May 31, 2006, Portsmouth, United Kingdom – Brasil 1 sailor Andy Meiklejohn (NZ) enjoyed life in the fast lane when he stepped onboard the Volvo Extreme 40 Holmatro for the penultimate day of the Portsmouth grand prix series.
“I can’t believe how much fun these boat are. The racing is fantastic as the boats are all so close and it really was a lot of fun out there today,” commented Meiklejohn as he stepped onshore.
Despite having the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 sailor onboard, the best result the team managed all day was a third place which kept Mitch Booth and his team in fourth position overall going into the final day.
Team Basilica had one of the best days of the fleet and enjoyed the 10-15 knot wind conditions. The all British team scored three first places out of the five races, to maintain their top spot.
Basilica helmsman Alister Richardson commented: “It couldn’t have been a better day for us. We sailed really well and managed to get the shifts right. The conditions were really tricky and with the turning mark so close to the shore the wind was very variable.”
Looking to the final day he said: “We have one day left and possibly four races remaining so we will just have to continuing doing what we have been doing and make sure we don’t get caught out.”
It was also a good day for Motorola-CHR. The team were the only other boat to win races in the shifty conditions and after a ‘good day in the office’, they move up to second overall, overtaking Randy Smyth’s Tommy Hilfiger.
Helmsman Leigh McMillan said: “It has been a good week and I am pleased to now be in second place. I didn’t sail the first day of the regatta as I was returning from an Olympic event, but I am pleased with our performance. We have a bit to do tomorrow to catch Basilica but in these boats anything is possible.”
With one day of the series remaining, Team Basilica holds the overall lead, 21 points in front of Motorola-CHR with Tommy Hilfiger third. Mitch Booth and his team on Holmatro are fourth and Yves Loday, the class designer, holds fifth place.
Racing concludes tomorrow at 14:00 (local). For further information on the class log onto www.VolvoExtreme40.org.
Results, Day 3 (after 13 races)
1st Basilica, 115 pts
2nd Motorola-CHR 94 pts
3rd Tommy Hilfiger, 86 pts
4th Holmatro, 71 pts
5th Volvo Ocean Race, 62 pts
Overall Series Rankings (after three events)
1st Tommy Hilfiger 26 pts
2nd Basilica 20 pts
3rd Holmatro 19 pts
4th Motorola-CHR 18 pts
5th Volvo Ocean Race 16 pts
Remaining Volvo Extreme 40 Grand Prix Series Dates
Rotterdam, Netherlands 9-14 June, 2006
Portsmouth, England – May 31, 2006 – The Volvo Ocean Race sailors, teams, families and sponsors all put on their Sunday best for the Portsmouth prize giving on Tuesday, May 30.
Set in exquisite English countryside at the glorious Goodwood House, the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 showed their international friends the splendid heritage that surrounds Portsmouth.
Arriving to the sounds of a classical string quartet, the 600 guests were ushered into the great hall of the spectacular country house for a champagne reception. Dinner was served in a huge marquee and the prize giving began with a poignant tribute to Hans Horrevoets, the ABN AMRO TWO crew member who was tragically lost overboard on leg seven. A moving video paid tribute to Hans, the happy family man and distinguished sailor character, who will be missed by everyone. This prompted the first prize of the night, the Musto Seamanship Award.
This prize was awarded, by Bouwe Bekking, skipper of movistar, to the crew of ABN AMRO TWO who saved the lives of his entire 10-man crew, when movistar was abandoned after taking on water. The crew of ABN AMRO TWO showed great bravery in standing by the stricken yacht considering that only a few days had passed since their own tragedy had occurred. They followed this with a text book rescue as the movistar crew were transferred to ABN AMRO TWO, and footage shot of the whole procedure by both crews was shown on the large screens, to an awestruck audience.
This lead seamlessly on to the next award of the evening, the Media Award which was presented by Glenn Bourke, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, to Bouwe Bekking and the crew of movistar. A cheque for $1000 was given for capturing the footage of the dramatic rescue. On receiving the cheque, Bouwe Bekking promptly handed it over to Sebastien Josse, the skipper of ABN AMRO TWO, for the Hans Horrevoets Memorial fund in a generous and moving gesture.
The next prize to be awarded was the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Environmental Award, which went to Will Oxley, the navigator on Brunel, for his insight into the over fishing of cod of the Grand Banks of New Foundland, sent by email as the boat passed through the region.
Finally, the Waterford Trophies were presented for the leg places in reverse finishing order. Pirates of the Caribbean went up on stage to collect third place in leg seven from New York to Portsmouth. Next up was the Ericsson Racing Team who scored their best result in an offshore race and was delighted with their second place trophy.
The glittering ceremony closed with the triumphant first place prize, which went to the exuberant crew of ABN AMRO ONE. Skipper Mike Sanderson thanked his crew, designer Juan Kouyoumdjian and shore team for all their efforts to make TEAM ABN AMRO such a success and said that this win was for them as well. The Black Betty theme tune blasted through the marquee to loud cheers and applause.
The evening concluded with the big band sound of Rufus Stone, and the crowd danced and celebrated the night away.
May 31, 2006: Sebastien Josse, skipper of ABN AMRO TWO announced this morning that he and his crew will continue in the 2005/6 Volvo Ocean Race. The crew’s participation in the race was thrown into doubt following the tragic death of their crewmate, Hans Horrevoets and since the incident TEAM ABN AMRO management made it clear that they would fully support the decision of the crew regarding their future participation. After racing in Monday’s in port race and finishing in a credible fourth place, the brave young team now intend to fight their way back onto the race podium with no doubt in their minds that this is what Hans would want.
Seb Josse announced the team’s plans and said: “We are all agreed that we want to continue this race for Hans and that it is what he would have wanted us to do. After the tragic events of the last leg we needed to take some time to ourselves before deciding what next but we are all in agreement that this is what we want to do. I was very pleased with the way the crew performed on Monday in the in-port race and there was real determination from everyone to do well. We now have to concentrate on getting back on the podium in time for the finish in Gothenburg.”
Seb Josse and the ABN AMRO TWO crew were also presented with the Seamanship award at the Volvo Ocean Race leg 7 prizegiving for the fantastic effort and seamanship that they showed in first finding and getting Hans back on board and then going on to rescue the movistar crew. They were praised for the professional manner in which they carried out the maneuvers during a very difficult time. Bouwe Bekking, skipper of the stricken yacht, movistar was there to present the award to the crew and commented: “It was hard to ask the ABN AMRO TWO boys to come back as they already had plenty on their plate. It's been a very hard call for them and, hopefully, they can find a little comfort in the fact that they have saved 10 lives. A boat is just a boat, you can replace it, but lives you cannot."
ABN AMRO TWO are currently in fourth place overall just three and a half points behind Brasil 1 and nine points behind the Pirates of the Caribbean in second place. Whilst ABN AMRO ONE can no longer be beaten in the Volvo Ocean Race, it is entirely possible for ABN AMRO TWO to pull through to take one of the two remaining podium positions, with a maximum of 17.5 points still available for the taking in this race.
The TEAM now begin preparations for Leg 8, which starts on Friday 2nd June, at 1730hrs just off Southsea Castle, at the southern tip of the city of Portsmouth. From here they will race through the western Solent, out into the English Channel, past Lands End and out towards the Fastnet Rock, before heading northwards round the top of Britain and Ireland en route to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, home of TEAM ABN AMRO.
Current Overall Results
1st ABN AMRO ONE – 84.5 pts
2nd Pirates of the Caribbean – 59.5 pts
3rd Brasil 1 – 52 pts
4th ABN AMRO TWO – 48.5 pts
5th movistar – 48 pts
6th Ericsson – 45 pts
7th Brunel – 8pts
29 May 2006 - The sixth in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race took place today in the shifty conditions of the Solent, Portsmouth (UK). The Ericsson Racing Team was joined by honorary guest and four times Olympic rowing Gold medallist, Matthew Pinsent (GBR). Ericsson finished fifth, picking up 1.5 points on the scoreboard. ABN Amro One won the race, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean and Brasil 1.
Skippered by British yachtsman Neal McDonald and with four of its eleven crewmembers sailing in home waters, the Ericsson Racing Team had high hopes of a podium position in today's in-port race. However, the end result was disappointing, as Neal McDonald explains:
"This was not a great day for us. There were very big shifts and it was very challenging. These conditions are not unusual for the Solent, but we obviously didn't make the best of them. We also blew a spinnaker out, which was a big set back for us. Luckily, we managed to get most of it back onboard."
The in-port race took place in an area of the Solent seven miles south east of Portsmouth harbour. Conditions for the start were windy, with 20 knots of south-south westerly breeze, and the fleet headed upwind to a turning mark some five miles south of Hayling Island.
All the boats jostled for the right side of the line, except for Pirates of the Caribbean which went left. Ericsson got out in fourth, with the two ABN Amro boats to windward. "We had a fairly good start, but then we were forced to tack to the wrong side of the course by Brasil 1," commented Magnus Woxén. In the end, Pirates of the Caribbean and Brunel were the only boats to go left.
The Pirates' decision paid off. They got a good wind shift and reached the top mark with a comfortable lead over the rest of the fleet. ABN Amro One rounded second, followed by Brasil 1 and then Ericsson. The boats headed downwind on the first of four leeward legs. Positions remained unchanged as they rounded the top mark for the second time, and it was just after this that Ericsson blew out its spinnaker. ABN Amro Two passed them and Ericsson dropped back to fifth.
It was not the only boat to suffer damage from the building breeze. Pirates of the Caribbean ripped a spinnaker, allowing ABN Amro One to take the lead. Despite a tough fight, Ericsson was unable to gain a position. ABN Amro finished first, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean and Brasil 1.
May 27, 2006, Portsmouth, United Kingdom – Tomorrow Portsmouth will see the start of the Volvo Extreme 40 Grand Prix Series with celebrity sailors taking part in the high action catamaran racing.
Round the world sailor Brian Thompson will be sailing this Sunday on Conrad Humphreys’ Team Motorola. Thompson who sailed with ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) on leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race as a helmsman and trimmer is a highly experienced monohull and multihull sailor. In 2004-05 he skippered the maxi-catamaran 'Doha 2006', the winner of the non-stop around the world race, the Oryx Quest. Also earlier in 2004 he competed in the amazing non-stop around the world speed sailing record as Watchcaptain aboard Cheyenne sailing around the globe in 58 days, 9 hours, 32 minutes, 45 seconds.
Joining Thompson on Motorola this Sunday is Duncan McDonald the talented inshore sailor and the brother of Ericsson Racing Team’s skipper Neal McDonald. His greatest achievements have been in the Dinghy circuit, when he won the World Championships in the International 14’s twice. In recent years he has also been sailing on high performance inshore monohull yachts. Speaking today McDonald said how excited he is to be sailing the Volvo Extreme 40’s tomorrow.
“These catamaran’s are absolutely awesome to sail on. Not only are they well built and well designed but they are relatively easy to sail and super fast. These cats have never raced in more than 20 knots so it will be interesting to see them outside of Portsmouth Harbour tomorrow if the breeze gets up.”
Third placed team Holmatro also has a guest sailing star with them tomorrow Andreas Hagara. The Austrian sailor grew up sailing on Lake Neusidel, Austria on Hobie 16 catamarans, before moving onto the Tornado catamaran. He went onto win the Tornado World Championships in 1987 and is three times European Champion. Andreas has managed to accumulate so far in his sailing career 14 medals in the World and European Hobie 18 and 16 Championships and on top of all that he has now moved into the yacht racing scene as a tactician on an Austrian TP52.
After having a successful morning of corporate sailing this morning, the crews of the Volvo Extreme 40’s are preparing their boats for the battle that commences tomorrow. The all British team Basilica are busy on the dock this afternoon, skipper James Grant can’t wait to get racing.
“Basilica is an all British entry, with local British crew members and British sponsors, so we really have been looking forward to sailing in Portsmouth for some time. In Baltimore Tommy Hilfiger (Randy Smyth) gave us a great run for our money in the gusty bay but here it should be different as we are sailing in both our home waters and in more open waters. The breeze should be more constant out there for us so hopefully we will beat the Americans. Which will give us a good head start going into the final series in Rotterdam.”
All five Volvo Extreme 40’s will be out racing tomorrow off of Southsea front, with the start gun for the first race being fired at 1400 BST. With winds forecast to be around 15 knots the pace should be fast and furious making for a spectacular first day of the Portsmouth series.
Volvo Extreme 40 - Crew List
Team Hilfiger
Skipper: Randy Smyth, USA
Crew: Stan Schreyer
Crew: Jonathan Farrar
Crew: Jonny Hutchcroft
Team Basilica
Skipper: James Grant, UK
Crew: Alistair Richardson
Crew: Peter Greenhalgh
Crew: Jonathan Taylor
Team Holmatro
Skipper: Mitch Booth, NED
Sunday’s Crew: Andreas Hagara
Sunday’s Crew: Taylor Booth
Sunday’s Crew: Andreas Hagara’s Tornado crew
Sunday’s Crew: TBC
Crew: Taylor Booth
Crew: Herbert Dercksen
Crew: TBC
Team Motorola
Skipper: Conrad Humphreys, UK
Sunday’s Crew: Brian Thompson
Sunday’s Crew: Duncan McDonald
Sunday’s Crew: Hamish Oliphant
Helm: Leigh McMillan
Crew: Will Howden
Crew: Hamish Oliphant
Team Volvo Ocean Race
Skipper: Yves Loday FR
Crew: Greg Homann
Crew: Fraser Brown
Crew: TBC
May 29, 2006: The crew of ABN AMRO ONE continued their dominance of the Volvo Ocean Race today as they powered to victory in the Portsmouth inport race, finishing with a time of 2hr 14mins 16secs, some 4 minutes ahead of nearest rivals Pirates of the Caribbean. The conditions were well suited to Mike Sanderson, who celebrated his 35th birthday today, and gave the Kiwi skipper the opportunity of showing the Portsmouth crowds exactly what ABN AMRO ONE is capable of and why it has been the boat to beat in this race.
After a good start from both ABN AMRO boats it was Pirates of the Caribbean who rounded the first mark in first place after taking advantage of weather on the port side of the race track. ABN AMRO ONE had a solid first lap in second place before capitalizing on the Pirate’s mistakes when the Paul Cayard boat blew it’s spinnaker on the second downwind leg. ABN AMRO ONE held their lead to the finish line after an awesome display of the boat’s sheer power pulling away from the Pirates in a huge squall on the final upwind leg.
This victory now makes it four out of six inport race wins for Mike Sanderson and the crew of ABN AMRO ONE who effectively became overall Volvo Race Winners last week after claiming maximum points in the 7th leg of the race from New York to Portsmouth. The teams points total now stand at 84.5pts. Speaking from the dock at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, Mike Sanderson said, “The boys gave me a beautiful birthday present today –they were awesome. The race committee did a great job today as the wind shifted over maybe 70 degrees or so. On two occasions we had big gusts, once on starboard and another as we gybed, we got pretty good at gybing with gusts and that allowed us to catch Pirates. It’s been quite a week for me personally and it’s great to finish my first race as a married man in first place.”
Bowman, Justin Slattery said, “We’ve had quite a week and it’s been a very emotional time for the team what with the tragedy of the last leg. Then Mike’s wedding on Friday was a great day for him and Emma and a privilege for me to be a Groomsman. Then to go on to the funeral of Hans the next day was hard. But I’m pleased we could finish on a high note. Credit should go to the shore crew who did an amazing job with such a short prep time so it’s great for everyone at TEAM ABN AMRO to get this result.”
“I’m really looking forward to the next leg now and sailing close to home up the West coast of Ireland. I’m hoping to see my Father at the Fastnet Rock who I’m sure will have a few friends there cheering us on.”
May 29, 2006: The crew of ABN AMRO TWO were back in action in the Volvo Ocean Race today producing a solid performance to finish in a credible 4th place in the 6th inport race of the campaign.
It was a difficult race for the crew, who were back in the water for the first time after the tragic events of the last leg and the emotional weekend, which saw the whole crew attend the funeral of their team mate Hans Horrevoets in Holland on Saturday.
Before today’s race today the entire fleet, along with the large number of spectators at Gunwharf Quays, observed a minutes silence in memory of Hans.
The 4th place finish earns ABN AMRO TWO 2 points, which added to the 1.5 point redress awarded to the crew for their rescue of the movistar crew in the last leg, now takes their total to 48.5 points, just 3.5 points behind 3rd placed Brasil 1.
After the race, ABN AMRO TWO Navigator, Simon Fisher said, “It was great for us all to get back into the water again. You’ve got to move on and keep on racing, that’s why we do this sport. Because of the recent events, we didn’t get any time to train before the race so it was really good to see the crew put in a solid performance today. We managed to keep track of the changing marks thanks to the race committee. For me it was great to race in my own country and have all my family here – a rare pleasure.”
Crew member Simeon Tienpont said, “It was good for us all to get back into the racing today and we’re glad that we were able to perform well. It was good for us to have Sifi (Simon Fisher) onboard and he sailed a very good tactical race. Choosing the left side turned out to be the right choice and it’s always good to have someone who knows the course well. I’m just glad that we worked well as a team and put in a very strong team performance.”
The crew will spend the next few days training before making a decision on their continuation in the race.
Overall results
1st ABN AMRO ONE – 84.5 pts
2nd Pirates of the Caribbean – 59.5 pts
3rd Brasil 1 – 52 pts
4th ABN AMRO TWO – 48.5 pts
5th movistar – 48.5 pts
6th Ericsson – 45 pts
7th Brunel – 8pts
May 28, 2006, Portsmouth, United Kingdom – It has been a brilliant first day for the Brits onboard Basilica today. Four wins out of four races on the Southsea front produced a jubilant crowd of cheering spectators for the UK entry.
The recipe of constant winds of 15 knots added to sunny spells, gave the competitors a chance to really race the Volvo Extreme 40’s around the track and the spectators a great view on the first day of the series in Portsmouth. The catamarans sailed four races this afternoon with plenty of spills and thrills to keep everybody on their toes.
The first race started with fury when Motorola (Conrad Humphreys) being helmed today by world famous multihull and monohull sailor Brian Thompson got caught out on the wrong side of the committee boat and ended up a minute late for the start of the race. Unfortunately for them they never caught the rest of the fleet who sped off round the windward, leeward course.
By the end of the two laps Basilica skippered by James Grant and helmed by Alister Richardson was out in the lead and finished just under a minute before Volvo Ocean Race helmed by the class designer Yves Loday. Third place was tightly fought over as Team Hilfiger (Randy Smyth) and Holmatro skippered by Andreas Hagara tried to out-gybe each other on the last downwind leg. The fight eventually ended in Smyth pippin Hagara to the post by five seconds, each boat pushing to the absolute limit.
After a short break the second race was underway with Motorola port tacking the whole fleet on the line timing their run up, to perfection. They led the fleet with Basilica snapping at their heels and looked likely to finish in first until the second downwind leg. Basilica overtook them and to make matters worse the crew had problems furling the gennaker as they rounded the mark forcing them to sail off downwind to gain control of the sail. Unfortunately the problems led to them never finishing the race, which at the start looked in the bag.
Motorola was not the only yacht to have problems with their gennaker this afternoon. In the third race the Volvo Ocean Race crew had the same issue, forcing them to lose a lot of ground on the four other cats and finish last. Basilica again wowed their fans by taking first, with Holmatro close on their tail to give them two second places.
By the fourth race every cat looked like they were up to full pace with some spectacularly close manoeuvring, especially at the start as they vied for their spot on the line. Basilica and Team Volvo Ocean Race crossed the line simultaneously and by the first mark Volvo Ocean Race had just nudged into the lead. Regrettably on the downwind leg the cat came up too high and let the three following boats squeeze under them. By the time all four cats came to the bottom mark there was only twenty seconds separating them and not much space. After some frantic shouting of rules, they all came away uninjured and either tacked towards the shore or out into clear air but less breeze.
Motorola was the last to round the bottom mark but while the other cats were busy watching each other, Team Motorola with some clever moves worked their way back up the fleet into second, their best place all afternoon.
The boys on Basilica are obviously jubilant this afternoon after their wins, skipper James Grant couldn’t keep the smile of his face. “Today we exceeded all our expectations. We felt really positive going into the regatta. Our boat is better prepared at the moment than ever before. I think we have raised the bar today and as long as we keep a few boats in between us and Randy (Smyth) on Hilfiger we’re happy.”
It will be very interesting to see if the Brits on Basilica can keep up their momentum on the next day of racing on Tuesday with a lay day in between which many of the teams will use for practise. Or will the Americans on Hilfiger come back with vengeance?
Racing recommences on Tuesday 30th May at 14:00 (local). For further information on the class log onto www.VolvoExtreme40.org.
Results, Day 1 (after 4 races)
1st Basilica, 40 pts
2nd Holmatro, 26 pts
3rd Tommy Hilfiger, 24 pts
4th Volvo Ocean Race, 21 pts
5th Motorola-CHR 17 pts
Overall Series Rankings (after three events)
1st Tommy Hilfiger 26 pts
2nd Basilica 20 pts
3rd Holmatro 19 pts
4th Motorola-CHR 18 pts
5th Volvo Ocean Race 16 pts
Portsmouth, England – May 26, 2006 – Sports personalities, actors and Royalty will guest star during the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 in-port race, which takes place on Bank Holiday Monday 29 May.
Pirates of the Caribbean, skippered by American Paul Cayard, will be joined onboard by one of the film’s actors Mackenzie Crook, who plays Pirate Ragetti in ‘Pirates’. Crook also played Gareth in the hit sit-com ‘The Office’. Co-star Kevin McNally (Joshamee Gibbs in ‘Pirates’) will also be in attendance on Monday.
Also competing onboard Pirates of the Caribbean will be the yacht’s godmother Lady Gabriella Windsor as well as Olympic medal-winning rower James Cracknell.
Cracknell, who won rowing gold at the Athens Olympics with team-mate Sir Matthew Pinsent, will put any camaraderie aside, as Pinsent will be onboard rival yacht Ericsson.
Round the world yachtswomen Dee Caffari, who recently returned from her epic voyage the ‘wrong way’ around the world, will swap yachts when she steps onboard Mike Sanderson’s (NZ) ABN AMRO ONE – the overall race leader.
A total of six boats will compete in the in-port race. Unfortunately the Spanish entry movistar, skippered by Dutchman Bouwe Bekking, is yet to be recovered from the North Atlantic after the crew was forced to abandon ship.
Sébastien Josse, Skipper of ABN AMRO TWO, has also recently announced that his team will be competing in Monday’s race. Participation in the race had been thrown into doubt following the tragic loss of ABN AMRO TWO crew member Hans Horrevoets during the New York to Portsmouth leg of the race.
Seb Josse commented: “We are all keen to go on – we know that it is what Hans would have wanted and the first step is to get back out on the water for the in port race. Of course it will not be easy but the whole team has decided to go sailing on Monday and we will be doing it for Hans. Gerd Jan [Poortman] will be on board and Coxy [Neil Cox] will also join us as the 11th man.” The team have not yet made a decision on the rest of the race.
For the in-port race, Ericsson will be boosted by some additional local sailors, who are familiar with the complicated waters of The Solent. movistar’s former navigator Andrew Cape (AUS) who lives in Lymington, has joined the team for the remainder of the race, replacing Mark Rudiger (USA). Local skipper Neal McDonald, who hails from Hamble, will be sailing in familiar territory as will Hampshire helmsman Tim Powell and crew member Jason Carrington.
Also competing on Monday will be the Australian entry Brunel and the first Brazilian entry in the race, Brasil 1 skippered by five times Olympic medallist Torben Grael (BRA).
26 May 2006 - The Ericsson Racing Team is now ready to get back out on the water to train for Monday's in-port race. The race will commence at 13.00 local time on 29 May. The team welcomes a new navigator, Andrew Cape (AUS), who previously sailed on movistar. Cape replaces Mark Rudiger (USA), who was only able to sail legs six and seven due to other commitments.
After seven offshore legs and five in-port regattas, the Volvo Ocean Race is nearing its conclusion, with two in-port regattas and two ocean legs remaining. After an excellent second place during the Atlantic crossing from New York (USA) to Portsmouth (UK), and with 21 points still up for grabs, the Ericsson Racing Team has everything to play for.
"I look forward to sailing the in-port race in my home waters," comments skipper Neal McDonald (GBR). "We have a very solid team and we really showed our true potential on the previous leg. A good result in Monday's in-port race would set us up nicely for the remainder of the race."
The crew for Monday's in-port race will be similar to that which crossed the Atlantic, with the addition of Jason Carrington (who has sailed all the in-port races and all the legs until Rio de Janeiro), whilst Andrew Cape takes over from Mark Rudiger as navigator. Andrew Cape was movistar's navigator until their dramatic rescue during the previous leg.
"After all that has happened with movistar, it is great to be able to continue in the Volvo Ocean Race," says Cape. "I am very happy that the Ericsson Racing Team has asked me to become its navigator. It is a very talented team, and I look forward to racing with them until Gothenburg."
The stormy weather which has battered the Solent for the past ten days is expected to ease off by Sunday, bringing a gentler weather pattern for Monday's in-port race. A light north-westerly breeze is expected in the morning, becoming gusty and shifty through midday and building to 15-20 knots by mid to late afternoon.
Depending on the conditions, the fleet will sail either a triangular course followed by three windward-leeward legs, or a windward-leeward course consisting of four laps. For McDonald, together with Tim Powell (GBR), Jason Carrington (GBR) and Andrew Cape, The Solent is a familiar training ground.
"The team set up worked very well on the previous leg, and so we have decided to continue with the same crew, with the addition of Capey. Between us, we certainly have a good deal of local knowledge around the Solent. However, the in-port race is to be held in an area where none of us have done a lot of racing," says McDonald.
The in-port regatta will take place five nautical south off Portsmouth Harbour, in the area of water bounded by the Nab tower to the east and Bembridge, Isle of Wight, to the west. This Monday is a Bank Holiday in England and hundreds of spectator crafts are expected to come and enjoy the show.
West Michigan is known for its water-related recreational resources; especially Muskegon Lake. The wide expanse of water available to boating and the proximity to Lake Michigan which helps create thermal winds make Muskegon Lake a perfect sailing site. The Muskegon Yacht Club welcomes all to the 77th (WMYA) Western Michigan Yachting Association Regatta to be held this August 2nd through 5th. Over 200 boats sailing in six classes are expected. Fleets competing in the regatta will include the following classes: E scow, C scow, MC scow, M17, Laser and Butterfly.
The WMYA was formed in December 1929 as a result of an informal agreement between representatives of the three original member clubs; Spring Lake, White Lake and Muskegon Lake. The association held their first regatta at the Muskegon Yacht Club in 1930 which included three classes of boats: A, E and C scows. The Muskegon Lake regatta was so successful that the three clubs decided to formalize their relationship and promote intense inter-club competition. In September 1930 a luncheon was held at the Century Club in downtown Muskegon and the following clubs joined the existing association; Grand Rapids, Macatawa Bay and Torch Lake. By 1938 Pentwater and Crystal Lake had also joined. Today an additional 15 clubs from Michigan and several Midwest states belong to the organization.
The four day event can be viewed by boat or on land from sites such as the Muskegon Yacht Club, Harbour Towne beach and North Muskegon State Park’s Muskegon Lake beach beginning each day at 10:00am. On the social side, a Sailor’s lunch will be served daily. A Junior member party Thursday evening and the traditional Commodores Ball Friday night round out the festivities. For further information visit Western Michigan Yachting Association or Muskegon Yacht Club.
With the official closing date for challenges now passed, the 2006 Rolex Commodores' Cup entry list has a very healthy look.
The first formal challenge was received in April from an unexpected direction. Following its participation via the European Team in 2004, Russia has gone one step further by making a full challenge for the 2006 Rolex Commodores' Cup. This entry by a fully-fledged east European nation state is a first for the event that has been running since 1992. Over that time this offshore team based regatta has seen entries from as far a field as Argentina, Australia, Hong Kong and the USA. More recently though teams have been confined to Western Europe.
Misha Mouratov heads the Russian team and is delighted to be taking part, but cautious about their chances, "I am very happy to be part of the first Russian team. The goal for the team is not to be the last. We are really the underdog for this event. Really just three bands of amateurs!" However, as Mouratov points out you have to begin somewhere and this is a significant step forward from 2004 when Serguei Kotsiouba was the big boat in Team Europe, "in Russia we say that the main thing is to start. I hope the first Russian Rolex Commodores' Cup team will help to grow more interest to sailing in Russia. And from other side perhaps our team shows that this interest is growing."
The team comprises, Mouratov's Swan 45 Murka, Sergey Bryuzga's Sinergia 40, Juga, and an HOD35 Zarafa skippered by Vladimir Loginov, a respected yachtsman at home and one who is actively involved in developing the sport in his role as president of the St Petersburg branch of the Russian Sailing Federation.
Since April, the challenges have flooded in. The Irish have lodged their challenge confirming that three teams are entered. The British have announced more recently four teams, including one representing Scotland. The French, winners in 2002, will mount another strong assault with three teams lined up.
Elsewhere, the Dutch (fourth placed team in 2004) have put together a competitive challenge comprising Robertjan Zonneveld's Swan 45, Fatboy, with Gideon Messink a Whitbread Race veteran in the crew; the Grand Soleil 43 Roark, owned and skippered by Kees Kahn, and, the Grand Soleil 37 Swisslife, skippered by Ralph Berkmans. The Dutch have a long association with the Solent and have raced in every Admiral's Cup since it began. They have only missed one Rolex Commodores' Cup, the one held in 2000.
The Belgians have settled one team featuring stalwart challengers Francois Goubau and Axel de Cock and, with the rules allowing the Royal Ocean Racing Club to accept late challenges, there remains a strong possibility of a second team.
Currently, the RORC anticipate 14 teams, with 13 so far confirmed from Great Britain (4), France (3), Ireland (3), Russia (1), Belgium (1) and The Netherlands (1).
The Rolex Commodores' Cup will be held off Cowes, Isle of Wight, from 25th June to 2nd July 2006.
ABN AMRO TWO finally crossed the finish line in leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race at 1908 GMT, 2008 local time, scoring two points and finishing in sixth position. The young crew of international sailors, led by French skipper Sébastien Josse, wanted to finish the leg for Hans Horrevoets, their Dutch crew member who sadly died at sea in a tragic accident in the early hours of Thursday May 18. The families of all the crewmembers waited at the historic dockyard of Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth and there were emotional scenes as the tired sailors were reunited with friends and loved ones after what must have been one of the most difficult legs in the history of the race. In a show of support and compassion, the boat was welcomed by hundreds of well wishers involved in the Volvo Ocean Race, as well as the entire TEAM ABN AMRO.
Tragedy first struck the crew with the devastating loss of Dutch team mate Hans Horrevoets, after he was swept overboard in big seas and strong winds in the middle of the night. Although Sebastien Josse located Hans in extreme conditions and in an astounding piece of seamanship, they were unable to resuscitate him and had to continue on towards the UK with the body.
As preparations were underway to expedite the quick recovery of Hans from ABN AMRO TWO, the crew was suddenly at the centre of a distress call from movistar, who experienced serious keel problems and started taking on water. The crew responded immediately and changed course to go to the aid of movistar despite the exceptional circumstances. Bouwe Bekking eventually made the decision to abandon ship ahead of worsening weather, and all 10 crew members were transferred to ABN AMRO TWO. The movistar crew was safely transferred from ABN AMRO TWO to a RIB just off the coast of Falmouth at 08h15GMT. Finally, the crew bid an emotional farewell to the teammate Hans at around 08h40 this morning when the Dutchman’s body was transferred to the Dutch Navy Frigate, HNLMS Van Galen.
After the emotion scenes at Gunwharf Quays the crew were taken to the team hotel for a debrief and to spend time with their families and friends.
May 22, 2006: ABN AMRO TWO finally crossed the finish line in leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race at 19h08 GMT, scoring 2 points and finishing in sixth position. The young crew of international sailors, led by French skipper Sébastien Josse, wanted to finish the leg for Hans Horrevoets, their Dutch crew member who sadly died in the early hours of Thursday May 18.
In a show of support and compassion, the boat was welcomed by hundreds of well wishers including the entire Volvo Ocean Race team of sailors, race officials, families and friends. As the boat arrived to huge applause at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth there were emotional scenes as the tired sailors were finally reunited with friends and loved ones after what must have been one of the most difficult legs in the history of the race.
Tragedy first struck the crew with the devastating loss of Dutch team mate Hans Horrevoets, after he was swept overboard in big seas and strong winds in the middle of the night, 1,300 miles from land. Seb Josse and his crew located Hans in extreme conditions in an astounding piece of seamanship. However, they were unable to resuscitate him and had to continue on towards the UK with Hans’ body onboard.
As preparations were underway to expedite the quick recovery of Hans from ABN AMRO TWO, the crew was suddenly at the centre of a distress call from movistar, who experienced serious keel problems and started taking on water. The crew responded immediately and changed course to go to the aid of movistar despite the exceptional circumstances. Bouwe Bekking eventually made the decision to abandon ship ahead of worsening weather, and all 10 crew members were transferred to ABN AMRO TWO in another dramatic moment for the race. The movistar crew was safely transferred from ABN AMRO TWO to a RIB just off the coast of Falmouth at 08h15GMT this morning. Finally, the crew bid an emotional farewell to their teammate Hans at around 08h40 when the Dutchman’s body was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy Frigate, HNLMS Van Galen.
After the emotional scenes at Gunwharf Quays, the crew were taken to the team hotel to spend time with their families and friends. TEAM ABN AMRO will host a press conference at 11:00 (UK) / 12:00 (Europe) on Tuesday May 23 at the New York & Baltimore Suites, Gunwharf House, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth and simultaneously broadcast via conference call.
CLEVELAND -- The Coast Guard is incorporating this week's National Safe Boating Week into the overall North American Safe Boating Campaign.
The North American Safe Boating Campaign is an effort to encourage boaters into volunteering to wear lifejackets at all times on the water and to routinely follow safe boating practices.
The season long campaign will focus on its key slogans: "You're in command - wear your life-jacket," "You're in command - boat sober," "You're in command - boat responsibly."
The Coast Guard would like to remind boaters of free services that they can use like the vessel safety check program and boater education classes. Whether offered in a classroom or on line, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, U.S. Power Squadrons along with various other approved agencies can offer these preventative services.
We have a responsibility to our safety and to the safety of others around us and one way to ensure our safety is through proper procedures that can be learned by the various safe boating classes.
The Coast Guard would like to remind boaters to be safe and wear a Coast Guard approved life vest, it is like a safety belt in the water. Even if a person feels confident in the water, the weather systems on the Great Lakes can be unpredictable making them dangerous.
Another safe boating practice would be to let family, friends or a local marina know when you are going to be on the water and for how long.
Valencia, 22 May, 2006 - A new record was set at the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 11 on Sunday - 59 233 people poured into Port America's Cup, the most ever in a single day at the host city of the 32nd America's Cup.
That pushes the total for the 10 days of Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts 10 & 11 up to 263 873.
"We are very satisfied to see that Port America's Cup has had such a successful acceptance amongst the visitors, especially the people of Valencia, who have discovered this new space for the city and have enjoyed the America's Cup action," said Michel Bonnefous, President of the 32nd America's Cup organisation.
"The competition for the Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts 10&11 has been fantastic, with very level racing between the teams and outstanding action. From now onwards we have to keep the effort to match everyone's expectations."
Dating back to the first Louis Vuitton Act in Marseille in 2004, over 1 360 000 fans have come to see the action at the 32nd America's Cup in Marseille, Malmö-Skåne, Trapani and Valencia.
Over 400 journalists were accredited to the media centre with over 300 more involved in the television production for the host broadcaster and various rights-holders. 45 hours of live coverage were produced with over 300 hours of live coverage of the racing guaranteed around the world.
Coverage of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts on the official website, www.americascup.com was also popular. Featuring news, features, photos, results, and live updates in four languages, along with audio commentary in English and Spanish, the site received 2 649 958 page views and 302 306 visitors. Average unique visitors per day totalled 19 957. All of these numbers are up an average of 20% from the last Act in Trapani.
Movistar, the Spanish entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06, has suffered damage to the keel area and, as a precaution, has asked race headquarters to put surrounding rescue organisations, including the Falmouth Coast Guard, on standby.
Bouwe Bekking (NED) the skipper, informed race headquarters at Whiteley, Hampshire, at 1527 (GMT) that the boat was taking on water. The pumps are coping with the ingress of water and the crew has stabilised the problem.
Currently their position is 410 miles west south west of Land’s End and they are sailing at 10 knots in 22 knots of wind. The sea state is rough, with waves of six metres.
ABN AMRO TWO has altered course to standby and Brunel is also on standby to assist if required.
Meanwhile, ABN AMRO ONE is 3.6 nautical miles from the Needles and is expected to finish in just over an hour’s time.
ABN AMRO ONE is safely in Portsmouth having won the Leg 7, but the remaining six boats are in two groups, with different situations in prospect.
The first group, Ericsson (Neal McDonald), Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) are racing flat out for the finish, 140 nautical miles away, each trying to get an advantage to gain the two remaining podium places.
Currently Ericsson leads from Pirates by 15 miles, having taken the three points for second place points at the Lizard scoring gate, Pirates have the 2.5 for third, while Brasil 1 are 35 miles from the Lizard in hot pursuit of the other two.
The other group, movistar (Bouwe Bekking), ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and Brunel (Matt Humphries), are 350 miles from Lands End, proceeding at about ten knots. movistar, is being shadowed by ABN AMRO TWO, both crews are preparing to deal with the Force Ten gale that will shortly be with them. Brunel, some 70 miles to the south of the other two is similarly preparing for the gale and making her best speed towards the scoring gate at the Lizard. All three boats are continuing racing.
Torben Grael crossed the finish line today with Brasil 1 to take fourth position in leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race, after an extremely difficult race across the Atlantic.
The last two days of the crossing have been especially traumatic for the crew of Brasil 1. Controlling the boat became a challenge with a wind speed of 35 knots. The boat was lurching wildly when the spinnaker pole snapped one metre from the bow. The team reacted fast and two crew went forward to collect the remaining pieces.
While Andy Meiklejohn and Stu Wilson were up on the bow, a wave washed through the deck and the spinnaker pole was projected at full speed into the cockpit. Horacio Carabelli saw the huge tube with the sharp end flying centimetres from his face. In a split second he imagined the worst: the tube hitting Torben behind the wheel. They were lucky. Torben ducked and the pole hit the wheel and stuck to wheel and steering pedestal.
It was a much relieved crew that arrived in Portsmouth this afternoon at 1530 GMT, after nine days, 21 hours and 30 minutes of racing.
“This leg has been much harder than we expected,” said Torben Grael. Navigator Marcel van Triest, added, “It has been a tough leg both tactically and emotionally. It is always good to arrive in port and we are very pleased to be here.”
Meanwhile, Brunel (Matt Humphries) is still out on the race track with 157 miles to run to the Lizard and the scoring gate. They are making 22 knots of boat speed currently with a wind speed of 36 knots. ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse), with the movistar crew safely onboard, is 253 miles from the Lizard and is averaging 16 knots.
Brunel (Matt Humphries) is closing quickly on the finish in Portsmouth. She is has passed Cowes and has four miles to go to the finish. Conditions in the Solent are rough, with very little visibility. A force nine gale is expected in the vicinity in about an hour’s time.
The crew of movistar have been successfully transferred to the dock in Falmouth, south west England, by rib. ABN AMRO TWO suspended racing at 0735 GMT this morning and resumed again at 0954 GMT.
After a wild Atlantic crossing, the Australian entry, Brunel, skippered by Britain’s Matt Humphries, crossed the finish line in Portsmouth, UK, this morning at 1016GMT, 1116 local time, after 10 days, 17 hours, 16 minutes and 32 seconds at sea.
The last hours of this leg have been particularly testing for this crew who have had some breakages onboard which have prevented them from sailing at full speed, although they have been pressing as hard as possible in order to keep in front of the storm which has been creeping up on them. Steering has been reduced to one wheel only, although a temporary repair was made, and the crew have been wearing their yellow survival suits for the final 48 hours.
Skipper Matt Humphries said on arrival:
“The last 48 hours feels as if we have been to hell and back. It seems as though we have been in survival mode and there has been great seamanship on behalf of the crew. It is great to be in now. We feel that we are very lucky to be here in the state that we are in.”
ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) is now sailing at 22 knots and is 12 miles off Looe on the Cornish coast.
The crew of the Spanish yacht, movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has abandoned the yacht and transferred the 10-man crew via life raft to ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Joss), which has been standing by since approximately 2200 GMT last night.
The two boats are positioned 307 nautical miles west south-west of Land’s End. The sea state is rough, but the wind has temporarily eased to seven knots, which has made the transfer of the crew easier. The weather is forecast to deteriorate and 40 – 50 knots winds are expected in the vicinity within the next four to six hours. The decision to transfer the crew and abandon movistar was made in the light of the extreme weather expected.
When asked for assistance, the Royal Navy responded immediately and HMS Mersey, a River class offshore patrol vessel built for UK fishery protection, has left Milford Haven in South Wales and is expected to rendezvous with ABN AMRO TWO in approximately eight hours’ time and shepherd ABN AMRO TWO to the nearest coast.
Food and personal items were transferred with the crew of movistar and ABN AMRO TWO is equipped with two ten-man life rafts if required. Movistar has been left with her generator and Inmarsat Satcom C communications system running so that her position can be tracked as long as possible.
At the head of the fleet, Ericsson (Neal McDonald) is approximately 28 nautical miles west of the Needles at the entrance to the Solent. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), is eight miles south of Portland Bill and Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) is 10 miles east of Start Point.
Valencia, 21 May, 2006 - Good racing conditions, a large spectator fleet, a packed America's Cup Park and the Defender rising to the occasion - this was the scene on Sunday in Valencia at the conclusion of Louis Vuitton Act 11.
On the race course, the Swiss Defender, Alinghi, won its third of the five fleet races. Behind them, BMW ORACLE Racing and Luna Rossa made gains over the course of the race to crowd the top of the leaderboard.
The 'Latin Rascals' of Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia had another good day, securing fifth place overall, while Shosholoza confirmed that the improvement it has shown over the course of the last four Acts is genuine, finishing in the top half of the standings again.
For United Internet Team Germany, Victory Challenge and the home Desafío Español squad, Act 11 was one they'd rather forget, with each finishing lower than they'd wish on the points table. China Team didn't race on Sunday after suffering structural damage to their boat on Saturday afternoon.
Following the racing, Alinghi was presented with the Louis Vuitton Act 11 trophy in front of a boisterous crowd during a 'docking ceremony' at the America's Cup Park.
RACE FIVE
The teams trailing first place Alinghi knew they would have their work cut out for them and BMW ORACLE Racing skipper Chris Dickson seemed to be the most eager to take on the job, luffing the Swiss boat and pushing it towards the start line. But in the event, the Americans were too eager, and Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio judged the bow of USA 87 broke the startline a fraction early, and Dickson had to restart, putting him well behind the fleet.
The big four teams all worked their up the left side of the race course, while United Internet Team Germany and Desafío Español hit the right hand side hard. Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia and Alinghi worked up near the middle at the top mark it was the Swiss, sailing smartly and conservatively who emerged with the lead.
But Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia was close behind with the Kiwis chasing them. BMW ORACLE Racing moved all the way up to sixth place, a brilliant recovery from their starting error.
Iain Percy's +39 Challenge continued to excel in the fleet contests, rounding the top mark in fifth place while the Spanish, Swedes and Germans died out on the right side of the course.
The teams split through the leeward gate and when they reconvened at the top mark for the final time, the top places were nearly identical, with the Americans having clawed up into fourth place. But on the final run, Emirates Team New Zealand, BMW ORACLE Racing and Luna Rossa all surged past Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia, with the latter squeezing across just one-second in front.
On the final points table, Alinghi is the runaway leader, with Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand finishing equal eight points back. The Italians win the tie-break to take second place, with the Kiwis third and BMW ORACLE Racing fourth, just two points ahead of Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia team.
21 May 2006 - The Ericsson Racing Team finished leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race at 12.26 GMT today, taking second place on the podium. The arrival into Portsmouth, UK, was a welcome end to what has been one of the toughest legs for all the sailors, both physically and emotionally.
Ericsson enjoyed its best performance to date on leg seven with a brilliant second place, both at the Lizard scoring gate and on the arrival into Portsmouth, earning them 9 points on the scoreboard.
"This is the result we've been waiting for a long time," said skipper Neal McDonald (GBR) on the dock. "The conditions were the most grueling I have ever seen on an Atlantic crossing - like having Southern Ocean conditions for days on end. If it wasn't for the tragedy onboard ABN Amro Two, we would be immensely happy now. But as things are, we simply cannot celebrate. The race is very secondary in comparison to a life."
The team had a good start out of New York on 11 May, and despite numerous position changes on the first couple of days, it soon settled into second place. Just three days into the race, Ericsson, along with ABN Amro One, made a critical decision to tack onto port owning the south-east of the course, whilst the rest of the fleet continued briefly on a more direct northerly route.
"There was a key moment early on in the leg. We broke away from the coast and left the fleet, when we were all on the wind," said McDonald. "This gave us a little jump and then we got into good weather systems. We really worked hard at making the most of any opportunity."
As a result, the leading boats, ABN Amro One and Ericsson, were the first to be rewarded with reaching and running conditions, leaving the fleet behind, still beating into the wind. The team built up a 60 nautical mile lead over its nearest competition.
In the early hours of 18 May, the devastating news came that a crewmember on ABN Amro Two had been swept overboard. The two yachts closest to the scene momentarily stopped racing and turned back in order to assist with the rescue operation. However, nothing could be done to save the crewmember's life.
The days following this tragic event proved extremely tough for the exhausted sailors, as a powerful storm with winds blowing up to 50 knots brought them back to the reality of sailing. Pirates of the Caribbean managed to close in on Ericsson, taking advantage of better winds from behind. The boats ended up almost neck and neck as they approached the scoring gate at Lizard Point, Ericsson leading by a mere 12 miles.
"We held off a bit after the tragic incident with Hans and sailed more conservatively," explained watch captain and helmsman Tim Powell (GBR). "Pirates sailed really fast downwind and managed to close in on us."
At the same time, the Ericsson crew had to contend with some minor damage - a hole in the deck, a broken spinnaker pole and a malfunctioning keel movement system.
Ericsson passed the Lizard scoring gate in second place, earning them 3 points on the leaderboard. From then on it was plain sailing in moderate conditions towards Portsmouth and after 9 days, 19 hours, 26 minutes and 39 seconds of racing, they finally crossed the finish line.
Overnight the first four boats in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, due to finish leg seven from New York to Portsmouth later today, have had hideous conditions out in the North Atlantic. The hours of darkness have been super stressful for the teams who now want this leg to end as quickly as possible. “One more night of heinous action… wrote Mike Sanderson, skipper of the leading yacht, ABN AMRO ONE last night. In his report this morning, he said, “165 miles to the Lizard and about 150 miles from there, and yes, I am counting them down, it is time to finish this one.”
ABN AMRO ONE has a lead of 174 miles over Ericsson (Neal McDonald) and can afford to sail more conservatively, although Sanderson desperately wants to win this leg and with it the Volvo Ocean Race overall.
For Neal McDonald and his Ericsson Racing Team, about to post his best result to date, it is a different story. He has Paul Cayard and his team of Pirates breathing down his neck, just 12 miles behind him, but McDonald’s crew are still sailing faster.
Further back in the fleet, movistar has had a quiet night. Over five hundred miles behind the leader, and sailing in a completely different weather system, the crew has managed to repair their broken head foil with a sleeve. They have light air due to a new low-pressure system closing in on them. If that passes them on the wrong side, they will have to beat upwind in 40 knots of breeze short period. They are currently heading a south easterly course to assure that the low pressure passes them on their northern side and avoid an upwind slog.
The heavy weather looks set to provide an exciting finish in the Solent this evening when ABN AMRO ONE screams to the finish line off Gilkicker Point in the eastern Solent.
May 19, 2006, Portsmouth, England – After sailing 3,200 nautical miles from New York, the yachts competing in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 are expected to arrive into Portsmouth tomorrow evening.
Dutch entry ABN AMRO ONE, skippered by New Zealander Mike Sanderson, has established an impressive 188 mile lead over the fleet. Local Hampshire sailor Robert Greenhalgh, who is competing onboard the lead boat, will be hoping to be the first Englishman to touch down on home soil.
British skipper Neal McDonald is also racing hard to reach home. Along with team mate and fellow countryman Tim Powell, they are currently placed second overall onboard Ericsson and will be hoping to maintain this position to the finish to score their best leg result.
The lead boat is expected to pass the scoring gate off Lizard Point, the most southerly point of mainland Britain, around first light tomorrow morning. From there the fleet will sail towards Portsmouth, leaving the Needles (the most western point of the Isle of Wight) to starboard as they battle their way up through the heavily tidal and challenging Solent.
The Volvo Open 70 racing yachts are currently completing leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06. The race concludes in Göteborg, Sweden, on the 17 June.
Due to the nature of the events over the last 36 hours, the arrivals of the yachts into Portsmouth will be a relatively low key affair. We politely request that attending media respect the wishes of the competing teams and their families.
Valencia, 19 May, 2006 - It was a very tricky day out on the waters off Valencia with light, shifty conditions, along with a left-over swell from earlier wind making life hard for the sailors. The contrast in results over the two races sailed was certainly indicative of a difficult day, with top three finishers in one race finding themselves well down the table in the other.
The Swedes on Victory Challenge stormed out to a massive lead in the first race, perhaps inspired by the presence of track and field legend Baron Sebastian Coe, who sailed as 18th man on the black boat of the Swedes.
In the second contest of the day, it was the Defender, Alinghi, who dashed off the start line with the winning strategy, building a nice lead on the first leg and extending the rest of the way for a smart looking win. Combined with a sixth place finish in the first race, that was enough to give the Swiss pole position on the first day leaderboard of Louis Vuitton Act 11.
RACE ONE
When racing started after a short postponement, it was Luna Rossa with its bow forward on the starting line, helmsman James Spithill making an excellent start. The Germans were shut out of the start line initially and were late starting.
Taking the right-hand side up the first leg Victory Challenge, with Baron Sebastian Coe aboard as 18th man, came into a good shift and with clear wind was able to extend in front of the fleet. The Italians aboard Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia weren't far behind them and came out of the first part of the race in a very strong position behind the Swedes.
Emirates Team New Zealand did well up the middle of the race course, along with Shosholoza, while BMW ORACLE Racing and Alinghi just managed to hang on to the leaders.
At the first mark, the Swedes were well ahead. Mid-fleet, Luna Rossa found it had tacked too early, and had to try and 'shoot' the mark, by altering course to sneak around the buoy. As the Italian boat nearly stopped in the manoeuvre, four boats rolled over them, and to add insult to injury, the Umpires judged ITA 86 had tacked in the process and interfered with one of its opponents, and assessed them a penalty turn, driving the Italians further back in the fleet.
The Kiwis moved up a few places on the first run, while +39, who had rounded in third place held on to their position by staying on the left hand side of the course.
The Swedes and Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team extended away the rest of the race to take the first two places, and then, at the finish line, Iain Percy's +39 Challenge stole a position from the Kiwis by sailing high and fast behind Emirates Team New Zealand before diving down for the finish line, and using their momentum to squeeze across three seconds ahead.
Shosholoza eased in ahead of the Defender, Alinghi, while Thierry Peponnet's Areva Challenge sailed a great second lap of the course, making up four places to finish in seventh place. The home side Desafío Español squeezed ahead of the American winners of Act 10, BMW ORACLE Racing, while Luna Rossa, United Internet Team Germany and China Team rounded out the fleet.
RACE TWO
It was a dramatic start to the second race when two boats were judged over the line. Emirates Team New Zealand and Team Shosholoza dived back to restart, and were forced out to the right-hand side of the course to look for clear air. Desafío Español was lucky not to break the line early as the Spanish charged towards the pin end of the line with nowhere left to go. With China Team driving up from underneath, Karol Jablonski was forced to turn the wheel at the last moment, but they got away with it, crossing the start just as the gun fired.
Out of the middle of the line, a couple of the big players, Alinghi and Luna Rossa made good starts with good speed. But for the second race in a row, BMW ORACLE Racing made a terrible start as Chris Dickson struggled to find clear air in the first few minutes.
After their poor start, a right-hand windshift brought the Kiwis back into the game very quickly as they charged out to the right. +39 Challenge and BMW ORACLE also went out to the right, but when the breeze shifted back to the left, the advantage went back towards Luna Rossa, China Team and Alinghi. SUI-75 looked in good form, and Ed Baird steered Alinghi to a small but useful lead up the top of the first beat, with Luna Rossa not far behind. Desafío Español 2007 had to squeeze up to make it cleanly around the first mark, the Spanish just managing to do so and rounding third in front of the French team Areva Challenge.
One of the biggest surprises was to see China Team rounding in 5th place, a well deserved position after making a risky but well executed start. Just behind them were the Kiwis, also showing good form after that early start. But where was the winner of Louis Vuitton Act 10, BMW ORACLE Racing? The Americans rounded second last, with just +39 Challenge behind.
Chris Dickson was first to gybe on the downwind leg, a classic attacking move when you're at the back of the fleet. It proved to be a good strategy, as when the fleet converged on a congested leeward gate USA-87 was right back in the hunt. Alinghi meanwhile continued to extend, but the clear winner of race one - Victory Challenge - was struggling this time. Consistency in such a competitive fleet is proving hard to find.
Down the final run, the leading few had such a gap that positions were unthreatened, but in the middle of the pack it was a scramble for the line as boats gybed on each other, looking to steal precious air from their rivals' sails. Alinghi crossed the line well ahead of Luna Rossa, while BMW ORACLE had climbed to 6th place, just ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand. Two of the high-performing teams of the first contest - Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia and +39 on this occasion brought up the rear.
“He was first of all a very nice person. I sailed with him just two years ago when we won the Swan Europeans. So he was not only a brilliant sailor, but he was a good man and it is very sad to lose a friend like that.” Bouwe Bekking – movistar
“He was so dedicated to the sport and this race – he really did love it. You could see, when he got into the dock, the huge grin he would have from ear to ear. He was a fantastic team player who worked really hard to get the best for the whole team. I can’t say enough good things about him. He will be sadly missed, not only in our team, but in the world.” Mike Sanderson ABN AMRO ONE.
Sailing around the world was Horrevoets’ dream. He loved this race. It had been an ambition towards which he had strived since he was a boy. On his website he wrote, “As a child, I just had one goal in my life: sailing regattas! My biggest dream was sailing the Whitbread Round the World Race. Racing around the world on a W60 was my largest passion.”
“As a trimmer and a sail maker on board BrunelSunergy (Whitbread Round the World Race 1997-98) I sailed all legs. I was only 22 years old when the race began. This was an experience no one can ever take away from me!” To get that opportunity again this time round was, as he said, “Just magic.”
Such passion didn’t dwindle during 32 years of a life that ended so abruptly this morning. He was never anything less than enthusiastic and happy. Even when performances were bad he could be found laughing in the bar or with his family, friends and crew mates, for sailing to Hans was so much more than a job. It was, like it is for so many who make a living from this sport, far more enriching than that. Sailing, for Hans, satisfied a need for adventure, a desire to be tested, and above all it allowed him to be close to the ocean.
But beyond the loss, people are already beginning to realise the huge gain they made in their lives having met Hans. He will be missed, but also fondly remembered with a smile.
The Volvo Ocean Race is nearing the finish of leg seven from New York to Portsmouth and the leaders, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), have broken through the 750 nautical mile mark in the fresh south westerly winds that continue to push the fleet towards the finish.
Sanderson’s crew has covered 507 nautical miles during the last 24-hour period and Ericsson (Neal McDonald) is pushing the Dutch boat hard, but sailing fractionally slower. While ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) has 496 miles to the scoring gate at the Lizard, on the south west tip of the UK, the battle for second place is as hot as ever. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) are holding onto third position from Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) who is 22 miles behind, but Brasil 1 has the edge on speed.
Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) have a big repair job on their hands, as they ripped their mainsail right across, five metres from the top of the mast, during a gybe yesterday.
The weather forecasts are predicting some interesting challenges before this leg comes to an end and it is likely that the breeze will ease as the fleet approaches the finish and therefore slow the leaders briefly and delay their arrival in to Portsmouth. The easing of the breeze will only be temporary and the longer the light air lingers over the leaders, the better the chances are for the trailing teams to make up some ground.
Light winds near land always make for more complicated sailing, as what winds there are, shift and accelerate around any headlands. The latest weather model is showing that the light patch of breeze will not be enough to slow down the leaders down for very long and the lingering uncertainty as to the approaching low pressure will keep the navigators rethinking their strategy right up until the boats are tied up in Portsmouth.
As the reality of what happened this morning, when Hans Horrevoets was washed overboard from ABN AMRO TWO begins to dawn, tributes from all over the world are flooding in to race headquarters. Although everyone is shocked and saddened by the accident, the crews of the seven boats racing in leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race are particularly shattered by the loss of their friend.
As part of a two boat programme, the skipper and crew of ABN AMRO ONE wrote:
“Today it is very hard to write, what a terrible, terrible 12 hours we have just had. Hearing the news that Hans (Horrevoets) had gone over the side and that one of our sailing team was in the water just gave you a very sickening feeling. It is a sailor’s worst nightmare.
“Over the past two years we have grown as a very big family at Team ABN AMRO, and those of you out there that knew Hans will agree that he was just the most lovely team player and family man, all we can do here is think of Petra his wife, Bobbi his little girl, and the rest of Hans’ family, who were so supportive of him being in the race.
“We have backed off another level, we have gone with a fractional gennaker and a reef and we will just monitor the pace, for sure we need to be very careful on board as emotions are very close to the surface. I feel the pressure more than ever to get the husbands, the dads, and the fiancés and boyfriends in to their families in one piece, and that's all good for Black Betty as well. We have to keep racing though, as otherwise all that Hans has worked for over the last couple of years will be wasted, and we know that he wouldn't want that.
“It's not really possible to deal with it personally out here, so that will have to wait a few days until we get in. We need to now get all the boats safely tied up to the dock after these next few days of windy running, and give ourselves time to grieve the loss of a very good friend.
“To Petra, Bobbi and all of Hans’ family, I can't say enough how very, very sorry and sad we are, our thoughts and prayers go out too you.”
The wind has increased for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet as they make their way in what has been a slow trip so far across the North Atlantic to Portsmouth. As the wind rose to 25 knots today, Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), who have been piling the pressure on to Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), blew out their big masthead spinnaker, in a costly breakage which will lose them precious miles.
“There was no flogging or luffing, it just parted,” explains skipper Paul Cayard. The Pirates are now having to sail a higher angle with their smaller, reaching sail to try and keep their speed up. Cayard is hoping that the wind will increase by at least two knots, so that the team can fly their fractional spinnaker.
When not breaking gear, downwind sailing with a spinnaker up in 20 knots of wind is most enjoyable sailing in this race. Simon Fisher from ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) says that besides the good conditions the team is now enjoying, an added bonus has been that since they started to slide downwind, they have seen an improvement in their performance and they are now slowly making gains on their rivals.
With breeze of 40 knots or over forecast, anything is possible and the youngsters on ABN AMRO TWO are waiting impatiently for the wind to increase and the fun to begin. “Already, as the winds start to nudge over 20 knots, the waves are getting bigger, the speeds higher and all the gear downstairs is slowly making its way to the back of the boat in order to keep the bow up out of the water,” explains Fisher. It all seems to be working as ABN AMRO TWO has gained six miles in the last period and has averaged a speed of 18 knots.
The plan of attack for the Pirates is to sail to the north east on port tack tonight and then gybe tomorrow morning onto starboard and head east with the south westerly winds coming from a low that is catching up on the fleet. In the position report tonight, the Pirates had gained 12 miles and had overtaken Brasil 1.
Earlier this evening, Brunel’s navigator Will Oxley, was getting nervous as Brunel was out on a corner of the race track, anticipating a shift in the wind to the left. “I just wish it would hurry up,” says Oxley. “We have tried the other gybe a few times, but the breeze kept shifting back again and we are about two knots faster towards the Lizard on this gybe. We are looking forward to the gybe as the models predict more than 1000 miles will be covered in the next 48 hours. Bring it on!” he says.
Brunel (Matt Humphries) gybed onto starboard first at 1655 GMT and then quickly gybed back, followed by another try at 1955 GMT. They are now established on the starboard gybe they were looking for, but have lost 14 miles to the leaders.
While second-placed Ericsson (Neal McDonald), is now the most southerly boat in the fleet, 77 nautical miles south of ABN AMRO ONE, movistar (Bouwe Bekking) is sailing quickly up towards the pack, averaging over 20 knots in the last six hours and gaining 21 miles.
For ABN AMRO TWO, the young crew in this Volvo Ocean Race, this leg was critical in their fight to remain on the podium in the overall standings. After a disappointing leg into New York, for the ‘kids’ there was all to play for on this transatlantic dash to the UK.
Currently in fourth place overall, as the fleet reach the half way point on the race course, it is a fight for the team to stay with their competitors and get ready to pounce when the wind becomes favorable for the boat. Simon Fisher, the British based navigator on the boat commented, “While one set of numbers causes frustration [ABN AMRO TWO had lost some miles in recent position reports to the boats in front of them] another brings excitement as the forecast for the next few days looks fresh. Whilst we have finally had to accept that we are not that fast upwind or in light air, we also know that this boat revels in the big breeze downwind and right now that is exactly what our forecast into Portsmouth is set to deliver. So once again we are putting our best foot forward and going on the assault. Already, with the spinnaker set the scheds are looking encouraging and as the breeze increases we are sure they are only going to get better...”
For their ‘older brothers’ onboard ABN AMRO ONE they are having their own battle. On this seventh leg they have been plagued by damage including a broken daggerboard after hitting a whale and issues with leaking oil out of the hydraulic ram, Mike Sanderson and his crew hope for an easier second half of the leg. The ABN AMRO ONE crew believe they might be flying down the Solent on Saturday in 25 plus knots of breeze, which would make a change from the light wind finishes experienced so far. Due to the design of ABN AMRO ONE these have always made for tense times for the crew as the skinnier, light wind designed boats catch up from behind.
“How cool would it be to come smoking down the Solent with gennakers up,” skipper, Mike Sanderson says. Mike also added “I spoke to Dee Caffari today on the phone, she is just about to set a new record around the world for the first women to sail around the world "backwards" single handed [ie against the prevailing winds and tides.] I think she is coming up to 180 days at sea on her own which is just mind blowing - what an amazing achievement. The single handed race that I did a couple of years ago on Pindar was 12 days long and that seemed like forever and I lost about 6 kgs!! I guess you just have to leave with a different mind set. Anyway she sounded great, I felt a bit silly though when she asked me how our leg had been going and I started to tell her how hard done by the Volvo fleet were feeling because we had to go upwind for 4 days!!!! Poor Dee has been pretty much upwind against the prevailing winds for 180 days!! It is looking like she will finish on Thursday and will be back on the South Coast on Sunday which is very cool - the Solent will be a hive of activity.”
Mike and the team on ABN AMRO ONE are currently first in the race and 63 miles ahead of their nearest rivals. The first boat is expected to arrive in Portsmouth, UK on Saturday 20th May.
The American BMW ORACLE Racing team beat Italy's +39 Challenge today to complete racing in Louis Vuitton Act 10 and extend its lead on the points table. On Tuesday BMW ORACLE Racing won Act 10, when it was determined it would win the four way tie-break scenario at the top of the table. With today's win the Americans are one point clear, their only loss coming to Alinghi.
It was another good day for racing in Valencia, with a light Southeasterly breeze providing plenty of opportunities for gains and losses.
Despite having won Louis Vuitton Act 10 on Tuesday afternoon, today's race was important to BMW ORACLE. That's because the 11 challenging teams are also racing for Louis Vuitton Challenger Ranking Points and for this purpose, ties are not broken.
This challenger ranking is used to award bonus points prior to the challenger selection series in 2007. By finishing one point clear of its rival challengers - Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand- on the Act 10 leaderboard, BMW ORACLE Racing drives them further down the Louis Vuitton Challenger Ranking table, increasing its lead for those important bonus points.
Racing begins again of Friday with the first fleet race of Louis Vuitton Act 11.
FLIGHT 6 - Make-up match - BMW ORACLE Racing vs. +39 Challenge
A mild pre-start saw both boats hit the starting line with speed on starboard tack. BMW ORACLE Racing looked to be in a windward position where it could force +39 Challenge out to the layline. But the helmsman on the Italian boat, Iain Percy, was able to squeeze up and force the Americans to tack to the right hand side of the course. The boats raced up the centre right of the race course, and the American team was able to eke out a small advantage over the length of the leg.
On the first run, the Americans extended further in the light conditions and built a 38-second lead that would only increase over the second lap of the course.
The decision to head north has once again got movistar (Bouwe Bekking) in a jam. They lost the wind around 0055 GMT this morning, while the rest of the fleet sailed away on a steady breeze. At one point they were down to just 3 knots of boat speed. They have lost another 40 miles to the leaders ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) since the last position report. Luckily they are now on the move again.
They are not the only ones to have gone adrift. Over the last six hours, most of the fleet have dropped back from the leader. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) are the only boat to have closed the gap by a healthy 12 miles.
The whole fleet will be eagerly anticipating the stronger winds that have been forecast. This will no doubt launch them across the remainder of the Atlantic in no time at all.
As the Volvo Ocean Race fleet reaches the half way mark of leg seven from New York to Portsmouth, the ocean chess match continues. ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is still the clear leader, with 1370 nautical miles to sail before reaching the scoring gate at The Lizard, off the south west tip of England, but it is game on for the remaining podium places.
Ericsson (Neal McDonald), in second place, is watching Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) carefully, trying to guess what the Brazilians are planning. McDonald and his team are trying to take the left hand side of the course away from the Brazilians forcing them sail into the lighter breeze. Ericsson’s investment in the south 18 hours ago looks to be paying off as they lead Brasil 1 by 62 miles, but are now 74 miles behind the Dutch boat.
In the last six hours, Brasil 1 and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) have both lost 27 miles to the leader, the biggest losses in the fleet in this period. Brunel (Matt Humphries) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) are steering a more northerly course, while movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has found some breeze and is averaging 15.5 knots.
“The forecast is for a strong breeze from the westerly quadrants all the way up to England – up to 40 knots plus,” explained Bouwe Bekking this morning. “Not really ideal for 24-hour record breaking as the wind direction looks set to change a lot, so that straight line sailing won’t be possible. But then, we have seen enough unexpected change in the wind on this leg that the unthinkable might be possible. At least we have the longest runway of all to give it a crack,” he added.
Emirates Team New Zealand won one and lost one on the final day of Act 10 of the America’s Cup pre-regattas.
Alinghi’s SUI 75 lost to NZL 84 in the final race. In the first race of the day a torn spinnaker near the first downwind mark cost NZL 84 a possible win in its match against Luna Rossa (ITA 86).
Today’s breeze was similar to previous days – light 8-9 knots from the east but swinging through about 20 degrees, keeping the afterguard, with breeze spotter Adam Beashel up the rig, on their toes. It was another day for clear heads and conservative sailing.
Grant Dalton said: “All today’s racing demonstrates is that no one is unbeatable in this competition. We didn’t come here expecting to win every match. We’re also here to look and learn. I would be disappointed after a loss if we had learned nothing. It’s all part of the building process to 2007.”
The match between NZL 84 and ITA 86 was even at the start, both boats crossing the line at the same time, but quickly NZL 84 got a slight edge which they fought to keep, tacking 15 times on top of ITA 86 forcing them to tack away to clear their air.
NZL 84 kept the control, even when Luna Rossa tried to pass right on the mark by going between the yacht and the mark. A penalty call by NZL 84 was dismissed by the umpires. A delta for NZL 84 at the first mark was 13 seconds. Both spinnakers opened at the same time heralding first a tactical and then an aggressive run.
ITA 86 engaged NZL 84 in a slow luff that NZL 84 answered pointing her bow to the wind when the red spinnaker of NZL 84 exploded to ruin any Emirates Team New Zealand hopes of winning this match. The Italians seized the opportunity to take the lead, rounding the mark 10 seconds ahead, a delta that was reduced by NZL 84 to 6 sec at the next windward mark.
The last run was the opportunity for NZL 84 to bustle the Italians into an error, but, aware this was likely, the Italians kept well away and crossed the line 1min 8 sec ahead after NZL 84 had completed its penalty turn.
Grant Dalton said: “We had already beaten off one attack on the run. There was every chance we would have beaten off the other if the spinnaker had not ripped.
“That torn spinnaker also cost us a penalty, incurred when the sail touched Luna Rossa. So in a match that was going to be tight to the end, that was unachievable.”
The penalty was awarded because, as the rule book says, we failed to keep clear of the leeward boat, in this case the sail touching them. To clear the penalty a yacht must turn through a 360 degree turn which takes about 30 seconds.
“It could be argued that without the rip in the spinnaker, there would not have been a penalty, we could have emerged from the luffing encounter with Luna Rossa still in the lead. We’ll never know.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Luna Rossa. They sailed a good race and gave us a really hard time when we led from the start. There was nothing in it and the race could have gone either way.”
The second match of the day was expected to be a battle to the finish. And that’s how it happened.
The start was even. NZL 84 took the right and SUI 75 took an early lead on the left of the course. The margin was slim and when NZL 84 crossed behind Alinghi and took the left, she slowly opened a lead which translated to 15 seconds at the first mark.
By the first leeward mark the margin had extended to 22 sec, not giving NZL 84 much comfort, but still something that could be confidently defended.
The defence was fierce and the attacks constant but NZL 84 made it to the finish with a 21 sec margin.
Dalton said the team always had Alinghi in its sights as a must-win match. “We needed a win for our own satisfaction. Alinghi is sailing a well tried boat that has been refined to the point almost of perfection. The crew is a polished act. We still have a lot of development work to do on our current design concepts.
“We think NZL 84 has good potential. Now we await with interest the debut of Alinghi’s new boat in Act 12.”
Valencia, 16 May, 2006 - The American BMW ORACLE Racing team has won the Louis Vuitton Act 10 in Valencia. The Americans beat Luna Rossa Challenge in Flight 11 to move into a four-way tie with the other leading teams. Although they have sailed one less match than the other teams, BMW ORACLE Racing pops out the top on the tie-breaking procedure to confirm the winning spot.
It's the first Louis Vuitton Act victory for BMW ORACLE Racing since the opening Act in Marseille in 2004, when there were just six teams competing.
The American team will likely still sail its last match, scheduled for Wednesday, against +39 Challenge, to improve its position on the challenger rankings, although it won't affect the overall results for Act 10. If the Americans win on Wednesday they finish clear ahead on points in both the Act and for the Louis Vuitton Challenger Rankings.
Equal tonight on nine points with BMW ORACLE Racing is Luna Rossa Challenge, Emirates Team New Zealand and Alinghi. Under the tie-breaking rules, the championship is decided on the best performance in head to head matches between the tied teams. BMW ORACLE Racing and Luna Rossa both have 2 -1 records, and as the Americans beat Luna Rossa, they end up on top, with the Italians in second place. Emirates Team New Zealand ends up third by virtue of defeating Alinghi in their match.
Further down the table, the home Spanish team, Desafío Español 2007 won its last match over Victory Challenge to draw level with the Swedes on points, and win that tie-break for fifth place.
There were perfect racing conditions on Tuesday in Valencia, with a solid 10-12 knot Easterly blowing down the race course under sunny skies. Over 100 spectator boats ringed the race courses to catch all the action.
FLIGHT 10
The match between Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand was a humdinger. There was nothing between these two boats for the first leg and a half. As they duelled downwind, the Kiwis tried to roll over the top of the Italians who themselves had just made a passing move, but James Spithill engaged Dean Barker in a slow luff. As both boats rounded closer to the wind, the lightly-built spinnakers loaded up, until the red kite of NZL 84 exploded. As the shreds of sailcloth laid blew over Luna Rossa's rig, the Umpires added insult to injury by giving the Kiwis a penalty. Luna Rossa took a narrow lead through the leeward gate, and led their wounded rivals all the way to the finish.
There was action in the match between Desafío Español and BMW ORACLE, the Spanish gaining a small advantage in the early stages and looking the equal of the Americans in their new boat. This remained a tight match all the way round the course, with the two boats rounding the final mark in unison. However, USA 87 turned on the afterburners down the final run, and finished 25 seconds in front.
By comparison to the other big teams, Alinghi enjoyed a straightforward victory over Victory Challenge. But two of the three matches on the south course were closely fought all the way around the track, the first being that between Shosholoza and Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team. Straight off the start line Mascalzone Latino gained a small advantage up the first beat to round the windward mark in the lead, but at the leeward gate the Italians gave their lead away by picking the unfavoured left hand side of the gate.
Team Shosholoza hung onto to their lead up the second beat only to allow the Italians to get caught up when the South Africans made a poor gybe. Minutes later Mascalzone Latino managed to roll the South Africans and hold their lead to finish just 15 seconds ahead.
In the match between +39 and United Internet Team Germany, +39 took a narrow lead from the start and rounded the weather mark two boat lengths ahead. However, a poor spinnaker hoist allowed the German team to overtake the Italians. At the bottom mark the left hand side proved to be a graveyard once again, this time for United Internet Team Germany who handed back the lead to +39. This time it was a lead the Italians held to the finish.
Areva Challenge led China Team off the line and never looked back to beat the Chinese by a large margin.
FLIGHT ELEVEN
Going into the final flight, the overall standings were very close and the only team still fully in control of its own destiny was Luna Rossa. If the Italians could win this final match against BMW ORACLE Racing then they would win Louis Vuitton Act 10. James Spithill controlled the start beautifully, forcing an early tack from Chris Dickson. Just two minutes into the match, the yachts converged and Luna Rossa passed clear ahead - advantage Italy.
However, close to the first mark, Dickson pulled a masterstroke when he ducked the Italians to claim a late right-hand advantage. He threw the fast-turning USA 87 into an immediate tack, now sitting on the windward hip of the Italians. Spithill believed he had the speed and momentum to tack across the face of the Americans but it was an expensive misjudgement. Dickson was forced to take evading action and the Umpires duly awarded a penalty against Spithill. USA 87 speared into the lead and Dickson defended the lead to the finish.
It was a very even start between Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand, although the Swiss seized the early advantage. However the Kiwi afterguard found good breeze out to the left of the course and when the boats came together again, NZL 84 was two boatlengths ahead. This was always a tight match but the New Zealanders never faltered and they won a rare victory against their nemesis from the 2003 Cup.
Karol Jablonski sailed a masterful pre-start against Magnus Holmberg, Desafío Español leaving Victory Challenge floundering as the gun fired, and a penalty against the Swedish too. Victory never recovered and the Spanish sailed to a relatively easy win.
The match between Areva Challenge and +39 proved to be the closest of Flight 11 on the south course. On the approach to the start both boats looked early. +39 just managed to slow down to start cleanly, but Areva didn't and were over the line at the start. Travelling at pace and heading to the favoured right hand side of the course, the Italian team pulled out a lead that they never gave back.
In the match between United Internet Team Germany and Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, the Germans might have outperformed the Italians in the pre-start but they suffered a penalty. But there was worse to come. A poor hoist at the weather mark allowed the Italians to take the lead. At the leeward mark United Internet Team Germany compounded their problems with a poor spinnaker drop allowing the Italians to stretch out even more distance, resulting in a comfortable win.
After making a good start Team Shosholoza powered away from China Team and never looked like relinquishing their lead. They didn't and South Africa won the race.
Temperatures are rising as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet begins to free itself of headwinds and start to make real miles towards the scoring gate for leg seven at the Lizard, off the south western tip of the UK. The Gulf Stream has come into play and water temperatures have risen to 20 degrees C (68F) instead of the 5 degrees (41F) which the fleet has been experiencing on this leg until tonight. Warmer water mixes the wind better, and as the wind will be light under the high pressure ridge, boat speeds should increase and the strong current of the Gulf Stream will give the fleet an added push in the right direction.
Onboard Brasil 1, the leaking ram problems have returned to haunt them. The team is collecting the fluid that leaks from the rams, filtering it and re-using it. “Our biggest concern is running out of fluid,” says Horatio Carabelli. “We have the emergency supply but right now our routine is manually pumping the keel every half an hour to keep the keel fully canted.”
As speeds began to increase for the leaders, it was ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) which reached the new breeze first and left the fleet trailing. The Dutch boat is almost two knots faster than Ericsson (Neal McDonald) in second, who has dropped six miles in the last six hours. Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) lost 17 miles and is managing just over 10 knots, while the rest of the fleet is sailing at nine knots or less and have recorded substantial losses in the last six hours. Up in the north, Bouwe Bekking took the decision to tack movistar at 1900 GMT tonight, but the team is still struggling and barely making seven knots, yet to feel the benefit of the new breeze.
Portsmouth, R.I. (May 16, 2006) - US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, has determined the ranking system for the 2007 US Disabled Sailing Team. The US Disabled Sailing Team annually recognizes the top three ranked competitors in the classes selected for the Paralympic Games, based on athletes’ performances at a series of qualifying regattas. The 2007 ranking system identifies three qualifying events for each Paralympic class. US SAILING’s Pre-Trials and 2007 Rolex Miami OCR are two mandatory events for all classes. The classes currently selected for the 2008 Paralympic Games are the Sonar, the 2.4 Metre (Open Singlehanded), the SKUD-18 (Open Doublehanded), and the Sonar (Open Triplehanded).
As the wind builds and changes to a more westerly direction the leading yachts get the bit between their teeth and forge ahead. Boat speeds have been steadily building during the last six hours.
The fore runners have approximately 1800 nautical miles to the Lizard Point and just over 2000 to the leg finish in Portsmouth.
The Volvo fleet are approximately 170 nautical miles west of the position that the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on that fateful day of 15th April 1912, with the loss of 1,503 passengers and crew. The Titanic was travelling in the opposite direction from our fleet though, on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. Luckily our ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) has only reported hitting a whale.
The North Atlantic has been throwing headwinds at the Volvo Ocean Race fleet since the teams left New York last week, but finally, the majority of the fleet has now found the reaching conditions they have been waiting for. Paul Cayard reported early this morning, a fairly smooth sea with a masthead spinnaker set on The Black Pearl.
Unfortunately, for movistar (Bouwe Bekking), the outlook is not so bright. “We will be running dead downwind for the next two days, meaning a bad angle, while the others have a reach and are sailing more or less on course to the Lizard,” wrote Bouwe Bekking early this morning. From their position up in the north, movistar is now 222 miles behind ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) who leads the fleet from their southerly position.
Worse of all for movistar, there is another ridge building in their path, which will only affect the Spanish boat. “I’m spending heaps of time with Capey (Andrew Cape – navigator) in the navstation and looking at all the options, but we missed the train and need Concorde back on duty – with us onboard – if we want to catch up,” said Bekking.
The reaching conditions are perfect for the Dutch boat and she is streaming away at 17.6 knots, with Ericsson (Neal McDonald) still pushing hard, but two knots slower in speed, in second place. “ABN AMRO ONE has sailed a very smart leg so far,” says Paul Cayard from Pirates of the Caribbean in fourth place. “I always say it doesn’t matter where they go, but this time they definitely figured out the weather better than the rest of us,” he adds.
16 May 2006 - The Ericsson Racing Team is enjoying great performance on leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race. Currently lying in second place behind ABN Amro One, the team is heading towards Portsmouth, Great Britain, where it expects to arrive in four to five days time.
The seven strong Volvo Ocean Race fleet departed New York, USA, on 11 May with tough upwind conditions ahead. Ericsson had a good start and was leading the fleet out of New York. As the breeze picked up on the first night, ABN Amro One moved into first and Ericsson dropped back to fifth, complaining of fish getting snagged around the keel and rudder. It would seem many other boats suffered the same fate and the Swedish team soon climbed back near the front.
On Sunday night, with 2,350 miles to go to the finish, navigator Mark Rudiger (USA) described the race situation as an interesting game of chess: "Last night we knew it was a pivotal part of the race, so we worked overtime to put Ericsson in the right spot."
Rudiger explained the team's strategy: "I download the provided race package four times a day - GRIB files, analysis and forecasts, satellite pics, gulf pics etc, and spend an hour processing it all and trying to put together the jigsaw puzzle. Then I bring in Ken Read and give him my spin on the chess game as I see it. He puts his tactical-strategical prowess to work on it, then we get Neal down and with his additional tactical input plus knowing what the boat likes, we agree on a plan of attack."
The Ericsson Racing Team made a group decision to tack onto port and timed it beautifully. It broke away from the bulk of the fleet, opting to "own the south east", instead of taking the more direct northerly route towards Portsmouth. "Looking at the weather, whoever owned the south east, would likely benefit," explained Rudiger. In going further east, along with ABN Amro One, the team got some extra help from the Gulf Stream, where the warm current mixes the wind better and this gave them a boost in performance.
Skipper Neal McDonald (GBR) described a happy mood onboard Ericsson as the team sailed in second place, towards his homeland Great Britain, yesterday. "Things are going well for us. Our decision to break east has benefited us and now it is a case of the rich getting richer. ABN Amro One will start pulling away, but we should also make some nice gains on the fleet."
The coming days will be crucial as the fleet tries to avoid a high press system in the Atlantic. "We need to make sure the high pressure ridge to the north doesn't swallow us up, so we are fighting hard to stay out of it. Provided we escape this, we should have some fairly nice running conditions soon."
Indeed Ericsson has finally broken out of the beating breeze and is currently reaching towards England at 15 to 20 knots. Sailing 48 nautical miles behind leader ABN Amro One and 40 miles ahead of Brasil 1 in third, the cliffs at The Needles are only days away.
"There is a great mood onboard right now as we think we have the fleet beating behind us and we are into reaching and running for possibly days," comments new crewmember Ken Read (USA), who joined the team in Baltimore. "I think everyone is relieved and pretty psyched at how we came out - beating up the shore and splitting off to Halifax, then finally getting out to the Gulf Stream. We are ahead of all except ABN Amro One."
"We must continue to make smart moves and ensure we keep the boat and sails in one piece, so that we bring this puppy home in good order," says Read. "The sun is finally out, we have peeled off our layers and we are blazing towards England, looking forward to a pint of Guinness!"
The procession across the ‘pond’ continues tonight with ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) showing a clean pair of heels to the chasing pack, as she climbs north to almost the same latitude of movistar (Bouwe Bekking).
But, in a change of fortune, Ericsson (Neal McDonald) is the boat for Sanderson to worry about. Neal McDonald’s team is in the groove and their speed over the last six hours has been averaging at two knots faster than ABN AMRO ONE. They have gained 16 miles and are now 59 miles behind the Dutch boat.
Another boat to sail fast and make a gain is fourth placed Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), but this team is still 139 miles away from the top spot. Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) with his crew of Olympic sailors, is holding on to third position, but this team’s speed is not as impressive.
Further back in the fleet, the losses become more painful. ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) lost 26 miles, and Brunel (Matt Humphries) 10 miles. But the worst is still to come. Movistar (Bouwe Bekking), which is 148 miles from the south eastern tip of Newfoundland, has lost another 19 miles and is still sailing slower than anyone else. This puts them 269 miles out of touch. However, with only approximately a third of this leg completed, there are still 1720 miles to sail, and anything is possible at this stage of the game.
The leaderboard remains unchanged since the last six hourly position report with Brasil1 (Torben Grael) remaining at the top, Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) chasing closely behind in second and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) in third.
The boats are continuing on port tack, heading south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland as they seek the northerly winds of the low pressure weather system that will bring the reaching conditions these boats excel in.
After their earlier misfortunes with lack of wind, movistar (Bouwe Bekking) appear to have found the breeze and are now matching the rest of the fleet for boats speed.
Ericsson (Neal McDonald) are showing a consistent performance and they have increased their lead over ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) to 11 miles.
However, the difficult conditions at the start and four days of slow upwind sailing mean that as the fleet go into day five there is still a long way to go with plenty of opportunities for changes on the leaderboard.
The seven-strong Volvo Ocean Race fleet is now split in its decision as to how to cross the Atlantic the quickest. Set up to the south is ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) with the rest of the fleet spread out to the north of them, in a distance spanning 24 miles. Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) is the most northerly of this group, while movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has split from the fleet and is pressing hard north alone.
“We haven’t managed to escape the high-pressure system. We have done everything to get as far as possible east, but the high has swallowed us up. The boats in the south and further east have more pressure and a better wind angle than us, and there is nothing we can do about that,” Bekking explains.
Volvo Ocean Race meteorologist, Jennifer Lilly, says that the boats to the north are likely hoping to sail the shortest distance possible, while the boats to the south are hoping to hold on to the strongest breeze. With light winds expected, and continued upwind conditions, the strategy debate between the northerly route and a more easterly course is as lively as ever.
“Looking ahead, lighter winds are expected for the next 24 hours, before the fleet gets into stronger north westerly winds, and downwind sailing conditions, associated with a slow moving low in the mid-Atlantic. While all the teams are looking forward to the downwind sailing, the light air between may play a big role in the outcome of this leg,” explains Lilly.
In the last six hours, the fleet has reshuffled again and ABN AMRO ONE is back in the lead with Ericsson (Neal McDonald) gaining on her in the last six hours and moving up to second place, while the rest of the fleet have all lost miles.
After three days of racing just 30 miles divide the fleet as they continue their journey to Portsmouth, England.
Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) are approximately 18miles south of Sable Island, commonly known as “The Graveyard of the Atlantic”. They are desperately trying to claw back some of the miles lost after their two hour start penalty in New York but are suffering in just 4 knots of breeze.
The remainder of the fleet appear to be experiencing a break from the unpleasant, upwind conditions they have faced so far. The wind has been steadily backing around to the north in the past 12 hours, bringing with it increased boat speeds.
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) are the furthest south and sailing at speeds of up to 16kts. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) who are currently lying in second are 50 miles further north with slightly less breeze, and a boat speed of 12 knots at the latest poll.
Brasil1 (Torben Grael) have managed to hold on to their lead although Paul Cayard and his crew on The Black Pearl have closed the gap up to just 4 miles.
The remainder of the fleet are sailing at boat speeds of between 13 and 14kts.
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is currently heading south-east after tacking onto port at 2225 GMT last night. The decision to head south has momentarily knocked them off the top spot into third position. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) are now leading with Brasil1 (Torben Grael) in second position.
The rest of the fleet continue on a north-easterly course on starboard tack and wind speeds have now dropped to below 20 knots.
movistar (Bouwe Bekking) have made good progress in the last six hours with consistently higher boat speeds than their rivals. Even though they started two hours later than the rest of the fleet, they have already caught up with Brunel (Matt Humphries).
The time has come for the Volvo Ocean Race teams to tack onto port and head across the Atlantic. In the past six hours the ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) have all tacked and are currently heading south east, avoiding the southern most tip of Nova Scotia, Cape Sable.
ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) are currently just fourteen nautical miles off the dangerous Cape Sable, with Brunel (Matt Humphries) and movistar (Bouwe Bekking) close on their tail. Decision time cannot be far away for these teams as they close in on land, but they are currently in slightly less breeze to the rest of the fleet, sailing at a solid eight knots upwind.
The upwind slog hasn’t been easy for any of the teams, with the yachts jumping and slamming around, making life onboard very difficult. Added to these conditions many yachts have been having problems with catching fish on their appendages. In many cases the crew have to completely stop the yacht to back down off the creatures. Paul Cayard yesterday commented, “We got a second fish of some kind stuck on the keel early Friday morning so we had to back down again to clear the fish. We are getting pretty good at catching fish with smooth, blunt, instruments.”
On the race track Brasil 1 is fighting off The Black Pearl as the Pirates gained two nautical miles on them in the past six hours but ABN AMRO ONE in the lead has pulled out 3 nautical miles on the fleet. Will Black Betty (ABN AMRO ONE) carry on extending on the fleet in these upwind conditions or will Sanderson take it easy until the breeze is best for Betty to pick up her skirts and fly?
The fleet of Volvo 70’s are still beating relentlessly to windward.
ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and Ericsson (Neal McDonald) are on a port tack heading south-east, while the rest of the fleet are currently on a starboard tack heading north-east.
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) are now positioned furthest north as they have remained on port tack since 1330 GMT today. They are currently 30 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia near the capital city of Halifax.
Brasil1 (Torben Grael) and Brunel (Matt Humphries) are experiencing stronger winds as they are now located furthest south. They have 5 knots more wind speed than the rest of the fleet.
The wind forecast for the next 6 hours remains the same, giving the fleet a steady 20-25 knots from an easterly direction. The beating continues into the night.
The Volvo Fleet are travelling upwind in 25 knots of wind towards Halifax and Sable Island at an average speed of 11 Knots. They are approximately 140 nautical miles south west of Halifax and 300 miles from the notorious Sable Island off the Grand Banks. It is reported to be a cold and foggy night, which this area is noted for. Sable Island was known as the ‘graveyard of the Atlantic’, it is a low sandy island hidden by waves. Since 1583 there have been over 350 recorded shipwrecks on its shores.
The fleet are still quite tightly packed with only 12 nautical miles separating the first six yachts and only 39 miles from the front leaders ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) to the most westerly yacht Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) and an 11 mile span from east to west.
On May 6, 2006, a record spectator fleet turned out in Annapolis, Maryland, USA to bid farewell to the Volvo Ocean Race fleet as they headed back down the Chesapeake Bay and out into the teeth of a gale, on the short, sprint leg of 400 miles to New York.
Three thousand, five hundred spectator craft took to the water, while thousands more spectators stood on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to watch Torben Grael sail Brasil 1 out into the lead and Brunel, skippered by Australian Grant Wharington, made a return to the fleet, after undergoing a substantial refit in Australia, bringing the total back up to seven boats.
Short, choppy seas and strong winds challenged the fleet on day two as ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) took up their familiar position at the head of the fleet. Overnight, the breeze quickly increased to 25 knots, with gusts near to 30 knots being reported, making it a wet and while ride northwards. No one had any sleep, and the conditions were beating up the crews. But by 2200 GMT on day two, there was only 75 miles to go to the finish for ABN AMRO ONE.
Sanderson still had not slept, such was his determination to rack up maximum points on this leg. “Somehow it would help make the inshore race in Baltimore, where we came sixth out seven, just that little bit better,” he said. He reported gusts of over 40 knots and the crew shorted sail to three reefs and a number four jib. Even that combination was too much at times. “Driving the boat was just a nightmare,” Sanderson said. “There was icy sleet hitting the bare skin of my face like small, sharp rocks and the boat was getting thrown around like clothes in a washing machine as the waves got bigger and bigger.”
Although the wind dropped overnight, ABN AMRO ONE’s lead was never in doubt as she cruised up the Hudson River, past the Statue of Liberty, to post a win at 0407 local time on May 9, in New York, the city that never sleeps.
The spat for the remaining places heated up, and, as Sanderson steered Black Betty across the finish line, the next four boats were all within two miles of each other. Paul Cayard, the only American skipper in the race, badly wanted his Pirates of the Caribbean team on the podium, and he claimed second place a little over two hours later, moving his team of Pirates up into second position overall.
Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) finished third, followed by Ericsson, with Neal McDonald reinstalled as skipper, and movistar (Bouwe Bekking) a disappointing fifth after a gear breakage.
“It has been a very tough 40 hours,” explained a visibly shattered Paul Cayard. “There was really strong wind off New Jersey and the boat has been really slamming hard. We have had our fair share of problems, but the guys did a great job. Last night was really quite stressful as the wind died all together and the boats were very close and that is where we had a little bit of luck on our side. I can’t recall anything much tougher on this race so far,” he concluded.
Brunel finished in sixth position, with a disappointed team of youngsters on ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) finishing last. “Not good,” said the French skipper. “We want better results, but we were a bit unfortunate,” he said when he reached the dock.
With a pit stop of just two days to rest, recover and enjoy the Big Apple, the fleet set sail again, this time hoping to break the trans-Atlantic record from the Ambrose Light Tower to the Lizard on the south western tip of the UK. Grant Wharington handed over the reins as skipper to Britain’s Matt Humphries and returned to Australia citing health reasons. “I can’t quite identify what it is, I just feel very fatigued,” he said.
On May 11, in front of a spectacular backdrop, with His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf and Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden looking on, leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race got underway.
The light wind start quickly carried the Pirates (Paul Cayard) off towards the Statue of Liberty, with Brunel, Ericsson and Brasil 1 all in hot pursuit. Movistar had stayed behind, Bekking electing to take a two-hour penalty in order to allow his shore crew onboard to repair the damaged winch mechanism.
Smooth seas have been reported earlier today, but the latest weather reports indicate that the wind will continue to increase, reaching 30 knots. Pirates of the Caribbean have already had some problems, this time with their instrument wand at the top of the mast. Justin Clougher climbed the rig several times to fit replacements and he has now succeeded in fitting a reliable wand which is working properly and producing reliable information.
Today at 1600 GMT, movistar (Bouwe Bekking) had lost 20 miles after making an expensive dogleg offshore. Currently the fleet is heading towards Nantucket Island, hoping to avoid tacking to miss the shoal to one side of the island, as movistar has had to do. Once clear of the island, the fleet will tack over onto port and start sailing fast towards the UK in a breeze that is forecast to pick up to 30 knots in the next 12 hours.
Two more wins today for NZL 84, welcome points for Emirates Team New Zealand as the crew prepares for the much anticipated matches against the new yachts of BMW Oracle Racing and Luna Rossa.
The matches today were against France and Sweden.
The weather today was similar to the season’s opening day – a light easterly never climbing much above 14 knots. However, the breeze off Valencia is shifty providing many subtleties for team meteorologists and the afterguard to master.
The team continued its policy of rotating crew with navigator Kevin Hall returning to the afterguard and trimmers Grant Loretz and James Dagg and grinders Chris Ward and Rob Waddell sailing for the first time in Act 10.
It was a tricky day for tactician Terry Hutchinson. “The breeze was shifty and difficult. In the first race we made a couple of good decisions early on which set us up and we were not troubled.”
“The Swedes were definitely more competitive but we got a couple of good shifts and managed to stretch out.”
The French boat – FRA 60 – is the Team New Zealand yacht that successfully defended the America’s Cup in 2000. But there was no nostalgia evident on board NZL 84 which took control from the start and went about building a lead and maintaining it.
While maintaining a loose cover on the French boat, NZL 84 extended the lead to around 350 metres and at the first windward mark was 52 sec ahead.
NZL 84 maintained a comfortable advantage down the first run rounding the leeward mark 1 min 11sec ahead. NZL 84 extended on the second beat and at the mark was 2min 2 sec ahead, setting up for an untroubled win with a final delta of 1min 29 sec.
The second race of the afternoon was against Sweden’s Victory Challenge (SWE 63). Fresh from a win against the South Africans in flight three, Sweden did not seriously challenge NZL 84.
As the Swedes rounded the first windward mark, NZL 84 was 250 metres into the first run, a lead which translated to 33 sec. They maintained the lead to the end of the second mark. On the second beat they got a nice shift and extended to 1 min 30 sec and 1min 39 sec at the finish.
Grant Dalton said he was pleased with the new yacht’s performance in the light breezes experienced so far. “The big test will come against the new boats of BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa.
“Those matches will be really hard racing and split seconds gained in slick crew work will be absolutely critical for a good result.
“We like the feel of NZL 84 but we’re not taking anything for granted. And we still think that Alinghi in an old boat can be very dangerous. We also have to sail against Spain and they’re having a good regatta.”
Tomorrow: Emirates Team New Zealand is matched first against BMW Oracle and then the China Team.
May 11, 2006, New York – In front of a spectacular backdrop and with H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf and H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden looking on, leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 got underway.
In light winds, the trick at the start was not to get carried over the line early by the tide. The only American entry in the race, Pirates of the Caribbean skippered by American Paul Cayard, excelled in front of a home crowd and was one of the first to cross the line followed by the Australian entry Brunel under the new leadership of Matt Humphries (GBR).
The building breeze quickly carried The Pirates off towards the turning mark at the Statue of Liberty, with Brunel, Neal McDonald’s (GBR) Ericsson and Brasil 1, skippered by five times Olympic medallist Torben Grael (BRA), in hot pursuit.
The light wind start gave the two ABN AMRO boats a disadvantage and as the four Farr designed boats moved quickly away from the line, both Mike Sanderson’s (NZ) ABN AMRO ONE and Sebastien Josse’s (FRA) ABN AMRO TWO, designed by Juan Koujoumdjian, were left behind.
As the Volvo Open 70s passed the turning mark, the order had not changed and Pirates of the Caribbean had a small 19 second lead over Brunel. The first four boats rounded within a minute of each other with ABN AMRO ONE turning more than two minutes later just in front of team mates ABN AMRO TWO.
As the fleet headed out towards Ambrose Light Tower, movistar skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED) was in hot pursuit. Starting two hours later than the fleet, after taking a time penalty to fix the winch system that broke during the last leg, movistar was quickly doing 16 knots off the start line and took just eight minutes to reach the turning mark.
The wind looks set to build throughout the night providing some bumpy conditions for the fleet during their first 24 hours at sea. The seven Volvo Open 70s will be racing hard all the way to the scoring gate at Lizard Point, the most southerly point of mainland Britain, before heading through the Solent to Portsmouth.
The yachts are expected to arrive into Portsmouth, England, around the 20th May 2006 where they will base themselves at Gunwharf Quays.
May 11, 2006: For the sailors on board the two ABN AMRO boats in the Volvo Ocean Race it has been a whistle stop stay in their third American port of the race, New York. Despite light conditions at the start off North Cove, with a forecast for strong winds once the teams get out of the Hudson River the ABN AMRO crews are looking forward to getting back into fast reaching conditions.
For both teams the race from Annapolis – New York took its toll both mentally and physically. For much of the 400 mile dash from the Chesapeake Bay the positions in the fleet were constantly changing and there was little time to eat or sleep. For Mike Sanderson and the crew on ABN AMRO ONE who finished first into New York, adding another win their overall tally it was a victorious moment but thoughts quickly turned to what lies ahead.
“With the overall leader board as it is, we don’t need to push it this leg – that does not mean that we won’t be working hard to do as well as we can but we will be conscious that we still want to sail our boat, our way. With the latest forecast we have heard, it looks like it is going to be crashing upwind for the first couple of days and then we should have quite a quick crossing to the UK. We know that the conditions in the River here might not suit us to start with but we also know we still have 3,200 nautical miles to sail and anything can happen.”
For Seb Josse and the young crew on ABN AMRO TWO their position in the race is somewhat different. With only 5.5 points separating the second group of 5 boats it is a very tight race and this is a significant leg for the team. Seb Josse commented: “We had some bad luck on the last leg and it was hard to come back as it was only 400 miles but we have been sailing well as a team. We all know that we need to keep the boat together and sail well on this leg so that we can keep fighting for second place. For me and the crew we all want to finish on the podium and it is possible for us so we will keep working hard and hopefully on the next legs we can get a good result.”
The fleet is expected to arrive in Portsmouth, UK between the 19th – 21st May.
11 May 2006, New York (USA) - The Ericsson Racing Team and the seven-strong Volvo Ocean Race fleet embarked on leg seven today; a 3,200 nautical mile mythical leg across the Atlantic to Portsmouth, UK. This leg will take the fleet on the record breaking transatlantic route from Ambrose Light, outside New York, to Lizard off the coast of Britain. But with three days of strong headwinds forecast the record could be tough to beat. Ericsson had a good start and was leading the fleet on the last position report.
After a conservative start from most of the fleet, Ericsson got away in third place behind Brunel and Pirates of the Caribbean. Conditions were light as the fleet sailed upwind passed the Statue of Liberty, but as navigator Mark Rudiger (USA) explains, this won't last: "We have a very uncomfortable upwind battle ahead, with strong headwind and rain and lots of seaway."
The wind is expected to pick up to 15-20 knots by the time the fleet rounds Ambrose Light, increasing to 30-35 knots on the nose by tomorrow afternoon. The big change will take place on Sunday as the breeze turns to the west, allowing the crews to hoist their spinnakers and have a wild ride. "This is when we'll start to see the boats clock up big miles," says Ericsson Racing Team meteorologist Chris Tibbs.
It is shaping up to be a tough tactical leg and according to skipper Neal McDonald (GBR), it could be as cold as the Southern Ocean. "We are going quite far north so we may see some ice," says McDonald, who reports seeing icebergs on previous record attempts. The shortest route for the boats is to go north, but a few days out of New York we may see some of them dive south to get some extra help from the Gulf Stream.
As the competitors near the end of the leg, they will pass a scoring gate at Lizard off the south west corner of Britain. "From then on up to Portsmouth there is a lot of headland and tide, and there can be a great mixture of weather at this time of year, so the battle won't be over until we cross the finish line," comments McDonald.
"The end goal is to win this leg, but it has an added bonus in that there is a potential record to break and also it's taking me back to England. These Volvo Open 70s have great record breaking potential but having looked at the weather I don't think it's a good time to try and get a record."
"Crossing the pond is a big thing," says American Ken Read. "You've got a record out there from Ambrose Light to Lizard, so we are racing against time." The transatlantic record was broken 11 months ago by Robert Miller's Mari Cha IV. His 144 foot schooner crossed the Atlantic in just over six days. "This is still a record that is within grasp of these fast boats," concludes Read.
The seven boats racing in the 3,200 nautical mile trans-Atlantic leg of the Volvo Ocean Race are back out on the race track and, once again, bashing their way to windward in the teeth of a gale. Conditions are rough, wet and cold, and likely to remain so for the next three days. Not a pleasant prospect for the crews who have already taken a severe punishing on the short sprint from Baltimore/Annapolis up to New York earlier this week.
After making the best start in the Hudson River and leading the fleet out of New York, the American entry, Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard/USA), has now been overtaken. Ericsson (Neal McDonald/UK), Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) and overall race leader, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson/NZ), are all level pegging at the head of the fleet, but skipper Paul Cayard, now in fourth, but only by a mile, was jubilant in his first report to race headquarters:
“It doesn’t get any better than that,” he wrote. “At 1300, The Black Pearl hit the starting line clear ahead of her opponents and, with more speed, quickly stretched out to a 15 boat length lead. We led the fleet out past the Statue of Liberty. What a way to leave the USA for the Pirates of the Caribbean. We are the only American boat in the Volvo Ocean Race and we have had a fantastic three weeks in the USA. Today’s start was the icing on the cake.”
The fleet is hard on the wind, on port tack, and is now past the Ambrose Light Tower. Nantucket Island is about 178 miles away and the fleet is expecting the breeze to shift to the right, allowing them to lay, or nearly lay the island. Movistar (Bouwe Bekking/NED), who took a two-hour penalty in order to repair their winch system, has just drawn level with the Tower and is only 9 miles behind Ericsson, but still sailing slower.
“We are all watching each other closely, to see who tacks first” explains Will Oxley, the navigator of Brunel (Matt Humphrey/UK). “We don’t want to be the first, but we want to stay with the other boats, so we will just hang on a while longer as we expect slightly more favourable breeze a little to the south,” he added.
The breeze will build to approximately 25 knots ahead of a low pressure system and once the fleet tacks onto starboard, they will almost certainly hold that course for the next 36 hours, closing on Nova Scotia on Saturday.
“We are settling in for what will be a long and cold 10 days,” warns Cayard. “It will get rough later tonight and all day tomorrow, tomorrow night and moderating on Saturday afternoon. We will be focused on keeping the boat in one piece if it gets real rough,” he said.
It’s the first night at sea on leg 7 for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet as they finally leave the USA behind them and begin the crossing to Portsmouth in the UK.
After an initially slow start out of New York Harbour ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) are now leading out into the North Atlantic. The top 6 boats all tacked around 2330GMT on to a north easterly heading and movistar followed suit an hour later. Brunel (Matt Humphries) and Brasil1 (Torben Grael) are sailing less than half a mile apart with ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) all within a two mile radius, Ericsson (Neal McDonald) choosing a slightly more northerly course along with ABN AMRO ONE.
After taking their two hour penalty for allowing shore crew to make repairs during the New York pit stop, movistar (Bouwe Bekking) are on their way and just 17 miles behind the pack.
All the boats are currently experiencing 20kts winds from the south east however these are forecast to increase and back around to the north east making for a slow and uncomfortable few days.
At around midnight last night, the fleet racing in leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race all tacked onto starboard. Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) made some nice gains and is now positioned 17 miles to leeward of the fleet, due south of Narragansett Bay. The rest of the pack are separated laterally across the course by just three miles and just 17 miles separate first to last.
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson/NZ) is back at the top, with Brasil 1 (Torben Grael/BRA) and Brunel (Matt Humphries/UK) in third place, pushing hard. Average speeds for the last six hours have been around 11 knots, but movistar now has more breeze in their northerly position.
Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard/USA) has had some problems with their instrument wand at the top of the mast, dropping them to fourth place. Justin Clougher climbed the rig on several occasions to fit replacements and he has now succeeded in fitting a reliable wand which is working properly and producing reliable information. In addition, they also got a small shark stuck on the rudder and had to stop and back down to remove it.
Smooth seas have been reported, but the latest weather reports are indicating that the wind will continue to increase during today, reaching 25 to 30 knots and shifting back to the left.
NEWPORT, RI – Sail Newport, Rhode Island's Public Sailing Center, will host the "Bermuda Bash" fundraiser from 8 p.m. to Midnight on Saturday, May 13, at the Newport Yachting Center. The benefit for Sail Newport is a celebration of the centennial Bermuda ocean race which starts outside of Newport on June 16. The gala is to benefit the public sailing programs for youth and adults at Sail Newport for the 2006 season.
Sail Newport Executive Director, Brad Read says, "The long history of ocean racing to Bermuda deserves to be celebrated. The Bermuda Bash will honor the history of this prestigious race and will raise funds to continue to train the sailors of the future."
The party will feature decorations in the elegantly tropical Bermuda-style, entertainment by the popular reggae band "Hot Like Fire," island hors d'oeuvres, and a cash bar including Mt. Gay and Heineken cocktails. In addition the evening will feature a silent auction including such items as a vacation in Bermuda at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, an American Cruise Lines tour of the historic south, a week-long stay in a private villa in Manzanillo, Mexico, a trip to New York to see the Conan O'Brien Show taping at NBC Studios, art, jewelry, sailing gear and many other items.
In honor of the race, the Cruising Club of America will loan an historical photography exhibit of the prestigious race to display at the event. Also, local photographers Onne van der Wal and Billy Black will show Bermuda race shots from their many years of covering the race.
Dress for the event is "Bermuda Cocktail Attire," and jackets are requested. Tickets to the event are $55 for individual and $500 for a "Boatload" of ten.
Sail Newport has recruited sponsors for the event including the Newport Yachting Center, Newport Tent, IYAC, Café Zelda's, Mt. Gay, Heineken, Global Financial Services, American Mussel Harvesters, Inc., 6 Square Design & Communications and PDQ Printing.
The group of donors to the silent auction includes American Cruise Lines, Artist Mark Fernandez, Artist Tony Gill, Artist Johnny MacGowan, Blink Gallery, Body Matters Day Spa, Barry and Boyle Resortwear, Boston Red Sox, Brick Alley Pub, CK Bradley, Commodore's Inn-Vermont, Comptoir de Famille, Conanicut Marina, Copperfield's Bar of Boston, CORE Pilates, Baseball Hall of Famer - Dennis Eckersley, Erica Zap Collection, Franklin and Company, H2O, Harken, Hinckley, Innerlight Center for Yoga, Boston Intercontinental Hotel, Island Outfitters, Joe Harris-Gryphon Solo, Ki-Ra Salon, KVH, Men's Hair Quarters, Monica Rodger's Little Bits, NBC Conan O'Brien Show, Newport International Boat Show, Newport Spring Boatshow, Onne van der Wal, Pink Pineapple, Ronstan, Sugar of Newport, Team ABN AMRO, Team One Newport, Thames Street Glass, The Chanler-Spiced Pear Restaurant, The Charles Hotel Boston, The Leever Family, The Sports Edition, Trattoria Simpatico, Trident Studios, U.S. Women's Open, 12 Meter Charters, 22 Bowen's Wine Bar & Grille, and The Swizzle Inn.
Additional companies supporting the Sail Newport Bermuda Bash include Aardvark Antiques, ATR Treehouse, Bermuda Dept. of Tourism, Blue Rocks Catering, Clarke Cooke House, Crystal Spring Water Co., Falvey Lines, Hyatt Regency Newport, Max's Market, Newport Marriott Hotel, Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Panera Bread, Quantum Sails andTricia's Tropigrille.
May 10, 2006, New York – After sailing what many of the sailors claimed was one of the toughest legs (despite being the shortest) from Annapolis to New York, the fleet will set sail again tomorrow on leg 7 in the hope of breaking the transatlantic record.
The seven Volvo Open 70s have had just two days to recover from the 400 nautical mile sprint leg from Annapolis where they encountered some of the roughest conditions they have experienced and suffered from severe lack of sleep.
Living up to its tagline of ‘life at the extreme’, leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 looks like it could get off to a bumpy start as Assistant Race Meteorologist Jennifer Lilly explains: “While strong winds are good news for a fleet looking to break a record, no one is looking forward to more upwind sailing after leg 6. Looking at the current weather maps, the hopes for a transatlantic record are being replaced by the real possibility of an extended period of upwind sailing in easterly winds.”
She continued: “Even as they leave New York, the fleet will not escape the prospect of Easterly winds and upwind sailing. A new low pressure, developing off the coast of New Jersey on Thursday afternoon will move northeast causing the winds to build into the high 20’s with gusts of over 30 knots. As the fleet heads northeast, towards Maritime Canada, the winds will back left to northeasterly making for a continued grind to weather.”
When the racing gets underway at 13:00 (local) there will be a few things missing from the start line. Firstly, six boats will line up for the restart as the Spanish entry movistar, skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED), suffered equipment damage on the previous leg and as New York is a pit-stop the team have had to take a two hour time penalty to allow shore crew onboard to get it properly fixed.
Another thing missing will be the skipper of Brunel. Although the team has only just rejoined the race in America, Brunel skipper Grant Wharington (AUS) will step down for the leg to England due to illness. Matthew Humphries (GBR) will move up from his role of watch captain to skipper the boat on leg 7.
Wharington explained: “It’s very disappointing for me as I would have loved to have done this transatlantic leg – I haven’t done it before and I think the boat is going to be very competitive. I just feel that I am not 100% and the best thing for the sailing team is for me to step aside for this leg and I am sure I will be right in another two weeks to join the boat again.”
Commenting further he said: “I can’t quite identify what it is, I just feel very fatigued. During the leg up here I was feeling really over-tired and would come on deck and do something for ten or fifteen minutes and then I was falling asleep. I couldn’t actually concentrate.
I feel that I can just step aside and leave it to the guys as there is a lot of experience on board and I think I would be slowing the boat down by continuing on the way I am feeling.”
The yachts have turned out to be a bit of a head-turner and make a surreal site parked in the middle of North Cove Marina, under the shadow of the World Financial Center and many surrounding city sky scrapers.
Today, as a lasting reminder of their trip to New York, each of the skippers was presented with a plaque by the New York City Sports Commissioner, Ken Podziba.
The course for leg 7 takes the fleet out of New York, around a turning mark in front of the iconic Statue of Liberty and through a gate at Ambrose Light Tower. From there it will be a hard fought race across the Atlantic to pick up vital points at the scoring gate at Lizard Point – the most southerly point of mainland Britain. They will then leave the Needles, the most western point of the Isle of Wight, to starboard as they battle their way up through the heavily tidal and challenging Solent to Portsmouth.
The yachts are expected to arrive into Portsmouth, England, around the 20th May 2006 where they will adopt a new temporary home at Gunwharf Quays.
After nearly seven weeks in Asia, Ellen and the crew of B&Q crossed the start line off Terengganu, Malaysia today at 10:38:38 GMT, to start the final Leg of the Asian Record Circuit. This is the final sprint south, towards Singapore as B&Q sail the final 280-miles on Leg 12, as they look to establish the final and 13th record on this circuit.
“It really is pretty unbelievable that it was only a few weeks ago we left Japan for China in the cold and wet. We have packed so much into this tour, experienced so much and achieved so much, the time has literally flown by,” commented Ellen. “The sailing has been really challenging at times and there are certainly moments that I will never forget! We have had a wonderful time in Malaysia - it really is a tropical paradise and far more relaxing compared to some of the major ports we have been to”.
The crew took a group of local children sailing onboard <
“It was a great honour to met Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and to learn more about Malaysia’s involvement in sailing and events such as The Monsoon Cup. Sailing throughout Asia is starting to grow and it is clear that this region is leading the way in this industry,” said Ellen afterwards.
Whilst Ellen has been out in Asia, she has been named the favourite European personality in a recent poll in France. In a list of 25 top personalities from across Europe, Ellen was polled number one ahead of Opera Singer Luciano Pavorotti and Italian Film Star Monica Bellucci. The group consisted of people from politics, sport, science and The Arts. The poll was conducted by IFOP a leading market research company with a global base across North America, Europe, South America and Asia.
Singaporean sailor Elaine Chua, continues her spell onboard the trimaran and will have the honour of sailing into her homeport of Singapore. This will be Elaine’s sixth leg onboard B&Q. Elaine competed in the 2000/1 BT Global Challenge onboard the 72ft monohull ‘Save the Children” (a 10-month westabout circumnavigation of the planet). In 2005 Elaine became the first Asian woman to compete and finish the 4,200-mile Mini Transat solo race. “Racing onboard B&Q with Ellen and other sailors, such as Thomas Coville, has been an amazing experience for me,” commented Elaine. ”It is different class of boat to what I have been used to - this has definitely been a once in a lifetime experience for me. To finish the circuit in my home port will be a very special moment for me”.
B&Q will head southeast along the Malaysian Coastline before rounding the southern tip of Malaysia and heading southwest towards the final stopover port in Singapore, with the current benchmark time for this leg standing at 1day and 11 hours. The latest forecast from Commanders’ shows that the wind will shift from the northeast through to the southwest, and back round to the northeast again by this evening. B&Q will again face light conditions at the start between 6-12 knots, which dominate this region. The biggest challenge will come as B&Q makes the final approach into port as they navigate a safe route through the 60 smaller islets and busy shipping and fishing water that surrounds Singapore Island.
Singapore is located along the southern tip of Malay Peninsula, 85 miles (136 km) north of the Equator. With an approximate population of 4.35 million, it is just 46 sq miles in size. In just 150 years, Singapore has grown into a thriving centre of commerce and industry and is now one of the busiest ports in the world, dominating the Strait of Malacca connecting the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. Singapore is a major supplier of electronic components and a leader in shipbuilding. Whilst in Singapore B&Q will be berthed at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club, after the onshore events, the shore team will prepare B&Q to be loaded onto a CMA-CGM container ship for her delivery back to Europe for her summer schedule.
Thirty four sailors, one boat and a big decision, but not yet…. By 2007, the team will have a pretty good idea of who will race on the America’s Cup defending yacht, but in the meantime, the crew rotates and will continue to do so.
Ed Baird will be helming Act 10, last year both Peter Holmberg and Jochen Schuemann took turns at the wheel, and all three maintained a winning streak taking 31 out of 33 match race wins between them. This team rotation is quite unique: “We run a squad and everybody has a chance to sail. We hope that each guy is good enough in his position to sail on any given day,” comments Brad Butterworth, skipper and tactician. The advantages of this philosophy are two-fold; one, you have two world-class crews which keep the in-house racing competitive and two, when the America’s Cup match comes around in 2007, each crew member has a back-up. As for how the crew selection works, Baird gives his insight: “We have a very deep team, so it’s great to be able to switch people around and not feel like you are compromising your capabilities on the race course.” And compromise is not an option as – rotation or not – Alinghi expects to do well: “We would like to carry on in our winning form. There are a lot of changes that have happened, but our expectation is, that we would like to win the regattas,” adds Butterworth.
As for how the final selection process is done, it is really too soon to tell, but Baird gives some insight: “We have a group of people within the sailing team who is responsible for keeping track. They will slowly formulate those people that will go racing in the end.” Butterworth elaborates on the core of that group: “We have some pretty experienced guys which we sit down with and discuss who would be the best people to run during the regatta. Of course this time we’ve got Ed sailing the boat, so we asked him for his thoughts. It’s a process that’s run by me and in the end we’ll come up with a pretty good crew to sail the boat.” Ed and Brad will be the fixed crew for Act 10, but for the rest, as Jochen Schuemann, sports director explains: “We will have a starting configuration for the first day and then we start rotating and as people really perform when it is their turn, then they will stay longer or shorter in their positions.”
This squad style strategy keeps the team on its toes, fresh and all pushing in the same direction, to win the Cup in 2007
Brunel (Grant Wharington) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) have now completed leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race and are safely tied up to the dock in North Cove, New York.
After a major refit, Grant Wharington has brought a new look Brunel back to join the fleet and is happy with the increase in performance.
“It felt like doing a tough Sydney Hobart race,” he said. “We’re really happy with the boat and she is in good shape and we are pleased with the speed. Where we felt we lost out was on the tactical side rather than with a problem with the boat. Not many guys have had much sleep onboard and it was a very, very tough leg. It is very nice to beat someone on the water and great to arrive here knowing there is another boat behind us. The speed is fine, but we are just lacking in a couple areas, but we are certainly far more competitive than we have ever been.”
It was a slightly different story for the young guns on ABN AMRO TWO who have done so well in the first half of the event. Gear damage has not helped their performance, but their seventh place on this leg drops her to equal fourth place overall with Brasil 1 (Torben Grael).
“Not good,” said skipper Sebastien Josse, “we want better results, but we were a bit unfortunate. The sail damage was a big part of the problem. We went a bit offshore making our tack and we were in 35 knots of wind. Then when we took in the second reef, the deck line of the J4 broke and at the same time we were in trouble with the jib. We lost 10 or 12 miles. We turned downwind to make sure we didn’t break the battens. I’m a little bit mad, when you lose and make a mistake.
“All the gear onboard is fixed, so we won’t be taking the two hour penalty. We lost 10 miles but in a day we were back at 100 percent. We sailed very well when we did not have problems with the sails and we sailed upwind in 40 knots and were comfortable.”
Paul Cayard, from San Francisco, USA, steered his black and red boat, The Black Pearl, over the finish line in the Hudson River to claim the second place for his Pirates of the Caribbean team in leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race in New York today. Finishing at 06:47:11 (local time, 10:47:11 GMT) this podium position brings the Pirates up to second place overall, with 47.5 points, just half a point ahead of movistar (Bouwe Bekking) who finished in a disappointing fifth place.
On reaching the dock, a visibly shattered Cayard said: “It has been a very tough 40 hours, there was really strong wind off New Jersey and the boat has been really slamming hard. We have had our fair share of problems, but the guys did a great job. Last night was really quite stressful as the wind died all together and the boats were very close and that is where we had little bit of luck on our side. ! I can’t recall anything much tougher on this race so far.
“New York is a really impressive city and I am really proud, as the only American skipper in the fleet, to be here. Second overall is an added bonus for us and we will certainly take it!”
Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) brought his largely Brazilian team home just nine minutes behind the Pirates to take the final podium place. Three minutes behind, in fourth place, was Ericsson Racing Team with Neal McDonald (UK) back in charge, while the Spanish team of movistar finished under a minute later in fifth place.
“Of course we very pleased with the result,” said Grael. “It was by far the hardest leg of the race in terms of the physical effort required and the lack of sleep. Because it wasn’t a long offshore leg, the whole crew were working throughout and it has been very hard for them. Every manoeuvre required everyone up on deck in their full foul weather gear,” he explained.
Brunel (Grant Wharington) has 15 miles to go to the finish, followed by ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) a further 10 miles behind.
The short sprint from Baltimore to New York is keeping the Volvo Ocean Race crews on deck and lacking in sleep. With only 75 miles to go before reaching the Ambrose lighthouse, leading yacht ABN AMRO has had a tough time in the last 36 hours. They are currently 25 miles offshore, just north of Delaware heading towards Barnegat Bay, with wind speeds varying wildly from between 23 and 32 knots, but wind now dropping significantly in the last six hours indicating a slow crawl towards the bright lights of New York.
It was a bumpy first night last night, and skipper Mike Sanderson has not slept yet, such is his desire to wrack up maximum points for this leg. “Somehow it would help make the inshore race in Baltimore, where we can sixth out of seven, just that little bit better,” he says.
Sanderson reported gusts of over 40 knots and the crew shortened sail last night to a mainsail with three reefs and a number four jib. Even that combination was a little too much at times. “Driving the boat was just a nightmare,” says Sanderson. “There was this icy sleet that was hitting the bare skin of your face like small sharp rocks, the boat was getting thrown around like clothes in a washing machine as the waves got bigger and bigger.”
Tonight, with just 93 miles to go before crossing the finish line in the Hudson River, speeds are dropping as the wind goes light, giving the chasing Farr Yacht Design boats a chance to show their true colours.
Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) has moved up to second position, just 11 miles behind ABN AMRO ONE. Not something that will please Mike Sanderson, especially as movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has gained three miles and is now level pegging with the Pirates, pushing Ericsson (Neal McDonald) back to fourth. The last three places remain unchanged, with backmarker ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) 32 miles behind the leader. Based on current speeds, the first boat is predicted to arrive in New York early tomorrow morning, local time.
May 9, 2006: Mike Sanderson and his crew sailed into New York Harbor this morning at 4:07 a.m. local time (8:07 GMT) to take first place and maximum points in the 6th Leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Sanderson, who led the fleet from Chesapeake Bay entrance, finished 23 miles ahead of nearest rival. The win will stretch Sanderson’s points at the top of the leader board to 70.5 points.
The result will be a relief for the crew of ABN AMRO ONE who struggled in the light winds of the Annapolis in port race when they finished in last place. Fears that the boats would suffer similar conditions during the leg to New York were soon put to one side once the boats were out in the Atlantic and wind speeds reached over 40 knots at times. Mike and the crew put in a strong performance in this short sprint leg from Annapolis, although during the heavy conditions in the Atlantic, Brad Jackson (NZL) took a fall and was confined to his bunk for some of the leg. However, he is expected to make a full recovery during the New York pit stop and be ready for leg 7 on Thursday.
On arriving into North Cove in the heart of the Manhattan financial district, Mike Sanderson said, “It feels great to be here in first place after the week we’ve had and especially after the result in the Baltimore in-port race. This was a tough leg and Stan and I have hardly slept at all. We have now won 5 out of 6 legs, which is simply a fantastic job by all the boys. We were not expected to do well in this leg and we had to hang on in there.”
Navigator and American crew member Stan Honey said, “It was nail biting coming out of the Chesapeake Bay, but once out in the Atlantic we got the right sail combination and got lucky. The conditions were perfect for our boat. It’s great to be here in New York, and even better to be here in first.”
The crew will use the next few days to rest and catch up on much needed sleep ahead of leg 7 to Portsmouth (UK) which starts on May 11. Meanwhile, Seb Josse and the crew of ABN AMRO TWO are still fighting to close the gap as the fleet races towards the finish line in New York. The kids are currently chasing the pack, lying 26 miles behind Pirates and 10 miles behind Brunel, the closest rival.
Little over 36 hours have passed since the yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet crossed the start line in the Chesapeake and began their route up the east coast of the USA to New York and yet they are already nearing the finish of leg six.
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) have increased their lead over the chasing boats and are now just 14 miles from the Ambrose Light and the final stretch past Long Island and the finish line just off North Cove Yacht Harbour.
Another difficult 6 hours in gruelling upwind conditions have seen the battle continue between Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and movistar (Bouwe Bekking) for second place and behind them Neal McDonald and his crew on Ericsson have been toughing it out alongside Brasil 1 (Torben Grael)
At the latest position report Pirates of the Caribbean had held on to second and just 1 mile behind them Brasil1 had made gains on movistar and were neck and neck 18 miles behind the leader.
Brunel (Grant Wharington) are a further 17 miles back with ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) bringing up the rear.
The forecast is for lighter winds as the boats approach New York which could be a worry for Mike Sanderson with the chasing pack so close behind. His boat suffered in the light breeze during the in port race in Baltimore and similar conditions could allow the fleet to concertina again just miles from the finish line.
ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) extended their overall lead this morning when, at 0407 local time, 0808 GMT, the Dutch team arrived in the ‘Big Apple’ to post another win, this time the shortest leg of the course, leg six from Baltimore/Annapolis.
“It feels lovely to be here in first place after the week we’ve had and especially after the result we had in the Baltimore in-port race,” commented an exhausted Sanderson (NZL). “We have had a pretty bumpy ride and it has been pretty tense for us. It feels good to be here with the boat in one piece. We haven’t slept at all. Navigator Stan Honey (USA) and I have had a really tough time. The skipper doesn’t sleep enough, and now I shall do lots of sleeping in the city that never sleeps,” he added.
This has been one of the toughest legs for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet in terms of lack sleep, with the boats having to tack every hour or so, as they thrashed up wind after suffering light air on the way down the Chesapeake Bay. There is very little time to recover on this short pit stop in New York, as the start of leg seven, the trans-Atlantic leg of the course to Portsmouth, UK, starts on Thursday this week.
The next four boats are all within two miles of each other, fighting for podium positions and are estimated to cross the line later this morning.
The next four boats to finish leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race in New York are tightly bunched together, with just a mile separating them. Currently Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) has the edge, maintaining a slightly higher speed. Should the next four finish in their current positions, Pirates of the Caribbean will move up to second overall, just half a point ahead of movistar (Bouwe Bekking).
It has been a rough two days from Baltimore/Annapolis to New York and there is a possibility that some of the boats will take the optional two-hour penalty in order to allow their shore crews to repair any damage incurred onboard and prepare the boats for the dash across the Atlantic.
Portsmouth, R.I. (May 8, 2006) - US SAILING has announced the team of 41 athletes who will represent the USA at the 2006 International Sailing Federation (ISAF) World Sailing Games in Lake Neusiedl, Austria, from May 10-20, 2006. Made up of well-known sailors including US Sailing Team-members and World Champions, the U.S. Team will compete against over 700 sailors from more than 60 nations for ten World Championship titles: Men's One Person Dinghy, Women's One Person Dinghy, Men's Windsurfer, Women's Windsurfer, Men's Two Person Dinghy, Women's Two Person Dinghy, Men's Multihull, Women's Multihull and Open two-boat Team Sailing.
Members of the U.S. Team were selected using a qualification system announced last year or were invited by the ISAF organizers based on an entry system outlined in the Notice of Race. US Sailing Team High Performance Director and Head Coach Gary Bodie will serve as the team leader and coach. US Sailing Team Coach Skip Whyte will join Bodie as coach.
Organized by ISAF, the World Sailing Games are held every four years. The first ISAF World Sailing Championship was held in La Rochelle, France in 1994. The name of the event was later changed to ISAF World Sailing Games and was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 1998 and Marseille, France in 2002. The ISAF World Sailing Games organizers hope to attract 100,000 visitors to the event this year.
The members of the 2006 World Sailing Games US SAILING Team are:
Men's One Person Dinghy (Laser Standard):
* Brad Funk (Clearwater, Fla.)
Women's One Person Dinghy (Laser Radial):
* Genoa Griffin (Tampa, Fla.)
* Sarah Lihan (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
* Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.)
* Anna Tunnicliffe (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
Men's Windsurfer (Neil Pryde RS:X):
* Ben Barger (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Women's Windsurfer (Neil Pryde RS:X):
* Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.)
* Karen Marriot (Wheat Ridge, Colo,)
Men's Two Person Dinghy (470):
* Mikee Anderson-Mitterling (Coronado, Calif.) and Dave Hughes (San Diego, Calif.)
* Stu McNay (Boston, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.)
Women's Two Person Dinghy (470):
* Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.) and Sarah Mergenthaler (Harvey Cedars, N.J.)
* Sara Fox (Cumberland, ME) and Katy Love
Men's Multihull (Hobie Tiger WSG Edition):
* Ollie Jason and Kelli Jason (Oldsmar, Fla.)
* Greg Thomas (San Diego, Calif.) and Jacques Bernier (San Marcos, Calif.)
Women's Multihull (Hobie Cat 16 with Spinnaker):
* Annie Nelson (San Diego, Calif.) and Susan Korzeniewski (Liverpool, N.Y.)
* Sandra Tartaglino (Tiverton, R.I.) and Teri McKenna (Hacienda Heights, Calif.)
Open Team Sailing (International 420):
* Justin Law (Newport Beach, Calif.), Jennifer Chamberlain (Newport Beach, Calif.), Andrew Watters (St. Inigoes, Md.) and Megan Hawn
* Pete Levesque (Annapolis, Md.), Liz Hall (Bristol, R.I.), Colin Merrick (Portsmouth, R.I.) and Amanda Callahan (Canton, Mass.)
* Danny Pletsch (New York, N.Y.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), Caleb Silsby and Paige Hannon (Newport Beach, Calif.)
* Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.), Ery Largay (Beverly, Mass.), Tim Fallon (North Falmouth, Mass.) and Karen Renzulli (Somerville, Mass.)
English Harbour, Antigua (May 6, 2006) - While the majority of competitors at Rolex Antigua Sailing Week enjoyed a day of rest after a week's worth of challenging Caribbean sailing, organizers transformed the Regatta Village in Nelson's Dockyard into the site of the Lord Nelson's Ball. The evening prize giving, where over 100 trophies were handed out, is the highlight of the traditional closing ceremony for the week. This year, winners in five classes also received Rolex Steel Submariner timepieces for overall victory. The event, now in its 39th year, hosted thousands of competitors representing 30 countries aboard 191 boats.
>From Sunday, April 30 through Friday, May 5, the event's organizing committee, led by Neil Forrester, chairman and general manager of the Antigua Hotel and Tourist Association, hosted daily racing where over the first two days of racing the fleet moored first in Dickenson Bay, then at Jolly Harbour Marina on the west coast of the island, then returning back to English and Falmouth Harbours for racing along the southern coast. Festive shore side entertainment featured daily live music and hospitality within the Regatta Village.
Despite a few set backs in the schedule - day two's windward/leeward racing was cancelled for Division A for lack of wind and a protest in Division B over a miscommunication about a specific mark rounding in race three - competitors concluded that this year's rendition of the Caribbean classic was memorable. Great racing, a variety of parties at unique venues and classic island weather contributed to the experience.
This morning's Bareboat Championship Race - where the top three finishers in each Bareboat class compete against each other in a fleet race - was a victory by Sweden's Jan Soderberg. Soderberg and crew, aboard a chartered Moorings 445, won this week's Bareboat IV class with straight first-place wins. All five of the Bareboat classes were represented in today's fleet of 16 entries.
In all 30 countries are represented with the most entries coming from the United Kingdom. Caribbean nations represented are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Marten, Trinidad And Tobago, with additional representatives from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Guyana, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The International Jury was lead by Arthur Wullschleger with members Chris Martin (ANT), Dean Cady (USA), Warwick Coppelson (USA), Graeme Hayward (CAN), Peter Jolly (GBR), John Osmond (USA) and Geoffrey Pidduck (ANT).
Race Committee headed by Tom Paterson with Dave Arnold and Peter Grimm serving as Principal Race Officers for Divisions A and B, respectively.
May 6, 2006, Annapolis, Maryland – When the starting gun goes tomorrow, instead of settling in for a marathon leg, the fleet of seven Volvo Open 70’s, competing in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06, will be sprinting to New York.
Leg six is the shortest leg of the race at just 400 nautical miles and sees the teams heading down the Chesapeake Bay, passing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and then turning north towards New York.
The current forecast is for a light wind start which should then pick up during the afternoon and build throughout the night.
Race Meteorologist Chris Bedford explains: “With such a short leg the boats will never be far from shore which will make the tactical options somewhat limited but there will still be plenty to contend with as coastal sailing will mean more variable winds and currents.”
Bouwe Bekking, skipper of in-port race winner movistar, commented: “I think this leg will actually be quite crucial. If we sail well and have a good score at the end, then we have a better chance of being on the podium. If we beat ABN [AMRO ONE] we are still in the hunt and if ABN [AMRO ONE] beats us, then it might be getting a little bit trickier for the overall win so it will be a good leg and we are very much looking forward to it.
I am feeling quite confident about it. At the beginning of all the legs we have either been in the lead or in second place so that gives us a lot of confidence.”
With ABN AMRO TWO holding the fastest 24 hour speed record, clocking up 563 nautical miles, it is within the realms of possibility that they could reach New York within 24 hours of departing Annapolis. However, with the current forecast, a more likely scenario is for them to arrive late into the evening of Monday 8 May or in the early hours the following day.
The one thing that is guaranteed is that the fleet will be racing hard right up until the finish and there could be some last minute position swapping as the boats sail the last part of the course from the Narrows, past the Statue of Liberty, and into the Hudson River. In these more restricted waters, current, local traffic and fluky winds from the urban environment will make for challenging sailing.
The first boat into New York will be awarded the maximum seven points and once docked, the teams will be governed by the pit-stop rules which state that nothing can go off or on the boats and all the maintenance work must be carried out by the crew members. An infringement of this rule incurs a two hour time penalty at the start of leg seven.
The pit-stop rules mean that the team has a tough decision deciding in Annapolis which sails and equipment they want on the boat for the Transatlantic crossing, departing on May 11, to Portsmouth, England.
Today saw the teams complete their last-minute preparations and the seven skippers made their final farewells to Annapolis, leaving a lasting impression on the city in the form of a clay footprint, which will be made into a permanent fixture in a sailing hall of fame.
The fleet will be blessed on their way by The Reverend Mamie Alethia Williams before making their way out to the starting line to the east of Thomas Point for a 13:00 EDT (18:00 BST) start.
All the action from the restart will be broadcast live on www.volvooceanrace.org. Listeners can tune into the voice behind Volvo Ocean Race radio Guy Swindells who will be joined by yachting commentator and author Rob Mundle from 12:45 EDT (17:45 BST).
May 7, 2006: The crews of ABN AMRO ONE and ABN AMRO TWO today bid farewell to the people of Annapolis as they set off on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, a high intensity, 400-mile sprint down the Chesapeake Bay and then back up the East coast to New York. Seb Josse and the young crew of ABN AMRO TWO had a strong start in winds of between 8 to 10 knots, fighting with Brasil and Pirates at the front of the race fleet as they tacked up to mark at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Race leaders ABN AMRO ONE, skippered by Mike Sanderson, chose to stay out of trouble at the back of the pack. Although not ideally suited to the typically light and variable conditions of the Chesapeake, ABN AMRO ONE managed to work their way through the fleet and passed the mark in fourth position, a quarter of a length ahead of the kids on ABN AMRO TWO.
Speaking on the dockside before the fleet departed Annapolis, the kiwi skipper of ABN AMRO ONE commented, “It has been great to be in the United States. Baltimore has been exciting and the people of Annapolis are so into their sailing, how can you not be enthusiastic about being here? For the sprint leg, we’re still hoping for some good breeze to get out of the Chesapeake, and even if we don’t, let’s hope we’re still with the pack for whatever the Atlantic is going to throw at us. It’s nerve-wrangling as we know we have a speed problem in less than 8 knots of wind and we’re leaving the Chesapeake Bay, but that’s just the reality of the situation.
“We’ve had plenty of times when we’ve been enjoying the pace of the boats and this might not be one of them. You have to take the good with the bad and we’ll still have our heads up if we don’t get the result we want in New York. We’re ready to take the boat across the Atlantic and between the crew we’ve had a fair few Atlantic crossings in the last couple of years, be them solo or fully crewed, so we’re looking forward to it.”
The Volvo fleet experienced fluky and changeable conditions of under 10 knots of wind in the northern part of the Chesapeake Bay. Once outside the bay in the Atlantic, the fleet is expected to encounter between 30 to 40 knots on the nose, as the fleet beat upwind to New York.
Seb Josse, the young French skipper on ABN AMRO TWO, added, “For this short leg to New York, the tactical options for all the teams aren’t as varied as previously. This sprint will have the same intensity and rhythm as an in port race, and we will have to adapt and change our strategy and approach to sailing. With the prospect of 3 or 4 days to recover in New York, we can adopt different watch rotations and be less focused on keeping the crew well rested.
“We are starting to feel the end of the race approaching on the horizon. The competition for the podium positions is certainly heating up, with more and more psychological warfare between the teams on the pontoon. The final legs are routes that I know well though, but the crew will have to be very focused at sea.”
Nick Bice, returning from injury as Watch Captain on ABN AMRO TWO, noted, “My injury has come up a lot better than the doctors expected and I’m looking forward to getting out there, and I’m going to be on the boat at 100%. There’s going to be a lot of effort put into this leg, which is almost a day race, and we are looking forward to stepping up the intensity and adopting an in shore mentality. For the 400 mile sprint, we have seen forecasts ranging from 17 hours to 53 hours, but if there is any breeze we will be up there in no time. We are very confident in the boat and we have enough talented people in their various areas to repair anything during the pit stop in New York.”
The boats are expected to arrive in New York harbour between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, depending on weather patterns and wind conditions. The boats will then spend a few days in North Cove Marina on a pit stop where repairs and alterations to the boats by shore crew are not permitted without penalty. The crews set off for Portsmouth (UK) on Thursday May 11.
May 7, 2006, Annapolis, Maryland – A record number of spectator craft, estimated at 3,500 by the U.S. Coastguard, lined Chesapeake Bay today to farewell the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 fleet for the start of the sixth leg of the race from Annapolis to New York.
Thousands more fans took up vantage points on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge where traffic also came to a standstill. The figure surpassed the 2,000 spectator boats assembled for the start of the race in Vigo, Spain in November last year.
Brasil 1, skippered by Torben Grael (BRA) led the pack away from the start line with movistar, the winner of the Baltimore in-port race under the leadership of Bouwe Bekking (NED), in hot pursuit.
As the boats headed upwind to a rounding mark just before the Bay Bridge they forced their way into the massive spectator fleet as they headed for the favoured right-hand side of the course.
Brasil 1 and Sebastien Josse’s ABN AMRO TWO were the first to calve their way through the fleet and for Brasil 1 the risky move was profitable as they sneaked out ahead of movistar and local heroes Pirates of the Caribbean.
Grael and his team were the first to round and set their spinnaker, hotly pursued by movistar, who turned just over a minute later, with Paul Cayard’s Pirates of the Caribbean 45 seconds behind.
As the fleet headed downwind back towards the start, Pirates of the Caribbean made some good gains and overtook movistar to move up to second place just behind Brasil 1.
Behind the lead three boats a separate battle raged as Ericsson with skipper Neal McDonald (GBR) back in charge and new navigator Mark Rudiger (USA) onboard, battled it out with ABN AMRO ONE and TWO.
Through the start gate, the final mark before the fleet head out to the entrance of the Chesapeake, Brasil 1 still held the lead followed by Pirates of the Caribbean and movistar. ABN AMRO TWO passed through in fourth place just in front of their sister ship and overall race leaders ABN AMRO ONE who was struggling at the breeze dropped below eight knots.
After a promising start Brunel crossed through the starting gate in seventh place just under a minute after ABN AMRO ONE.
Judging by the tough battle at the start, the fleet will be racing hard all the way throughout the 400 nautical mile journey to New York.
The fleet is expected to arrive into the Big Apple late into the evening of Monday 8 May or in the early hours the next day. The boats will spend two complete days in North Cove Marina before departing on the Transatlantic crossing to Portsmouth, England on May 11.
7 May 2006, Annapolis, Maryland (USA) - Leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race kicked off today; a 400 nautical mile sprint from Annapolis to New York. Ericsson is currently in the leading group, 1 mile behind the leader. The first 120 miles out of the Chesapeake will be critical, as there may be very few passing opportunities once the competitors exit the Bay. The yachts are expected to cross the finish line off Manhattan, New York, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The Volvo Ocean Race teams received a terrific send off as they departed the Annapolis dock this morning. Leg six started in light conditions at 13.00 local time, and the fleet headed upwind to a turning mark off the Bay Bridge.
"Unfortunately, we broke a grinderbelt on the first critical tack, which put a us a little behind initially, but we have fought back hard", explains Ericsson navigator Mark Rudiger.
After rounding the windward mark in sixth, Ericsson quickly climbed back up through the fleet, overtaking ABN Amro One and Two as the boats headed downwind. The battle is on to be the first out of the Bay. By the time they get there they should meet a new weather system, as a cold front is developing from the south. The wind will blow from the north and is expected to reach 30 knots. This means that the conditions will be fairly brutal, as the boats will be bouncing into the waves.
Ericsson is currently sailing in fourth place controlling ABN Amro Two and Brunel, and hot on the heals of Brasil 1. Pirates of the Caribbean and movistar lead.
"What a send off we received today as we headed out of the Chesapeake," comments navigator Mark Rudiger (USA). "A big thank you to everyone in both Baltimore and Annapolis for making this such a fantastic stopover. The atmosphere was electric this morning as we left the dock - the waterfront buzzing with life and so many spectator boats here to wave us off."
Leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race is the shortest of all the legs in this race and with a rhumb line course that keeps the boats nearly in sight of shore, it will be sailed more like a long in-port race than a short offshore leg. The forecast for tonight is 30 knots of northerly breeze, so the sailors are in for a rough ride, with the wind on the nose and very little sleep.
On arrival in New York, the fleet will have a short "pit stop", before embarking on leg seven on 11 May. This 3200 nm leg will take the fleet across the Atlantic to Portsmouth, UK, not far from where Ericsson was built.
After an exciting start from Annapolis, Maryland, early today, the fleet is back at sea again and racing hard in leg six, at 400 nautical miles, the shortest, but possibly the most influential leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.
The fleet has 86 miles to sail before leaving the tricky sailing usually associated with the Chesapeake Bay behind them, but a new weather system will bring up to 25 knots of breeze later tonight.
Mark Rudiger, the new navigator onboard Ericsson (Neal McDonald), says that there is not much of a passing lane once the fleet gets to New York and he thinks that it is possible that fleet may cross the finish line in the same order as it exited the Chesapeake Bay. The next few hours are critical as the teams focus on pushing their boats as hard as possible.
The arrival in New York, poses all sorts of challenges including lots of narrow channels that the fleet must keep within, along with fishing boats, barges, tug boats, police guards, not to mention the shoals which must be avoided and the skyscrapers which will disrupt the wind.
But tonight, in an increasingly familiar pattern, the movistar (Bouwe Bekking) crew has broken the important piece of gear which drives their two main winches, necessitating the transfer of the spinnaker sheet to the mainsheet winch in every maneuver. “The forecast is still for 25 knots later during the night; hopefully we can lay through and not have to tack in big seas,” skipper Bouwe Bekking said.
The first four boats are all within a mile of each other with Brunel (Grant Wharington), the Australian entry which has just rejoined the fleet after an extensive refit, in fifth place, while the two Dutch boats, ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) are uncharacteristically bringing up the rear.
40 races were sailed on Baseline Lake to complete the MCSA Teamrace Championship. Winds on Saturday were between 0 and 7 knots and extremely shifty. Sunday had less wind, from 0-5 knots and the same large shifts. 26 races of a 28 race round robin were sailed on Saturday. The round robbin was completed on Sunday, and then a top four championship and bottom four consolation round were also completed. All races were sailed in 420s on digital-N courses. The races were judged on the water, which limited hearings to one protest, one redress and one breakdown. Prizes were awarded to the top three schools.
Congratulations to Minnesota for winning the 2006 MCSA Teamrace Championship.
Complete results are attached.
First: Minnesota
Second: Wisconsin
Third: Michigan
Fourth: Northwestern
Fifth: Notre Dame
Sixth: Ohio University
Seventh: Ohio State
Eighth: Michigan State
Over the last hour, the wind speed has gradually reached a steady plateau of 20 knots, giving ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) the conditions they love best. ABN AMRO ONE have managed to catch up by a whopping 6 miles whilst Brunel (Grant Wharington), has slipped 2 miles further behind.
Meanwhile, the leading four boats have been jostling for the front spot, and positions have changed a number of times since the last report. One moment Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) is in front, then Ericsson (Neal McDonald) and then Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard). It’s a fast paced race to the entrance of the Chesapeake.
Before the boats confront the Atlantic Ocean, the fleet must negotiate the Chesapeake entrance gate which lies 13 miles ahead. This could prove a tricky manoeuvre if the wind swings round to the east.
The international crew onboard B&Q including French sailing star, Thomas Coville, finished the penultimate stage of the eight-week Asian Record Circuit yesterday (07/05/06) arriving at the coastal resort of Terengganu in Malaysia. After leaving Hong Kong a week ago, the 75ft trimaran B&Q completed this four-leg stage via four countries on its route southwards via China, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. In doing so, the team have established a further four new record times as well as an overall elapsed for the 1350-mile route from Hong Kong to Terengganu in a time of 7 days, 5 minutes and 50 seconds [the Jade Record] – taking the total tally to 12 new records for Ellen MacArthur and her team.
“These legs have provided us with some great sailing – flat seas, hardly any water over the deck, and when the breeze was with us some fast sailing, and its been HOT, really hot! It’s been mainly upwind sailing and we’ve had everything from 2 to 15 knots from varying directions - at times getting the odd burst of speed as the wind direction freed us up to reach south at speed. We are very fast in this flat sea - it's so rare to sail in such flat water certainly for such a long way. As soon as the wind gets to 7 knots we are flying! Mind you, Tomma [Thomas Coville] has said he can't remember going so slowly on a multihull for so long! But that's a pretty good resumé of our trip as when you look back the wind speeds have been so low, rarely staggering above 10kts of wind, and even so we have managed to keep a very respectable average speed all things considered - 8 knots up to now in such light airs. Looking back on Maxsea we have covered more miles in fact, as the upwind leg to Sanya added quite a few. We can also see our entire path sailed so far on Maxsea and we are currently 2100nm from Dalian as the crow flies – its incredible how much we have packed into this tour!” Crew member Charles Darbyshire, at the finish.
This penultimate stage of the Asian Record Circuit was in stark contrast to the very first stage of the tour from Yokohama, Japan to Dalian on the northeast coast of mainland China via South Korea. It was cold, wet, rough and near gale conditions at times – it was a baptism of fire for Ellen and her crew who had no experience of sailing in these waters with the added hazard of alien waters congested with fishing boat fleets.
“Overall, sailing in these conditions has been really fantastic, and such a contrast to our earlier experience such as the leg from Yokohama to Jeju Island (South Korea), which was so windy and rough. After having spent 6 days onboard with barely a wave over the boat, it is hard to remember the motion from the earlier sections of the circuit. We have not encountered anything like the fishing fleets we saw up north although it was quite busy round the finish gate off Nha Trang, Vietnam, but it was sunset and I think everyone was heading home. What also made this leg interesting is the volcanic landscape of this region - both above and below the water. In some places the sea bed rose to the surface, forming little islands barely 100m wide or long - and without any kind of navigation lights on them, we had to plot our course pretty carefully,” concluded Darbyshire.
French multihull sailor and ‘record-chaser’ Thomas Coville had this to say: “It has been a fantastic experience to race onboard <
As B&Q approached the dock in Terengganu they were joined by a flotilla of boats as the music and local dancing began onshore. Ellen and the crew of Thomas Coville, Loik Gallon, Erwan Lemeilleur, Charles Darbyshire and Elain Chua were given a traditional Malaysian welcoming ceremony of dancing, music and drums provided by the Tepac Sirreh and Nasa Kuning cultural troops, and a mix of Malaysian, Chinese and Indonesian dancers and musicians. The crew were led to the welcome stage by a group of local school children throwing pandam leaves along their route. Ellen was presented with a ‘Pemakaian Selendang’, a large piece of material that is woven with gold leaf, and a ‘Keris’, a traditional small warrior’s dagger. “It has been a fantastic welcome,” commented Ellen. ”We knew this would be a very special and warm welcome - the colours, music and traditional ceremonies have been amazing to witness, the whole team is really looking forward to our time here in Terengganu.”
Ellen and the crew will remain in Malaysia until the 10th when they will depart for the final leg of the circuit to Singapore. Ellen is due to join the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for lunch in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow before taking local children sailing onboard B&Q.
Short, choppy seas and strong winds are challenging the Volvo Ocean Race fleet as it presses northwards towards New York. Early this morning, ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) tacked offshore followed by movistar (Bouwe Bekking) at 0725 and then Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) at 0825, although at present there is no indication that speeds are higher than those inshore. Set up closest to the shore is Ericsson, with Neal McDonald back charge, and his old friend, Mark Rudiger in the navigator’s spot. The boats that tacked earlier, have all changed course again within the last 30 minutes and are heading north.
Overnight, the breeze quickly increased to 20 – 25 knots with gusts near to 30 knots being reported, making it a wet and wild ride northwards. Race meteorologist, Chris Bedford says, “While the increased wind is good news for the fleet, the angle of this breeze is definitely bad news for those looking for a fast reach up the coast. The coastal low, south of the fleet, is developing much faster and more dramatically than the earlier forecasts and, as a result, the winds are backed more towards the northeast and forecast to remain 25 – 30 knots for much of today. This puts the fleet hard on the wind with some gear-testing conditions.
“Not much sleep yet (none) and only a little food… that’s the trouble with these sprint legs as you push hard to stay in the game,” wrote Will Oxley, the new navigator on Brunel (Grant Wharington), adding, “still, even in these unpleasant conditions, it is good to be at sea.”
Six months out from the 2006 Rolex Middle Sea Race and an exciting line-up is on the cards. Recent races have seen an explosion of interest in this 608nm Mediterranean offshore classic. The fleet has risen steadily from 42 in 2002 to last year's 58 boats. Whilst the Royal Malta Yacht Club does not expect to set records every year it is keen to break the 60-yacht barrier.
"Although the attraction and quality of this event is not only about the number of entries, the club is working hard to see what level we might reach this time. In achieving over forty yachts we thought we had done well. Two years later, we had over fifty on the start-line. For a moment last year we thought we had over sixty, but some last minute drop-outs left us just short," commented Godwin Zammit, Race Committee Chairman.
The course takes the fleet on a challenging anti-clockwise adventure around Sicily, and includes two active volcanoes - Etna and Stromboli - en route, together with a host of islands and landmarks made famous by history and mythology. Starting and finishing in Marsamxett Harbour is an experience few will forget or fail to include in their list of racing highlights. The start line is dwarfed by the imposing 16th century bastions of the fortified city of Valetta at the 'pin-end' and the impressive main gate to the 18th century Fort Manoel - home to the RMYC - at the 'Committee End'.
Last year, the fleet broke another less memorable record with the fewest finishers (9). The race, plagued with light winds, saw crews struggling for almost a week before recognising that the race deadline could not be met even if they could sail to the finish. With a number of yachts within speaking distance for the duration of the race, the spirit of the participants was in evidence throughout with tales of boats trading provisions as food supplies began to dwindle. First boat to finish was Italian Carlo Puri Negri's Atalanta II, which fought a close duel over the course with Steinlager II before finally gaining the race winning advantage 10 miles from the line. Last boat and only Maltese yacht to finish in time was former race winner, David Frank's J-125 Strait Dealer, which will be on the start line again this year.
Franks could find himself in a match race this year; newcomer, Briton Steve Thorpe, is entering his J-125, Wings of the Wind, "The Rolex Middle Sea Race has been on my list of 'must do' races for sometime now. We have followed the fortunes of David Franks and feel the race is ideally suited to the J-125. The crew is truly Corinthian, but has a wealth of knowledge with experience of numerous Fastnets, Hobarts and, even, trans-Atlantic races within the ranks."
One record that may fall this year is the course record established in 2000 by Bob McNeil's Zephyrus IV. It has been under serious assault in recent times, with a number of yachts more than capable of beating it in the right conditions having a go. After two unsuccessful attempts, Neville Crichton is returning with his latest Alfa Romeo - the 98-foot Reichel/Pugh canting keel super-maxi that finished second on the water at the Rolex Sydney Hobart last December. The race represents unfinished business for Crichton. "Taking part in the Rolex Middle Sea Race will, without doubt, be one of the highlights of the season," explains Crichton. "Not only is Malta a wonderful venue, this race also represents a unique challenge in the Mediterranean with widely varying conditions and real tests for navigation and weather prediction. My aim this year, as on our two previous visits, will be to break the race record. In the past we have had too little and too much wind - even in the same race! This year I am hoping the winds will be kind and the new race record will be set by Alfa Romeo."
Crichton will not be alone in his quest for the record. Stewart Thwaites conventional, fixed-keel super-maxi, Konica Minolta, has just announced its participation. Outgunned at the Rolex Sydney Hobart in December (finishing 4th on the water), Thwaites and his skipper Gavin Brady will no doubt relish the prospect of a race where strategy is often more important than potential boat speed.
Other yachts returning to the fray include the first confirmed Maltese entrant Comanche Raider, a Humphrey's designed IOR Two Tonner, skippered by Jonas Diamantino and the Swan 601 Spirit of Jethou, Sir Peter Ogden's all-black carbon racer. Ogden and his crew were beaten by the elements last year, but their enthusiasm for this race that has attracted the likes of Ted Turner, Herbert von Karajan and Sir Francis Chichester appears undimmed.
The Rolex Middle Sea Race 2006 starts from Marsamxett Harbour, Malta, on Saturday 21st October 2006. The Malta Rolex Cup, a two-race inshore series on the 17th and 18th October, will precede the main race.
Entries close on 14th October. The final prize giving is at noon on 28th October.
Zephyrus IV established the current Course Record of 64 hours 49 minutes and 57 seconds in 2000.
The United States Coast Guard Academy is accepting applications for the position of Assistant Coach of the Varsity Intercollegiate Sailing Team. Located in New London, CT, the U. S. Coast Guard Academy is a member of the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) which competes within the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA).
This is a temporary full-time position with the start date approximately August 15th and ending November 17th with the possibility of follow on employment.. Responsibilities will include but not limited to assisting in daily practice, running home events, travel to away regattas, recruiting and helping to oversee the maintenance of our fleet of dinghies.
We are looking for an individual with a college sailing background and coaching experience at the junior and/or college level. The individual should be able to use proven and innovative coaching and motivational methods to achieve our ultimate goal of a high participation, perennial national-level championship intercollegiate sailing team.
Please send resumes and any inquiries to:
Doug Clark
Director of Sailing
U.S. Coast Guard Academy
29 Mohegan Avenue (CW-2)
New London, CT 06320
860 444-8577 0
860 444-8574 fx
dclark@exmail.uscga.edu
May 4, 2006, Baltimore, Maryland – Today Baltimore will say goodbye to the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 as the fleet heads off on a Parade of Sail to Annapolis.
The teams arrived from Rio de Janeiro on the 17th April and have spent over two weeks in Baltimore’s Inner Harbour. Whilst there, they have attracted a record numbers of crowds.
Nearly 350,000 people descended on the Inner Harbour for the waterfront festival held in celebration of the race.
Tourism officials estimated that half a million guests would attend both the Baltimore and Annapolis stopovers, which means that the crowd estimates during the weekend of the in-port race exceeded all expectations.
Visitors waited for more than an hour to access the dockside where the Volvo Open 70 yachts were berthed and enjoyed many of the activities going on in the race village such as the winch grinding, the team’s pavilions and the LEGO Volvo XC90, which took three weeks to design and comprises of over 201,425 standard LEGO bricks.
Spectators were also treated to the awesome site of the Volvo Extreme 40 catamarans whizzing around the inner harbour as they competed in the Volvo Extreme 40 grand prix series.
At 12 noon today (local) the boats will leave on the Parade of Sail to Annapolis where they are expected to be welcomed by a large crowd both out on the water and dockside.
The seven entries in the race will spend two full days in Annapolis before departing on Sunday 7 May on leg six to Portsmouth, England via a pit-stop in New York. The boats are expected to arrive into New York between the 8-9 May, departing again for England on the 11 May.
Portsmouth, R.I. (May 4, 2006) - US SAILING has determined the 2006 schedule of its USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival program (JO) schedule. The schedule boasts 25 events being held at sailing organizations across the country starting in May and wrapping up the season in December with the largest event, the "Orange Bowl" in Miami, Fla., which in 2005 saw more than 680 competitors. In sailboat racing, it's important to get a good start-not just on the starting line, but as a young sailor. US SAILING's JO program is designed to do just that: help young sailors between the ages of 8 and 21 get more experience on the water while having fun participating in clinics and regattas. The program is sponsored by West Marine and Gill.
In 2006, nearly 5,000 young sailors from across the country are expected get on the water by participating in JO events. The program, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, has had a tremendous impact on the growth of youth sailing, proven by the growing popularity of the program. In the program's first year, there were six JO events, drawing 1,400 sailors. Over the years, some 30,000 young sailors have participated in JO events. Every host club selects the boats sailed at their event. In the 24-event 2005 season, 18 different classes of boats were used-ranging from the widely used Optimist to the more high performance 29er.
After a total of eighteen races, double Olympic medallist Randy Smyth, skipper of Team Tommy Hilfiger took overall victory, winning by a difference of nineteen points over Team Holmatro. Everyone agreed that the crowds in Baltimore were brilliant and with visitors of an estimated 350,000 the atmosphere in the Inner Harbour was electric. Many spectators, both of sailing and non-sailing backgrounds, were thrilled to have come to Baltimore for the Waterfront Festival, to then be treated to the sight of the awesome VX40 racing machines competing in close quarters. Today was the last day of racing for this Grand Prix, and the spectators were left to keep guessing who would cross the finish line in first place as the various teams in turn had to endure the agony of being stuck in wind holes at different stages of the races. Towards the end of the first race, there was so little breeze that the VX40 struggled to keep their momentum and three of the five boats were classed as “did not finish” as they all crossed the finish line at least six minutes after the lead boat, as stipulated in the race rules. In contrast, there were also many sudden gusts which wowed the crowds as the VX40s would fly their hulls.
The Volvo Extreme 40s will be unleashed again at the end of the month in Portsmouth, England. Racing in Portsmouth takes place from the 27 May to the 3 June and will conclude with the boats taking part in the Round the Island Race – a race 50 mile race around the Isle of Wight.
May 3, 2006, Baltimore, Maryland – The Volvo Extreme 40s made quite an impression during the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 stopover in Baltimore.
Nearly 350,000 people descended on the Inner Harbour for the waterfront festival in celebration of the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Baltimore and were treated to not only the sight of the mind-blowing Volvo Open 70s but also the amazing spectacle of the Volvo Extreme 40 catamarans.
The Volvo Extreme 40s are part of the in-port entertainment package for the Volvo Ocean Race and in Baltimore they certainly provided the entertainment as they whizzed around the inner harbour in front of crowds on the dockside and office workers hanging out of windows.
The racing, which started last Thursday, was a highly competitive affair and saw many lead changes, near collisions and protests.
After eighteen races, double Olympic medallist Randy Smyth and his all American team of Stan Schreyer, Jonathan Farrar and Richard Feeney took the overall victory, winning by nineteen points from Team Holmatro.
Smyth commented: “We have been racing together for a while now and I think this is what makes the difference but there is never a dull moment in these boats and especially when you are racing in the harbour like this – it is what these boats are made for.”
He continued: “I think the audience that we have seen over the five days that we have raced is one of the biggest that sailing has ever had in the United States and that is so exciting. These are just such cool boats and it is great to be able to show them off.”
Olympic medallist and class founder Mitch Booth steered Team Holmatro into second place, and despite being overtaken in the regatta halfway through, was delighted to be finish on the podium after a disappointing result in Rio de Janeiro.
Team Holmatro crew member and class Chief Executive Herbert Dercksen commented: “For me the most important thing has been to see so many people turn out to watch the racing. Sailing in this kind of arena has been fantastic and you get so much variety and lead changes and all of the sailors are thoroughly enjoying themselves out there. It has also been great to see the Volvo Ocean Race sailors competing and enjoying the class so much. This is what Mitch and I dreamt of, so it really is a dream come true.”
Dercksen concluded by saying: “At the end of the day the best guy won. We are pleased to have moved up the leader board and with how we raced but Randy and his team did a fantastic job.”
Filling the final podium position in Baltimore was Team Basilica skippered by James Grant and with British 49er sailor Alister Richardson at the helm. Team Basilica could not quite match their performance from Rio de Janeiro, but a third place in Baltimore still sees them second on the overall series leader board, six points behind Tommy Hilfiger.
The excellent improvement seen in Team Holmatro sees them move up from fifth place overall to third place after three events.
Whilst the Volvo Extreme 40 racing has come to an end, there is still plenty of activity going on in the Volvo Ocean Race Village. Tomorrow sees the Volvo Open 70s depart for Annapolis on a Parade of Sail, where they will remain until the leg six restart on Sunday 7 May which takes them from Annapolis to Portsmouth, England, via a three day pit-stop in New York.
The Volvo Extreme 40s will be unleashed again at the end of the month in Portsmouth, England. Racing in Portsmouth takes place from the 27 May to the 3 June and will conclude with the boats taking part in the Round the Island Race – a race 50 mile race around the Isle of Wight.
May 3, 2006: ABN AMRO TWO crew member and Brazilian sailor Lucas Brun will retain his place on the boat for the next two legs of the Volvo Ocean Race which will see the boats race into New York and then on to Portsmouth, UK. For Dutch sailor Gerd Jan Poortman this selection means he will not be on board for the next two legs.
The decision over the crew selection was made by ABN AMRO TWO skipper Sebastien Josse today. Despite the result of the last leg the team’s performance was rated as the best in the race so far, with this in mind Josse felt that the crew should remain the same for the next leg. The decision also reflects the improvements Brun has made in the last two legs from Wellington to Rio and from Rio to Baltimore.
Speaking about his decision, Seb Josse said, “Lucas is a good trimmer and has worked extremely well on the last two legs of this race. It is important for us to have good trimmers on board especially in the transatlantic leg. Lucas proved to me that he has gained valuable experience on the difficult Southern Ocean leg to Rio and will be an important member of the crew as we cross the Atlantic.”
“We also felt that after the last legs and sailing through the Southern Ocean together we wanted to stay with the same team. I said when we first got to Baltimore that even though we did not finish well in the fleet, we sailed the best we have ever sailed and so I decided we should stay with this crew till Portsmouth. It was not an easy decision but with 11 people who have all played a big part in this team it is always going to be hard to leave someone on shore. ”
Nick Bice will return to the crew, fully recovered after his broken hand sidelined him for the last leg from Rio – Baltimore.
Meanwhile the ABN AMRO ONE crew remains unchanged and at full strength. Rob Greenhalgh returns after sitting out the Baltimore inport race and Mark Christensen has declared himself 100% fit after key-hole surgery on his injured knee.
English Harbour Antigua (May 2, 2006) - Rolex Antigua Sailing Week reached its halfway mark today with the completion of Race 3 for the 194 boats. Despite yesterday's cancelled race for Division A, spirits were high in anticipation of the race sending the fleet back to Falmouth Harbour. Tom Hill's Titan 12 took line honors once again finishing the 28-mile course in 2 hours, 50 minutes. In Division B, Oystercatcher XXV bested the fleet with a 2 hour, 58 minute time that earned Richard Matthew's Oyster 72 a second on corrected time and the top spot overall in class.
Completing the 28-mile course back "around the island" to finish at Falmouth Harbour, Titan 12 beat Rosebud across the line. However, Roger Sturgeon's TP52 quick pace on the rest of its Racing Big Boat 1 competition keeps it in second overall, tied with Dan Meyers' Farr 60 Numbers. Pindar, Andrew Pindar's Open 60 with Nick 'Nobi' Black helming, posted an impressive time finishing a mere eight minutes behind Titan 12 to claim a third for the day and third in class.
Disagreement about a sailing instruction fractured Racing III class which resulted in a protest that may be re-opened later in the week. On provisional standings, DSK-Comifin, Danilo Salsi's Swan 45, is now tied on points with High Life, the Ker 11.3 owned by Peter Rogers of the U.K.
Bareboat II class continues to be dominated by Moby, the Bavaria 50 skippered by Patrick Festing-Smith. Division B was sent on a course up toward the northeastern-most point of the island, before looping down and heading back to a Falmouth Harbour finish. According to crew member Jim Miller, the entire team was proud of how they raced the 19-mile course. "This is the second day in a row that we took line honors," he said. "It was upwind to the finish, a beat all the way to the "curtains" mark on the south side of the island. There were boats in front of us, including Tengger (the Gibsea 51 skippered by Agostini Casadei of Italy). We had a great match race with them. We out-tacked them," he said noting that there was a protest regarding a mark location in the course. "We have a moral victory even if the protest doesn't go our way."
Local legend Hugh Bailey and his First 456 corrected to first in class and combined that finish with a fourth and a second to take first overall. "It was an exciting day," said the 63-year-old known for introducing the sport of sailing to countless young Antiguans. "We worked hard and we're celebrating. We managed to beat almost everyone on time, and crossed the line with Avocation. In addition to our great racing, we also had Government Minister Joanne Messiah onboard. It was her fist time sailing and she left very happy because we sail for Antigua and we did so well."
In Performance Cruising III class, it's a battle of the locals as Pavlova II, the Swan 43 Richard Burbridge of the U.K. corrected on time to place first in class for the day, with Lawrie May's Blue Peter in second and Maniac, the Swan 411 owned by Paul Worthington of Guyana. May was pleased to add his J/30's second-place to yesterday's first and the 12th scored on the first day. "Today's conditions were good for us, there were big seas at the start and there wasn't much wind downwind, which was ok for us because we don't fly a spinnaker," he said of the 26-year-old boat he rescued from nearby Mango Swamp almost six years ago. Since then he has completely rebuilt the hull to turn it into one of the most competitive boats in the Caribbean.
May's main competition in the class comes from local Antigua boats including Pavlova, Streaker (Sandy Mair's Soverel 33), and Budget Marine (Tony Maidment's Dehler 34). "The locals know the waters here," he said noting that he has competed against almost every boat in the cruising fleet at one regatta or another over the years. "It's not just the weather that is hard to read here, but also the current. It can run at close to two knots like it did in today's race. And the more you sail here the more you know about where to go to get relief. Today we tried to get in close to shore for relief and it worked to our advantage." With tomorrow's lay day, the team will go back to work to catch-up and re-group for Thursday's South Coast race. "If we come first, second or third overall in our class I'll be happy," said May.
CLEVELAND -- Generally increased air temperatures around the lakes this week will mark the start of the Great Lakes boating season but lake waters remain quite cold.
The Coast Guard has already responded to several incidents on the Great Lakes this spring involving boaters unprepared for such challenges as rapidly changing weather or simply lacking essential equipment onboard their vessels.
Water temperatures in parts of the Great Lakes will hover in the mid- to upper 40's this week where survival time averages less than two hours. Hypothermic shock and drowning are the leading causes of death in the spring boating months on the Great Lakes.
To reduce the chances of becoming just another boating statistic, the Coast Guard reminds boaters to plan ahead by following a few tips:
May 1, 2006, Baltimore, Maryland – Two thousand people came together at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore last night to congratulate the prize winners from leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06.
As well as presenting the top three finishers from the leg, three additional awards were also presented.
Making a change from tradition, for the first time one of the prize giving awards was presented to two people who have spent very little time actually onboard a boat.
The media prize, normally awarded to a crewmember for capturing a fantastic account of the sea via email or pictures, went to two people who spent very little time on boats this year.
Movistar’s media team of Maria Bertrand and Javier Sobrino work tirelessly to encourage and coerce news organisations to cast the limelight on their campaign. They contentedly remain in the shadow. But their work has so far earned live television coverage of the Sanxenxo and Rio de Janeiro In-port races on TVE, a national station in Spain, led to the printing of 5,800 articles and seen their team featured 670 times on various television shows. It has amounted to a level of exposure worth €21.88million so far.
“Fantastic work and invaluable to our sport,” said Gary Jobson, the emcee, as he called them to the stage to collect a cheque for $1,000.
Javier said, “We are very happy. This prize is not just for Maria and me, but for the whole team. Spain is a huge sailing country and is very proud of the team.”
Back in line with tradition, the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Ocean Watch Environmental Award, presented by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Senior Vice President Commercial John Felitto, went to ABN AMRO ONE skipper Mike Sanderson.
His thought-provoking emails about gannets in flight and the strains of over-fishing by commercial trawlers highlighted perfectly the plight of those trying to save the ocean before it becomes a stretch of lifeless water.
Andy Meiklejohn from Brasil 1 won the coveted Musto Seamanship Award having been nominated by his skipper, Torben Grael, for bravely going up the mast to untangle elements of the mainsail during a vicious squall.
There were no surprises with the rest of the prize giving. Pirates of the Caribbean and movistar both took to the stage to receive their Waterford Trophies for third and second place respectively. Finally the familiar sound of the ABN AMRO ONE theme tune played out encouraging Mike Sanderson and his team to get up on stage to receive the prize for first place in leg five.
Proceedings were wrapped up perfectly with a performance by Sandtown, a group of street children living in a music hostel. The crowd heard how they walk through dangerous neighbourhoods en route to rehearsals where they can do what they love. “Triumph in adversity,” is how they see it, and the links to the Volvo Ocean Race were quite obvious.
American singing sensation John Legend took to his piano and provided the final entertainment before the evening came to a close.
English Harbour, Antigua (May 1, 2006) - While most local Antiguans enjoyed the national holiday of May Day today, crews aboard the 194 boats competing at the Rolex Antigua Sailing Week worked hard for results. Battling tropical downpours and shifty wind - when it eventually showed up, some three hours after the scheduled 0900 daily start - the two divisions went separate ways. Division A was sent six miles offshore for windward/leeward racing that was eventually cancelled for lack of sufficient wind and Division B for a 21-mile point-to-point tour along the coast.
A long wait turned into a quick decision by the Race Committee who sent Division A boats back to Jolly Harbour, the waterfront resort hosting the entire fleet overnight with dockside hospitality. Tonight's activities include the English Harbour Rum Captain's Cocktail Party for owners and skippers, hosted by the Jolly Harbour Golf Club.
Today was all about Division B and the conditions kept the fleet, a mix of cruising racers, pure cruisers and bareboat charterers, entertained and challenged.
In the Performance Cruising II class, Avocation, the Swan 48 owned by Hank Schmitt is first among the entries, but for Northern Child, another lively Swan competitor, its crewmember David Lavelle of London explained that today was as good as it gets. "There was reasonable wind at the start and it stayed lovely for us for two hours," explained the Londoner, who is one of 12 crewmembers who chartered the 2005 overall winner of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). "The sea was fantastic, but everyone fell into a hole and suddenly 100 million worth of boats sat doing nothing. The wind then picked up to 22 knots, suddenly died - again! - but then returned in time for us to have some close duels with a few boats that are typically faster than us." Northern Child sits in 6th overall.
Performance Cruiser I continues to be led by the same top three boats. Richard Matthew's Oystercatcher XXV, won both of its races today followed by Sojana, Peter Harrison's Farr 115 from the U.K. that finished the race 14 minutes ahead, before the handicap correction of time. Third place is held by Selene, the Swan 80 owned by Duke Steinemann of the U.S.
The Bareboats are reveling in the exceptional surroundings of Antigua. Chess, the Moorings 445 skippered by frequent Antigua Sailing Week competitor Jan Soderberg picked up two first-place finishes in as many days and leads Bareboat IV class ahead of Sea Breeze, the Cyclades 43 skippered by Herschel Ross of the U.S. and KH+P Coriander, the Gibsea 43 skippered by Fredy Geisser of Switzerland.
Tomorrow, racing for the fleet starts off Jolly Harbour, on the west side of the island, back to Falmouth Harbour and an evening in the Regatta Village at Nelson's Dockyard. Racing continues through Friday, May 6.
May 1, 2006, Baltimore, Maryland – Brasil 1 sailor Roberto Bermudez from Spain jumped ship for the day to make a guest appearance during the third day of the Volvo Extreme 40 grand prix series in Baltimore.
Many of the sailors that are normally seen onboard the Volvo Open 70s have been attracted by the speed and excitement of the Volvo Extreme 40s and the talented sailors have caused a bit of a shake up in the fleet.
Team Holmatro has been the biggest beneficiary and with Pirates of the Caribbean sailor Anthony Merrington competing yesterday and Bermudez today, they have elevated themselves from the bottom of the leader board to the top.
Olympic medallist Mitch Booth who, along with Bermudez, was joined by his regular crew of son Taylor and Volvo Extreme 40 CEO Herbert Dercksen, put in another great performance for the second day in a row scoring nothing out of the top three to maintain their overall lead.
Team Holmatro was not the only boat to recruit the skills of a Volvo Ocean Race sailor. Onboard the all British Team Basilica ABN AMRO ONE sailor Robert Greenhalgh, brother of regular crew member Peter, joined the crew for the final two races helping the team on their way to victory in the final race of the day.
Rob Greenhalgh commented: “We finished the day on a good note with a race win. This close quarters stuff is what you miss when you sail around the world and I can’t wait to get back in a small boat again.”
With twelve knots of breeze and racing in the confined space of Baltimore’s Inner Harbour, the day was not without drama and there was plenty of close tussles and even a few red protest flags on display.
Olympic Tornado silver medallist Johnny Lovell, who was guest onboard Team Motorola-CHR commented: “Today was great fun. We had some very exciting and very close racing out there.”
With two more days remaining of the series, Team Holmatro holds on to a three point lead from Tommy Hilfiger helmed by American Randy Smyth who won two of the day’s races and placed fourth in the remaining ones.
The all British Team Basilica helmed by Alister Richardson is currently in third place, nineteen points in front of Motorola-CHR helmed by Leigh McMillan. Team Volvo Ocean Race skippered by American Cam Lewis is still learning the art of controlling these 40ft flying beasts and are currently placed fifth.
The Volvo Extreme 40 grand prix series continues through until Wednesday 3 May before heading to their penultimate grand prix venue of Portsmouth.
For further information on the class log onto www.VolvoExtreme40.org.
Results, day 3 (subject to protest)
1st Team Holmatro, NED (2,3,3,2,1,1,1,2,3,3,1,2) 96 pts
2nd Tommy Hilfiger, USA (1,1,1,1,2,4,5,3,1,1,4,4) 93 pts
3rd Team Basilica, GBR (4,4,2,5,5,2,2,1,2,2,3,1) 84 pts
4th Motorola – CHR, GBR (5,2,4,3,3,3,3,4,4,5,5,3) 65 pts
5th Volvo Ocean Race, USA (3,5,5,4,4,5,4,5,5,4,2,5) 58 pts
Remaining Volvo Extreme 40 Grand Prix Series Dates
Portsmouth, UK 27 May-3 June, 2006
Rotterdam, Netherlands 9-14 June, 2006
Hyères, France (May 1, 2006) - US Sailing Team-members wrapped up another successful event in Europe last Friday by winning two Gold medals at the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyères, France. Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) won the 80-boat Laser Radial fleet while Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) won the 26-boat Yngling fleet. The event, ranked by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) as a Grade 1 event, celebrated one of its largest fleets in its history with more than 1,000 sailors from 50 countries participating.
The Laser Radial fleet produced one of the most exciting finales on Friday, with the battle for gold becoming a straight head-to-head between USA's World Champion and World number one Paige Railey and the World Silver medalist and defending champion from France, Sophie De Turckheim. Railey had her eyes and boat set on De Turckheim, who needed to bridge a four point gap on her rival to take Gold. However, De Turckheim could not escape the American's clutches, finishing eighth, with Railey behind her in ninth. Railey therefore takes Gold at yet another major event, with the 18-year-old now scoring nine wins from just 13 ISAF Graded events in the Laser Radial, an incredible record which includes victories at the ISAF Youth Worlds, Europeans, North Americans and Worlds and three different ISAF Grade 1 events.
In the Yngling fleet, World Champions Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi successfully defended their title, sailing to a comfortable second in the Medal Race. The British team led by Sarah Ayton was unable to exert much pressure on the Americans on the final day but ended taking the silver medal after a sixth in the Medal Race. For Barkow and her crew, this regatta win is the latest in what is quickly becoming a long list of championship titles. Just a few weeks ago, Barkow, Howe and Capozzi won the Princess Sofia Trophy in Spain.
April 28, 2006, Baltimore, Maryland – The players are ready and the spectators are flocking in for what is sure to be one of the most exciting in-port races of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06.
Tomorrow, Saturday 29 April, Chesapeake Bay will be awash with spectator boats and the magnificent site of seven Volvo Open 70s locked in close combat as they seek to add vital points to their overall scores.
Mike Sanderson’s (NZ) ABN AMRO ONE has established a 22 point lead over the fleet but with the expected forecast for light to moderate winds, this lead might disappear as the Dutch boat is disadvantaged in such conditions.
Volvo Ocean Race meteorologist Chris Bedford explains the weather forecast: “The wind will be from the north at five to ten knots on the Inner Harbour increasing to 15 knots over the open Chesapeake. A gradual decrease in wind speed and a right shift is expected from about mid-day or 1300 local time. The winds will ease to around 10 knots from the northeast during the race.”
The wind will not be the only thing that the teams have to contend with as Chesapeake Bay is a renowned obstacle course and the fleet will have to avoid large shoals and lobster pots. The Chesapeake can also throw up some interesting tidal situations.
“As always, tidal currents will be a significant factor on the bay,” explained Bedford. “An ebb tide of water flowing out of the bay toward the south is expected for most of the race. The tidal strength will likely be strongest near the beginning of the race, easing to nearly slack tide toward the end.”
With so much to contend with out on the water and the existing pressure of close racing, it is difficult to predict who will come out on top.
With just one and a half points separating second to fourth place there will be an intense battle between the Spanish entry movistar, Sebastien Josse (FRA) and his young team onboard ABN AMRO TWO and the only American entry Pirates of the Caribbean skippered by Paul Cayard. The Pirates will be hoping that their special guest Miss USA Tara Connor, newly crowned one week ago in Baltimore, brings them good fortune.
This will be the first time since the Melbourne stopover that all seven boats will line up against each other after the Australian entry Brunel rejoined the race in Baltimore.
29 April 2006 - The Ericsson Racing Team came fourth in Saturday's in-port race held in the notoriously tricky Chesapeake Bay. After a promising start, Ericsson led the fleet until the first mark, before a bad downwind leg decided the race. Movistar took line honors in front of Brasil 1 and Pirates of the Caribbean.
The fifth in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race started at 13.00 EDT on 29 April, in 8-10 knots of northerly breeze and glorious sunshine. Ericsson crossed the line on port tack, choosing to go behind the fleet and be first out to the favored right side of the course. The team took advantage of the wind shift and reached the top mark in first place, seven seconds ahead of movistar, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean and ABN Amro Two.
"We knew we wanted the right side of the course due to better wind and current, and so by starting on port tack, we were able to get there quickly," said Kostecki (USA), skipper and tactician for today's race. "We were first at the windward mark, but then we had a pretty bad downwind leg and mark rounding, which allowed movistar and Brasil 1 to pass us."
This was the deciding moment in the race for Ericsson. "There was a big left hand shift and we were on the wrong side of it, which put Brasil 1 in a good position," commented bowman David Rolfe (NZL). Ericsson ducked off to leeward, trying to get clean air, but ended up in an area with less wind. The boats with better air took off, and on reaching the top mark Ericsson had dropped back to fifth place, behind ABN Amro Two.
From then on positions within the fleet remained relatively unchanged as the teams extended their leads and the wind eased off. Ericsson managed to pass ABN Amro Two on the final beat, and crossed the finish line in fourth place, behind movistar, Brasil 1 and Pirates of the Caribbean.
"Our preparation was good. The boat was well prepared for today's race and we've had some good training time. We did all we could and we must move forward from here," concludes Neal McDonald (GBR).
April 29, 2006, Baltimore, Maryland – In front of an armada of boats and an estimated 20,000 spectators, movistar pulled off an impressive victory out on Chesapeake Bay in the fifth in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06.
With a light north easterly wind blowing around 8-10 knots, the race got underway as scheduled and it was the American entry Pirates of the Caribbean that was first out of the starting blocks. Paul Cayard (USA) and his band of Pirates, including the newly crowned Miss USA Tara Connor, timed the start to perfection and leapt off the start line closely followed by Ericsson skippered by fellow American John Kostecki.
By the first mark Ericsson had the advantage and passed Pirates of the Caribbean to take the lead, seven seconds in front of the Spanish entry movistar.
An intense battle between Ericsson and movistar then ensued which resulted in Bouwe Bekking’s (NED) movistar gaining the upper hand to move up into the lead leaving Ericsson to battle it out for second place with Pirates of the Caribbean and Torben Grael’s Brasil 1. With five Olympic medals under his belt, Grael’s experience paid off and he managed to get an inside advantage and get Brasil 1 round in second place.
Both movistar and Brasil 1 managed to stay out in front as the wind dropped to five knots and by the time the race committee decided to shorten the course, movistar had established an unbeatable lead and took maximum points in the race.
Overall race leaders ABN AMRO ONE skippered by Mike Sanderson (NZ) struggled from the start in the light conditions, which the Juan Kouyoumdjian designed boat is not known to excel in, and finished the race in sixth place just behind their sister-ship ABN AMRO TWO.
Although finishing in sixth place, ABN AMRO ONE still comfortably holds on to first place overall, but movistar has closed the gap to within twenty points. Pirates of the Caribbean knocks Sebastien Josse’s (FRA) ABN AMRO TWO off the podium to move up into third place overall.
April 29, 2006 -- Both the ABN AMRO boats struggled today in the conditions out on the Chesapeake Bay in the fifth in port race of the Volvo Ocean Race. In tricky wind that dropped as the race progressed, it was a tough day on the water for the Juan Kouyoumdjian designed boats whose optimum wind speed is over 8 knots of wind. On a day when the fleet didn’t see wind over 10 knots and by the end of the race it was as little as 5 knots, fifth place for ABN AMRO TWO and sixth place for ABN AMRO ONE was not unexpected.
Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE commented: “We had a touch of the Sanxenxo’s today (the first in port race of the Volvo Ocean Race where ABN AMRO ONE finished sixth) but it wasn’t quite as disappointing as Sanxenxo - that was the first race in the regatta where as here it was all pretty much as expected.
We were disappointed with how we came off the line as we had a good plan and we 99% executed it, but then we had a little miscommunication. It was a tricky day but we can’t expect to go a knot faster than everyone coming into Fernando (de Noronha) and also win in 7 knots of breeze. At this level it is a game of trade-offs and I still wouldn’t swap with anyone. If we had got the start we wanted, we might have been able to cross on port and it could have been a little different, but to be honest we didn’t have the pace – our plan was tied to leeward and Brasil 1 came down hooking us and we were second in from them.
It was just a really frustrating day and it has been a long time since we’ve had this conversation but there was not much we could do about it. After 2.5 hours of racing we were about 1.5 miles behind and that’s what we expected to be. That’s just life. The conditions today certainly favoured the Farr boats - it was under 9 knots all day, we went up the last beat in 6 knots and the last run in 5, so no big surprises for us.
We didn’t break anything, the boat is fine. To be fair I don’t think we were quick enough to have got on the podium today, but maybe we could have got a little bit closer. I think movistar is the quickest in the light and Brasil 1 is the second quickest, followed by Pirates and Ericsson so in that way things panned out the way you might have expected.
We have to keep our chin up, we still have nearly a 20 point lead. Movistar and Pirates are starting to up their reliability and moving up the board but we are still as far ahead as we were in Rio. If we can keep increasing our lead every stopover we are not in bad shape. To be honest I thought this was going to happen, I said it on the dock. This next leg to New York might be a toughy too because we have to get out of the Chesapeake and the conditions are not likely to be that good for us. But all these things were in the equation from the beginning so we are not surprised. The scoreline inshore – 6, 1, 1, 1, 6 – is not bad overall. My hope was that at the end of the inshore series we’d average out and as things stand at the moment we are one win up, so we are ahead of average.”
Simon Fisher, navigator on ABN AMRO TWO commented from onboard after the race: “We were really happy with our start. We were happy to give a bit of bias away so we could tack off. We had good timing for the line and it would have been nice to tack but we had a little problem with the daggerboard line.
It was pretty light towards the end. It did turn into Farr boat weather on the last lap. The first few laps were really good and we were in the mix, we got to the right side and we were going well but the last lap it went light and Ericsson got ahead and beat us by a length and a half.
We chose the right side of the course because we saw this yesterday – there was less current out there or even a bit of current with us because of the river that was feeding from that side. And there was better current over there and also more pressure although the shifts were left. The further right you went, the further you came up round the bows of the boats up to weather of you. It was quite a tricky race course. There were some big shifts and big puffs and lulls and made for a tricky race course.
On the last gybe into the line we were hoping to gybe off and get to speed before Ericsson but the tack came off, but it was light enough to run forward and anchor it back on. Apart from that it was a very incident-free race; it was one of the cleanest races we’ve done, so we were very happy about that. It is nice to be back with the team we did all our training with and our preferred squad with Johnny back on the bow and Bicey in the middle. It was life as normal and it was good on the boat today. Everyone was very relaxed and focussed on their job. We struggled a bit in the light air but that is a fact of life with our boats.
It was a big spectator fleet, there were heaps of boats around the start and finish area and at the top mark. There weren’t any boats on the course. There were 60 coastguard boats and 40 other boats policing the exclusion zone. So the spectator fleet weren’t ever a problem.”
Today was the first day of racing for the third VX40 Grand Prix Series, hosted by the city of Baltimore. With a reaching start and the first mark located right in the Inner Harbour, several thousand spectators were treated to a spectacular sight of the VX40s flying their hulls in close quarters. The wind conditions towards the top mark, just outside the harbour was a good force 3 from the north, however, within the harbour, the wind was shifting all the time and swirled within the harbour, testing the teams to their limit. Extra excitement was added by the fact that the VX40s had to dodge the other traffic in the harbour including the water taxis, and tall ships criss-crossing the harbour continuously.
The positions within the fleet changed throughout each race, however Randy Smyth helming Team Tommy Hilfiger was on top form, and took the pole position for all four races, thus maintaining their first position overall. Team Motorola-CHR sailed well but had a mixed bag of results, with a bad start in the first race, they took 5th place after battling with Basilica for 4th all the way. A much better start in the second race saw Motorola-CHR take the lead from the first mark and they dominated the race. However, Tommy Hilfiger found a patch of pressure on the final lap and pipped Motorola-CHR to the post. In the third race of the day, the leading boat changed continuously as the shifty conditions within the harbour. In the last run up to the finish line, Tommy Hilfiger found the little extra to squeeze in front of Basilica. In the fourth and final race of the day, Tommy Hilfiger were over the line and had to restart; Motorola-CHR sailed well, leading the fleet for the first two laps. However, they were to be faced with some bad luck as on its approach into the harbour, a fire boat stopped to watch the action, only to block Motorola-CHR and Basilica’s path. Both boats had to change course to go around the obstacle, allowing Tommy Hilfiger and Holmatro to come around behind them and avoid the fire boat. A hat trick was scored by Team Tommy Hilfiger who crossed the finish line in first place in the last race of the day – Tommy Hilfiger will be pleased with today’s results as the man himself has come to Baltimore today!
Johnny Lovell (Helmsman, Motorola-CHR):
Commenting on sailing the with Motorola-CHR VX40 catamaran “It’s a blast, a totally different game to racing Tornados but a lot of fun. We sailed well together, in three out of the four races we led for at least a lap, we just seemed to have had some rotten luck; but I think we did pretty good for our first day.”
St. John's, Antigua (April 30, 2006) - Early this morning, hundreds of spectators gathered at Shirley Heights, the legendary mountaintop lookout over English Harbour, to witness the start of the 39th annual Rolex Antigua Sailing Week. Two divisions - one for racing and one for cruising - set off toward Dickenson Bay, with the faster boats racing around the island some 35.4 miles to the east and the cruisers going west on a 21.3 mile course. Defending overall champion Titan 12, Tom and Dottie Hill's 75-foot maxi-racer from Puerto Rico took line honors overall but did not have enough lead time to secure first in class. Rosebud, Roger Sturgeon's TP52 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. holds that honor in Racing Big Boat 1 class.
"Today was really tricky," said Adrienne Cahalan, longtime crewmember on Rosebud. "We went out yesterday and practiced the course. We did okay today at the start, but Titan was ahead of us to the first mark. Everyone did a great job and we caught up in the second half of the race. Because it was light and shifty, we had a lot of sail choices, so we wound up changing sails a lot. We stayed pro-active all day and it helped us when the big rain clouds showed up. Kevin (Miller), our tactician did a great job picking clouds during a rain squall and kept us going."
In Racing III class, Milan, Italy's Danilo Salsi, skipper of the Swan 45 DSK-Comifin leads by a tight margin over second-place High Life, the Ker 11.3 owned by Peter Rogers of the U.K. Salsi recently won his class at the International Rolex Regatta held in St. Thomas, USVI. Not being in top place is okay for Frank Savage of New York, N.Y., who had a great day, despite it not being ideal Swan conditions. "On a day we should have been last, we did alright," said the two-time Antigua Sailing Week champion. "We missed being here last year, even though our boat won as a charter (under the name Hissar). So this year, we came back serious and we love our boat. I can't tell you how much fun I'm having and it's only the first day."
Locals faired well in all classes especially Jamie Hobbs who sailed his Olson 30 Lost Horizon II to a lead in Racing IV class. "It was so choppy and sloppy at the start," he said. "We didn't start that well, but it turned out well." Sailing onboard Lost Horizon II is 15-year-old Rian Bareuther, who has been a crewmember since he was 6. "My mother (sailing journalist Carol Bareuther) got me onboard the first time, when I was 6 and I've been sailing with them every since. You can learn everything about sailing from Jamie. He's amazing." Chippewa 39, the Farr 395 owned by Dave West of the U.S. is in second place, followed by Enzyme, Paul Solomon's Henderson 35 from Trinidad.
The two largest classes of the regatta can be found among the Performance Cruisers. Three Harkoms, James Hudleston's Oceanis 445 leads the 17boat Performance Cruiser II class, while Tony Maidment's Dehler 34 Budget Marine is leading Performance Cruiser III.
The fleet, representing 30 countries among the 16 classes, will overnight in Dickenson Bay to enjoy the annual beach bash where over 1500 sailors will mix with a crowd 10,000 locals and visitors. Tomorrow, the fleet begins its second race from the Bay toward Jolly Harbour on the west side of the island.
Racing continues through Friday, May 6 for all classes except the Bareboats, which have an additional race on Saturday, May 6. The week's activities culminate at the trophy ceremonies and the famed Lord Nelson's Ball on Saturday, May 6.
April 30, 2006, Baltimore, Maryland – Team Holmatro was boarded by a Pirate on the second day of the Volvo Extreme 40 grand prix series which resulted in a successful day for the team.
Pirates of the Caribbean team member Anthony Merrington (AUS) enjoyed a day away from the Volvo Open 70 and joined Olympic medallist Mitch Booth and crew of Herbert Dercksen and Taylor Booth for a day onboard the 40 ft catamaran.
Providing an exciting display for the thousands of spectators who lined the dockside, the five Volvo Extreme 40’s zipped around Baltimore’s Inner Harbour in ten knots of wind and under bright sunshine.
After a disappointing performance in the previous grand prix event in Rio de Janeiro, Merrington brought Team Holmatro some luck and additional skills as they went on to win three races and finish runners up in the final race of the day. This result was good enough to push them to the top of the leader board, three points in front of second placed Tommy Hilfiger helmed by Randy Smyth (USA).
Merrington commented: “We certainly need more of these boats - as soon as the breeze kicked in it was great! There was lots of position changing and the shifty winds gave everyone a chance, as well as providing some excitement for those watching from onshore.”
Team Basilica helmed by British sailor Alister Richardson was the pre-race favourite coming into the Baltimore series after victory in Rio. With Team Basilica’s results improving as the day went on, finally finishing on a high with a race win, they are currently placed third overall nine points behind Tommy Hilfiger.
Team Basilica crew member Peter Greenhalgh commented; “The third race of the day was the closest and fastest racing you could have had in a location such as this. It was fantastic.”
The Volvo Extreme 40 grand prix series continues through until Wednesday 3 May.