Monday Morning Digest 080805
ICAP Maximus First to Drift Around the Fastnet Rock COWES, United Kingdom (August 9, 2005) – Many top-rated boats fell foul of a tricky game of snakes and ladders with the fickle breeze in the Solent, at the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race yesterday. With the tide just on the turn as the seven divisions of the 285-boat fleet departed the Royal Yacht Squadron line in Cowes, it was a tough call knowing whether to aim for the mainland or the island shore of the Solent. The double Olympic medalists in the afterguard of TP52 Patches, Shirley Robertson and Ian Walker, won their start at the Cowes end of the line. Eamon Conneely’s new yacht accelerated off the line, leaving her arch rival Aera in her wake. Nick Lykiardopulo’s team could only watch as Patches and other yachts such as the 100-foot ICAP Maximus stole their breeze. ICAP Maximus’s great rival for line honors, the newly refurbished Skandia Wild Thing, was two minutes late for the start at the windward end of the long start line, over by the mainland shore at Calshot. Her participation in the race had been cast into severe doubt just hours before, when a routine check of the rig revealed serious damage to the top of the mast. The crew made a makeshift repair to the mast using carbon and epoxy, and a crewman was still perched aloft just minutes before the start, using a hot-air gun to dry the hardening epoxy as much as possible. ICAP Maximus passed the Fastnet Rock at 0333 hours this morning, and continues to hold a significant lead in the Rolex Fastnet Race. The other big Maxi in the race, Skandia Wild Thing, rounded the Rock at 0918 hours, while a group of Open 60s and the Volvo Open 70 Movistar are still making agonisingly slow progress in a glassy Celtic Sea. Boat captain of ICAP Maximus, George Hendy, said at 1000 hours this morning: “We’re now 23 miles from the Fastnet Rock, on our way back to Plymouth. We’re making 6 knots boatspeed in 4.5 knots of wind, which is the most wind we’ve seen in a long time.” Hendy said the boat was flying a Code 0 headsail and that they were on a close reach back towards the Scilly Isles. He would not be drawn on predicting an estimated time of arrival (ETA). “The wind is meant to come up in the afternoon, the forecast is quite favourable. But it’s just a minefield out here. There are huge holes in the wind. You could easily sail into one of those holes and stop for three or four hours.” Hendy said one of the crew was going up the rig every so often to get a bird’s eye view of the surrounding sea, and look for the best patches of wind – and those dreaded holes. Skandia Wild Thing was drifting in glassy conditions, just three miles past the Rock at 1000 hours this morning. Helmsman and trimmer Graham Taylor said: “The wind gods aren’t playing their hand for us, or anyone else for that matter. We’ve seen a lot of zeros on the instruments over the past few hours. Currently we’re making 0.2 knots boatspeed. We’ve probably done about 35 or 40 miles in the past 12 hours. But we think there are still plenty of passing opportunities. There are quite a few gates left in the race yet.” Skipper of VO70 Movistar, Bouwe Bekking, reported in at 0900 hours this morning. “We’ve just done 120 miles in 24 hours. We’ve broken our all-time slowest record,” said the Dutch professional, who also set the 24-hour monohull sailing record aboard Movistar earlier this year, with a distance of 535 miles. At 608 miles, the Rolex Fastnet Race course is not much further, and yet the powerful VO70 was still 30 miles from the rock when Bekking reported in. “We’ve just got some breeze back now, and we’re making 8 to 10 knots’ boatspeed in 6 knots of wind. We can see quite a few Open 60s around us – Ecover two miles to leeward, Pindar a mile further to leeward, and Sill three or four miles behind. We’re all in a big line heading towards the Rock. As for the big boats – they’re gone. They’re out of sight.” For more, visit http://www.rorc.org/fastnet/index.php Lexus Quantum Wins First Copa del Rey for the TP 52 Class PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (July 8 2005) – Four boats battled for the Copa del Rey in the TP 52 class, and the first victory for this class in the event is Lexus-Quantum Racing. “We are really happy, it’s been really hard competition going on here up to the end,” Jaime Yllera, owner of Lexus-Quantum. “It’s been the hardest Copa del Rey I’ve ever taken part in. We are also pleased because we are the first team in winning two Breitling Medcup events. We are ready to win the next event, we have the team, the boat, and the sails.” There was an out and out war between Movistar, with the Vascotto-Campos duo onboard, and Lexus, with Russell Coutts, Mark Reynolds and Peter Isler. The battle appeared to have been won by Movistar at first, until a great mistake with a maneuver meant that the lead in the general rankings went to Lexus. Orlanda-Olympus closed the Copa del Rey with a well deserved victory in the last race of the regatta. Victory in the Corinthian Class went to Bribon with Jose Cusi, followed by Cristabella owned by John Cook, Bambakou, with owner-driver John Coumantaros and the Sapnish Royal Navy boat Aifos. In the Breitling Medcup general rankings the lead is still in the hands of Pisco Sour-Movistar, with Caixa Galicia, owned by Vicente Tirado in second, followed by Lexus-Quantum, owned by Jaime Yllera. For more, visit www.medcup.org Wayzata YC to Host “Road to Rolex” Clinic ANNAPOLIS, Md (August 8, 2005) – On August 13, the Minnesota Women’s Sailing Team (MWST) will host a Road to Rolex women’s sailing clinic at the Wayzata Yacht Club, in – Lake Minnetonka, Minn. Yngling World Champion Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) is the featured coach for the clinic. The 2005 series of Road to Rolex clinics were created to prepare women sailors for US SAILING’s Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship (IWKC), considered one of the world’s pinnacle events for women sailors and scheduled for September 17-23 in Annapolis, Md., USA. The Road to Rolex Clinic will feature instruction aboard International J/22 class keelboats, the same boat utilized in the Rolex IWKC.Registration for the one-day clinic is $120 per boat. Each participant will receive a copy of the “Road to Rolex” clinic manual written by Betsy Alison, a five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. Alison has won the biennial Rolex IWKC five times and is an internationally recognized sailing educator and coach. To register for the Road to Rolex Clinic at Wayzata Yacht Club, contact Jennifer Child at 612-616-0804 or childjennifer@hotmail.com. The Wayzata Yacht Club is located at 1100 East County Rd 16, Wayzata, MN 55391, www.wyc.org. The Minnesota Women’s Sailing Team is online at www.mwst.org. 2005 Thistle Nationals LAVALETTE, N.J. (August 5, 2005) – Three former Thistle national champions earned the three podium spots at the 2005 Thistle Nationals, making victory all the sweeter for Mike Ingham and crew. The 2005 champions won by more than 10 points, while Bruce King edged out David Dellenbaugh in the last race to take second. 1. Mike Ingham, John Baker & Delia Ingham 2. Bruce King, Mark Makielski & Ashley Jerman 3. David Dellenbaugh, Will Brown & James Whitcomb 4. Craig Koschalk, Karl Bradley & Nick Turney 5. Paul Abdullah, Alex Krumdieck & Sarah Paisley www.thistle2005.com Ocean Race Chesapeake Announces Comcast’s $275,000 Sponsorship of Baltimore/Annapolis Stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race BALTIMORE, Md. – Ocean Race Chesapeake today announced that Comcast has agreed to support the Baltimore/Annapolis stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race as a $275,000 sponsor. This round-the-world sailing competition occurs every four years and in April of 2006, it will return to Baltimore and Annapolis as it did in 1998 and 2002. The Volvo Ocean Race, formerly known as the Whitbread Round the World Race, is recognized as one of the premier international sailing races. This announcement comes on the heel of a tremendous addition to this year’s Race. Paul Cayard, the first American skipper to win the Whitbread Round the World Race and a seven-time sailing world champion, entered the Volvo Ocean Race and will be a member of the Pirates of the Caribbean team, sailing on The Black Pearl. Students from Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic Region will also benefit from the Volvo Ocean Race. Grade school students throughout the region will be able to chart the progress of the sailors and their boats during the entire voyage. To aid their understanding of the sailing dynamics, wind, oceans, and the bay, a web-based portal will be created for children and their families. For more on the Volvo Ocean Race, visit www.volvooceanrace.org Collectors Foundation Announces Scholarship to Landing School of Boatbuilding and Design TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (July 2005) – The Collectors Foundation, a non-profit corporation designed to serve the long-term interests and passion of the collector car and boat hobby, announced it will annually award two $2,500 scholarships to The Landing School of Boatbuilding and Design, in Kennebunkport, Maine. For 27 years, The Landing School has prepared men and women for careers in professional boat building, yacht design and marine system technicians. “The Landing School is delighted to form a relationship with the Collectors Foundation and is grateful for their generous support of our students,” says President of the Landing School, Barry Acker. “These scholarships will be instrumental in providing students with the opportunity to attend the Landing School and prepare for careers in the marine industry.” The Landing School is recognized throughout the marine industry for teaching contemporary construction techniques as well as reinforcing and preserving traditional skills while advancing the builder, designer, and technician arts. Collectors Foundation is a nonprofit corporation governed by an independent Board of Directors. For additional information about the organization and its programs, go to www.collectorsfoundation.org, or contact Executive Director Bob Knechel at 5bob@collectorsfoundation.org Final Results Skandia Cowes Week COWES, United Kingdom (Aug 6, 2005) – The best starter of a very line shy Class 0 IRC fleet was Mark Cambell-James steering Kit Hobday’s Bear of Britain who led out on port tack to the mainland shore on a 23 mile course in the western Solent. With the all-conquering Patches of Eamon Conneely and Nick Lykiardopulo’s Aera not competing today it was a day of surprises for the class with a very popular class win scored by Nick Griffiths’s Marten 49 Okasama who beat a class field by exactly six minutes on corrected time. In doing so, Griffiths takes home the Coronation Challenge Bowl whilst the Farr 52 sisterships Bear of Britain and Peter Harrison’s Chernikeeff II took second and third places respectively. Class 1 IRC has seen a late charge to victory by County Monkstown, Dublin residents Tim Costello and Noel Butler aboard Tiamat rewarded with overall victory and with the race win today they scooped the Spanish Admiral’s Cup Trophy. Six wins and a second place narrowly relegated Flying Glove into second place overall in the Black Group standings but it’s been a terrific week for both boat and crew who have absolutely dominated Class 2. Class 3 IRC has seen a great tussle all week between the top three boats with Robin Dollar’s Beneteau First 40.7 Grand Cru II eventually topping the pile despite a sixth place today that was their worst performance of the week. For more, visit 420 Worlds BREST, France (August 5, 2005) – Only four American teams made the gold fleets in the Open and Women’s Divisions at the 2005 420 Worlds. The top women’s team Megan Magill and Briana Provancha, who placed tenth. Adam Roberts and Nick Martin were the top Americans in the Open Division, finishing eighth. Women’s Division 1. Maria Stella Turizio and Maria Carolina Rendano (ITA) 2. Marie Lumean and Claire Bossard (FRA) 3. Maria Stanley and Catherine Alton (GBR). Open Division 1. Tomas O.Da Silva and Francisco Gomes (POR) 2. Alfredo Capodann and Vittorio Papa (ITA) 3. Pablo Santurde and Abelardo Quevedo (ESP) http://420worldchampionship.srbrest.com/ Third Female Opti Champion in 43 Years LAKE SILVAPLANA, Switzerland (August 4, 2005) – Tina Lutz from the Chiemsee YC in Bavaria, Germany is the 2005 IODA World champion. The 14-year old Lutz is only the third girl to win the championship in its 43 year history and the first since Lisa Westerhof (NED) who won gold in 1996. Last year in the very different conditions of Salinas, Ecuador she was 12th overall and first girl. Silver medallist Matthew Scott of Trinidad has an astonishing history. With no family background in sailing he went on a basic training course in September 2003 and qualified from a home fleet of less than 20 sailors for the 2004 Worlds. There, to the astonishment of all, he took 7th place. This year he has proved that that was no fluke. Reigning champion Wei Ni of China suffered two DSQs and could finish no better than 21st but his compatriot Jianan Wu showed the growing strength of Chinese sailing to take bronze. The top American finisher was Will Haeger, who placed 46th overall. Second girl was Daniela Zimmermann (PER) in 8th place over-all and girls’ bronze went to Karin Alkstedt (SWE). Top 10 1. Tina Lutz (Germany) 2. Matthew Scott (Trinidad) 3. Jianan Wu (China) 4. Philipp Autenrieth (Germany) 5. Nicklas Dackhammar (Sweden) 6. Jorge Martinez Doreste (Spain) 7. Julian Autenrieth (Germany) 8. Daniela Zimmermann (Peru) 9. Jacob Bozic (Slovenia) 10.Sean Bouchard (Bermuda) 46. Will Haeger (USA) 55. Justin Doane (USA) 66. Sean Moynahn (USA) 79. Eliza Richartz (USA) 162. Mike Russom (USA)
