Les Voiles de Saint Barth: Some prestigious entrants

ICAP Leopard. Image copyright Rick Tomlinson.

by Sabina Mollart-Rogerson

With less than two months to go to the start of the first edition of the Voiles de Saint Barth, the organizing committee is pleased about the number of competitors registering or pre-registering with some fine luxury yachts attending in each of the five classes taking part. The challenge of bringing together the finest yachts sailing in the Caribbean in St. Barts at the end of the continental winter for a long week of racing and fun on the water is being fulfilled. St. Barts, with its beautiful magical shores and tempting waters, will serve as the perfect backdrop to a wonderful ballet involving classic and modern yachts with one, two or three hulls. Already the presence of ICAP Leopard 3, on her way to attempt the North Atlantic record, and the classic beauty of Kate are something of an event in the racing calendar.

First leg for ICAP

ICAP Leopard 3, with her British owner Mike Slade, is a Super Maxi Yacht designed by Bruce Farr and represents the pinnacle of exceptional yachting, bringing together beauty and comfort, while at the same time she can boast the very latest technological developments seen on ocean racing boats. ICAP is about to leave Australia, where she has undergone some major work in the yard, where she was built, to head for the Caribbean. St. Barts will be her first port of call for racing and pleasure before her major challenge this summer, which involves tackling the North Atlantic record from West to East that is currently held by Mari-Cha IV (6 days, 17 hours and 52 minutes).

While the very presence of Icap Leopard 3 is in itself a major event, the battle with other equally prestigious boats, such as the large ketch Sojana (115-feet), DSK (Swan 90), the 148-footer Saudade and the Briand-designed Hamilton II (115-feet) means we can look forward to some glorious yachting moments.

Gaff rigs and teak decks

Those, who love beautiful classic yachts, will have their appetites filled, as the elegant traditional hulls of Kate, White Horse, White Wings and Lone Fox will be joining in the fun. Kate will be making her long-awaited return to racing in St. Barts after her winter break. This magnificent gaff-rigged schooner was built in 2006 based on designs by Alfred Mylne dating back to 1908. She belongs to the prestigious 12 M IR class, which can be a source of confusion, as she does in fact have a length overall of almost 24 metres.

Modern yachts out in force

Swan 45s, Dufours, Archambaults... designed for day races, the finest "Racing" yachts of the moment, which are particularly well suited to strong winds and heavy swell, could not miss this new date on the Caribbean calendar. "Puffy", a Swan 45 belonging to the event’s godfather, Patrick Demarchelier, Sonodia III (Archambault 40), Money Penny (Swan 601) and the Swan 45 "Victor" are typical of the cruising boats, fitted out to perform well with a crew in close contact racing. Fast on the water and quick to manoeuvre, they have top of the range spectra or kevlar sails and offer a wonderful sight in these toughly fought battles.

Multihulls too

The Caribbean has always been pleased to welcome trimarans and catamarans. The Voiles de Saint Barth just had to make room for them. 40-60 foot multihulls will be racing. Claude Tellier with his former Primagaz, the winner of the Route du Rhum, would not have missed this for anything in the world.

Latest update

Red cap 'Les Voiles de St Barth 2010'
Since its origin, Mount Gay Rum has been intimately linked to the sailing world. From 17th century navigation to present-day regattas, Mount Gay is the brand of rum for all those who love the sea. For them, the red cap has come to symbolise the passion, spirit and identity that unites this seafaring family.

Classes invited:


ICAP Leopard. Image copyright Rick Tomlinson.

SUPERYACHTS:
A minimum length of 24 metres, divided into two classes:
- Performance (CSA rating)
- Cruising (CSA or simplified CSA rating)

CLASSIC YACHTS:
- Older boats with a long keel, a heavy displacement and a traditional rig
- Maximum length 24 m
- CSA Classic rules

RACING:
- Racing yachts under CSA rules

RACING-CRUISING:
- Racing and cruising yachts
- CSA or simplified CSA rating

RACING MULTIHULLS:
- Racing catamarans and trimarans
- 2000 Multihull rules

The Caribbean Sailing Association is a body that was set up to promote yachting in the Caribbean offering handicap rules that are easy to calculate and simple to apply. They are aimed at encouraging all sorts of boat and not just racing yachts to take part in the region’s races.

The CSA Rule is a measurement rule, which takes into account the hull, keel, rudder, materials, sail surface.... to create a handicap that is simple for race organisers to apply. CSA rules require each boat to be measured in true race configuration.

Les Voiles de St. Barth

OK Worlds: Purdie Regains His Crown

Six Kiwis in top ten overall


New OK World Champion, Wellingtonian Karl Purdie is taken for a victory ride. Image copyright Adrian Rumney.

by Mary Reddyhoff

The final day of racing has dawned: grey and still with a thick mist obscuring the surrounding hills. The forecast is for a 15 knot northerly to build during the morning. Paul Rhodes (NZL), who was leading over the first three days of the regatta, was philosophical about his drop to second position behind Karl Purdie (NZL). In fact he said “it is a relief not being in the lead – what will be will be”. Purdie leads by 8 points from Rhodes; Michael Williams (AUS) is just 3 points behind. Matt Steven, a Junior enjoying his first Worlds regatta in the OK Dinghy, is also showing a very consistent set of results, scoring 47, just one point behind Williams. We will need a calculator on the water to work out the permutations arising from the racing today.

Race 9

66 sailors headed out to the course area for race 9 which started at the second attempt under a black flag. The majority of the fleet held their starboard tack for much of the first half of the beat. As the wind dropped from 8 to 5 knots, they migrated to the corners looking for more pressure. A clear leader at the windward mark was three times World Champion, Nick Craig (GBR) with the junior Matt Steven (NZL) leading the pack, and Kagan Weeks (NZL) 3rd and Brad Douglas (NZL) 4th. At this point World Championship contenders Karl Purdie (NZL) and Paul Rhodes (NZL) were lying 9th and 31st respectively. At the wing mark Craig had increased his lead which he held to the leeward mark.

The second beat was shortened, but the first 4 positions remained unchanged. Craig had a 40 second lead on the next two and they had a 40 seconds lead on the rest. Greg Wilcox (NZL) pulled up to 5th from 10th place with Purdie in 6th. Alistair Deaves (NZL) was also having a good race – this his second result in the top ten in consecutive races. As the sailors worked their way up the final beat the wind increased to 8 knots and more as tired legs hiked to maximise boat speed and safeguard positions. At the finish Craig had a comfortable lead over Steven and Weeks who celebrated his first top ten result. Five different nations were represented in the top ten in race 9.

Results

1st Nick Craig (GBR)
2nd Matt Steven (NZL)
3rd Kagan Weeks (NZL)
4th Karl Purdie (NZL)
5th Greg Wilcox (NZL)
6th Brad Douglas (NZL)
7th Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE)
8th Alistair Deaves (NZL)
9th Soenke Behrens (GER)
10th Roger Blasse (AUS)


OK World Champion Karl Purdie is lifted out of the water in his boat. Image copyright Chris Coad.

Race 10

Race 10 started swiftly after completion of race 9 in 11 knots of breeze. The contest was by no means decided as the competitors lined up on the start line. After a clear start, the competitors were evenly distributed over the course, the main contenders choosing a central route. As the fleet neared the windward mark, the competitors on the right of the course had the edge over those on the left. Leading the fleet was World Championship contender Paul Rhodes (NZL) with Nigel Mannering (NZL) lying in second place. A past World Champion Nick Craig (GBR) was 3rd and current World Champion Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE) 4th, with Greg Wilcox (NZL) another past Champion lying in 5th place.

As the fleet headed down to the gybe mark, lighter airs caused the fleet to bunch up but Rhodes was still in the lead, with Douglas hot on his heels. Wilcox caught a good wave and surfed past both to take the lead. Craig and Hansson-Mild remained ahead of the chasing pack. As the fleet headed up the second beat, Wilcox increased his lead and rounded at 14:19 with Douglas still second and Rhodes had dropped to 3rd. The entire fleet completed the rounding in 6 minutes, as they headed down to the leeward mark on their final run of the Championship.

Wilcox held the lead on the final beat, but was being chased hard by Craig who had risen to 2nd place. Michael Williams (AUS) had worked his way through the fleet to climb to 4th position behind Hansson-Mild. Both Mannering and Rhodes dropped places, but Luke O’Connell (NZL) climbed to 7th from an early 12th. Despite finishing 10th in the final race, this was good enough for Karl Purdie (NZL) to take the World Championship in 2010 at his home town with 49 points, clear ahead of 2nd place Williams who finished on 62 points. Junior Matt Steven had a disappointing race, but a fantastic regatta, finishing in 3rd place on 68 points.

Results

1st Greg Wilcox (NZL)
2nd Nick Craig (GBR)
3rd Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE)
4th Michael Williams (AUS)
5th Nigel Mannering (NZL)
6th Paul Rhodes (NZL)
7th Luke O’Connell (NZL)
8th Brad Douglas (NZL)
9th Steve McDowell (NZL)
10th Karl Purdie (NZL)

Overall results

1st World Champion and Veteran Champion Karl Purdie (NZL)
2nd Michael Williams (AUS)
3rd Junior Champion Matt Steven (NZL)
4th Paul Rhodes (NZL)
5th Nick Craig (GBR)
6th Brad Douglas (NZL)
7th Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE)
8th Steve McDowell (NZL)
9th Andre Blasse (NZL)
10th Ben Morrison (NZL)

Ties, medals and trophies will be presented at the prize giving dinner on Friday night. In the meantime the fleet will be celebrating completion of the regatta at an Indian restaurant tonight.

OK Worlds 2010

Hardy Cup: Evan Walker wins for second time - Kiwis second and third

Gybing for the for the bottom mark - Junior (boat 2) vs Walker. Image copyright Aline Van Haren.

by Peter Campbell

Young Australian sailors have regained the prestigious Hardy Cup ISAF under 25 grade 3 match-racing title from the New Zealanders, with Evan Walker from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Youth Sailing Academy today winning a hard-fought final against Josh Junior from Wellington’s Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club.

The final, sailed in a building 10-12-knot north-easterly seabreeze, went to four flights as the two young sailors and their crews used all their helming, sail-trimming and tactical match-racing skills in a bid to out-manoeuvre each other in the Elliott 6 sports boats.


Adrian Short dominates Jordan Reece in the Petit Final. Image copyright Aline Van Haren.

Walker is only the second skipper to have won the Hardy Cup more than once, an event conceived by eminent Australian yachtsman Sir James Hardy to promote match-racing skills, who has watching the regatta this week. The success of his concept can be judged by the ongoing international success of Adam Minoprio (NZL), three-time winner Michael Dunstan (AUS), Laurie Jury (NZL) and Mark Campbell-Jones (GBR).

Many of the competitors in this year’s Hardy Cup can be expected to go further in match-racing and other yachting pursuits – Evan Walker tomorrow will be skippering an 18-footer in the JJ Giltanan international regatta on Sydney Harbour; Josh Junior will soon return to campaigning a single-handed Laser for the London 2012 Olympics.

Walker won the Hardy Cup for the first time in 2008 and finished a rather luckless third last year. Despite some losses in the round-robins this week, he remained at the top of the leader-board throughout the regatta, eliminating Jordon Reece from the host club, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, 2-0 in their semi-final and then winning the best-of-five final against Junior 4-1.

Junior won his best-of-three semi-final against fellow Kiwi and defending Hardy Cup champion, Adrian Short from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland, 2-0.

“We seemed to be coming from behind in each of the final flights today, overtaking Josh on the downwind legs by picking the better wind shifts,” Walker said after the final.

“Josh was sailing really well, upwind he was faster but we managed in all but the second race to overtake him downwind. In the first race, we looked out of the running but I think we ‘spooked’ into gybing away; then, when he came back we did the same thing; we made up four or five boat lengths on final third of the last run to the finish,” recalled Walker, who crossed the finish line just two seconds ahead.

Walker lost flight two after incurring a pre-start penalty for tacking across Junior’s bow and trying to take the exonerating turns nearing the finish. “It didn’t work and we lost out,” Walker added, with Junior then winning by 1 minute 36 seconds.


Walker takes the Cup with Junior yet to clear a penalty. Image copyright Aline Van Haren.

Walker and his crew of Carl Langford (tactics/mainsail and bow) and Ted Hackney (jib and spinnaker trim) again came from astern to win flight 3 by 18 seconds after the New Zealander broke his tiller extension. The fourth and deciding flight again saw Junior faster upwind but losing downwind, with a penalty adding to their woes, losing the flight by 14 seconds and the Hardy Cup 3-1.

Sailing in his second Hardy Hardy (fifth in 2008) Josh Junior sailed a most impressive series with his crew of Chris Jones and Tim Coltman, all from Wellington. “We were in control at the starts and upwind, but kept losing on the downwind spinnaker runs,” Junior said. “Downwind, Evan kept rolling us…his tactics were better.”


Fierce competition in the finals between Evan Walker and Josh Junior. Image copyright Aline Van Haren.

Junior has one more youth match racing regatta, the National Bank under 21 regatta in Auckland, before returning to his campaign in the single-handed Laser. Currently No 2 in New Zealand, he has sights set on the London Olympics in 2012.

In today’s petite final to decide third and fourth placings overall, Adrian Short (NZL) scored two straight wins over Jordan Reece (AUS), generally sailing ‘faster and smarter’, as one spectator commented.

Earlier in the day, Walker won two hard-fought flights against Reece, the first by a mere 1 second, the second by 28 seconds after a spectacular tacking duel on the second beat to windward, to win their semi-final.


Walker shakes hands with crew for taking Hardy Cup win. Image copyright Aline Van Haren.

In the Short versus Junior semi-final, the first encounter saw the two Kiwi sailors twice split tacks, contrary to copybook match-racing tactics, with the Junior’s winning margin just 9 seconds. In the second flights, Junior won the start and sailed faster and higher, picking the wind shifts well for a convincing 18 second victory.


Evan Walker and team - Hardy Cup champions 2010. Image copyright Aline Van Haren.

Results

Semi-Finals

Evan Walker 2 - Jordan Reece 0
Josh Junior 2 - Adrian Short 0

Petit Final

Adrian Short 2 - Jordan Reece 0

Final

Evan Walker 3 - Josh Junior 1

Note from SailRaceWin: Lucinda Whitty's Australian women's match racing team crewed for Jordan Reece at the Hardy Cup 2010.

Hardy Cup

America's Cup: Update #7 from Valencia by Paul Cayard

by Paul Cayard

Another frustrating day in Valencia. No racing today.

The writing was on the wall last night when the Race Committee postponed the start time for today from 1000 to 1200. Then at 0900 this morning they postponed again all the while keeping the teams at the dock. Finally at 1200 they cancelled racing for the day. The reason given was that the sea state was too rough for these boats. Next chance for a race is Friday at 1000.

The sentiment around the media center is that the first race will be held on Sunday. Many feel the forecast for Friday is poor also. I would say that the weather is too variable to predict accurately and with the criteria for racing requiring both wind and wave accommodation, the acceptable window is quite small.

With these delays, we are losing some media and fans I imagine. It is getting difficult to keep the energy up and to create content for television. There are only so many stories that can be written about the cool technology contained in these two boats. After a certain point, the people want to see a race. Eurosport will cover the race on Friday if there is one but today's cancelation means that we wont be here to cover the final race, as the team is leaving for Vancouver on Saturday. I am heading to Dubai Friday night for the RC 44 event there.

I am very frustrated by all this as I feel we are not putting our best foot forward as a sport. Obviously, February in Valencia is going to be tough with the weather criteria as tight as it is for these boats. Maybe Alinghi and BMW Oracle should agree to postpone racing until May. That would allow for better weather and therefore a higher likelihood of racing when scheduled, and more time for sponsors to organize their visits and hospitality. Considering that they haven't agreed on one thing yet, this is not likely to happen.

Cayard Sailing

JVT: High Havoc for Groupama 3

Sunset near the Brazilian coast. Image copyright Team Groupama.

by Vincent Borde and Caroline Muller

It's been a difficult day with a tricky night in prospect after ten days at sea! While Groupama 3 is approaching 35° South, the weather situation isn't really playing ball for the next 24 hours, with conditions forecast to be pretty unstable as regards the wind. As such Franck Cammas and his men are constantly having to adapt to the irregular breeze by zigzagging between the zones of high pressure.


Loïc Lemonchois and Ronan Le Goff. Image copyright Team Groupama.

The clock is ticking and the miles are slipping by in a negative sense: the lead Groupama 3 had over the Jules Verne Trophy reference time has melted in the tropical sunshine, plummeting from over 600 miles to less than 300 miles... And it's going to get worse before it gets better! Indeed, the Saint Helena High has split into several cells and Franck Cammas and his nine crew are having to deal with zones of high pressure, which are imploding on site, only to reform again a little further down the track... It's hard to establish a strict plan of campaign when the wind is disappearing into thin air!


Bruno Jeanjean and Thomas Coville. Image copyright Team Groupama.

"Fortunately there were some good wind rotations to play with last night: we were able to cover a fair few miles towards the South until morning. We've been able to make headway with some fairly unstable local phenomena, which is allowing us to drop down nicely under gennaker. We've only had gybes to do, but no sail changing manoeuvres. We had to be on the look-out the whole night so as to get the very best out of the shifts. It's a race against the clock with a zone of high pressure that could well swallow us up. It's a bit tense on board, but we're doing what we can!" indicated Franck Cammas at the 1130 UTC radio link-up with Groupama's Race HQ in Paris.

Attacking the front!


Ronan Le Goff. Image copyright Team Groupama.

They're going to have to keep champing at the bit and remain particularly vigilant in order to gradually make up ground towards the South to escape the high pressure metastasis. There are nearly 300 miles to go before they can open up the throttle in a very S'ly depression system, associated with around twenty knots of W'ly wind. Already Franck Cammas and his men know they're going to have their work cut out to round the Cape of Good Hope as fast as Bruno Peyron in 2005 (14d 08h 19'). However, as long as they're only a few hours behind on entering the Indian Ocean, it'll be game on once again! One thing for sure is that the crew are going to be under great pressure over the coming hours...


Ronan Le Goff. Image copyright Team Groupama.

"Since lunchtime we've been sailing in a light 9-10 knot SW'ly breeze. The sea is already being a little influenced by the effects of the swell from the Deep South so we're `swaying' about a bit. We're still seeking to gain ground to the South as quickly as possible so we can hook onto the lows. However, the first front with SW'ly winds won't hit us till Thursday evening: the tricky section is between now and midnight! We'll just have to hope that we don't fall into a wind hole, which would put us behind the front..."


Thomas Coville, Bruno Jeanjean, Stève Ravussin, and Jacques Caraës. Image copyright Team Groupama.

Groupama 3's log (departure on 31st January at 13h 55' 53'' UTC)
Day 1 (1st February 1400 UTC): 500 miles (deficit = 94 miles)
Day 2 (2nd February 1400 UTC): 560 miles (lead = 3.5 miles)
Day 3 (3rd February 1400 UTC): 535 miles (lead = 170 miles)
Day 4 (4th February 1400 UTC): 565 miles (lead = 245 miles)
Day 5 (5th February 1400 UTC): 656 miles (lead = 562 miles)
Day 6 (6th February 1400 UTC): 456 miles (lead = 620 miles)
Day 7 (7th February 1400 UTC): 430 miles (lead = 539 miles)
Day 8 (8th February 1400 UTC): 305 miles (lead = 456 miles)
Day 9 (9th February 1400 UTC): 436 miles (lead = 393 miles)
Day 10 (10th February 1400 UTC): 355 miles (lead = 272 miles)

Best passage time to the equator from Ushant
Groupama 3: 5d 15h 23' (November 2009)

Jules Verne Trophy reference time to the equator
Orange 2: 7d 02h 56' (January 2005)

Cammas - Groupama

America's Cup: Racing Abandoned for Second Time

by Jane Eagleson

The Race Committee for the 33rd America's Cup has abandoned racing for the second consecutive race day.

Neither race boat left port as the start was initially postponed ashore. The Race Committee proceeded out to the race area to assess the conditions but elected to abandon racing for the day at noon, local time.

Skipper and helmsman James Spithill (AUS) met the media following racing being abandoned and said the whole team was disappointed not to race.

"We were keen to go," he said. "We think that 10:00 (the scheduled time for the warning signal in the Sailing Instructions) was the window and we probably could have got one away. Having said that, I think (Principal race Officer) Harold Bennett is the right man for the job... I've got full trust in Harold...

"I would have loved to have gone out there. I love sailing this boat and that's the coolest thing about it. You look forward to sailing it every day. You go home at night and can't wait to get out there again."

The next scheduled race day is Friday, 12th February.

"It looks good now, but it's pretty difficult to predict more than 24-hours in advance in Valenica," Spithill cautioned, when asked about the forecast for Friday. "So I think we just have to wait till we get closer because it can change pretty quickly...

"Since we got here in January, we've had some fantastic days out there. But that's what you deal with in this sport. I think with the two boats we've got, we want to have fair racing - I think everyone agrees with that. It's no one's fault. It's not Harold's fault. That's just the weather."

The press conference with James Spithill was streamed live on the main team website, http://www.bmworacleracing.com as part of the "Race Day" coverage the team is providing to race fans. On Wednesday, the live streaming package throughout the day attracted 10,000 unique viewers who watched for an average of 45-minutes.

BMW ORACLE Racing

America's Cup: Race 1 of America's Cup Match postponed until Friday

Waves in excess of 1m on the race course force organisers to issue a second postponement...

by Daphne Morgan Barnicoat

Race 1 of the 33rd America's Cup Match has been postponed until Friday. Today's attempt to commence the best-of-three Deed of Gift Match between Defender Alinghi and Challenger BMW Oracle Racing was postponed due to rough sea conditions on the Mediterranean outside Valencia.

“The waves were the biggest problem. I think they were about 1.3m average size in the start area,” said Alinghi strategist Murray Jones. “That means we could've had a peak of 1.8m and that's the biggest issue.

“There was a swell coming from one direction and waves from an offset of 90 degrees to that. We've been out in conditions not quite that bad, but it's heinous. I think they've done the right thing by not sending us out there,” Jones said.

Jones explained that strong winds in the north of Spain near France were churning up the sea, which was confirmed over the phone by Will McCarthy, an Alinghi sailing team member, out spotting at noon: “It's very bumpy out here, confused, cold and we have seen 20knots this morning.”

The next attempt to commence the match is scheduled for Friday at 10:06. The race schedule is for one day to intervene between each race day as agreed with the Challenger. Paragraph 6.5 of the Notice of Race states that: “If a race is cancelled, abandoned or postponed that race will be sailed on the next scheduled date and the subsequent races shall be postponed for the day accordingly.”

The first attempt on Monday was postponed until today due to unstable wind conditions.

Alinghi