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XS Racing is a Racing Organization and a Daily Online News Source for the High Performance Sailor
Visit Several Times Each Day for Your Daily Sailing News as it Breaks!
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Wednesday, July 15 - 2009 - The Maxi Trimaran Banque Populaire V began in early July a stand-by in New York, waiting for the best weather window in order to try to beat North Atlantic crossing record (New-York/Cap Lizard).
Yesterday, the multihull and her crew went Code Orange because a favorable weather window could suggest a potential departure within 48 hours. This morning, after receiving and studying the latest weather files, it appears that the window that was conducive to a departure from New York on the night of Wednesday to Thursday was largely deteriorated, forcing Pascal Bidégorry to take the decision and go back to Code Red.
Pascal Bidégorry comments on this choice: "Yesterday, all files and the various weather models were consistent in the right direction but unfortunately the window deteriorated last night. It's a shame because since the beginning of our standby it was the first window that could have allowed us to cross the North Atlantic in 4 days. Since this morning routing models show a much longer crossing time. However, we waited until the last moment at the Roissy aiport in Paris to see any changes before making a decision to get back to Code Red. There is a priori no window in the days to come but we must remain vigilant because the system remains unstable."
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Wednesday, July 15 - 2009 - The Dutch team of Coen DE KONING and Thijs VISSER
and Frenchmen Jean MOURNIAC and Alexandre GUYADER powered into the lead
after an exhilarating day two yesterday at the F18 Worlds in Knokke-Heist,
Belgium.
French people say "Qui sème le vent, récolte la
tempête" (Who seeds the wind, is getting a hurricane). It is precisely
what happened today in Knokke Heist, where the PRO had to hoist "AP" on "A" by 15:00, the wind was over 30 knots with
aggressive gusts, and the strong North Sea current creating steep,
short breaking waves.
According to the favorable weather forecast, conditions for this
Wednesday, were supposed to be a perfect outshore 4 Beaufort, the organizers
did asked the competitors to be prepared to an early start, the first
warning signal to be given by 10:00, and the PRO actually did so.Race 3
When the first blue and yellow groups started without any particular
problem, the white and green groups forced the Race Committee to use
the black flag to get a proper start, the wind force continuously
increasing meanwhile.
Blue and yellow fleet produced a tense battle all around the cans between Mischa HEEMSKERK and Bastiaan TENTIJ
(GBR) and Hugh STYLES and Ferdinand WEST (GBR), the Dutch team finally
crossing the finishing line 15 seconds ahead the Brits, followed by
both French youngsters Billy BESSON and Arnaud JARLEGAN, and François MORVAN and Matthieu VANDAME.
As mentioned above, White and Green groups were rather hot from the
start under black flag until the finish, a group of seven boats lead by
the French Canadians Louis-Philippe ETHIER and Maxime LOISELLE, and
including the under 20 French team Charles HAINNEVILLE and Hubert
SAVATIER, were in a close fight during the two rounds, all of them
finishing in the very same minute.Race 4
Race Four saw the weather conditions getting rather tough, with an
average 25 knots wind with gusts up to 30, the boats smashing more and
more steeper waves. Like race three, the first yellow and green fleet
started with no major problems, when the white and blue fleet did
forced the Race Committee to display the black flag again.
Rob WILSON and Marcus LYNCH (GBR) won the yellow and green race, 25
seconds ahead MORVAN and VANDAME, followed by Mitch BOOTH Junior (AUS)
and Jacques BERNIER (USA) at 44 seconds.
In the second fleet, the three teams of Coen DE KONING and Thijs VISSER (NED), HEEMSKERK and TENTIJ and Jean-Christophe MOURNIAC and Alexandre GUYADER (FRA)
had a magnificent chase all race long, featuring many gybing duels. All
three top teams finishing once more within a minute of one another.
As a result, this second racing day allowed both Dutch and French top
teams to take the lead of this, the 10th edition of the F18 Worlds, and
to some teams to actually demonstrate their talent, such as Louis
Philippe ETHIER and Maxime LOISELLE (CAN) scoring 1 and 6, or the
pretty young French Charles HAINNEVILLE and Damien SAVATIER, both aged
19, and scoring a fourth place in race three. It's also worth noting
STYLES, although being black flagged, still remain a serious contender
with a series of 2, BFD, 2 and 12.At the moment it's 28-knots strong. The rescue team is all hands on deck. They have 11 rescue boats
out there and 3 press boats, 2 coaching boats and 2 Nacra
boats.
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Wednesday, July 15 - 2009 - Brits Dave Evans and Simon Hiscocks have taken the early lead of the 87 boat fleet of the 49er World Championship. Sent out in 3 flights, the sailors encountered lighter winds of 15-18 increasing in the afternoon to 20. Evans/Hiscocks have a tight group behind them with only 4 points separating to top 5 boats. Three more races are planned for tomorrow. Photo courtesy of ISAF.
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Tuesday, July 14 - 2009 - The billionaires are at it again. This letter, sent from BOR is from last week where the America's Cup competitors are arguing about venue and the conveniently confusing Deed of Gift and what judges actually said.
Dear Vice-Commodore Meyer:
We write in response to your letter of July 6, 2009. Let us again reiterate, the Deed and the Judgment and Order are clear that you may not select a Northern Hemisphere venue, other than Valencia, without our mutual consent. Justice Kornreich's May 14th order contains nothing that even suggests, let alone "stated," otherwise. To the contrary, Justice Kornreich ordered "SNG to hold the race as per the order of the Court of Appeals and Justice Cahn in February as the order required."
As further proof that our reading of the Deed and the Judgment and order is correct, you agreed with it when light and truth were original to you. In your May 11, 2009 court papers you agreed that "The Deed of Gift unambiguously prohibits sailing a match between November 1 and May I in the Northern Hemisphere ... There is nothing in the Order that suggests that a race should be held in contravention of the terms of the Deed of Gift."
What is more, during the May 14th hearing when your attorney attempted an about face by
asserting that SNG has the right to select a Northern Hemisphere venue other than Valencia
without our consent, Justice Kornreich stated that "that's not what the Court of Appeals said."
Your letter also again fails to respond to the inescapable conclusion that the Deed and the Order and Judgment may be read harmoniously, giving force and effect to the terms of each, requiring a February race in Valencia or any Southern Hemisphere location selected by S G, unless otherwise consented to by GGYC. There is therefore no basis to conclude that the phrase "any other location" in the Order and Judgment intended to alter the Deed's Northem Hemisphere restriction; just as there is no basis to conclude that this phrase intended to alter the Deed's requirement to select a location free of headlands or a location that has an ocean water course.
You also misconstrue Justice Kornreich's order and the Deed when you assert that they require GGYC's Custom House Registry to "conform exactly" to GGYC's challenge certificate. To the contrary, the Deed is unambiguous that the dimensions provided on a challenge certificate "shall not be exceeded." Justice Kornreich's order is entirely consist with the Deed and the Order and Judgment; and you are simply wrong in your repeated assertions that Justice Kornreich's order in any way contravened the terms of the Deed or the mandate of the Court of Appeals.
Sincerely,
GGYC Commodore
Marcus Young
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Tuesday, July 14 - 2009 - Here's an interview with Knut Frostad, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Q: What have been the main differences in your experience of the race from competitor to organizer?
A: There are so many stakeholders in this event with so many objectives it is extremely important to crystallize an overall strategy and a set of objectives that work for everyone and enable you to work together towards a common goal. Of course the overall objective of the teams is to win the race and to maximise the return on investment for sponsors. This race is really about managing expectations, about managing the unforeseen and the unpredictable whether, you are a sailor or a CEO.
You have learn to deal with things at very short notice. A lot of things in the world are predictable, this race is not. As organizers, this is also a race around the world. As organizers, often we don't know what we are dealing until it lands on our table. You have to shoot from the hip to some extent. I like the challenge of dealing with that unpredictability. It is very similar to racing.
Q: What challenges have you faced in organizing the 2008-09 event?
A: Actually I've discovered that we get thrown a lot more challenges than I imagined we were going to get. This race is a huge mountain to climb and the satisfaction of getting on top of those challenges is immense even if you don't win. It is the essence of this race whether you are a sailor or an organizer. Green Dragon has been a good example of that.
It has been a struggle for them to get to the start line but they have worked really hard to get round the world in this race and at the same time they have performed very well on some legs. They can look back now and feel proud that they did something really big. Similarly we set ourselves tough objectives as organizers and I am pleased that in most case they were met.
Q: What do you see as successes?
A: It is impossible for me to compare the last race as a competitor with this race as a CEO because I am not looking for the same issues. As a competitor you don't really have a sense of how big the crowds were or how media coverage was generated because you don't really have that focus. So, the only measurement I can go on are the numbers we recorded. From a competitive aspect, the biggest positive for me was the closeness of the racing.
This has been the toughest competition in the race's history, the closeness of the racing between the fleet has been exceptional. So many teams have been on the podium. The margin of Ericsson 4's victory was only nine points. We could have easily had another boat other than Ericsson 4 winning.
Although Ericsson 4 has been talked about a lot as being superior she hasn't been that superior. I could see that there could have been another boat winning overall. Telefonica Blue or PUMA, for instance, could have won this race if things went right for them in certain areas and on certain legs. Still Ericsson 4 did a great job and deserved their win in every way.
Another highlight was the globalization of this event. It had a very strong international flavour among the sailing crews, the race village visitors and the media. The footfall figures were much bigger in this race. The crowd numbers we had in Alicante, Galway, Stockholm, Cochin and Qingdao were huge. That has been really positive. We have demonstrated that the event works on new and innovative platforms like the mobile channel and the online game where we had over 220,000 players from over 180 countries.
Q: How have the new territories embraced the race?
A: It is extremely important for the race to explore new regions and new countries such as China. The public reception the race received in Qingdao, for instance, was enormous with nearly 400,000 visitors to the race village. China accounted for 65% of WAP traffic on the race's mobile channel. Through a partnership with CCTV, we reached an audience of over 260 million by the midway point of the race and the Qingdao stopover attracted 420 journalists from 8 different countries.
One of our objectives from the Qingdao stopover was to bring awareness of sailing to the country and stimulate interest and ultimately involvement among young Chinese sailors. The fact that we had a Chinese-Irish boat in the 2008-09 race and having Chinese sailors among the crew of the boat helped that process enormously.
China has managed in a very short period of time to become a very big player in the Volvo Ocean Race. China took the race for what it is and said it's an extreme sport, round the world, a huge challenge and Guo Chuan, the Chinese sailor on Green Dragon, did a good job. It was a refreshing and positive approach.
Q: Where do you see areas for improvement?
A: In some cases we have made it way too hard for ourselves. We started too late. Even three months before the start there was a lot to do. There were a number of things that could have been done earlier. We have to acknowledge that for organisers, competitors and stakeholders, time is the most valuable asset.
Ericsson started earlier than the other teams, that's why they were better prepared and why their all-round performance was better than their rivals. It's the same thing for us, time is absolutely essential. So for 2011-12 we need to get going much earlier. Photo Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race.
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Tuesday, July 14 - 2009 - The record for double-handing the Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu has been broken. At 4:38:35 am HST yesterday, Philippe Kahn and Mark "Crusty" Christensen, crossed the Diamond Head finish line in the Owen Clarke designed Open 50, Pegasus 50, in a record time of 7 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes and 35 seconds. They shaved over two and a half days off of the previous record set by Howard Gordon and Jay Crum in 2001 also with an Open 50, Etranger in the most enduring and greatest ocean race in the world covering 2,225 nautical miles from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Pegasus now holds both the double-handed record to Hawaii from Los Angeles and San Francisco after winning the Pacific Cup outright last year.
"Double-handing the Open 50 to Hawaii is one of the highlights of my year," stated Kahn, a noted technologist and the creator of the camera phone. "I love being out in the open Ocean, once we're out there, that's all that matters - we had our sights on the record and we beat it. Mark and I are a perfect team. We work together at MotionX and we race together as partners on Pegasus across the Pacific. Mark's experience as one of the greatest offshore sailors in the world is invaluable. Transpac is a navigator's race and that plays into our strength "
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Tuesday, July 14 - 2009 - The Optimist class is quickly growing in size and popularity on the West Coast. Individual Opti fleets are springing up in places like Morro Bay and Ventura, and the National Championships are being held this year in San Pedro. As a precursor to that event, the West Coast Championships took place this weekend at California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey.
While winds were mostly in the under 10-knot category, there was some sensational racing and a dominant performance from a local sailor. Cooper Weitz, part of CYC’s large junior program, recorded 5 bullets in the 8 races held off of Venice Beach. National Team member Esteban Forrer of San Diego sailed to a 2nd place finish, followed by San Pedro’s Frankie Dair. In all, over 40 sailors participated in the regatta.
An A-list group of event sponsors included Coke, Oakley, Typhoon Opti Gear and Popchips. Story and photo by Peter Abraham.
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Monday, July 13 - 2009 - Alfa Romeo, Neville Crichton's Reichel Pugh 100, set a new elapsed time record for monohulls in the Transpacific Yacht Race by making the 2,225-nautical mile crossing in 5 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes and 20 seconds (subject to ratification). The sixteen-man crew beat the previous course record set by Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory in 2005 of 6:16:04:11 by over a day. Alfa Romeo II crossed the finish line at 00:36:20 am HST on Saturday.
Crichton lived in Hawaii for a period of time and sailed his first and only Transpacific Yacht Race prior to this 30 years ago. His sailing program has changed considerably since 1979 when he raced a 42-footer and finished eighth in a 22-boat fleet. The skipper and his fleet of Alfa Romeo sailboats have taken line honors in 171 races. Crichton's wins include races considered the Holy Grail of offshore racing - the Fastnet and the Sydney Hobart. Crichton looking forward to the Sydney Hobart Race said, "There will be six 100-footers in the race. Five are certainly are capable of winning the race."
Following the win when Team Manager, Murray Spence, was asked to elaborate on what it took to prepare the boat and team for the race, Crichton stole the microphone and responded, "Money." Everybody laughed and no one could argue. Crichton said that he was very happy with the race. "We had no mechanical problems: not one."
Crichton's team included Stan Honey, Ben Ainslie, Michael Coxon, David Endean, Ryan Godfrey, Stan Honey, Andrew Hutchinson, Phil Jameson, Lance Jenkins, Gavin McPherson, Peter Merrington, Murray Spence, Craig Sattherwaite, Joao Signorini, David Rolfe, Tony Mutter and Alfa's shore crew, Ian Goldsworthy.
Honey, who has a 50% batting average when it comes to winning the Transpac. He boosts his Transpac wins to 11 with Transpac 2009. Among the Transpac records that Honey set are the fastest corrected time of any singlehanded sailor in a monohull (set in 1994 on Illusion, a Cal 40 and superseded), the fastest Transpac passage in a monohull of any singlehanded sailor; and the fastest passage in a monohull (set in 1999 on Pyewacket, a Santa Cruz 70, in 1999, also superseded.) Honey has also been aboard fastest passage and fastest 24-hour runs in the Atlantic as a crew on ABNAmro One, a Juan K VOR 70 and Playstation, a Morrelli & Melvin catamaran. Those records have been superseded. Honey is on call with Franck Cammas and Groupama to go for a 'round the world record.
Honey's comment on his Transpacific crossing aboard Alfa Romeo and the weather conditions that enabled the team to break the previously set 24-hour run record in the Transpac, established in 2005 by Morning Glory , was "We had steady winds. We never had a slow spot." During Transpac 09, Alfa Romeo had a 399-mile day, a 423-mile day and a 393-mile day.
When asked when he knew that Mother Nature had given Alfa Romeo the conditions to set a new course record, Honey said, "About three days before the start." The weather shaped up perfectly for the 100-footer.
During the race, Murray Spence, the team manager, reported, "The Volvo guys on board are saying that this sailing is their reward for toughing it out around the world. This sailing is definitely a long way from sailing upwind in 45-knots with 3 degree temperature." Over half a dozen members of the record-breaking team fly directly from the completion of the 2008/09 Volvo Ocean Race and having set 24-hour monohull records on Ericsson 4, a Volvo Open 70.
Transpac 09 was the first distance race in the open ocean that America's Cup helmsman, Ben Ainslie, has sailed. Ainslie got the team off to a roaring start when he nailed the pin at the start of the race on July 5 off of Point Fermin, the southernmost point in Los Angeles.
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Monday, July 13 - 2009 - The fight for the podium positions in the RC 44 Malcesine Cup, between Team Aqua, Artemis, BMW ORACLE Racing and No Way was, by all accounts, fantastic. Showing great stamina, Chris Bake's squad managed to overcome a backstay breakage to remain in the fight. But Artemis dominated the last race and won the event.
Everyone knew, as the teams were getting ready on the pontoons, that the last day would be a tough one. Indeed, four teams were merely separated by seven points ahead of race 6 and everything remained possible with four more regattas to complete.
Quite unfortunate at times earlier in the week, Torbjorn Tornqvist, Dean Barker and their team on board Artemis started the first race in the middle of the line whilst the provisional leader Team Aqua chose the pin. The racing was very close until Aqua's runner clip suddenly broke. The loose runner slashed Chris Bake in the back and put an end to their hope of winning this regatta despite the team's bowman Matt Cassidy climbing up the mast in no time to secure the rig. Unable to hoist a spinnaker, the Aqua boys had no other options than to see Artemis sail away, win the race and take the provisional lead of the event. Team Sea Dubai finished second, proving once again how much progress they have made since the beginning of the year.
Chris Bake later on described the incident as an "adrenaline rush". It certainly made a strong effect on the team, who won the next two regattas. The top three boats of Race seven (Aqua, BMW ORACLE Racing and Ceeref) crossed the arrival line within two seconds whilst Artemis and Team Sea Dubai were separated by half a boat length in fourth and fifth!
The eighth race - the last before lunch break and the final race - turned into a spectacular Aqua show, the team from the UAE winning the regatta with a massive lead over Ceeref and Artemis. At this stage and ahead of the last race, Team Aqua had a 2 points advantage over Artemis and seven over BMW ORACLE Racing with No Way Back one point behind. Everything remained possible!
Both Artemis and Team Aqua took good starts, with a little advantage to Artemis. As soon as the opportunity arose, Tornqvist tacked on top of Aqua, forcing the latter to head back to the shore. This was the (premature) end of the regatta, which turned out to be a procession. After winning the match race event on Thursday, Artemis conquers the fleet regatta and the overall Malcesine Cup. Team Aqua finishes second of both the fleet regatta and the overall ranking, whilst BMW Oracle Racing completes the podium.
The next regatta will take place on September 30 – October 4 in Portoroz (Slovenia).
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Monday, July 13 - 2009 - World number one Star class sailors Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada from Brazil clinched the 2009 Star European Championships title on Saturday (11 July) at a nail-biting final day of the Rolex Baltic Week in Kiel, Germany. Topping a world-class fleet of 89 boats, Scheidt/Prada went into the last day's racing with just a one-point lead over early leaders and Olympic gold medallists Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (Great Britain). But they extended it to a four point victory in a dramatic final showdown between these long-standing rivals, with fellow Olympic medallist Fredrik Loof/Johan Tillander from Sweden snapping at their heels in third overall tied on points with the Brits. Photo Rolex / Tom Körber.
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Monday, July 13 - 2009 - The R33 Catamaran LIZARRAN - DIDGERIDOO wins the XVI Tramuntana Regatta, a 72 miles coastal race in Spain, after being the only boat to arrive within the time limit.
A fleet of 73 boats started the race near Barcelona at 6pm, local time, last Friday sailing downwind towards the Medas Islands with a southern breeze of 7 knots.
The R33, skippered by Pau Gol, lead the fleet from the beginning, sailing at speeds of 8 to10-knots managing to pass though the first wind hole, 25 miles north, before sunset. All other boats were trapped in a no-wind zone for the whole night.
The light wind specialist managed to sail the following 25 miles till the Medas Islands in the scant 0 to 7 knot breeze with minor stalling reaching the first waypoint right before sunrise, at 4:50am.
The following boat to reach the Medas Islands was the L'Immens, a Sinergia 40, more than 5 hours later.
The R33 crossed the finish line at 11:30 a.m. with hours to spare. L'Immens, sailing the last miles with an established southern wind, missed the time limit by 40 minutes crossing the finish line at 15:40pm.
All other 70 boats retired after having no chances of arriving before the time limit.
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Friday, July 10 - 2009 - There's something about seeing 90-foot catamarans flying around the sky that's interesting...
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Friday, July 10 - 2009 - Alfa Romeo has been averaging 16.5 knots, which is over 2 knots faster than the Los Angeles to Hawaii Transpacific Yacht Race previous monohull record pace set by Morning Glory in 2005. The super maxi clipped off 431 nautical miles over the 24-hour period, breaking the Transpac 24-hour record that it established earlier in the week. Not only are Neville Crichton and his Alfa Romeo team eyeing the course record for monohulls, if they keep it up, they could squeak in under the wire and beat the multihull record. (Don't forget, Murray Spence reported pinning Alfa Romeo's needle at 35 knots during a delivery.)
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Friday, July 10 - 2009 - Emirates Team New Zealand's helmsman Dean Barker (Artemis) and his AC tactician Ray Davies (No Way Back) finish the Malcesine RC 44 Match Race on a tie, with five victories and no loss for both. The rules make Barker the winner ahead of Davies. Sébastien Col finishes third on board Ceeref.
"It would obviously had been nice to sail [with] Dean, but we are very happy with our sailing and our result. Dean and I speak a lot between the races and we give each other some bad time. It is very helpful for me to be steering because usually I am the tactician and it is good to be reminded what sort of information the helmsman likes to be told. With Team No Way Back we worked very hard and came to Malcesine three days before the regatta in order to train. The team has clearly improved a lot."
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Friday, July 10 - 2009 - Philippe Kahn and Mark "Crusty" Christensen aboard Pegasus are doing a phenomenal job setting Open 50 speed records, keeping the pedal to the metal looking to clobber the previously held double handed record - by days.
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Friday, July 10 - 2009 - Yesterday was a layday for competitors in the 2009 Star European Championships at Rolex Baltic Week, giving the 89 crews a chance to relax, regroup, and make repairs to their boats after three preceding days of gusty, testing racing. Many teams could be seen checking their boats and rigs in the Olympic marina Kiel-Schilksee. For others it was time to chill out in the Rolex Baltic Week race village and recover from five hard-fought races in fresh breezes.
Currently in first place are Qingdao Olympic gold medallists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR), followed by bronze medallists Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (BRA) in second place, and the Olympic silver medal winner Fredrik Loof, sailing with Johan Tillander (SWE) in third. With just two points separating the three leaders, and Loof 15 points clear of fourth placed Robert Stanjek/Markus Koy (GER), these three teams are now surely favorites for the big prizes on Saturday, including the Rolex Submariner Date timepieces (one each is awarded to the first-placed helm and crew) and the Oskar Meier Perpetual Trophy for the winning skipper and crew. Photo Rolex / Tom Körber
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Thursday, July 9 - 2009 - BMW Oracle is reworking DoGZilla for the fastest match race ever staged. The latest move is a full reworking of the ama concept. Check out those butter knives! For the full poop from Steve Clark on bows, stress and weight go to Sail-World.com. Photo Gilles Martin-Raget.
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Thursday, July 9 - 2009 - Can anyone stop Dean Barker in Malcesine? The kiwi sailor is unbeaten after three matches sailed against Sébastien Col, Karol Jablonski and Larry Ellison. Four flights got completed yesterday and eight more remain to be sailed today; needless to say that there's still a long way to go.
The Series got underway just after lunch, once the Ora (the local thermal breeze) had established itself with enough stability to allow fair matches. There was no time for warming up, or observing the opposition. Dean Barker and Artemis' first race was scheduled against Sébastien Col's Ceeref: a strong match. Col was just back from the Grade one match race event in Marstrand, and obviously didn't lack practice - but nor did Artemis. The team had a good pre-race briefing with coach Rod Davis and they arrived on the course fully prepared for what was to come. Barker dominated the pre-start, took the best start, controlled the race and won a first point, soon followed by two more.
Sébastien Col got his revenge in the next match, against the tandem Ellison / Coutts. BMW Oracle Racing wasn't at its best today, winning a single match against Team Austria but loosing two other important points against Artemis and Organika. This last match, sailed in the fourth flight of the day, took place in a dying and very shifty breeze. Organika managed to take the best start but lost the lead at the windward mark before regaining it during the second beat.
Dean Barker, helmsman, Artemis: "This was a good day for us and we had three good matches. We knew that the first match against Ceeref would be a tough one but we were ready for it. I am pleased with our day but I am also happy to see that Ray Davies (helmsman onboard No Way Back) is doing very well. We work hard together and it is a great opportunity for us to sail against each other in this Class. It definitely helps us a lot and will be an asset for our America's Cup sailing."
Photo Boris von Siebenthal / RC 44 Class Association.
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Thursday, July 9 - 2009 - The following is a snippet from Phil Kahn's Transpac blog coming from Pegasus 50. Kahn prides himself in his boats and his equipment. His nav station, with its redundant systems, is the envy of navigators. Further below is a little something about Roy Disney and the Santa Cruz 70 battle.
"...we never take anything for granted and keep on crunching a lot of weather information. We've been consistently reading 1019 on the barometer, which means that we are sailing down the 1019 isobar. We feel very comfortable with that.
At this morning's schedule, we saw that a lot of boats were heading North. That would mean a rapidly rising barometer and ultimately a "spin into the high." So we like what we are doing. All the automated routing programs seem to point to a Northerly track. We're contrarians and disagree. We'll know soon enough."
Piet Van Os, navigator on Morning Light in the 2007 Transpacific Yacht Race reported into Roy E. Disney, a man dedicated to sailing in Southern California, the Transpac Race and fostering young talent. After completing his 15th consecutive Transpac in 2005, Roy E. Disney retired from racing, but it hasn't stopped him from being intimately involved with Pyewacket campaigns and keeping tabs on friends like Robbie Haines, Ben Mitchell and Doug Rostello and family (Roy P. Disney), who crewed for him on many Transpacs, and youngsters, Jeremy Wilmot, Jesse Fielding and Piet Van Os.
The following is a note about the race, Pyewacket and the close sled race that has developed. It comes from Piet Van Os on the evening of July 7, 2008 to Roy E. Disney:
Hi Roy!
We're currently at 27-49N, 129-23W. You've done the race enough times to know exactly what we're going through right now...Crossing the ridge with winds veering and entering the "slotcar" part of the race where I'm sure to be stressing about my choice on the ridge.
Things have gone great so far. We started and sailed the boat really well on starboard to Aero Point on Catalina, short tacked up the coast before rounding the tip and heading out at 220. 220 set us up nicely for a ridge crossing at 28N, 130W. While trying to keep the boat rumbling we ended up about 20 miles south of the waypoint but I'm still very happy with where we are crossing. We have had great breeze almost the whole time and yesterday had a daily run of 288 miles. Not quite as good as Stan's day run on Alfa which I'm sure you heard broke the daily record with 399 miles. So congrats to Stan is in order again (is he ever going to stop winning things?? ha-ha)
This race so far (I'm knocking on wood) has turned out to be a "traditional" Transpac and I'm loving it!! We had some 22-24 kt winds the first night and it was a little chilly but since then we've been seeing a pretty constant 12-17kts (with some usual ups and downs). It seems to be a little shifty this year with 20+ degree oscillations throughout the day.
We're really enjoying sailing this 70. Robbie and all the guys keep telling stories of the last time they sailed sleds and how much they love these boat and the good times they had on Pyewacket II. Jeremy, Jesse and I are in awe of how "livable" this race boat is and how much more comfortable and pleasant this is than Morning Light! Oh, and we like not having cameras in our faces ha-ha! We were joking about how on day 3 last year we were on port going upwind towards Alaska, not sailing 700 miles almost directly at Hawaii! This is great!.
I'm loving the nav station and being on the wheel in 18-20 in this boat feels like you're driving a platform quickly towards Hawaii. Right now we are heading 240 at about 14-16kts in about 14-18kts of wind at 140 true so we're just sailing towards Hawaii getting more and more lifted around the high. Right now the breeze is out of 010-025 and we're expecting much more of a shift in the next day so we can start gybing on port poles that are favorite to get further south for "free".
For the past three days we have had both Grand Illusion and OEX within a few miles and have been having a great drag race with them. We are positioned north of the rest of the fleet and I feel pretty good about our position. As of the last two roll calls we have been 2nd in class and 2nd overall. GI is 1st and 1st so we're looking to extend from them.
The weather is shaping up pretty well and I we expect to finish sometime on the 13th, maybe even during the day so we could get some good pitures..that would be nice. Just wanted to write and say hi from everyone onboard, we're all thinking of you and wish you were here with us. When the boat gets back to the mainland you're going to love doing some races on it, it's such a great boat (as I'm sure you remember).
Love from all onboard.
Piet
Photo by Lynn Fitzpatrick
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