THE FIRST BEAT Champions Crowned at Texas NOOD Gremlins besieged several regatta leaders, while others faced potential catastrophes and survived. Finally, there were the lucky few who seemed to have the golden touch for the entire regatta. Star sailor Mac Kilpatrick saw his solid lead in the regatta evaporate on the starting line of the last race. “We thought we had a great start but they called us over early so we went back, then things went from bad to worse as we jibed to re-cross the line the mast inverted and the spreader broke,” said Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick had to take a DNS and dropped from first to third for the regatta. In the Etchells fleet, Marvin Beckman’s three firsts, three seconds and a third were overcome a by disastrous final race when he fell victim to his halyards. “First we broke the jib halyard and then we let the spin halyard fly, after that it was time to say congratulations to Ken Womack because we knew he had us,” said Beckman. In the Level 70 Fleet Predator, a Tripp 37, overcame a catastrophe when the spin halyard broke during a rounding. The chute went in the water and then hit the mark. The Predator crew struggled to get the spinnaker back in the boat, do a turn and then try to get back into the race. “For a few minutes, it felt like we were doing everything we could to lose the regatta,” said boat owner Fred Prelle. Prelle and co-helm Chuck Buckner managed to regroup and finish the race second and the regatta in first. Prelle drove downwind and Buckner took the upwind duties. “The starts were key for us, we focused on finding a clear alley because we don’t accelerate as fast as some of the boats in our class,” explained Prelle. “If we get tied up with those faster boats, we’re going to get spit out the back” Boats having great regatta included Terry Flynn in the J/22 Fleet with seven firsts and a second. Fred Lindsey in a J/27 dominated the Level 130 fleet and Marc Waters who led almost every leg of the regatta while earning six bullets in the Corsair 28 fleet. J/80 sailor Glenn Darden was awarded the trophy for top sailor in the regatta. Finishing second was 14-year-old Taylor Lutz who stepped out his pram and took the helm of his dad’s J/80. “The race committee set up pretty square lines so finding clean air was key to our starts,” said Taylor. “The big difference for me was not trying too drive the boat to high when going to weather but my dad is a great sailor and he helped me figure it out. I had to be more patient than when I’m in the pram where we tack 14 or 15 times a leg and you do everything yourself. In the Ensign, fleet favorite Dean Snider was took a second and a third but still won the class handily. Ben Miller’s boat was 20 years older than any other in the fleet but with lots of TLC and constantly improving finishes he managed to take regatta honors for the Star class. In the J/109 Fleet Steve Rhyne continued to show consistency by never finishing lower than second to win the class. Bill Zatrer’s Solaris won the J/105 fleet with four firsts and second. Zarter credited good crew that would switch gears quickly between the different conditions. “We also feel like we had good success passing boats on the downwind legs by aggressively coming down on the waves, using lots of main action, driving deep with lots of weight far to windward to let the boat carve deeper,” explained Zarter. -Chris Lee For results and photos, www.sailingworld.com THE REST OF THE RACE Olympic Format Settled SINGAPORE (11 November 2005) – The format for the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition has been decided at the ISAF Annual Conference in Singapore. The Olympic Champions will be decided after a final 10-boat race, judged on the water and carrying a weighted double points score. ISAF President Goran Petersson’s submission 025, with friendly amendment by Council member Charley Cook, was passed with a massive majority at the second day of meetings of the ISAF Council on Friday. http://sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j19Fh0,C2&format=popup Fire on Board ABN AMRO ONE, Plus More From Volvo (14 November 2005) – Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE reported a fire on board. Apparently a bolt had dropped into the battery box and lodged between a battery terminal and the carbon fiber structure resulting in a short circuit that took out the wiring and systems in navigation, communications and the media station. Once the fire was controlled, navigator Stan Honey, managed to re-wire the damaged areas so that they are now able to communicate and use their electronic navigation systems. -Ericsson navigator Steve Hayles told the Volvo Ocean Race web site that the boat was stopped in the water and crew members Jason Carrington and Richard Mason were in the water cutting away ropes from the keel and rudder. -Overnight the wind eased slightly; there have been some changes in plan with regard to which side of the course to be and the two Farr-designed boats have been eating into the lead established by the Juan Kouyoumdjian heavy weather flyers. Sebastien Josse and Simon Fisher skipper and navigator of ABN AMRO TWO, have been doing a great job with weather prediction, putting the white boat in the right place to make the best use of the strongest winds. Soldini/Malingri Capzize in Jaques Vabre -While navigating through the Doldrums in manageable but variable conditions, Italian team Giovanni Soldini and Vittorio Malingri capsized on the ORMA trimaran TIM Progetto Italia 400m South West of Dakar (Senegal) at approximately 0515 GMT this morning. The boat was sailing at average speeds and Giovanni had switched to autopilot for the time it would take him to trim the sails. Mark Rounding Brain-Teasers Dick Rose tests your mark rounding mettle with his three Rule 18 scenarios. From our October 2001 issue. http://sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=200177&typeID=402&catID=595&exclude= Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Fall Championships For complete regatta results, visit -Atlantic Coast Dinghy Championship Hosted by St. Mary’s College of Maryland 1. Brown University 2. Georgetown 3. Harvard University 4. Tufts University 5. University of Southern Florida -Atlantic Coast Women’s Championship Hosted by Coast Guard 1. Yale 2. St. Mary’s 3. Navy 4. Charleston 5. Georgetown -Pacific Coast Fall Dinghy Championship Hosted by UC Santa Barbara 1. University ofHawaii 2. Stanford 3. University of Southern California 4. UC Irvine 5. UC Santa Barbara +39 Challenge – An Olympian effort (Fourth in the Season Review Series) The Italian +39 Challenge, the first squad to join BMW ORACLE Racing as official challengers for the 32nd America’s Cup can look back on the 2005 season as the year this new team proved it can compete at the Cup. The team struggled in the 2004 Louis Vuitton Acts; its performance was clearly that of a rookie squad fighting just to get the boat around the race course. But in 2005, +39 showed it has improved to the point that it can win races. The question that remains unanswered is how much better can Luca Devoti’s team of Olympians become at the America’s Cup game? For the rest of the story, please visit http://americascup.com/en/acmag/features/index.php?idIndex=0&idContent=4699
