all clear

 
It's the fourth day of this fifth and final leg of the Global Ocean Race, we are still leading but by rapidly narrowing margin, just 4 miles over Cessna at the last report and it seems highly likely that we'll soon have to hand over our crown, after giving them a good run for their money we
are floating helplessly in very light winds and I think they'll finally manage to squeeze past.

After facing tropical storm "Alberto" the first night of the race the weather has changed in a maze of unpredictable winds, the conditions we met very often differed substantially from the forecast. Our tactical choices seemed correct given the available information and we've managed
to increase our lead of the identical boats in the fleet, Phesheya and Sec.Hayai, to over a 100 miles.

Much more difficult to keep Cessna under control, the new generation boat that is currently leading the overall points ranking in the race seems to always break through thanks to her better performance so it's only a matter of time before they overtake us but we can be proud to have managed to lead the race for the early part of this leg. Only once before we had overtaken them during a leg, on the approach to Cape Horn but just for a few hours until they disappeared again over the horizon... we may not beat them but we sure enjoy teasing them.

The difficult navigation of the last few days has made even more memorable the beautiful days spent at the Charleston stopover where we were welcomed very warmly by everyone we met. At our arrival in the heart of the night Sergio Fedelini, Honorary Consul for Italy stayed up till the early hours to welcome us on the committee boat, during the stopover he was of great
assistance first of all in treating us to some of the best spaghetti alle vongole i had eaten in years but also with more formal aspects such as organising an event with the italo-american chamber of commerce in our honour and by donating a new italian flag after i learning i had shredded
the one i had received from my home town of Torino before the start.

A particular thanks to sailing legend Pete Goss and Vernon Keen, Chairman of the Truro & District Boat Owners Association who behind the scenes organised a fundraiser during one of Pete's talks providing a much needed contribution to my empty race funds and allowed me to pay for such expenses as the repair of the alternator which had packed up the previous
leg. A thank you also to those who contributed online to the funds through my webpage www.marconannini.com/help I cant stress enough the fact that without all this help I would have not been able to get to this final leg of the race.

On this subject a reminder of the fact that my boat is for sale, I have some substantial debts to repay with the proceeds of the sale but beware that after leading the early stages of this final leg the price has clearly doubled! Just kidding. For any information please email Ella at
connolly_ella@yahoo.com. Marco Nannini, on the GOR.

05/23/12

fvor

marvelous in miami

Update from the Helm 
Leg 7, Day 3
23 May 2012
Ken Read, Skipper,
PUMA Ocean Racing

North American sailing has taught me something this past week. 
  
The Miami experience was bitter sweet for sure. Great to be back in the States, sad to leave “home” at the end and head back out to sea. I was actually only home for two days back in Newport, R.I., checking in on family and friends and heading over to the New York Yacht Club for a quick bite to eat on Saturday night. This is where my North American experience really started. Seeing how addicted and educated the NYYC members are about this event. And, they don’t seem to be the only ones. 
  
There is no doubt that the overall “numbers” were down at the Miami stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race compared to other stops around the world. I am not smart enough or close enough to the event to know why. But, what I do know is that those who showed up had some serious enthusiasm for the sport. I met people from Canada, California, the Great Lakes region and throughout the Northeast, all flying themselves to Miami to see this event. It was fantastic to reunite with a lot of old friends that I hadn’t seen in years, but it was the perfect strangers that shocked me. People who I didn’t know from Adam certainly knew quite a bit about us! Thanks to the internet, I presume. 
  
So why does sailing have such a bad rap, that the sport is going down the tubes? Doesn’t seem like it to me. Here are major league enthusiasts spending their hard-earned cash to check out the VOR stopover. All with a smile and a passion that was infectious. It was a great couple of weeks in my life. 
  
I am tired though, and the start to this leg to Portugal has not exactly let us relax much. The routing had us heading north to the outskirts of dying Tropical Storm Alberto and sure enough, it snuck up on us and smacked us in the butt. All but Groupama delayed the jibe to head for Lisbon at the bottom of the low pressure a bit too long, and we got trapped by the very compact low pressure on the wrong side. We figure we waited about 15 minutes too long to jibe and suffered huge consequences because of it. Not a great start to the leg. 
  
But, we only lost touch with the one boat so I guess it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Now we are drag racing in the remnants of this storm across The Pond averaging about 21 knots overnight. Blast reaching, which makes it really, really wet on deck. 
  
But that is what we do, and it is all the more satisfying after obviously touching so many people in a positive way in Miami. And, it is safe to say they all touched me as positively as you could ever imagine. A bit overwhelming to be honest. 
  
So a huge thank you to all of North America, and especially to the volunteers and fans who attended the Miami stopover. You certainly made it very special for the PUMA team and yours truly. I hope we did the same for you. 
  
- Kenny 

05/23/12

clean report

mess in miami

I used to run major regatta reports with the title “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.”  but before anyone accused me of being a crappy, cliché-dependent title writer, I ditched it.  Which pisses me off a little, because a three-level analysis is an awfully convenient way to report on an event.  

The other day, a prominent sailor challenged me to ‘not be so negative on Miami,’ So rather than a 66% negative analysis, I’ll go 50/50, and in the process, create a new grading system that will probably last as long as my attention span – a few weeks.  It’s the WWCD system, which stands for Worst-Weak-Competent-Divine, and the dopey acronym of course can also stand for something else.  Hint, hint.

The Volvo Ocean Race Miami stopover was extremely important for both the race and for those looking at hosting or sponsoring major sailing events in the States, so it’s essential to look at its successes and failures as objectively as possible without fear of hurting anyone’s feelings.  I probably can’t afford any more enemies, but as the people who support our advertisers, you readers make my job possible.  Because it is the best job in the world, I figure I owe you the same honesty that I expected back when I was just a reader myself, and the same honesty that’s helped Sailing Anarchy become the world’s most visited and dependable source for sailing information and entertainment.  So let’s get on with the analysis.

Divine:  I am convinced that one of the reasons for the comparatively weak on-the-water turnout was that about ten million Miami boaters and friends of sailing were busy volunteering for the Volvo.  Okay – maybe not that many, but the local stopover organizers and a volunteer army led by Wendy Kamilar (and a few other luminaries) did a laudable job on most everything.  From the huge Course Marshall/Press Boat/Jury Boat fleets – nearly all of them donated, private boats from Coral Reef Yacht Club – to the sexy shoreside help, to crowd control, to those pumping things up via their own Facebook sites, it was a smiling and enthusiastic group that gave Miami’s boaters a good name.  For the VIPs, Miami was also a great stop.  Volvo’s hospitality people told us that uptake on invites to the stopover were huge while sponsor employees and guests themselves said it was a lucrative trip for business relationships.  And why shouldn’t it be? For the well-heeled Volvo or Berg client with a wallet full of fifties, the town rocks.  Plenty of business deals happen in strip bars, posh restaurants, and nightclubs – three things that are better in Miami than perhaps anywhere in the Americas.  Another bright spot on an otherwise inky-black page was the broadcast – not because the predominantly light air made it a great spectacle, but because organizers succeeded in getting the high-traffic Fox Sportsnet to carry it live throughout the Miami market.  That’s rare, and they should be proud of it.

Competent:  When a pitifully small welcoming flotilla guided Leg 6 winning skipper (and sole US entry) PUMA through the finish line and into Government Cut earlier this month, we thought it was a sign that the departure fleet  would be embarrassingly empty on the water for the In-Port Race and Leg 7 start.  Saturday wasn’t great, but Sunday saw, by our count, nearly 400 boats on the water spectating, and a lot of them were big, private luxury craft loaded with people.  Volvo flew hundreds of its best sales people, affiliates, and clients from all over North America down to the town, and along with a big contingent of B to B guests from Telefonica’s Latin American affiliates, they added literally boatloads of people to the on-water spectator count.  For one of the largest boat-owning cities in the US it was still embarrassing – especially compared to the thousands-strong spectator fleets elsewhere – but it was a hell of a lot better than it could have been, and as Ken Read told us in the interview below, it gave the sailors a nice bit of morale as they raced.  Back to broadcasting, we’re glad to see the VOR getting more and more airplay in US markets.  We’ve seen it in sports bars, we’ve seen it flipping through the satellite guide, and independent auditors say that quite a few North Americans are tuning in on a couple of different channels – or at least they have the opportunity to do so for the first time.  We also want to give credit to local organizers for thinking outside the box in their promotion of the event, even if lack of follow-through and bad resource allocation meant that all their efforts were for nought.  They had bloggers and social media consultants, they handed out 100,000 flyers at Miami Heat playoffs games, they hit local radio, and we’re told there were flags and posters in quite a few spots – though, strangely, and as we’ll detail below, those were gone almost a week before the race started.

Weak:  We already mentioned the weak on-water welcome from US fans for the winning US skipper and nominally US team, but it bears repeating:  You Florida sailors and boat owners should have done a lot better.  We know you aren’t going to bring 10,000 of your friends to the race village, but a couple hundred boatowners following PUMA in could really have done a lot for the US image of the race, not to mention the confidence and pride of US sailors by showing up for a major finish like this one.  I guess it’s part of the much larger problem you find when you choose a city like Miami for an event like this one: The Volvo Ocean Race doesn’t even make a blip on the radar, even to sailors and boaters.  

Another major problem, though one that wasn’t really the Stopover or HQ’s fault, was a nasty storm that literally flooded out the entire race village. When we arrived on Wednesday, the whole place looked like the active construction zone that made the 2001 stopover’s location such a joke.  Passersby would have been surprised to even know you could enter, much less that there was an entire race village filled with free attractions beyond the excavators and payloaders. We’ll go into the deeper problems of promotion and marketing below, but this last-minute SNAFU, and the time and money it took to repair, made a bad problem much worse.

Worst:  Much of our analysis comes down here in the basement, because much of the Miami effort was just shockingly bad.  As jaded as we are, we were genuinely amazed at some of the decisions that led to the ghost town that was the Miami Stopover race village.  

Let’s start with the selection of Miami itself.  When Knut and the Board chose Miami over Newport, we wrote that it had the potential of being a good host location, but only if organizers were prepared to spend a metric shit-ton of money to promote and advertise to a population that wouldn’t know a racing yacht if it was dropped by a hurricane onto their house.  We also wrote that the 2001 stopover debacle could only be repaired if the actual docking location and race village were somewhere that had a chance to get the foot traffic and visibility that would get the millions of locals and tourists to wonder just what was going on.  Instead, the stopover port – a canal next to the Miami Heat arena and flanked by a downtown park – was virtually invisible unless you were standing on top of it.  And since there is basically no foot traffic anywhere in downtown Miami, we tried a little experiment, driving to the village from every possible direction.  In every case, we literally saw nothing until we were directly abeam of the canal cut.  And at 30 mph, that view lasted for precisely 8 seconds.  A couple of cool looking Volvo rally-style racing trucks in front of the North entrance looked more like parked construction vehicles than anything associated with the carnival atmosphere that the VOR village shoots for, and a huge concrete wall obstructed the entire village from view unless you were up in an office tower, where trees obstructed much of the park anyway.  From the South, the arena is a massive monolith that prevented seeing anything VOR until, as we wrote earlier, you came around another concrete wall and the boats popped into view.  For 8 seconds.  Miami has far too much going on to expect any traction when you put an invisible race village in a spot with vehicle traffic only.  It was our first “what were they thinking” moment.

But we really scratched our heads on the promotion and advertising, or lack thereof.  Most visitors’ first look at a VOR comes at an airport, where they do a great job putting up posters, buy advertising spots on the wall, and erect cardboard cut-outs promoting the race.  At least, they do that everywhere else but Miami.  Maybe the MIA airport rates were too expensive for the organizer’s budget, but if we were typical tourists, we simply would never have known the Volvo was in town unless we were run over by a VO70 on its way out of the cut.

That’s not strictly true; we laughed our asses off when we saw organizers solution to ‘getting the word out’:  Two of those yellow, generator-lit construction signs on Biscayne Blvd, one facing North and one South, that said “VOLVO OCEAN RACE” in yellow dots.  We’re not joking, folks; the same race that plants 2 miles of beautiful, 8 foot wide LIFE AT THE EXTREME flags on every coastal road in the other stopover port, puts billboards up at every freeway entrance to those cities, and covers buses, supermarkets and DIY stores with VOR murals somehow thought that two fucking construction signs were the solution to their problems in the biggest city they visit on the entire nine-month odyssey.  Strangely, we’re told that there were, in fact, flags and posters on Miami’s main drag, but that they were inexplicably removed on Tuesday, precisely when they were needed to show people where to go.  Maybe someone forgot to pay the City’s bill? Whatever the reason, an inexcusable screw-up, and yet another reason why the total visitors to the Race Village were significantly less than the number of pervs packing into the EXXOTICA porn fair just down the road.

We sent a couple of Anarchy scouts down to South Beach to see if any of the tens of thousands of beachgoers on Saturday or Sunday knew what those brightly colored things were moving around the horizon.  Out of a hundred random people asked the question, not a single person knew that it was a sailboat race.  Not one.  Apparently, oyster bars and car wash joints can afford to hire planes carrying those flying signs around the beach, but the VOR can’t.  You might remember rumors about Sony Music working with the VOR to get huge artists to Miami to play the event (names like Shakira and U2 were bandied about), guaranteeing tens or hundreds of thousands of visitors and a smashing success to the stopover.  That, like pretty much everything else that could have a real effect on a jaded and busy Miami public, didn’t happen.  Instead, some random and unmemorable band spent the week clanging away in the race village with no one even noticing them.  And speaking of bands, you might know about the “Cultural Exchange” that’s become a very cool part of the race; it’s when each venue sends over hundreds of native people, performers, or other colorful folks bedecked in costumes, dancing and singing and banging on things to show off their culture’s brightest and most interesting points as they bid goodbye to the fleet.  Indigenous Brazilian warriors, Maori tribesmen, Chinese dragons – that kind of thing.  You know what we sent to the dock to send the sailors off?  A high school marching band. Seriously – that’s apparently the best we could do.

Radio, print, and TV dollars got spent on a week or two of advertising with little to no effect, while social media marketing fell completely flat.  These are proven methods of driving up visitor counts, so why did they fail so spectacularly?  Time, money, and the age-old problem of a European organization being unable to comprehend how things work in the USA.  You might think more than a decade of crappy US stopovers would have taught them something, but as evidenced by the numbers, it didn’t. This is America, where marketing and PR was invented, and this is Miami, where glitz is everything.  If you don’t stand out, you might as well not come at all.

The Miami marketing and advertising effort – or at least, its appearance -- was a quarter of the size of what we’ve seen in other stopovers, and that’s precisely the reverse of what you need to succeed here.  The stopover’s PR company had just a few months of lead time to accomplish what other major events have two years for, and unlike in other ports, they had two major jobs: The first was to educate the public about the very existence of sailboat racing; the second, to get them to come check it out.  To complicate matters, the local PR company hired by the local organizing group and the national PR company hired by the VOR didn’t really know what the other was doing, leading to major gaps in the promotional campaign. VOR staff and local organizers didn’t see eye-to-eye on some important issues, and despite the local group having some serious local marketing expertise, many of those issues ended up being decided by the VOR. In private conversations, some of the local organizing team were near tears at the stopover’s abject failure, while many of the US racing crews were shamed (if unsurprised) by the fact that their massive and wealthy country just didn’t seem to care about the race at all.  

Final Thoughts:

In hindsight, Newport would have been a much bigger success in terms of foot traffic and exposure than Miami, even if only the local sailors turned out.  From the fan standpoint, it’s a much better choice of venue for an event like this, if only because there are dozens of passionate sailing populations within a stone’s throw of the sailing-crazy town.  The actual micro-location may or may not have been an issue, but certainly, in the future, venues must be chosen that put the show in the center of the action – not out on a commercial strip where people never go anyway.  Organizers and sponsors might claim that Miami was a far better venue to attract their clients and B to B networks, but that avoids a really important reality for the long-term success of the race:  If you focus only on what works best for a few thousand commercial customers, you lose the public.  If you lose the public, all that’s left is those well-heeled customers, and they want to be part of something special and something grand – not a private party for them alone.  But if you make financial and venue decisions to maximize public appeal and exposure, you grow the event’s stature and visibility, and then you have an engaged public and happy corporate VIPs.  Oh, and bring back something on the water to hold the public’s attention during the stopover – the Extreme 40s in the otherwise unremarkable city of Baltimore were widely credited with the best turnout and overall stopover since the 90s.

Miami is one of a very few black marks on an otherwise brilliant race effort from almost every metric, and there’s no denying that, even for more prominent sports than yacht racing, the US is an extremely tough nut to crack.  As the VOR rolls into their venue selection process for the next race, we hope they learn from their mistakes. Paul Todd photos.

05/23/12

messin' with texas

 
J/80 smoking along in about 30 true at GBCA Single-Hand Regatta Thanks to Anarchist Scott and photo by John Lacy

05/23/12

vor onboard

no complaints

Blog from the Seas 
Leg 7, Day 3
23 May 2012 

By: Amory Ross, MCM,
PUMA Ocean Racing

LOCATION: 150 miles NW of Bermuda 
HEADING: 072 degrees 
WINDSPEED: 21 knots 
BOATSPEED: 20.6 knots 

This leg must be hard to interpret from home. While it looks simple enough – we’re all taking a fairly direct route from Miami to Lisbon – little nuances in approach have us spread all over the ocean north to south and nobody seems to have much of a lead or a deficit; we’re very close in distance to finish. 

It feels a little like a horse race…short in duration, high in intensity, and broken up into several major points of tactical decision-making that don’t play out until the final furlongs of the sprint to the finish: 

-  There was the start, first out of the gate gets the clean track and open ocean: Abu Dhabi. Slowly but surely they lost their high lane leaving Miami and fell back into the rest of us. 

-  There was turn 1, Tropical Storm Alberto: Groupama was the first to jibe and grab the inside lane heading east. They broke into a nice little lead while the rest of us got in line behind. 

-  We’re now approaching turn 2, the setup point for the backstretch – a long drag race to the northeast. The dilemma is: do you want the inside lane to the north, giving up easterly progress now for a conservative latitude and safer positioning on frontal systems moving off of America? Or do you want the outside lane to the south – quicker progress to the east, but a low lane that risks a bad exit, altogether missing those fronts that are stronger to the north. 

We’re setup somewhere in the middle, trying (like everyone else) to find the balance between fast easting and slow northing, cautiously aware of North Atlantic weather and wind that traditionally strengthens the farther north you get. But really, this is just a setup for the next few days. We likely won’t see the full implications of a fanned-out fleet until the first front comes along and influences us all in different ways.

Nevertheless, this leg is shaping up to be a fast one. It’s strange looking at the routing report on day 3 and seeing 7 days remaining to the finish. Usually by this time it reads 10 days or something, and that would only be to the halfway point because the weather files don’t extend beyond then. The last few legs have been 21, 20, and 19 days respectively, and it’s a hard thing to get your head around as we all try and settle in – that we’ll be off the boat in just a weeks time. To be clear though – that is not a complaint! 

Standings:
1. Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas), 2,617.7 miles to finish
2. Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), +3.8 miles
3. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), +26.3 miles
4. Puma Ocean Racing (Ken Read), +32.9 miles
5. Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson), +49.7 miles
6. Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), +58.8 miles

05/23/12

ac dope

good news/bad news

It’s been a good news/bad news couple of weeks for the America’s Cup, but a few developments have caught our eye, and we share them with you.

GOOD:  Energy Team’s strong performance in Venezia may give them a much needed boost in the still-unfinished business of funding their AC72.  A unanimous vote by the four entered AC72 teams to extend the entry deadline for AC34 from June 1 to August 1 may just give them the time to get their canards in a row.  Korea is also said to be ‘close’ though that may be more of a wing and a prayer.

BAD:  They’ve been looking for a long time now, and things in France just got a whole lot more difficult for anyone looking for cash from big companies, who are looking down the barrel of a new tax regime that will make corporations even less profitable than they already are.  Plus, the simple fact of a deadline push is an admission that we’re currently still looking at a three-boat LVC.  At least fleet racing isn’t really an option anymore!  And say goodbye to China Team…

GOOD:  A rising tide lifts all boats, and Red Bull Rising is a tide with more media savvy and PR power than any other AC brand.  Already, one enterprising Youth AC team is on the intrawebs, and they’ve got skill, talent, and plenty of connections.  “Quest For The Cup” campaign manager Willie McBride told us today that “Our strategy at this point is to hope for the best and plan for the worst, so we've been working very hard for the last week to get our team nailed down, and our campaign resources launched.  We're very excited about the group of guys that we've put together so far and we're in the process of reaching out to one more candidates in order to fill out our team for the time being.  Between the members currently signed on we have 4 ISAF Youth World participants (including 2 bronze medalists), 5 National Titles, 1 World Championship title, and a lot of very diverse sailing experience.”  We also hear that a Swedish team is in the offing, and a NZ team is already being formed.

BAD:  The Euro’s inevitable slide is causing some budget woes already, as international teams revise their numbers upwards for an already expensive San Francisco treat.  What looks like a bargain today may be anything but in a year’s time, and uncertainty is the one thing that teams, and those paying their bills, can ill afford.

GOOD:  To no one’s surprise, the Italian turnout was phenomenal, giving everyone a morale boost and the sponsors some much-needed confidence.  

BAD:  The live web feed continued to show diving numbers, and the ‘AC Lite’ coverage instituted when Larry axed most of the personnel and many of the features that worked so well, combined with the geriatric coverage team, is failing to keep viewers engaged for much of the time.

GOOD:  With Energy taking the podium in the fleet racing, competition in headsail design is as strong as it has been in ages; Energy was flying French Offshore dominator Incidences Sails, the latest to join Team Korea’s Doyle Stratis product as challengers to the Big Blue machine.

All in all, plenty to watch as the show makes its way to Newport next month – the true home of the America’s Cup.

05/23/12

they didn't kill kenny



The 40-and-over crowd may not believe it, but based on the media clip numbers coming from the Volvo Ocean Race, Kenny Read is most likely now America’s most famous sailor.  It’s a title that big Dennis has held for nearly three decades, but DC’s been all but retired for years while Read has led the most visible (arguably) American racing effort in the sport for the past two Volvos.  And he’s a good choice; once a brazen, arrogant, and ridiculously skilled member of yachting’s ‘New England Mafia’, Read has matured into a charismatic and mature leader of men, and an excellent spokesman for sailing.

Mr. Clean caught up with him for a solid 12-minute interview just after PUMA’s third-place finish in the Miami In-Port Race, and we encourage you to check out Kenny’s take on the Miami stopover, his performance this past Saturday, the proposed VOR One-Design concept, and what we can all do to help bring more people into the sport we love.  

If you don’t get the title, you live under a rock.  Nowhere near South Park, CO.

05/23/12

hey bud, let's party

The 2012 hurricane season will see its first CAT 1 storm develop later this week if all goes according to forecast. "Bud" will develop in the Easter Pacific and head for mainland Mexico landing as a tropical storm by the time it gets there. While early in the season, it is not the earliest or the strongest of Hurricanes for the Month of May. I am sure more will follow in what I think will be a pretty active year. Someone had also asked me if Tropical Storm Alberto was the earliest in the Atlantic Season. The answer is "no". The Ground Hog Day Tropical Storm of 1953 remains the earliest named storm in Atlantic history. That storm took shape on Feb 2-3!

Get that insurance in place, people. I think we may be in for quite a year of tropical systems.  Discussion here, and pop culture title shout here. Mark Michaelson, a/k/a “DryArmour”

05/23/12

hang 5

 
Anarchist U20guy2 found these little things bobbing about.

05/23/12

hey kid, yer famous

From one dad here at SA to another...

My son Joe, a long time anarchist and member of our crew on our Corsair Sprint 750 THIRD TRI is graduating from Spanish River High School today!

Joe has raced on Third Tri in many regattas around Florida for the past 10 years, and is moving on to be trained as a pilot at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona.

Please share a giant giant congratulations to Joe from me and the entire THIRD TRI clan.  His daddy would be proud to see him on SA! - His Dad.

05/23/12

perspective

 
We received a gallery on the Wally 143 Esense from photographer Antoine Beysens and while there is not a shot that isn't interesting about a boat this compelling, we loved this one to fully grasp just how damn big this thng is.

05/22/12

vor pov

all about the money

The Speed Dream team shares their perspective on the VOR and how they think it can be made better...

Last week the Volvo Ocean Race fleet rolled into Miami, six legs into a nine leg global circumnavigation that has seen its fair share of excitement, disappointment and disillusionment. Yes, there are plenty more adjectives to describe the litany of emotions felt by race fans and sailors alike, but among the many people I have talked to about this current running of the world’s greatest sailboat race, the word disillusionment seems to come up most often. The VOR has lost its magic and as a former veteran I am sad and frustrated by this current race. It is, sorry to say, a bit boring with boats breaking up and an already tiny fleet decimated by hull and rig damage. It is time, I think, to think differently.

The problem is age old, it’s about money, not just about how much it costs to field a winning entry, but more about the certainty of a sponsors return on investment. And the problem is not isolated to the Volvo Ocean Race. Across the pond in Europe IMOCA, the governing body of the Open 60 class, is facing a similar problem. There is internal strife among key sailors with some pushing for One Design to reign in costs while others adamant that it will do nothing of the sort. One thing is clear; costs need to be reigned in hard and boats need to be more seaworthy, a lot more seaworthy. Until then good luck getting a sponsor to chuck in a few mil for a campaign. Let me remind anyone who has forgotten that only 50% of the current VOR fleet made it to Cape Town under their own steam and that was considered a milk-run leg. Let’s also not forget that brutal first night of the last Vendée Globe when eight boats were forced to turn back battered and broken. Nope, if I was a sponsor I would look at this game with a jaundiced eye. Roller derby seems like a safer bet.

This short article is not in any way an attempt to point fingers. I think that the sailors and race management of the VOR have done a great job given that the economy is down and finding funding has been extraordinarily hard. That said there is a definite need for some original thinking for the next race and in my own effort to understand some of the problems and potential solutions I turned to Vlad Murnikov, an old friend and self-described ‘free-thinker.’ Vlad was the designer and driving force behind Fazisi, the Soviet Unions first, and by happenstance, only Whitbread entry. That boat was, if nothing else, original and innovative. In the spirit of full disclosure Vlad and I are partners in a project called SpeedDream and I raced part of the 89 Whitbread aboard Fazisi, but none of that should take away from what I think are some insightful and interesting observations about the current state of rules and offshore racing. Read on.

05/22/12

okay daddy, my turn to drive

Jim Burwick and family are doing some extraordinary cruising on their Open 40 Anasazi Girl. Here is his latest story...

We arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia on 12 May 1012 after 30 days from Simons Town, South Africa. Boat preparation was long and detailed. This was to be one of those trips where it was better to send a report in after we arrived safely, not before.

It was late in the season for sailing in the Southern Ocean in many minds, but not mine. I felt I could go above 40S, avoid ice, and avoid low pressure cells dropping off of the Indian Ocean summer cyclones. Leaving in mid-April just meant more darkness. Well, it always seems to happen at night, so with longer nights, maybe the possibility of more bad stuff to deal with.

After approximately 1200 hours of boat preparations by myself, after sailing solo 32,000nm and with the family aboard 13,000nm, I felt the risk could be managed. We left at 9 pm April 12. I left some of the dock lines on the dock and rest of the lines went to our friends who let us stay on their boat while Anasazi was out on the hard. I love to do this, leave at night, and leave the lines.

Three hours of motoring got us to the Cape of Good Hope at midnight, Friday 13th of April. I pushed hard as the family slept below to get in front of a fast moving low pressure system forecasted by Brynn Campbell at Commanders Weather. It was uncomfortable with the wind still in front of the beam, but we made it, and soon were going diagonal to 40S.

I cut the corner of the Agulhas too tight and the seas were just a mess of confusion along with one close call with a freighter coming up from deeper than I could understand. Fortunately, that was the last of the ships we saw for the next month.

The idea for making it across was to keep the highs on our right and the lows on our left. Just once did a high slip under us and it was not pretty, giving us three days of Easterlies. Our only option was to go south with it all on the beam, which is not on the beam on my boat, it is in your face as the apparent goes forward fast.

The Easterlies eventually passed and the cold fronts progressed. Snow was forecast for down south and rain for where we were. We had dark long nights, and our typical sail combination became a norm of 3 to 4 reefs and only my storm jib, which is full spectra with full battens, and all white.

The storm jib is called a "Tormentina” in Spanish. Before my daughter was born, I called it my white wedding. For the first time, I had my Tormentina on deck and my other Tormentina (3 ½ years old) down below, who was aboard with her brother Raivo (1 ½ years old), which is a Finnish name meaning “fury.”

We passed below St. Paul and Amsterdam just in time, as a 982mb low we were surfing finally caught up with and rolled over us. We were 100 miles past the Islands when the gusty shift nastiness of SW air came and we gybed port tack.

In the dark (always), I made the one big mistake of the trip. My daughter fell asleep on my lap at the nav station bench. I picked her up and swiveled around to set her in the quarter berth. A rogue wave knocked on us, and my knee hit the main battery switch. All the power went out. The boat rounded up and laid on her side. The Espacher heater didn't like it either, and filled the cabin with smoke.

This was not the first time I have been on my side at night in the Southern Ocean going backwards with 1700 liters of ballast in the side, but it was the first time with my family. Fortunately Tormentina and the rest of the family were safe in the berths before we were on our side. Everything was in order so nothing flew anywhere. I couldn't open the door so I cracked it a few inches and turned on the fans.

I felt like such a loser and looked at my sleeping family. Somira said, “We trust you,” and winked at me. I got on my foulies, boots, headlamp, and harness & entered the world that I felt comfortable in. The world where I never think about money.

ANSWERS TO SOME QUESTIONS:

Was it cold?
NO. Down below, I wore bare feet with Crocs, no gloves, Patagonia Capilene 1 Silkweight underwear on top, Capilene 4 Expedition weight on the bottom, and a Nano Puff pullover. On deck I used Gill foul weather offshore bibs, a Patagonia M10 jacket used for alpine climbing, and a light weight hat. That's it. I spent most of the time down below. We ran heat 50% of the trip. We brought minimal clothing. We shipped our shore clothes and many spares to Fremantle.

What did you eat?
Korean Ramen noodles, oatmeal, granola, canned fish, crackers, cheese, canned and dried fruit. Got to take those prunes always. We also had a 10L Seal Line treat bag we let the kids go into once a day and sometimes if it was really rough, twice a day. For drinks we had tea, Milo and a sports drink that we call “bug juice.”

What did you use in your galley?
One-burner Origo alcohol stove, one MSR Classic Alpine cook pot, one stainless steel tea pot for boiling water, 2 GSI Fairshare Mugs, and 4 spoons.

Did you get scared?
Fear drives me to tighter risk management which means more thinking before action and slowing way down. I see this as a healthy and helpful emotion.

What activities did you do with the kids in a confined space?
We had movies on hard drives, art projects (construction & drawing paper, scissors, tape, colored pencils, markers, crayons, beads, string, felt, needle & thread), lessons, and a few books. They each had one stuffed animal for toys, no more. Somira told them stories.

What did you use for navigation?
One large scale paper chart, and once a day made a mark. I used electronic C-map for grib files and Maxsea software.

How is sailing with kids?
It is awesome if you sail within your comfort zone. Way below that zone and stress levels increase. I just spent an uninterrupted month, 24/7 with my children in the most pristine environment that I know. It also in the place I feel most at home. AND with the one of a kind partner that I dreamed of having. Somira will be sainted someday.

Where to next?
Right now we don't want to ever sail again. But in a few more days we will be plotting another voyage.Check out their blog and latest video here.

05/22/12

banged up

 
A little banging from something called the Dolomythi Cup in Biograd, Croatia.

05/22/12

matched up

 

Our friend Juerg Kaufmann put this video together from the Volvo Match Race Cup in Zurich. According to Juerg, Volvo is helping set up a new match race circuit in Switzerland over the next 3 years and here is a little peek.

05/22/12

big pimpin'

three's company

In keeping with their mission to make sailboat racing more available to more people Border Run organizers have created a new three-person crew class in their new Border Run2 race that starts from Long Beach this June 29th.

Recognizing the difficulty that some skippers have, particularly on larger boats, of recruiting a full crew, the Border Run brass is looking to turn negatives into positives.

“We looked at the success of races like the Three Bridge Fiasco up north and thought this was a good way to keep more boats on the water and at the same time bringing something new to the table,” says Bob Long, Border Run2 organizer and co-founder.

The inaugural Border Run2 is to be held Friday, June 29th 2012, one of the longest sailing days of the year. The Long Beach start-line is expected to be filled with a wide variety of designs from Lasers, multihulls, maxi’s and even kiteboards.

Competitors will race to one of four different destinations depending on the sailor’s preference. Racers can choose to sail to Newport Beach, Dana Point, San Diego or San Diego via the Coronado Islands into international waters. The good news for all the entrants is no matter which course they choose, a party will be awaiting their arrival. Border Run2 is also offering a discount for those who enter by June 1st.

The 2012 Border Run2 is organized collectively by XS Sailing.com, Shoreline Yacht Club (OA) and Dana Point Yacht Club and sponsored by West Marine, Gladstone's Long Beach and Ullman Sails. The event is outfitted by Pirates Lair.

Like Border Run 1, held in March, Border Run2 is also a charity event supporting City2 Sea and LLS (Leukemia Lymphoma Society). These charities look to provide stewardship for our oceans, promote the sport of sailing to a new generation and to fight blood cancers and skin cancer.

To find out more about Border Run2, click here.

05/22/12

ducks in a row

No, those aren't ducks, they are J/105's, but who can tell the difference? We kid. Great shot of some Frisconian action from our friend Lyn Hines.

05/21/12

atlantic cup onboard

stiff little fingers

Rail Meat on Dragon breaks down leg 2 of the Atlantic Cup. Title props here.

Racing these boats, particularily short handed, is a physical exercise compounded by the fact that I could probably stand for a bit more time in the gym and less at the desk. My back, arms, legs, neck, and ass are going to be sore for days if past experience is any guide. But nothing says "offshore racing" like the hands. The finger tips are sanded smooth by the lines and deck non-skid. Nails have to be cut really short to avoid problems that end up looking like a third world torture job. Cuts and scrapes appear out of no where. And worse of all - by the end of the race the mitts are so sore and swollen that it hurts to gab onto that cold bottle of PBR.

Regarding the run to RI, I am trying to figure out how feel about the results. The initial reaction is crushing disappointment with an 11th place finish. But after the benefit of 3 hours of sleep and a bit of caffeine, I can find the positive in the outcome.

We had a great race down to Barnegat. The boat moved well, we made the right routing and sail plan choices and the results showed that we could be at the front of the pack in what was effectively a drag race. We rounded that mark feeling pretty good about ourselves, sitting in second and with a decent feel for the fleet's capabilities.

The segment from Barnegat to Newport was where the wheels began to wobble. Primarily, it came down to a navigational choice. The wind was on the nose, and I went at it as a fairly simple exercise of picking the favored board. That sent us up initially to the north on starboard, then east on port, then north again on starboard all the way to the Long Island shore as the wind shifted back and forth. We were basically in phase with Campagne who were always in sight through Sunday afternoon. I went with that plan of attack because my forecasts did not show any real differentiation of pressure or direction for the wind across the course, which obviously did not prove to be the case in the long run. 

Imagine my surprise when we got up to Long Island, back into cell phone range, and discovered that the boats that went east did an end run around us. There were some glum faces. In peeling back what happened, clearly they had more pressure to the east and a better angle. My navigational choice was influenced by the weather I had available, and the inability to get fresh weather caused by my INMARSAT did not help. Also, in retrospect I may not have paid enough attention to the macro weather conditions. But I also can't really fault the choice I made - it was logically correct for what I was looking at. The boats that went east just made a better choice. 

I do feel a bit bad about the last 20 miles, where at least 3 boats managed to get past us. We failed to cover Toothface and chose to cover Picoty instead. As a result, Toothface was able to gain some gauge on us to the east which worked better as we went down the west side of Block Island where we got headed. We had to aggressively pinch up in an effort to clear Point Judith, while they were free to sail a better angle to the mark. In retrospect, I should have slid east a bit to put a controlling cover on both boats. I also should have just bit the bullet and put a hitch into the east once it became clear we were going to have to pinch...I just kept crossing my fingers for the lift that kept teasing us with little shots of righty and then soul crushing returns to 082 to 086 TWD.

Then in the final two miles, we just had some bad luck with a wind hole that we fell into. We chose to get to the west side of the passage in a belief that the north easterly would effectively blanketed on the east side of the passage by the land mass. Not the case - we flopped around in 3 knots of air over on that west side with the Code 0 up while over on the east side of the passage Eole Generation Suez was able to simply sail right through us with a bit more pressure and much better angle. That was just the stiff, swollen, fickle finger of fate.... it could have just as easily been us that caught a break and been able to reel in Toothface or Gryphon Solo. Frustrating, but not anything I can beat myself up over. Not that my swollen hands could beat much of anything up right now.

Ultimately, the finish order was so tightly compacted it was amazing. 3 hours 30 minutes for the entire fleet. When we finished, it was with a pack of 6 or 7 boats that all finished within minutes of one another. Sail 240 miles, much of it out of sight of one another and then trade tacks with a pack of boats in the last 3 miles? It is amazing racing, and incredible endorsement for what this Class is all about.

Finally, a shout out for my crew Chris Museler. Boundless energy and a continuing focus on trying to make the boat go fast. It was our first time really sailing together, but a lot of fun. His match racing exeperience was an entirely new input for me, and a great learning experience. I am looking forward to doing Newport Bermuda with him. But a bigger shout out for his wife who let him go sailing only days after the birth of their third. Thank you, and congratulations!

05/21/12

peek a boo

The IMOCA guys are sailing into the Alboran Sea, just before Gibraltar in the Europa Warmup, with a very ugly forecast - the same place where the VOR boys got slammed in the first leg, but with even worse weather. JP Dick on Virbac is leading the pack for now. Track 'em. Thanks to Jesus Renedo. for the shots!

05/21/12

other media

hey, they covered sailing!

We love the LA Times, but they treat sailing like it has a communicable disease. I guess it helps to be a chick...

Anna Tunnicliffe was born and raised in England. And she has the British accent to prove it. "With certain words it comes out," she acknowledged. But that does not, she insists, make this summer's Olympic Games a homecoming. "I'm American," said Tunnicliffe, who became a U.S. citizen in 2003 and an Olympic gold medalist five years later. "I've spent more than half my life in America. I'm going to England to compete. More here.

05/21/12

vor onboard

numbers

Leg 7, Day 1
21 May 2012 

By: Amory Ross, MCM
PUMA Ocean Racing

LOCATION: 50 miles E of Cape Canaveral, FL 
HEADING: 030 degrees 
WINDSPEED: 10. 4 knots 
BOATSPEED: 10.7 knots 


Leg 7, Day 1… There are not many Day 1’s left between here and Galway. But here we go again, one day closer to the end of this very long race. As we leave Miami for Portugal there are several things that come to mind: 

1. Miami departure = awesome. The crowds arrived just in time to see us off, and they included some of the most engaging and interactive spectators we’ve seen to date. While it was always going to be tough to match the enthusiasm of Brazil and New Zealand, Miami’s light arrival attendance and general fanfare left a little to be desired. Fortunately, the numbers spiked this weekend and we left downtown Miami to a raucous send-off amidst a large armada. A huge thank you to all who came out – you did an incredible job closing what has been a really fun few weeks on a high note. All that was missing was a few more knots of wind and a better start on our part! 

2. Lisbon. Great city and we’re all really excited to get there! They love sailing and it should be a great place to mark our return to Europe. 

3.Who’s actually counting? Some of us :) There are only 18-20 days left at sea on this fine yacht; is it time to cherish or celebrate!? This leg is expected to take 10-13 days, our shortest yet, and it only gets shorter from there. Could we really be that close to finishing? It sometimes feels like this race will last forever, but in reality it will be over soon and with it so too the days of the venerable Volvo 70. We are a lucky few who get to sail the last breed of these crazy creations… 

4. Points. There are tons of them out there and it would be an understatement to say that we are sailing to win. It’s doable and we feel confident in our team, our boat, and our chances. We have to. If you had told us that we would be 14 points back from the leader after losing our rig on leg 1 (and subsequent third and fourth-place finishes on the next two legs), we probably would have called you crazy, but that’s where we are and we have a huge opportunity to do something special here. 

5. Acclimating to boat life following a stopover is getting easier with each one. Packing food, sorting personal gear (organizing camera equipment)… After six legs of doing it I think everyone is finally comfortable with whatever it is that needs doing before we leave, and it makes the early stages of a leg more relaxed and enjoyable. What used to be a very stressful 12 hours has become more routine than anything else, and I think we all in some ways look forward to leaving the dock, along with the distractions of land-life with it. Once that last line is tossed, it’s us and us alone. Our world gets very small, very quickly. 

6. Six boats. Great to see Sanya back out here and the fleet together again for the first time in a few months! 

Okay. Off to bed for some much needed rest. One thing is certain after some vacation time in Miami and South Beach: sleeping is not an endorsed activity!  - Amory 

Standings:

1. Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas), 3,385.2 miles from finish
2. Puma Ocean Racing (Ken Read), +8.8 miles
3. Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), +11.6 miles
4. Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson), +12.6 miles
5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), +13.3 miles
6. Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), +19.3 miles

05/21/12

atlantic cup

not dreaming

The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing completed its second and final leg of offshore racing with #118 Bodacious Dream, skippered by Dave Rearick and Matt Scharl, crossing the finish line first with an elapsed time of 38:06:34 on Monday, May 21, to complete the 231 nautical mile leg from New York Harbor to Newport, R.I.. The race, featuring an unprecedented international fleet of 14 Class 40s competing in the first carbon neutral sailing event ever held in the United States, saw Bodacious Dream beat out #115 Mare (38:39:41), followed by #101 Campagne De France (38:44:22) and #116 Icarus (39:04:33), with #30 Initiatives(39:36:00) finishing fifth.  

The second leg of the Atlantic Cup set sail at 11:05 a.m. ET on Saturday, May 19th from New York Harbor en route to Newport Shipyard with international competitors from the USA, France, Great Britain and Germany. After starting in a light northerly, the teams raced the entire way down the Jersey Shore in short course fleet racing mode. After the turning mark, the boats that were patient and waited for the breeze to shift further east gained on the boats that went north towards Block Island. As a result, those choosing to round Block Island to the east saw that decision pay off. The last five miles to the finish were not without excitement as the tide was against the teams forcing them to tack their way to the finish with Bodacious Dream playing the shift perfectly en route to capturing the victory in the second leg.

Bodacious Dream skipper Dave Rearick: “(Co-skipper) Matt (Scharl) called some great tactics once again. I thought we were making a bee line for France and I kept asking when we were going to tack.”

Bodacious Dream skipper Matt Scharl: “I knew a week ago we were going to go that far out. We wanted to go east until every boat tacked and then go one mile further.”

Asked if they were surprised to be doing this well in their first race with their new boat, Rearick added, “We were hoping to be in the top five, so where we are right now is a real accomplishment. Matt told me a month ago, ‘Dave I’m going to leave you in first before I have to go to my sister’s wedding,’ so he knew.” Video of the first teams to finish can be found here, with results available here.

Below is the finish report from onboard GryphonSolo2:

It was a thrilling finish to leg 2 of the Atlantic Cup. As we rounded the turning mark off the New Jersey shore we were fairly deep in the pack and not looking forward to a 200 mile dead beat to windward. We headed offshore in a building 15 to 20 knot Northeasterly and it looked to be a long night of pounding. Daybreak found us moved up a few spots in the 14 boat fleet, and we were slightly optimistic that we could pull off another comeback like leg 1. However, attacking from behind while going upwind is tough without taking complete flyers, so we just tried to keep boatspeed up and grind away to Montauk. As we approached Montauk we spied Partouche, Dragon, Initiatives, Bureau Veritas, GDF Suez, and Toothface and knew it would get close. We chose to go on the east side of Block Island and the incoming tide swept us in. We hammered straight into Pt Judith and then tacked around the point and headed for Castle Hill light off Newport.

As often happens, the wind faded and finally died as we approached and everyone parked up and drifted in a few 360's before picking up a zephyr and inching towards the finish at Fort Adams. We took the gun at 3:00 am and Toothface was only 40 seconds behind us and GDF only 20 seconds behind them. Talk about a photo finish! Very stressful! But a ton of fun. We ended up in 7th place out of 14 boats, which leaves us in striking distance for a podium spot after 2 days of inshore racing this weekend. So, we are psyched and anxious to get our inshore team together for a bit of practice.

Thanks to all for all your wonderful support and please come to Newport this Saturday and Sunday and take in the action and party on the dock at the Newport Shipyard after. Photo thanks to Billy Black.

Cheers,
Joe

05/21/12

fantastic falmouth

In days of old Falmouth in the UK was the first and last port of call for vessels plying their trade across the Atlantic, but over the past two weeks the whole town has welcomed Finn sailors from across the world for the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Finn Festival, which incorporated the British Finn Nationals and then the Finn Gold Cup.

Located about as far west as it's possible to go on the UK mainland, Falmouth also used to be the home town of Britain’s most decorated sailor, so it's no exaggeration to say that the expectations on Ben Ainslie's shoulders were pretty high. He did not disappoint.

While his arch rival Giles Scott won the British Nationals with Ainslie looking uncharacteristically off colour, the double Olympic Finn champion regrouped and not only dominated the Finn Gold Cup in Scott's absence the following week, but showed a level of performance that was even more unbelievable than usual to secure his sixth Finn world championship, twice as many as any other sailor in the 56 year history of the event.

He trailed the 2010 World Champion Ed Wright by one point after the first day, scored the same points on the second day to take a seven point lead, and then in a remarkable display of speed and skill won the next five races; and that even surprised Ainslie.

On the Thursday, it was the biggest day many could remember, with monster waves and 25 knot winds, Ainslie won all three races. In his own conservative style, he would always be in the top group at the first mark and then consolidate until the final downwind when he would effortlessly surf through to take the lead and the winner's gun. In the final race of the day, when 30 boats had already had enough and gone home, Ainslie led from start to finish, with mountainous seas to negotiate upwind and white knuckle rides downwind, to win by a staggering 200 metres. Superlatives are just not adequate to describe that achievement.

The praise that Ainslie received from both observers and his fellow sailors underlines the magnitude of this victory, which he described as the most 'special' out of all his six titles. Wright sailed an excellent series as well to take home the silver while double world champion Jonas Høgh-Christensen's consistency won him the bronze. But there were a lot of other stories from the week as well.

Greg Douglas won the Canadian Olympic trials after a great day's racing on Big Thursday. His former coach, 2008 Olympian Chris Cook, had re-entered the fray and looked to be heading for a trials victory over his former trainees, including a race win on Monday. However, proving that you should never, ever give up, Douglas knuckled down, got on with the job and posted three good results on Thursday. Unfortunately for Cook, and unbeknown to Douglas, Cook fell ill on that day and failed to finish the last two races. Douglas got the ticket to Weymouth.

The Polish trials also concluded this week, with 2008 Olympian Rafal Szukiel up against a strong challenge from the young star Piotr Kula. While Szukiel suffered in the strong winds, Kula sailed his socks off and was rewarded by a sixth place finish overall and his ticket to Weymouth. This, from a team that didn't even make the gold fleet in Perth.

One of the favourites for the title, and the runner-up in Perth, Pieter-Jan Postma failed to find his rhythm and finished down in eighth. Despite winning medals both in last year's test event and in Perth, he still had to meet National authority criteria this year in order to be sent to the Olympics. An eighth was good enough though, and perhaps some compensation for an otherwise indifferent week.

On the first day of racing Høgh-Christensen was seen giving his boat a 'pep talk' between races. It took a while for the boat to respond, but on Thursday it turned the tables and and bit back, giving the Dane four stitches in his head, and leaving a visible dent in the boom.

This regatta also attracted sailors from across the generations. There was a 60 year age difference between the youngest and the oldest, with a strong youth element in the fleet. One of the new Finn sailors that captured the hearts of many there was 14 year old Jack Arnell from the UK. He is perhaps the youngest sailor ever to compete in a Finn Gold Cup, and despite his young age he towers over most of the fleet and sails with a maturity beyond his years. His achievement was duly recognised at the prizegiving when he was presented by Ainslie with a framed photo of himself that had been signed by all the sailors. That was a moment he will remember for the rest of his life.

The championship ended with a non-event as the medal race was abandoned with no wind. The class has invested in 10 stern mounts with GoPro cameras, and had hoped to release extensive footage of the top Finn sailors in action in the medal race, but that will have to wait until later. Next year the class goes to Tallinn in Estonia for the Finn Gold Cup.

The Olympic flame arrived in the UK the day the championship ended and the following morning the first Torchbearer was none other than Ben Ainslie. He rejoined the flame in Falmouth later in the day, where the Finn sailors were the official backdrop to the passing of the flame. - Robert Deaves

05/21/12

white walker

No one’s got a tougher job in the VOR right now than this man, and while his sense of humor is a lot more subdued now, he’s still a great character and a hell of a racer. Ian Walker, skipper of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, once again sailed a blinder of a race to win the Miami In-Port, and here he checks in about the race, about his underperforming boat, about his sponsor’s expectations, and what he thinks about the proposed Volvo One-Design 65 on the table. Worth a listen to any fan of ocean racing, and the rare SA video that’s in HD. Title rip here.

05/21/12

community

remembrance

Six years ago, Hans Horrevoets was lost to us on the Volvo Ocean Race. The SA community rallied around his young family, donating thousands of dollars and sharing their heartfelt thoughts. Blue Robinson recently penned a poem for Hans. How easy we forget.

Twelve hundred miles from home
in the dark and off the breeze,
The guys are working hard on deck
In brutal building seas.
With the usual sounds of battle,
of "ease" and of "trim on!",
I ducked my head a moment
Then looked back and he was gone.

When you know your mates in trouble
Black thoughts running through your head,
You just go back and get him,
There's very little said.

A moment is a finger click
A second split on two,
It's an hours full of heartache
With so much for you to do.

And the moment that you realize
You have lost a friend so tight,
Who with all the crews have worked so hard,
And never stopped the fight.

Is the moment thats the darkest,
For your self and for the team,
And you never thought it would come to this
When you dreamed the winners dream

But moments are our lifetime,
Live them once,
LIve them well,
Take a moment with your family
Say the things you need to tell.

Touch the faces of your loved ones,
Hold the gaze of friends you trust,
Sail the boat, push it hard
Do the things you must.

And for a moment look around you,
In the world you are in
With the time that you are given,
Use it well.
Now begin.

05/21/12

onboard

in front



Marco Nannini onboard Financial Crisis in the Global Ocean Race

Last night was tough, in fact some of the worst we've seen in the entire race. After we left Charleston we received a warning of an approaching tropical storm with winds potentially up to 55knots, the night was approaching and we had already reduced sail to 3 reefs and the staysail... we had a tough decision to make, keep going and cross the path of the tropical storm or head inshore and hopefully avoid the worst of the winds.

The question played in my mind over and over, the sea state was deteriorating very fast and i had to chose among the lesser of two evils, stronger winds offshore or the risk of breaking waves in shallow waters inshore.

I decided to head offshore as I thought in big winds i could always ride the storm with plenty of room towards the south, but once in shallow waters it would have become difficult to get out of the waves. There was one more complication, the timing of the storm was crucial, if we had
reached the gulf stream, which flows to the north-east, against the full blow of storm the seas could become horrendous: wind against tide makes for very steep dangerous breaking waves.

The wind built to a peak of steady 40 knots but we had occasional gusts of nearly 50 knots. We wanted to preserve the boat and avoid damage so as the storm worsened we kept sailing lower or even occasionally downwind.

We monitored the progress of the rest of the fleet and they didn't seem to be doing much better on the other tack so we kept going offshore hoping the storm would subside before the gulf stream but leaving us in its strong flow in the aftermath with a chance to make big gains on the
others. Luckily the timing was just right, as we reached the warm flow of the gulf stream the winds had dropped below 30 knots and although the seas were very confused they were not dangerous, only occasionally a wave came right in our path and we leapt in the air and fell like no more than a little dinghy being dragged in the surf.

Today the wind kept decreasing and the seas calming down, everything is back to normal and we are now dealing with the opposite problem, lack of wind. The forecast is for very light airs for the next 24-36 hours which will make for some further interesting tactical decision.

I cant deny that last night, during the worst, only a very very small part of me was thinking about the race, we were simply making sure we'd get through the blow with no damage but i'm glad i stuck to my guns and headed towards the gulf stream.

We had done a very conservative start inside Charleston Harbour, I wasn't sure what winds to expect on our way out and I didn't want to have any problems whilst sailing in the narrow channel through the breakwaters, the result was however that by the time we were in clear waters we were last and as in every single leg of the race chasing Cessna and Phesheya who seem to always start well.

As I write we are leading over Cessna by 33 miles and over the duo of Sec.Hayai and Phesheya by nearly 50 miles, I'm very glad we reversed the early fortunes. The race is still long, over 3400 miles to go and just as we gained this lead we can lose it, in a couple of days we should have
excellent reaching conditions, Cessna's favourite, and my bet is they will burn these few miles in no time. Meantime let's enjoy the the gentle afternoon wind, the pleasant breeze and the momentary lead in the Global Ocean Race, it's only the second time we're in this position and we are really happy with the work done so far and to have emerged with everything functioning and all in one piece.

There are many people I need to thank for the excellent time we spent in Charleston, and others who have helped me behind the scenes with my endless luck of funds, I will write a separate blog later, now it's time for some supper and chance to recuperate some of the lost energies.

05/21/12

style points?

If they gave style points, Energy would gat some. But apparently they didn't need any....Photo thanks to Gilles Martin-Roget.

05/20/12

atlantic cup onboard

beach boys

Dragon's East Coast Beach Tour

Yesterday the Jersey Shore, today the Hampton. The glamorous lifestyle of the Class 40. 

We had a decent start (4th off the line) in 9 knots of wind and at a near dead run with 3+ knots of current draining out of New York harbor. We blazed out, gybing cleanly maybe 10 times before reaching the Verrazano in first place. Chris kept his standing promise to his daughter and screamed for the echo off the bottom of the span. 10 minutes later, on the right side of the course, I screamed when the wind died and the fleet compressed into us , and in 4 cases past us by a bit.  The breeze filled in after about 5 minutes from left to right and in a near 180 degree shift. Down came kite, out went the solent and off we went. 

Conditions kept any one in the fleet from pulling the Poucher / Fetsch sneak out the south channel and we all went down the main channel. Solents were swapped out for Code 0's in light air of 5 to 9 knots. 

We laid exactly one tack on port and headed south. In took us to the beach around Asbury Park (where we could hear the concert from the boat) and the we got lifted right on to the mark. We also kept the code up the entire way until we were lifted enough 15 miles out from Barnegate to put up the code 5. One board, all the way. 

The rest of the fleet tacked multiple times and switched code to solent to code to spin to code. They also chased to lift down to the east, a crucial problem that left them with a slower angle when closing to the rounding mark. 

Halvard and Miranda sailed a near perfect leg and earned their top rank at the mark. We parlayed our inside position into rounding in second, with a pack of 10 boats converging like angry dogs. 

After rounding, it has been all up hill under the solent, full main, two tanks of water ballast in about 15 knots of wind. It has been a simple game of tacking when the favored board shifts, and we find ourselves 4 miles from the western most beach in the Hamptons.  Probably 2 tacks to get to Montauk, and then decisions about the tides and currents to figure out if it will be the west or east side of Block.  Time to get this tack in before we literally hit the beach.  - Mike Hennessey, Dragon. Photos from yesterday's start thanks to mstrsail. Hey, Emma looks like she needs a crew - pick me, pick me!

05/20/12

catbird seat

I had a hell of a seat yesterday for the VOR’s PortMiami In-Port Race, and as someone lucky enough to have been aboard Camper for the Alicante In-Port, I have to say that a spot on one of the three Umpire boats is even better than a spot on the raceboat.  The race itself was one of the most exciting I’ve seen in a long time, with a mix of just about everything.  Breeze on at the start faded to a light 8 knots by the finish, three different leaders and tons of position changes, penalties and just about every sail combo possible, and a photo finish that let the hometown boat get on the podium - by less than a boatlength.

To start with, a shout out to the locals here in Miami:  The VOR Village was still somewhat deserted, though at least there was some life before the rain hit in the afternoon.  Hotties in bikinis playing beach volleyball on a pile of sand brought in by organizers, free drinks, the Miami Heat cheerleaders – these last-second fixes all helped bring in (by an estimate I am completely pulling out of my ass) maybe 10 to 12,000 people throughout the day.  We’re talking a tiny fraction of any other stopover, but at least a few folks showed up.  And don’t forget that the VOR grabbed a regional cable network – Fox Sports Net – for the home audience that doesn’t know how to work computers.  Not an insignificant audience there.

More impressive was the spectator fleet, even with an ugly start to the morning.  I counted around 185 spectator boats, and these were not the alloy motor dinghies and little skiffs you see at so many other spots.  We’re talking dozens of big motoryachts and fishing boats as well as a decent pool of sailboats, including a few beach cats and even a Laser.  So if you read our exhortation the other day and showed up – thanks from us and from the VOR.  Make sure you come on Sunday as well, it’s definitely bikini weather…

We watched the presumably local team, with more Florida racing experience aboard PUMA (from back in the SORC and big one-design days) inexplicably go for the pin end start despite everyone knowing that a Southeasterly in South Florida means to get to the beach.  There was as much as three knots of currents to the East, while the shore got good shifts and current relief.  Ian Walker knew it, Groupama knew it, and Camper knew it even better. In fact, Camper would have led around the top mark had they not left their J2 jib on the dock…

Groupama sailed smart and conservatively, though Walker and ADOR was by far the crispest boat in the fleet.  The French pulled ahead on every leg until Walker jumped on the peel to the masthead zero a leg faster than anyone else, letting him tear across the short reach and then on the final upwind to pass Groupama for the win.

Despite a bad start and a horrible first leg, Puma clawed back bit by bit, inching up to 3rd place Camper with better shift calls on the final beat.  Puma was still behind when both Groupama and ADOR got on their air near the shortened finish, and Kenny went right while Camper got locked in just below the bulk of the spectator fleet.  Read came charging back in on starboard, and when Camper tacked just a boatlength from the finish, Read was rumbling.  He put the bow down, sailed through the stopped Kiwi boat’s lee, and took the final podium spot by half a boatlength.  Fascinating stuff indeed.

Sanderson and Team Sanya took fifth despite not having a masthead zero, but only because Iker and Xabi screwed up yet another in-port race – their 3rd unforced error leading to a DFL of the year.  This time, they forgot about the big N’ly flowing current at the reach-to-reach mark, and you could see Iker’s face go white as the mark rubbed along their starboard rail.  A 3rd place turned into a last place in seconds, and the leaderboard for the overall race has finally turned into a truly exciting thing.

Be sure to watch the Leg 7 start on the player above.  I’ll be calling the game aboard a Volvo executive VIP boat, and I’m looking for a hot young assistant…catch me in the race village on Sunday morning if you qualify…

05/20/12

atlantic cup onboard

jersey boys

Joe Harris on GryphonSolo2 from the Atlantic Cup...

Welcome to Leg 2 of the Atlantic Cup from New York to Newport. We are a bit less than half way back up the course to Montauk after going south to a turning mark off Barnegate Inlet on the Jersey shore (hello Snookie). The race has been a bit up and down for us thus far, as we had a good start but then sailed into a hole just before the Verrazanno Narrows Bridge and got a bit behind the leading pack. We compounded that deficit by choosing to stay off the Jersey coast, while the guys who went in close made out like bandits and had a nice angle to the mark. We rounded the mark around 11 last night and set off to the East on port tack, as the wind was from the Northeast and our course was precisely Northeast to Montauk... right on the kisser as they say.

So we have been bashing along in 20 knots of wind with full water ballast but still a heel angle of about 30 degres and very lumpy seas, making it difficult to move around the boat. We hope to pull off another miraculous comeback like in leg 1 and will keep working our asses off until we get the gun off Fort Adams in Newport. I hope some of you are having a more relaxing Sunday morning having coffee and reading the Sunday times...; think of us in our wet foul weather gear getting bounced around out here and relish the heat and roof overhead. Sailing is good for making you appreciate the basic things in life. Track the fleet here.

05/20/12

who let the dog out?



We kid, but after a not so great VOR up to this point, it was awesome to see Abu Dhabi get the win today in Miami? How, you ask? A start like this didn't hurt. And Puma DFL here, did a hell of a job to nip Camper third. Telefonica, looking smart here, screwed the pooch badly, hitting a mark and ending up DFL. Thanks to Ian Roman/VOR for the great shots. See the Video replay of today's race here.

05/19/12

the flying burrito brothers

No not Artemis, but these weird hiking positions. Come on, just sit on the f-ing rail and try not to look like the Flying Wallendas....As for the racing, it got really tight today! Photos from Chris Cameron / ETNZ. Title inspiration here.