Day 4
Day 5
Delta Lloyd Regatta
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Delta Lloyd Regatta : Gold - Silver - Bronze for NZL Sailing Team!
Team Jolly Racing - Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie - on their way to Gold at the Delta Lloyd Regatta in the Netherlands. Image copyright Sander van der Borch
Review of the New Zealand Medal Race results in the Delta Lloyd Regatta by SailRaceWin
The Midas Touch : Team Jolly Racing
Once again Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are New Zealand's golden girls! They haven't stopped winning at Women's international 470 events they have entered since they won Gold at the London Olympics in 2012. AWESOME performance! This is also despite Jo commenting to us that she couldn't feel her hands or feet while sailing this past week in the cold of Medemblik!!
Steady and improving : Silver for Snow-Hansen and Saunders
In the Men's 470 class it wasn't quite Gold this time, but Silver is the closest thing to it! Increasing consistency of performance from Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox bodes well for future successive Gold medals.
Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox finished with Silver medal in the Men's 470 class in Medemblik. Image copyright Sander van der Borch
Podium Again : Andy Maloney takes Bronze in the Laser
Andy Maloney took the Bronze medal in the Netherlands this week, having missed out on Olympic selection for London 2012 Games to his training partner. Maloney's performance is also showing increasing consistency at the top of the class, with his having taken Gold in Trentino. This bodes well for the future, not least as Sam Meech finished fifth in this class in Medemblik, showing the strength in depth of Kiwi Laser sailing.
Andy Maloney hikes hard on the Laser on his way to a Bronze medal in Medemblik. Image copyright Sander van der Borch.
In Italy, at the previous EUROSAF event, New Zealand obtained three Gold medals! The Kiwis who won Gold in Italy in the 49er did not compete in the Delta Lloyd Regatta.
The Secret of Team Jolly's success in Medemblik - Jo Aleh sports her winning beanie (right), with Polly Powrie. Image copyright Sander van der Borch
The New Zealand Sailing Team is rapidly gaining strength in depth and becoming a major force to be reckoned with in Olympic Sailing.
Full details of all Kiwi racers' results are available on the Delta Lloyd Regatta website
America's Cup : Making it safe for the summer
by Stephen Barclay, CEO, America's Cup Event Authority
In sport, when things go wrong, people sometimes get injured or worse. Those sports that involve leading edge technology and athletes competing at the highest level tend to magnify the consequences when things go wrong. F1, NASCAR, Indycar, Kite Surfing, Moto GP, X Games are some examples… And sailing is another.
A number of these sports have dealt with tragedy by thoroughly reviewing their systems and processes, in particular those surrounding the personal safety of the participants.
For example, following the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994, a number of measures were introduced, such as better cockpit protection for the drivers. Grooved tires were introduced in 1998 instead of racing slick tires to reduce cornering speed. Safety measures continued to be introduced into the 21st century, with a number of circuits having their configuration changed to improve driver safety. It is illustrative that no driver has suffered a fatal crash since Senna in 1994, making this the longest period in F1 history without a driver fatality.
On Wednesday, the America’s Cup Regatta Director, Iain Murray, delivered 37 recommendations to improve the safety of the AC72s on San Francisco Bay. The recommendations were divided into four sections; the AC72 Yacht, Personal Equipment, Additional Support Equipment and Race Management. The America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) and America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM) added these recommendations in their entirety to an amended Marine Event Permit application and submitted it to the Coast Guard for its consideration. If approved, the safety recommendations will become ‘requirements’ to participate in the AC72 events this summer.
The new AC72 safety recommendations aim to reduce the potential for capsize while recognizing that capsizes may still occur. The proposals therefore also address how the teams improve the personal safety of the sailors during and after a capsize. Much as crashes still occur in F1 but safety measures have resulted in no loss of driver life, our new safety requirements seek to do the same.
As the Event Authority, we are now focused on tuning-up our event plans to embrace the new safety requirements. To allow for increased AC72 maintenance, the schedule will be tweaked, cutting the number of rounds from seven to five. This change is expected to effect only a very small number of race days, primarily in July.
Possibly the biggest impact will be the reduced wind limits. Our data shows that in July, winds could be above our new limit as much as 30% of the time. But by bringing the race time forward by an hour, for example, we could dramatically reduce the likelihood of the wind being above the limit. So we are currently looking into this to achieve the goal of reliable start times. The good news is that the winds get a little lighter in August and then lighter again in September, to the point where there is a low probability of races in September being impacted by the new wind limits.
The work undertaken by the expert America’s Cup AC72 Safety Review Committee, the recommendations of the Regatta Director, the revised Marine Event Permit application incorporating the recommendations, and the manner in which the teams have responded to these changes suggests we have learned from the recent AC72 capsizes and the tragedy of losing Artemis Racing’s double Olympic medalist Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson.
Safety was always the priority. Improving it is a constant quest and there is always more work to be done, but it is good to be able to move forward knowing we are all collectively focused on doing everything we possibly can so that any future incident doesn’t result in the loss of another great sailor’s life.
America's Cup
Delta Lloyd Regatta : Nacra 17 on Fast Track
by Delta Lloyd Regatta media
The Nacra 17 has been added to the Olympic Programme for Rio. For the first time in sailing history, there is a mixed (man and women) event in the Olympic Games and the new multihull has proved popular with lots of countries and teams ready for a new challenge.
In Medemblik we have met with new Nacra 17 class manager, Edwin Lodder.
“The Nacra has been chosen among eight other boats. These boats have been tested by sailors from different back ground and the Nacra was popular. It is a new design and high-tech.”
Since the first appearance of the Nacra on the international scene, during the Rolex Miami OCR, the fleet has been increasing, especially in Palma and Hyères with over 30 boats. “We have started from scratch and now we have build close to 200 boats, boats are still being built and delivered. It is very encouraging!”
With the first World Championship in July in Scheveringen, Holland, the Nacra is still expecting growing fleets. “We think we will have 70 boats at the Worlds and expect between 50 and 100 next year at the major events. Then we will have to see that the boat is developing well towards the Olympic Games in Rio.”
Delta Lloyd Regatta
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