GP42 Global Cup: The Fleet Readies for Puerto Calero, Canary Islands

With less than one week to go, anticipation and excitement levels are running high for next week's 2009 GP42 Global Cup, held over 13-17 October in Puerto Calero. Eight teams from five countries are entered to date, with possibly two more to join in the action next week. Among the teams are numerous veterans of past America's Cups, Olympic Games, Volvo Ocean Races and World Championships of all types who will bring an extremely high level of sailing talent to this resort destination on the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands

by Sabina Mollart-Rogerson

“We had a tremendous event here last year with this class, but are really happy to have attracted new and broader interest among a wider variety of teams,” said Daniel Calero, principal host and organiser of the event. Calero is also owner of one of the nine competing entries, Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, his Botin & Carkeek-designed GP42 which has just come from Cartagena, Spain where he won the overall GP42 Series with just one point to spare in this year’s Audi MedCup Circuit. “While they may not be on new boats, some of these teams are brand-new to the class, so we’re happy they’re showing strong interest to want to come and play.”

Other teams entered to date include Calero’s runner-up rival in the MedCup, Filippo Faruffini’s Farr-designed Roma 2 (ITA), along with four other alumnists from the MedCup GP42 Series: Javier Goizueta’s B&C-designed Caser-Endesa (ESP), Jose Maria van der Ploeg’s B&C-designed Turismo Madrid (ESP), Roberto Monti’s Felci-designed Airis (ITA), and Goncalo Esteves’ B&C-designed Quebramar-Xacobeo 2010 (POR), sailed in the MedCup as Iberdrola. Airis was last year’s winner here at the Trofeo Puerto Calero, and Quebramar-Xacobeo 2010, sailed as Desafio, was the overall season champion in 2008. These MedCup teams would have to be regarded as among the favorites for this year’s Global Cup, having competed not only in the 39-race GP42 Series, but for some the 4-day GP42 Owner-Driver Championship in August in Cascais as well.


GP42s. Image copyright Ian Roman/Audi MedCup.

But the competitiveness of the class, the hospitality of Puerto Calero and the ideal sailing conditions here has also attracted two confirmed new teams to GP42 racing at this year’s Global Cup. John Bassadone is leading a Gibralter-based team on his Farr-designed Peninsula Petroleum (GBR), ex-Roma 1. This is a first-generation GP42 design, but still has plenty of potential. And the first-ever team from Scandinavia will be making a GP42 class debut: Team Nordic (SWE) will be competing on the Cognit-designed ex-Totalboats with a crew led by Magnus Olsson and the Ericsson team who trained for months here in Puerto Calero while getting ready for last year’s start of the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race.

Two more new teams are scrambling to try to also make the entry list, with their status to be confirmed in a few days’ time.

The format for the event will be practice racing to be held on Tuesday, 13 October, followed by windward/leeward course racing to start on Wednesday, 14 October and resume daily through Saturday, 17 October. The race management team will be led by America’s Cup PRO Peter “Luigi” Reggio, whose team will be challenged in their course-setting duties by the deep water off the island, but experienced from prior years of experience with other high-calibre events held here in Puerto Calero.

GP42 Global Cup

TP52 Worlds: A Mediocre Day for Artemis on Day One

Artemis on Day One of the TP52 Worlds. Image copyright Pedro Martinez/TP52 World Championship.

by Paul Cayard

A mediocre day at best for us on Artemis. With an 8, 3 we are in 6th overall.
We waited until 4 pm to get the first race underway as the wind was light and variable all day. Finally 8 knots of wind filled in and we were off.

We had a good start to the left side as that has been favored here and usually is. We got around the front of everyone and tacked looking good. Shortly thereafter the right most boat, Cristabella, came across with a big starboard lift and pressure.
They came all the way over to us and tacked on us naturally as we were second. By now, everyone was realizing that the right had more pressure so our clearing tack to the left hurt us. Next Valars was able to come over and make us tack off to the left again and then finally Matador came and pounded us on the port layline. Needless to say, we were deep at this point.

On the final run we were the meat in a sandwich between Bribon and Weapon of Choice. Bribon gybed on us and tolled us and we some managed to pass Weapon.

Anyway, it was a painful race.

In the second race which started at 6:05pm, we had a great start and were inches from being second at the top mark again fighting with Bribon. Quantum had taken the left and had a slight lead on both of us.

It stayed that way all the way around the track although Matador closed in on us at the finish and made it a bit tense.

Tomorrow's forecast is for a westerly wind as a front is due to pass during the night.

Cayard Sailing
TP52 World Championships

RIWKC: Day One Blown Out

Wind and rain on day one of the Rolex International Womens Keelboat Championships. Image copyright Joanna Tunnicliffe.

by Anna Tunnicliffe

Racing was cancelled today at 8:30am due to high winds here in Rochester, NY at the US Sailing's Rolex Women's Keelboat Championships. We woke up this morning to rain and winds, already gusting into the high 20kt with the forecast for it to get windier throughout the day. Racing will resume tomorrow at 10am with at least three races scheduled.

It was unfortunate that we couldn't get racing in today, as it always feels better to get the races started, but we can't control the weather. Tomorrow's forecast is for the wind to be around 10kt, so it should be a very pleasant day for sailing.

The team is using today as a chance to relax, in order to get ready for the rest of the regatta and our upcoming busy schedule of events in the rest of this month and November.

The event has a dinner scheduled tonight at the Eastman House. The Eastman House is the International Museum of Photography and Film, and combines the world's leading collection of photography and film with the stately pleasures of the landmark Colonial Revival mansion and gardens that George Eastman called home from 1905 to 1932. The Museum is a National Historic Landmark. Mr Eastman, the founder of Easman Kodak Company, is heralded as the father of modern photography and the inventor of motion picture film. The event should be very cool and we are looking forward to seeing the museum.

Anna Tunnicliffe
Rolex International Womens Keelboat Championships

WMRT: WAKA Racing Report from Day Two of the Gold Cup

Young New Zealander Phil Robertson and his WAKA Racing team take a race from match racing veteran Peter Gilmour. Image copyright Charles Anderson.

by Garth Ellingham

After no racing for us on Day One (due to lack of wind) we finally got onto the water racing today. We had four races against the top four ranked skippers in our pool. The conditions were a puffy strong breeze that made the International One Designs (IOD) quite a handful, with two of the races being sailed with no kites.

First race was against Mattias Rahm where we got a solid windward start with gauge that enabled us to lead around the top mark. Fortunately for us when he turned around the mark his boom clipped the top mark and the umpires gave him a penalty. Then at the bottom with him right behind us he was judged to have hit us from behind and was given another penalty. The final straw came when he didn't do this second penalty immediately and was given the "black flag". First win on the board.

Second race was against the defending champion from last year Johnie Berntsson. We dominated the first part of the pre-start forcing a penalty on him in the dial up but then got ourselves into trouble allowing Johnie to pin us and get us slow to convincingly win the start. We fought hard all race to minimise the gap so he couldn't do his penalty turn but he sailed well and managed to do it and win the race.

Third race was against legend Peter Gilmour whom we had a close race against at the Danish Open. After a tough pre-start in the big breeze Peter came off the line with a windward start and nearly rolled us. We did a nice move luffing him to stop this and forced him to tack off. We then picked a couple of nice shifts to get back to bow to bow with him and when he lee-bowed us we pounced. Managing to partially roll him and take height. Now we had him locked and led around the top mark. With kites back in action the downwinds proved to be ver hairy but the team held its nerve and managed to pull off a close victory that we were very happy about.

The final race against Mathieu Richard proved to be a bit of a disappointment as we had him pinned above the line for most of the pre-start but a boat handling cock up allowed him to break free. Also putting us in a bad situation that we infringed in giving ourselves an soft penalty. We tried hard all race to get rid of the penalty but Mathieu sailed well keeping clean.

Overall the team is pretty happy with the day. If you told us at the beginning of the day we would have two victories against the top four we would definately had taken it. However we know we could have done better. Tomorrow we have three races to finish off our pool with another windy day forcasted. The boys are all keen and ready to go with three wins a must!

Thanks to all our sponsors and supporters for all the encouragement.

The WAKA Boys
Phil Robertson
Garth Ellingham
James Williamson
Sam Bell

WAKA Racing
World Match Racing Tour

WMRT: Tough Day for MRT in Bermuda

Mirsky Racing Team on Day One of the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda. Image copyright Charles Anderson.

by Kinley Fowler

A lot of boat breakages and strong winds kept competitors on their toes and with regatta organisers doing well to catch up on the missed flights of yesterday racing is now on track.

Facing Frenchman Damien Iehl, MRT was unable to make any significant gains in the blustery 20knot breeze and took their first loss for the regatta.

Keen to avenge their result in race one, MRT then faced current world champion Ian Williams and his team, Bahrain Team Pindar. After dominating the prestart MRT made a judgement error and was called OSC.

Sailing strongly MRT made big gains and at the last top mark trailed Team Pindar narrowly, unfortunately they could not pass on the downwind and Pindar took the win.

"We sailed well to catch back up, but with the strong winds the race committee put up the no spinnaker flag which meant it was very difficult to pass on the downwind" said Graeme Spence.

With one final race in the round robin, MRT must secure a win in order to proceed to the next stage of the competition and keep their hopes alive for the 2009 Gold Cup.

Results after Day Two:
Group 1
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 4/2
Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar by Argo Group 6/1
Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team 4/3
Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing 2/3
Eric Monnin (SUI) Search.ch 4-1
Reuben Corbett (NZL) 3/3
Robbie Allam (GBR) 1/5
Ian Evans (USA)1/5

Group 2
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 3/1
Sebastien Col (FRA) French Team/K Challenge 3/1
Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin 4/0
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Alandia Sailing Team 3/1
Alvaro Marinho (POR) Seth Sailing Team 1/3
David Perry (USA) 2/2
Rasmus Viltoft (DEN) 0/4
Paula Lewin Crews (BDA) 0/4

Group 3
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 4/0
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 3/1
Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 3/1
Mattias Rahm (SWE) Stena Bulk Sailing Team 2/2
Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing Team 2/2
Blythe Walker (BDA) 1/3
Donald Wilson (USA) 1/3
Charlie Enright (USA) 0/4

Mirsky Racing Team
World Match Racing Tour

WMRT: BlackMatch Report on Day 2 in Bermuda

Argo Group Gold Cup provides testing conditions for teams ETNZ/BlackMatch and USA's Dave Perry. Image copyright Charles Anderson.

by David Swete

Day two of racing and the wind that was promised certainly delivered, as racing got underway early this morning in blustery conditions that often saw gusts of 30 knots. We had two action packed victories over Rasmus Viltoft from Denmark and the USA’s Dave Perry, while we suffered our first defeat of the regatta, going down against Portuguese sailor Alvaro Marinho.


Pre-start circling. Image copyright Charles Anderson.

In our race against Viltoft we received a penalty in the pre-start dialup. Although we were the leeward right of way boat, the umpires deemed the Dane was doing all he could to keep clear and as he drifted onto us a collision occurred that saw us surprisingly receive a penalty. Despite this we were in a better position off the start-line and after a good first beat we held the lead around the first top mark. The decision was made to try and extend throughout the race and complete our penalty turn on the final upwind, we did so nearing the top mark but now only had the slimmest of leads. The final run to the finish was very exciting as Viltoft brought good wind pressure up from behind, he threw everything he had at us and we had to defend, luffing hard out of gybes as both boats rumbled toward the finish line barely in control. We did a great job of controlling our position and while the Danish team ‘wiped out’ on the approach to the finish, we bore away to take the win.

Despite our loss to world number 15 Alvaro Marinho today, we still have the chance to top our group in our three remaining races, however we are racing arguably 3 of the toughest competitors at this years Argo Group Gold Cup. First up we have Ben Ainslie, followed by Bjorn Hansen and Sebastian Col, a tough line up but we are looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.


BlackMatch Racing and Fedex Express watch the racing in Bermuda from the VIP boat. Image copyright Jenny Warner.

BlackMatch would like to make a special mention to Mark Watson who is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Argo Group. Mark is not only the title sponsor of the Argo Group Gold Cup, but is also an avid sailor. Mark and his team have played host to BlackMatch’s sponsor Fedex Express, entertaining them on the magnificent 110ft Motor Yacht Venetian, which provides the best seat in the house for the action on the water, thank you Mark for all of your help this week. We would also like to thank everyone from Fedex Express who joined us on the water today, we hope you all enjoyed your day and hope we can deliver the goods tomorrow. To the RNZYS and Emirates Team New Zealand, thank you for your support.

BlackMatch Racing
World Match Racing Tour

WMRT: Ainslie, Richard and Williams Lead the Charge in Bermuda

Peter Gilmour (AUS) and Phil Robertson (NZL) smashing down the race course. The Kiwi WAKA Racing team beat the Aussie match race veteran. Image copyright Charles Anderson.

by Talbot Wilson

British Olympic Gold medal winner Ben Ainslie was first out of the box in the first match of flight 2 for Group 2 at the Argo Group Gold Cup Wednesday morning. He took the win from Bermuda’s Olympian Paula Lewin-Crews. Ainslie went on to win three matches today. With another first in Tuesday’s dying breeze, he stands at the top of Group 2 with 4-0, four wins and no losses.

Following Ainslie in Group 2 with 3-1 records are Adam Minoprio (NZL), Seb Col (FRA), and Bjorn Hansen. Dave Perry (USA) is 2-2, Alvaro Marinho (POR) stands 1-3 while Rasmus Viltoft (DEN) and Paula Lewin Crews (BER) are winless at 0-4.

Group 3 took to the water after the 4th flight for Group 2 and also completed four flights after a slight pause to allow a powerful wind and rain squall to pass. They raced the two pre-squall with jib and main only, but the rainstorm dampened the wind enough to allow the boats to sail with spinnakers. Group 2 and 3 will complete their round robin on Thursday, weather permitting.

Former Bermuda Gold Cup champion Mathieu Richard was in perfect form taking all four of his matches today to stand 4-0 going into the group’s last three flights scheduled to be completed along with Group 3’s final three on Thursday. Last year’s champion Johnie Berntsson lost one match today to Chicago, Illinois skipper Don Wilson and is tied for second in the group with three time Gold Cup champ and past World Tour champion Peter Gilmour (AUS) at 3-1. Gilmour lost his Flight 3 race to Phil Robertson (NZL).

Group 1 then returned to the water late in the afternoon and after several breakdowns were repaired the racing was about to get underway in 22 knots of wind when Eric Monnin (SUI) and Torvar Mirsky (AUS), undefeated on Tuesday, tangled rigs. The jumper struts on Mirsky’s rig were damaged and he could not sail so he returned to the Royal Bermuda YC. His Match 1 Flight 5 with Keith Swinton will be sailed Thursday.

In Group 1, Flight 5 Match 2, between Ian Evans (USA) and Eric Monnin, Evans got a black flag for too many outstanding penalties and the win went to Monnin.

Then in match 3 reigning World Tour Champion Ian Williams (GBR) and Damian Iehl (FRA) had a battle down to wire. Iehl was ahead but had to make a penalty turn before finishing. He made the turn but came out on port and did not keep clear of Williams. He was penalized again and the win went to Williams.

Williams’ next match was short lived after Keith Swinton (AUS) broke his boom at the vang fitting doing a gybe during the pre-start. With Swinton unable to start the umpires black flagged him handing the win to Williams. Williams then went on to defeat Torvar Mirsky in the final match of the day and leads Group 1 with six wins.

The other matches in that flight turned into survival tests with the boats taking one death roll after another coming downwind in blustery 25 knot gusts. Damian Iehl gave Torvor Mirsky his first defeat of the competition, and taking one final roll right at the finish, Rueben Corbett (NZL) defeated Ian Evans.


Matthias Rahm (SWE) and Don Wilson (USA) in Bermuda. Image copyright Charles Anderson.

Match racing action in the Argo Group Gold Cup, Stage 8 of the World Match Racing Tour, continued Wednesday with the one-hour early 7:00AM skippers meeting and the 8:00AM first warning for Flight 2 for Group 2. With the sun barely up in Bermuda, in a breeze that built all morning with gusts in the low twenties, spinnakers were only used for the first flight of the day. Group 2 flights 3 and 4 were non-spinnaker matches.

Penalty flags flew everywhere just like the matches on Tuesday, every match in Group 2 Flight 2 garnered a penalty or two. In Group 3 racing later in the day there was even a collision between Don Wilson (USA) and an umpire boat, a collision between boats racing and rumors of a boat colliding with the harbour wall. Mattias Rahm was black flagged in Flight 1 of Group 3 against Phil Robertson (NZL), getting an immediate disqualification for three simultaneous penalties.

This was the second black flag DSQ in the 2009 Argo Group Gold Cup.

The third black flag came out in the Group 1, Flight 5 Match 2, between Ian Evans (USA) and Eric Monnin (SUI) with Monnin getting the automatic, instant win. The fourth black flag came out in the Group 1 Flight 6 Match 4, between Swinton and Williams with the win going Williams way.

Racing will get underway on Thursday at 9.00am weather permitting. The forecast is for 40 knots of wind to come through so there might be some waiting around before the action starts again.

Results after day 2:

Group 1
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 4/2
Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar by Argo Group 6/1
Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team 4/3
Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing 2/3
Eric Monnin (SUI) Search.ch 4/1
Reuben Corbett (NZL) 3/3
Robbie Allam (GBR) 1/5
Ian Evans (USA)1/5

Group 2
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 3/1
Sebastien Col (FRA) French Team/K Challenge 3/1
Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin 4/0
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Alandia Sailing Team 3/1
Alvaro Marinho (POR) Seth Sailing Team 1/3
David Perry (USA) 2/2
Rasmus Viltoft (DEN) 0/4
Paula Lewin Crews (BDA) 0/4

Group 3
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 4/0
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 3/1
Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 3/1
Mattias Rahm (SWE) Stena Bulk Sailing Team 2/2
Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing Team 2/2
Blythe Walker (BDA) 1/3
Donald Wilson (USA) 1/3
Charlie Enright (USA) 0/4

World Match Racing Tour