John Kostecki and the crew of illbruck ended the Volvo Ocean race in fine fashion Sunday, sailing into Kiel, Germany in second place, mere seconds after leg-winner djuice. Their finish, and the fact that they beat nearest rival Assa Abloy over the line gave illbruck the overall victory.
Kostecki and his team had prepared more rigorously than any other crew for this event and it showed, especially in the longer legs. illbruck won both Southern Ocean legs, and never finished worse than 4th in any other. Kostecki and team survived a near-sinking at the beginning of Leg 2, Capetown to Sydney, and a strong effort by Neal MacDonald and the crew of Assa Abloy during the last half of the race.”We had one boat to worry about so it was a match race,” explained Kostecki. “We had a great start and we actually got too far ahead. They [ASSA] did a nice job catching up and passing us, but we protected the favored side and were able to sail away from them and extend our lead.”
“We wanted to beat illbruck, but Im happy,” said MacDonald. “Happy with what we achieved but also that we were beaten by the better team. But I was always confident we could pull off a great result. After leg two I knew we had a good boat and the team was great. We just had to keep pushing for a good result, and we did. We worked harder, al of us, not only the crew, but the whole team.
For the full story, see: www.volvooceanrace.org
The New York YC, the Royal Bermuda YC, and the Cruising Club of America teamed up this past weekend to host three races in Newport, R.I. The first two races were counted towards the Onion Patch series, and all three races were scored towards the NYYC Annual regatta.
On Saturday, crews sat off Newport enduring a seemingly interminable postponement for wind that finally ended at 3 p.m. as both race circles got off one race. On Sunday, with a forecast for breeze in the 15- to 25-knot range, the race committee held two races in Narragansett Bay, and as the breeze picked up, so did the carnage. In a frightening first-race weather mark rounding incident Swift, a Naval Academy 44 was essentially run over by the Swan 68 Chippewa and dismasted, and Goombay Smash, a brand-new Swan 45, lost steering and slammed into the Tripp 41 _ No Quarter_, a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy-crewed boat, causing major damage.
Spectators and participants were also treated to a four-way clash of giants in the IMS racing class as Boomerang, _ Bright Star_, _ Blue Yankee_, and _ Titan_ swept around the track at speed.
Winners in the NYYC Annual regatta IMS classes included George David’s NM/50 Idler, with a 1-1-2 scoreline in IMS Racing, Lloyd Eccelstone’s Kodiak, 2-2-2 in IMS Cruiser/Racer 2. Tom Stark’s Swan 45 Rush, 1-1-2, in C/R 3, Jim Bishop’s Gold Digger, 4-1-1, in C/R 4, and William Mayer’s Swan 441 Cygnette, in C/R 5. In the one-design and Americap classes, Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad, won with 3-1-2, Edgar Cato’s 12-Meter _ Hissar_, took the seven-boat class 1-2-1, Troubador, an Express 37 owned by Morton Weintraub, won Americap 3, and Fox, a Swan 53 owned by Geoff Verney, took the Americap non-spinnaker class. In the NYYC Cruiser/Racer class, a group chock-full of carefully-restored classic yachts, Samuel Croll’s Angelita, took first overall with a 1-2.
For the Onion Patch series–which will also include the 635-mile Newport Bermuda Race, which starts this Friday, and will end with two day races in Bermuda’s Great Sound on June 21–Tom Stark’s Rush is in first with the S&S-designed; Harrier, owned by Stephen Munger, is second, and Cygnette, is third.
For complete results, see www.nyyc.org
The Olivier de Kersauson’s giant trimaran _ Geronimo_ was involved in a collision with a smaller yacht in the Moulin Blanc harbour at Brest, France Sunday.
Early in the afternoon, as Geronimo‘s crew were making their final preparations for a series of sea trials, a sailboat just over 9 meters in length collided with the giant tri at full speed. Geronimo was moored on her normal pontoon at the time of the incident. The crew of the smaller sailboat appeared to have lost control of the boat when attempting to enter the harbor under sail. The point of impact was on the aft section of the starboard float, just behind the beam.
A preliminary examination of the damage will be undertaken Monday, and although it’s still too early to speculate about the extent of the repairs necessary, it seems inevitable that Geronimo will have to be lifted out of the water once again.
This new setback for the Geronimo team comes after an aborted attempt at the Jules Verne record earlier this year. de Kersauson was forced to turn the big tri around off Brazil when the crew realized that, at high speeds, the boat’s single rudder was incapable of controlling the vessel.
The following awards were presented on Sunday during the International College Sailing Association/Ronstan All-American Banquet. More information and pictures will be available at http://www.collegesailing.org in the days to come.
Fowle Trophy (top school): Harvard University
College Sailor of the Year: Sean Doyle, Harvard
Finalists:
Marcus Eagan, Charleston
Brad Funk, Old Dominion
Pete Levesque, Tufts
Sportsman of the Year: Blaine Pedlow, UC/Berkeley
Hall of Fame Honorees:
Lifetime Service – Ted Livingston
Outstanding Service – Ken Legler
Student Leadership – Nathan Cowan, Queen
ICSA/Ronstan All-American Crews:
Sarah Angel, Senior, Hobart/William Smith
Liz Biondi, Senior, Old Dominion
Susan Bonney, Senior, Harvard
Liz Bower, Junior, Old Dominion
Anna Cobb, Junior, Old Dominion
Suzy Galen, Senior, UC Santa Barbara
Caroline Hall, Junior, Tufts
Sarah Helming, Senior, Boston College
Marisa Ihara, Junior, Brown
Cindy Keppel, Senior, Dartmouth
Galen Largay, Junior, St. Mary’s
Catherine Littlefield, Sophomore, Yale
Emmy Spencer, Senior, Navy
Kara Sweeney, Junior, Stanford
Emily Taylor, Sophomore, Charleston
Jen Vandemoor, Sophomore, St. Mary’s
Jennifer Warnock, Sophomore, Hawaii
Leah Williams, Senior, Georgetown
Melanie Wood, Senior, Georgetown
Michelle Yu, Junior, Harvard
ICSA/Ronstan Honorable Mention Coed Skippers:
Mike Buckley, Sophomore, Washington College
Curtis Flood, Senior, Georgetown
Kevin Horrigan, Senior, Dartmouth
Stu McNay, Sophomore, Yale
Danny Pletsch, Junior, St. Mary’s
Caleb Silsby, Junior, St. Mary’s
Mark Teborek, Junior, Boston College
Dave Wright, Sophomore, USMMA King’s Point
ICSA/Ronstan All-American Skippers:
Matt Allen, Senior, Old Dominion
Chris Ashley, Sophomore, Brown
John Birkett, Senior, Tufts
Clay Bischoff, Junior, Harvard
Brian Bissell, Senior, Georgetown
Sean Doyle, Senior, Harvard
Marcus Eagan, Senior, Charleston
Brad Funk, Senior, Old Dominion
Scott Hogan, Sophomore, Dartmouth
Brent Jansen, Senior, St. Mary’s
Bryan Lake, Freshman, Hawaii
Pete Levesque, Junior, Tufts
Cardwell Potts, Sophomore, Harvard
Tyler Pruett, Senior, Boston College
Ken Ward, Senior, Georgetown
Travis Weber, Senior, Navy
Additionally, the sailors in Texas who rescued a family of five from drowning during the early spring were recognized for their exceptional efforts.
