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Latest News Links Dinghy - New Fireball Free for a season . . . Volvo - Telefonica take leg 3 . . . Olympic - Ainslie back operation revealed . . . Dinghy - 470 Bronze for Burnet and Stewart . . . Volvo - Puma rejoins fleet as Telefonica extend their lead . . . News - Southampton company dropped by RYA . . . News - Alex Thomson and the Keel Walk revealed . . . Americas Cup - Louis Vuitton challenger series in doubt . . . Catamaran - Hobie enter the 16 and the Tiger for Olympic trial . . . News - Entrants for new Olympic boat evaluation named . . . Volvo - Telefonica leads into storm . . . News - UK-Halsey prepare China Team's AC45 sails . . . Volvo - Groupama take lead into China Sea . . . Olympic - Team GBR dominate the Miami World Cup . . . News - Ainslie and the possible Olympic ban . . . Americas Cup - AC45 to get 4 meter wingsail extension . . . More Sailing News reports here . . . New Fireball Free for a season . . . The UK Fireball Association are offering a brand new class owned Fireball to teams under Under 26 to sail for the 2012 season. This is a new hull from Fireball builder Winder Boats, and has been put together with the generous support of sponsors Harken, FSE Robline, Selden, Pinnell and Bax, North sails, Noble Marine and Contender Sailcoth. If you think you are the the perfect candidate to use the boat please send one page sailing CV (One each of helm and crew). This should include a short summary of why you would be the ideal candidates. Applications will only be valid from teams as opposed to individuals please email this to: admin@fireballsailing.org.uk Applications are now open and will close at the completion of the dinghy show on the first weekend of March (Midnight on the 4th March 2012). Where the boat will be on show for potential applicants to view. You can also join the Fireball association for a slice of Birthday Cake and a beer on the dinghy show stand!  Full story at http://www.fireballsailing.org.uk/page/page.php?editorial_id=205 Telefonica take leg 3 . . . Telefonica became the first team since Steinlager 2 in 1989-90 to win the first three legs of the Volvo Ocean Race when they held off the challenge of Groupama sailing team to arrive first into the Chinese port of Sanya on Saturday. Team Telefónica, skippered by co-World Sailor of the Year Iker Martínez, finished at 03:58:22 UTC to complete the stage from the Maldives in 12 days and take 24 points. Groupama came in at 05:45:25 UTC to clinch second place.  Telefonica´s latest victory was remarkable given the damage they suffered to their code zero sail just hours after the start in the Maldives, a setback that pushed them into last place. After completing a repair job overseen by Jordi Calafat, Telefonica made the strategic decision, along with Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand, to take a hitch to the north. Showing a loss on the leaderboard, Martínez said, “We know that the lost miles to the finish will be important, but we’re hoping that it will be better for us when we arrive at the Malacca Strait in two days’ time”. How right he was. Sailing conditions for this drag race to Pulau We at the northern end of Sumatra were about perfect, with warm air, warm seas and clear nights lit by countless stars. By day four, the code zero was hoisted and Telefonica rose up the order by seven miles to fourth place. They then overtook Groupama 4 to move into third place, within a mile of CAMPER in second. Setting up for the entrance to the Malacca Strait, Telefonica took another hitch north which swapped the order again, but the leverage gained in the high lane was looking sweeter by the hour. On day five, January 26, she snatched second place and the crew’s attention turned to their final victim, CAMPER. By 1900 UTC that day, sailing two knots faster than any other boat in the fleet, Telefonica was in the lead. On day eight, Telefonica’s lead was reduced to 0.4 nm from Groupama 4 and 1.1 nm from PUMA. The pressure was on, but Olympic gold medallist Martínez kept a cool head and by that evening they were leading the fleet to the open waters of the South China Sea. Dodging the small archipelago off the eastern coast of Malaysia, Telefónica led the race through gales to the relative safety of the coast of Vietnam. On Day 12, the fiercest battle of the leg took place as the fleet beat up the coast. Tack after tack, Telefonica held off Groupama and extended her lead to win the leg, not only claiming a third victory but making history too. With three points in the bag from their performance in Stage 1 of the leg – a one-day sprint from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah – Telefónica sealed overall victory in Leg 3. The result also sees them strengthen their position at the top of the overall standings. Groupama have a total of 24 points from the leg. In third place were Camper and at 07:00 hrs this morning Puma was due to finish in fourth with Abu Dahbi in fifth. Sany was over 300 nm back in sixth. Ainslie back operation revealed . . . In the Daily Telegraph today, Henry Winter reveals that Ben Ainslie has recently undergone successful back surgery and is now stepping up his rehab at Bisham Abbey as he pursues a fourth Olympic gold. Ainslie now feels physically sharper and ready for the Games thanks to the procedure carried out last month at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol by consultant neurosurgeon Richard Nelson.  Ainslie has lived with the pain for some time, initially it was localised around his lower spine but soon began to seep down the nerve root into his left leg. Ainslie's years of hiking in the Laser and Finn had stressed his back initially it was localised around his lower spine but soon began to seep down the nerve root into his left leg. Nelson advised him that it would affect the intensity of his training programme. The scalpel was called for. It was time to go through the keyhole, to tackle the small sliver of bone compressing the nerve route.Ainslie sailed with the pain at the Perth Worlds before Christmas, but after his return to the UK it was decided to go for an operation in mid January after cortisone injections failed. Ainslie knew that his operation would be a big story with the Olympics looming. He was keen to avoid any scare headlines. “I wanted to get the news out there rather than it leaking out. There was a problem at the World Championship but I was still able to perform really well. By dealing with this now, it will increase my performances.” Now the only thing standing in his way to competing in the 2012 Games at Weymouth is the decision of the Royal Yachting Association disciplinary panel later this month with regard to the incident at the Perth Worlds. Ainslie was disqualified under the International Sailing Federations rule 69, which covers gross misconduct, following a clash with a media crew. The RYA can impose a higher penalty which could rule him out of the Games. 470 Bronze for Burnet and Stewart . . . The Bronze Medal went to Britain's Anna Burnet and Flora Stewart at the women's 470 Junior World Championships in New Zealand. The new 470 women's Junior World Champions are Afrodite Kyranakou and Jeske Kisters from the Netherlands. By winning the Medal Race, Annika Bochmann and Elisabeth Pansuchka of Germany finished just three points behind for the silver. Simon Sivitz and Jas Farneti of Italy had already secured gold in the men's event. In silver were the Kiwi pair, James Turner and Finn Drummond and taking the bronze Sacha Pelisson and Nicholas Rossi of France. 470 - women - Junior Worlds Final leading positions (10 entries) 1st NED 74 KYRANAKOU Afrodite KISTERS Jeske 1 1 (5) 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 6 26 21pts 2nd GER 72 BOCHMANN Annika PANUSCHKA Elisabeth 5 3 1 1 4 3 3 1 1 (7) 2 31 24 3rd GBR 853 BURNET Anna STEWART Flora 3 2 3 3 1 2 5 3 (11 DNF) 5 4 42 31 470 - Men/Mixed - Junior Worlds Final leading positions (21 entries) 1st ITA 29 SIVITZ KOSUTA Simon FARNETI Jas (9) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 4 27 18pts 2nd NZL 206 TURNER James DRUMMOND Finn 7 2 3 3 (13) 4 3 7 2 5 8 57 44 3rd FRA 77 PELISSON Sacha ROSSI Nicholas 12 10 (22 BFD) 2 2 5 7 3 11 8 6 88 66 Puma rejoins fleet as Telefonica extend their lead . . . Puma (Ken Read/USA) has re-joined the fleet after a brief, but miserable sojourn to the east, while leaders of the pack, Team Telefónica, have again extended their lead over second-placed Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas/FRA). At 04:00 UTC tonight, Telefónica led Groupama by 23 nautical miles (nm). At 04:00 UTC tonight, Camper third place was under threat from Read and his men as their comeback gained momentum with just over 400 nm left to run until the finish in Sanya on Saturday. Camper led Mar Mostro by just over four and a half miles, while Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing were less than four miles astern. Meanwhile, Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) in sixth place, was still 76 nm south of the coast of Vietnam, and 161 nm adrift from Telefonica. Southampton company dropped by RYA . . . The RYA has removed its recognition of ‘Hot Liquid Southampton’ as a provider of RYA training courses. This means that Hot Liquid Southampton is now no longer able to offer or run RYA training courses. The decision was made by the RYA following three serious safety related incidents involving Hot Liquid Southampton between January 2011 and January 2012. RYA Training Manager and Chief Examiner Richard Falk said: “The removal of RYA recognition from a training centre is never a decision that is taken lightly. However, it is essential that customers are confident that appropriate safety management routines are in place at any centre displaying the RYA Recognised Training Centre logo.” The RYA advises that any customers booked on an RYA course at Hot Liquid Southampton should contact the school directly to discuss their situation. In the event that a customer has a further query they may contact the RYA at 02380 604100. Hot Liquid Gibraltar will retain RYA recognition for all disciplines currently on offer due to the fact that the operational safety management routines of that site are controlled separately to that of the Southampton site. Alex Thomson and the Keel Walk revealed . . . Alex Thomson attempts the Keel Walk - You may remember the image from his last attempt several years ago. It’s a great picture, but many people doubted it’s authenticity and thought it might be Photoshopped. So this time Alex decided to get a camera crew involved. And here is what happened . . . Getting the keel out of the water and keeping it there requires precision sailing and knowing the boat inside out. From his position at the helm, skipper Ross Daniel cannot see either Alex or the jet ski, so he relies on the information given to him by the spotter (port side of stern / left back). Full story at http://www.alexthomsonracing.com/ Louis Vuitton challenger series in doubt . . .  After receiving only three entries, organisers of next year's America's Cup on San Francisco Bay are beginning to have second thoughts on the format of the challengers' series. Regatta director Iain Murray who is visiting New Zealand for a competitors' forum, said it was unlikely other syndicates would enter at this late stage.Only three syndicates - Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa of Italy and Artemis of Sweden - have paid the $US100,000 ($A94,700) entry fee for the 2013 event. Organisers had planned for eight teams to contest the Louis Vuitton challenger series, which is to run from 4 July to 1 September 2013, with the winner challenging the defending champion Oracle, skippered by James Spithill, in the America's Cup final. With time now getting tight for further teams to build an AC72 in time for the event, Murray said organisers would consider making each of the matches in the challengers' series a best-of-three series, rather than a one-off match. They would also have to look at the mixture of the type of racing and how many races on each day and the breaks that they give the teams. In the meantime, the racing program for 2012 is focused on the America’s Cup World Series. The next ACWS event is in Naples, Italy, from April 7th to 15th. Hobie enter the 16 and the Tiger for Olympic trial . . . The Hobie Cat Manufacturers have put forward two choices for the ISAF Multihull Evaluation Trials for the 2016 Olympics - the Hobie 16 with spinnaker added (the Olympics must be sailed with a spinnaker) and the Hobie Tiger.  The Hobie 16 is by far the largest multihull class in the world with active racing in all parts of the world and the ISAF have chosen to use the Hobie 16 in all ISAF World Games. It is the multihull that is used in all Regional Games where a multihull is selected. As Regional Games are under the authority of the areas National Olympic Committee the National Olympic Committees have already invested in a Hobie 16 with equipment and training. It is also the current ISAF Youth World boat. As the second largest one-design racing multihull, the Hobie Tiger was chosen by the ISAF at their last ISAF World Sailing Games. Like the Hobie 16, the Hobie Tiger again fits perfectly with the ISAF Olympic Commission with their ‘universality’. It is raced in most countries and lot of the countries ISAF would like to develop further. The evaluation will be held from 17 to 25 March 2012 at the Prince Felipe High Performance Sailing Centre, Santander, Spain. A report from the trials will be going to the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting in May. The seven multihull entrants are: Hobie 16 and Hobie Tiger – Hobie Cat, Nacra 17 – and Nacra F16 – Nacra Sailing International, Spitfire S – Sirena Voile, Tornado – International Tornado Class Association and the Viper – Australian High Performance Catamarans (AHPC). Entrants for new Olympic boat evaluation named . . . Following the request for proposals, ISAF has announced that they have received entrants for, six Women’s Skiff and seven Mixed Mutlihulls. All have been invited to the evaluation event in Santander, Spain in March 2012. The six skiff entries: • 29erXX – Ovington Boats • ARUP Skiff - ARUP • AURA – Ovington Boats • Hartley Rebel – Hartley Boats • Mackay FX – Mackay Boats • RS900 – RS Sailing The seven multihull entrants: • Hobie 16 – Hobie Cat • Hobie Tiger – Hobie Cat • Nacra 17 – Nacra Sailing International • Nacra F16 – Nacra Sailing International • Spitfire S – Sirena Voile • Tornado – International Tornado Class Association • Viper – Australian High Performance Catamarans (AHPC) Images of the selected boats here Throughout the nine day evaluation, sailors nominated by their Member National Authorities will sail the boats and provide feedback. A report will then be produced at the 2012 ISAF Mid-year meeting in Stresa, Italy where ISAF Council will make the final selection. The centre that’s hosting the evaluation event, will also host the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships, where the selected boats will be put on the ISAF Worlds stage for the first time before their Olympic debut in Rio, Brazil 2016. The boats will also be a part of the ISAF Sailing World Cup from 2013. Telefonica leads into storm . . . After three days of dodging container ships, unlit fishing boats and all manner of objects floating in the sea, Team Telefonica navigator Andrew Cape couldn’t hide his relief at being clear of the Malacca Strait – but said the danger is not over yet. “I can't put into words how relieved I am to get out of the strait,” Cape told volvooceanrace.com. “It's a nightmare and I'm really, really relieved that nothing went wrong and even happier that we managed to start in first place and finish there. There’s serious relief all round. It’s good to be out.” The main tactical hurdle on the final phase of the leg revolves around the strong current that sweeps down the coast of Vietnam and winds offshore blowing up to 35 knots. Whether the teams choose to hug the coast staying out of the strongest tide and biggest seas but sacrificing better winds, or gamble against the current and sea state in favour of higher wind speeds, could hold the key to success – or failure. Gales are forecast for up to 125 nm off the Vietnam coast and the leaders are heading directly towards the area where, according to weather experts, conditions will become rough to extreme, with short period waves of around two - four metres in height. Telefonica leads by 6 nm from Groupama at 07:00 hrs Wednesday morning. These two have a 30 nm lead over the chasing pack, lead by Camper with Abu Dahbi anothe 30 nm adrift tand then Pume a further 20 nm back. Team Sanya are 250 nm behind the leader. UK-Halsey prepare China Team's AC45 sails . . . Sylvain Barrielle, owner of UK-Halsey San Francisco, is the sail coordinator for China Team's latest America's Cup challenge. This is his second campaign with China Team and his sixth consecutive America's Cup campaign. As he says, "This may seem like another day at the office, but the difference between all the previous monohulls and the new winged multihulls is totally different." Here's how he sums up the program so far:  The AC 45 one-design was an interesting process that we started in end of December 2010. We only had one month to come up with a set of practice/racing sails. We never planned a large R&D budget for the AC 45 because, at the end of the day, we are not going to race the 45 in the America's Cup.For a team without a "sky is the limit" budget it doesn't make sense to spend a lot on the AC 45; instead we are saving resources to develop the sails for the AC 72 that we will be racing for the Cup shortly. The main objective for the first set of sails was to validate the MatriX Titanium product, which are proprietary membrane sails made with continuous yarns by UK-Halsey Sailmakers. Next we had to make sure the communication flowed between the all the different parties of the sailing team and design team. Finally, we needed to validate some of the design tools. An interesting point is that we all live in different parts of the world, which has the advantage that the project can keep moving 24 hours a day. The one problem with the 24-hour workday is that you end up with a fractional night. We achieved what we intended, which was to find out right away where we were right and wrong. After one year we did not validate 100% of our upwind sail inventory, but we ended up with a clear view on where we stand in terms of boat speed for 2012 events in Italy. While that work was for the AC 45; work on sails for the much bigger and more complex AC 72 as been going on since December 2010 on a parallel track. On the AC 45 we have mainly worked with UK-Halsey France in Mandelieu as well as with UK-Halsey Hong Kong. Stay tuned for more stories and photos as our efforts to win the Cup continue. Full story at http://www.ukhalsey.com Groupama take lead into China Sea . . . At around 16:05 UTC Monday, Team Telefónica, the leg and overall Volvo race leaders, passed the Horshburg Lighthouse marking the end of the straits section of the leg with a lead of around less than 20 minutes over second placed Groupama sailing team. The Volvo fleet face more than 1000 nautical miles of tough upwind sailing to the Leg 3 finish in Sanya, China. And at 06:00 hrs this morning Groupama was the new leader, 4 nm ahead of Telefonica and Puma, with Camper and Abu Dahbi dropping back another 40 nm. Race meteorologist Gonzalo Infante said the fleet was now likely to experience a northeasterly monsoon wind of about 10-15 knots until they round an archipelago including Rigan, Nunsa and Selia islands this morning. Infante predicted the going would get tough as the teams trek north towards the Vietnam coast with a building monsoon surge generating strong winds and a four to five metre swell. “It is very going to be very rough racing with gale force winds predicted and a very rough sea state building,’’ he said. “The sailors will have to try to slow their boats down to try not to break anything. Anything can happen here.” Team GBR dominate the Miami World Cup . . . Despite fielding a reduced team, Skandia Team GBR dominated the medals at the US Sailing's Rolex Miami OCR last week. Without competing in three events - Star, 49er and women's RSX - and their top team withdrawing in the men's 470, the British Olympic squad took medals in six of the events, three gold, four silver and a bronze. Although not all is well in the build up, highlighted by the withdraw of Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell from the 470 event after posting a string of poor results. Manager Stephen Park will be pleased with Lucy MacGregor's match race crew and with Paul Goodison getting back into winning mode, even without the presence of Laser world champion Tom Slingsby. The 49er and women's Radial spots have still to be filled, with no one showing a decisive performance, and in the Paralympic 2.4mR class, Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe continue to swap places in the selection battle. And hanging over everything is the decision over the Ben Ainslie affair. But with such a strong team performance other managers would love to have Parks' problems. - GN Ainslie and the possible Olympic ban . . . If Ben Ainslie needed any greater motivation in his quest to strike gold at his home Olympics, then the television camera crew who cost him a world championship in Perth before Christmas may just have provided it. In an interview with Ian Stafford in the Daily Mail, the man who has been Olympic champion three times and is widely regarded as the best sailor in the world admits that he is still furious at the incident which, even now, could cost him his place at the Olympic regatta. Ainslie, 35 on Saturday, will not discover whether he is to be robbed of the chance to go for his fourth Olympic gold on the water at Weymouth until a Royal Yacht Association inquiry to be held by the end of next month rules on the incident in Australia, when Ainslie swam from his Finn to board a TV camera boat and remonstrate with the crew because he believed they had impeded him. The RYA have the power to ban Ainslie from the Olympics, although a reprimand and fine are thought more likely. Even so, Ainslie admits to harbouring fears over the outcome. He said: 'I hope everyone will consider what I've done in sailing, that I apologised and that a probable world title was taken away from me. But until the matter is officially closed it's always a worry. 'What happened with that TV crew had happened all year, and at Perth it became the worst situation I'd ever known in sailing. It tipped me over the edge. I just lost it. The alarm bells rang the moment I stepped on to their boat. A voice in my head said: "What the hell are you doing? You shouldn't be on this boat." That's why I was on and off in just a few seconds. JP Morgan Asset Management is the title sponsor of Ben Ainslie's Olympic campaign. AC45 to get 4 meter wingsail extension . . . The AC45 is about to get a 4 meter tall extension to the wingsail that will add over 8 square meters of surface area to the wing. The bigger wing will promote more exciting racing in light conditions. The wingsail extensions will be added, as directed by Regatta Director Iain Murray, for light wind venues to add more power to the boats when we're racing in lower wind ranges.  The new extensions are being produced at a nondescript warehouse on Auckland's North Shore by Glyn Davies, the build manager for ACRM, who has been in Auckland since the beginning of December, overseeing the wing extension project. "We're currently building 12 wing extensions to have ready for the teams for the first World Series event in Naples (in April). We're on a very tight schedule," he says. "We came back to Auckland from the last event in San Diego, set up the factory and started work in December. We're fortunate to have been able to hire a 'dream team' of boat builders here and have been able to get into production very quickly." The first extensions will be tested on the waters off Auckland by Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa early next month. Among the challenges has been accommodating the media transmission equipment that is located in the top of the main element of the existing wing. The on-the-water tests will be critical to ensure the media equipment still works under the extension. "The plan is to have the lion's share of the work done before we get to Naples so everyone is able to get sailing using these extensions as quickly as possible," Davies says. Any modifications that become necessary as a result of the tests will be quickly incorporated into the production. Then a small team of Davies' boatbuilders will shift to Valencia, Spain to prepare the wings that are in storage there ahead of the Naples event. "The extensions aren't fixed permanently," Murray explains. "We can put them on or take them off, so they'll be used at our discretion for light wind venues to add more power to the boats when we're racing in lower wind ranges." Murray says he expects the wing extensions could be used in up to 15 knots of wind. |
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