Being the defender of the America’s Cup gives you a little more time to finalize designs and build your platforms. As the last few challenger’s AC boats are trickling into Auckland, Team New Zealand’s first new boat, NZL-81, was transported under cover of darkness from Cookson’s yard to the Team NZL compound last week. This is the first of a planned two boats that Team NZL will use to defend the Cup, NZL-82 will be completed in four to eight weeks.
The story just keeps getting uglier, as more legal papers fly around OneWorld, Team New Zealand, and Kiwi attorney Sean Reeves. OneWorld issued a press release over the weekend accusing Sean Reeves of lying under oath during a deposition earlier this year. The whole story is well covered in the New Zealand Herald, www.nzherald.co.nz
**The Olympic Sailing Committee ** of US SAILING has announced trial dates in seven classes to select a team to represent the United States at the 2003 Pan American Games, scheduled for August 1-17, 2003, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
For the full story, see: http://sailingworld.com/sw_article.php?articleID=1197
If you were sailing on Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay last week, you may have been treated to the sight of a seamless, high-modulus, 182-foot carbon rig being loaded aboard a ship bound for the Baltic yard in Finland. Built by Hall Spars in Bristol, R.I., the spar is destined for a Reichel/Pugh-designed147-foot high-performance sloop that will begin sea trials in late September. Expect to see this cruiser/racer on the line for next year’s Newport-Hamburg challenge.
The standing rigging for this 147-foot behemoth is also weight-optimized with liberal use of titanium in key areas: All of the rod tangs, tip cups and turnbuckle components are custom titanium parts. The backstay, runners, and optional racing inner forestay are soft Kevlar. The rig is fractional, but only just. There are 1.5 meters of mast above the headstay attachment. The rig has four sets of adjustable spreaders, swept 23 degrees. The backstay is Kevlar, and the mast step uses two 75-ton capacity hydraulic rams to tension the rigging. In addition to the main, spinnaker, genoa, staysail, and trysail halyards, the boat is rigged for Code 0 headsails. A total of 6,562 feet of high-tech line will be used in the running rigging, with the longest piece being the 394-foot main halyard.
The 110 class will be holding their national championship in Newport, R.I. this week. Hosted by Ida Lewis YC, the event will be held Wednesday through Thursday, with Friday being held in reserve for any make up races that may be needed.
The 110, a double-ended design by the legendary C. Raymond Hunt, was first introduced in 1939. Twenty-four feet overall, with an 18-foot waterline, the 110 is a two-man boat using a trapeze for the crew, a roller-furled jib, and a symmetric kite. To check out the notice of race and keep an eye on results, see www.110class.org
After completing the Volvo Ocean Race, the Archipelago Raid (a half orienteering, half sailboat race on Hobie Tigers around the 24,000-island Stockholm Archipelago), and Cowes Week, Neal and Lisa MacDonald are now taking a run at the around Britain and Ireland record on the über-cat Orange.
Sailing with a cast that reads like a who’s who of European sailing royalty and includes skipper Bruno Peyron, navigator Roger Nilson, Damian Foxall, and Jason Carrington, Orange left Cowes at around 8:00 am this morning. 5d:21h:5m:27s, is the record, set by Steve Fossett aboard Lakota, in 1994.
Team Orange will also attempt to beat Fossetts round the Isle of Wight record, Marseilles to Carthage, and Round Corsica Record before handing the boat over to Ellen McArthur in October. McArthur plans to challenge Peyrons Jules Verne record in 2003.To follow these attempts, see www.maxicatamaran-orange.com
The Tartan-Ten Nationals are being held now off Chicago YC on Lake Michigan. Running from August 10-13, the championship is being held in the heart of T-10 country and probably boasts a fleet of well over thirty boats. Sadly, neither the Chicago YC home page, the T-10 home page, nor the Chicago YC page devoted to the T-10 Nationals have any information about entries or results posted this morning. As these sites update, or when a press release is issued, we’ll cover the event for you. www.chicagoyachtclub.org/T10/index.htm
Angered when your favorite sailing star doesn’t get acknowledged as Rolex sailor of the Year? Get involved! Nominations for the honor are now being accepted by ISAF:
“ISAF welcomes Nominations for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2002 from all persons whether you are a sailor, class, national authority, media, sailing club, event organizer all are welcome. Nominations should be made on the official Nomination Form available from the ISAF Website at: www.sailing.org/worldsailor/2002/2002NominationForm.doc”
Graham Dalton’s attempt at qualifying for the Around Alone hit a stumbling block last week when, barely 24 hours into his transatlantic run to Newport from England., his Open 60’s mast came down. All is not lost, however; to get across the pond, and complete his qualifier, Dalton may borrow Kingfisher’s spare rig. For the Around Alone, which begins Sept. 14, Dalton will be using his spare rig, which is being completed and shipped from New Zealand.
The Knickerbocker YC has announced the cancellation of this year’s Knickerbocker Cup.
“Due to unavoidable conflicts and very difficult time issues beyond its control, the Knickerbocker Yacht Club and the Knickerbocker Cup Committee announce the cancellation of this years Knickerbocker Cup, 22-28 August.
“While this was an extremely difficult decision, the Committee regretfully came to the conclusion that it was in the best interests of the event to postpone it until summer 2003. The Knickerbocker Yacht Club and the Knickerbocker Cup Committee hope to see many of the top world- class skippers and crews back in 2003 to continue the long tradition of hosting this prestigious Grade 1 Match Racing Event.”
The Antarctica Cup International Yacht Race organizers have amended the closing date for Race Slot Reservations to Oct.31, 2002. Following discussions with the yacht design and construction team the latest date for all participants to be fully committed is extended to Feb. 14, 2003.
Switlik Parachute Co. Inc., Trenton, New Jersey, has acquired Survival Technologies Group (STG) from the Patten Group of Lake Worth, Florida.
STGs products include the MOM-8, MOM-9 and TechFloat man overboard equipment as well as The Man Overboard Module series 8 and 9, complimenting Switliks line of USCG/SOLAS, ORC and yachting life rafts.
