by Anna Tunnicliffe
Racing got underway very early today at the Buddy Melges Challenge, with the first race just after 9am. The temperature was in the low 50's but the wind was steady, blowing around 6kts. We had a great morning with some good racing. We finished the day 3-1 in our group, and we have two more races tomorrow to finish the round robin off.
We started off the day with a bye race due to the odd number of teams in our group, but then got to the racing with our first two races against Ru Wang from China and Anne Marie Shewfelt from Canada. After good prestarts with both teams, we took control of the races early and led to the finish. Our third race of the day was against our USSTAG teammates Genny Tulloch. We split ends on the start with us on the right and Genny taking the left. Both boats came back together half way up the beat with Genny being about one and a half boat lengths ahead.
We had a short tacking duel for the second half of the beat and closed the gap to be less than a boat length behind at the top mark. Downwind, Molly did a fantastic job of keeping the spinnaker full through the gybes despite the light winds. We managed to pass her and round the leeward mark one and a half boat lengths ahead. Upwind, we lost a little of our lead but again on the downwind leg, pulled ahead and took the win to take our record to 3-0.
Our last race was against Samantha Osborne from New Zealand. We had a great start and led her around the whole race course until the last leg. We made a mistake on where we placed our gybe and she rolled over us. Because the wind was so light, she maintained her speed and we lost a bit and consequently, she pulled ahead of us.
We made a strong attempt at re-passing her and we closed a considerable amount of distance on her at the finish, but couldn't quite get it all back and lost by one boat length. It was a good race and she did a excellent job of keeping close to us upwind so she could be in a strong attacking position downwind. We know where we made our mistake so hopefully we've learned from it and won't do it again.
Tomorrow we finish the round robin, when the top four teams in each group will go into the quarter-finals and the bottom four teams in each group go into a round robin for 9th-15th place. You can check the regatta results on the regatta website. There is also live video and tracking so you can follow along live too.
We would like to thank Carmeuse and Trinity Yachts for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their support.
Team Tunnicliffe
Buddy Melges Challenge
Friday, 10 September 2010
WMRT: Satisfactory Start for BlackMatch at the Danish Open
Adam stays cool through the broach. Image copyright Loris von Siebenthal/WMRT.
by David Swete
Today was the opening day of the 2010 Danish Open World Match Racing Tour Event and with 2 wins from the 3 races we were involved in, it was a relatively good start for the team. We come into this event off the back of a 3rd placing only last week in St Moritz and are looking for a big result here to get our season back on track. This is the 7th leg of the World Tour and this year it is being held in a new venue on the island of Bornholm, located south of Sweden in the Baltic Sea.
Tight broach across the finishing line! Image copyright Loris von Siebenthal/WMRT.
Conditions today were some of the windiest and toughest seen on the World Tour this year, with action a plenty of which we were definitely part of. In our second race of the day against US wild card entry Mike Buckley, we managed to roll him on the final run before both boats were involved in a spectacular ‘broach’ right on the finish line. We had just gained the lead while approaching the finish at speed when we gained ‘mark room’ at the pin end of the line. The US team had to gybe to give us room, while we had to also gybe to make the finish line, however a huge gust hit and both boats were violently laid over on their sides. We actually finished the race on our side, with the spinnaker at the top of the rig... and it can all be seen in the video below:
Video from the WMRT of Mike Buckley broaching over the top of Adam Minoprio:
There were plenty of other incidents today including two men overboard, one being Olympic Gold Medalist Iain Percy from Ben Ainslies Team Origin, which just proves how trying the conditions were. There was also a major upset which again involved the US wild card and world number 665 Mike Buckley, who managed to defeat the current World Tour Leader Mathieu Richard.
Iain Percy goes for a dip. Image copyright Loris von Siebenthal/WMRT.
Our other win today came against fellow Kiwis William Tiller and his Full Metal Jacket Racing Team, while we had a loss to veteran Peter Gilmour. Not only are the conditions tough here but it is an extremely tough format, with only a single round robin and the top 4 teams progressing through to a semi final, so every win counts.
Crew of Mads Ebler testing the Baltic water temperature. Image copyright Loris von Siebenthal/WMRT.
We would again like to say a special thank you to our sponsors FedEx Express and Events Clothing/Line 7. Owen Rutter from Events Clothing has supplied us with new sailing gear this season, keeping the boys looking very sharp. The ongoing support of our sponsors is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys and we would also like to thank Emirates Team New Zealand and Steinlager Pure.
Results at the end of day one in Denmark:
Mirsky (AUS) 4-1
Gilmour (AUS) 3-0
Hansen (SWE) 3-2
Ainslie (GBR) 3-2
Bruni (ITA) 3-2
Minprio (NZL) 2-1
Richard (FRA) 2-1
Pace (FRA) 2-3
Ebler (DEN) 1-2
Buckley (USA) 1-2
Tiller (NZL) 0-3
Ward (DEN) 0-5
BlackMatch Racing this week is Adam Minoprio, Dan McLean, Tom Powrie, David Swete, Nick Blackman and local boy Jonas Frank Hviid-Nielsen.
BlackMatch Racing
World Match Racing Tour
WMRT: Mirsky Racing Team on Top at the Danish Open
Windy Weather on the first day of the Danish Open sees MRT on top of the leaderboard with a 4-1 scoreline
Mirsky Racing Team fly downwind at the Danish Open. Image copyright Loris von Siebenthal/WMRT.
by Kinley Fowler
Blustery conditions off the coast of the small island of Bornholm tested the skills of all of the teams in the Danish Open, but it was the Mirsky Racing Team who came out on top.
The only loss came against Team Azzura who managed to roll MRT on the first downwind and fought well to defend their lead across the difficult race track.
"These boats are really loaded up, especially in these conditions in Borholm so you have to work really hard to keep the boat under control but keep going as fast as possible" said Mirsky's trimmer Kinley Fowler.
"It's funny though, because the whole day was such a big learning curve for all of us. If we hadn't been rolled by Azzura, we wouldn't have been able to beat Ben Ainslie in the next race when he tried to roll us on the final downwind because we wouldn't have fully worked out all of our systems."
Tomorrow looks to bring more wind, so the learning curve will continue to climb up as MRT look in good form to make the top 4.
Video from Mirsky Racing Team at the end of day one:
Mirsky Racing Team
World Match Racing Tour
Mirsky Racing Team fly downwind at the Danish Open. Image copyright Loris von Siebenthal/WMRT.
by Kinley Fowler
Blustery conditions off the coast of the small island of Bornholm tested the skills of all of the teams in the Danish Open, but it was the Mirsky Racing Team who came out on top.
The only loss came against Team Azzura who managed to roll MRT on the first downwind and fought well to defend their lead across the difficult race track.
"These boats are really loaded up, especially in these conditions in Borholm so you have to work really hard to keep the boat under control but keep going as fast as possible" said Mirsky's trimmer Kinley Fowler.
"It's funny though, because the whole day was such a big learning curve for all of us. If we hadn't been rolled by Azzura, we wouldn't have been able to beat Ben Ainslie in the next race when he tried to roll us on the final downwind because we wouldn't have fully worked out all of our systems."
Tomorrow looks to bring more wind, so the learning curve will continue to climb up as MRT look in good form to make the top 4.
Video from Mirsky Racing Team at the end of day one:
Mirsky Racing Team
World Match Racing Tour
WMRT: Full Metal Jacket Racing on Day One of the Danish Open
by Will Tiller
Today was the first day of the Danish Open, the seventh stage of the World Match Racing Tour being held on Bornholm Island situated between Sweden and Denmark. Joining us for this regatta is our big man Jono Spurdle on the pit and Shaun Mason running the bow. It was our first time racing the DS37s in challenging fresh conditions and after over a month of racing in less than 10kts we were excited to go for a send. We raced in the first three races of the round robin and went down in each match, we spent the remainder of the day off the boats with byes.
The wind was consistently blowing 25 kts with gusts of up to 30 kts at times. We learnt quickly that these boats are overpowered with big mains and very physical. We raced against Mads Ebler, Mathieu Richard and Adam Minoprio ranked 13th, 4th and 1st respectively in the world.
Our best race of the day was against Mathieu Richard. In the prestart we ended up coming to the line with the French to windward but we were happy with the left. Off the line it was a long starboard tack and we did well to work up into them but not quite quickly enough and they tacked away on port lay. We followed tacking right onto a left shift so we were to windward breathing clear, Richard kept closed hauled well over lay and we both ended up flapping head to wind well above the mark.
Coming close to an obstruction they bpre away and we followed. The downwind was very gusty and we were able to make small gains and were right on his tail around the bottom mark tacking as soon as we could. A tacking dual ensued but nearing the top we got on the wrong side of a couple shifts and were unable to be close enough on the run to make a pass.
We were happy to see that our boat speed was good against the world number 4 and are excited about the remainder of the races in the round robin.
We would like to say thanks to our principal sponsor Chris Meads from Full Metal Jacket, SLAM, Aon New Zealand and The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Full Metal Jacket Racing
World Match Racing Tour
Today was the first day of the Danish Open, the seventh stage of the World Match Racing Tour being held on Bornholm Island situated between Sweden and Denmark. Joining us for this regatta is our big man Jono Spurdle on the pit and Shaun Mason running the bow. It was our first time racing the DS37s in challenging fresh conditions and after over a month of racing in less than 10kts we were excited to go for a send. We raced in the first three races of the round robin and went down in each match, we spent the remainder of the day off the boats with byes.
The wind was consistently blowing 25 kts with gusts of up to 30 kts at times. We learnt quickly that these boats are overpowered with big mains and very physical. We raced against Mads Ebler, Mathieu Richard and Adam Minoprio ranked 13th, 4th and 1st respectively in the world.
Our best race of the day was against Mathieu Richard. In the prestart we ended up coming to the line with the French to windward but we were happy with the left. Off the line it was a long starboard tack and we did well to work up into them but not quite quickly enough and they tacked away on port lay. We followed tacking right onto a left shift so we were to windward breathing clear, Richard kept closed hauled well over lay and we both ended up flapping head to wind well above the mark.
Coming close to an obstruction they bpre away and we followed. The downwind was very gusty and we were able to make small gains and were right on his tail around the bottom mark tacking as soon as we could. A tacking dual ensued but nearing the top we got on the wrong side of a couple shifts and were unable to be close enough on the run to make a pass.
We were happy to see that our boat speed was good against the world number 4 and are excited about the remainder of the races in the round robin.
We would like to say thanks to our principal sponsor Chris Meads from Full Metal Jacket, SLAM, Aon New Zealand and The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Full Metal Jacket Racing
World Match Racing Tour
5.5 Metre Worlds: 5 Races Completed - Marazzi (SUI) Leads
by Thierry Huguenin
The 5.5 World Championship is valid: five races as of today, with two races sailed this morning.
A picture-perfect day of sailing for the 5s on Lago di Garda. Early start at 09:00, a sunny day and northerly winds at about 18-20 knots. Some crowded mark roundings, a few breakdowns and Flavio Marazzi increasing his lead with a first and a third place and 8 points. Bahamian sailor Gavin McKinney "John B" experienced a spinnaker crash in the first race and did not finish but he led the entire second race and got the bullet!
Results after five races:
1 SUI 224 Marazzi Flavio, Male, Palfrey Andrew/Wilke Christof, M, TYC & GYC Ali Baba 8,0 1 1 2 1 3
2 NOR 57 Nergaard Kristian, Male, Moberg Peer/Morland Pedersen P, M, Royal Norwegian Yacht Club Artemis XIV 20,0 6 2 5 2 5
3 NOR 65 Christoph Burger, Male, Marcel Simon/Mathias Daheman, M, TYC / GYC ODLO 20,0 2 3 4 4 7
4 FIN 66 Thelen Kenneth, Male, Hallberg Thomas /Nyberg Robert, M, Nyländska Jaktklubben Kan-Bej 2 26,0 5 4 1 7 9
5 SUI 214 bernard haissly, Male, bernard haissly/nicolas bertho, M, sng caracole 37,0 3 9 6 5 14
6 FIN 49 Gullichsen Johan, Male, Lundberg Henrik/Telkola Timo, M, NJK addam 4 39,0 9 5 9 6 10
7 NED 26 Arend Jan Pasman, Male, Ron Azier/Kin Chabani, Braassemermeer Feng Shui 40,0 10 8 10 10 2
8 SUI 213 HANS-PETER SCHMID, Male, Gilbert Dürr/Jürg Baumgartner, M, SC MURTEN PUNGIN 43,0 8 7 3 8 17
9 BAH 19 McKinney Gavin, Male, Hauff Peter /Westergaard Bjorn, M, Nassau Yacht Club John B 50,0 4 6 8 dnf 1
10 NOR 64 Fjeld Petter, Male, Borgen Thomas /Johannessen C, M, Fredrikstad SF Clark Kent 50,0 12 13 7 12 6
11 SUI 222 Jürg Menzi, Male, Léonard Gaume/Daniel Stampfli, M, TYC Thunersee Yachtclub, GYC G Marie-Françoise XVIII 51,0 7 10 20 3 11
12 NED 31 Victorine Bredero, Female, Jeroen Behrend/Wiebe de Witte, M, ws braasemermeer Duchess of B 65,0 11 14 16 9 15
13 SUI 210 Rolf KELLENBERGER, Male, Martin HUBER/Andreas KINDLIMAN, M, TYC SHAOLIN 68,0 17 11 14 18 8
14 NOR 62 Huser Are Andenæs, Male, Ferner Car-Christian /Bellingh, M, KNS Plan B Redux 75,0 16 12 18 13 16
15 SUI 211 Jörg Hotz, Male, Marc Dangel/Ernst Schiess, M, ZYC Forza Del Destino 78,0 15 17 21 21 4
16 GER 30 Andreas Christiansen, Male, Jens Rathsack/Andreas Föh, E, NRV CRIOLLO 82,0 13 15 26 15 13
17 SUI 215 Thomas TREIB, Male, Patrick RÜFENACHT/Katja SCHEID, M, YCB Yacht Club Bielersee RANA 82,0 14 18 15 17 18
18 GER 42 Queisser Hans-Juergen, Male, Kruse Gerhard/Blenckner Klaus, M, NRV RTYC SNR For Fun Too 85,0 18 16 12 19 20
19 SUI 217 Jack Frei, Male, Thomas Frei/Roland Ledergerber, M, Yacht Club Romanshorn TOPAS III 96,0 dnf dns 11 11 12
20 ITA 73 Delli Alfredo, Male, Gianluca Marolli/Claudio Mazza, C, CVMV CARABELLA 105,0 19 20 22 20 24
21 BAH 20 Symonette Craig, Male, Vlasov Peter/Boisen-Moeller Je, M, Nassau Yacht Club Silver Fox 108,0 dnf dns 13 14 19
22 GER 33 Lutz Dr. von Meyerinck, Male, Felix von Meyerinck/Oskar de F, C, SVAOe Blueprint 110,0 20 19 19 dnf 21
23 SUI 201 Tobias Isler, Male, Kaspar Stubenrauch/Jörg Sonnta, M, SCE / WSV 1921 ZICCA 112,0 24 22 17 23 26
24 NED 11 van Opzeeland Piet, Male, Eijkman Tom/De Coster Dave, E, W V Braassemermeer Woelgeest 116,0 23 23 25 22 23
25 SUI 175 Frédéric de Rutté, Male, Frédéric Saudan/Matthieu MacGi, E, SNR Bellagioia II 117,0 22 dnf 23 16 25
26 SWE 50 Gustafsson Jan, Male, Kellner Håkan/Kellner Rickard, C, Tulka SS Apriori 119,0 21 21 24 dnf 22
27 ITA 14 Pozzo Vittorio, Male, Marolli Enzo/Marolli Alessandr, C, C.V.P. MAVI 136,0 26 dnf 28 24 27
28 SUI 152 Gilbert-Xavier MARTINET, Male, Marc-Antoine MONNARD/Sébastien, E, SNR Société Nautique Rolloise BARA-GWEN XI 145,0 25 dnf 27 dnf dnc
29 ITA 57 Leupold Richard, Male, Giorgetti Paolo /Rossi Andrea, E, CVMV Whisper 153,0 dnf dns 29 dnf dnc
30 AUT 21 Münnich Hans-Peter, Male, Werr Phillip/Rottner Bernhard, M, Union Yacht Club Wolfgangsee Schakal 155,0 dnf dns dnc dnf dnc
5.5 Metre Worlds
The 5.5 World Championship is valid: five races as of today, with two races sailed this morning.
A picture-perfect day of sailing for the 5s on Lago di Garda. Early start at 09:00, a sunny day and northerly winds at about 18-20 knots. Some crowded mark roundings, a few breakdowns and Flavio Marazzi increasing his lead with a first and a third place and 8 points. Bahamian sailor Gavin McKinney "John B" experienced a spinnaker crash in the first race and did not finish but he led the entire second race and got the bullet!
Results after five races:
1 SUI 224 Marazzi Flavio, Male, Palfrey Andrew/Wilke Christof, M, TYC & GYC Ali Baba 8,0 1 1 2 1 3
2 NOR 57 Nergaard Kristian, Male, Moberg Peer/Morland Pedersen P, M, Royal Norwegian Yacht Club Artemis XIV 20,0 6 2 5 2 5
3 NOR 65 Christoph Burger, Male, Marcel Simon/Mathias Daheman, M, TYC / GYC ODLO 20,0 2 3 4 4 7
4 FIN 66 Thelen Kenneth, Male, Hallberg Thomas /Nyberg Robert, M, Nyländska Jaktklubben Kan-Bej 2 26,0 5 4 1 7 9
5 SUI 214 bernard haissly, Male, bernard haissly/nicolas bertho, M, sng caracole 37,0 3 9 6 5 14
6 FIN 49 Gullichsen Johan, Male, Lundberg Henrik/Telkola Timo, M, NJK addam 4 39,0 9 5 9 6 10
7 NED 26 Arend Jan Pasman, Male, Ron Azier/Kin Chabani, Braassemermeer Feng Shui 40,0 10 8 10 10 2
8 SUI 213 HANS-PETER SCHMID, Male, Gilbert Dürr/Jürg Baumgartner, M, SC MURTEN PUNGIN 43,0 8 7 3 8 17
9 BAH 19 McKinney Gavin, Male, Hauff Peter /Westergaard Bjorn, M, Nassau Yacht Club John B 50,0 4 6 8 dnf 1
10 NOR 64 Fjeld Petter, Male, Borgen Thomas /Johannessen C, M, Fredrikstad SF Clark Kent 50,0 12 13 7 12 6
11 SUI 222 Jürg Menzi, Male, Léonard Gaume/Daniel Stampfli, M, TYC Thunersee Yachtclub, GYC G Marie-Françoise XVIII 51,0 7 10 20 3 11
12 NED 31 Victorine Bredero, Female, Jeroen Behrend/Wiebe de Witte, M, ws braasemermeer Duchess of B 65,0 11 14 16 9 15
13 SUI 210 Rolf KELLENBERGER, Male, Martin HUBER/Andreas KINDLIMAN, M, TYC SHAOLIN 68,0 17 11 14 18 8
14 NOR 62 Huser Are Andenæs, Male, Ferner Car-Christian /Bellingh, M, KNS Plan B Redux 75,0 16 12 18 13 16
15 SUI 211 Jörg Hotz, Male, Marc Dangel/Ernst Schiess, M, ZYC Forza Del Destino 78,0 15 17 21 21 4
16 GER 30 Andreas Christiansen, Male, Jens Rathsack/Andreas Föh, E, NRV CRIOLLO 82,0 13 15 26 15 13
17 SUI 215 Thomas TREIB, Male, Patrick RÜFENACHT/Katja SCHEID, M, YCB Yacht Club Bielersee RANA 82,0 14 18 15 17 18
18 GER 42 Queisser Hans-Juergen, Male, Kruse Gerhard/Blenckner Klaus, M, NRV RTYC SNR For Fun Too 85,0 18 16 12 19 20
19 SUI 217 Jack Frei, Male, Thomas Frei/Roland Ledergerber, M, Yacht Club Romanshorn TOPAS III 96,0 dnf dns 11 11 12
20 ITA 73 Delli Alfredo, Male, Gianluca Marolli/Claudio Mazza, C, CVMV CARABELLA 105,0 19 20 22 20 24
21 BAH 20 Symonette Craig, Male, Vlasov Peter/Boisen-Moeller Je, M, Nassau Yacht Club Silver Fox 108,0 dnf dns 13 14 19
22 GER 33 Lutz Dr. von Meyerinck, Male, Felix von Meyerinck/Oskar de F, C, SVAOe Blueprint 110,0 20 19 19 dnf 21
23 SUI 201 Tobias Isler, Male, Kaspar Stubenrauch/Jörg Sonnta, M, SCE / WSV 1921 ZICCA 112,0 24 22 17 23 26
24 NED 11 van Opzeeland Piet, Male, Eijkman Tom/De Coster Dave, E, W V Braassemermeer Woelgeest 116,0 23 23 25 22 23
25 SUI 175 Frédéric de Rutté, Male, Frédéric Saudan/Matthieu MacGi, E, SNR Bellagioia II 117,0 22 dnf 23 16 25
26 SWE 50 Gustafsson Jan, Male, Kellner Håkan/Kellner Rickard, C, Tulka SS Apriori 119,0 21 21 24 dnf 22
27 ITA 14 Pozzo Vittorio, Male, Marolli Enzo/Marolli Alessandr, C, C.V.P. MAVI 136,0 26 dnf 28 24 27
28 SUI 152 Gilbert-Xavier MARTINET, Male, Marc-Antoine MONNARD/Sébastien, E, SNR Société Nautique Rolloise BARA-GWEN XI 145,0 25 dnf 27 dnf dnc
29 ITA 57 Leupold Richard, Male, Giorgetti Paolo /Rossi Andrea, E, CVMV Whisper 153,0 dnf dns 29 dnf dnc
30 AUT 21 Münnich Hans-Peter, Male, Werr Phillip/Rottner Bernhard, M, Union Yacht Club Wolfgangsee Schakal 155,0 dnf dns dnc dnf dnc
5.5 Metre Worlds
Black Sheep Racing Back in Business at the Hahn River International Match Race, Korea
by Reuben Corbett
Black Sheep Racing are in Korea competing in the Hahn River International Match Race after having a refreshing week off in New York. We were back into the routine this morning with registration, weigh in and training. Racing commenced after half time with the race committee completing three flights. The format includes a single round robin, semi finals, petit finals and a grand final.
Competitors
The organisers have limited the number of entries to eight, the competitors include:
Koralev Nikolay (RUS)
Byeong Ki Park (KOR)
Gun Woo Park (KOR)
Peter Nicholas (AUS)
Tae Jung Kim (KOR)
Tiffany Koo Yee Chin (MAS)
Seung Chul Lim (KOR)
Black Sheep Racing (NZL)
Results: Day One
We competed in flights one and two to take victory in both. We started ahead and extended our lead in each race by covering tack for tack. There is plenty more sailing to come and we have a number of issues to sort out before tomorrow’s racing.
The team would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, friends and family for their support. Thank you!
Black Sheep Racing in Korea is Reuben Corbett, Nicolas Derberque, Brad Farrand, Tom Bentham and James Sandall.
Black Sheep Racing
Black Sheep Racing are in Korea competing in the Hahn River International Match Race after having a refreshing week off in New York. We were back into the routine this morning with registration, weigh in and training. Racing commenced after half time with the race committee completing three flights. The format includes a single round robin, semi finals, petit finals and a grand final.
Competitors
The organisers have limited the number of entries to eight, the competitors include:
Koralev Nikolay (RUS)
Byeong Ki Park (KOR)
Gun Woo Park (KOR)
Peter Nicholas (AUS)
Tae Jung Kim (KOR)
Tiffany Koo Yee Chin (MAS)
Seung Chul Lim (KOR)
Black Sheep Racing (NZL)
Results: Day One
We competed in flights one and two to take victory in both. We started ahead and extended our lead in each race by covering tack for tack. There is plenty more sailing to come and we have a number of issues to sort out before tomorrow’s racing.
The team would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, friends and family for their support. Thank you!
Black Sheep Racing in Korea is Reuben Corbett, Nicolas Derberque, Brad Farrand, Tom Bentham and James Sandall.
Black Sheep Racing
BWR: Alex Thomson Racing Announces co-Skipper for the Barcelona World Race
HUGO BOSS. Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/HUGO BOSS.
by Kassi Denham
Alex Thompson Racing today announced that Volvo Ocean Race sailor, Andy Meiklejohn, will join Alex Thomson as co-skipper for the 2010 edition of the Barcelona World Race.
Alex Thomson and Andy Meiklejohn. Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/HUGO BOSS.
Andy (34), from Auckland, New Zealand has over 100,000 ocean miles to his name, and has sailed extensively offshore, including the round the world 2004 Oryx Quest and the 2005/06 Volvo Ocean Race.
Andy Meiklejohn. Image copyright Guy Bell/HUGO BOSS.
Alex and Andy have known each other for many years, having first raced together in The Commodores Cup in 2004. Andy joined the Alex Thomson Racing team earlier this year with overall responsibility for the boat performance and he has been a key part of the team that has launched and developed the new HUGO BOSS. Together with Alex he has now covered over 10,000 miles onboard the yacht.
Alex Thomson. Image copyright Billy Black.
Alex is positive they have created a winning formula, “Andy is a confident, professional sailor with broad experience in the racing field. He has accumulated many offshore miles and has invaluable onboard technical experience within an offshore race environment. We compliment each other’s abilities and both have the attitude and drive to win.”
HUGO BOSS. Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/HUGO BOSS.
Andy has been professionally racing for over ten years. Starting in dinghy sailing, and progressing up to the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race, Andy is used to extreme racing conditions. Referring to his recent appointment, Andy commented, “I’m excited to be accepting the Co-Skipper role onboard HUGO BOSS for The Barcelona World Race and to be able to do this race with a good friend. The boat itself is incredible, it has the same power and sail area as a fully crewed VO70, so the challenge of racing on the boat with only two of us when I’m used to ten will be a demanding but exciting prospect. Alex and I can both learn from each other and I will be able to help enhance the boat’s capability and performance for The Vendee Globe in 2012.”
HUGO BOSS. Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/HUGO BOSS.
Stewart Hosford, Managing Director at Alex Thomson Racing commented, “I believe the partnership between Alex and Andy teamed with the speed and capability of HUGO BOSS, creates one of the strongest entries in this year’s BWR. We had a couple of candidates in mind for the position but we were always gravitating towards Andy as his skill set was the perfect fit against Alex’s.”
HUGO BOSS. Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/HUGO BOSS.
Following his success in the last Barcelona World Race Alex has his eyes set firmly on the top spot and, with his new co-skipper and new boat, he is confident they have the ability and determination to make this happen.
HUGO BOSS. Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/HUGO BOSS.
Alex Thomson Racing
Barcelona World Race
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
