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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, 9/1/10 - Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team was the aggressor on day two of The St. Moritz Match Race in Switzerland, storming through a run of five successive victories including a comprehensive defeat of the reigning 'King of the Mountain', Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing.
If the spectators expected the relative newcomer to the ISAF World Match Racing Tour to be apprehensive after a disappointing opening day, he did not show it. As the thermally-induced Maloja wind rushed in, the young Frenchman exhibited ernbersome deft moves on the water, leading Minoprio around mark one by three lengths and eventually extending his lead all the way to the finish.
The ISAF World Match Racing Tour has a rich history of nurturing the best match racing talent and Iehl looked every bit a champion in the making today. His next fight was against another super-tough opponent, Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, currently ranked second in the Tour. The two skippers jostled and jabbed like boxers to gain the upper hand at the start with only inches separating them. This was toe-to-toe action. Mirsky gained the initial advantage, but Iehl read the subtleties of the wind to perfection, building what proved to be an insurmountable 10-length lead at the first mark.
With two victories under his belt Iehl was unstoppable, even by the might of triple Olympian and America's Cup sailor Francesco Bruni (ITA) AZZURRA. At the start the French team gained the favourable lee bow position and led the accomplished Italian round all three laps of the course.
Iehl, commented: "We had a clear game plan today which gave us the great starts we needed, as well as a strategy that delivered the best course through all the wind shifts. Our teamwork and maneuvers were spot on too - it was a perfect progression for us from yesterday."
A classic French - British dogfight is developing between the front runners and if anyone is going to put a counter-attack together on Iehl, there's a strong chance it will come from Ian Wiiliams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar who leads the standings overnight, having won all three of his races today.
Triple Olympic gold medalist and America's Cup skipper, Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN also demonstrated total dominance of his opponents with a clean sweep of victories, as did Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team.
With seven teams advancing to the next stage, three are confirmed as having made the quarter finals, but another six - including some veteran stars - are still in the hunt for the remaining four places.
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Thursday, 9/2/10 - The Class 40s are becoming more and more popular. Check out this KIWI 40FC from BTBoats. If it sails half as good as it looks they're in good shape...Check out the site here.
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Thursday, 9/2/10 - The Rolex Middle Sea Race commences on Saturday, October 23 2010. Here's a little breakdown of what's to come. Click here for the story. Photo Kurt Arrigo
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Thursday, 9/2/10 - Sustained winds in the mid-30s, with gusts up to 40, had the 18-boat fleet in the Great San Francisco Schooner Race sailing a rough and rowdy trip through the Central Bay that produced tattered sails, broken gear, bruised bodies and untold amounts of adrenaline coursing through the veins of the crews. Check out the story here.
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Thursday, 9/2/10 - The C-Class catamaran wingsails at the recent International C Class Catamaran Championship could point the way for some designers headed to the next America's Cup, if multihulls are chosen. Check out the story here.
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Thursday, 9/2/10 - Laser World Championships 2010 Day 3 - Australia's dual Laser world champion Tom Slingsby sailed to two impressive race wins in slightly stronger breezes today off Hayling Island, UK and moved four points clear at the top of the Laser World Championships points table after six of the eight scheduled qualifying races have been sailed. Sail World has the scoop. Photo Paul Wyeth / RYA
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MOVING PICTURES
Thursday, 9/2/10 - Here's the highlights from the Match Racing Tour happening in St. Moritz.
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MOVING PICTURES
Thursday, 9/2/10 - All you boat builders or would-be boat builders in the house will like this little project video of a catamaran being built.
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Wednesday, 9/1/10 - The opening day of racing at the St. Moritz Match Race dawned bright but cold, with the surface of the lake covered in a thin layer of picturesque mist. However, the tranquil setting belied the intensity of racing that was to come most notably between the British and French teams.
The first start saw double ISAF Match Racing World Champion Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar pitched against local sailor Jérôme Clerc (SUI) Team CER Genève, who gained a wildcard invitation to the event. The young Swiss sailor proved from the outset that he has the talent to mix with sailing's biggest stars, taking the lead just after the start and holding it until tantalizingly close to the finish.
Clerc was next up against Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN. Approaching the first windward mark, Clerc held a small advantage slightly to windward of the British boat, but Ainslie pulled just far enough forward to slip above the Swiss skipper in a deft maneuver that cleared his way to round the mark first.
Clerc, commented: "It was a lot of fun today - we're not really favorites, but we are really happy to be in contact with them and playing with them."
Ainslie's fight with Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team saw the event's first piece of red-hot anger, including a collision, much shouting between the two teams, and a rapid succession of penalties even before the start gun was fired. With a red flag penalty - to be taken immediately - Iehl's race was effectively over at the start.
The Brits went on to dominate the first part of the day's racing, with both teams winning all their races, including Ainslie's match against current World Match Racing Tour leader Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team.
"It's the start we wanted, even though we're a bit rusty having missed the last two events. The conditions were very tricky with 20-25 and even 30, degree windshifts and it was important to connect the gusts, especially downwind."
So what would happen when Ainslie and Williams went head-to-head? After close sparring in the pre-start, Williams held Ainslie out to the wrong side of the committee boat, winning the start by a length and a half. At the windward mark Williams misjudged his tack and collided with Ainslie, but maintained a tenuous lead. At the beginning of the final leg he had extended this to three-lengths, but still had a penalty turn to take before finishing – it was impossible to predict the result, until a gust allowed Williams to extend his lead 150m from the finish line.
The French teams came to the fore in the final races of the day. Ainslie and Bertrand Pacé (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team were evenly positioned at the start, with Pacé at the left-hand end of the line. With the stronger gusts on the left-hand side of the course he quickly pulled out a small lead. Pacé, reflected:
"Then we just tried to sail with the best wind, choosing the right side of the course and staying in phase with the wind shifts - it's easy to stay ahead of the other guy if you do that in these conditions."
The last race, between Mathieu Richard and Ian Williams, was also the closest. With 15 seconds to go the French skipper looked much too early, yet he found enough wriggle room to make a perfect start, much to the surprise of the spectator crowds. He led throughout the race by the tightest of margins - at the finish just one meter separated the two boats.
Richard, said: "The match with Williams was the most challenging for us today - it was so close all the way. We're very pleased with our results and the way we sailed, although we know we can still make small improvements."
It was also a good day for defending champion St. Moritz Match Race Champion, Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team, who top the rankings along with Williams at the end of day one, each of these skippers having won four races and lost one. Photo Loris Von Siebenthal / St. Moritz Match Race.
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Wednesday, 9/1/10 - No less than thirteen teams will compete in the RC 44 World Championships Islas Canarias Puerto Calero Cup on October 11-16.
Two new teams will join the RC 44 Championship Tour this time around: Synergy Russian Sailing Team, from Russia, and Peninsula Petroleum from Spain. Both teams have been involved in top level international yacht racing for many years. Synergy is already competing in the TP 52 Class as well as in the Louis Vuitton Trophy whilst Peninsula Petroleum has been competing in the GP 42 Series.
"Our involvement with the RC44 class gives Synergy Russian Sailing Team the possibility to continue its development in the new ultra-modern sailing classes," says Maxim Logutenko, the team's CEO. "We are absolutely sure that the RC44 class is an amazing prospect and that's why we have decided to concentrate our forces on this circuit. Besides Transpac 52 and ACC5 regattas, the RC 44 Championship Tour will be an integral part of Synergy's development and progress. It will give Russian sailors the opportunity to train and progress at an international level."
Team Peninsula Petroleum has been competing in the GP 42 Class over the past years. A dinghy sailor when he was a child, owner John Bassadone made his come back in yacht racing four years ago; his ambition is to keep improving as a driver and make steady progress in both match and fleet races.
"I am super-excited to join this Class," he said. "Because it has many features I really appreciate such as the one design and owner-driver concepts. The quality of the participants is also tremendous, and the Class is clearly progressing."
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Wednesday, 9/1/10 - The date for the next America's Cup and the type of boats which can be used in yachting's premier event will be revealed in Spain next month, America's Cup defender BMW Oracle said on Tuesday. Click here to read the story.
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Wednesday, 9/1/10 - Shortly after announcing Ian Walker as skipper for Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing Team, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) has confirmed that Jason Carrington has been hired as Technical Manager for the team, and that Farr Yacht Design will design and build their Volvo Open 70 for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12. Read the story here.
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Wednesday, 9/1/10 - Some are saying the 34th edition of the AC will be held on 72 foot catamarans with wings, certainly in 2014 in San Francisco. Check out the forum here. Photo Gilles Martin Raget.
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Wednesday, 9/1/10 - Apparently the fellow who owns the Judel Vrolijk designed IRC 66 "Numbers" is suing Sailing Anarchy for libel. Check out the forum here... Photo Dan Nerney.
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MOVING PICTURES
Wednesday, 9/1/10 - Gordon Maguire's description of a close encounter with ice and extreme conditions in the Southern Ocean is the stuff that Legends are made of. It is February 2002 and he is onboard News Corp between Auckland and Rio de Janeiro.
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MOVING PICTURES
Wednesday, 9/1/10 - The world's best match racers are gearing up for St. Moritz Match Race 2010. Here's a beak wetter...
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MOVING PICTURES
Wednesday, 9/1/10 - The Etchells Worlds 2010 wrapped in Ireland with John Bertrand and his crew Andrew Palfry and Tom Slingsby coming out on top. Here's a cool report...
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Tuesday, 8/31/10 - From the World Yacht Racing Forum: The Route du Rhum (due to start on October 31 from Saint-Malo, France) is the biggest and most popular singlehanded transatlantic regatta. This year's race will reassemble five Classes including the one called "Ultime", open to the big multihulls; a concept that takes us back to the mid-eighties, when thirteen multihulls over 23 meters sailed across the Atlantic (1986).
Several large multihulls which were originally designed to be fully crewed, have been adapted for single-handed racing for the event; they will be led by solo sailors across the Atlantic. Is this a good thing for yacht racing or - once again - the illustration of a lack of management and cohesion, as often outlined during the World Yacht Racing Forum debates? The WYRF asked several experts from the yacht racing scene what they think about it:
Michel Desjoyeaux, double Vendée Globe winner and last year’s World Yacht Racing Forum keynote speaker
Stuart Alexander, yacht racing expert, writing for The Independent
Frédérique Granado, Director of External communications, Groupama
Can we be satisfied with the format of the next Route du Rhum?
Michel Desjoyeaux: The big multihulls were left aside in the mid-eighties because people had understood that they were not suited for singlehanded racing. I will compete on an IMOCA 60, a Class that is reasonable and provides a sportive equity. But at the end of the day, for the public, there will be only one winner: the one who crosses the arrival line in first. That's life...
Stuart Alexander: The French public, being much more intimately aware, and for a long time, of the Route du Rhum, will notice the changes much more. The audience in the UK, for example, is very small and will only be increased marginally by either British participation or British success. So the format relies much more on heritage or nationalism outside France and the race has not enjoyed growing international awareness in the same way as the Vendée Globe.
Frédérique Granado: We will participate with Groupama 3, a 105' trimaran that has been adapted to single handed racing. The organizer has had to adapt the format of the race because of the disappearance of the ORMA Class. We are satisfied with this opportunity.
Is it a step forward or backwards?
Michel Desjoyeaux: It is a step backwards. But it's like the tide: it comes and goes and we have to live with it for this edition. I understand that the organisers wanted to include a class of spectacular multihulls in their event.
Stuart Alexander: It is, in a way, a step backwards to the days of Club Med or Vendredi 13 in the single handed Transatlantic Race.
Frédérique Granado: The "Ultime" category brings us back to the original concept of the race. Indeed, Michel Etevenon created it in 1978 as a response to the limitation of size in the English transat (the Ostar). Today's context is however different because the "Ultime" Class is only there because the 60' multihulls have disappeared. Everyone's desire is to see this event perpetuated; it is popular and well understood by the public.
Michel Desjoyeaux: The safety is down to the sailor. The weather forecasts and equipments are very advanced, and I don't think it is more risky on big boats than on small ones.
Stuart Alexander: Sailing any boat singlehanded across the Atlantic in November is inherently dangerous, but the smaller boat, the easier it is to manage by one person, and the smaller the boat the more vulnerable it is to the elements.
Frédérique Granado: Our skipper Franck Cammas seems comfortable on his own aboard Groupama 3, even though the physical effort will be very intense. Indeed, Groupama 3 is much more stable and secure than Groupama 2. It is less extreme and much more stable, so much so since he sails with a new, shorter mast. It will obviously be hard to maneuver the sails single handed. Anyway, crossing the Atlantic solo on a trimaran is a difficult task that requires a lot of self-control and anticipation.
Is this format sustainable?
Michel Desjoyeaux: I don't think so. Most sailors want to compete on fair and equal grounds. The problem is that when the ORMA disappeared, it opened up a void and the "Ultime" Class is the consequence of this void. Having said this, it is now very clear that the future of sailing is on multihulls and the America's Cup shows it clearly.
Stuart Alexander: The sustainability will rely to a large extent on the ability to fund the entries, whatever size. This means that allowing the very spectacular can be a two-edged sword. By guaranteeing media attention, plus all the modern comms systems that can be used on such big boats, means that big sponsorship budgets should chase that class of boat. But it also means that the other boats are relegated to second class citizens and that could make the attraction of sponsors more difficult for the rest. It also means that, once a story has been run saying that someone has won the Route du Rhum, then it is difficult to run more stories saying that the Rhum has been won by someone else. On the whole it is better to concentrate the focus, rather than diffuse it.
Frédérique Granado: We believe it is sustainable as long as there are boats and that the couple skipper/boat know what to expect. The "Ultime" category will trigger the public's enthusiasm and the event's media return. For a company or a group, having a boat involved in such a popular race is a strong way to federate its employees around a common objective.
Michel Desjoyeaux, as a member of the World Yacht Racing Forum advisory panel, do you think that the Forum is a good platform to discuss this type of issue?
Michel Desjoyeaux: Well, if it was easy and there were ideal solutions for everything we wouldn't need such a Forum to discuss the sport's issues - and the world would be terribly boring... I guess the World Yacht Racing Forum can be a good platform to discuss this type of issue. It needs to be a place where people can have a civil debate.
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Tuesday, 8/31/10 - Emirates Team New Zealand's return to Cartagena proved something of a repeat performance as the 2009 Audi MedCup champions retained the overall Caja Mediterráneo Region of Murcia Trophy for the second year in a row on the same waters where they clinched the overall TP52 Series championships title last year. More here.
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Tuesday, 8/31/10 - St. Moritz Match Race, the sixth stage of the ISAF World Match Race Tour, begins tomorrow. Twelve teams including some of the world’s best match racers have made it to the Swiss Alps; they completed some practice races today, stunned by the beauty of the site, surprised by the cold and the snow capped mountains that surround Lake St. Moritz. More here.
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