Ericsson Racing Team wins Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race

[Source: Ericsson Racing Team] Ericsson Racing Team won Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race today when Ericsson 4, skippered by Olympic gold medalist Torben Grael of Brazil, crossed the finish line at 04:22:30 local time, 2252:30 GMT on Nov. 29.

Ericsson 4 completed the 4,450-nautical-mile leg from Cape Town, South Africa, in 14 days, 11 hours, 32 minutes and 30 seconds. The crew earned 12 points on the leg - 8 points for the leg win and 4 points for first at the scoring gate. Ericsson 4 now has 26 points total and retains the fleet lead.

"Everybody's very happy. It was a very tough leg with so many different conditions," said Grael. "It's just the beginning of the race, and there are some difficult legs ahead of us. A lot of unexpected things can happen, it's good to be in the position we're in."

Ericsson 4 arrives in Cochin victorious. Cochin, 29 November 2008. Video copyright Ericsson Racing Team

Ericsson 4 had an adventurous leg, one that navigator Jules Salter described as beginning like a lion and ending like a lamb.

The first week was spent in rough conditions just north of 40S latitude, and the weather took a toll on both crew and gear. Sails were damaged and the crew suffered from lack of sleep, but Ericsson 4, a second generation Volvo Open 70 from designer Juan Kouyoumdjian, didn't suffer any significant damage.

"We learned a lot from Juan K last time, and have taken that forward to this generation. We have a lot of confidence in the structure," said David Endean, Ericsson 4 pit man and boat captain. "This generation of boat is stronger than the last."

The International crew led the fleet past the scoring gate on Nov. 20, and then sprinted up the Indian Ocean to the Doldrums, swapping the lead with teammate Ericsson 3. Ericsson 4 made its break from the fleet on Thursday when it scampered through the Doldrums and then benefited from strong westerlies on the Equator.

Ericsson 4 arrives in Cochin victorious. Cochin, 29 November 2008. Video copyright Ericsson Racing Team

In the end, Ericsson 4 was made to wait painfully for this victory. It took nearly nine hours to complete the final 65 nautical miles, a snail's pace for the speedy VO 70s. While they were drifting to the finish, the fleet was closing up from behind.

"We're very happy to be here. Very relieved and very satisfied. Relief is a common emotion after how light it got at the end," said watch captain Stu Bannatyne. "There's always a risk to get overtaken when you park up. The others can see where you're parked and it can all disappear very quickly. Fortunately we had enough."

Dean Barker crowned NZ Match Racing champion

[Source: RNZYS] The fourth and final day of the New Zealand Match Racing Championships was held in extremely frustrating conditions for the competitors and the Race Committee alike. A light southerly breeze prevailed for most of the day but was very shifty, so the volunteers aboard the mark laying boats work hard to maintain a fair and equal course.

The three remaining flights of the second round robin were completed in the morning, as the final charges for the four semi final places began. It was a tight contest between the leading six teams, and the day was sparked by an upsetting race for Dean Barker, when his winning streak was cut short by Ben Ainslie who beat him by 30 seconds. Rod Davis claimed a win over Adam Minoprio, whilst Laurie Jury beat Adrian Short, securing his spot in the semi finals. Minoprio fought back hard in the next flight, clawing a vital point back with an impressive win over Ben Ainslie. Minoprio then went onto beat Dean Barker in the following flight; however it wasn’t quite enough to see him through to the final four.

Phil Robertson’s last hopes of making the semi finals were dashed by Laurie Jury, who beat Phil and put him out of the running for the top four. With Rod Davis securing a spot in semis, the four teams were decided. Ainslie, Barker, Jury, and Davis were then to fight it out for the match racing title.

Barker won the first race of the semi finals against Jury, who put up a fight in the second race to equal the scores. However the third race saw Barker into the finals and it was Ben Ainslie who was going to match him. After defeating Rod Davis, Ainslie took his spot in the final two, and it was all on from there!

The petit finals and finals saw some close racing as teams battled to get the 1st and 3rd placing. Jury had two wins over Davis, putting him in third place overall, whilst Barker had three consecutive wins over Ainslie, giving him the Auckland Match Racing Cup and making him the 2008 New Zealand Match Racing Championships winner.

With a day to spare the regatta came to end, with a forecast of very light winds tomorrow, the Race Committee was pleased to complete two round robins, semi finals and finals within four days. A very successful event, and after four exhausting days, the sailors, umpires, race committee, and all the volunteers will sleep well tonight. We’re looking forward to another exciting regatta next year!

Sébastien Josse leading the Vendée Globe, at least for now..

[Source: Vendée Globe] Like birds migrating south, the leading bunch seem have fallen neatly into each other’s slipstreams as they head down the latitudes, with Sébastien Josse showing the way.

No change among the front-runners at this evening’s update (1900hrs GMT): first placed Seb Josse has pulled a couple more miles out on Loick Peyron, whilst the distance to the next seven boats has increased marginally as their VMG picks up again. But if the speeds are picking up, what does that mean for the St Helena High?

Most of the skippers are playing their cards close to their chest, but we can certainly expect another day or two of unsettled weather as they cross the high pressure zone. After last night’s swing to the south, the predictions are for the wind to start backing northerly. When the westerlies will kick in is still open to speculation! With nine hours between scheds overnight, this could be a real opportunity for some night manoeuvring — we won’t know who comes out best until 0400h (GMT) tomorrow.

Highlights from day 19 of the Vendée Globe. 28 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

Some of the positions are a little misrepresentative of where the skippers are in the real race — the race to get south. For example, ninth placed Mike Golding (Ecover, GBR) is 55 miles further south than Jean Le Cam in fourth. Le Cam’s radical south-easterly track appears to have been a temporary hitch in response to a shift, and he is now on a similar heading to the rest of the fleet.

In fact the boat closest to Le Cam’s latitude is 10th-placed Safran (Marc Guillemot), who made rapid progress south over the past couple of days and looks set to rejoin the leading group. Few would even rule out that Michel Desjoyeaux, currently in 14th, could catch the front-runners — Foncia is now around 55 miles further south than Sam Davies (GBR), but approx 125 miles to the west, which means that the Roxy skipper is showing as one place ahead. Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm is currently barreling down the track most rapidly, taking 120 miles from the leaders in the past 24 hours in Cheminées Poujoulat in 22nd place.

BMW Oracle successfully completes trimaran trials

BMW ORACLE RACING’S TRIMARAN SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES
PHASE I OF SEA TRIALS IN SAN DIEGO

– State-of-the-Art Trimaran Will Undergo Modifications to Improve Performance and Start Phase II Sea Trials in San Diego in Late January

– BMW ORACLE Explores New Racing Options for Trimaran
San Diego, California, November 28, 2008 – Russell Coutts, CEO and Skipper of BMW ORACLE Racing, today announced that BOR 90, the syndicate’s state-of-the-art trimaran, has successfully completed Phase I of its sea trials in San Diego.

The 90 foot high-tech trimaran now will undergo further modifications to improve performance based on the team’s experiences with the trimaran on the Pacific Ocean off California since October. Over the next few months, a number of design changes will be implemented in order to make the trimaran an even faster, more responsive boat. In addition, decisions will be made about the optimum crew size and placement.

The boat will return to the water in late January for several additional months of testing in San Diego.

Archive footage from the construction of the trimaran. Video copyright BMW Oracle

Said Coutts, “We’ve had some great sailing over the past seven weeks. Our team worked hard and pushed the limits of the boat, identifying its many strengths as well as several areas where it needs improvement. We saw it can consistently sail one-and-a-half to two times the speed of the wind, regardless of sea and wind conditions, and it has remarkable agility. Overall, it’s an amazing machine – none of us have ever sailed anything like it. Its extreme engineering enables extreme performance.”

Coutts also announced that BMW ORACLE had begun to explore opportunities to race the trimaran. “Our racing options for sailing a multihull are not limited to the America’s Cup. Indeed, a Deed of Gift race is only a default option forced on us if Alinghi declines to agree to a multi-challenger event after we win the appeal. It remains our hope that we will reach an agreement with the America’s Cup Defender that will enable a traditional, multi-challenger America’s Cup in monohulls.

The BMW Oracle trimaran sailing in San Diego. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle

“With that in mind, we are exploring a number of other ways to sail the boat, including match races, regattas or even an attempt at one of the sailing speed records,” he said.

Coutts added, “On behalf of all of us at BMW ORACLE Racing, I want to thank the people of San Diego – the reception we’ve gotten from the sailing community and everyone else has been wonderful.”

The Phase I sea trials followed several weeks of “shake-down” testing in Puget Sound off Anacortes, WA earlier in September.

The BMW Oracle trimaran sailing in San Diego. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle

Countdown to the RC 44 Gold Cup in Puerto Calero

[Source: RC 44] The RC 44 Gold Cup will take place in Puerto Calero (Canary Islands, Spain), on December 10-14. This event is the last regatta in the RC 44 2008 Championship Tour. The season’s match, fleet race and long distance champions will be crowned. The pressure is rising: there is a lot at stake.

The season champions of the RC 44 Class will be crowned on December 14 in Puerto Calero, on the Island of Lanzarote (Canary Islands), at the end of the RC 44 Gold Cup.

The best RC 44 teams, including some of the world’s best sailors, will participate in the event: Team Aqua, Ceeref, BMW ORACLE Racing, Artemis, Banco Espirito Santo, Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano and the new local Team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero.


The Gold Cup is the season’s most important regatta and it promises to be intense. In the fleet race ranking, Armando Giulietti’s Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano benefits from a fairly comfortable margin although he will have to sail well to confirm his earlier results. Indeed, places are hot in his wake with three teams fighting for two spots left on the podium. Patrick de Barros’ team Banco Espirito Santo, Igor Lah’s Ceeref and Chris Bake’s Team Aqua are merely separated by 24 points and a reshuffle is possible.

The DHL Trophy ranking is even hotter, with the two leaders – Banco Espirito Santo and Hiroshi – separated by just one point. The DHL Trophy is the long distance contest of the Championship Tour; a regatta that allows teams to discover the surroundings of the race sites such as the Palm in Dubai or the upper part of Lake Traun in Austria. The Gold Cup long distance DHL regatta will remain a windward-leeward circuit, sailed alongside the stunning Island of Lanzarote.

The RC 44 match race contest is one of the toughest in the world, with three times America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts sailing against Team New Zealand's helmsman Dean Barker, James Spithill, Cameron Appleton, Sébastien Col and many more. James Spithill is in a good position to win the annual ranking although his boss at BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison, will do his best to beat him for the third time in four races. Ellison didn’t compete in the first regatta of the season and can therefore only win the yearly ranking if he wins the Gold Cup whilst Ceeref finishes last. With 13 points on the scoreboard, Ellison will also have to seriously control the boats behind him: Banco Espirito Santo (14 points), Hiroshi – Città di Milano (16 points) and Team Aqua (17 points). No doubt this will be a fascinating contest!

Artemis will be helmed by Dean Barker in the Puerto Calero RC44 Gold Cup. Photo copyright Guilain Grenier / RC 44

A new team joins the RC 44 fleet for the Gold Cup: the local team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, sailing on board Beecom. José Maria Ponce will be at the helm; he is well known in Spain as the backup helmsman for the TP 52 Bribón. Most of the team is made up of members of Daniel Calero’s GP 42 campaign, whilst some members of Desafio - the Spanish entry for the America’s Cup - will reinforce the crew. Their local knowledge is a serious asset.

Organised by Puerto Calero, a superb real estate development on Lanzarote's seafront, the RC 44 Gold Cup will begin on Wednesday December 10 with the match racing event. After a full round robin held in two days, the team owners will take (or keep, depending on the cases) the helm for three days of fleet racing. The DHL Trophy regatta will take place on Sunday; the winner of this race will be awarded with the DHL Trophy, whilst the points of the regatta will be incorporated in the fleet race ranking.

The teams involved in the Gold Cup:

BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts
Ceeref, Igor Lah / James Spithill
Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano, Armando Giulietti
Team Banco Espirito Santo, Patrick de Barros / Mark Mendelblatt
Team Aqua, Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton
Artemis, Torbjorn Tornqvist / Dean Barker
Islas Canarias Puerto Calero – José Calero / José Maria Ponce

Loïck Peyron regains lead in Vendée Globe

[Source: Vendée Globe] Peyron reclaims the lead overnight, but there’s nothing to split the leading three – all within two miles. Just 20 miles divide the first seven skippers after 18 days of racing — is the Vendée Globe set to restart in the Southern Atlantic?

Neptune decided to throw in some wild cards last night, as the leaders entered a zone of virtually random conditions with squalls, calms, grey skies, lower temperatures and variable south-easterly winds averaging just 10 knots. The high pressure area is now being felt, with sudden wind shifts of more than 40 degrees in the small hours of this morning.

Loïck Peyron (Gitana 80) and Armel l’Cleac’h (Brit Air) were able to carry on a straight course for the south-south-east, moving Peyron back up to the lead in this morning’s rankings — these two can no doubt see each other, as they are just seven miles apart. Similarly Vincent Riou (PRB), Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) and Yann Eliès (Generali), are practically next to each other at this extraordinary point in the race.

Yesterday evening Sebastien Josse (BT) had wrestled the lead from Peyron. He is now showing in second place, just 1.2 miles behind Peyron, but by being on the east of the front runners Josse has managed to stay on port tack as the wind shifted more southerly. He is currently heading south-south-west with relative speed in these light conditions — a radical move which may yet pay off as BT is also the most southernmost boat.

The biggest effects of the southerly shift were felt to the west of the course, where Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2, 7th) and Mike Golding (Ecover, GBR, 9th) were forced to tack during the night, losing ground as they headed on an easterly course on starboard. They will now be experiencing similar conditions to the leading bunch, as the fleet converges yet further.

Jean le Cam (VM Matériaux), out on the east of this group, has moved up to fourth place this morning as the leading pack sail towards his line.

As the leaders slow, the chasing bunch of Marc Guillemot (Safran), Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar, GBR) and Dominque Wavre (Temenos, SUI) have kept the pace on, with Temenos currently the fastest boat on the course. Thompson for instance is 55 miles closer to the leader than he was yesterday morning. Meanwhile in 22nd place Bernard Stamm (Cheminées-Poujoulat) is doing his best to eat up the miles, covering the greatest distance in the past 24 hours.

Last night Derek Hatfield (Algimouss Spirit of Canada) became the 24th skipper to cross the Equator, with just Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty remaining in the northern hemisphere.

Dean Barker sweeps NZ Match Racing Championships round robins

[Source: RNZYS] Competitors were greeted with a fresh easterly breeze of 15 – 18 knots as they sailed out into the third day of the Match Racing Nationals. The heavier conditions made for exciting spectator viewing, as boat handling and crew work was critical to maintain control of the boats.

Another brilliant performance from Dean Barker today saw him leave the water with 17 wins, and is yet to lose a race. If anyone was to disturb this winning streak, it was the young team helmed by Phil Robertson, who really put the pressure on the Emirates Team New Zealand crew during the early stages of the day. After a very tight and exciting pre-start, both boats sailed neck and neck to the top mark, where Barker rounded in front by a mere three seconds. Robertson, known for his fast downwind sailing, managed to creep past Barker on the downwind leg, coming out just in front at the bottom mark. With only one leg to go, Barker fought his way back in front and extended his lead to a 12 second victory at the finish line.

Robertson continued to threaten the leading sailors, with a tough race against Ben Ainslie. On the last downwind leg the boats gybed all the way to the finish, and after an intense luffing dual just before the finish line Robertson was given a penalty which saw Ainslie claim the race. The penalty which was given to Robertson occurred after serious contact causing damage to their two boats, thus both teams were deducted half a point for failing to avoid a collision. Unfortunately for Robertson, he still had to complete his penalty before he could finish the race. Nevertheless an excellent effort from the young helmsman!

While Barker and Ainslie look safe to make the semi-finals, the next three flights are critical in deciding who will fill up the other two spots. With Rod Davis on 12 wins and Adam Minoprio on 11, they will be fighting for the spots as Laurie Jury and Phil Robertson are not that far behind. The Race Committee got six flights away today, so still have three flights to complete the round robin. With Ben Ainslie, Rod Davis and Dean Barker yet to match each other in this round, we are looking at an exciting start to tomorrow's racing!

POINTS TABLE (after Round Robin One and eight flights of Round Robin Two)

Dean Barker 17 wins / 0 losses / 17 points
Ben Ainslie 14 / 3 / 13.5*
Rod Davis 12 / 5 / 12
Adam Minoprio 11 / 6 / 11
Laurie Jury 10 / 7 / 10
Phil Robertson 9 / 8 / 8.5*
Josh Junior 6 / 11 / 6
Reuben Corbett 6 / 12 / 6
Jessica Smyth 4 / 14 / 4
Adrian Short 4 / 13 / 4
Jan Dawson 2 / 16 / 2

* Phil Robertson & Ben Ainslie have been penalized 1/2 point

Seb Josse, new leader of the Vendée Globe

[Source: Vendée Globe] For the first time in 14 days, the 2008-08 Vendée Globe has a new leader. At this afternoon’s 1500hrs (GMT) updates, Seb Josse on BT has taken pole position from long-time pace-setter Loïck Peyron.

But whilst place-changes among this leading group can sometime be misleading — it is after all measured from ‘distance to finish’, which doesn’t take account of the fact that the front pack are having to dive south rather than take the most direct route to the Cape — Josse is also further south and showing better boatspeed than Gitana Eighty to stretch out a lead of 15.3 miles. Over the past five hours Peyron’s average speed has been little more than five knots, and his 24-hour distance covered has dropped to under 200 miles for the first time in six days. His track shows a number of tacks, apparently the result of squalls as Peyron finds himself sailing under a black cloud — in every sense.

Peyron wrote today: “This morning, I ended up stuck beneath a squall for three – four hours. There wasn’t a breath of air and I was manoeuvring in every direction to try to get out of it all. We’re hitting a buffer zone and as I was leading the way, I was the first to land in the shit! It’s no surprise though, I’d be preparing for it for several days. This isn’t the important thing: you mustn’t be distracted by the rankings and the changes in hierarchy as things really only get serious further down the track…”

Jonny Malbon on Artemis gives a very interesting account of sailing in the Doldrums. 27 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

Behind this duo the place changes are less clear-cut, Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2), who was third this morning, is currently showing as fifth, but is still the next most southerly boat in this race to the 40s. That means Armel le Cléac’h (Brit Air) has moved up to third, and Vincent Rio (PRB) to fourth. But the leading seven boats are now packed within just 40 miles, and who is actually in front will be open to debate while we wait to see the effect of the high pressure system. Currently showing in eighth place, Mike Golding (Ecover, GBR) is to the west of this leading group, and has conceded a few miles to Yann Elies (Generali).

Still consistently quick, Marc Guillemot on Safran is just over 150 miles off the leader —having halved the distance of one week ago — and other boats are coming down with him; Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar, GBR) and Dominque Wavre (Temenos, SUI), who have reversed yesterday’s order with Thomspon now 10 miles ahead.

Michel Desjoyeaux on Foncia continues to clock up the miles to the west, although Dee Caffari (Aviva, GBR) has been doing a good job of hanging onto his coat tails, showing the greatest mileage over the past 24 hours.

The fastest boat on the course is currently Bernard Stamm’s Cheminées Poujoulat (SUI), averaging over 13 knots in his pursuit of Raphael Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital).

In this morning’s radio broadcasts the chasing skippers were all hoping for the opportunity to make some gains and close up with the leading pack, but the real chances will come for whoever can exit the high pressure system in best shape. In the meantime it’s time to keep on top of any ongoing maintenance and perform some final checks before the plunge south — a trip up the rig is in order for many of them.

Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge in Dubai started today

[Source: Oman Sail] The guests on the beach at the Mina Seyahi in Dubai were given a fantastic show today as four Extreme 40s raced within metres of the shoreline on Day 1 of the Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge - Act 1 Dubai. The conditions were perfect for these spectacular 40-foot catamarans: flat waters and a 12-15 knot wind that saw the boats flying hulls and giving an exhilarating ride for the the VIPs and journalists onboard in the sixth-man position.

"What a brilliant day," said Pete Cumming, Skipper of day 1 leaders Oman Sail. "We definitely have the advantage as we have been training as a squad for the past few months, but the other teams still pushed us hard today. It was a big learning curve for everyone, if you didn't gybe in time, you'd end up on the beach!"

The Arabian Extreme 40 challenge has been brought to the GCC region by Ellen MacArthur's company OC Events to showcase these awesome catamarans and look at the possibility of bringing the professional circuit to Dubai in the future.

Oman Air Extreme 40 Skippered by Shirley Robertson racing on day 1 of the Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge. Dubai, 27 November 2008. Photo copyright Mark Lloyd / Oman Sail

Two members from the Oman Sail core crew raced on each boat including Khamis al Anbouri on the second Oman Sail Extreme 40, Oman Air, newly sponsored by the airline. "What a brilliant day!", he said through a beaming smile. "To race alongside the world's top sailors as part of their team is an awesome experience.

"It was really hard work today; constantly thinking, listening and reacting to the wind shifts or the calls from the skipper. It was also hard learning new accents. We've got used to Pete and Chris's English and now to hear a New Zealand accent from Fraser Brown or the soft voice of Shirley Robertson, it's really hard to adjust! I've never raced in Arabian waters, nor in such fantastic wind conditions, so it is really exciting. I can't wait for tomorrow."

"I'm really proud of the Omanis who raced today," Pete continued. "All the other skippers have told me what a fantastic job they've done today, gelled well with their teams and have worked extremely hard."

Fleet racing on day 1 of the Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge. Dubai, 27 November 2008. Photo copyright Mark Lloyd / Oman Sail

Shirley Robertson agreed, "The Oman Sail core crew have been trained really well. They are physically fit, keen to learn and their dedication to sailing is evident. It was a a great fun day on the water. Dubai is one of the most perfect locations to go sailing, a fantastic amphitheatre, good wind and I'm really happy with the way our team performed. The whole team gave as much at the beginning as at the end and worked really hard. We'll be looking to step up a gear tomorrow to put pressure on Oman Sail for the top spot."

It was a first for French multi-hull legend Karine Fauconnier as she raced an Extreme 40 for the first time. "Wow! Well that was a great first day. It is so much fun to race a brand new type of boat, but high pressure too. My crew and I had sailed together for the first time just yesterday and so we were having to learn not only about the boat, but each other. I'm not happy with our results today as I am very competitive and here to win, but I knew that these were top class sailors and I wouldn't be able to just turn up and walk away with first prize. I'm determined that we are going to fight our way up the leaderboard tomorrow.

Oman Sail took five first places in the six-race day, with iShares, skippered by Hugh Styles in second place, followed by Shirley Robertson and Oman Air on 13 points and TEAM AQUA on 9. Each race lasted approximately 15 minutes in the short, sharp races that have epitomised the professional Extreme 40 European circuit this summer, the iShares Cup.

Racing on day 2, Friday 28 November, will take place from 2.30pm local time with up to six races and the final day of racing will be on Saturday 29 November. The boats will then be packed up and trailered to Muscat for Act 2 of the Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge for the Oman Air trophy.

Highlights from the 1st day of the Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge. Dubai, 27 November 2008. Video copyright Oman Sail

Dean Barker undefeated, leads NZ Match Racing Championships

[Source: RNZYS] Intensity levels were high going into day two of the New Zealand Match Racing Championships, with some tight races being fought out under the increasing pressure to make it into the semi finals. A fresh breeze of 10 – 15 knots coming from the South West made for perfect match racing conditions and created a mixed bag of results, with some upsetting losses and surprising wins.

Rod Davis suffered 4 losses today, losing races to Ben Ainslie, Dean Barker Reuben Corbett, and Josh Junior. The two young teams made it hard for last years defending champion, with some close races. The match between Corbett and Davis was definitely a highlight of the day, the young team rising to the competition and pushing Davis into a nail biting finish. Davis, having a penalty to complete on the last downwind leg forced Corbett into a trap at the finish line in an attempt to clear his penalty. However by keeping his nose clean, Corbett was able to keep well clear and sail to the finish, beating Davis by 10 seconds. This match triggered the start of a good day for the youth team, as they then went on to beat Ben Ainslie in the following race. Corbett’s team attributed their wins to their crew work and boat handling skills. This just proves the point that experience isn’t everything in a match racing regatta, where anything is possible!

The Race Committee was able to get away eight flights today, completing the first round robin and also two races of the second round robin. Dean Barker leads the field, coming off the water today with 11 wins, and remains undefeated. Ben Ainslie isn’t far behind with 9 wins, closely followed by up and coming Phil Robertson on 8 wins. Rod Davis, after a few hard blows today still holds 7 wins, followed by Jury and Minoprio tied up on 6. With the rest of the teams not far behind, it’s all on for tomorrow’s day racing!

POINTS TABLE
(after Round Robin One and Two Flights of Round Robin Two)

Dean Barker 11 wins / 0 losses
Ben Ainslie 9 / 3
Phil Robertson 8 / 4
Rod Davis 7 / 5
Adam Minoprio 6 / 5
Laurie Jury 6 / 6
Reuben Corbett 5 / 7
Jessica Smyth 4 / 8
Adrian Short 4 / 8
Josh Junior 4 / 8
Jan Dawson 1 / 11

No changes in the Vendée Globe top five; Peyron leads

[Source: Vendée Globe] The elastic band which seems to be holding the leading group together has contracted again and second placed Seb Josse has bounced back to just 12.9 miles behind leader Loïck Peyron. Peyron has a habit of stretching away again overnight, but all five of the leaders are now within 50.9 miles of one another.

On this evening’s 1900hr (GMT) update, Mike Golding (GBR) has lost two places to lie eighth behind Roland Jourdain and Yann Elies, but small place changes between this leading triangle of nine are largely irrelevant, as they concentrate on lining up for what’s coming ahead — and looking over their shoulder for those likely to close up from behind.

Highlights from the 17th day of the Vendée Globe. 26 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

Tomorrow is likely to be a very different day, as the disturbed remains of a cold front look set to cause variations in the wind strength for boats just a few miles apart, which might prove enough to separate the leaders. So as the pace-setters make their decisions on how to approach the first front, it’s the followers who could benefit from more favourable winds. In their tracks are Marc Guillemot, then Dominque Wavre and Brian Thompson (GBR) — who have been having their own battle, with Thompson coming out better on this evenings rankings as they exit the Isle of Trinidad.

For 13th-placed Samantha Davies (Roxy), the biggest threat is from her right, where Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is powering south two knots more quickly, although by being further east the British skipper might hold an advantage of being able to cut across earlier, as the wind gradually backs north-easterly. Jean le Cam, the most easterly boat of the front pack, will also be hoping to scrape through on his way to the Cape of Good Hope.

One more boat looks set to cross the Equator tonight, with Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) set to join the fleet in the south.

Ericsson 4 makes significant gain

[Source: Volvo Ocean Race] The advantage, at 1300 GMT today, belonged to Ericsson 4, who had made a massive gain thanks to a well-positioned rain shower. She disappeared as if in ‘stealth’ mode earlier this morning, and when she emerged from her early bath, she had made a gain of around 45 nautical miles.

Torben Grael/BRA and his men are now sailing almost twice as fast as their nearest opponents who are clumped together in the middle group of the fleet as they race towards the finish of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race in Cochin, India.

But, this is the Doldrums and to play poker with them is at your peril and the serious contenders in the leg have not placed any bets. They are sticking firmly, in a formation, which will ensure they will all benefit from, roughly, the same weather.

Torben Grael and Jules Salter discuss their strategy. Indian Ocean, 26 November 2008. Video copyright Ericsson Racing Team

At daybreak this morning, the group of Ericsson 4, Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE), PUMA (Ken Read/USA) and Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) were all close together. Ericsson 4 was just a few miles ahead of Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) and PUMA (Ken Read).

Now, with Ericsson 4 long gone, Ericsson 3 reports being at almost a standstill. The sea temperature is 31 degrees and the wind speed is 1.3 knots from every direction. The chasing pack wallows helplessly in the wake of Ericsson 4.

On the outer flanks of the group are the two Telefónica boats 68 nm to the west of PUMA, and Kosatka Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) 60 nm east of Green Dragon.

Bouwe Bekking and Simon Fisher pondering their moves in the Doldrums. Indian Ocean, 26 November 2008. Photo copyright Gabriele Olivo / Equipo Telefonica

Onboard Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP), MCM Mikel Pasabant says that the constant stream of breakages is wearing thin. “The breakages are so many that we spend too much of our energy solving them, instead of proper sailing,” he said.

In the last 24 hours, the order of the fleet has changed. Green Dragon moves up to third place and Team Russia and Telefónica Black have swapped places. All the boats in the fleet except Delta Lloyd and Team Russia have lost miles to the leader in the past three hours.

Leg Two Day 12: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 821 nm
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +48
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +58
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +60
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +64
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +75
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +114
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +122

Delta Dore abandons Vendée Globe

[Source: Vendée Globe] Jérémie Beyou, the skipper of DELTA DORE, has informed the Race Directors of his decision to retire from the race, believing it is impossible to carry out repairs without external help.

Beyou was fairly sure that this would be the only possible outcome ever since Delta Dore suffered damage to its starboard side spreaders, but needed to reach land in order to check over the rigging thoroughly before making the decision.

When Delta Dore reached the Brazilian port of Recife early this morning, Beyou was able to identify five separate problems with the rig, including broken titanium spreader attachments that he cannot repair or retool. In addition, two carbon spreaders are broken, the PBO standing rigging on the starboard side has been damaged by the impact from the spreaders, two shrouds are out of action, the starboard runner is severely damaged, and the carbon mast tube is also partly delaminating having been hit by the spreaders. The damage is so severe he has no option but to retire from the race.

Elsewhere in the fleet there has been little change at the 1000hrs (GMT) updates, leader Loick Peyron holding Seb Josse off by 17.1 miles.

Mike Golding has gained some ground in sixth, with Ecover now 8.6 miles behind fifth placed Vincent Riou on PRB.

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is currently the fastest boat on the course, advancing on Sam Davies (Roxy). Safran is also keeping the pressure on, pulling over 50 miles ahead of Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar.

Dean Barker and Rod Davis lead NZ Match Racing Championships

[Source: RNZYS] Day one of the New Zealand Match Racing Championships saw competitors take to the water in some very trying conditions, for both the sailors and the race committee. Teams headed out onto the water, and with racing postponed to begin with , they w ere left to try and figure out the conditions on a day which anything was possible.

With a very gentle 3-4 knots in the morning, the breeze was coming out of the South West, and going North as the day went on. Teams had to contend with a strong tide and wind shifts of between 10–15 degrees, which meant that if the difficult conditions were read correctly, the crews were able to extend their lead or close the match right up. The day had some close races!!

The Race Committee managed to get five flights away, with skippers Dean Barker and Rod Davis leaving the course undefeated, whilst all other teams had mixed results. One close race saw Jess Smyth lead Adam Minoprio in a tight race around the course, going head to wind at the top mark, Jess managed to hold her lead and win the race by 10 seconds. Adrian Short, commented that the races were fairly close, but there were not many incidents or tricky situations. Laurie Jury was able to take a race off Ben Ainslee in a race which saw Jury extend to a lead of 22 seconds.

After 5 flights today took up a long and exhausting day today, the field is still wide open for teams to change their odds, and after the first round robin is completed (as scheduled for tomorrow) we might just a change in performance for some of these teams. The title is still up for anyone, and with the hope of a little more wind to start off with tomorrow, racing will be able to get underway as scheduled at 10am.

Loïck Peyron leads a compact Vendée Globe fleet

[Source: Vendée Globe] After 16 days of sailing, just 50 miles cover first to fifth as the leading group squeeze ever-closer, with several skippers throughout the fleet engaged in some great battles with their nearest rivals as backing winds allow them to crack off the sheets and sail for speed.

Second-placed Sebastien Josse (BT) has got leader Loick Peyron in his sights, and by the 1900hrs (GMT) update has brought the deficit down to just 10.1 miles. It’s been a good day at the office for ‘Jo Jo’, who gained more than 18 miles on Gitana Eighty since this morning.

Marc Guillemot on Safran is also having a great duel with Briton Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar. The VPLP-designed Safran seems to be getting the better of the powerful Pindar at the moment, clocking up over 309 miles over the past 24 hours, the most of any boat.

Highlights from the 16th day of the Vendée Globe. 25 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

Speaking at this morning’s live radio broadcasts, Brian Thompson compared Safran and Bahrain Team Pindar, which are at different ends of the IMOCA 60 design spectrum. “We’re very different. We’ve been quite similar [pace] over the past couple of days, Safran has probably been a touch faster. She’s been a little bit more in the east, which may have helped her but there’s not much to choose between them. I remember at the start Safran was very fast and she’s a particularly good boat upwind, which is surprising when you look at those curved foils etc but maybe that long chine helps her go upwind as well. But it’s going very fast a lot of the time.”

Michel Desjoyeaux has also picked up the pace — he is currently one place behind Sam Davies (13th), whose Roxy is the very same boat on which he won the 2000-2001 Vendée Globe.

At the other end of the fleet Derek Hatfield now has to fend off Jean-Baptiste Desjanty on Groupe Maisonneuve, as they approach the Doldrums. “I'm also feeling the heat from Jean Baptiste who is right behind pushing hard to catch up. He is providing me with some motivation to pick up the pace now. All good stuff, as they say.”

But while picking off a rival will no doubt give any skipper some satisfaction, the real gains and losses are still to come — when to turn left, that is the question…?

What is this??

Here's an easy quiz for today. What boat is this?

Ericsson 4 and 3 lead the Volvo Ocean Race; fleet compresses

[Source: Ericsson Racing Team] The fleet on Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race has seen some compression from the back of the fleet forward over the past 12 hours. Where there was a 214-nautical-mile gap between first and eighth yesterday afternoon, at 0100 GMT this morning that gap was down to 180 miles.

The International crew on Ericsson 4 continued to lead the fleet, 1,230 nautical miles from the finish. Their teammates on Ericsson 3 were virtually in sight, just 3 miles behind on their starboard, windward, quarter.

The two Ericsson crews have been at the head of the fleet since clearing the scoring gate last Thursday, and since Saturday they’ve rarely been separated by more than 8 nautical miles.

“It’s been a pretty wet 24 hours aboard the good ship Ericsson 4!” bowman Phil “Blood” Jameson said yesterday afternoon. “We’ve been sailing along making a very high average boatspeed. Not quite record pace, but very close. We have a wind angle of roughly 100 degrees. Anything in that sort of region means some serious fire hosing on deck!”

Besides being occupied with each other, the Ericsson crews also have a charging fleet to fend off. At the 0100 position report, Puma was 27 nautical miles behind, having gained 17 miles in the past 12 hours. Telefónica Blue was 35 miles behind, a gain of 16 miles. Green Dragon, in fifth, halved its 72-mile deficit to 36.

Boatspeeds had slowed to an average around 17 knots, down from the 20-knot power reaching of the past two days. The next hurdle for the fleet is the Doldrums, roughly positioned betgween 03S and 05S latitude. At 0100, fleet leader Ericsson 4 was approximately 325 nautical miles away at 10S.

“The fleet will start to compress a bit overnight, and we may awake (Tuesday) with a much closer, but slower race in progress,” said team meteorologist Chris Bedford. “The lead of Ericsson 4 and Ericsson 3 over the competition is not big. The next two days will be critical.”

VOLVO OCEAN RACE LEG 2 LEADERBOARD
(Nov. 25, 2008, 0100 GMT)
1. Ericsson 4, 1,230 nautical miles to finish
2. Ericsson 3, 3 NM to leader
3. Puma, 27 NM to leader
4. Telefónica Blue, 35 NM to leader
5. Green Dragon, 36 NM to leader
6. Telefónica Black, 94 NM to leader
7. Delta Lloyd, 149 NM to leader
8. Kosatka, 180 NM to leader

Loïck Peyron keeps extending lead in Vendée Globe

[Source: Vendée Globe] Psychologically, being in the lead is not necessarily very relaxing. The frontrunner has to find the way, take each wind shift and bend, each line of new wind, and avoid taking the wrong road. The slightest hesitation and the pack will pounce.

Some skippers admit that they prefer to be a bit further back, although not too far, of course, in order to observe before making their move. The only thing that really counts in a race is the finishing line. It does not matter if you have been in the lead for three-quarters of the time, if you are pipped at the post. With thirty years of racing behind him, Loïck Peyron has learnt to deal with this pressure.

Highlights from the 15th day of the Vendée Globe. 24 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

He applies his psychological advantage by making small gains over his rivals each night. Last night it was another four miles, to ease 28.5 miles clear of Seb Josse, (BT), his consistent shadow who makes it seven consecutive days in second place.

Mike Golding, GBR, (Ecover 3) had converged very slightly with Jean Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac) but is running parallel and almost abeam of the third placed winner of the Barcelona World Race. Golding was second quickest of the top group overnight, while the speed of Peyron – who consistently seems to find more speed at night.

Golding is now 19 miles clear of Yann Eliès’ Generali.

Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar), 11th, has kept pace almost exactly with 10th placed Marc Guillemot (Safran) and was polled 241.6 miles behind Peyron, losing about 10 miles overnight on the leading group.

Jonny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis II), Rich Wilson, USA, (Great American III) and Raphael Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital) all passed across the Equator last night.

Bernard Stamm, SUI, (Cheminées Poujoulat) will be the next to cross, while Derek Hatfield, CAN, (Algimouss Spirit of Canada) lines up to enter the Doldrums.

Few changes in the Vendée Globe as the fleet sails past Salvador

[Source: Vendée Globe] Little change in the order of the top 15 as the Vendee Globe as the leaders enjoy fast trade winds sailing along the Brasilian coast, some 600 miles to the east of Salvador de Bahia.

The winds backed this morning to allow the leaders to ease sheets and power reach at speeds up to 17-18 knots at times. Loick Peyron’s lead has been trimmed very slightly, at 21.8 miles over Seb Josse (BT) from the 29 miles he lead by last night, but with the prospect of the St Helena high pressure system still blocking their direct path then there is the likelihood of more important gains and losses in days to come. Indeed as the system moves east there may be lbigger benefits for the chasing pack.

The fleet is now strung out over 1500 miles north to south. Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) made his first crossing of the Equator today – the only skipper in the fleet never to have done so before. He was followed by Unai Basurko, ESP, (Pakea Bizkaia) just after lunch time today, while the next should be Jonny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis 2).

Malbon was relishing the trade winds conditions after a tough, slow Doldrums crossing, his frustration heightened by a problem with his Fleet 77 receiver which limits his ability to get meteo information.

The slight easterly rotation of the breeze saw Vincent Riou, 4th, (PRB) and Roland Jourdain (Veolia Envirnonnement) bank some of their gains by moving slightly eastt, while Golding, 6th, and Elies, 7th, stuck with their course and took the ‘speed’ option.

Brian Thompson, GBR, and Marc Guillemot have had an interesting duel, conceptually different boats from either end if the IMOCA Open 60 design spectrum. Guillemot’s Safran is one of the lightest in the fleet, going for a stripped, simple approach, while Thompson’s Bahrain Team Pindar is perhaps the most powerful. Some 33 miles to the east of him, Guillemot has computed to have taken 10th place from Thompson gaining about 8 miles over the course of the day, the only place change this afternoon.

At the top of the fleet Gitana Eighty still leads by 21.8 miles from Josse’s BT. Vincent Riou (PRB), fourth, has repositioned himself almost directly in front or Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) but this pair are still only seven miles apart and often still in sight of each other.

Bouwe Bekking: We manage just to hang in with the leaders

We manage just to hang in with the leaders. What has happened to us is big disappointment for me and the rest of the guys, as we were, in our minds, ready to make more gains. We know that power reaching is a strong point for us.

We will investigate the daggerboard once we will reach Cochin. There was only 15 knots of breeze, but I reckon an impact with an object is the most likely cause. It is like a window in your car, it is very strong, but one little stone can shatter the glass into a thousand pieces.

Pepe Ribes dives to recover broken daggerboard. Southern Indian Ocean, 23 November 2008. Photo copyright Gabriele Olivo / Equipo Telefonica

I suspect that an impact damaged the board and this created the chain reaction. Frustrated, yes, but can’t change it back, keep chipping away and see what the future will bring us.

The boat is not easy to steer in these conditions, as we as we don’t have anything to prevent us sliding sideways. So every big wave, and there are many, hard pushes the bow down, resulting in making a big correction with the rudder, which of course creates drag. Normally if you look backwards, you can see a close to near straight line from the stern water, but now you can see that we zigzagging over the ocean. On deck it is back to normal, wet, wet, wet, the helmets and ski-goggles are out again, and the guys drive as hard as we can, as we know we are still in there.

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

Life aboard Telefonica Blue during leg 2. Southern Indian Ocean, 21 November 2008. Video copyright Volvo Ocean Race

Chris Bedford, Ericsson meteorologist: Looming doldrums; next two days critical

[Source: Chris Bedford, Ericsson Team Meteorologist] The racing remains close but the Ericsson Racing Team seems to be holding their own today and making small gains on the rest of the fleet. Ericsson 4 made some gains overnight by taking on a more aggressive and slightly deeper reaching angle, pulling back even or slightly ahead of Ericsson 3. This change could also be – in part – due to a more backed wind for a time on Ericsson 4, but by now the two boats are close enough so that they should be in about the same wind direction and speed.

Meanwhile, the closest rivals Puma and Telefonica Blue are sailing slower in slightly less breeze and bruised from their rough trip so far.

As highlighted yesterday, the weather for today appears to favor fast reaching conditions with wind speeds averaging around 20 knots from the E through this afternoon. Things will start to change later this afternoon and especially overnight as the strongest trades are left behind to the south and the winds start to decrease foreshadowing the lighter winds expected with the approaching doldrums.

There have not been any significant changes to note in the Doldrums. A crossing east of Diego Garcia is expected. In fact, hedging course even slightly more to the east now appears to be favored and we might see that trend in the coming position updates. The shift from the E/SE trade winds to the westerly component winds that blow across the equator is expected to take place over a period of about 24 hours from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday evening as the boats cross from about latitude 5S to latitude 3S. Expect to hear complaints of very light winds from the boats by tomorrow morning.

The fleet will start to compress a bit overnight, and we may awake tomorrow with a much closer, but slower race in progress. The lead of Ericsson 4 and Ericsson 3 over the competition is not big. The next two days will be critical.

Once through the doldrums by late Wednesday or early Thursday morning, moderate WSW winds will continue to offer fine reaching conditions until late Friday. But, from late Friday through the finish on Saturday the winds will be lightest and most variable.

Current ETA predictions bring the boats into Cochin during the late evening on Saturday, November 29th. However, you are cautioned that this ETA could change significantly depending on the winds that are found off the SW coast of India. Changes in ETA are possible, especially if the winds are lighter than currently forecast.

NOTE: I will be in transit to India for the next two days. If I can get a connection when connecting in Hong Kong, I will try to update. Otherwise, you will next hear from me from Cohin on Thursday.

Loïck Peyron builds 30-mile lead as Vendée Globe fleet moves south

[Source: Vendée Globe] It is small gains and losses of little significance this evening bearing in mind that the St Helena High(s) are setting up something of a road block, guarding the fast trains into the Southern Ocean

At the moment it is sending the leaders the very long way round, close to the Brasilian coast as there seems no sensible way through the middle.

And at the moment there is more breeze closer to the coast. But that is balanced against sailing the shorter distance by skirting closer to the middle of the high, or as the French like to say, ‘cutting the cheese’.

For the time being it is a case of keeping the pedal down, straight lining it upwind in the 20 knots SE’ly trade winds, keeping rested, watching the maintenance of the boat and equipment in the jarring, choppy seas, and looking at the met planning for the next five to seven days.

Highlights from the 14th day of the Vendée Globe. 23 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

While Jean Pierre Dick appears to have made a small advance, about four miles, the only place change among the leading group is Yann Elies (Générali), who has passed Mike Golding, GBR, (Ecover) again for sixth. While Golding has stayed very much on his track, Elies seems to have taken a little extra height over the last 70 miles or so, perhaps as the breeze backed to the east a little, or maybe working a higher mode for a while. He is now computed to be three miles ahead of Golding.

Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) is up to 11th place as he eases past Dominique Wavre, SUI, (Temenos II) after a long duel to the north north west of the main pack. The pair have been very evenly matched for speed, Thompson sailing slightly lower and more west, below Temenos’ line.

Steve White may be the next to toast King Neptune, crossing over the Equator some time tomorrow, will be interesting to see what the British skipper offers up to Neptune.

Telefonica Blue suffers damage

[Source: Volvo Ocean Race] Just when everything seemed to be going right for Bouwe Bekking and his men on Telefónica Blue, it all went wrong again. The boat was loving the conditions, the crew were pushing hard, and slowly, but surely, climbing back up the leaderboard, when the crew heard a big bang, and everything changed.

“We snapped one of our daggerboards, the boards which prevent the boat from slipping sideways,” explained skipper Bouwe Bekking. “We destroyed it and had to stop the boat for 45 minutes,” he said. Even worse for the crew, the little speed they were able to do, was on the wrong tack and sailing away from the finish in India and they lost 10 precious miles.

The crew found hammers, chisels and hacksaws to try and cut the board free, but, in the end, Pepe Ribes from Spain was lowered into the water to get rid of all the bits and pieces so that the board could be raised again.

The team is underway again, but sailing much slower than they would like. The good news is that Laurent Pages from France, who was injured in the big weather last week when he was washed down the boat, is back up on deck and even trimming the mainsail.

“You can’t stop him,” says Bekking. “He [Laurent] was getting very, very bored, so we have given him this joy, as the conditions are not too bad.” The crew have braced Pages between two spinnakers and made a little stand to lock his feet in to. His injured arm is hanging limply beside his body and he is still unable use it.

The jury is clearly out on Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) as to whether the crew should attempt to repair their broken boom or not. Skipper Ian Walker says the boat is still going well with no boom.

“When we have the mainsail set up, it looks good. The problems are when we need to react quickly to shifts of gusts as have about four sheets hanging off it.” He says repairing the boom could be more of a distraction, especially as even with the repair, it will far from 100 percent.

Meanwhile, Tom Braidwood/AUS and Damien Foxall/IRL have been busy fixing other things, including water leaking badly through the glue joining the port daggerboard. While they were making the repair, the steering sheave, which prevents the boat from Chinese gybing, came off.

Braidwood assessed the damage and decided on stopping the leak first, as the team was able to steer with the leeward wheel. Braidwood is in the mood for repairs and is keen to have the challenge of repairing the boom, but he is waiting for Ian Walker to give him the go ahead. If the repair is attempted, Braidwood says it will be from a combination of mainsail battens, glue, carbon and anything else he can find. He says it will look ugly, but if it works, he will be very happy.

Meanwhile, the Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) crew was unfortunate enough to catch about seven metres of heavy, arm-thick rope around the port rudder, which stalled the boat and slowed it down.

The fleet is all beam reaching towards the finish in Cochin, India, and is in, or almost into the tradewinds

Delta Dore to make a pit stop to fix spreaders

[Source: Vendée Globe] Jérémie Beyou has been heading towards Brazil since 0800hrs GMT this morning, probably aiming for Recife, in order to make an unaided pit stop to inspect the damage to two spreaders on the starboard side (his leeward side). The skipper of Delta Dore is not retiring and hopes to carry out repairs by himself.

At 9h12 this morning 10th placed Jérémie Beyou phoned the Race Directors to inform them of the damage. At around 7H UTC, Jérémie noticed that two top spreaders on the leeward side (starboard) were no longer attached to the mast, damage which would ultimately prevent him from changing tack. The sailor is in no danger and is sailing at reduced speed towards the nearest land, Brazil. He is currently heading for the city of Recife some 430 mile away (on a bearing of 240°) which he would expect to reach in 2-3 days.

Jérémie Beyou talks about and shows the damaged spreaders. 23 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

"I was inside the boat and I heard a noise. I went outside and I saw the spreaders hanging on the leeward side with the rigging swinging around. I hove too. I'm going to make sure the rig is as secure as possible by taking the strain off the sails by bearing away. I currently have the wind from astern," Jérémie told his shore team

There was no impact to explain the damage. Only the repeated slamming in the choppy seas might explain why the spreader broke away from the mast. Vendée Globe race rules only allow external help in Les Sables d’Olonne. Each competitor must carry out repairs alone, according to the rules to stay in the race. Delta Dore cannot moor up in a harbour, but can only shelter off the coast. This is what Yves Parlier did in the 2000-2001 Vendée Globe, when he repaired his mast while sheltering off New Zealand.

Impressive lineup at the NZ Match Racing Championships

Related PDF Documents

Skipper profiles and crews

[Source: Royal NZ Yacht Squadron] The 2008 New Zealand Match Racing Championships are only days away, and with a line up of top New Zealand match racers plus three-times Olympic gold medal winner Ben Ainslie from the UK, this event will host some highly competitive racing!!

Last year’s winner Rod Davis will be out to defend his title, as well as recognised names such as Dean Barker, Adam Minoprio, and Laurie Jury, who have all competed on the international match racing circuit and will know what to expect from an event such as this.

Phil Robertson from the RNZYS and Josh Junior from the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club in Wellington will also be names to watch out for, having recently competed in events such as the Ficker Cup in LA, where Phil placed 2nd, and the Nations Cup qualifier, where both made the semi finals.

Also out there will be two female skippers, Jess Smyth who will sail with an all womens crew, and Jan Dawson. These two ladies are not to be underestimated, and both having competed in this event before they should give the boys a run for their money!

Last but defiantly not least, two youth teams are on the field, with youth training programme skippers Reuben Corbett and winner of the Nations Cup Regional Finals Adrian Short. These teams will be out there to place their mark on the National match racing field, it will be interesting to see how they go!

With umpires coming from Australia and America, top competitors from New Zealand and the UK, we are likely to see some intense racing on the beautiful Waitemata Harbour. Fantastic viewing can be found along the RNZYS seawall, which runs right along the waterfront. Daily results and photos will be published on our website, and keep you updated on the dramas and spectacles that may unfold. Anything can happen in match racing, and this event is no exception, as we eagerly await the racing to commence!!

More than half the Vendée Globe fleet in the southern hemisphere; Peyron still ahead

[Source: Vendée Globe] The only change among the leaders this evening are small differences. The leaders have been headed by a matter of a few degrees and so are heading very slightly more west. That two mile gain that Loïck Peyron made has subsided again and Gitana Eighty is now 22.7 miles ahead of BT.

Jean Pierre Dick has gained a mile, Vincent Riou has gained two, all largely due to the very slight change in course direction, the header reaching Gitana first.

But speeds remain good, Mike Golding still tops the league again this evening, he is perhaps a little more eased on his sheets, steering five degrees still to the west of the main pack on Ecover 3.

Otherwise the remarkable feature is still how closely matched the fleet leaders are. In that Ecover 3 v Générali race for sixth, there is only one tenth of a knot difference in distance over four hours.

Highlights from the 13th day of the Vendée Globe. 22 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

Fourteen boats are now over into the Southern Hemisphere, the last to cross being Sam Davies this afternoon.

For those trying to get out of the Doldrums there seems to be more hope. Steve White, on Toe in the Water has been making decent headway again, though Rich Wilson on Great American has been rather glued to the spot for a while, VMG just 1.7 knots. Jonny Malbon’s speed has risen but VMG is still pretty woeful and perhaps there is still some more pain to come, as if he and those around him have not suffered enough.

Loïck Peyron leads Vendée Globe fleet into the southern hemisphere

[Source: Vendée Globe] Tonight for the leaders it is just about straight lining it, on the breeze into the trade winds, slamming upwind, it is a very different game now.

In a matter of hours 'Sheriff' Loïck Peyron will break over the border into the Southern Hemisphere with a lead of just over 20 miles.

The chasing posse are absolutely on his heels, at Figaro pace.

The young gun slinger Seb Josse, a foot in both camps - French and English - rides high in the saddle, he has lead the chase for days and shows no sign of wilting.

His position remains strong applying 21.6 miles of lateral separation to windward of Jean-Pierre Dick, his sometime training partner in crime, two southern sailors managing to keep the hungry 2004 champion, Vincent Riou, at bay.

Dick has arrested third place again as we head into the night, 14 miles up on Riou who held third for much of today, and the four top boats are still within 40 miles of the leader.

Out to the west, holding steady, Roland Jourdain is 7th, Jean Le Cam still mining the east is eighth and slanting back for some westing, while Mike Golding holds 10th tonight. The 7th to 10th group have eight miles of DTL between them, even if their tracks are spread more than 100 miles west to east.

With the boats and skippers settled to the new rhythm the task they face is looking down south to the Saint Helena high pressure system(s) since there have been two to choose from. The situation has been looking messy, and there may be options to make big, and important, gains and losses.

One little enclave with smiles on their faces this evening are Wavre, Thompson, Daves and Guillemot.. They appear to have missed out on the Doldrums experience entirely for the moment. Wavre reported that he had moved virtually seamlessly into the Trade Winds and sure enough tonight they are making 10.2 to 10.9 knots of VMG – not really typical Doldrums pace.

Less fortunate seems to be Dee Caffari, Mich Desj, Arnaud Boissieres and Steve White. They have been swallowed by something very Doldrums like, and have slumped to 4 to 7 knots. Painful.

Chris Bedford, Ericsson meteorologist: Finally...progress!!

[Source: Chris Bedford, Ericsson meteorologist:] This morning, the two Ericsson Racing Team boats will start to appreciate the fact that they are well and truly making progress north toward the finish in Cochin. After a minor slow down today and early tomorrow, Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 will accelerate north in the SE trade winds of the southern Indian Ocean beginning tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Today, a NW wind ahead of a strong Southern Ocean cold front is pushing the boats on a course toward the north – northeast and they have made excellent progress to outrun a high pressure area which had been chasing them down from the west. They should continue north with the front which is expected to run over them somewhere around 30S this evening and about the time they cross into the sub-tropical high pressure ridge and eventually into the SE trades tomorrow. This crossing could get a little awkward with some wind holes and isolated showers popping up, but they should be in the SE trades sometime later tomorrow morning.

Crazy conditions aboard Ericsson 3. Southern Indian Ocean, 20 November 2008. Video copyright Ericsson Racing Team

At present, the trade winds look relatively strong and consistent. I am expecting themto hold 20 knots of reaching SE’ly breeze in the trades all the way to the southern boundary of doldrums which is now at about 9S. There may even be an area of 25+ knot SE’ly around 15S just before the early easing begins at 12-13S. At present, the doldrums crossing looks a little easier east of Diego Garcia rather than west.

It is not easy to discern advantages/disadvantages in the positioning of Ericsson 4 in the east vs Ericsson 3 in the northwest at the moment. Certainly, Ericsson 3 is in a more commanding position which might allow covering. This will become less possible once the boats are locked into the trade winds.

At the moment, the computer routing has a slight edge in the routing calculation going to Ericsson 4… but only in the long term. In the short-term, Ericsson 3 has the best advantage and should start closing miles on the finish more quickly. Given the way the doldrums are presently shaping up, there is now a very good chance that the fleet will shift further east and may actually get east of the longitude of Cochin as they search for a quick passage of the Indian Ocean doldrums. We saw such a solution in our historical record about 40% of the time, so there is precedence for the expected long term routing. Unfortunately, these doldrums can be pretty difficult to forecast much more than 3 days out, so any routing solution using forecasts today has at best a 60/40 probability.

Ryan Godfrey and Phil Jameson, Ericsson 4 bowmen. Southern Indian Ocean, 20 November 2008. Video copyright Ericsson Racing Team

Ericsson 3 does not have their radar working after an incident shortly after the start. In addition to tracking competitors and possible obstructions, the radar can be an important piece of equipment for monitoring the position and movement of rain squalls in the upcoming trade winds and doldrums. I spent a bit of time reviewing squall/wind management and radar tracking with skipper Anders Lewander and navigator Aksel Magdahl before the start of Leg 2. I hope a lack of the radar will not hamper them significantly in squally trade winds ahead.

BMW Oracle publishes first "GGYC Cup Newsline"

BMW Oracle stepped up its media and PR campaign and published the first issue of the "GGYC Cup Newsline", a newsletter mainly aimed at sailing media where the American team goes over the latest developments in the America's Cup scene and, of course, present and convey their point of view. Here below you can read this very first issue.

An Interesting Perspective

"Mr. America's Cup" himself, Dennis Conner, recently gave an interview to AP in which he said, among other things:

• BOR 90 "makes my cat[amaran] look like a Volkswagen . This thing is like bigger, faster, better, and they've done a great job in bringing all the technology together in this boat."
  
• "The whole sailing world will benefit by having this out on the race course in a lot of different ways."
  
• "I applaud Larry Ellison for building this boat. I'd like to see it race and I'd like to see Larry win because Alinghi is trying to shanghai the event."

No Strings Attached?

On Tuesday of last week (Nov. 11), Alinghi hosted a meeting of the Challengers, and despite Brad Butterworth telling the media that we could attend "no strings attached," in fact, he later again extended the invitation but with a string attached - we could attend if we drop our lawsuit which is designed to make sure Alinghi has fair and competitive rules for AC33.

But without a commitment from Alinghi to change the protocol in return for our commitment to drop the suit, this was a non-starter, as Alinghi (and any fair-minded observer) knew. As a result of being "locked out," we issued the following statement. The key take away (as it has been for over a year) is this: "We repeatedly have offered to drop our lawsuit on one simple condition - that Alinghi adopt fair and competitive rules."

Mascalzone Latino went to Geneva for the Challengers' meeting but refused to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that Alinghi insisted all participants sign. No NDA, no admission! In response to their being locked out, they issued their own statement. Other serious Cup contenders who were conspicuously absent: K-Challenge and Luna Rossa. And Victory Challenge, which attended the meeting, did not sign the Oct. 31 Challenger's "letter" asking us to drop the suit.

The meeting resulted in some welcome changes to the Protocol, but more changes are required, as we expressed in a statement on Wednesday. "[A] major sticking point remains the arbitration panel . In addition, other fundamental fairness issues remain to be addressed, including the fact that the Defender can change any of the rules at any time and can impose any new rule or restriction on the competitors."

Court Watch

On Thursday, Société Nautique de Genève filed its reply brief in the New York State Court of Appeals, with a companion brief filed by CNEV and an amicus brief from the City of Valencia. We were not surprised at the misstatements of fact in the briefs. We were surprised at SNG's and CNEV's differing lists of possible participants in AC33 and astonished to learn from CNEV's brief that the Mercury Bay Yacht Club "won and defended the Cup."

Since others are not following the case as closely as we are, we issued a statement that states our purpose ("We are fighting an attempt by SNG to circumvent the rules of the America's Cup by installing a sham yacht club as Challenger of Record in order to create an unfair protocol that gives it unprecedented and lopsided control of the contest"), corrects the record and underscores "just how unfair and anti-competitive Alinghi's AC33 rules are."

What's at Stake

In an interview with Sail-World on Friday, Tom Ehman highlighted precisely what's at stake if the flawed proposed Protocol becomes the governing document of AC 33. Key quote: "Alinghi and their Challenger of Record can still amend any of these Rules at any time and still impose new Rules. Any serious challenger would not - should not - be comfortable with that."

Tom noted that we had sent a letter to the Spanish team that outlined a 10-point plan for fixing the Protocol. Full text of that plan:

10-POINT PLAN FOR A FAIR AND COMPETITIVE AMERICA'S CUP 33

The following is a 10-point plan that articulates simple changes to the proposed Protocol for America's Cup 33 that would address the concerns of many Challengers who want to ensure that the rules of AC33 are fair. With the exception of #10, the plan is based on the points we negotiated with the Challengers in December last year, and reflect further concessions since offered. Agreement to these 10 points by the Challenger community could return AC33 to the water as early as 2010.

1. Once the changes to the Applicable Rules are completed, any further changes to Applicable Rules governing AC33 shall be mutually agreed between Defender and the Challenger of Record (COR) (subject to point #2).

2. All Challenger of Record decisions, including agreeing to the ACC Rules, Event and Competition Regulations, shall be made by majority vote of the Challengers in a Challenger Commission, one vote per team, including the COR who also has one vote, except that material amendments to the Protocol, Event Regulations or Competition Regulations, once agreed and issued, can be made only by unanimous vote of Competitors.

3. The current Arbitration Panel shall be dissolved and a new Arbitration Panel shall be appointed comprised of five members; SNG and the Challenger Commission shall each appoint two members, and the other four shall select the fifth member.

4. The Defender can race in the Challenger Round Robins, Challenger Sail-Off and Challenger Secondary Series. The Defender cannot sail in the Challenger Semi Finals and Final. Larry Ellison's letter of 17 October 2008 to Ernesto Bertarelli offered several options in this regard, which BOR stands by.

5. The "Fair Competition" clause (2.3 of the Protocol) shall be expanded to include the Officials, Sailing Jury and Arbitration Panel.

6. The Defender and Challenger of Record shall jointly appoint a Regatta Director who shall be responsible for ensuring fair races are conducted in accordance with the terms of the Protocol. The Regatta Director shall have the same powers as for the last America's Cup (he or she appoints/manages race committee, appoints measurement committee, umpires, and other officials as needed, prepares and publishes Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions).

7. Entries from AC32 challengers shall be accepted and not thereafter disqualified provided continued compliance with the rules, and then only by the Arbitration Panel.

8. AC33 shall be held in Valencia with AC32 teams retaining their bases if they desire. In addition, the format and Schedule to be published by ACM ahead of time and not to be altered without consent of affected Competitors.

9. Each Challenger and the Defender may be limited to building only one new boat. As a result of this change, and as consideration for allowing the Defender into the Challenger selection series, there can be no Defender selection series.

10. There shall be no restrictions on Competitors' sponsors or any control by the Defender or ACM over Competitors' sponsors beyond the traditional restrictions (e.g., no tobacco sponsors). Moreover, ACM shall not ambush existing team sponsors, and if ACM secures an Event sponsor that conflicts with a major sponsor of a competitor, that Competitor shall be under no obligation to display ACM sponsor logos on its yacht, base or team gear or otherwise promote or associate with such Event sponsor.

Leading pack of the Vendée Globe to exit the Doldrums

[Source: Vendée Globe] It will be the morning before we can say for sure if the leaders are officially leaving Doldrums territory, but the signs are good. It smells a little like it, it looks a little like it, but only when the figures build and are a little more steady then will the skippers breathe a sigh of relief, settle back to a more structured routine and start working on the strategy for the south Atlantic.

In truth it has been a relatively uneventful crossing. There have been no reports of big, wind sucking black clouds, no big sudden squalls, not even any really prolonged calms, nor any torrential rain showers.

It is still Loick Peyron who leads for his eighth day on Gitana Eighty. For the last 70 miles he has been heading just west of south, with Seb Josse currently tracking more or less directly behind him at +20 miles behind. The top three boats are scraping back up towards double figures speeds, Gitana Eighty, BT, and third placed Paprec-Virbac 2 are all now polled at 9 to 9.2 knots.

Highlights from the 11th day of the Vendée Globe. 20 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

But the top ten are settled in the same order as four hours ago. Roland Jourdain’s run up the west wing is proving a gift that keeps giving. He is computed to be just less than a mile behind Mike Golding and was going twice as quickly, which is perhaps part of the reason Ecover 3 has been on a more westerly course for the last 15 miles.

Back up the track a little Brian Thompson is not short of company on Bahrain Team Pindar. Yesterday and last night he was in close company with Sam Davies on ROXY, tonight he is less than 5 miles behind Dominic Wavre, with the two boats surprisingly evenly matched presently, it will be an interesting night for both as they head for their Doldrums passage.

Michel Desjoyeaux has all but passed Steve White now, albeit some 90 miles out to the west of Toe in the Water. Foncia’s DTL has dropped under 300 miles tonight. Was it not only last night we were saying it had just dropped below 400 miles?

And a very welcome morale boost for the hard working Dee Caffari as she rises one place to 15th, passing Arnaud Boissieres’ Akena Verandas.

Jonny Malbon has a much more western set to his course today and is making fair speeds. He is 100 miles west of Unai Basurko and the two have an interesting race developing.

Bruno Troublé talks to TV New Zealand about the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series

Bruno Trobulé, the creator of the Louis Vuitton Cup, talked to TV New Zealand's Martin Tasker about his latest venture in the professional sailing world, the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, scheduled for next February in Auckland.

According to Troublé, the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was born when Louis Vuitton felt "frustrated" after leaving the America's Cup and "sad" from the current legal fight and the lack of any sailing activity. Since there was no event planned, nothing to fill the void, they devised this simple event.

Troublé admitted they had never thought the event would turn out to be so successful and when asked to quantify it he would consider it to be so if it had 12 high-level teams racing, 7-8 thousand people visiting the race village every day and around 5-6 thousand boats on the water watching the races.

He basically has three goals with the event. First to simply help teams survive, as they at least offer their sponsors something. Second, to provide a key element that would keep the teams together and finally, hopefully, a platform for Alinghi and BMW Oracle to possibly rech a deal an put an end to their legal fight.

His closing remarks were probably the best indicator of what Louis Vuitton aims at with its involvement in the America's Cup; to run the show. For 25 years, Louis Vuitton organized the Louis Vuitton Cup and as a result influenced the fate of the America's Cup. On the contrary, in 2007 in Valencia, Louis Vuitton became just another sponsor and according to Troublé, its role was just to "sign checks". If the future defender of the world's oldest sports trophy agrees to Louis Vuitton's vision then the French group will come back. For that reason, Troublé didn't want to name the event in Auckland as Louis Vuitton Cup, in order not to diminish its value and keep it solely related to the America's Cup. Marketing 101.

Bruno Troublé talks about the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Auckland, 19 November 2008. Video copyright TV New Zealand

Chris Bedford, Ericsson meteorologist: The long road north begins

[Source: Chris Bedford, Ericsson Racing meteorologist] Good news came twice for Ericsson Race Team this morning, with Ericsson 4 across the scoring line first and Ericsson 3 a not too distant second. As a small gift, the timing of the approaching front was a bit faster than forecast, causing winds to veer from SW to W requiring a gybe north BEFORE the wayline. This could have been slightly threatening to the 1st and 2nd placings at 58E if it wasn’t for the damage slowing the trailing boats and if it the shift had occurred a little earlier. Instead, it was nearly perfect and allowed Ericsson 3 and 4 to start their long-awaited climb on a more northerly course toward Cochin.

The weather map shows a cold front to the southwest and west of most of the fleet and a high pressure area to the northwest. As mentioned above, the approaching front has had the affect of easing and veering the winds. Meanwhile, further toward the northwest where Puma are located, the high pressure is more dominant and wind speeds are lower. No doubt Puma is in need of theses calmer conditions to allow them to effect repairs on their internal structures while keeping the pressure off.

Phil Jameson, bowman on Ericsson 4, talks after crossing the scoring gate ahead of he fleet. South Indian Ocean, 20 November 2008. Video copyright Ericsson Racing Team

Wind speeds will likely increase for a time this afternoon through tonight on the Ericsson boats as the cold front brushes close by. Then, during the day tomorrow, some easing is likely, with some of the lightest wind since the first night out of Cape Town possible. The cold front is likely to catch up with them early Saturday, but Ericsson 3 and 4 will be far enough north so that the frontal passage will be relatively quiet.

At the moment, I don’t see any significant differences in the relative positioning between Ericsson 3 and 4. Ericsson 3 is in a slightly better covering position than Ericsson 4, and this may allow the Nordic Crew the opportunity to limit the options open to the International Crew in the short term. At this point, it is really a case of sailing fast with the wind that you have. There are few tactical options available given the wind direction and course toward Cochin. The early options in the leg have been used up and it is now a case of getting north as quickly as possible.

Late on Saturday or early Sunday, the fleet will finally enter the southeasterly trade winds. These winds will be very effective in carrying the boats north quickly on a long-awaited intersection with the doldrums. At the moment, the trades look like they will be relatively strong – 20 to 25 knots and should offer a fast right north. As an added bit of good news, the doldrums look quite benign at the moment and possibilities of a quick crossing are good. We are watching a Tropical Storm located out at 9S/84E, but it is forecast to move east and remain clear of the fleet.