsman of the Year - Nominated for the first time, US SAILING's 2005 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Nick Scandone was recognized for his win of the 2.4 Metre World Championship in Italy. His remarkable performance in the 88-boat fleet included besting seven world champions as well as three Paralympic medalists who were among the 34 disabled competitors going head-to-head with the class's best able-bodied sailors from around the world. Scandone chalked up two first-place finishes in the eight-race series to edge out his closest competitor -- an able-bodied sailor and the class' three-time world champion -- by 10 points for the championship crown. Only two other disabled sailors finished in the top 10 at the event. Additionally, Scandone successfully defended his U.S. Independence Cup/North American Challenge Cup title and won the America's Disabled/Open Regatta. At the 33-boat IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championship in Denmark, Scandone won the final two races of the nine-race series to finish sixth overall in the 2.4 Metre fleet.
"How do I even say it: I'm overwhelmed," said Scandone, who received news of the panel's decision just prior to leaving for the IFDS Disabled World Championships in Australia. "I knew I had a good season, but I didn't think it would get this kind of recognition. This is something I never dreamed would happen. I've always admired many of the people who have received this award in the past, and to have my name included is something I will always be proud of and cherish for the rest of my life."
A California native, the 39-year-old Scandone grew up in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley where he attended Fountain Valley High School. He learned to sail through the junior program at Balboa Yacht Club (Corona del Mar) in the Naples Sabot, progressing to other boats on his way to the college sailing scene. At UC-Irvine Scandone was a key member of the team that won ICSA's (Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association) 1988 North American Dinghy and Team Racing Championships, which also earned him ICSA All-American honors that year. He moved to the 470 class and won the 1991 470 North American Championships in the course of training for the 1992 Olympic Trials. After finishing out of the money at the Trials, Scandone became a weekend warrior in a variety of classes -- Schock 35, Snipe, Melges and the Lido 14 in which he is a two-time national champion -- while making a career in advertising sales.
Three and a half years ago Scandone was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Schlerosis), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Now 40 lbs. lighter, using a cane and with braces on both legs, Scandone has battled this progressive neuromuscular disease, for which there is no approved medication or cure, with a positive attitude. "Sailing has allowed me to have something to look forward to," he said. As often as is possible, he swims and gets out sailing in his 2.4 Metre while continuing to compete against able-bodied sailors. While he has become physically weaker over the course of the illness, Scandone's tenacious determination and competitive drive have not diminished one bit.
Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year - Sally Barkow, the selection panel's unanimous choice as US SAILING's 2005 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, was recognized for her "versatility and consistency, both abroad and at home" after winning a string of noteworthy international events -- including two world championships -- in four different keelboat classes.
"This is something I've been trying to achieve for three to four years," said Barkow. "It's been a fantastic year for our team. Receiving this award pays tribute to the effort and determination we have all put in and really makes the year complete."
At the Virtual Spectator ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship, held in Bermuda and sailed in J/24s, Barkow recovered from two penalties -- not to mention the mid-race loss overboard of one of her crew who she quickly pulled back on board -- to come from behind twice in three matches to post a 3-0 sweep of the final round.
In France, Barkow overcame a strong local contingent to win the ISAF St. Quay Match Race sailed in Beneteau First Class 8 before heading to Annapolis for US SAILING's Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship where she successfully defended the title she first won in 2003. This time it was with one race to spare after a consistent performance in the 42-boat J/22 fleet that featured several Olympians, world champions and three previous winners of the Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year title. "There was Sally, and then there was the rest of us," said two-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Jody Swanson (Buffalo, N.Y.) about Barkow's impressive victory.
In the Olympic Yngling class, Barkow and teammates Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) and Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) traversed the globe and took the top prize at US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR; the Expert Olympic Garda/Eurolymp Regatta in Italy; and Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères, France. They cemented their top position in the Yngling class with the world title they claimed at the Yngling Women's World Championship in Austria where shifty conditions on Alpine Lake Mondsee were challenging for the 34 teams competing -- including two medalists among the nine 2004 Athens Olympians in attendance.
Growing up in a family that counts five generations of sailors, Barkow was exposed to the sport from a young age. She took over the tiller as a 10-year-old when her older brother could not skipper for a local regatta. With an admonition from her father to win and the added incentive that he would buy her a boat if she did, she crossed the finish line in first. After considering whether to ski or play basketball in college, Barkow traded the inland lakes of Wisconsin for the waters of Norfolk, Virginia, while she pursued a Psychology degree at Old Dominion University (ODU). There she twice earned ICSA (Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association) All-American honors (2001 and 2002), and helped ODU win the 2002 ICSA North American Women's Championship for the third time in the school's history.
Since graduation, the 25-year-old Barkow has moved to the forefront of the pack competing for an Olympic berth in the Yngling event. Her meteoric rise in keelboats, both in fleet racing and match racing, has put her on this award's shortlist for the fourth consecutive year.
Miami, Fla. (January 10, 2006) - A quick glance at the list of early entries for the upcoming US SAILING Rolex Miami OCR provides valuable insight as to which sailors are eyeing an opportunity to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. With more than 260 boats already registered, including the reigning world champions in six classes, the entry list already looks very impressive while registrations are still being accepted through January 22 (discounted fees until January 16). Organized by US SAILING to prepare sailors in the classes chosen for the Olympic and Paralympic Regattas, the Rolex Miami OCR kicks off with opening ceremonies on Sunday, January 22, followed by five days of racing through January 27.
For the competitors of US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR, exciting opportunities await: Grade 1 ranking points for the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) world rankings; a potential spot on the 2006 US Sailing Team; and, for sailors from Pan-American countries, a chance to qualify their country for the 2007 Pan American Games.
Filled with many well-known names and faces from the Olympic sailing scene, the current list of entries for US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR sets the tone for 2006 and includes several reigning world champions:
* 49er: 2005 World Champions Rodion Luka & George Leonchuk (Ukraine), as well as the current number one team on ISAF's World Rankings Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks (Great Britain)
* 470 Men: Alvaro Marinho and Miguel Nunes (Portugal), number one team for ISAF's World Rankings in the Men's 470 class
* 470 Women: ISAF World Rankings number one team Ingrid Petitjean and Nadege Douroux (France)
* Laser Radial: Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.), 2005 Laser Radial World Champion and number one in the ISAF World Rankings
* Star: ISAF World Rankings number one Laser sailor Robert Scheidt (Brazil)
* Tornado: Spain's reigning world champions and the 2005 ISAF Sailors of the Year Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz
* Yngling: 2005 World Champions Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), and Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.)
For windsurfers competing on the new Neil Pryde RS:X class, US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR will be one of the first International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 1 events since the board was selected for the 2008 Olympic Games. Competitors from more than ten different countries have already registered in that class. While the class may be new, some familiar faces will be on the race course, including Brazil's Ricardo Santos. Santos is a seasoned Mistral sailor when that class was still an Olympic class and, more recently, finished second at the 2005 Mistral World Championships.
In the Finn and Laser classes, last year's winners Chris Cook (Canada) and Brad Funk (Plantation, Fla.) respectively are returning to defend their titles.
At 2040 GMT ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) was at 40 45 51 S: 70 05 78 E and had passed the scoring gate, collecting three points, putting her into second place overall. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) although being threatened by movistar (Bouwe Bekking), looks set to round the gate, just 55 nm away, in third place. Both ABN AMRO TWO and the pirates have had a thrilling ride over the last six hours, achieving top speeds of 29 knots or more, giving them a taste of real Southern Ocean weather at last.
Leaders, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is now on the opposite gybe, heading south, and the position report is showing the predicted losses as she heads south away from the next scoring gate at Eclipse Island and the finish in Melbourne in search of strong breeze.
ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington) is still stuck in low pressure, while Torben Grael and his team are enjoying their return to the race track, clocking up some nice speeds on the newly repaired Brasil 1.
With several boats suffering damage, concern has been expressed recently about the safety of the new Volvo Open 70 design and in particular its keel system. Mike Sanderson skipper of leading boat ABN AMRO ONE took up the baton on behalf of the sailors today in his daily report to race headquarters.
“I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that I will happily sit down with anyone and explain the thousands of hours that have gone in to making of Team ABN AMRO's keel systems as safe as possible.
“We need the keels to stay where we want them to during the race for two reasons, and the good news is that they both go hand in hand.
“Firstly we need them to stay there for the safety of the guys. But we also need them to stay there so that we can keep racing and the team that can finish all the legs without a break down, picking up the points bonus, as all legs count.
“So the safety of everyone is at the top of the list no matter how you look at it. Every Volvo 70 that has had a problem so far, since the first boat was launched in January last year, has got back in to port without assistance.
“Everyone called for a more exciting boat, both the public and the sailors. And guess what? We got it..
“Volvo has supplied us with a rule that makes just fantastic boats. The breakage's are all from weight reduction decisions that have been made by either the design team or the racing team...
“We all knew the whole time that we needed a big bulb on the keel to win the race, and we also knew that we needed to finish the legs to win the race.
“It will be he who has walked that fine line correctly at the end of the day that will come out on top and we’re not going to know who that is for another seven months yet.”
The Optimist Dinghy was designed over 50 years ago to teach young children to become proficient sailors and provide the opportunity to learn and enjoy sailing. The "Opti" as it is termed, is one of the largest one-design fleets in the world, with over 150,000 boats being sailed competitively, in over 85 countries. Last year the MYC Opti Open, drew 125 boats from all over Fairfield County, and we expect just as many this year. Can you picture 125 little boats all trying to leave the harbor at the same time? It’s really exciting! Come down and see for yourself.
The boats are separated and raced in several different fleets based on age and experience. The four fleets are the Green Fleet, White Fleet, Blue Fleet, and Red Fleet. The top finishers in each fleet will receive a trophy at the festivities following the race. Unfortunately not every junior sailor will walk away with a piece of silver. In order to make this experience a memorable one for them, we are having a free raffle. We hope we can get enough donated prizes so everyone will go home with something and we are counting on your support. Anything that a child between the age of 8 and 15 would like would be appropriate.
Supporters will be recognized by having their name posted on our banner and in our program booklet, acknowledging them, and requesting the families, friends and juniors to support you. Your name will also be announced as having made a particular contribution, prior to the awarding of the raffle prizes. Kindly mail your contribution to the address below. If you have any questions; please contact me at 203 374-5777 or at aliebnick@aol.com.
Young Sailors go one better than their 'elder brothers' January 11, 2006: Break neck speeds, hurtling down waves and several tons of water flying down the deck seem to be commonplace amongst the Volvo Ocean Race fleet but record runs have so far been reserved for Mike Sanderson and his crew on ABN AMRO ONE. Today ABN AMRO TWO confirmed their position as serious contenders in this race by breaking the world speed record clocking up 558 miles in a 24 hour period.*
Stealing the record from their sister ship, ABN AMRO TWO have shown that they have come a long way since their selection over a year ago when 6 of them were chosen from a world wide competition. Coupled with breaking the record, the crew of ABN AMRO TWO also has cause to
celebrate as they passed the first scoring gate of this leg in second
place adding 3 points to their tally. This is a stark change of
fortunes from Fernando de Noronha when they were denied second place and fell to fourth just before the scoring gate. They are now second on the overall leader board.
Speaking from onboard ABN AMRO TWO after they had heard they had broken the record, navigator Simon Fisher said: "We realized we were in with a chance earlier today and then as each sked came in we realized we were looking better and better. We woke up all the guys to tell them - this is huge for all of us and we are stoked. We were then all waiting on tenter hooks to see if we would make it so we are all ecstatic when the final sked came through. It is still pretty windy out here; it is wet and wild on deck. At an average of 23 knots we only 3 people on deck - one person driving with a fire helmet as you have so much spray on you, the other 2 guys are wearing motor cross goggles, trimming and grinding.
Down below is pretty uncomfortable - using the toilet and getting
dressed is pretty hard - the comfiest place you can be is in your bed!!
We are all delighted about the last 24 hours - getting the record and
clocking the points at the scoring gate but after a small celebration we have to get on with this - the other guys around us are still going pretty fast and we need to keep this boat together."
On hearing the news, Mike Sanderson was first to send his
congratulations: "What a fantastic effort guys... You deserve this, we have got your new record at 558 already, and I am sure it will go up. From all of us here on ABN AMRO ONE, we are so excited for you guys and another massive day for the Team. I hope all the shore team take a lot of enjoyment out of this as well as I know the whole team have worked there hearts out for days like this...
Normally it would be a sad day to have to hand something like this over, but we are genuinely very excited for you guys. Massive effort, our greatest Congratulations to everyone.
From Mike, Stan, Betty and the Guys
P.S.. haven't we taught you to respect your elders better then
that...!!!
* All records subject to ratification by the WSSRC
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is gaining miles at every position report, causing dark faces on the crews trying to catch them. The unstable wind has caused so many sail changes that the crews are now very tired.
At 1000 GMT this morning, ABN AMRO had 296 nautical miles to sail before crossing longitude 70E, passing the Kerguelen Islands and collecting 3.5 points. The second ice waypoint lies above latitude 42S, between longitude 69E and 77E and they will have to dip briefly across this line.
While the race continues for second place between Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse), movistar continues to race alone, 179 nautical miles to the north. ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington) is now on almost the same course as ABN AMRO ONE, but with very little wind and barely making 10 knots.
“On movistar we feel like a greyhound on the race track, who just can’t get the rabbit,” wrote skipper Bouwe Bekking early this morning.
The worry for the chasing pack now is whether they will be hit by a secondary low, spinning out from the decaying old front. This could cause havoc for them if they get hit with its 40 knot north or north easterly winds. Pirates of the Caribbean and ABN AMRO TWO are trying desperately to catch back up to the front and cross to south and east of the new low pressure system. These two teams are watching movistar, which is positioned on the north side of the secondary low, to see how they progress before they make the dive south.
9 January 2006 - The Ericsson Racing Team has officially retired from Leg Two of the Volvo Ocean Race after experiencing failure to her hydraulic keel movement system in the early hours of 4 January. She arrived into Port Elizabeth (RSA) at 09.00 GMT on Friday evening, from where she is currently being transported by the Wallenius Wilhelmsen container ship "Targus" to Melbourne (AUS).
Ericsson initially headed into Mossel Bay after the failure, where the broken titanium ram was replaced with a spare steel ram, in the hope of continuing racing. However, the team decided this was not an adequate solution as the replacement steel ram was made to the same specification as the broken ram. As the reason behind the failure of the titanium ram hasn't been found it would not have been prudent to resume racing.
Ericsson continued sailing from where she suspended racing and arrived into Port Elizabeth late Friday night. The Ericsson Racing Team has officially retired from Leg Two of the Volvo Ocean Race after securing the shipment to Melbourne.
Ericsson Racing Team skipper, Neal McDonald (GBR) commented: "Everyone has been pulling together to try and make it possible for us to continue racing - the sailors, the shore crew, our management team and our sponsor - but this is not in the interests of the team in the long term. We have to look at the race in its entirety, not just one leg at a time, and I believe this is the best decision for the future of the campaign. I am confident we will find a solution that will see us join the race in Melbourne as a strong competitor."
McDonald continued: "It is in tough times like this when you really bond as a team and we are now more determined than ever to make a comeback in this race. With seven legs and five in-port races to go, the race is still very open and there are many points up for grabs."
Dusyant Patel, Operating Officer for the Ericsson Racing Team and head of sponsorship at Ericsson, added: "This is a grand prix sport and we always knew that racing in the Volvo Ocean Race was a challenge, especially with a completely new design of boat. We have been knocked down but we are determined to get back up and return to the race as a very competitive team.
I am impressed by the hard work and determination that the team has demonstrated in order to get the boat back on the race course. Ultimately this race is about perseverance, fighting back despite the setbacks, and stepping up to the challenge."
A lot of research is currently being done in order to further develop and strengthen the system which cants the keel. After the failure, the Ericsson Racing Team immediately set up a special Ram Project, headed by Magnus Olsson and including other team members, hydraulics consultants, engineers and other specialists. They are all working hard, trying to understand why the ram broke and simultaneously securing options to make sure that the boat will continue racing without impeding its performance.
Ericsson was loaded onto a Wallenius Wilhelmsen cargo ship called "Targus" earlier today and she has left Port Elizabeth at 01.00 GMT on Monday 9 January. She will sail through Durban and Mauritius before heading to Melbourne, where she is due to arrive on January 26.
Preparing Ericsson for shipping has been a full team effort, with sailors and shore crew working together to dismantle the mast and load the boat. The sailing team will fly to Australia on Monday, to both train and rest, as they await Ericsson's arrival.
The front that has been threatening to roll over the fleet during the night has had a devastating effect on movistar (Bouwe Bekking), causing massive losses. Early this morning Bekking wrote, “Ouch, that hurt. The fear of not being able to hang on to the front has come true. The predictions were wrong and were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) on the other hand, seems to be in exactly the right place and her average speed has rocketed up to 21.4 knots. Bekking will be feeling a little better now as movistar picks up the pace to 16.8, while Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), who has managed to keep ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) at bay, are both averaging 12.5 knots.
The loser now is ING Real Estate Brasil (Grant Wharington) as this team feels the effects of the front which has knocked them back to an eight knot average.
Today, as the breeze builds to 18 knots from behind, it is the Aussie battlers onboard ING Real Estate (Grant Wharington) who are closing on the fleet with the new pressure. ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) has managed to hold off Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), but the second Dutch boat, ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) is closing on Pirates of the Caribbean who are now just three miles ahead. Movistar is still sailing significantly slower than the other boats, while ING Real Estate Brunel is managing to average 22.3 knots and a 24 hour speed average over two knots faster than the rest of the fleet.
In Port Elizabeth, South Africa, tonight, the decision was made by the Brasil 1 team that the damage to the boat could be repaired and that the team will be back out on the race track to complete leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race next Tuesday. The ground crew of six have been working on the boat since yesterday afternoon. Technical director, Horacio Carabelli, said, “we are repairing the damaged areas and adding some structural parts to strengthen this region even further. These repairs should be of a definite nature so that when we arrive in Australia, we don’t have to work too much on the boat to get it ready for the in-port race in Melbourne and for the leg to Rio de Janeiro.”
Brasil 1 should arrive in Melbourne just in time for the in-port race, scheduled for February 4. It will be a tough turnaround for this team, who will have approximately four days before the in-port race and then another five days before the start of the third off-shore leg, to get the boat ready. “Somos brasileiros e não desistimos nunca,” translated from Portuguese means, “We are Brazilians, and we never give up.”
Ericsson (Neal McDonald), the other boat to suffer damage, has reached Port Elizabeth and has suspended racing.
Life is good for those further south, as the fleet reaches at 18 knots towards the mark in flat water, in close formation. “The water is slowly getting cooler, however the game is still HOT out here. Bigger breeze coming for the next few days…. Hook in and hang on,” wrote Paul Cayard (Pirates of the Caribbean) tonight.
The two Dutch boats, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) along with Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) finally made their turn to the east around 0930 GMT this morning and are now in the westerly breeze they have been longing for. ING Real Estate Brunel is still heading south, but 91nautical miles behind movistar (Bouwe Bekking) who still holds lead.
Movistar now has less breeze and the time of reckoning is near. The southerly group has taken over 20 miles out of her lead and are sailing three knots quicker, feeling the benefit of the new breeze. Will movistar have made enough gain to the east to outpace this group?
Volvo Ocean Race meteorologist, Chris Bedford, explains: “The westerly winds are solid and look like they will gradually increase over the next 24 hours. This will probably be too much for movistar, especially as both the Dutch boats will revel in the strong following breeze to come. By later tomorrow, a strong depression is expected to pass south of the fleet. Winds will increase to 30 knots or more, and the southerly yachts will benefit most and movistar’s lead will be at serious risk to the southerly boats.”
Meanwhile, Ericsson (Neal McDonald) one of the two yachts suffering damage, has arrived in Mossel Bay in South Africa and officially suspended racing at 0020 GMT. The team’s hydraulics expert is currently examining the damaged keel rams. Brasil 1 is expected to arrive in Port Elizabeth around 1800 local time this afternoon.
On January 2, against a back drop of Table Mountain, the start of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race began in drifting conditions which caused chaos in the fleet. The rounding of the turning mark led to three protest flags being raised in anger, a small collision between ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) and Ericsson (Neal McDonald) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) becoming attached to the buoy as they drifted onto it without steerage. In this inauspicious way, the long drag race south in search of the famous westerly breeze known as the Roaring 40s began with Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) leading the hunt.
The progress was slow and the fleet stayed tightly together for most of the next day, but, later in the afternoon, Bouwe Bekking made the brave decision, one he was later to regret, to peel movistar off from the rest of the fleet and head east. The light conditions continued, but Neal McDonald noted, “It’s only a matter of time and the waiting game will be over.” How right he was.
As the wind increased the boats started to fly off the tops of the waves, slamming into the back of the next ones, and a message was received at Race HQ. In the early hours of day three, Ericsson reported a problem with their keel movement system and swiftly turned the boat around and headed for the shore. At 0700 GMT another message was received. This time is was Brasil 1 in trouble. The crew had discovered a structural problem in the deck, and they too had slowed the boat down and reluctantly turned her towards the shore.
Both teams were met by their shore crews who assessed the damage. “It is absolute devastation for the team and for the boat,” said crewman Richard Mason. Skipper, Neal McDonald, added, “Our initial thoughts were safety and the next is our position in the race. Those two conflict each other. We could have carried on for an unknown period of time, but that clearly wasn’t an option in my mind.”
Back out at sea, the remaining five boats were sailing cautiously. “The breeze is still on the nose and the sailing is wet. Below decks it is very noisy as the boats crash off the waves. The Black Pearl is launching off the waves at 11 knots and slamming down hard, making some awful sounds,” wrote skipper Paul Cayard.
Seasickness was common as the motion of the boats turned everyone’s stomachs into washing machines. “For most people the net result was dinner returning the wrong way – the constant pounding causing most people’s stomachs to be set on spin cycle!” wrote Simon Fisher, navigator of ABN AMRO TWO.
The fleet battled with broken sails and broken gear when, thankfully, the wind decreased as the fleet hit the ridge of high pressure which stood between them and the roaring 40s. “It’s almost as if the big man above gave us a little light airs to re-group before we get into the heavy running,” wrote Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE. “We have one team racing the boat, and another team fixing it,” he added.
By day four, January 5, Ericsson had made landfall in Mossel Bay, South Africa and the hydraulics experts were grimly looking at the options available to the team. Brasil 1 arrived in Port Elizabeth and it was the day of reckoning out on the racetrack as the threesome that had been pounding south finally entered the roaring 40s they had been longing for.
Movistar, who had taken the easterly course, now had less breeze and the chasing pack had snatched over 20 miles out of her lead. ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington) was ploughing a lonely furrow 46 miles behind. The winds started to increase again for both the Dutch boats and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), all still locked together, as they made the left turn and began their southern ocean sleigh ride towards Melbourne. Had movistar made enough gain to the east to out pace this group? Her lead was at serious risk.
By 1600 that day, it was all over for movistar as ABN AMRO ONE stole her lead. Bekking was hurting: “Angry with myself, yes. I am normally the guy who says bake only small cookies and you will be fine. Should have stuck a little closer to the fleet,” he wrote.
There was drama on ING Real Estate Brunel in fifth place when a fitting failed and their spinnaker dropped in the water becoming entangled with their twin rudders. To free it, Adam Hawkins launched himself into the icy ocean, wearing a survival suit, and cut it free within four minutes. “What an unstoppable team of guys we have onboard, a fantastic display of guts and seamanship,” said skipper Grant Wharington.
Meanwhile, the youngsters on ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) had an encounter with The Black Pearl movie-style. “She may not have black sails and be crewed by the damned, and I’m pretty sure Paul Cayard isn’t so evil that hell itself spat him back out (I’ve seen Pirates of the Caribbean more than a few times!!), but it was still a pretty menacing sight as the skull and crossbones came over the horizon in a building breeze,” wrote navigator Simon Fisher.
Mike Sanderson (ABN AMRO ONE) talked of throttling back and changed down to their smaller spinnaker, but later said, “the speed hit 27 knots… masthead spinnaker, full mainsail, big staysail… pitch black… oh year, we know all about backing off,,!”
By 2200 that night, Ericsson was back at sea, but this time heading up the coast to Port Elizabeth having made a temporary repair to the keel rams. The team was still considering the possibility of loading the boat onto a freighter to get her to Melbourne.
Today, day five, the race office received notification of large icebergs located near 49S 35E. The notice was passed onto the crews. Data from a satellite with radar scanning the southern ocean identified two icebergs in this area – probably one very large berg which had split in two. ABN AMRO ONE extended her lead and at 1000 GMT she was now 75 miles ahead of Bekking and his team on movistar, although the team was cheered by news that their watch leader, Stu Bannatyne, had become the father of a baby girl.
Brasil 1 also had good news. As soon as the boat arrived in Port Elizabeth, she was met by Horacio Carabelli, the technical director of the project, who confirmed that the structural problem could be fixed and that the boat could return to see to resume racing and finish the race to Melbourne. “Brasil 1 should be ready on Tuesday and we can return to the leg and still win some points in the race. The most important thing is to get to Melbourne sailing and keep the team’s spirit as high as possible,” said skipper Torben Grael.
Knut Frostad, watch captain and member of the team’s technical committee, added, “It has been devastating to suspend racing when we had worked ourselves to the best possible position for meeting the strong westerly wind first. I have never abandoned any leg in the 12 years I have done this race, and I am really proud of being part of the Brazilian team who ha no intention of giving up.”
Finally, the Aussie battlers on ING Real Estate rounded off the week with a good day as they clocked up the most miles covered by the fleet during the six hour period between 1000 and 1600 GMT, catching the leaders by 24 miles.
A deep depression, with winds of up to 50 knots from astern is set to pass south of the fleet in the next few days. Will the teams continue to dive south and hit the big winds? The drama continues to unfold.
Racing south has paid off handsomely for ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), Pirates of the Caribben (Paul Cayard) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse). Bouwe Bekking, who took movistar further north is hurting, trying to control the damage, but sailing in less pressure. “Angry with myself, yes. I am normally the guy who says bake only small cookies and you will be fine. Should have stuck a little closer to the fleet,” he wrote this morning.
Disaster was averted for the Spanish boat yesterday when they almost lost one of their canards (one of the two boards that that this boat has to prevent her from sliding sideways) through the bottom of the boat. A line shot through the jammer, but luckily the board stayed within the hull and only the top was damaged and has already been repaired by Pepe Ribes. In spite of some bad position reports and the incident with the canard, the crew was happy to receive the information that watch leader, Stu Bannatyne, is a father of a baby girl.
The fleet is now separated north south by 49 nautical miles. Movistar is approximately one degree further north, while ABN AMRO ONE is the most southerly boat and 29 miles north south separate her from stable mate ABN AMRO TWO with Pirates of the Caribbean sandwiched between them.
After the drama of yesterday, when they had a small fire onboard and got a spinnaker entwined around their rudders, ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington) is now five miles north of movistar.
Next on the agenda will be icebergs and the race office has received notification from Polar View of large icebergs located near 49S 35E. This notice was passed onto the crews. Data from a satellite with radar scanning the southern ocean identified two icebergs in this area – probably one very large berg which has split in two. There will almost certainly be smaller icebergs and growlers too small for the radar to pick up in close proximity.
Portsmouth, R.I. (January 3, 2006) - US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, has recognized six athletes as the sport's U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) Athletes of the Year for 2005 for outstanding performance in competition. In the four categories, the athletes have five world championship titles between them, as well as numerous additional podium-finishes. Team of the Year is the Yngling team of Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), and Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich). Laser sailor Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) and Laser Radial sailor Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) are Male and Female Athlete of the Year, respectively. US SAILING has also named 2.4mR sailor Nick Scandone (Fountain Valley, Calif.) as Paralympic Athlete of the Year.
As US SAILING's USOC Athletes of the Year, these sailors will be considered for the overall USOC Team and Athlete of the Year Awards. The USOC award winners will be selected from the Athletes of the Year recognized by each Olympic sport's national governing body.
Team of the Year
Skipper Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) and crew Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), and Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich), have enjoyed a very successful year, winning eight major regattas, including two World Championships. Barkow, Capozzi, and Howe kicked off 2005 by winning US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR in January to win the qualification for the US Sailing Team in the Yngling class. The team then went on to win several other major regattas, including Semaine Olympique Française in France, Expert Olympic Garda in Italy, St. Quay Match Race in France, US SAILING's Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship in Annapolis, Md., and the U.S. Women's Match Racing Championship in Fort Worth, TX. Their most impressive results were victories at the Yngling Women's World Championship and the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship.
Male Athlete of the Year
Laser sailor Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) was recognized for his performance in several events, including the World University Games in Turkey where he won a gold medal representing the USA and Georgetown University. Campbell also won the 89-boat fleet at the Laser Midwinters East Championship and the 85-boat Laser North American Championship. His success at these two events was preceded by his second-place finish at US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR, earning him second place on the 2005 US Sailing Team in the Laser class. Campbell has also had a good year in college sailing, winning the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association's (ICSA) Singlehanded Championship and finishing second at the ICSA Sloops Championship. Campbell was previously named US SAILING's Male Athlete of the Year in 2002.
Female Athlete of the Year
Paige Railey, an 18-year-old Laser Radial sailor from Clearwater, Fla. had a tremendously successful 2005, winning two World Championships and entering the record books for being the first sailor in history to win two Singlehanded Girls Youth World Championship titles (she also won the event in 2003). Railey began her year winning US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR, then went on to compete in the Laser Radial Midwinters East where she defeated 82 other boats to win the event and qualify for the number one spot on the 2005 US Sailing Team in the Laser Radial.
Railey also obtained great results in events further away from home, winning the Princess Sofia Trophy in Spain and the Laser Radial European Championship in Croatia. One of her most impressive performances this year was at the Laser Radial World Championship in Brazil last month where she beat 75 other world-class sailors to take the title. This is the fourth time Railey was named US SAILING's USOC Female Athlete of the Year, she was previously recognized in 2004, 2002, and 2001.
Paralympic Athlete of the Year
Nick Scandone (Fountain Valley, Calif.) sailed brilliantly throughout the year, which culminated in a very impressive win at the 2.4mR Open World Championship where he defeated 87 able-bodied and disabled sailors in the process, including seven previous world champions. He also won the U.S. Independence Cup/North American Challenge Cup (his second consecutive win at that event) and America's Disabled/Open Regatta, both in the 2.4mR. Scandone was the highest U.S. finisher at US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR, finishing in third place overall, which helped him take the top spot on the 2005 US Disabled Sailing Team in the 2.4mR. In addition to all his impressive Paralympic class results, Scandone still finds the time to compete in able-bodied regattas as well, finishing fourth at the Naples Sabot Senior Nationals.
Strong upwind conditions over the last 24 hours have taken their toll on the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. In the early hours of this morning Neal McDonald's Ericsson Racing Team was forced to turn back to Cape Town when she broke the end fitting on one of the giant hydraulic rams used to cant the keel. This was followed a few hours later by the news that an area of the deck on Brasil 1 was delaminating (where the carbon layers either side of the core 'spacer' material had come unbonded) and they were heading back to land too, once again leaving the race with five out of seven still competing. Fortunately conditions are now getting lighter and the excitement, for the time being, is over.
ABN AMRO TWO navigator Simon Fisher gave some insight into the
conditions last night, the cause of the trouble: "Yesterday afternoon
and evening were absolutely heinous, in terms of pounding upwind. It
took its toll on the boat and the crew. Most people bounced their
dinner!" While the wind strength of 25-26 knots was not exceptional the sea state was short and sharp. "It had us launching off every other wave and coming down with an almighty bang. So we throttled back a bit and pulled up some daggerboard because we didn't want to smash the boat up.
It might have cost us a couple of miles on the water but we thought in terms of longevity it was a good idea. We were pretty sensible with it all."
The news of their competitor's breakage prompted Nick Bice to make a
thorough check of the boat. "It all seems to be in good order so we are pretty pleased with that," said Fisher.
On ABN AMRO ONE they have not been so lucky. Mike Sanderson explains:
"Getting out of Cape Town we ripped a couple of jibs - just little tears in that first squall, but we have those all fixed and back up to 100 percent. Then beating up the coast we hit some pretty bad kelp which we didn't notice until we were well into it. We couldn't work it out: We had awesome speed in the in-port when we'd lined up with everyone, and yet we were just okay." They managed to remove the kelp (a substantial piece of seaweed) and yesterday proceeded to overhaul both Ericsson and the Pirates through a sheer boat speed advantage.
Last night a more serious problem occurred when the structure in the bow used to hold down the tack (front bottom corner) of the Solent jib (the sail on the inner forestay, one back from the bow) broke. "At that stage I thought the Solent tack fitting was going to be out for the whole leg," continued Sanderson. This prospect would have considerably impaired their performance. "But Dave Endean and Jan Dekker have done an awesome job and put it back together today and it is going to be stronger than it ever was. So we are going to come out of this unscathed." At present until the repair is fully complete there is still an open hole in the deck which is forcing them to bail out roughly six buckets of freezing sea water every 30 minutes.
This afternoon winds are getting lighter as they approach the centre of the ridge of high pressure that lies in front of them. This is
orientated along a line from the west northwest to east southeast and as a result ABN AMRO TWO, being furthest boat to the west, should be the first boat through and into the westerlies to the south of it.
"Everything seems to be happening a bit earlier than we thought," says Simon Fisher. "The most recent weather has got us crossing [the ridge] this afternoon and by tonight we should be in some good weather. It has been good to be out to the west and it should give us the opportunity to get a bit of [wind] pressure first. Whether we are far enough west to make a substantial difference I'm not sure. The black boat did very well on us in the last sched because we ran out of breeze in a cloud and had to put a tack in and that got them a bit further south. We shall see."
While ABN AMRO TWO is furthest west, they are virtually neck and neck
with ABN AMRO ONE for the lead of the race south, despite the official leaderboard still having Bouwe Bekking's movistar holding first place, due to her being closest to Melbourne and the finish line.
Once through the ridge the wind will slowly veer around to the west and build in strength until they are fully into the Southern Ocean
experiencing the strong downwind conditions and high speed sailing the crew signed on to this race to experience.
It’s still warm for the seven crews racing in the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Melbourne, but it’s wet, unpleasant and very uncomfortable. The upwind motion of the boats is taking it’s toll and some of the crew have been seasick as they play the waiting game. Waiting, that is, for the point where they can turn east and race with the strong westerly breeze downwind. But for now, as the fleet continues to head south, it is a case of holding on tight as the boats leap from wave to wave in 25 knots of breeze and a nasty seaway. Knut Frostad, onboard Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) say’s that the inside of his boat is like a war zone already. “Anything that is not lashed properly flies around and you can definitely not stand upright without holding on with both hands.”
ING Real Estate Brunel has had their share of drama today, firstly narrowly avoiding colliding with a whale and then flying off the back of a wave just whilst in the middle of a sail change and bruising a crewmember quite badly on the knee.
Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) still leads the fleet from their windward position with the rest of the fleet remaining tightly bunched together.
There is not a huge amount of wind forecast in the next few days, but as Neal McDonald (Ericsson) says, “It’s only a matter of time,” and the waiting game will be over.
After less than 48 hours at sea, the ocean is taking it’s toll as two boats are now retracing their steps to the South African coast. Earlier this morning Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald), in second place at the time, reported a problem with their canting keel system and turned the boat around, heading towards Mossel Bay, 187 miles east of Cape Town. Shortly afterwards, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) reported a structural problem and Grael has also now headed towards the shore. Both boats will be met by their shore teams where the damage will be assessed.
At 0700 GMT, the crew of Brasil 1 discovered a structural problem in the deck of the boat. The crew have slowed the boat down and are now sailing towards South Africa. Brasil 1 suffered the damage while sailing upwind with 15 knots of wind, 300 nautical miles of the south coast of South Africa.
The team are now making emergency repairs to prevent further damage. The objective is to get to South Africa as soon as possible. The shore crew is already in position and waiting for the boat’s arrival when they will analyse the problems and carry out the necessary repairs as efficiently as possible. Only after this analysis will the team make a decision on what to do concerning the second leg.
Project director Alan Adler said: “We received this information early this morning here in Brazil with a bit of disappointment. But the most important thing right now is the crew´s safety. The Volvo Ocean Race is a long competition and this is only beginning. Brasil 1 is returning to South Africa and we are concentrating all our efforts on repairing the boat in the best way possible. Brasil 1 has proved so far that it is an excellent team and capable of conquering the challenge of the Volvo Ocean Race”.
Meanwhile, out on the race track, movistar (Bouwe Bekking) leads from ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) with Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) in third position. The breeze is still on the nose and the sailing is wet and below decks it is very noisy as the boats crash off the waves. Paul Cayard reported that during the night, the Black Pearl was launching off the waves at 11 knots and slamming down hard, making some awful sounds. The team throttled back for a while, a bit shy from their leg one mishap. The sea state has improved significantly this morning.
Early this morning, Ericsson was sailing at 10 knots, in 15-20 knots of wind, when a part of the keel movement system broke. Ericsson was in second place when the incident occurred and her boat speed was reduced to allow the crew to inspect the damage. She is now heading back towards South Africa in order to consider the best course of action. The crew is in no danger.
Ericsson was beating on port tack, in 15-20 knots of wind, when a part of the keel movement system broke. The initial finding is that the piston rod has broken close to the clevis on one of the two hydraulic cylinders that control the canting of the keel. The crew has decided to return towards South Africa in order to replace the broken part and continue racing if possible. All of the crew is safe and well, and the boat is currently running at 10 knots in 15 knots of wind speed, with the keel locked in the central position.
Ericsson Racing Team skipper Neal McDonald commented: "We first became aware of the failure at about 01.00 GMT when we heard an unidentified bang, that later we identified as a failure to one of our piston rods. We are obviously disappointed but at the same time we are keen to sort this out as quickly as possible in order to continue sailing in the Volvo Ocean Race."
Ericsson's shore team is preparing for action, in order to carry out the necessary repairs as quickly and efficiently as possible. This statement has been sent to all of the other boats.
Having said that is was "good to be out here racing again", last night was definitely one of the more unpleasant nights we have had in the VO 70. 25 knots and a very short sharp chop caused by lots of current made going upwind pretty bloody awful! For most people the net result was dinner returning the wrong way - the constant pounding causing most peoples stomachs to be set on spin cycle. Sleeping was also not a lot of fun not least because it was near impossible to do so. Every other wave caused you to be tossed in the air like a pancake and the camping matresses we use to sleep on were always trying to slide off the bunk one way or another. This meant the only way to sleep was to hold on a tightly as you could to the bunk meaning you couldn't actually sleep because you were holding on so hard!!
Luckily though we have escaped relatively unscathed from that whole
ordeal, as has our boat. After hearing the devastating news that Ericsson and Brasil 1 were likely to be headed back to South Africa our boat captain Bicey (Nick Bice) wasted no time checking the boat from bow to stern for signs of damage... so far so good. It came as sad news to us all that two of the fleet were experiencing problems again but left us thanking our lucky stars that we had made the decision to take the foot off the gas just a bit in the hope that it would be a bit kinder to our boat.
With all the unpleasant upwind sailing behind us the crew of ABN AMRO TWO is now fully refuelled after last night’s antics and laughing and joking once more. Conditions are now a lot lighter, although very shifty requiring plenty of concentration. Things will no doubt get trickier as we near the centre of this ridge of high pressure which currently blocks our route to the big westerlies of the Southern Ocean.
However, we are now all really looking forward to a bit of exciting
downwind sailing - having entered into the Southern Ocean crossing the parallel of 40 S we're keen for the conditions we signed up for when we entered this race!
Cheers for now,
Si Fi. Simon Fisher – navigator
After a light wind start, the fleet racing in leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race is making slow progress south east on port tack towards Melbourne, Australia.
Bouwe Bekking has opted for the inshore course with movistar and leads by 11 nautical miles. Movistar is 38 nautical miles inshore from ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) who are the furthest from the coast. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), Ericsson (Neal McDonald) and ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) are locked tightly together, while ING Real Estate Brunel is in this pack but trailing by seven miles. Neal McDonald noted, “We all appear to be very similar in speed, so we could be in for some close racing.”
The teams are struggling to average eight knots of boat speed as they plough south in search of the strong westerly breeze which will fire them towards Melbourne in the style in which these boats have become accustomed.
Two boats, Pirates of the Caribbean and movistar have broken their radar brackets and both teams have had crew members in the rig to make repairs. The sea conditions are smooth, which makes this tricky job a much easier task.
Monday, January 2nd will mark the start of leg 2 of Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006 from Cape Town, South Africa. The Pirates of the Caribbean team are confident that The Black Pearl and its crew are ready for all the Southern Ocean may throw at them, extreme weather, high seas and demanding conditions.
There are plenty of points to be gained in this leg with two waypoint scoring gates, one at the Kergulen Islands and the other at Eclipse Island off the south west tip of Australia. The Pirates have significant experience racing in the Southern Ocean led by Skipper Paul Cayard, who has sailed this demanding leg in two previous races.
Paul Cayard (USA) Skipper is confident in both The Black Pearl and his crew. “We are really looking forward to get back out there and racing, we have a strong team of competitive guys and it was hard to watch the others race in the first leg. We always knew that that it would take us a few legs to be on par with the best teams and not sailing the first leg was a big disadvantage, not in terms of points, in terms of the fact that we missed three weeks of intense training where you learn about the boat and its performance. The positive side to this was that we had some more time to do a lot of work on the boat making it stronger. The strength of the Pirates of the Caribbean, as a cohesive team, will help us get better and better”.
The fleet of Volvo 70’s will enter the Southern Ocean for the first time as they race the 6,100 miles around the bottom of the planet to Melbourne, Australia playing the delicate game between pushing as fast as they can and keeping the boat, crew and sails in one piece.
Jules Salter (UK) Navigator commented “I am quite looking forward to getting into the Southern Ocean and finding out what it’s all about, this will probably be some of the best and worst sailing I have ever done. The boat is in really good shape, we have done a lot of work to refine the systems and we have a superb bunch of sailors. It will be great to start racing again”.
“In my role as navigator I’ve done a lot of work studying the weather patterns and systems, looking at the best possible route and how to approach the waypoints. As of 29th December ice has been reported north of Isle Crozet Archipelago situated at 45° S this has meant the Volvo Ocean Race have created a change to the proposed course, adding two more (non scoring) waypoints further north to keep the boats away from the ice. This will add some time on to our expected arrival in Melbourne; what should have been an 18 day leg will now be 2 – 3 days longer.
We are expecting 20 – 25 knots of wind from the south east for 3 to 4 days, sailing upwind until things start to change. From then on it will be generally windy, cold and unpleasant, but we will have some pretty fast exciting sailing. The fleet could then be hit by winds of between 30 and 50 knots for the following 8 – 14 days. This is what generates the rolling waves that go endlessly around the bottom of the planet and will propel the fleet towards Australia.”
Skipper Paul Cayard added, “Together with Disney and our partner Pescanova, the Pirates family continues to grow and get stronger. With the blessing of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Black Pearl sets off from Cape Town to cross the most demanding ocean on the planet, continuing this great adventure and capturing the spirit of Pirates of the Caribbean.”
Black Pearl Crew quotes:
Curtis Blewitt (Canadian ) Bowman “ I am really excited about getting back out into the Southern Ocean, I need to put some demons to rest, 8 years ago when I did this race we had some pretty hairy moments in the Southern Ocean, one was a big crash with me up the rig so this is a chance to get back in the saddle. I love sailing offshore and in this new breed of boat the speeds are so fast you are pretty committed to what you are doing, you need to keep safe and are hooked on all the time. It’s dangerous but the adventure is fun and rewarding. What a great way to race round the world on the Black Pearl, why would you not want to be a pirate”.
Justin Ferris (NZ), Onboard Sail Maker and Inshore Trimmer “I have never been to the Southern Ocean before. I am a little nervous and I am a bit concerned about what to pack, I think dealing with the cold will be the biggest issue. The first objective on the this leg will be to finish, then we need to prove the boat and get some points, I think that once we get through the first couple of days we will start to push the boat hard”
Justin Clougher (Tasmania) Bowman “Heading off into no mans land ‘the Southern Ocean’ means we need to be prepared 110%, there is no one there to help us, it’s inhospitable, hard on humans and on the boat, the better prepared you are the more chance you have of concentrating on the sailing. I can’t wait, wild horses could not keep me off the boat right now. This is what I do, this is what I like to do, it’s why I am here, it’s a great race”.
Confirmed Pirates of the Caribbean Crewlist for Leg 2
Paul Cayard (USA)
Jules Salter ( UK )
Justin ‘Juggy’ Clougher (AUS)
Curtis Blewitt ( Canada )
Justin Ferris ( NZ)
Rodney Arden (NZ)
Craig Satterthwaite (NZ)
Erle Williams (NZ)
Dirk de Ridder (Netherlands)
Anthony ‘Youngster’ Merrington (AUS)
A few days before the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, skipper of the brand-new maxi Wild Oats XI, Mark Richards, commented that winning the race on handicap was the real prize. "It's a bigger thrill for a boat to win on handicap than to get line honours," he said. "Line honours this year is between four or five boats really. Handicap is between the whole fleet. That is the goal that everyone aspires to. All the guys up in the CYCA clubhouse with their photos on the wall, they are the handicap winners. From the sailors' point of view, that is the real trophy, to win the Tattersalls Cup."
Little could Richards have realised that less than a week later, he would become the first skipper since Rani's victory in the inaugural race of 1945 to win 'the treble' - not just line honours, but the handicap victory and a new course record to boot. Many experts believed Bob Oatley's brand new maxi would get to Hobart at all. It was not an unreasonable assumption. You don't launch the world's most hi-tech and technically complex racing yacht just three weeks before an ocean race that takes you into some of the most treacherous seas in the world - and expect to get away with it, let alone win the race.
For that reason Alfa Romeo, a virtual twin of Wild Oats XI, was the bookies' favourite to win the race because owner/skipper Neville Crichton had spent five months working his Reichel/Pugh design up to speed. And when the two sisterships squared up to each other in the inshore series a week before the Hobart start, Alfa Romeo beat Wild Oats in almost every race.
Even then, despite Crichton's preparation, Alfa Romeo was considered touch and go for making it the full 628 miles to Hobart. Only if the 85-boat fleet received an uncharacteristically kind forecast did pundits believe the two newest maxis capable of going the distance. Waiting in the wings were the three leading contenders of last year's race - Konica Minolta, Skandia and the 2004 race winner Nicorette, now rebranded and repainted in the colours of the telecom company AAPT.
But the weather gods decided to be lenient and dealt one of the kindest weather forecasts seen for many years. Sean Langman, skipper of AAPT, said it was a dream scenario for the leading maxis. "There is a fantastic opportunity for the treble with this forecast. The treble of winning line honours, handicap and the race record, which we haven't seen for some time."
In front of thousands of spectators crowding the shores of Sydney Harbour for the Boxing Day start, along with hundreds of spectator boats and a swarm of TV choppers buzzing overhead, first blood went to Mark Richards, when he helmed Wild Oats out through the famous Sydney Heads two boat lengths ahead of Alfa Romeo.
Just behind the maxis, Alex Thomson and the crew on Hugo Boss were getting all the attention of the TV cameras and photographers as they started the race wearing suits and ties. Nick Moloney, the famous Aussie round-the-world sailor, was on board as well.
Further back in the fleet, the crew of Quest honoured their skipper, John Bennetto, who had died the week before, by throwing a wreath into the water next to the Rolex marker buoy, before continuing south towards Bennetto's birthplace of Hobart. The great sailor known to many as "The Fish" holds the record of 44 Rolex Sydney Hobarts, a remarkable testament to his tenacity and dedication to the race.
Not long after the start, Alfa Romeo had overhauled Wild Oats by switching headsails earlier. It seemed that Alfa's crews' greater familiarity with their boat was paying off, while the Wild Oats crew were learning as they went along. Mark Richards and the crew had sailed little more than 300 miles aboard Wild Oats XI before the start - not even half a Hobart of experience to their name.
By the following morning, however, Wild Oats had turned the tables after a bold move inshore by the boat's co-navigators, Adrienne Cahalan and David Dickson. "We went inshore, and that's where it made the difference for us," commented Cahalan on satellite phone. "We got a bit further down into the rhumb line down south and that's where the wind came in for us. We got a nice windshift off Gabo Island and I think that's where we took a step forward. "We had a little more wind than we expected. We got the better case scenario where we kept some wind all night, whereas I don't think some of the others did."
Surely it would simply be a matter of time before the greater experience and firepower of Crichton's crew - which numbered Ben Ainslie and Adrian Stead among the afterguard - would grind down the leader. But position reports showed Wild Oats gradually trickling away from Alfa Romeo. But as is so often the case, there was a sting in the tail as Wild Oats entered the final phase of the race. With just 40 miles to go, sailing into Stormy Bay, the vang wrenched away from the mast. And then just 10 miles from the finish, as the maxi entered the Derwent River in 30 knots breeze, a wayward running backstay caught the top batten pocket and wrenched the batten out of the sail. The mainsail was now beginning to flog, and the crew were forced to lower the sail and limp to the line under jib alone. In fact, such is the efficiency of this amazing boat, that 'limp' was scarcely the word to describe her majestic progress, as Wild Oats continued to make 12 knots into the wind with just one sail flying.
Helmsman Mark Richards raised his fist aloft in victory as he helmed the Reichel/Pugh 98-foot maxi across the Hobart finish line just 10 seconds past 8 o'clock in the morning. Not only had Bob Oatley's team taken line honours, but they had set a new time of 1 day, 18 hours and 10 minutes for the 628-mile course. They had shattered the Volvo Ocean 60 Nokia's longstanding record by more than an hour.
"Huge, huge relief," was Richards' breathless reaction to winning line honours. "We sailed a pretty flawless race. The fact that we had problems in the last 10 miles is a shame, but that's ocean racing." Alfa Romeo reached Hobart just over an hour behind Wild Oats, and Neville Crichton couldn't disguise his anguish at missing line honours. "They outsmarted us," he admitted dockside. "We gave it our best shot. We've beaten them in six out of seven races so far, they've beaten us one. But this was the important one."
Some hours later, the other three maxis reached Hobart. Skandia was third across the line, despite having suffered an engine breakdown and being forced to lock her canting keel in the centre. Konica Minolta was next, and had had a trouble-free race. AAPT broke her boom and sailed the last hundred miles without it. Whatever problems they may have had, however, the wind was at least playing in favour of the big boats. The maxis escaped the worst of a light patch, which was slowing the progress of the small and mid-sized boats in Bass Strait. As the fleet moved further south, they would then encounter winds up to 40 knots.
Quantum Racing is a DK46 that in a 'normal' Rolex Sydney Hobart Race would be expected to do well on handicap. Despite impeccable boat preparation, along with victory in the Rolex Trophy during the build-up to this race, Ray Roberts could not get close to Wild Oats's handicap time. "I don't think we could have sailed a much better course than we did," said Roberts, "but the hard reaching and running doesn't suit this boat and that's why we weren't up in the money for this race."
Like nearly every boat, Quantum Racing had her moments of trouble. "One of our steering cables broke, and we did a few 360-degree circles in the middle of Bass Strait while we tried to set up some temporary steering. We laid the boat over and trashed a spinnaker while we tried to fix it. That incident dampened our spirits a bit, but the boys did a good job of getting things up and working again."
For the most part, the conditions were kinder than the average Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, evidenced by the fact that only five boats retired from the 85-boat fleet. Some were still saying 'never again' when they reached dry land, but some you just don't believe. Having completed his 37th race to Hobart, race legend Syd Fischer was again wondering why he continues to come back. "Must be stupid," he shrugged. "I think it's like women having a baby, they forget after a while."
This was Lou Abrahams' 43rd Hobart, and the twice winner of the race had lost none of his competitive spark, sailing his Sydney 38 Challenge into first place in IRC Division C. The 78-year-old said he wanted to come back just one more time. This would bring him level with the 44 Hobarts sailed by the late John Bennetto. "I wouldn't mind equaling John's record," Abrahams said. "I don't want to beat his record. It was never one of my targets to set a race number. It just happened that way. John did a great job and I don't want to surpass it."
Penultimate boat to reach Hobart this year was Berrimilla. Her arrival marked the end of an extraordinary adventure for Alex Whitworth and Peter Crozier who, both in their early 60s, had just completed more than 30,000 miles of traversing the world' oceans in a modest 33-foot cruiser. Their adventure began last year when they raced in a very windy and wavy Rolex Sydney Hobart. No sooner had they completed that race but they were on their way to England to compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race, considered the sister race of the Hobart. Having completed and excelled in a predominantly light-wind Fastnet, the duo turned Berrimilla around for the homeward journey and reached Sydney with just days to spare before the beginning of this year's race.
It wasn't the kindest of endings to such a great adventure, as the Derwent River turned glassy calm, making Berrimilla struggle for hours to cover the final 10 miles. But they made it by the afternoon of New Year's Eve, leaving just one boat out there to finish in 2006, the diminutive Gillawa, due in Jan 2nd.
At the dockside prizegiving, Wild Oats XI was duly honoured for her historic treble, and Matteo Mazzanti of Rolex SA presented skipper Mark Richards with two Rolex Yachtmasters in Rolesium, one each for the line honours and IRC handicap victories. "This is something we will remember for ever," said Richards, as the jubilant crew held aloft the two great prizes of the Great Race, the JH Illingworth trophy and the Tattersalls Cup. Owner Bob Oatley, who didn't sail with the boat but was there to greet the team in Hobart, has spent a long time trying to win this race. He couldn't take his eyes off the JH Illingworth Trophy, the plaque detailing many of the great names of ocean racing. "A lot of these names on here are my friends," he said. But the maxi winner also asked everyone to spare a thought for the yachts still out there, typified by the 32-foot cruiser Gillawa.
For Gillawa's skipper Dave Kent and his crew - some of whom were virtual beginners in the sport - it is all about the taking part. "I think Rolex sums it up beautifully with one of the race slogans. We've got a sticker inside the boat which says: 'The Rolex Sydney Hobart. It reminds you of who you are.' I couldn't think of a better way of saying it. There are many other races around, but this race has a special name for itself."
The finale was an official prizegiving at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania on Sunday, where 1st - 3rd place finishers in all divisions received trophies, as well as a number of other prizes recognizing the accomplishments of local Tasmanian sailors.
Top 10 Line honours finishers
1. Wild Oats
2. Alfa Romeo
3. Skandia
4. Konica Minolta
5. AAPT
6. Loki
7. Coogans Stores
8. Seriously 10
9. Hugo Boss
10. ABN AMRO
Final Overall IRC standings
1. Wild Oats XI (confirmed as IRC handicap winner)
2. Alfa Romeo
3. Konica Minolta
4. Chieftain
5. Skandia
6. Wedgetail
7. Loki
8. Hardy Secret Mens Business
9. Quantum Racing
10. Wot's Next