Yachting Australia

Spithill, Radich, Coutts and Baird in four-way deadlock at ISAF Match Racing Worlds

The Race Committee was able to complete Round Robin One and the first flight of Round Robin Two.

At the end of Round Robin One, four skippers have even scores, with 8 victories and 3 losses: Russell COUTTS, Jesper RADICH, Ed BAIRD and James SPITHILL - three skippers who are currently third, fourth and fifth in the world ranking list. With 7 wins and 4 losses, the French skipper Mathieu Richard follows the leaders.

The crews left the dock this morning at 8.30 am, with a nice warm sun and a northerly breeze of 7-10 knots known by the locals as ‘ballino’.

The Committee managed to complete two flights (number 9 and 10) in these light conditions before the breeze died out completely, giving the competitors the chance to enjoy lunch and a short rest at Fraglia Vela Riva.

Coutts made the day for two young local sailors, who were sailing by the competitors' fleet. Russell jumped on one of the two Lasers, to the joy of the young helmsman, for a short match race session. At 1.00 pm the notorious southerly breeze of Lake Garda, known as ‘ora’, kicked in and by 1.30 the Race Committee was able to resume racing in blustery 20 knots-plus conditions. The afternoon matches were particulary exciting in the strong breeze.

Two matches were decided right on the ending: the one between GRAM-HANSEN and Baird (flight 11 won by Gram Hansen), and the one between Coutts and Radich (flight 12 won by Radich), when Coutts had to complete a penalty turn.

A breakage on the tiller of Coutts' boat compromised his result in the match against Paolo CIAN (flight 13), who was therefore able to score his fourth victory of Round Robin One. At the end of Round One, the Race Commitee was able to complete flight one of Round Robin Two (results at end of page).

Racing will resume tomorrow with the remaining flights of Round Robin Two.

RESULTS AT THE END OF DAY TWO Ed Baird, USA 9 wins, 3 losses Russell Coutts, New Zealand 8 wins, 3 losses Jesper Radich, Denmark 8 wins, 3 losses James Spithill, Australia 8 wins, 4 losses Mathieu Richard, France 8 wins, 4 losses Karol Jablonski, Poland 7 wins, 5 losses Jes Gram-Hansen, Denmark 6 wins, 6 losses Bjorn Hansen, Sweden 6 wins, 6 losses Paolo Cian, Italy 4 wins, 8 losses Staffan Lindberg, Finland 3 wins, 9 losses Ian Williams, UK 2 wins, 10 losses Mikael Lindqvist, Sweden 2 wins, 10 losses

Results of flights sailed today.

Flight 9 Hansen def. Richard Coutts def. Williams Spithill def. Lindberg Cian Lindqvist (match won by Cian but to be re-sailed due to protest) Baird def. Jablonski BYE Radich Gram-Hansen

Flight 10 Hansen def. Lindberg Coutts def. Lindqvist Cian def. Williams Baird def. Radich Jablonski def. Gram-Hansen BYE Spithill - Richard

Flight 11 Lindqvist def. Williams Gram-Hansen def. Baird Richard def. Lindberg Hansen def. Spithill Jablonski def. Radich BYE Cian - Coutts

Flight 12 Baird def. Spithill Radich def. Coutts Lindberg def. Cian Jablonski def. Lindqvist BYE Gram-Hansen - Hansen BYE Richard - Williams

Flight 13 Lindberg def. Gram-Hansen Richard def. Jablonski Baird def. Lindqvist Cian def. Coutts Hansen def. Williams BYE Radich - Spithill

Flight 14 Cian def. Lindqvist Spithill def. Richard Radich def. Gram-Hansen BYE Williams - Baird BYE Hansen - Coutts BYE Jablonski - Lindberg

Results of Round Robin Two sailed today

Flight 1 Baird def. Hansen Gram-Hansen def. Spithill Lindberg def. Lindqvist Richard def. Williams Jablonski def. Cian BYE Coutts - Radich

Main sponsors:

Expert - www.expert-italia.it Sanpellegrino - www.sanpellegrino.it Saab - www.saab.it Palacongressi - www.palacongressi.it

Match Racing World Championship website worldchampionship.g2k.it/eng/regata/programma/default.asp

Thorpe Brothers (AUS) Top Two at Moth Worlds

However, it was interesting to see the different performances as the the skippers that prefer sailing in light winds have shown what they can do!

Frédéric DUVOISIN (FRA) had the best start in front of Rohan VEAL (AUS), Mark ROBINSON (AUS) and Ian FORDSIKE (GBR). Duvoisin managed to stay first and led the whole (so slow!) fleet during the race.

It took a good hour to complete the heat. Frédéric Duvoisin crossed the line first, in front of Patrick RUF (SUI) and Martin HARRISON (GBR). Mark Thorpe finished 5, to place his worst result of the series.

Today, Thursday, is a layday for everyone.

Results after 5 races, 1 discard

1 AUS THORPE Mark 5

2 AUS THORPE Les 11

3 GBR FORDSIKE Ian 15

4 SUI RUF Patrick 17

5 GER KLOPPENBURG Sven 22

6 AUS VEAL Rohan 23

Event Website: www.moth-sailing.org/worlds/2003_france.html

Two Gold for Australia at the Athens 2003 Regatta

Australia has taken gold in the Tornado and 49er classes at the Athens 2003 Regatta. Reigning world champion Tornado sailors Darren Bundock (AIS/NSWIS) and John Forbes (AIS/NSWIS) and three time 49er World Champion Chris Nicholson (NSWIS) and his crew Gary Boyd (NSWIS) held onto the number one spot to finish on top of their classes.

Consistent results (which included five 1^st) throughout the regatta for Bundock and Forbes saw the pair maintain the number one spot from day one until the final race.

Bundock and Forbes add their Pre-Athens gold to a very successful season to date, having won the 5^th Mats Nyberg Trophy at the European Championships in June and are on track to win their 3^rd consecutive world title next month.

Nicholson and Boyd excelled above the worlds best, beating the current world number one Ukrainian crew by an impressive 59 points. Australia’s 49er coach Bunny Warren was extremely happy with the crew’s performance.

With this top performance, Nicholson and Boyd are well on track to achieve an excellent result at the upcoming World Championships in Cadiz, Spain.

In other results, Laser sailor Michael Blackburn (NSWIS) completed the regatta in 4^th place. Blackburn reported that his main focus was to do a lot of sailing, observe the local conditions and absorb the trends in wind and water.

A 7^th in the final race of the regatta was enough to escalate current world champion Europe sailor Sarah Blanck (AIS/VIS) to 6^th overall.

Mistral sailors were really affected by Athens mixed wind conditions, with only nine of the eleven scheduled races sailed. Allison Shreeve (NSWIS) and Lars Kleppich (NSWIS) finished 9^th and 11^th respectively.

Although sailors were confronted with a mix of wind conditions, with half the regatta sailed in the fresh offshore wind and half in the lazier sea breeze, overall the general attitude from the Aussie team and coaches was that the regatta was an excellent experience. Laser sailor Michael Blackburn (NSWIS) confirms this,

"We experienced quite unique weather conditions here. It has been a very valuable month of training and regatta’s.

The Australian team is now much more familiar with what to expect here and the training conditions to best prepare."

Visit the regatta website: www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

Aussie Update on Day 8 of the Athens 2003 Regatta

Visit the regatta website: www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

Annual Sydney International Regatta set for Pre Olympic Hit Outs

This years Sydney International Regatta (SIRs) on December 18-21, will see the addition of a number of invited international classes along with the Olympic, Paralympic and Youth classes.  After an extremely successful regatta in 2002, with competitors from 21 countries sailing during the 4 day regatta, this year's fleet will be able to utilise time on the water for pre National and International regattas.  Competitors from previous years have enjoyed close competition on the water, which has been of great benefit to their training.

Laser 4.7, 505's, Moth and Ok Dinghy classes will join the fleet for this year's regatta as the invited classes.  This year will be the 12^th year SIRs has been hosted on Sydney Harbour for Olympic, Paralympic and Youth classes.  With a total fleet size of 150 boats and over, this regatta is valuable training time for those crews still working towards 2004 Olympic selections, as well as those classes who will be competing in their Nationals Championships in December and January.  The classes for the Olympic, Paralympic and Youth classes will be 49'er, 470, Laser, Europe, Finn, Yngling, Tornado, Mistral, Star, 29'er, 420,Laser Radial, Hobie 16, 2.4mr and Sonar. 

As part of the Sail Down Under series SIRs will also incorporate a rules seminar, coaching clinics and a Race Officers course during the regatta this year.  Coaching clinics will be conducted prior to SIRs out of the host venue Woollahra Sailing Club with the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron hosting the keelboat classes again this year.

The NOR will be available on the YA of NSW website in early September at www.nsw.yachting.org.au 

Media Contact: Sam Crichton - Regatta Director email samcrichton@smartchat.net.au or ph 0407 63 64 16

Aussie Cup Sailor Leads Match Race Worlds

Two time America's Cup helmsman James Spithill representing Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club defeated triple Cup winner Russell Coutts NZ and 2003 Swedish Match Tour winner Jesper Radich DEN on day one of the ISAF World Championship of Match Racing in Riva del Garda, Italy overnight to take the early lead on countback with the three tied at 6 wins one loss each.

Defending champion Karol Jablobski POL has 3 wins and 3 losses. Sailing with Spithill are Joey Newton, Ben Durham and Andy Fethers. The world's twelve best skippers will vie for the crown over the 5 day double round robin series which concludes with semis and finals on Saturday. In the world of professional sailing, the coveted title rates second only to the Americas Cup itself.

The 24 year old Spithill recently helmed the "OneWorld" USA challenge for America's Cup 2003 lead by three times World Champion and fellow Australian Peter Gilmour.

Event site http://worldchampionship.g2k.it/eng/regata/programma/default.asp

SAILSPORTZ -Marine Publicity 0418922000

Australians Moth Sailors Dominate on First Day

The Australian Moth Team have shown their dominance on the first day of the 2003 World Moth Championships currently being held in France.

Defending World Champion Mark Thorpe maintains the speed that has seen him remain at the forefront of the class for almost a decade. With two first places, Thorpe leads current Australian Champion Rohan Veal who scored a 2nd and 3rd in the predominantly light conditions. In third place is Les Thorpe, younger brother of Mark and runner-up in successive Australian Championships.

Veal also demonstrated the potential of his centreboard mounted hydrofoil configuration, taking out the practice race on Sunday by a large margin before reverting to a conventional configuration for the first two races. Veal's onboard GPS clocked over 18 knots of boat speed in the weekend's moderate conditions.

The International Moth is one of only a few Internationally recognised development dinghy classes. Over 75 years of development have seen the Moth's performance far outstrip its size. Thorpe's "Hungry Tiger" design has set the pace for several years, with his latest boats weighing in around 26-30kgs fully rigged. Despite hydrofoil challengers in both 2000 and 2003, the "Hungry Tiger" appears to remain at the top of the pack.

Competitors from Britain, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, France, Denmark, The Netherlands and Australia have made their way to Les Sable d'Olonne for the week-long championship. The 10 race series concludes on Saturday.

For more information visit the International Moth Class Association at http://www.moth-sailing.org.

All Aussies in Top 10 of their Class

The predicted storms passed over and the weather finally bought the sea breeze on day seven of the Athens 2003 Regatta at the Agios Kosmas Olympic Sailing Centre. The 10-14 knot sea breeze gave race officials a chance to run extra races on some courses.

Races were contested in all classes (except Star), and officials decided to run races in the 49er class, instead of having the day off as originally planned.

Having not raced in two days and eager to get out on the water 49er crew, Chris Nicholson (NSWIS) and Gary Boyd (NSWIS) climbed to 1^st place, with a 1^st, 12^th and 4^th.

The final two days of racing will be tight and fierce for the pair, with the Italian crew (Pietro Sibello and Gianfranco Sibello) only one point behind the Australians.

Sydney 2000 silver medallists, Darren Bundock (AIS/NSWIS) and John Forbes (AIS/NSWIS) are keeping up their daily first place finishes, with another 1^st in race 8.

The Tornado crew maintain their 11 point led to the second placed Argentinean crew, and 19 point lead to Austria’s Sydney Gold medallists and No1 in the ISAF World Sailing Ranking, Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinnacher,

"The Australian champions have shown unparalleled constancy and have finished first in five of the races sailed so far, have a total of only 16 points," reports the Athens 2003 Regatta event media.

Michael Blackburn (NSWIS) sailed his best races of the regatta, taking a 1^st in race 8 and a 2^nd in race 9, moving the Olympic bronze medallist to 4^th overall.

Nicky Bethwaite (NSWIS) and her Yngling crew added to Australia’s successful day, grabbing their first win of the regatta in race 8 and 3^rd in race 9.

Team Manager Graeme Roberts-Thomson reports, "Overall a good day for a number of Aussies."

1.Bundock D/Forbes J (AUS) 16pts
2. Lange SR/Espinola CM (ARG) 27pts
3. Hagara R/Steinacher (AUT) 35pts

1. Nicholson C/Boyd G (AUS) 47pts
2. Sibelo P/Sibelo G (ITA) 48pts
3. Brotherton P/Asquith M (GBR) 56pts

Laser

1. Scheidt R (BRA) 42pts
2. Birgmark D (SWE) 42pts
3. Arapov M (CRO) 46pts
4. Blackburn M (AUS) 54pts

Yngling

1. Swett H/Touchette J/Purdy M (USA) 29pts
2. Robertson S/Ayton S/Webb S (GBR) 35pts
3. Wagner K/Hoell A/Lochbrunner V (GBR) 36pts
5. Bethwaite N/Kosmala K/McHugh K (AUS) 46pts

1. Sensini A (ITA) 9pts
2. Lee LS (HKG) 22pts
3. Merret F (FRA) 28pts
6. Shreeve A (AUS) 49pts

1. Ainslie B (GBR) 26pts
2. Kusnierewicz M (POL) 40pts
3. Trujillo R (ESP) 46pts
7. Nossiter A (AUS) 65pts

1.Bekatorou S/Tsoulfa E (GRE) 43pts
2.Ward S/Ward M (DEN) 63pts
3. Sesto MF/Reinoso P (ARG) 66pts
9. Armstrong B/Stowell B (AUS) 95pts

Men Mistral

1.Kaklamanakis N (GRE) 17pts
2. Fridman G (ISR) 19pts
3. Zhou Y (CHN) 28pts
9. Kleppich L (AUS) 52pts

Men 470

1. Molund J/Anderssib M (SWE) 56pts
2. Rogers N/Glanfield J (GBR) 66pts
3. Zandona G/Trani A (ITA) 71pts
10. Wilmot N/Page M (AUS) 108pts

Europe

1.Smidova L (CZE) 36pts
2. Dezillie M (BEL) 43pts
3. Sundsby (NOR) 47pts
10. Blanck S (AUS) 75pts

1. Grael T/Ferreira M (BRA) 35pts
2. Bromby PF/White L (BER) 39pts
3. Pickel MA/Kolb A (GER) 39pts
7. Beashel C/Giles D (AUS) 58pts

Visit the regatta website: www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

For further information please contact:

Simone Green - Media and PR Co-Ordinator, Yachting Australia
Work: (02) 9902 2155 Mobile: 0402 278 178

Antarctica Cup International Yacht Race 2005 Announces Australian Entrant And Country Franchise Program

The Antarctica Cup International Yacht Race organisation today announced the signing of the first committed entrant for the inaugural race scheduled to start in Auckland, New Zealand, in February 2005.

The entrant is from Australia and is submitted by Team Challenge Australia. 

This announcement coincides with Antarctica Cup announcing the introduction of a Country Franchise Owner program.  The program allocates smaller populated maritime nations an exclusive license and larger populated nations a limited number of licenses providing an individual, syndicate, or corporation a unique opportunity to represent their nation in this nation versus nation event.

License holders will share in revenue streams created around the inaugural and future Antarctica Cup race regattas which have the potential to offset campaign costs.  A major international bank is offering license holders funding programs for race entry fees, boat ownership and boat leasing.

Team Challenge Australia are the first to take up a Antarctica Cup Country Franchise license and in so doing will hold exclusive rights to represent Australia.

From Antarctica Cup Race Chairman Bob Williams - “we have been working with the Team Challenge Australia management team for several months and are extremely impressed with the manner in which they have structured their entry program.  Our decision to grant Team Challenge Australia an exclusive franchise to represent Australia was made with the confidence that they will mount a world class effort to win the Antarctica Cup.

As previously reported a New Zealand team have registered their intent to enter. We will now work closely with this team to assist them secure the necessary support in order to launch the Antarctica Cup.  With Australia and New Zealand entered we can effectively hold the race to discover the Champions of the Great Southern Ocean in the ultimate grudge match between the two toughest sailing nations in the world.

This is a big step forward in establishing the Antarctica Cup as a great nation versus nation event.  We now look forward to welcoming challengers representing Italy, France, Great Britain, Japan, the USA and many other parts of the world through our exclusive Country Franchise Owner program”.

From Team Challenge Australia spokesperson Jeremy Pearce - “the purity of the Antarctica Cup event model is brilliant and the potential return on investment to our backers is very attractive.  We are honoured to be able to represent Australia with our all-Australian crew in such a unique and challenging nation versus nation event”.

For further information please contact:

Bob Williams on +64 21 73 73 51 or rwilliams@antarcticacup.com or visit the race web site at www.antarcticacup.com

Aussie’s Dominant Day Six of the Athens 2003 Regatta

Conditions on day six of the Athens 2003 Regatta continued to be very unfavourable for racing with dying winds. Thunderstorms were reported nearby but thankfully bypassed the course.

Nevertheless, weather predications suggest that the Saronikos Gulf may not be so lucky over the next two days, with storms looming around Athens.

The unpredictable weather permitted the race committee to complete only two races, with Australia dominating the water.

Darren Bundock (AIS/NSWIS) and John Forbes (AIS/NSWIS) added another bullet to their consistent tally, taking 1^st place in the Tornado class’ only race of the day.

The pair lead the fleet, 11 points ahead of the second placed Austrian crew and 19 points in front of Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medallists Roman Hagara and Hans Steinacher (AUT).

While, the only race in the Star class, was won by five time Olympian Colin Beashel (AIS/NSWIS), with crew David Giles (AIS/NSWIS). With nine races completed Beashel and Giles, move to 7^th overall and look on track for great results at the upcoming world championships.

Although some classes have not raced since day four, six races (the minimum number of races required to declare a winner) have taken place in all the Athens 2003 Regatta classes.

1.Bundock D/Forbes J (AUS) 12pts
2. Lange SR/Espinola CM (ARG) 23pts
3. Hagara R/Steinacher (AUT) 31pts

1. Grael T/Ferreira M (BRA) 35pts

2. Bromby PF/White L (BER) 39pts
3. Pickel MA/Kolb A (GER) 39pts
7. Beashel C/Giles D (AUS) 58pts

1. Ainslie B (GBR) 18pts
2. Godefroid S (BEL) 32pts

3. Kusnierewicz M (POL) 34pts
8. Nossiter A (AUS) 49pts

Yngling

1. Swett H/Touchette J/Purdy M (USA) 19pts
2. Wagner K/Hoell A/Lochbrunner V (GBR) 26pts
3. Robertson S/Ayton S/Webb S (GBR) 32pts
9. Bethwaite N/Kosmala K/McHugh K (AUS) 42pts

1.Bekatorou S/Tsoulfa E (GRE) 32pts
2. Petitjean I/Couroux N (FRA) 40pts

3.Ward S/Ward M (DEN) 46pts
7. Armstrong B/Stowell B (AUS) 68pts

Men 470

1. Molund J/Anderssib M (SWE) 49pts
2. Foerster P/Burnham K (USA) 52pts
3. Rogers N/Glanfield J (GBR) 54pts
10. Wilmot N/Page M (AUS) 82pts

1. Sibelo P/Sibelo G (ITA) 42pts
2. Martinez L/Fernandez X (ESP) 45pts
3. Nicholson C/Boyd G (AUS) 48pts

1.Sensini A (ITA) 5pts
2.Lee LS (HKG) 17pts
3. Merret F (FRA) 22pts
4. Shreeve A (AUS) 23pts

1. Scheidt R (BRA) 11pts
2. Arapov M (CRO) 25pts
3. Gertizer A (AUT) 30pts
7. Blackburn M (AUS) 41pts

1.Kaklamanakis N (GRE) 16pts
2. Fridman G (ISR) 17pts
3. Zhou Y (CHN) 25pts
8. Kleppich L (AUS) 37pts

Europe

1. Macky S (NZL) 14pts
2. Sundsby (NOR) 17pts
3.Smidova L (CZE) 20pts
10. Blanck S (AUS) 50pts

Visit the regatta website: www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

For further information please contact:

Simone Green - Media and PR Co-Ordinator, Yachting Australia
Work: (02) 9902 2155 Mobile: 0402 278 178

Two Aussies Finish in Top 10 at 2.4mR Worlds

Two Australian’s finished in the top ten at the 2.4mR World Championship in Eckernforde, Germany. With only seven of the eleven scheduled races sailed, Lachlan Gilbert (NSW) held onto 4^th place, with a 3^rd in the final race of the Championship.

National Paralympic Squad member, Peter Thompson (ACT) managed to maintain his top ten position throughout the entire championship. Thompson, who finished 9^th overall, will now be well prepared for the IFDS World Disabled Sailing Worlds, which starts next month in Athens.

Marko Dahlberg (FIN), an able bodied sailor took the World Champion title, with consistent sailing in the final three races (two 1^st and 2^nd).

Damien Seguin (FRA), bronze medallist at the 2002 IFDS World Championship finished second, while current 2.4mR world champion Stellan Berlin (SWE) was unsuccessful in regaining his title, coming in third.

Other Australian results are listed below.

Final Results:

1. Marko Dahlberg (FIN) 30pts
2. Damien Seguin (FRA) 31pts
3. Stellan Berlin (SWE) 36pts
4. Lachlan Gilbert (AUS) 40pts
5. Peter Thompson (AUS) 88pts
29. Michael Leydon (AUS) 153pts
43. Peter Russell (AUS) 225pts
49. Michael McLean (AUS) 247pts

For more information please contact:

Simone Green
Yachting Australia - Media and PR Co-Ordinator

Bruce Kendell, 56, Dies In Plane Crash

Bruce Kendell, who captained three Kialoas and was one of the giants of the maxi class, died on Thursday when the twin-engined Piper Navajo he co-owned crashed short of the Clearwater Executive Airport, in Clearwater, Florida.His son Bradley 22, was seriously injured. A friend of Bradley's, Daniel Griffin, 24 was killed. Kendell, 56, a New Zealander who supervised the building of Kialoa III and Kialoa IV for Jim Kilroy, was later an executive in Kilroy's construction company before starting his own business in Clearwater.

"He was an amazing individual," said Storm Trysail Club Commodore Dick Neville, who crewed aboard Kialoas for Kendell for 15 years before coming ashore to go into business in Annapolis, Md. "He was a gifted seaman. He was only a year older than us, but he seemed to have 20 years more experience. He could do it all. During those years the three Ks - Kilroy, Kialoa and Kendell - were a devastating combination. With Jim and ruce as watch captains we won a lot of races and broke a lot of records in races all over the world."

Yacht broker David "Fang" Kilponen said: "Every now and then someone comes along and raises the bar. Bruce was one of those guys. He took the big boat scene to a new plateau. In the early glory days of the IOR he started preparing the boat in the most exquisite fashion. In overnight racing he changed the way that the night fighters were trained to get the most out of their boats 24 hours a day."

Veteran ocean racing navigator Peter Bowker recalled that Kendell got his job and began his long association with Kilroy after he crewed for Bowker, while delivering Kialoa II from the Bahamas to Newport Beach, Calif., in 1970. Jim came and sailed with us along the way and they got on pretty well together," Bowker recalled. "They had similar styles. He got the skipper's job in Newport Beach after I went home." Kendell raced and set records on many top boats, but is best remembered for his time on Kialoas. He captained Kilroy's yachts on three visits to Sydney, racing in the Sydney-Hobart Race in '72, '75 and 77, and, Neville recalled, introduced a lot of talented sailors to the North American racing scene -- individuals like Allan Prior, John Boulton, Tink Chambers, Mick and Neil Harveyto name a few.

Chambers, now a broker at Farr International, was drafted by Kendell in 1976 and after crewing for him later took over the Kialoa III captain's job when Kendell moved ashore. "I have a lot of respect for the guy and his ability," Chambers said. "He was an excellent seaman and could do anything he put his mind to." - Keith Taylor

http://www.tampatrib.com/MGAXDGRONJD.html

Frustrating Day for Sailors on Day Five of the Athens 2003 Regatta

Visit the regatta website : www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

Americas Cup Sailors Impressed With Hamilton Island

Americas Cup sailors Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth completed the 2003 Hahn Premium Race Week with a Bronze medal and a bronze sun tan bonus with Jim Framer’s high performance New Zealand sloop Georgia off Hamilton Island yesterday.

The highly talented skipper/ tactician combination sailing under the proud New Zealand Yacht Squadron burgee for the first time since winning the Americas Cup for the Swiss Alinghi syndicate were impressed with the hospitality, camaraderie, destination and the high standard fleet racing.

Both Coutts and Butterworth regarded as the highest profile sailing duo to compete in the 20 year history of Race Week only managed to win one race in the IRC class championship but they left with a big impression and a bronzed complexion from a week of sailing in the sun drenched Whitsunday Islands.

The professional sailing team was also impressed with the management of the event and the high standard of competitive fleet racing.

Master one-design match racing tactician Brad Butterworth had a pleasant week expressing his craft in the territory of fleet racing on the picturesque Whitsunday Island waters which were spiced with numerous tricks in prevailing wind and current.

Butterworth, skipper Russell Coutts, owner Jim Farmer and the talented Kiwi crew, fought tenaciously to protect their proud reputations but even their combined skill could not match the brilliant regatta performance of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club sloop Another Duchess.

As expected Georgia was always in the front line out of the starts but the well sailed Farr 52 could not produce the consistent handicap rated speed to sail on equal terms with the modified Davidson 59 Another Duchess which won eight line honours ‘battle flags’ and completed four races with the fastest corrected handicap.

This performance allowed Another Duchess steered by Admirals Cup winning helmsman Mark Richards for owner Sandy Oatley to win the series by 16 points from the new Swan 45 Joe skippered by Steven David of Sydney with Georgia another 1 point astern third.

Final points: Another Duchess (Sandy Oatley, NSW) 9-1-1-1-3-1-5-2 690pts 1, Joe (Steven David, NSW) 4-6-3-3-2-5-3-6 674pts 2, Georgia (James Farmer, NZL 12-2-2-2-9-6-6-1) 673pts 3, Heaven Can Wait (Warren Johns, NSW) 13-3-7-6-6-4-1-4 670pts 4, Quest (Bob Steel, NSW) 7-5-6-5-7-7-4-3 663pts 5, Ichi Ban (Matt Allen, NSW) 29-8-5-7-13-2-2-5 658pts 6.

Old Salt Gracious In Defeat

Lou Abrahams the 76 year old sailing veteran lost his Australian 38 championship trophy but gained a lot of friends with his gracious attitude.

The veteran sailor winner of two Sydney Hobart races and two Australian Sydney 38 National title trophies officially handed over the class battle flag after winning the final race of the 2003 Hahn Premium Race Week class championship off Hamilton Island.

Skipper Abrahams and his principal helmsmen Carl Schmidt handed the fleet a lesson in One Design racing when Another Challenge produced unmatched speed in the 12-15 knot northerly wind to lead the fleet home in the 23n/ml South Molle-Daydream Island race.

Another Challenge beat Livewire (Terry Hall) and Eye Candy (Geoff Boettcher) by a commanding margin but while this was an impressive performance the result was not enough to win the series overall.

Rush skippered by former World Etchells champion Cameron Miles sealed a narrow one point win when he claimed 8^th place almost 6 minutes behind Another Challenge.

Miles assisted by his young tactician Katie Spithill steered Rush to an impressive overall win taking the lead from Another Challenge in race 6 and then building the title win with a 3-1-1 in three high quality tactical races on Friday.

"It was one of those magic days on the water where every thing we tried fell into place".

"Katie had us going the right way all day and the crew did the rest". Miles Said.

The Rush crew received their greatest compliment when Lou Abrahams handed over the National crown he has held for the past two years.

He graciously congratulated the Rush crew; "You sailed a very smart series and deserve to be the champion, but look out we will be back next year". Abrahams said.

There is still plenty of passionate attitude left in the determined 76 year old gentleman skipper of Australian sailing and he plans to be a distinct challenger and perhaps celebrate his 77 th birthday by winning back the prestigious National title.

Final Championship points: Rush (Cameron Miles, NSW) 785 pts 1, Another Challenge (Lou Abrahams, Vic) 784pts 2, AMI Jade (Peter McNamara, NSW) 777pts 3, Blue Sky (Michael Hill, NSW) 767pts 4, Asylum (Wayne Kirkpatrick, Qld) 766pts 5, Livewire (Terry Hall, Vic) 764pts 6.

Hamilton Island Race Week Title Decided On Count Back

West Australian skipper Mike Davies was rewarded for his expensive cross country trip from Australia’s west coast port of Busselton to Hamilton Island when he helmed the Jenneau sf 36 Sandstone to victory in the Hahn Premium Race Week Performance Handicap title.

Sandstone the product name for a fine West Australian wine produced a champagne performance to clinch the narrowest of wins decided on the count back system when the fun loving Busselton crew finished the eight race series on equal points with the Cairns sloop Risky Business.

Both crews staged a very thrilling duel throughout the series with Risky Business helmed by Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron skipper Darryl Hartshorne looking to have the speed capable of beating Sandstone on corrected time.

But skipper Davies who had an incentive for his crew chilling under ice in the esky produced his best race when he needed it most steering Sandstone to a comfortable 1 minute 7 second corrected handicap win over line honours trophy winner Prowler skippered by Christian Jackson from Geelong.

The value of the win ultimately proved to be the tie deciding factor when Sandstone and Risky Business two radically different yachts completed the eight races with identical 686 point scores.

Remarkably Risky Business had the faster corrected time aggregate by 37 minutes 45 seconds over the 8 races and 208 nautical miles of racing only to lose the title under the official count back rule.

Final Points: Sandstone (Mike Davies, WA) 686pts 1, Risky Business (Darryl Hartshorne, Qld) 686pts 2, Kerinda (Len Payne, NSW) 683pts 3, Prowler (Christian Jackson, Vic) 679pts 4, Esprit de Corps (Peter Holm, Qld) 661pts 5, Balmain Experience (Cameron Neill, NSW) 576pts 6.

Euphoria Shows Her Class At Hamilton Island

Sydney skipper Anthony Coleman steered his exciting J130 Euphoria to a consistent series to eventually win the prestigious Hahn Premium Race Week IRC Cruising class title.

Euphoria built most of her title winning score on the long spinnaker runs where skipper Coleman and crew accelerated from the fleet to sail well above their high handicap rating of 1.0920.

Coleman really had to race against the clock needing to log the fast down wind speeds when he slipped behind the required time to beat his lower handicapped rivals.

In terms of boat speed Euphoria had to sail up to 5 minutes an hour quicker than her rivals to hold any chance of winning.

This was a huge task however skipper Coleman supported by a crew who enjoyed sailing in the faster lane produced the results while enjoying a number of white wake producing rides on the spinnaker reaches.

She was simply to fast and too consistent for the smaller and slower Melbourne Cavalier Express (Jeff MacArdie) and Peter Whitford’s Sydney sloop Wirrajurnd to match.

Cavalier Express performed up to expectations winning the 23 n/ml South Molle-Daydream Island race on Saturday but the long spinnaker run to the finish in Dent Passage proved to be an enjoyable ride for the Euphoria crew when they claimed second place.

This completed an outstanding series for the Euphoria crew when they won the title by 3 points from Cavalier Express with another 7 points to Wirrajurnd when they completed the 6 race championship with their impressive 2-1-1-1-3-2 score.

Final Points: Euphoria (Anthony Coleman, NSW) 496pts 1, Cavalier Express (Jeff MacArdie, Vic) 493 pts 2, Wirrajurnd (Peter Whitford, NSW) 480pts 3.

The Probe Beats Big Fleet For Cruisers Title

Melbourne skipper Tim Lewis celebrated his escape route from the Victorian winter chill factor by winning the Hahn Premium Race Week Cruising class title in the warm Whitsunday Islands.

Lewis and crew survived a week of sailing in shorts and tee-shirts to record a 6-1-12-12-1 score to win the championship ahead of the Sydney sloop Manly Too (Andrew Robinson) and the Brisbane yacht Grizzly Adams (Roger Hart).

All three crews entered the final 23n/ml Island Passage race with an equal winning chance.

They all sailed conservative races in the moderate Northerly sea breeze but it was The Probe who showed out using both tide flow and wind to the fullest advantage on the final run down the Whitsunday Passage to snatch a final race win by 39 seconds over Grizzly Adams with Pretty Fly (Colin Woods) third.

This performance allowed The Probe to seal a close 1 point win over Manly Too with another 2 points to Grizzly Adams in a championship which attracted a fleet of 76 yachts representing clubs from America, Hong Kong, New Zealand, England and Australia.

Final Points: The Probe (Tim Lewis, Vic) 382pts 1, Manly Too (Andrew Robinson, NSW) 381pts 2, Grizzly Adams (Roger Hart, Qld) 379pts 3.

Benetau Cruiser Wins Hamilton Island Title

Malcolm Roe has added an important entry in his personal yacht racing log when he steered the Benetau 47.7 sloop Savoir-Faire to a narrow two point win in the Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week Premier Cruiser class title.

Roe and the Savoir-Fare crew showed real class to fight from behind to win the closely contested 6 race championship over their equally paced rival Bob Southerton helming the almost identical Benetau 47.7 Bullrush.

Bullrush was clearly the best sailed in the first three races to record what appeared to be a title winning 1-1-1 score compared with Savoir-Faire 3-2-2.

However when the wind became light and tricky the Savoir-Faire crew hit their straps to master the conditions to record a 1-2-1 to claim the championship ahead of Bullrush by 2 points Ray Harris completed the Benetau 47.7 trifecta when he skippered Honeysuckle into third place another 10 points astern.

Bob Robertson’s Sydney 60 Eureka 11 achieved the distinction of being the only sloop in all of the 6 classes to complete a perfect line honours score.

Final Points: Savoir-Faire (Malcolm Roe, NSW) 494 pts 1, Bullrush (Bob Southerton, NSW) 492 2, Honeysuckle (Ray Harris, NSW) 482pts 3.

Aussie's Step Up a Notch at Athens 2003 Regatta

Visit the regatta website : www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

Day Three Report from 2.4mR World Championship

1. Marko Dahlberg (FIN) 19pts
2. Damien Seguin (FRA) 21pts
3. Stellan Berlin (SWE) 35pts
4. Lachlan Gilbert (AUS) 37pts
8. Peter Thompson (AUS) 61pts
25. Michael Leydon (AUS) 110pts
43. Peter Russell (AUS) 177pts
47. Michael McLean (AUS) 208pts

Visit the regatta website - http://www.24mr-worlds03.org

Young Female Tactician Wins National Title

Young Katie Spithill (21) provided the race strategy for her Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club skipper Cameron Miles to steer Rush to victory in the 2003 Hahn Premium Australian Sydney 38 class championship off Hamilton Island today.

Katie the younger sister of Americas Cup Helmsman James Spithill showed she was never going to wilt under the pressure applied by her male rivals when Rush produced a title winning 3-1-1 score the three 6 n/ml windward leeward races.

She was an excellent backstop for skipper Cameron Miles when Rush claimed the prestigious national title trophy with a race to spare.

Both Spithill and Miles supported by their crew including Katie’s younger brother Tom 15 were unmatched for their one design sailing technique when they claimed a nail biting 5 second race win over Livewire (Terry Hall) with another 23 seconds to the defending champion 76 year old Lou Abrahams in Another Challenge to set up their deserved title win.

Miles winner of the World Etchells championship in 1999 claimed this championship win as one of his career highlights.

"Katie is so good to sail with and loves nothing better than being in the thick of the action".

"We have sailed a lot together and her skill combined with the crew makes my job of steering much easier".

"However there is always a lot of pressure on the tactician to come up with the right decisions and Katie showed she was ready to step up and handle the role". Miles said.

Her skill and tenacity proved to be a major factor when Rush completed her title winning performance today.

Proud dad Arthur Spithill was on the dock to congratulate the Rush crew including his children who are part of one of the most successful Australian sailing families.

Results: 2003 Hahn Premium Race Week Australian Sydney 38 class c’ship Progressive Pts: Rush (Cameron Miles, NSW) 7-2-7-1-3-1-3-1-1 692pts 1, Another Challenge (Lou Abrahams, Vic) 3-5-2-2-1-3-4-3-3 684pts 2, AMI Jade (Peter McNamara, NSW) 6-3-4-3-2-2-1-6-5 681pts 3, Blue Sky (Michael Hill, NSW) 2-4-3-4-5-7-2-8-6 674pts 4, Asylum (Wayne Kirkpatrick, Qld) 5-1-10-7-4-6-5-5-2 673pts 5, Eye Candy (Geoff Boettcher, SA) 8-6-6-8-7-8-8-4-7 654pts 6.

Australia First in the 49er and Tornado Classes at Athens 2003 Regatta

1. Macky S (NZL) 21pts
2. Smidova L (CZE) 21pts
3.Brouwer C (NED) 32pts
12. Blanck S (AUS) 52pts

Visit the regatta website : www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

Difficult Conditions in Athens Providing Excellent Experience

The extremely difficult sailing conditions on day two of the Athens 2003 Sailing Regatta allowed only the Finn, 470, Star, 49er and Yngling classes to sail.

The Saronikos Gulf has been experiencing strong offshore winds that are extremely shifty, hence the reason for up and down results by some of the favourites.

The hot, dry weather with patchy 5-15 knots land breeze from the north has prevented a sea breeze from developing.

"The conditions are providing a great learning experience for the sailors," Team manager Graeme Roberts-Thomson reports from Athens.

The best Aussie performances on day two were delivered by 470 crew Nathan Wilmot (AIS/NSWIS) and Malcolm Page (AIS/NSWIS) and 49er crew Chris Nicholson (NSWIS) and Gary Boyd (NSWIS).

Wilmot and Page made up for yesterday’s race one disqualification (OCS), with a 1^st place in their only race of the day, shooting up seven places to 10^th overall.

While Nicholson and Boyd had the same success, taking 1^st place in race four. The pair are now placed 4^th overall.

As for the facilities, sailors are becoming acquainted with the sailing marina, which is approximately four times the size of the area used for the Sydney 2000 Games, and the land area approximately ten times larger.

Storms forecast for this weekend racing.

49er

1. Sibelo P/Sibelo G (ITA) 18pts
2. Brotherton P/Asquith M (GBR) 21pts
3. Wadlow T/Spaulding P (USA) 24pts
4. Nicholson C/Boyd G (AUS) 26pts

1. Ainslie B (GBR) 10pts
2. Godefroid S (BEL) 23pts
3. Kuret K (CRO) 26pts
9. Nossiter A (AUS) 36pts

Men 470

1. Marinho A/Nunes M (POR) 14pts
2. Molund J/Andersson M (SWE) 14pts
3.Kliger G/Gal E (ISR) 15pts
10. Wilmot N/Page M (AUS) 37pts

1.Ward S/Ward M (DEN) 26pts
2.Bekatorou S/Tsoulfa E (GRE) 30pts
3. Hesson S/Dickson L (NZL) 34pts
21. Armstrong B/Stowell B (AUS) 69pts

1.Bromby PF/White L (BER) 14pts
2. Pickel MA/Kolb A (GER) 20pts
3. Kats S/Martens JP (NED) 21pts
10. Beashel C/Giles D (AUS) 39pts

1. Swett H/Touchette J/Purdy M (USA) 6pts
2. Taran R/Matevusheva S/Kalinina G (UKG) 9pts
3. Wagner K/Hoell A/Lochbrunner V (GER) 13pts
9. Bethwaite N/Kosmala K/McHugh K (AUS) 24pts

1. Bundock D/Forbes D (AUS) 2pts
2. Lange SR/Espinola CM (ARG) 4pts
3. Hagara R/Steinacher HP (AUT) 6pts

1. Sensini A (ITA) 1pt
2. Lee LS (HKG) 2pts
3. Shreeve A (AUS) 3pts

1. Birgmark D (SWE) 9pts
2. Zbogar V (SLO) 13pts
3. Arapov M (CRO) 14pts
4. Blackburn M (AUS) 15pts

Visit the regatta website : www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

For further information please contact:

Simone Green - Media and PR Co-Ordinator, Yachting Australia
Work: (02) 9902 2155 Mobile: 0402 278 178

Racing Commences at 2.4mR Open Worlds

After three races sailed on day one, Lachlan Gilbert (NSW) is placed 2^nd overall, with a 1^st in race one. National Paralympic squad member Peter Thompson (ACT) is currently in 8^th position, with current Australian Champion, Michael Leydon (ACT), right behind in 9^th.

Visit the regatta website - http://www.24mr-worlds03.org

simone.green@yachting.org.au

2004 Olympic Qualification Confirmation

ISAF have released confirmation of the 2004 Olympic Qualification process, amended due to the busy sailing calendar in 2004.

The full ISAF memo can be found by clicking here.

Any questions regarding this information should be directed in writing to the Yachting Australia High Performance Manager - Sue Thompson.

Athens 2003 Regatta Begins

With only one crew per class, per country able to enter, some of the world’s best sailors joined together on the waters of the Saronikos Gulf, for day one of the Athens 2003 Regatta.

With very hot weather and strong winds blowing over the last few days, the chance to sail in these conditions on the course that will be used for the 2004 Olympic regatta, will no doubt prove extremely beneficial for those athletes who will be back in Athens in less than a years time.

Tornado sailors, Darren Bundock (AIS/NSWIS) and John Forbes (AIS/NSWIS) continued their excellent 2003 form, taking two 1^st on day one of competition, placing the pair 22 points ahead of world number one French crew Xavier Revil and Laurent Guillemette.

Australia’s Men and Women 470 crews are placed in the lower half of their fleets, both recording an OCS (disqualification) in race one. However, both crews picked up in race two, and will be keen to make amends and perform consistently to improve their placings as the regatta progresses.

Up amongst the best in the Laser class is Michael Blackburn (NSWIS), who finished with a 10^th and 5^th, to be placed 4^th overall, in the 34 boat fleet. Blackburn is only two points behind the 2^nd placed Slovakian.

The Women Mistral’s event only managed to sail one race, with Australia’s Allison Shreeve (NSWIS) earning herself a 3^rd. Whilst in the men’s fleet, Olympian Lars Kleppich made a promising return to international competition with a 5^th and 11^th, to be in 8^th overall.

All other Aussies are in the top ten of their fleets (see below) after day one racing.

1. Bundock D/Forbes D (AUS) 2pts
2. Lange SR/Espinola CM (ARG) 4pts
3. Hagara R/Steinacher HP (AUT) 6pts

1. Sensini A (ITA) 1pt
2. Lee LS (HKG) 2pts
3. Shreeve A (AUS) 3pts

Laser

1. Birgmark D (SWE) 9pts
2. Zbogar V (SLO) 13pts
3. Arapov M (CRO) 14pts
4. Blackburn M (AUS) 15pts

Yngling

1. Taran R/Matevusheva S/Kalinina G (UKG) 3pts
2. Swett H/Touchette J/Purdy M (USA) 4pts
3. Thies A/Bes A/de Jong P (NED) 12 pts
5. Bethwaite N/Kosmala K/McHugh K (AUS) 13pts

1. van Dijk J (NED) 4pts
2. Tobin JP (NZL) 7pts
3. Santos R (BRA) 8pts
7. Kleppich L (AUS) 16pts

1. Sundby S (NOR) 8pts
2. Smidova L (CZE) 11pts
3.Brouwer C (NED) 12pts
7. Blanck S (AUS) 19pts

1. Adakan E (TUR) 5pts
2. Trujillo R (ESP) 8pts
3. Ainslie B (GBR) 8pts
7. Nossiter A (AUS) 16pts

1. Wadlow T/Spaulding P (USA) 12pts
2. Sibelo P/Sibelo G (ITA) 14pts
3. Sundby C/Bovim F (NOR) 15pts
8. Nicholson C/Boyd G (AUS) 25pts

1. Percy I/Mitchell S (GBR) 5pts
2. Bromby PF/White L (BER) 7pts
3. Kats S/Martens JP (NED) 10pts
8. Beashel C/Giles D (AUS) 16pts

1. Marinho A/Nunes M (POR) 5pts
2. Kjaergaard K/Moeller M (DEN) 11pts
3.Kliger G/Gal E (ISR) 11pts
17. Wilmot N/Page M (AUS) 36pts

1. Bekatorou S/Tsoulfa E (GRE) 4pts
2. Dekleva V/Maucec K (SLO) 12pts
3.Ward S/Ward M (DEN) 14pts
21. Armstrong B/Stowell B (AUS) 39pts

Visit the regatta website:www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

For further information please contact:

Simone Green - Media and PR Co-Ordinator, Yachting Australia
Work: (02) 9902 2155 Mobile: 0402 278 178

Classy Win By Another Duchess

Bob Oatley’s Another Duchess scored another convincing line and handicap win in the 2003 International Hahn Premium Race Week IRC class championship off Hamilton Island today.

Another Duchess recently modified with a revolutionary keel complete with foils gave none of her 33 rivals a chance to sail in the same speed sailing lane when skipper Mark Richards steered her to a clear wind start in perfect sailing conditions.

Richards and crew elected to sail a middle line course up the windward beat into a variable 12-15 knot south east breeze.

They had unmatched speed and height upwind and soon left Broomstick (Mike Cranitch), the champion New Zealand sloop Georgia (Russell Coutts) and the two Sydney yachts Shockwave (Colin O’Neil) and Ichi Ban (Matt Allen) to fight out the minor placings.

By the end of the first windward leg Another Duchess with a skillful selection of race strategy to sail on the pressure line of the breeze had broken away from the fleet but she needed to extend as the lower handicapped yachts headed by Georgia and Joe were in contention to win the race on corrected time.

But they fell off the back of the speed sailing Another Duchess when she extended her overall race lead on the first of two spinnaker runs.

Skipper Mark Richards and owner Bob Oatley assisted by most of the crew who played a big role in Australia’s Admirals Cup win in England last month ‘pressed on the accelerator’ allowing Another Duchess to again dictate the speed and tactics to draw away for a commanding line honours win over Broomstick and Aftershock in the 1 hour 13 minute 28 second race.

This was a comprehensive performance with Richards and crew selecting the necessary speed sailing angles allowing Another Duchess to out sail her high 1.3870 handicap rating to claim her third line and handicap double in the past three races.

Another Duchess finished 32 seconds clear of Georgia with another 44 seconds to Joe (Steven David) to build a commanding 7 points lead in the series over Joe with Georgia another 2 points away third.

Another Duchess Steals the Show Again at Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week

The Kiwis might have beat the Aussies at rugby in the last week, but out on the yachting course at the Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week, Bob Oatley and his Australian crew on the Davidson 59, Another Duchess, again defeated the Russell Coutts steered Farr 53 Kiwi entry Georgia, both on the water and on handicap.

Today was the third race of the series, and the second race on the trot that Another Duchess has won both line and handicap honours, the standout boat of the series to date, Georgia having to play bridesmaid on handicap in both races.

Racing was originally to get underway today at 11.00am, but there was not a skerrick of breeze in sight, the Race Committee having to hold boats out on the course until the breeze finally filled in enough for the fleet to get away at 1.55pm – almost three hours late.

Even when it did come, it was light and flicky, a 5-8 knot breeze that switched constantly from south east to north to north east and back again.

By the time the fleet had finished the first race in fading breezes, the Race Committee was forced to abandon a second race when the breeze shifted yet again, so only one race was had today.

Another Duchess placed herself near to the pin for the start today and cleared out quickly on the rest of the fleet, lifting higher than her counterparts on her way up the first beat.

Jim Farmer’s Georgia, on the other hand, went for a start closer to the boat end, along with the Sydney Bob Steel Nelson Marek 46, Quest, both also getting away quickly.

By the time they rounded the leeward mark for the first time, Another Duchess had a convincing lead from Georgia, Colin O’Neil’s Davidson 59 Aftershock, and Matt Allen’s Farr 52 Ichi Ban.

Jim Pugh, from renowned American designers Reichel Pugh, explained the reason for Another Duchess’ outstanding success, ‘I am pleased with the appendage package we put together, the rudder, keel and bulb, which is providing the extra speed for Another Duchess,’ he said of the changes made to the original Davidson design. Which explains why the unaltered Aftershock can’t quite keep pace with her fellow Davidson 59.

Reichel Pugh, of course, designed the canting keeled Wild Oats that recently, along with Colin O’Neil’s chartered Aftershock, won the Admiral’s Cup for the Royal Prince

Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney. At the time of that win, Oatley said, ‘canting keels are the way to go, this is where yachting is headed.’

Backing that statement is Another Duchess’ wins in both long and short distance races, on line and handicap honours, in any type of breeze, and while she should beat Georgia on line, handicap is another matter.

An interesting scenario has occurred at this regatta, there is the mentioned battle between the two big boats, but another battle is taking place between two mid-sized boats, and another battle then, between the four.

The mid-size battle is the one between the new Swan 45 Joe, and the old Nelson Marek 46 Quest. Joe is a younger boat that sports a younger crew, but she is still raw, compared to the older boat with the self-confessed ‘old boys’ on Quest, with the proven track record, including winning the 2002 Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race.

Quest has been the toast of ocean racing for a long time, and is the defending Hamilton Island champion, but all of a sudden, the new kid on the block has arrived to give them a run for their money. As Ron ‘Jake’ Jacobs, tactician on Quest said today, ‘we talk on the boat all the time. I’m asked ‘are we going O.K., and I say yes, but then I realise we’re not. We were a bit complacent, we need to be better than that in relation to Joe.’

He went on to say, ‘it was a long day for a one hour race today. We started with 6.5 knots, it filled in to 7, then died away, and the big boats got home leaving the rest of the fleet to fill in behind them almost exactly on waterline length.

We led Joe almost to the top mark, then Heaven Can Wait came in and dumped on us. We were forced left and then had 15 degree shift against us, which let the Swan 45 through with more pressure. They rounded half a boat length ahead of us. We held them on starboard gybe, but on port they sailed away from us with their masthead kite.

They are so quick down wind. We got caught a bit off-guard up here. We thought that Quest had all the boat speed we needed, but Joe has proven to us that we need to go with the oversize poles and masthead kites to optimise under IRC. It’s clear that the big masthead kites are lightly penalised on IRC compared to their advantage.’

While the main events appears to be between Another Duchess and Georgia, and then Quest and Joe, the actuality is that it comes down, on handicap, to be between the four as a whole.

Working on the high point score system of this regatta, where a win gives you an extra point advantage, Another Duchess, with two wins, leads after three races with 291 points, from Joe with 287, Georgia on 284 and Quest with 282 points extremely close with a number of races still to be sailed.

Tomorrow’s race schedule is for a further two windward/leeward courses of around12 nautical miles each, but should the weather conditions suit, the Race Committee may decide to add an extra race to make up for today’s loss.

Today’s story, and others, come courtesy of our extremely willing and able press boat drivers at the Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week: Scott Ramsden on Camera Cat, Matt and Norm on Balek II and Neil and Brian on Showdown.

Without press boat drivers in general, we could not get our stories, and these particular drivers have gone out of their way to make sure we have all got what we needed. Not an easy job at the best of times.

Report from Aussie at J24 Worlds

Report from AUS 186 Code Violation sponsored by Admark:

"We have completed four races in the 2003 J24 Worlds in Medemblik Holland. 68 boats are here from 13 countries.

Yesterday we went out with a dying 6 knot breeze to have racing postponed till 5.30pm with a weak land breeze from a small front. We had an average result in heat 1 with a 28 but better than Steve Girdis in AUS 161 who was pmsed.

Another front passed over last night witha lot of wind and rain and 18-26 knots today. We had a long day with three races of 90+ minutes long and really long around 1.5 miles plus.

We improved from 28th last night to 14th tonight with a 19th, 11th and 9th today. AUS 161 is 34th overall after damage to their boat by another competitor.

The Italians have won two heats with around 5 of the top ten being Italian. They are quick. As quick as we found the Americans from last year in the 2002 Worlds in Canada. The best American is Star sailor Andy Horton in 4th.

We are happy with our sailing here the biggest diiference we see is that the top boats just do not change from the 150% to the smaller blade jib in the breeze. They just keep on carrying it and go high and fast! More from heats 5 and 6 on Wednesday."

Another Duchess Firms Grip On Race Week Title

Australia’s Admirals Cup winning helmsman Mark Richards expressed brilliant light wind sailing skills at the tiller of Another Duchess to score another impressive line and corrected handicap win in the 2003 Hahn Premium Race Week off Hamilton Island today.

Richards supported by an equally talented crew produced a near faultless display of light wind sailing to out sail and outpace the high standard fleet including the champion New Zealand sloop Georgia steered by triple Americas Cup winning skipper Russell Coutts.

Another Duchess recently modified with a revolutionary new keel fitted with adjustable foils was simply unmatched in the light winds sailing both higher and faster into the breeze and holding similar dominating speed sailing downwind under spinnaker.

They developed an early lead on the first slog into the light sea breeze in spite of the Georgia crew’s equally faultless race in the smaller sloop.

Russell Coutts and his Americas Cup winning tactician Brad Butterworth were equally aggressive with the smaller Georgia sailing on the edge of the breeze to keep Another Duchess honest.

However Richards and the Another Duchess crew showed why they won the Admirals Cup in England by answering every challenge offered by the Georgia crew to eventually score a 3 minute 26 second line honours win.

The impressive all angle sailing performance also allowed Another Duchess to outpace her high handicap penalty to record the fastest corrected course time winning the honour by 47 seconds over Georgia with another 4 minutes 22 seconds to Aftershock (Colin O’Neil).

Another Duchess with her 2-1-1 line honours and 9-1-1 corrected time performance is in a strong position to become the first yacht to win both trophies in the 20 year history of Hamilton Island Race Week.

Mooloolaba Yacht Club sloop Playpen skippered by Michael Grieve scored a major upset win in the third heat of the Australian Sydney 38 championship sailed on the same course.

Playpen racing in her first Australian championship held on to score a narrow 3 second win over the defending champion Another Challenge skippered by 76 year old Lou Abrahams of Melbourne with another 25 seconds to Blue Sky skippered by Michael Hill of Sydney.

Healthpac 9th Australian Masters Games - Entry Date Extended

The Australian Master Games and the Canberra Yacht Club have extended the regatta entry date until late October. The Master Games in Canberra is set to break all previous competitor number records.

Phil Brigg the oldest competitor in the Master Sailing Regatta 88-year-old father competes regularly in his Sabre, called the 88er. He has confirm his entry in this his third Masters Games.

The Masters Games Regatta starts November 5 and comprises a series of 8 races, with the minimum age of the helmsperson being 35 year-old. Entries are open all Trailable yachts / sports boats, dinghies and multihulls. A large fleet of Flying Fifteens, Flying Dutchmen and Access 2.3 Dinghies will be competing.

Games info: Canberra Yacht Club 02 6273 7177
Email: amgsailing@canberrayachtclub.com.au
CYC Website: www.canberrayachtclub.com.au

Australia Gears Up for the Athens 2003 Regatta

With less than one year to go till the Opening Ceremony for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games is unveiled, Australia is gearing up for the Athens 2003 Regatta.

From 14-28 August sailors from around the world will meet at the Agios Kosmas Olympic Sailing Centre in the Saronikos Gulf, to compete in this regatta.

This regatta acts as a test event for the Athens Games for both the organisers and sailors. The regatta will allow sailors to familiarise themselves with the weather and conditions, in preparation for the actual Athens Olympic Games.

With one entry per class per country, the following athletes will represent Australia:

• 470 Men – Nathan Wilmot (AIS/NSWIS) and Malcolm Page (AIS/NSWIS)
• 470 Women – Jenny Armstrong (AIS/NSWIS) and Belinda Stowell (AIS/WAIS)
• 49er – Chris Nicholson (NSWIS) and Gary Boyd (NSWIS)
• Europe – Sarah Blanck (AIS/VIS)
• Finn – Anthony Nossiter (NSWIS)
• Laser – Michael Blackburn (NSWIS)
• Mistral Men – Lars Kleppich (NSWIS)
• Mistral Women – Allison Shreeve (NSWIS)
• Star – Colin Beashel (AIS/NSWIS) and David Giles (AIS/NSWIS)
• Tornado – Darren Bundock (AIS/NSWIS) and John Forbes (AIS/NSWIS)
• Yngling – Nicky Bethwaite (NSWIS), Katie Hage (NSWIS) and Kristen Kosmala (NSWIS)

Yachting Australia will provide daily reports and results on Australia’s progress starting Thursday 21^st August.

Visit the regatta website: www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=10876&la=2

For further information please contact:

Simone Green - Media and PR Co-Ordinator, Yachting Australia
Work: (02) 9902 2155 Mobile: 0402 278 178

CYCA Team Wins Governor's Cup

The CYCA's Youth Academy Under 20's team has won the Governor's Cup in California.

A very elated Seve Jarvin this morning advised Coach/Manager Jenni Bonnitcha by telephone that following their win, the team was "welcomed back into Newport Harbour with a fanfare of large million dollar cruisers, water cannons and loads of loud hooters and horns."

Team manager Greg Newton said: "It's 'all over red rover' as they say, with the boys from the CYCA taking out the "US Junior Match Racing Championship" - The 2003 Governor's Cup - in Newport Beach this afternoon.

Seve Jarvin, Robert Bell and Sam Newton excelled in the vastly improved sailing conditions to relegate the RSYS team after a tough three race play-off and then to knock out the team from the Merchant Marine 2-0."

Meanwhile, the other CYCA team that was competing at the Under 25's Cowes Youth Week regatta made it into the Gold Fleet and finished 6th overall, also an extremely commendable placing considering the very high World

Rankings of the skippers in the Gold Fleet (total entries were 18 from 7 different countries).

"Although we did not win we put up a pretty good fight and made a lot of heads swing as we were seeded 17th," said Richard Howard today.

"Anyway that's sailing - I am very very keen to do more match racing now," he added.

Fellow Australian Michael Dunstan from Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron skippered his team to a top placing at Cowes Youth Week.

Further information: Jenni Bonnitcha 0418 214 830 or Lisa Ratcliff 0418 428 511

Broomstick Sweeps To Yacht Race Win

Radical Sydney pocket-maxi Broomstick skippered by Mike Cranitch scored a come from behind line honours win in the 2003 Hahn Premium Race Week 23n/ml Lindeman Island race sailed in the warm Whitsunday Islands today.

Broomstick valued the advantage of her 20m waterline length and cleverly selected tacking angles on the spinnaker run from Lindeman Island to the finish off Hamilton Island to score a close win from Admirals Cup winning skipper Bob Oatley (Another Duchess) and the Volvo 60 Andrew Short Marine (Andrew Short).

All thee yachts staged an exciting line honours duel over the course with the crews sustaining a heavy workload to maintain a competitive speed in a wind which failed to gust anywhere near the forecast 16-20 knots.

However while the wind was light and relatively unstable with a number of unpredictable direction changes the race attracting a number of the Worlds leading sailors including Americas Cup champions Russell Coutts, Brad Butterworth, and John Bertrand proved to be exciting from start to finish.

The Sydney sloop Another Duchess owned by 2003 Admirals Cup winning skipper Bob Oatley and steered by Mark Richards with John Bertrand calling the race strategy showed the benefit of her new keel to be the star performer leading New Zealand’s Georgia (Russell Coutts) out of the start.

Another Duchess was the first to set a spinnaker when she cleared Brush Rock but she was under some real pressure when the bigger sloops Andrew Short Marine and Broomstick bridged the gap.

All three yachts selected totally different courses in a bid to build a speed sailing edge but it was the crew on Broomstick who carried the correct speed sailing angles to claim an important 2 minute 34 second win over Another Duchess with Andrew Short Marine another 29 seconds astern third.

America Cup skipper Russell Coutts and his talented tactician Brad Butterworth displayed their exceptional talent to adjust to the tricky sailing conditions in the New Zealand sloop Georgia to easily win their match race over the Sydney sloop Ichi Ban (Matt Allen).

This expected class match race fell apart when the experienced Australian crew committed a tactical error on the windward beat and never recovered to give the New Zealand crew a comfortable 11-37 second win.

Roger Hickman the tactician on Ichi Ban accepted the blame for the error but he is positive about staging a fight back when the grand prix fleet contests the 85 n/ml Coral Sea race tomorrow.

"It was one of those errors that make you think about ‘jumping ship’ but hopefully it will be a better day for Ichi Ban tomorrow". He said.

Admirals Cup Champions Win Coral Sea Race

Australia’s Admirals Cup winning skipper Bob Oatley added another important win to his impressive career when Another Duchess out classed an international standard fleet in the 83n/ml Hahn Premium Coral Sea race off Hamilton Island overnight.

Less than a month ago Oatley a popular member of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club completed a career ambition when he and crew played a key role in winning the Admirals Cup in England with the revolutionary designed sloop Wild Oats.

Wild Oats the first yacht to be built in Australia with a canting keel and twin steering foil technology and launched from Azurra Custom Yachts on Queensland’s Gold Coast was the star performer at Hamilton Island last year convincingly winning the Big Boat series in her maiden regatta.

The champion ocean racer which has paved the way in yacht design with the success of her canting keel technology is still in England forcing Bob Oatley and crew to race Another Duchess.

He sealed a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ with his son Sandy the owner skipper of Another Duchess to nominate for Australia’s premier yacht race week.

Both father and son were keen to race test her recently modified high tech foil keel and the success was revealed when Another Duchess helmed by her sailing master Mark Richards with Australia 11 Americas Cup skipper John Bertrand in charge of race strategy won a rare line and handicap double with an impressive course time of 9 hours 35 minutes 4 seconds.

Another Duchess generated impressive all angle sailing speed in an ideal 15-20 knot South East trade wind to repel the challenges and score an 8 minute 14 second line honours win over the Volvo 60 Andrew Short Marine Djuice (Andrew Short) with the Open 60 Broomstick (Mike Cranitch) another 1 minute 33 seconds astern.

Her 8.66 knot average speed allowed Another Duchess to speed sail above her 1.3870 handicap rating to win the race trophy ahead of the impressively sailed smaller yachts New Zealand’s Georgia (James Farmer) and Warren Johns Sydney sloop Heaven Can Wait.

Georgia crewed by a top class team of international sailors including the Americas Cup winning skipper and tactician Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth pressed Another Duchess for race honours over the entire course before Another Duchess sealed a 3 minute 34 second win.

Aussie Teams Make Semi-Finals at Governor’s Cup

CORONA DEL MAR, CA. AUGUST 16, 2003. Saturday, as the winds increased for the third day of the 37^th Challenge for the Governor’s Cup, so to did the spirits of the competitive young racers. With winds for the better part of the afternoon steadily in the 8 to 10 knot range from the Southwest, the Race Committee successfully completed the remaining five flights of the round robin series on a course set ½ mile offshore between the Newport and Balboa Piers.

With the improved conditions, the competition tightened. With a large spectator fleet observing, starts were more aggressive as the teams engaged in active pre-start maneuvers: luffing, circling, chasing each other around the "start box", and using the committee boat as a "pick", keeping the umpires busy. On the upwind legs there were numerous close "crosses" as the competitors fought for the advantage and downwind legs saw several changes in the lead.

Going in to the final flight the United States Merchant Marine Academy was still holding on to the lead with an 8-1 (Won-Lost) record having to face the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron with a 6-3 record. To insure that the Royal Sydney team would advance to the semi-finals, they had to win this race.

The other match to watch was Annapolis Yacht Club with a record of 7-2 vs. Newport Yacht Club at 5-4. The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia also with a record of 7-2 could only watch, as the eleventh flight was their "bye".

In the exciting finale of the round robin segment of this series, the Royal Sydney team was successful handing the United States Merchant Marine Academy team only it’s second defeat in this series. The team from Annapolis also prevailed over Newport Harbor Yacht Club thus assuring their position in the Semi-Finals.

After the ties were broken, the final four teams sailing in the semi-finals, in order of ranking are:

United States Merchant Marine Academy 8-2 (W-L)

Annapolis Yacht Club 8-2

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia 7-3

Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron 7-3

For the remaining teams, which will be sailing in the Consolation Round on Sunday, their rankings after tiebreakers are:

Newport Harbor Yacht Club 5-5

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 4-6

Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club 4-6

Balboa Yacht Club 4-6

King Harbor Yacht Club 4-6

San Francisco Yacht Club 3-7

San Diego Yacht Club 1-9

As the results indicate, the round robin series has been closely fought. All of the teams have expressed their enthusiasm for the new Governor’s Cup 21’s sailed for the first time this year, particularly in the conditions on the racecourse today.

With more of the same conditions predicted for tomorrow and such evenly matched boats, the Semi- Finals and Finals should prove to be an exciting finish as the top four, closely matched teams, battle it out in the Challenge for the 37^th Governor’s Cup

For comprehensive race results visit www.balboayachtclub.com

For further information contact:

Wayne D. Rodgers - Publicity Director

(949) 675-1355 or wdrodgers@mindspring.com

National Paralympic Sailors Ready for Open Worlds

Visit the regatta website - http://www.24mr-worlds03.org

simone.green@yachting.org.au

Latest News from Hogs Breath Race Week

Sydney Swan Becomes ‘Boss Hog’

Sydney businessman John David justified the expense of importing a Swan 45OD class sloop from Finland when his exciting new yacht Joe won the Hog’s Breath IRC class championship today.

Joe perfectly prepared with a high performance wardrobe of North Sails and still carrying signs of factory dust in her bilge overcame the new boat tuning curve to win the title with a very consistent 1-2-2-1-1 in a series shortened by one race because of no wind.

The sloop essentially classified as a very comfortable cruising yacht proved with a talented crew that she could match the boat speed of her rivals on all angles of sailing in what proved to be a supreme test of light wind tactical racing.

She finished the series as the talk of the Airlie Beach waterfront after accounting for and matching the skill and handicap rated boat speed of the current Australian IRC champion Kevin Wood and his Ticket of Leave crew in the Benetau 40.7 who besides winning the National title was second in the same regatta in 2002.

There was nothing between both crews after four races as they shared identical 1-1-2-2 scores.

However the Joe crew created some luck to combine with their light wind speed to win the crucial fifth race before the ‘glass-out’ ended the series in her favour.

On corrected time over the four races before the drifter Joe held the fastest average by a relatively narrow margin of 5 minutes 11 seconds in 10 hours 34 minutes of racing.
 
Principal helmsman Chris Links was assisted by a talented crew including tactician Darren Jones, and David ‘High Tower’ Sampson a Hobart Race winning crew member on Neville Crichton’s maxi Alfa to quickly get the sloop up to pace.

They now head to the Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island starting on Saturday with some proven confidence and boat speed because any IRC class racing combination that can match the bench mark of Ticket of Leave which has the distinction of winning two Bronze and now 3 silver medals on the Whitsunday circuit has to be a chance.

RESULTS: Joe (Steven David, NSW Swan 45OD) 1-2-(2)-1-1. 5pts 1, Ticket of Leave (Kevin Wood, Vic Benetau 40.7) 3-1-1-2-(5). 7pts 2, Ichi Ban (Matt Allen, NSW Farr 52OD) 2-3-(10)-5-7 17pts 3.   

Vivace Proves Her Pedigree

Vivace the exciting skiff clone 8m sports boat jointly designed by her skipper Pierre Gal and Julian Bethwaite completed a rare line and corrected time double to easily when her 2003 Hog’s Breath Race Week class title over the Whitsunday Sailing Club courses.

Pierre Gal a Coffs Harbour sail maker and a former French Kiss Americas Cup sailor showed the speed quality of this fast lane sailing machine to win the title inspite of her rating which varied between .970 and 1.000.

Gal showing the benefit of a good understanding from his crew improved their championship winning chances as the series progressed.

They only won one race but were consistent in the others to finally win the series with an 8 point margin from the West Australian husband and wife Steve and Yvonne Battley co skippering the Thompson 7 m Excel with Guilty Pleasures an Elliott 7 skippered by Leon Thomas another 1 point away third.

Vivace as her course times proved was a sprint machine in the light wind and flat water sailing conditions particularly in the 30 n ml island passage race where she beat the former Sydney Hobart race champion Ninety Seven by four minutes over the course.

Gal understands her is steering possibly the fastest sports boat in Australia and this was confirmed when Vivace finished only 11 minutes 23 seconds astern of the overall line honours winner Djuice Andrew Short Marine in Wedensday’s drifter. 

RESULTS: Vivace (Pierre Gal, NSW) Gal-Bethwaite 8m 3-(5)-2-1-2 8pts 1, Excel (Steve / Yvonne Battley, WA) Thompson 7m 1-3-(10)-8-4 16pts 2, Guilty Pleasures (Leon Thomas, TCYC) Elliot 7m 5-6-3-(7)-3 17pts 3.

Windless Warm Whitsunday’s 

The 2003 Hog’s Breath Race Week championships were decided with the postponed race signal when a warm glass out calm failed to allow officials to conduct the final race on a windless Pioneer Bay today.

Local Whitsunday Sailing Club sailors had previous experience with the pre summer doldrums before but none had ever seen a classic calm on Pioneer Bay so still before.

In fact the surface was so glassy that it was possible to identify reflections from the moored craft.

There was absolutely no wind to even ruffle the feathers of the sea gulls or even stir the fonds on the coconut palms.

However some crews were optimistic and motored out to the course with sails hanging limp from the spars.

Race Director Andrew Palfrey and Principal Race Officer Tony Denham who had waited in hope for over two hours officially cancelled the finals for seven class championships at 12-30 pm.

This decision accepted by most and queried by a minority was correct because there was never any opportunity to stage a fair race.

The relatively light wind regatta proved to be a triumph for the recently imported Swan 45 one-design sloop Joe helmed by her sailing master Chris Links for skipper Steven David of Sydney.

Joe one of the prettiest yachts to race in the 14 years of the popular Hog’s Breath Race Week at Airlie Beach was only launched on the 16th of July and proved her potential to win her first regatta in the competitive IRC class with a consistent 1-2-2-1-1 score by 2 points over the equally well sailed Melbourne yacht Ticket of Leave (Kevin Wood) 3-1-1-2-5 and the Sydney yacht Ichi Ban (Matt Allen) 2-3-10-5-7.

Master One-design racing skipper Lou Abrahams and his Another Challenge crew won the inaugural Pan Pacific Sydney 38 class championship when he and his young helmsman Carl Schmidt piloted the sloop to a six point title win over Queensland’s Asylum (Wayne Kirkpatrick) and Live Wire skippered by Terry Hall of Victoria. 

Popular Win For Persistent Skipper.

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club skipper Dr Ian Nicholson has finally been rewarded for his persistent three year campaign to win a ‘Boss Hog’ class championship in the Hog’s Breath Race Week at Airlie Beach.

The series known throughout the Pacific region as the Tropical Shirt regatta for the fun style of sailing in the warm winter waters of the Whitsunday Islands has become an annual must do regatta for the proud owner of the stylish Warwick 60 Intrigue of Stornoway.

Finally the value and experience gained from racing in the previous two Hog’s Breath Race Week regattas played a major role when skipper Nicholson and his crew of fun loving sailors claimed a popular win in the Performance Handicap Division 1 class.

Their unofficial match race with the impressive Warwick 66 Storm 2 steered by the equally proud Don Algie the founder of Hog’s Breath Race Week was one of the features of the regatta.

Both crews held special pride in winning the Warwick ‘Battleflag’ for the first yacht to finish and this boat on boat battle certainly offered a pacemaker benchmark for the lower handicapped Intrigue of Stornoway to win the 5 race title series on corrected time with a 2-2-1-3-(8) score card.

Intrigue of Stornoway of Stornoway also claimed the big boat battle flag 3-2 over Storm 2 finishing with a successful series to claim a special overall class win ahead of the Anderson 9.2m sloop Star Fire co helmed by husband and wife Don and Helen Cameron from the Sandringham Yacht Club and the consistent Lidgard 35 Kerinda skippered by Len Payne from Port Hacking NSW.

Bill Webb has raced and cruised a lot of miles in his mile weary 15m Vanderstadt Sundowner but none have been more important than the racing miles he completed over the past week to steer his faithful yacht to win the Hog’s Breath Race Week Performance Handicap Division 2 title.

Sundowner overcame her .835 handicap rating to win the closely contested series of five races where the top seven yachts were split by just 6 points to decide the title.

Webb and his Sundowner crew trailed the 1953 Sydney Hobart race winner Struen Maree (Ken Pryor) after two races but a win in race four allowed them to take a grip on the class trophy while the Whitsunday Sailing Club yachts Deception (Murray Sanders), Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli) and Fallen Angels (Damian Suckling) continued a tight duel for the minor places.

Sundowner sealed the class win by 2 points while regatta officials applied the count back rule to resolve the triple 14 point tie for second finally favouring Deception 3-(8)-1-6-4 to claim second overall from Wobbly Boot 1-4-6-3-(12) and Fallen Angels 5-3-5-(7)-1.

RESULTS: Hog’s Breath Race Week Performance Handicap Div 1: Intrigue of Stornoway (Dr Ian Nicholson, Hong Kong) 2-2-1-3-(8) 8pts 1, Star Fire (Don and Helen Cameron, Vic) 5-4-3-(8)-1 13pts 2, Kerinda (Len Payne, NSW) 4-(6)-2-5-3.5.14.5pts 3.

Division 2: Sundowner (Bill Webb, Qld) 4-1-(12)-1-6 12pts 1, Deception (Murray Sanders, Qld) 3-(8)-1-6-4 14pts 2, Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli, Qld) 1-4-6-3-(12) 14pts 3.

Aito Win the 2003 Hog’s Breath Race Week Cruising Class Title

Simon Vincent’s Rogers 10.6m cruising yacht Aito claimed a special class win when she cruised home to win the 2003 Hog’s Breath Race Week Cruising Class title with a 4-5-6 score.

The ‘Old Battler’ registered with the North Queensland Cruising Yacht Club at Port Denison Bowen upstaged her much younger rivals to win the close fought series over the Lake Macquarie sloop Struth (Vincent Bezzina) and the former Australian Admirals Cup sloop Koomooloo skippered by Michael Freebairn from the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in Brisbane.

Struth powered by the stronger winds in the opening two races seemed poised to take the series when she led with a 1-2 score but a 16th result in race three placed her score in damage control in three race series.

This result took the pressure away from the Aito crew who took a lot of pride in having the chance to nail the class winner’s plaque in the navigator’s nook of the old timer.

Winners can smile and the Aito crew will certainly do that when they cruise home to place the title trophy on the Club bar in Bowen next week.

Whitsunday Sailing Club skipper Paul Johnson who tried so hard to win a Hog’s Breath Race Week class title with Boy’s Toy achieved his career ambition when her steered Risque to a close 1 point victory in the Cruising Division 2 series.

Risque set the victory on track when Johnson won the first two races over the Southport Yacht Club Farr 11.6 Effarvescent (Terry Balson).

But Risque placed her title chances at risk when with a 4-3 in the final two of four races however this was enough for her skipper to claim a deserved win ahead of the consistent 2-2-2-2 score of Effarvescent while Norm House steered Earl Grey into third place with a 6-4-1-9 in the three best of four race title.

RESULTS: Hog’s Breath Race Week Cruising Class Div 1: Aito (Simon Vincent, Qld) 4-5-6 15pts 1, Struth (Vincent Bezzina, NSW) 1-2-16 19pts 2, Koomooloo (Donald Freebairn, Qld) 5-11-3 19pts 3.Division 2: Risque (Paul Johnson, Qld) 1-1-(4)-3 5pts 1, Effarvescent (Terry Balson, Qld) (2)-2-2-2 6pts 2, Earl Grey (Norm House, Qld) 6-4-1-(9) 11pts 3.
  

Final Report - 2003 Hog’s Breath Pan Pacific Championship

Master Victorian offshore racing skipper Lou Abrahams will rely on tenacity, technique and tactics when he defends his Australian Sydney 38 class championship during the Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island from August 16-23.

Abrahams and his highly experienced Sandringham Yacht Club crew proved they are ready to rumble in the ‘bull ring’ after scoring a come from behind win in the 2003 Hog’s Breath Pan Pacific championship contested in light winds over the Whitsunday Sailing Club courses at Airlie Beach.

The Another Challenge crew has learnt to understand the meaning of challenge through an enormous amount of different personal and individual challenges associated with winning two Sydney to Hobart races.

Over the past three years the Another Challenge crew have shown why the have proved to be the best against the rest by winning two Hog’s Breath Australian titles and now the Hog’s Breath Pan Pacific title in the strict art form of one design racing in the very competitive Sydney 38 class.

Every member of the Another Challenge crew has played their role to provide the 76 year old Lou Abrahams and his younger co-helmsman Carl Schmidt with the associated confidence to know that when the going gets tight and tough the talent and technique will show through.

This was clearly shown in tactics and technique when Another Challenge tested Asylum in a mate against mate match race after Wayne Kirkpatrick who has only been sailing 4 years steered his improving Asylum to an early title lead with a 1-1-3 score compared with Another Challenge 3-2-2.

However the associated hard racing miles and the combined crew skills to do the small things right with limited errors eventually allowed the Another Challenge crew to out play the Asylum crew when it counted most.

Another Challenge completed a 6 point title win with a 1-1-4 in the final three races while Asylum finished with a 5-2-7 to just hold out a challenge from the Terry Hall skippered Livewire 3-3-1 to win the runner up prize by 1 point.

RESULTS: Hog’s Breath Race Week Sydney 38 class Pan Pacific C’ship Final Pts:   
Another Challenge (Lou Abrahams, Vic) 3-2-2-1-1-4 13pts 1,
Asylum (Wayne Kirkpatrick, Qld) 1-1-3-5-2-7 19pts 2,
Livewire (Terry Hall, Vic) 5-3-5-3-3-1 20pts 3.

IRC Winner - from Swan to Hog - But still Attractive

Joe, a cruiser/racer owned by Steven David from Sydney, was launched at the beginning of August and has defied the grand prix IRC racers winning the title of ‘Boss Hog’ of the IRC class.

She beat what her owner and crew consider some of their major adversaries in IRC events Australia wide – Ticket of Leave, a well-performed Beneteau 40.7 owned by Melbourne identity Kevin Wood, which finished 2nd overall, and Ichi Ban, CYCA Director Matt Allen’s Farr 52, which beat Joe in her maiden event, the Sydney-Gold Coast race, and finished 3rd at this event.

David is thrilled with his new boat’s performance, ‘we are obviously still learning how to sail Joe, this is only our second regatta, and we consider Hogs Breath a bit of a tune-up for the Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week.

Joe has performed better than I expected – she is a cruiser/racer and I was quite thrown when I was told that Quest (Bob Steel’s Nelson Marek design that has won every major trophy in Australia this past year) actually rated better than we did. I thought that was a bit much, but after this regatta, I see that Joe is more than capable of taking the grand prix boats on,’ he said.

‘Ticket of Leave was our benchmark here. Kevin Wood campaigns that boat well, and she is always a top two, so it was important that we beat her here. Now we can go to Hamilton Island with a bit more confidence, and it will be interesting to see how we go against Quest and the others over there,’ he commented.

While Joe has certainly made the IRC world sit up and take notice, David did admit his crew had make a difference, having been hand-picked for their particular talents, and included world renowned local, Will Oxley, international helmsman Chris Links, Mike ‘Zappa’ Bell, David Sampson and Darren ‘Twirler’ Jones. David’s father, John, will join the crew at Hamilton Island.

Joe, named for David’s late grandfather, won all but the two windward/leeward races, which were grabbed by Ticket of Leave. She seemed to revel in the longer races where she could stretch her legs, but still finished 2nd, her worst result, in both those races.

It is a pity that David has elected to take his Swan to Coffs Harbour instead of going to Hobart at the end of the year– that would have been interesting, but as he points out, he is normally a cruising racer, not a grand prix racer, which is why many on the grand prix racing scene seem not to know him.

The 35 year old businessman from Sydney normally spends his time cruiser racing on such boats as Four Sea Sons and more lately, Cambria, when not attending to his navigation instrumental logistics business which he runs with his brother Rodric, and spending time with his wife and three sons.

Hogs Breath Race Week provided very little wind but lots of sun this year. In fact the final day’s racing was canned due to a lack of it, and yesterday’s passage race was substantially shortened – from 32 miles to 24, and what little was there was all over the place, results coming down to tactical decisions.

Andrew Short Marine ran aground in yesterday’s race, allowing Ichi Ban to take the lead for a short time, with Warren Wieckmann’s Farr 40, Leroy Brown hot on her heals.

However, Andrew Short got his boat of quickly and was by far the outstanding Volvo 60 on the track winning every race bar Sunday morning’s early race, which Ichi Ban won.

The Sorenson/Hodder/Gray/Zemanek owned Magnavox 2UE did not live up to expectations finishing 13th out of 14 entries, but promised they would do better at Hamilton Island, whilst David Gotze’s Indec (previously Merit) arrived in time for only the last two races so was predictably last. Neither one threatened Short at any time and he made it look easy.

Warren Wieckmann put in his usual good performance to finish 4th overall – he picked up four Queenslanders including Sir Robbo Robertson, to make up his crew, along with some of his regulars from Sydney.

Two boats that disappointed were Sandringham Yacht Club entries, former Sydney-Hobart winner, Chris Dare’s Strathcorp Ninety Seven, which finished 7th, and Rob Davies’ 9.66m Beneteau Owl and Pussycats, which normally is a top three placegetter, but finished 9th at this regatta.

Andrew Palfrey, as Race Director, ran an excellent event, with an experienced PRO in Tony Denham and his professional on-water team including Ross Wilson. They had to make some difficult decisions, with fluky light winds throughout the series.

Rod McCubbin from Top Yacht made sure everyone received their results quickly and correctly – no mean feat.

Racing started on Saturday and commenced with large triangle courses. Sunday’s courses were two windward/leewards, followed on Tuesday with a short passage race. Wednesday’s passage race took the yachts from Pioneer Bay to Pioneer Point to White Rock, onto Denham Island off South Molle, then up to Molle Shores to the finish at the Two Cones, providing entrants a good mix of racing.

SERIES SCORES for IRC

Ties Breaking to Stage 1 & 2 & 3 Duty Score Average of 5 best scores 1 Joe SYD8 Steven David PBYC 5.00 1.00 1.00 2.00 (2.00) 1.00

2 Ticket of Leave SM47 Kevin Wood Sandringham YC 7.00 (5.00) 2.00 1.00 1.00 3.00

3 3.0S Ichi Ban 8880 Matt Allen CYCA 17.00 7.00 5.00 (10.00) 3.00 2.00

4 2.0S Leroy Brown 933 Warren Wieckmann RPAYC 17.00 2.00 (8.00) 6.00 5.00 4.00

5 High Anxiety II 6262 Peter Hayes PRAYC 17.00 (6.00) 4.00 4.00 4.00 5.00

6 True North 5974 Howard Piggott CYCA 21.00 (9.00) 3.00 5.00 6.00 7.00

7 Stratcorp Ninety Sev SM9797 Chris Dare Sandringham YC 25.00 4.00 (10.00) 8.00 7.00 6.00

8 6.0S Sweetheart RQ2001 Tony Love RQYS 27.00 8.00 6.00 3.00 10.00 (12.00)

9 Owl & Pussycats SM3170 Robert Davies SYC 27.00 3.00 7.00 9.00 8.00 (10.00)

10 Sensation 37 James Ingle Mackay YC 34.00 (15.00F) 9.00 7.00 9.00 9.00

11 8.0S Andrew Short Marine NOR2 Andrew Short CYCA 43.00 11.00 12.00 12.00 (12.00) 8.00

12 Hydra MH367 Ray Carless MHYC 43.00 10.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 (11.00)

13 Magnavox 2UE MH888 Sorensen / Hod Gray MHYC 51.00 12.00 13.00 13.00 13.00 (13.00)

14 Indec 8679 David Gotze RBYC 57.00 13.00 14.00 15.00C 15.00C (15.00C)

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2003 Hog's Breath Race Week Regatta

Vivace Wins Sports Boats Hogs Breath 2003

The former French Kiss America’s Cup sailor sailed his newly launched Julian Bethwaite designed Vivace well above its rating to win line and handicap honours.

Gal and his Coffs Harbour crew won from West Australian’s husband and wife Steve and Yvonne Battley Thompson 7 Excel,

The Battley's trailered their Thompson 7 Excel 5,500 kilometres from Perth to take second place in the 2003 regatta.

Townsville sailor Leon Thomas’ Elliott 7 Guilty Pleasures was third.

Gal who won the 2000 Hamilton Island Sports Boat division with C’est La Vie commented ‘We came into this regatta not knowing what to expect from our new boat. She knew she’d be fast but that’s all.

We are certainly very pleased. Its clear that her flared 49’er lines make her very efficient. We raced in much lighter conditions than we’d expected so we still don’t know how she will be over 15 knots.

1 Vivace B1 Pierre Gal CHYC 8.00 2.00 1.00 2.00 (5.00) 3.00

2 Excel T7017 Steve & Yvonne Battl MOFSC 16.00 4.00 8.00 (10.00) 3.00 1.00

3 Guilty Pleasures 13 Leon Thomas TCYC 17.00 3.00 (7.00) 3.00 6.00 5.00

4 So What RQ200 Franco Bortolin RQYS 21.00 7.00 9.00 (12.00) 1.00 4.00

5 1.0S Tiger 5442 Geoffrey McInnerney Port Curtis Sailing 23.00 (13.00F) 5.00 1.00 11.00 6.00

6 ABN Amro Morgans 08 Bruce Calvert RYCT 23.00 8.00 (10.00) 9.00 4.00 2.00

7 Lorna Rose Too 8041 Peter Mithelson WSC 24.00 1.00 (12.00) 5.00 10.00 8.00

8 X2 734 Scott and Pete Milla WSC 25.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 7.00 (7.00)

9 Goofly 1800 Matt Morris WSC 26.00 9.00 2.00 6.00 9.00 (10.00)

10 My Kindy 14 John Sharp RMYC Toronto 29.00 6.00 4.00 11.00 8.00 (12.00)

11 2.0S Game Over YC245 Julian / Nick Newton CYCSA 30.00 (13.00F) 11.00 8.00 2.00 9.00

12 Charley 237 Julian Golding Avalon Sailing Club 30.00 (13.00C) 3.00 4.00 12.00 11.00

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2003 Hog's Breath Race Week Regatta

Alfa Romeo Collects Rolex Fastnet Race Line Honours

Neville Crichton’s Reichel/Pugh-designed 90 foot monohull beat another Reichel/Pugh designed boat, Robert McNeill’s Zephyrus V, to the finish at Plymouth Breakwater by 10 minutes to continue her already impressive resumé of line honours for major offshore classics.

But it was close. Just eight miles from the finish line Zephyrus, who had taken an inshore course since Falmouth, had benefited from a little bit more wind and moved into the lead. As the pair approached Rame Head, the last headland two miles short of the finish, the wind died away to almost nothing, giving one boat and then the other a small speed advantage.

In the end the advantage went to the boat slightly further offshore and Alfa Romeo moved back into the lead that she held to the finish.

In late December last year Alfa Romeo was the first boat to finish in the 76-boat Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, in late June this year the all-carbon Maxi beat 170 boats into Genoa in the Rolex Giraglia Race collecting the race record at the same time.

Today Alfa Romeo collects the Rolex Fastnet Race honours. The next objective for the antipodean boat is the Rolex Middle Sea Race sailed in October this year, starting and finishing from Malta.

The silver-hulled New Zealand registered Super Maxi took the lead on the water from Zephyrus V at Portland Bill on Sunday afternoon.

Although the pair were separated by more than an hour at the Fastnet Rock, the dark green American yacht has always been a threat hanging over Crichton’s ambitions for another line honours accolade, Mc Neill and his crew crawling back to within 400 metres just 40 miles from the finish.

The 18-man crew on board Alfa Romeo spent 57 hours and two minutes at sea and missed the course record for monohulls by almost four hours. The light conditions of the 2003 Rolex Fastnet Race being in marked contrast to the perfect high speed reaching race of 1999 when another New Zealander, Ross Field, skippered the Maxi RF Yachting to set the current record time of 53 hours and eight minutes.

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the 608-mile long Rolex Fastnet Race was first sailed in 1925 and it took the first boat, a 56-foot pilot cutter called Jolie Brise, six days and 14 hours to sail the course, the second placed boat was a further 22 hours behind.

Rolex Fastnet Race – Day Three

Quotes:

''Sometimes you can get too far ahead! On the way back from the Fastnet Rock we had a really big lead, of over an hour and a half, we couldn’t see them (Zephyrus V) behind us. But they were tricky conditions and we sailed to the North of the route and I think they sailed to the South. Anyway this morning at first light, there they were beside us again. We had to work really hard to beat them all day.''

''That was the toughest battle for line honours we have ever had. This boat has started 54 races and collected line honours on 53 occasions. It feels really good to have collected line honours for the Rolex Sydney Hobart and the Rolex Fastnet in the same year.''

''Rounding the Fastnet Rock is always fantastic. I’ve been around it before but it is much better when you are in the lead.''

Neville Crichton – owner/skipper of New Zealand all carbon 90-foot Maxi, Alfa Romeo, winner of Line Honours in the 2003 Rolex Fastnet Race.

''Gentlemen build yachts, they go racing and someone has to win. But it wasn’t us!!!''

''Alfa Romeo got away from us well at the Lizard on the way to the Fastnet, but we caught them back nicely last night on the way back from the Rock. Then it went their way again when we were held up at the Lizard on the way back.''

''At the end it was wherever the wind filled in from that decided each particular moment. Sometimes it was for them, sometimes it went our way. The last puff went to them and that’s the way it is. But ten minutes is close. That’s yacht racing.''

Robert Mc Neill – owner/skipper of American all carbon 86-foot Maxi, Zephyrus V, 2nd boat to finish in the 2003 Rolex Fastnet Race.

Click for further information on:
Fastnet 2003

Stunning New ‘Yendys’ To Be Campaigned For Rolex Sydney To Hobart Race Victory

Successful Sydney ocean racing yachtsman Geoff Ross has purchased one of the world’s most advanced racing yachts in a bid to win his second Sydney to Hobart race.

Ross, who has essentially been absent from the sailing scene due to the pressure of business since he guided his previous Yendys to victory in the 1999 Hobart race, has bought the Mediterranean based Banco Espirito Santo, the top IMS rated Grand Prix offshore yacht in Europe last season.

Designated a Judel Vrolijk 52 and designed by Rolf Vrolijk, the man responsible for the America’s Cup winning yacht Alinghi, the new Yendys will arrive in Sydney immediately after the completion of the current Mediterranean racing season.

Ross has assembled an outstanding crew to reinforce his chances of scoring and outright handicap win in this year’s Rolex Sydney to Hobart race. It will include Australia’s Grant Simmer, and internationally acclaimed navigator, Juan Vila. Simmer was navigator of Australia II for the 1983 America’s Cup win and acted as design coordinator for Alinghi this year while Vila was navigator for the winning Illbruck team in the last Volvo Ocean Race around the world.

Alfa Romeo Leads Fastnet ...Just as Record Chances Slip

At 14:00 on Tueday 20 boats had rounded the mythical Fastnet Rock that sits off the South West coast of Ireland, the remainder of the fleet still with that sense of anticipation about the most important turn mark in offshore sailing.

Class Super Zero Having trailed Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo around the Fastnet Rock by more than an hour last night, Robert Mc Neil’s Zephyrus V had pulled back to within 400 metres by the time the pair had reached the Lizard, just 42 miles from the finish in Plymouth. This rocky headland, which tends to accelerate the tide locally at this the last corner on the Rolex Fastnet Race course, can cause a virtual barrier for the leader if the tide is foul and the winds light. This may have given Zephyrus V the opportunity it needed to get back in touch with the leader.

Last reports of these two contenders for line honours in the 2003 Rolex Fastnet Race had them sailing in extremely light winds close to the coast off Falmouth. They were expected to finish sometime before sunset on Tuesday, well outside the race record time.Open 60 Class

Sebastian Josse has continued to make huge gains on the rest of the Open 60 fleet and at noon on Tuesday had a 64 mile lead over second placed Mike Golding on Ecover. This lead, already well established yesterday, is proof of how difficult it has been for boats that have dropped off the pace a bit to get back into contention. The patchy wind has made it extremely easy to lose touch and watch boats nearby sail away into the distance, but VMI’s lead represents 10% of the course distance and must be seen as an unassailable lead for the four boats following behind.

To follow the Open 60 Class via the IMOCA’s tracking system: www.imoca.org/fastnet/

Class Zero Consolidating on their breakaway tactics around Portland Bill at the beginning of the race, Chris Bull’s J-145 Jazz followed Piet Vroon’s Tonnerre around the Fastnet Rock just 60 minutes later this morning, the smaller boat correcting out to lead by more than two hours at this point. At 14:00 only four boats had actually rounded the Fastnet Rock, the light and changeable conditions making progress slow for those not completely in tune with the weather developments.

Classes One, Two and Three At midday on Tuesday none of the boats in either of these three classes had arrived at the Fastnet Rock and are all still enjoying the light conditions on the leg between Lands End and the Fastnet Rock.

Multihull Class Tony Bullimore’s Team Pimsic rounded the Fastnet Rock at 11:25 this morning almost 18 hours after the monohull fleet leader Alfa Romeo. Due to a broken daggerboard the crew of the Robin Herbert’s Gleam retired after passing the Lizard yesterday, a terrible disappointment for this crew that were sure to win their class.

The weather forecast outlines a developing high pressure zone that will grow to completely occupy the Western Approaches, something that will keep the speed of the entire fleet low, meaning that the bulk of the fleet is not likely to finish before Thursday.

Further information about the RORC and the Rolex Fastnet Race, including position reports can be found at: www.rorc.org/fastnet/index.php

Aussie Sailors Prepare for Athens at Saronkio's Gulf Regatta

Saronkio's Gulf Regatta 4-10th August, 2003

Many Aussie''s competed in the Saronkio's Gulf Regatta as a training regatta, in preparation for the 2003 Pre-Olympic Regatta in Athens. Sailors were given the chance to race on the course area that will be used for the Olympics.

Australia topped two classes. Nathan Wilmot (AIS/NSWIS) and Malcolm Page (AIS/NSWIS) took 1st place from the Brit''s, while Michael Blackburn''s (NSWIS) 22 point lead secured him with the number one spot.

"I won the Laser class in the regatta, but the best gift of the event was a chance to race on the course area for the Olympics," explains Blackburn.

Report from Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell:

"We raced in the Saronikos Gulf regatta over the last four days and have had the Northerly wind, the Meltemi, blow every day. It is a strong wind that blows over the mountains and is very gusty and shifty. It is a fairly common direction especially around this time of year.

The regatta was a training regatta for us, and I guess the results showed that. We had a few mishaps including equipment breaking and a capsize or two. Racing on the area that we will be on for the Olympics was invaluable.

We have been testing a bit more equipment and it was great to have solid racing every day with good breezes. After Kiel and the Europeans being so light, it was a fresh change!

The 470''s raced as one fleet, combining the men and womens fleets. We sailed some good races and had moments of brilliance in others but did not manage to hold our position (and stay in front of the boys). Our training partners, Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page won the regatta."

Final results:

470

1. Nathan Wilmot/Malcolm Page (AUS) 21pts
2. Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield (GBR) 22pts
3. Benjamin Bonnaud/Romain Bonnaud (FRA) 62pts
14. Jenny Armstrong/Belinda Stowell (AUS) 158pts
25. Mathew Belcher/Daniel Belcher (AUS) 200pts

Laser

Finn

1. Ben Ainslie (GBR) 14pts
2. Emilios Papathanasious (GRE) 32pts
3. Michael Fellman (GER) 36pts
5. Anthony Nossiter (AUS) 41pts

Yngling

1. Ulrike Schuemann/Winnie Lippest/Widke Buelle (GER) 23pts
2. Nadine Stegenwcher/Nina Grunoin/Anne Kaschinsky (GER) 24pts
3. Paula Lewin/Peta Lewin/Carola Cooper (BER) 38pts
9. Nicky Bethwaite/Kristen Kosmala/Katie Hage (AUS) 50pts

Tornado

1. Xavier Revil/Laurent Guillemette (FRA) 24pts
2. Hugh Styles/Adam May (GBR) 28pts
3. Olivier Backes/Laurent Voiron (FRA) 29pts
16. Goctz Alexandra/Darren Bundock (AUS) 73pts

Mistral

1. Nick Dempsey (GBR) 29pts
2. Jon-Paul Tosin (NZL) 34pts
3. Kaklamanakis Nikolaos (GRE) 41pts
17. Michael Lancey (AUS) 126.85pts
28. Lars Kleppich (AUS) 230pts
29. Allison Shreeve (AUS) 232pts
32. Jessica Crisp (AUS) 245pts

Visit the regatta website - http://www.eio.gr/2003saronikos/index.html

Alfa Romeo Leads at the Fastnet Rock

Alfa Romeo has led the RORC-organised Rolex Fastnet Race on the water since passing Portland Bill just over 24 hours ago.

Taking the lead at the time from the American boat Zephyrus V, Alfa Romeo has enjoyed a relatively straight forward passage across the Celtic Sea and has managed to average a speed of 11.2 knots over the 348 miles from Cowes to the Fastnet Rock.

The current race record is held by another New Zealander and was set in 1999 by Ross Field sailing the Bruce Farr-designed Maxi RF Yachting. Crichton and his multinational crew now have until 1518 Tuesday afternoon to cross the finish line in Plymouth if they are to claim the Rolex Fastnet Race record.

To achieve this the 258 miles back to Plymouth must be covered at an average speed of 11.8 knots, 0.5 knots better than the speed sailed so far. The conditions at the Rock at the time of rounding were 10 knots from the North West.

This will mean a long downwind run to the Bishop Rock lighthouse to the South of the Scilly Isles before the final section via the Lizard and in to Plymouth.

Rolex Fastnet Race ­ Fastnet Rock rounding

Quotes:

'We've had a big day today. We left the English coast in a lot of breeze, we even had a reef in for a while. It was fast sailing close reaching, fantastic. But as we got further from the land the wind started to drop and for the last 50 miles to the Rock we have been on the wind in 10 knots of wind.'

'We haven't seen our closest rival Zephyrus V since this morning. We have absolutely no idea where they have got to.'

'The leg home to the finish will see us sail away from the Irish Coast and into the high pressure zone that we have sailed out of today. We¹re not sure where the centre of it is and this will affect how we get back to Plymouth.'

'We left six crew behind in Cowes, deciding to sail with just 18 people to keep the weight on board as light as possible. We always knew that the return leg would be the hardest. We only have one spinnaker left as we destroyed one on the way down the Solent.'

'If you were out fishing it would be a beautiful day here on the Irish Sea. Flat seas, calm, beautiful sun, warm, we can¹t complain.'

Neville Crichton ­ owner/skipper of New Zealand all carbon 90-foot Maxi, Alfa Romeo, leading on the water at the Fastnet Rock and favourite for line honours in the Rolex Fastnet Race.

Click for further information on:
Fastnet 2003

New Breeze May Favour Ichi Ban To Fight Back

Ichi Ban will need to produce a special performance in the island passage race tomorrow to salvage a chance to be number one in the international Hog’s Breath Race Week regatta over the Whitsunday Sailing Club course on Pioneer Bay.

The Grand Prix Farr 52 One Design owned and skippered by Sydney’s Matt Allen with former Sydney Hobart race winner Roger Hickman as sailing master and tactician needs to win the fourth race to remain in contention to win the series.

Japanese tourists in Airlie Beach have established a cult following of the sleek gold coloured sloop because her name means Number One in their language but Ichi Ban has confused her cheer leaders to be three places off the pace after three interesting light wind races.

Kevin Wood’s high performance Melbourne yacht Ticket Of Leave is the present ‘Ichi Ban’ leading the series on count back with her 3-1-1 score over the equally impressive new Swan 45 Joe helmed by Steven David with the Peter Hayes skippered Sydney 40 High Anxiety 11 third.

Wood was expected to have an ace up his sleeve by adding the 2002 World Etchells championship Silver Medalist Mark Bradford to his crew as tactician for tomorrow’s race.

But Bradford has been unable to arrange a flight and will not join the Ticket of Leave crew until Wednesday.

Bradford an important member of the North Sails racing team has race on the course before and his tactical knowledge could provide the edge for Ticket of Leave to finally break her ‘Hog’s Breath’ hoodoo after finishing third in 2001 and second last year.

“Ticket of Leave will struggle to match the bigger boats like Joe and Ichi Ban in the longer races”.

“They will have the time and distance to log the faster corrected handicap course times which means we will need to be on our game to hold our lead”.

“As we all know anything can happen in a yacht race and we are not about to see our chance slip away”. Said skipper Kevin Wood.

Only four yachts can win the 2003 ‘Boss Hog Trophy’ and Ticket of Leave remains as the challenge for her three rivals to beat in final three races tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile the championship battle for the major points in the Performance Handicap  class title remains open.

Dr Ian Nicholson’s Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club sloop Intrigue Of Stornoway leads the Performance Handicap from the Lake Macquarie yacht Kerinda (Len Payne) and the Melbourne yacht Starfire (Don Cameron) of Melbourne.  

Final Results from the 2003 Laser Radial Youth Worlds

After the fleets at the 2003 Laser Radial Youth Championship split, Australia's Krystal Weir was the highest ranked female. Weir's rival competitior, America's Paige Railey, was yellow flagged three times and was therefore disqualified from the regatta.  

On the second last day of racing Weir finished with a 5th and an 8th in races 6 and 7. This saw Weir placed 22nd overall.

"The 8th should have been a 5th but i tipped over at the gybe mark....I can't remember the last time i tipped over in a race," Weir explained. 

On the final day of racing, Weir finished with a 59th, OSC, 51st and a 7th pushing her down to 44th.

"The gold fleet racing was very hard as the boys were very fast and starts were very important as Llake Garda is a place for just drag racing to the right.

In race 9 I finished with a 4th in a race of 20knots..I was over the moon ..untill I found I was OCS (on course side)," Weir reports.

Having already won a silver at the ISAF Youth World Championship and finishing 2nd at the Laser Radial World Championship (all in the same month) Weir continued to apply a top effort at this regatta, finishing the second highest female sailor.

Final results:

1. Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) 28pts (male)
2. Tonko Kuzmanic (CRO) 33pts (male)
3. Jonasz Stelmaszyk (POL) 34pts (male)

32.

Cecilia

Carranza Sarolli 158pts (female)

44. Krystal Weir (VIC) 174pts

Visit the regatta website - http://www.laserchampionships.org/lrwor03/index.htm

Final Results from Cadet World Championship

2003 Cadet World Championship

Visit the regatta website - http://www.cadetworld2003.com/

Third Time May Be Luck For Ticket Of Leave

Victoria’s Sandringham Yacht Club skipper Kevin Wood has moved into a strong position to realise his ambition and win Queensland’s major international regattas with his high performance sloop Ticket of Leave.

Wood and the Ticket of Leave crew have been knocking on the door over the past two years by winning the bronze and silver medals in the Hog’s Breath Race Week at Airlie Beach followed by the same places in the 2001 and 2002 Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island.

However they completed two brilliant tactical races in a testing 8-15 knot East South East breeze on Pioneer Bay today to take a positive grip on the 2003 Hog’s Breath Race Week IRC championship.

“Hopefully this may be the year, the crew has done the hard work and it’s showing on the race course, it would be nice to just finish that one place better this time”. He said.

 The Ticket of Leave crew lifted their popular skipper’s spirits when they mastered the variable breeze to sail well inside their handicap rating to win the first of today’s two races with a commanding 2minute 12 second margin over first race winner Joe skippered by Steven David of Sydney and the impressive Sydney sloop Ichi Ban (Matt Allen).

Wood and crew expressed similar domination in the fresher breeze when they were held to a boat on boat ‘drag race’ with the equally impressive Joe before Ticket of Leave sealed her important race win on the final spinnaker run to the finish.

After three races Ticket of Leave with her 3-1-1 score leads Joe 1-2-2 on count back while Ichi Ban placed her title chances in damage control after breaking the start and then infringing a sea room rule to finish 10th after a 2-3 in earlier races.

Hamilton Island One Design skipper Wayne Kirkpatrick and his Asylum crew are on the verge of creating a major upset in the Pan Pacific championship on the same course.

The Asylum crew has expressed the advantage of their local knowledge to lead the championship after three races with a 1-1-3 score.

They currently lead the defending Australian champion and dual Sydney Hobart race winner Lou Abrahams in Another Challenge by 2 points with the final of 8 races to be decided on Thursday.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Ian Grant 0427 592 664

Tight Tactical Tussel For Hog’s Breath IRC Title

A state of origin type war on the water is looming on the warm Whitsunday Island waters as the Australian IRC champion Ticket of Leave from Victoria enters into a three boat race for the 2003 Hog’s Breath Race Week title against the top New South Wales contenders Joe and Ichi Ban.

Ticket of Leave an extremely consistent Benetau ‘Beach Ball’ skippered by her owner Kevin Wood representing Sandringham Yacht Club heads the point score on count back after three races with a score of 3-1-1.

But she is on equal points with the relatively new Sydney Swan 45OD Joe which has been equally impressive to record a 1-2-2 while the Peter Hayes helmed Sydney 40 High Anxiety holds third place 5-4-4.

Matt Allen’s high performance Sydney Farr 52OD Ichi Ban holds fourth place despite placing their title chances in damage control with a premature start in race 3 followed by a near ‘spear tackle’ on Joe when they were returning for the restart.

Ichi Ban which had produced unmatched all angle sailing speed to win line honours ahead of the Volvo 60 Djuice skippered by Andrew Short posted their series drop when they never recovered from the tactical starting error and the near miss collision to place 10th.

The error proved crucial as Joe stands alone as the only New South Wales sloop with the point score capable of spoiling the victory celebrations for the Victorian Ticket Of Leave crew.

Joe crewed by some of the smartest sailors from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club including tactician Darren Jones, sailing master Chris Links and ‘High Tower’ David Sampson has the potential to extend Ticket of Leave despite the Melbourne crew winning both races on handicap today.

Both yachts have equal points but over the three races Joe has a 4 minute 7 second faster overall corrected time aggregate in the 5 hours 37 minutes 10 seconds of elapsed time racing.

 With three races down and three to go including the longer island passage races this title series is very much a tight tactical affair with the Ticket of Leave crew hoping to convert a third overall in 2001 and a second in 2002 into a win in 2003.

Nothing Tactically Amiss In The Asylum

Three years ago when Wayne Kirkpatrick stepped behind the wheel of his Sydney 38 Asylum the fleet peers regarded him as the new boy on the block.

Now they have to accept that three years of adjusting to a steep learning curve and the will to spend time on the water with his crew of Whitsunday Island sailors is about to be rewarded.

Asylum a heat winner in the 2002 Hog’s Breath Australian championship has turned into the class pace setter in the 2003 Pan Pacific championship over the Whitsunday Sailing Club courses.

Sure the racing environment is very familiar but the Asylum crew had to make an eleventh hour crew change moving the lightweight Aaron Linton from the bow into the tactician’s role.

This has not been the single trump card played by the Asylum skipper, the results have been very much a show of class winning the first two light wind races to lead the series with a 1-1-3 score over the class masters Lou Abrahams and his Another Challenge crew 3-2-2 and The Bigger Picture 4-5-1.

Results of all the races in this strict clone class are not created from luck but more like good management and understanding how to extract the best boat speed from the prevailing winds.

The Asylum crew have sailed endless hours on these waters to express this experience into points on the championship score board.

But a 2 point advantage can be placed in damage control with the simplest of mistakes and the Asylum will have to make sure they stay clear of any tactical errors in the remaining races to end the Another Challenge reign as the national class champion.

In the three races so far Asylum with her 5 hour 49 minute 58 second elapsed aggregate has proved to be the fastest over Another Challenge by 1 minute 32 seconds which indicates this championship battle is far from over.

Husband And Wife Sailors Share The Expense And The Fun

West Australian Sports yacht sailing team of Steve and Yvonne Battley are strong believers of sharing their love for the sport of sailing in the fast lane with their slick sports boat Excel.

They have spent a lot of time driving into the sun along the west to east bitumen rhumbline to take part in the Hog’s Breath Race Week sports yacht title in the warm winter sailing environment at Airlie Beach.

As expected the Excel crew are very competitive and have been rewarded to pilot the exciting Thompson 7 into the overall lead against a high quality fleet including the new Julian Bethwaite designed Vivace helmed by former French Kiss 1987 Americas Cup sailor Pierre Gal from Coffs Harbour.

Vivace has been the fastest over the course scoring a 1-1 score to hold a strong grip on the line honours title while Excel has excelled on all angles of sailing in the light trade winds to lead the series with a 1-3 score over the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Stealth designed So What (Franco Bortolin) 4-1 and the Tasmanian sloop ABN Amro Morgans helmed by Bruce Calvert 2-4.

The championship will reach a crucial point when the fleet contests the longer island passage race in a possible fresh trade wind on Tuesday.

Perfect Sunrise for Sailing in the Whitsundays

A perfect winter sunrise in the tropical Whitsunday Islands this morning indicated the high performance fleet of offshore yachts and exciting sports boats would have ideal tactical sailing conditions for the opening race of the 2003 Hog’s Breath Race Week on Pioneer Bay today.

Light south west breezes wrinkled the surface of Pioneer Bay off Airlie Beach at day break to offer a very acceptable human comfort shirt and shorts hat and sunscreen type of yacht racing day in this picturesque yachting destination.

There will be no need for the sailors representing clubs from Hong Kong and all of the colder ports of Australia to search for their snug clothing or wet weather gear as the weather forecast of clear sunny skies with light winds from the South East then swinging to a sea breeze this afternoon will offer a supreme light wind sailing test.

Naturally all of the skippers, sailing masters, helmsmen and tacticians have realized this is the type of racing conditions that could spoil reputations if they fail to sail in tune with the expected variations in wind direction and velocity.

The official race forecast compiled by World weather authority Roger Badham and issued by North Sails has revealed a high pressure cell near Mackay will control a light pressure gradient across the Whitsunday Island region today.

Winds are not expected to exceed 12 knots and will swing right towards the sea during the day.

However while the conditions will not suit the power sailing sports boats to produce a thrill riding white water wake it will be perfect for the opening race of the 6 day international regatta.

Sydney skipper Matt Allen and his sailing master Roger Hickman are expected to capitalise on the light winds with the high performance Farr 52 Ich Ban to take first points in the Boss Hog line honours title over the trio of larger Volvo Globe race sloops Djuice (Andrew Short), Magnavox (Peter Sorensen) and Indec (David Gotze).

The forecast will almost certainly favour the ‘baby’ of the fleet the James Ingle helmed Blazer 23 Sensation to out sail her larger rivals and more expensive rivals to win on overall corrected handicap.

But the battle for points in the two windward leeward races for the Sydney 38 One Design class Pan Pacific championship is expected to be a very close nip-n-tuck struggle.

Dual Australian champion Lou Abrahams and his Another Challenge crew winner of class honours at the past two Hog’s Breath Race Week regattas is the favourite but they will be forced to apply a wind shadowing cover to retain their ranking over an improving group of challengers headed by Wayne Kirkpatrick’s Asylum crew from Hamilton Island.

ISAF World Sailing Rankings - The Official Rankings For Olympic Classes

Released on 6 August, the ISAF World Sailing Rankings saw quite a few changes.  Specifically in the women's single-handed (Europe) and women's double-handed (470) events, in which we welcome new World Ranking leaders.

Windsurfer Men – Mistral One-Design

No change at the top. Maxim OBEREMKO (UKR) continues to lead the world’s sailors at the top of the rankings in the Mistral Class. However, this is not too surprising as only three sets of results are included – ISAF Grade 3 Warnemunder Week, Grade 2 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship and the ISAF Grade 3 Travemunder Week.

Top Ten
Pos Name Nation Previous Pos
1 Maxim OBEREMKO (UKR) 1
2 Jon-Paul TOBIN (NZL) 2
3 Gal FRIEDMAN (ISR) 3
4 Dominic TIDEY (GBR) 4
5 Nicolas HUGUET (FRA) 5
6 Joeri VAN DIJK (NED) 6
7 Nikolas KAKLAMANAKIS (GRE) 7
8 Przemek MIARCZYNSKI (POL) 8
9 Piotr MYSZKA (POL) 9
10 Ricardo SANTOS (BRA) 10

Windsurfer Women’s – Mistral One-Design

Reflecting the men, no change at the top in the women’s fleet. Similar to OBEREMKO, Lisa VIDAL (FRA) retains her pole position for the second consecutive world ranking, having ousted teammate Faustine FERRET on the 2 July rankings.

Top Ten
Pos Name Nation Previous Pos
1 Lisa VIDAL (FRA) 1
2 Amelie LUX (GER) 2
3 Bryony SHAW (GBR) 3
4 Faustine MERRET (FRA) 4
5 Synthia GROS (FRA) 5
6 Romy KINZL (GER) 6
7 Natasha STURGES (GBR) 7
8 Anna GRACZYK (POL) 8
9 Wai Kei CHAN (HKG) 9
10 Agata BRYGOZA (POL) 10

Single-handed Dinghy Men – Finn

Sebastian GODEFROID (BEL) continues to dominate at the top of the Finn fleet, for the second successive ranking. However, Sebastian is no stranger to leading the world, and has been in the top 10 for the past few years. Six events make up this world ranking, four Grade 3 and one Grade 2 events.

Top Ten
Pos Name Nation Previous Pos
1 Sebastien GODEFROID (BEL) 1
2 Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ (POL) 2
3 Ben AINSLIE (GBR) 3
4 Karlo KURET (CRO) 4
5 Emilios PAPATHANASIOU (GRE) 5
6 Michael FELLMANN (GER) 7
7 Andrew SIMPSON (GBR) 6
8 Charlie CUMBLEY (GBR) 8
9 Jaap ZIELHUIS (NED) 11
10 Anthony NOSSITER (AUS) 10

Single-handed Dinghy Women – Europe

Upset over in the single-handed dinghy women. After a long and virtually uncontested reign as the world’s number one since April 2002, Sari MULTALA (FIN) has been ousted. The new world number one is Siren SUNDBY (NOR) who with glory at the ISAF Grade 1 European Championships was eventually able to lay claim to the title, but only just with a marginal points lead of 2 points over Sari. Close, very close.

Top Ten
Pos Name Nation Previous Pos
1 Siren SUNDBY (NOR) 2
2 Sari MULTALA (FIN) 1
3 Petra NIEMANN (GER) 5
4 Carolijn BROUWER (NED) 3
5 Signe LIVBJERG (DEN) 7
6 Lenka SMIDOVA (CZE) 4
7 Trine Julie ABRAHAMSEN (DEN) 8
8 Maria COLEMAN (IRL) 6
9 Christiane PETZKE (GER) 10
10 Sarah BLANCK (AUS) 13

Single-handed Dingy Open – Laser

Paul GOODISON (GBR) continues to lead the fleet, a position he has held since October 2002, and with a significant 252 points lead over Robert SCHEIDT (BRA) looks fairly safe at the top for the time being. The big event to earn the valuable rankings points was the ISAF Grade 1 Laser European Championship in Split, Croatia which concluded last week. However, none of the usual suspects had their claim on this event, instead it went to Vasilij ZBOGAR (SLO) who took victory.

Top Ten
Pos Name Nation Previous Pos
1 Paul GOODISON (GBR) 1
2 Robert SCHEIDT (BRA) 2
3 Kalle SUNESON (SWE) 4
4 Roope SUOMALAINEN (FIN) 6
5 Daniel BIRGMARK (SWE) 3
6 Philippe BERGMANS (BEL) 12
7 Gareth BLANCKENBERG (RSA) 5
8 Andreas GERITZER (AUT) 8
9 Edward WRIGHT (GBR) 7
10 Peer MOBERG (NOR) 14

Double-handed Dinghy Men– 470

No change for the world’s number one and two with Andreas KOSMATOPOLOUS/Kostas TRIGONIS (GRE) and Nathan WILMOT/Malcolm PAGE (AUS), the only difference is that the Australians have closed their points deficit to 8 from 25, gaining all the time. Whilst Andreas and Kostas have not been out of the world’s top three for the past two years, Nathan and Malcolm are relative newcomers, entering the world’s top 10 just over a year ago, albeit at number 1! The biggest upset to the top 10 is the arrival of Alvaro MARINHO/Miguel NUNES (POR) in at number 3 from 12.

Top Ten
Pos Helm/Crew Nation Previous Pos
1 Andreas KOSMATOPOULOS Kostas TRIGONIS (GRE) 1
2 Nathan WILMOT Malcolm PAGE (AUS) 2
3 Alvaro MARINHO Miguel NUNES (POR) 12
4 Johan MOLUND Martin ANDERSSON (SWE) 8
5 Nicholas ROGERS Joe GLANFIELD (GBR) 5
6 Philippe GILDAS Nicolas LE BERRE (FRA) 11
7 Benjamin BONNAUD Romai BONNAUD (FRA) 3
8 Gustavo MARTINEZ DORESTE Dimas WOOD (ESP) 7
9 Javier CONTE Juan DE LA FUENTE (ARG) 9
10 Lucas ZELLMER Felix KNABBE (GER) 15

Double-handed Dinghy Women – 470

And another change at the top – good for some not for others. Becoming the world’s top ranked 470 sailors and achieving a career best are Natalia VIA DUFRESNE/Sandra AZON, who have pushed Sofia BEKATOROU/Emilia TSOULFA (GRE) from the slot they have held for most of the past few years. A fantastic achievement based on their victory at the 470 Europeans, which is the only event included in this ranking.

Top Ten
Pos Helm/Crew Nation Previous Pos
1 Natalia VIA DUFRESNE Sandra AZON (ESP) 3
2 Stefanie ROTHWEILER Monika LEU (GER) 4
3 Sofia BEKATOROU Emilia TSOULFA (GRE) 1
4 Jenny ARMSTRONG Belinda STOWELL (AUS) 2
5 Ingrid PETITJEAN Nadege DOUROUX (FRA) 7
6 Nike KORNECKI Vered BUSKILA (ISR) 5
7 Vlada ILIENKO Natalia GAPONOVICH (RUS) 6
8 Therese TORGERSSON Vendela ZACHRISSON (SWE) 8
9 Marcelien DE KONING Lobke BERKHOUT (NED) 9
10 Vesna DEKLEVA Klara MAUCEC (SLO) 26

Double-Handed Dinghy Open – 49er

Positions 1, 2 and 3 remain the same in this ranking release whilst the British team of Alistair RICHARDSON and Peter GREENHALGH slide one place to number 5 after a disappointing result at the Europeans and make way for their rivals Paul BROTHERTON and Mark ASQUITH at number 4.

Top Ten
Pos Helm/Crew Nation Previous Pos
1 Rodion LUKA George LEONCHUK (UKR) 1
2 Chris DRAPER Simon HISCOCKS (GBR) 2
3 Iker MARTINEZ Xabier FERNANDEZ (ESP) 3
4 Paul BROTHERTON Mark ASQUITH (GBR) 5
5 Alistair RICHARDSON Peter GREENHALGH (GBR) 4
6 Pawel KACPROWSKI Pawel KUZMICKI (POL) 7
7 Santiago LOPEZ VAZQUEZ Javier DE LA PLAZA (ESP) 6
8 Michael HESTBAEK Dennis Dengso ANDERSEN (DEN) 8
9 Christoffer SUNDBY Frode BOVIM (NOR) 11
10 Pietro SIBELLO Gianfranco SIBELLO (ITA) 9

Multihull Open – Tornado

No change in the top 20 of the Tornado Rankings as Xavier REVIL and Laurence GUILLEMETEE (FRA) hold onto the top slot ahead of Hugh STYLES and Adam MAY of Great Britain.

Top Ten
Pos Helm/Crew Nation Previous Pos
1 Xavier REVIL Laurent GUILLEMETTE (FRA) 1
2 Hugh STYLES Adam MAY (GBR) 2
3 Olivier BACKES Laurent VOIRON (FRA) 3
4 Roman HAGARA Hans-Peter STEINACHER (AUT) 4
5 Mitch BOOTH Herbert DERCKSEN (NED) 5
5 Santiago LANGE Carlos ESPINOLA (ARG) 5
7 Fernando ECHAVARRI Anton PAZ BLANEO (ESP) 7
8 Yann GUICHARD Christophe ESPAGNON (FRA) 8
9 Darren BUNDOCK Glenn ASHBY (AUS) 9
10 Leigh McMILLAN Mark BULKELEY (GBR) 10

Keelboat Women – Yngling

It looks like there has been a big one for the Yngling fleet this ranking but in fact there have not been any new event results affecting the positions. All the position changes are due to events dropping off the rolling 365 day cycle of calculation.

Top Ten
Pos Helm/Crew Nation Previous Pos
1 Betsy ALLISON Suzy LEECH, Lee ICYDA (USA) 1
2 Ulrike SCHUEMANN Winnie LIPPERT, Wibke BUELL (GER) 4
3 Dorte O. JENSEN Hellen JESPERSEN, Rachel KIEL (DEN) 7
4 Kristin WAGNER Anna HOLL, Veronika LOCHBRUNNER (GER) 8
5 Paula LEWIN Klaartje ZUIDERBAN, Peta LEWIN (BER) 9
6 Melanie DENNISON Fiona HERBERT, Caroline ADERS (AUS) 2
7 Monica AZON CANALDA Graciela PISONERO, Marina SANCHEZ (ESP) 9
8 Hannah SWETT Melissa PURDY, Joun TOUCHETTE (USA) 3
9 Anne LEHELLEY Manu DUBY, Elodie LESAFFRE (FRA) 11
10 Annelies THIES Petronella DE JONG, Annemieke BES (NED) 13

Keelboat Open – Star

There’s no change in the top 20 of the Star Rankings and only one Grade Three event added to the points in this ranking release. Fredrik LOOF and Anders EKSTROM (SWE) still top the pile, almost three hundred points ahead of Mark MANSFIELD and Killian COLLINS (IRL) at number two and Mark REYNOLDS and Magnus LILJEDAHL (USA) at number 3.

Top Ten
Pos Helm/Crew Nation Previous Pos
1 Fredrik LOOF Anders EKSTROM (SWE) 1
2 Mark MANSFIELD Killian COLLINS (IRL) 2
3 Mark REYNOLDS Magnus LILJEDAHL (USA) 3
4 Xavier ROHART Yannick ADDE (FRA) 4
5 Peter BROMBY Martin SIESE (BER) 5
6 Hans SPITZAUER Andreas HANAKAMP (AUT) 6
7 Michael KOCH Markus KOY (GER) 7
7 Iain PERCY Steve MITCHELL (GBR) 7
9 Philippe PRESTI Jean Philippe SALIOU (FRA) 9
10 Flavio MARAZZI Enrico DE MARIA (SUI) 10

For a full round up of the movers and shakers in each class and to view all the progression charts click here -  http://www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=5123

The next release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings  will be on 2 September, up to and including results from CORK Week Regatta in Canada. You can subscribe to receive the World Sailing Rankings directly by email as they are released via ISAF Sailor - www.sailing.org/isafsailor - simply subscribe via Email Services.

The ISAF Rankings online application will allow you to search for sailors by ranking, nationality, class, range of rankings. You can also view the events that constitute a sailor's rankings and his/her rankings career history/progression. Go to www.sailing.org/rankings, select an event and then click on the sailor's name for his/her career history and the sailor's points for the events that constitute his/her ranking.

ISAF encourages the reproduction of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings - the Official Rankings for Olympic Classes with due credit to ISAF.

Related Website
ISAF World Sailing Rankings http://www.sailing.org/rankings

Hog's Breath Race Week Opens with Warm Trade Winds

The warm Whitsunday Islands were cooled with an ideal 15-18 knot trade wind as some of Australia’s top ocean racing sloops completed their final sail evaluation trials for the 2003 Hog’s Breath Race Week off Airlie Beach today.

Two of the top IRC class title contenders the impressive new Swan 45 Joe recently imported from Europe for John David and Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban spent several hours on the water analyzing the wind and tide in preparation for tomorrows opening races.

As expected Joe with her crew of talented sailors onboard including Chris Links, Dave Sampson and Darren Jones practiced separately simply to give no hint on how they would perform if similar winds prevail for important opening race of the International regatta tomorrow.

Joe arrived in Australia less than a month ago and her race crew is still working on improving her boat speed.

However she does have the design pedigree and the potential to be the surprise packet of the series and her crew will benefit from improving their understanding of the yacht with the serious head to head racing against the proven pacemakers in the fleet.

Ichi Ban’s crew racing under the successful sailing master Roger Hickman and owner Matt Allen are another combination who has the speed and racing experience to be a threat for the championship.

But the waters of Pioneer Bay can prove to be a tricky race track extending the skills of all the tacticians.

Victorian skippers Lou Abrahams (Another Challenge) favourite to win the Hog’s Breath Pan Pacific Sydney 38 championship and Kevin Wood (Ticket of Leave) valued the opportunity to sail in a warm practice environment as they completed their title preparations today.

Lou Abrahams winner of two One Design class championships on the Whitsunday Sailing Club courses said as he prepared to go sailing “ What a great day for a sail”.

Abrahams the veteran of the class will be far more serious tomorrow when his high skilled Another Challenge crew test their proven title winning reputations against a very competitive fleet representing Victorian, New South Wales and Queensland.

Brits Dominate But Aussies Now Leads Flying 15s World Series

Day 5 - Subaru Flying Fifteens World Championship

British sailmaker Steve Goacher, guided by crew Phil Evans, captured the fourth race of the Subaru Flying Fifteen World Championships by just 4 boat-lengths from Northern Ireland''s Darren Martin and Simon Murray. A convincing third place finish for Rod Beurteaux and Chris O'Keefe moves the Australian crew into the overall lead of the series with three races remaining to be contested.

Martin and Murray, sailing out of Strangford Lough Yacht Club, broke out of a mid-fleet finishing pattern to lead around the top mark and finish as the only Irish boat in the top 20. Fourth place for husband & wife team Barry & Sue Parkin leaves the British couple lying 4th in the series, with Sue trumpeting "This one''s for the North of England!"

Previous series leaders Justin Burke and Alan Greene (IRL) suffered a poor start, dropping to 40th at the top mark before recovering to finish 28th. With one discard applied following race 4, the Irish crew now slip to third place overall behind Britain''s Mike Hart and Richard Rigg.

Contrasting a poor day for the Irish, no fewer than 12 British boats finished in the top 20 finishers, with Greg Wells & Miles Mitchell grabbing a creditable 5th at the line.

While race 4 was sailed in a light 6~7 knot breeze and a sea mist which refused to burn off, fresher winds are forecast for the final two days of the Subaru Worlds. Principal Race Officer Jack Roy aims to run two races on Friday, commencing at 11.30am, with the final round taking place on Saturday.

The Subaru Flying Fifteen World Championships are hosted by the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire on August 3 - 9th.  This is the largest sailing event in Ireland this year and are supported by Subaru, the Irish Sports Council, Dun Laoghaire Harbour and Texaco.

Flying 15 World Results:

1.

Rod Beurteaux, Chris O'Keefe (AUS)

21.4pts

2.

Mike Hart, Richard Rigg

(GBR)

27pts

3.

Justin Burke, Alan Green (IRL)

27.7pts

15.		Nick Jerwood, Janet Jerwood (AUS)	63.7pts
16.		Grant Alderson, Dean McAuley (AUS)	65.0pts

26.

Ian Cleaver, David Parish

(AUS) 84.7pts

29.

Ron Packer, Peter Mudford

(AUS) 91.0pts

38.

Nils Blumann, Tom Brown

109.0pts

41.

David Swan, Kerry Castledine

(AUS) 116.0pts

60.

Greg Leaversuch, Peter Barblett

(AUS) 164.0pts

69.

Greg Omay, Peter Vos

(AUS) 197.0pts

Further Information :    Colm Doherty, Press Office  086 402 9776    
 
 

Nicorette Wins Inaugural Southport to Mackay Race

The 530nm Carlton Midstrength Blue Water Classic began in Southport on Friday August 1, 2003 and finished with the arrival of the Cruising Division entrant, Hi Fidelity at 2.00am on Tuesday morning, August 5.

Although just four boats entered the event, Mackay Yacht Club Commodore Dale Robinson was upbeat about the overall results.

''This was the first time we had organised an event of this magnitude,' he said. 'It was initiated to give skippers a chance to do another leg in the run up from Sydney to the Airlie and Hamilton Island events. With only a small number of boats entered in both the Racing and Cruising Division we had the opportunity to iron out any bugs.

'We have had a great response from the skippers and crews of all entrants, and we are really confident that we will see a much bigger fleet next year,' said Commodore Robinson.

Equally positive was Ludde Ingvall, skipper of the 24.4 metre Nicorette. 'This is a beautiful race up the coast through the islands,' he said. 'We had good SE to SW winds all the way and the hospitality of the Mackay Yacht Club has been wonderful. The new marina has excellent facilities, in fact we are leaving Nicorette here for several weeks to have her annual refit.'

Christian Jackson, skipper of the Melbourne-based Elliot 48, Prowler, said 'The racing up here is totally different from down South – no shirts, warm weather, and the kite up most of the way.'

Matt Allan, skipper of the Farr 52 Ichi Ban said, 'Despite the small numbers of entrants, we still had a great race against Nicorette, and the welcome at the end was terrific. The crew certainly appreciated the gifts of a carton of beer, and a bottle of Bundy, some Coke and a bag of ice!'

The co-owners of the 13.49 Adams Carina, Hi Fidelity, the only boat to enter the Cruising Division, were also impressed by the warm welcome. 'We arrived at 2.00am in the morning,' said Georgie Brown, 'and there was still a crowd out there to meet us and show us the way to the Marina. The facilities here were certainly welcomed with hot showers, a laundromat, chandlery and basic items close to hand.'

Her partner Andy McArthur, said, 'This was the first major event we have entered since we purchased Hi Fidelity. It was a bit of learning curve for us, but we found the sailing very pleasant, either running or broad reaching most of the way. The navigational side of it was challenging, particularly around the islands, because there were so many course options.

'We’ll certainly be back next year, he said.

Due to the small number of entries, all boats raced under the PHRF system. Also each boat won a cash prize of $1,000, with most skippers donating the funds back to the Mackay Yacht Club to promote junior sailing

'Next year, we will once again run divisions in IRC, PHF, Cruising and we are looking at running a 'Delivery Division also, said Commodore Robinson. 'Based on this experience and the input from all the skippers and crews, we will make a few changes to ensure that all entrants have a top race and great fun when they get here.'

RESULTS:

YACHT ARRIVED TIME

Nicorette Sunday August 3, 06.26.06

Ichi Ban Sunday August 3 , 14.29.01

Prowler Sunday August 3, 20.56.55

Hi Fidelity Tuesday August 5 02.28.45

Sailing: Commodore Dale Robinson Tel: 07) 4955 4950, or email: mackayyachtclub@mackay.net.au

Enter Now for the Australian Womens Match Racing Championship

Entries for the 2003 Australian Women''s Match Racing Championship has been extended to the 14 August 2003.  The Championship will be hosted by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania from 11 - 14 September 2003.

The Notice of Race is now available, click here

Bond to be Inducted into America’s Cup Hall of Fame

The America's Cup Hall of Fame was created to honor the challengers, defenders, and legendary personages of the world's most distinguished sporting competition. The present prototype Hall of Fame was established in 1994 in an historic building on the grounds of the former Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol, Rhode Island, where yachts were constructed for eight consecutive America's Cup defenses between 1893 and 1934. The Herreshoff Marine Museum, situated on this historic site, operates the America's Cup Hall of Fame.

Commencing with its first induction ceremony in 1993, 53 legends of the Cup have been invested with membership. Candidates eligible for consideration include skippers, afterguard, crew, designers, builders, organizers, syndicate leaders, managers, supporters, chroniclers, race managers, and other individuals of merit. Each nominee is judged on the basis of outstanding ability, international recognition, character, performance, and contributions to the sport. The 17 members of the Hall of Fame Selection Committee bring a wealth of knowledge to the selection process. They are persons intimate with the America's Cup tradition of yacht racing and committed to the integrity of the Hall of Fame.

The Herreshoff Marine Museum and America's Cup Hall of Fame are dedicated to preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting the accomplishments of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company and demonstrating the influence of America's Cup Competition, for the purpose of education, research, and the inspiration of excellence in the world of yachting. For more information, visit www.herreshoff.org, or contact the Museum at P.O. Box 450, One Burnside Street, Bristol, RI 02809-0450, Phone: 401-253-5000, Fax: 401-253-6222.

Volvo Globe Race Yachts Entered for Whitsunday Island Regattas

High standard international fleets have been nominated to contest Australia’s premier yacht race weeks this month over the warm tropical waters surrounding the Whitsunday Islands.

Many of the crews who experienced the extremely cold offshore sailing conditions during the Sydney to Southport blue water classic in late July have ‘thawed out’ as they tracked the compass bearing towards Mackay and then onto the Whitsunday’s to compete in the annual international Race Week championships at Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island.

As expected the crews will welcome the opportunity to test their skill against the best yacht racing tacticians from the Pacific Rim in the ‘creature comfort zone’.

Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island are promising near perfect winter sailing conditions of 24 degrees and sunshine plus reliable South East trade winds.

This is a perfect weather forecast for the annual Festival of Sails which officially starts next Saturday with the 2003 Hog’s Breath Race Week to be hosted by The Whitsunday Sailing Club on Pioneer Bay (Airlie Beach) 8-14 August followed by the International Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island from August 16-23.

Australian sailing history will reach for an exciting new level when three former Volvo Globe racing sloops Djuice (Andrew Short) and Magnavox (Peter Sorensen) both from Sydney enter into a tactical sailing dogfight with the Victorian entry Indec (David Gotze) in a short course regatta for the first time.

All three yachts crewed by dedicated sailors who respect their yachts competitive racing history will rely on their individual crew skill and race strategy to win the valued first to finish battle flag.

These exciting ocean racing sloops noted for the spinnaker sailing speed will match race for the prestigious Boss Hog trophy at Airlie Beach before heading to Hamilton Island to enter into a similar intensive racing program for the overall line honours championship trophy.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Ian Grant at Airlie Beach (0427 592 664)

Australia's Krystal Weir 2nd at Laser Radial World Championship

The final day of the Laser Radial World Championship provided drama, excitement and a cross-section of wind conditions. The fleet left the club early in the morning to take advantage of a light northerly “Peler” wind of 6 knots and to try and recover some of the lost races from the previous day.

In the women’s fleet there was further drama when Krystal Weir (AUS), who was lying third overnight, failed to appear on the course area for the first race of the day, having failed to check the notice board for a rescheduled early start.

"A lot of things were learnt during the regatta with sign on off, checking notice boards for changes and just prepartion physically," Weir explains.

Second overall, Nufar Edelman also had a bad start to her day with an OCS score in the first race, which was won by Jeanette Dagson. The defending champion, Katarzyna Szotynska from Poland, made sure of her fourth successive title with a solid fourth place, going on to celebrate by winning the last two races. Weir was out in time for the last two races and recovered her runner up position with second and third place finishes.

Other Australian Laser Radial sailors, Alison Casey-Hall and Katherine Wade finished 8th and 24th respectively.

A great effort by the Australian women, with Weir backing up from her silver medal win at the 2003 ISAF Youth World Championship, just a day prior to the start of this championship.

1. Katarzyna Szotynska (POL) 24pts
2. Krystal Weir (AUS) 43pts
3. Jeanette Dagson (SWE) 47pts
8. Alison Casey-Hall (AUS) 78pts
24.Katherine Wade (AUS) 190pts

Visit the regatta website - http://www.laserchampionships.org/lrwor03/index.htm 

ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2003 - Nominations Invited

The presentation of the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2003, the pinnacle award of recognition in the sport of sailing, will take place on Wednesday 12 November 2003 in Barcelona, Spain.

2003 marks the tenth presentation of the Awards, which were first presented in 1994 in London, Great Britain. Over the past ten years, many of the world’s best sailors have been nominated for the annual Award in recognition of their outstanding achievement. But only ten male and ten female sailors and crews have been accorded the honour World Sailor of the Year, and seen their name engraved on the prestigious Trophy.

The ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards are presented annually to recognise the outstanding sailing achievements of male and female sailors, as nominated and voted by the world of sailing. To determine the winners, ISAF invites the world of sailing to submit nominations. A Shortlist Panel, chaired by HM King Constantine - with representatives including past winners, media, ISAF representatives from the key geographic regions and Rolex - determine the shortlist of male and female sailors who in their opinion are considered as the outstanding sailors of the year. It is based on this shortlist that the ISAF Member National Authorities are invited to cast their votes to determine the ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year 2003.

ISAF invites nominations for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2003 from all – whether a sailor, class, national authority, media, sailing club, event organiser or other. Nominations should be made on the official Nomination Form available online at: http://www.sailing.org/worldsailor/2003nominationform.doc

The criteria to be nominated is simply “outstanding achievement during the period 1 September 2002 through to 31 August 2003”. The roll call of past winners is evident of the level at which the previously nominated sailors have each achieved in the sport.

Sailors nominated may represent any discipline of the sport, from dinghies to offshore, windsurfers to multihulls, and their achievements may be as diverse as a record breaking passage, a series of regatta wins over the year or triumph against the odds. Such successes and more have been witnessed during the past year, and it is now up to the sailing world to nominate the sailors they feel are meritorious of the accolade ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2003.

Nominations close at 1000 hours UCT on Monday 1 September 2003.

The winners of the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award 2003 will be announced at the prestigious Awards Ceremony on 12 November 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. The sailors accorded the honour ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year 2003 will be presented with a stunning marble and silver trophy - a solid marble sphere depicting the world and crowned by five silver spinnakers representing the continents - and a Rolex timepiece.

The nominees and winners over past years reflect many of the highest achievers in the sport, with the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year winners' roll call reading:

2002 Ben Ainslie (GBR) and Sofia Bekatorou/Emilia Tsoulfa (GRE)
2001 Robert Scheidt (BRA) and Ellen MacArthur (GBR)
2000 Mark Reynolds/Magnus Liljedahl (USA) and Shirley Robertson (GBR)
1999 Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) and Margriet Matthijse (NED)
1998 Ben Ainslie (GBR) and Carolijn Brouwer (NED)
1997 Pete Goss (GBR) and Ruslana Taran/Elena Pakholchik (UKR)
1996 Jochen Schümann (GER) and Lee-Lai Shan (HKG)
1995 Russell Coutts (NZL) and Isabelle Autissier (FRA)
1994 Peter Blake (NZL)/ Robin Knox Johnston (GBR) and Theresa Zabell (ESP)

Related Websites
ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards Webpages http://www.sailing.org/worldsailor

Blackburn 3rd at Laser Europeans

In the tricky conditions on the water of Split, Croatia, Laser sailor Michael Blackburn finished 3rd overall at the 2003 Laser European Championship.

ISAF reports:

Vasilij Zbogar from Slovakia took the European Champion title. Zbogar won the event by two points from local sailor Mate Arapov, while Australia’s Michael BLACKBURN finished in third. Maciej GRABOWSKI (POL) and Paul GOODISON (GBR) finished fourth and fifth respectively on equal points.

The Laser sailors will now be off to Athens to prepare for the pre-Olympic test event later this month and then to Cadiz for the 2003 ISAF World Championship in September

1. Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) 28pts
2. Mate Arapov (CRO) 30pts
3. Michael Blackburn (AUS) 34pts
43.Brendan Casey (AUS) 178pts

Visit the regatta website - http://www.jk-mornar.hr/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=83&op=page&SubMenu=