Monday Morning Digest 082905
Mark Campbell-James Wins the 2005 Knickerbocker Cup Port Washington, N.Y. (August 28, 2005) – Mark Campbell-James (GBR), with crew Andy Clark, David Mason, and Andrew Yates, won the 2005 Knickerbocker Cup. In the finals, it was Campbell-James vs. Matteo Simoncelli (ITA) ITway Match Race Team in a first to three points race to win the Cup. Simoncelli won the first match with the next three points going to Campbell-James. In the last match of the day, Simoncelli needed to win this match and give him another chance against Campbell-James and at the Cup, but when they were behind by at least 10 boat lengths for most of the race, it looks like it was time to pack up and go home. But the Italians woke up, found a good puff of wind and caught the Brits on the last downwind leg, and overtook them. With spinnakers flying, it looked like another photo finish was in the making. But a win was not to be for the Italians, for when both team had to jibe to make the finish line, Campbell-James jibed inside Simoncelli, took his wind and sailed to victory. According to Campbell-James, “we just got beat in the first race, but won the start on the next two and lead the whole way. Every time they tacked , we’d tack on them. In the petit-finals, a first to two point series, Ian Williams (GBR) beat Simon Minoprio (NZL) 2-1, with Minopro winning the first match, and Williams coming on strong to take the next two matches. 2005 Knickerbocker Cup FINAL RESULTS Mark Campbell-James (GBR) 1 Matteo Simoncelli (ITA) 2 Ian Williams (GBR) 3 Simon Minoprio (NZL) 4 Terry McLaughlin (CAN) 5 Brian Angel (USA) 6 Laurie Jury ((NZL) 7 Scott Dickson (USA) 8 Peter Wibroe (DEN) 9 Martin Angsell (SWE) 10 Jon Singsen (USA) 11 Christian Hamilton (GRA) 12 For more information: www.kyc.net BMW/Oracle Rolls into Second as Brady Leaves Team Malmo, Sweden (August 29, 2005) – The top team was nearly knocked down a peg but recovered in dramatic style to win the Malmo-Skane Louis Vuitton Act 6 with a day to spare. It was a day when one of the star sailors at the Cup resigned from his team before sailing started and heavy conditions and good match-ups inspired some excellent racing. The spectator fleet on the water witnessed exhausting tacking duels, gear-breaking luffing matches, numerous penalties, along with an impressive slam dunk for good measure. It was a beautiful day for sailing on the Øresund, as strong 20-knot winds blew white froth across the water under sunny skies. Some of the top teams were paired up on Monday afternoon, with the results of the day going a long way to determining the final standings. The big news before racing was that Gavin Brady, a helmsman and tactician for BMW/Oracle Racing had resigned from the team. A statement from the team said that Brady couldn’t agree upon his future role with the squad. The changes didn’t appear to affect the team on the water – Dickson earned two points on the day with Bertrand Pace in the tactician role. But the action on the water was more compelling than the story in the base compound. The top teams faced each other again today, and close matches up and down the table brought some important results. Flight Nine Following an aggressive pre-start between Alinghi and Luna Rossa, the two boats split tacks off the start line. On the first cross, with the Italians on starboard and the Swiss looking to duck their transom, James Spithill pulled off a perfect slam dunk on Jochen Schuemann. Not only did Luna Rossa make a gain, but Spithill managed to stick a penalty on Alinghi in the process. But the Swiss held close and on the run, managed to catch all the way up. A poor spinnaker drop into the water by Luna Rossa meant Alinghi had made the pass. The Swiss extended the rest of the way, and were able to complete their penalty turn with ease before the finish line, to maintain a perfect record on the season. BMW Oracle’s afterguard changes did little to upset Chris Dickson’s rhythm, who tied up Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team on the start line. USA-76 led comfortably off the line and was never challenged again by the Italians. Emirates Team New Zealand played an aggressive pre-start game, preventing the late-arriving Victory Challenge from entering the start box before the two-minute time limit. Already a penalty down, the Swedes could never get on even terms with the Kiwis, who extended their lead around the course to win by over two minutes. Victory never took its penalty turn however, so it was scored as a DNF Flight Ten Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand faced the new-look BMW/Oracle Racing team, with skipper Chris Dickson supported by Bertrand Pace as his tactician. Both boats sailed a long starboard tack off the start line with the Kiwis blinking first, tacking away with the boats bow to bow. Emirates Team New Zealand held the power of the right, and the two teams tacked over 20 times on the leg with the Emirates squad slowly gaining. Barker eventually pushed Dickson over the port tack layline, leading the American boat around the top mark by 16 seconds. The run was an opportunity for Dickson to close up a little and he did so, but the second beat was a repeat of the first, with the Kiwis using the right to push the Americans to the layline. But nearing the top mark, the jib flew loose on the New Zealand boat, and with the Kiwis unable to tack for a few moments, Dickson pounced, sliding through on the layline, and streaking ahead to round first. BMW ORACLE Racing went on to win. The Kiwi loss combined with Alinghi’s victory over Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia handed the Act 6 title to the Swiss. The Alinghi powerhouse is undefeated in match races this year, now sitting on a 21-0 record, split between two helmsmen – a very impressive feat. China Team helmsman Pierre Mas made an unforced error on the start line, crossing the line early and handing a big lead to +39 Challenge. The Italians were too strong to catch, and went on to earn their impressive fifth victory. Team Shosholoza helmsman Chris Law picked up a penalty in the pre-start again and his team could never recover against a strong Spanish effort. The match between Victory Challenge and Luna Rossa was a great one, with the home side surprising the Italians by matching them tack for tack up the first beat. Swedish skipper Magnus Holmberg was impressive on the start, forcing ITA skipper James Spithill to tack right before the gun, slowing the Italian boat. The teams engaged in a brutal tacking duel upwind, completing over 30 tacks before the top mark, where Luna Rossa held a slim lead. With Victory gaining on the run, Spithill had no option but to luff aggressively to protect his position. As the boats eased upwind in the strong breeze, the spinnaker pole on Victory Challenge broke, and the spinnaker burst. By the time the Swedes had cleaned up, Luna Rossa was ahead for good. K-Challenge skipper Thierry Peponnet was impressive on this pre-start against Germany’s Jesper Bank, pushing nearly him into the Committee Boat. Starting and covering well, Peponnet sailed a strong race. There was bad news for the French though as a crew member was taken from the boat after injuring his hand in a winch. The match racing of the Malmo-Skane Louis Vuitton Acts is scheduled to conclude with the final flight of racing on Tuesday. The match between Luna Rossa and BMW ORACLE Racing will determine second place. Louis Vuitton Act 6 Points Leaderboard Alinghi 10 BMW/Oracle Racing 9 Emirates Team New Zealand 8 Luna Rossa 8 Desafio Español 2007 5 +39 Challenge 5 Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia 4 Victory Challenge 4 K-Challenge 3 United Internet Team Germany 2 Team Shosholoza 1 China Team 1 www.americascup.com/en Siau And Ingham Win U.S. Youth Multihull Champs Before Hurricane Katrina Arrives PANAMA CITY, Fla. (August 29, 2005) – It was a tight squeeze for the race organizers and competitors of the U.S. Youth Multihull Championship last week weekend. With Hurricane Katrina approaching, organizers and host club St. Andrew Bay YC decided to fit in as many races as possible on Friday and Saturday, canceling races on Sunday, what otherwise would have been the final day. For Michael Siau (Manlius, N.Y.) and Sam Ingham (Rochester, N.Y.) it wasn’t as much of a tight squeeze: the two came out with a bang on the first day, winning all six races. With those results, the team had practically secured the Championship title and the battle went on for second and third place. After four additional races on Saturday, local sailors Evan Miller (Panama City, Fla.) and Kyler Hast (Lynn Haven, Fla.) took second overall, with Cameron Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) and Pike Harris (Coronado, Calif.) finishing third. With their new National Championship title, Michael Siau and Sam Ingham received US SAILING’s Arthur J. Stevens Trophy and have qualified to represent the U.S. at the 2006 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Sailing Championships, which will be held in Weymouth, England. Sarah Newberry (Miami, Fla.) won the Darline Hobock Sportsmanship Award for demonstrating pure sportsmanship behavior throughout the Championship. 505 Worlds WARNEMUNDE, Germany (August 28, 2005) – The final race brought the decision in the CSC 505 Worlds. Wolfgang Hunger and Holger Jess of Germany went into the race with a nine-point lead over Mike Martin and Jesse Falsone. Martin played the left side and led the fleet to the top mark. Serving as pathfinder boat, Hunger was forced to the right side at the start. After being released from pathfinder duties, Hunger tacked and went over to the left, out to the waves and into less adverse current. At the windward mark, they found themselves about 15 places behind Martin. At that point, Martin/Falsone seemed to come out as World Champions. After two windy races on the day before, the whole top of the fleet had their speed tuned up to the conditions perfectly. Therefore, the heaviest teams worked their way forward through the fleet. Beekman/Nelson of the won the race followed by Holt/Fulcher of Great Britain and Hagen/Woelfel of the U.S. Martin kept up with the big guys and finished fourth, but he could not prevent Hunger from moving up to ninth place. Hunger/Jess, World Champions of 2001 and 2003, won the Championship by six points. Dietrich Scheder-Bieschin had a glamorous comeback after a couple of years out of the boat and finished third with Reiner Gorge on the wire (both of German). A Junior World Championship was scored among the competitors under 25. Morten Bogacki/Christian Lindemann Germany, who placed 12th overall, claimed the title by only one point over countrymen Jens Findel/Johannes Tellen who finished 14th overall. The mixed trophy went to Germans Helen Fischer/Robert Rothe who placed 37th overall and the all-female title to Germans Oestergaard/Angela Stenger who finished 62nd overall. FINAL RESULTS 1. Wolfgang Hunger/Holger Jess GER 29 pts. 2. Mike Martin/Jesse Falsone USA 35 3. Dietrich Scheder-Bieschin/ Reiner Gorge GER 47 4. Jan Saugmann/Morten Ramsbaek DEN 49 5. Andy Beeckmann/Jeff Nelson USA 50 6. Claas Lehmann/Martin Scholer GER 51 7. Christian Kellner/Klaus Stammerjohann GER 54 8. Mark Ivey/Shane Illidge USA 61 9. Howard Hamlin/Cam Lewis USA 62 10. Terry Scutcher/Christian Diebitsch GBR 10 www.worlds505.de 470 Worlds SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (August 28, 2005) – Australians Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page dominated the 2005 International 470 World Championships so thoroughly, they were able to enjoy the final race of the weeklong regatta from of one of the committee boats. In the Women’s division, Marcelian De Koning and Lobke Berkhout of the Netherlands held on to take the gold medal. Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield from Great Britain took second overall followed by Gildas Phillippe and Nicolas Leberre of France and Matthew Belcher and Nick Behrens of Austria respectively finishing, third and fourth overall. Despite a second protest hearing this morning to consider new evidence pertaining to the redress in the women’s first race Saturday (race #11), the Dutch team finished in a tie with the British team of Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark. De Koning and Berkhout were awarded the gold based on the tie-break (total number of firsts). www.sailing.org, www.470.org Hamilton Island Premium Race Week 2005 HAMILTON ISLAND, Australia (August 28, 2005) – A “bunch of mates in their 60s” sailing a Jeanneau 40 called Night Owl have claimed victory in the Performance Handicap division of Hamilton Island Hahn Premium Race Week. While celebrating his first win at Hamilton Island from four years of contesting Race Week, skipper Ken Hart commiserated with the second placed PHS overall boat, Jeff Mitchell’s Cavalier Express which broke a halyard in today’s 22 mile South Molle/Daydream Race, forcing them to retire. John and Deborah Balderstone’s Sydney 47 Jem overcame a broken bowsprit in today’s heavy weather race to finish off a superb regatta which delivered them an overall win in the Premier Cruising class. Ross Wilson’s Beneteau 47.7 Eagle Rock placed second in the Premier Cruising class and Steve and Mary’s Ciodo Sydney 47 Gomez from Sydney placed third. Michael Spie’s Dimension Polyant proved too strong for the rest of the IRC Cruising Class with a clear win over Stephen Mackay’s Cabernet Sauvignon and Warwick Sherman’s Occasional Coarse Language. In the Cruising class, the largest division to contest Hamilton Island Race Week, Robert Maidment’s Jeanneau 45.2 Le Bateau, clocked up two wins, two seconds and third which gave her enough points to this afternoon be declared the overall division winner. Michael Milne’s Jamata finished second overall in the Cruising class and Greg Maguire finished third with his Jeanneau 54 Rex. Volvo Ocean Race News (August 28, 2005) – ABN Amro christened ABN Amro One, their second boat to be entered in the 2005 Volvo Ocean Race. ABN Amro is the only team to enter two boats in the competition. ABN Amro One will be skippered by Mike Sanderson and crewed by professionals, while ABN Amro Two will be skippered by Sebastien Josse and have a crew that was selected through and international competition. Sailing World had exclusive access to this selection process; to read the story, click here. Brasil 1, skippered by Torben Grael, departed Rio de Janiero on August 24th to begin their required 4000-mile non-stop qualifying voyage to Cascais, Portugal. They will then prepare the boat for the race’s start on November 5th. Brasil 1 is the first-ever Brazilian entry in the Volvo Ocean Race. For more on the Volvo Ocean Race 2005, visit
