Photo Gallery

Royal Netherlands Navy takes Hans Horrevoets home

Portsmouth, UK, 22 May 2006-- At 0837 GMT this morning off the English coast near Falmouth, the body of Hans Horrevoets was transferred to a Royal Netherlands Naval frigate from ABN AMRO TWO.

ABN AMRO TWO being accompanied by the Dutch navy to Falmouth, south west England, ©Jon Nash/TEAM ABN AMRO

In winds of 25 knots, French skipper Sebastien Josse and his crew bid an emotional farewell to their much loved friend and team mate, holding a minute’s silence as Hans was taken off ABN AMRO TWO in a RIB to the Dutch frigate, HNLMS Van Galen. His body will now be taken back to his home town of Terheijden, in the Netherlands for repatriation and a funeral with family and friends. The transfer was achieved without any problems and ABN AMRO TWO have now resumed racing en route to Portsmouth.

Jan Berent Heukensfeldt Jansen, CEO of TEAM ABN AMRO, who will meet Hans in Holland and accompany him back to his partner and family, commented, “I am pleased that Hans can now return home to his partner, family and friends and the grieving process can begin. We have had tremendous support from the Volvo Ocean Race, the British Royal Navy, UK authorities and especially the Royal Netherlands Navy to guarantee a successful operation and to ensure Hans’ body is returned to Holland as quickly as possible. We would like to thank everyone involved for their cooperation.

“I have so much respect for Seb Josse and his crew for the mature and professional way they have handled all the events that have arisen on this dramatic leg. The seamanship displayed to recover Hans and then go to the rescue of fellow competitors is astounding. They are now continuing onto Portsmouth in the spirit of the race, as Hans would have wished.”

The HNLMS Van Galen is a multipurpose frigate of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The ship, with her 150 crewmembers, was in the area for six weeks training with the British Royal Navy.

Speaking from ABN AMRO TWO, British navigator Simon Fisher added, “It was a sad moment to see Hans leave the boat, but also a relief that he can now go home to his family. The last few days have been incredibly tough on everyone, but we are determined to cross the finish line as part of this race. We will finish this leg for Hans. Although conditions remain difficult, the crew is doing well, and we are of course all looking forward to seeing our friends and family back on land.”

ABN AMRO TWO meets up with a RIB to transfer the movistar crew ©Jon Nash

Just prior to Hans Horrevoets being transferred off the boat, the crew of movistar also left ABN AMRO TWO and returned to shore in Falmouth. This transfer was completed at 8.15 GMT. Bouwe Bekking’s crew had been rescued by Seb Josse’s men when the Spanish boat was abandoned because of keel problems and deteriorating weather. The movistar crew are now all safely back on dry land and heading for Portsmouth.

Volvo Ocean Race CEO, Glenn Bourke, who was in Falmouth earlier today, said: “We are hugely indebted to Seb Josse and the crew of ABN AMRO TWO for their heroic role in the safe recovery and delivery of the movistar crew members to Falmouth. It can’t have been easy for Seb and the guys in the tragic circumstances in which they found themselves. It is measure of their courage and professionalism that they stood by the stricken movistar until the weather conditions allowed a successful transfer and then ensured their safe passage to Falmouth.

“It is a great relief to the ABN AMRO TWO crew that Hans is now on the way to his homeland where his family and friends are waiting and our thoughts are with them at this moment.”

ABN AMRO TWO five miles from Falmouth ©Jon Nash

Speaking of movistar, Bourke commented, ‘I was immensely impressed with how level-headed and rational Bouwe Bekking remained throughout the whole process of abandonment and rescue. He took the agonising decision to abandon movistar and only he knows how tough that was. A hard call at the right time and always with the welfare of his crew as his priority.

“I would like to extend my gratitude to the British and Netherlands Royal Navy, the Falmouth Coast Guard and the other rescue organisations for the expert manner in which they have dealt with the entire rescue operation,” he concluded.

There will be two press conferences in Portsmouth tomorrow, Tuesday 23 May. At 1000 local time, movistar Racing Team will host a press conference followed at 1100 by TEAM ABN AMRO.

ABN AMRO TWO resumed racing at 09:54 GMT today and is expected to cross the finish line in Portsmouth at around 1925 GMT tonight. At present, the yacht is 3.5 miles off Portland Bill on the Dorset coast.

Source: www.volvooceanrace.com

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Americas Cup

USA-87 springs bow surprise in Valencia

BMW Oracle Racing have christened their first new AC class yacht for the 2007 regatta in a ceremony and festivities at the team base in Valencia.

Sue Dickson christens USA-87. Photo: Giles Martin-Raget

BMW ORACLE Racing’s new America’s Cup Class yacht was named USA 87 in a spectacular christening ceremony tonight during the team’s new base opening festivities in Valencia. Sue Dickson, wife of BMW ORACLE Racing CEO and skipper Chris Dickson, smashed a magnum bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne across the bow of USA 87 to christen the team’s new racing yacht.

More than 500 guests, among them the families of the team, partners and sponsors and more than 100 members of the international media, witnessed the ceremony at the team base in the Port America’s Cup in Valencia.

‘This is a great moment and milestone for our team,’ Chris Dickson said. ‘A boat christening is always a moving event – for every designer and boatbuilder, for every sailor, for all of us who have the privilege to take part in such a magnificent campaign. USA 87 is the result of 1,000 hours of full-scale two-boat testing and 30,000 man hours invested by our boatbuilding team. Over the coming days and weeks, the challenge will be to tap the yacht’s full potential.’

Dickson thanked the BMW ORACLE Racing design team headed by Ian Burns, the BMW contribution of automotive engineering know-how, the boatbuilding team managed by Mark Turner, Tim Smyth and Mark Somerville, and the sailing team who will now be testing the boat to develop its full potential.

A feature of the USA-87 is the small bowsprit, of which we will no doubt hear a lot more in the future.

For more photos of the launching ceremony see: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=22524

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McKay takes 85th Lipton Cup

The 85th Lipton Cup was sailed on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour on Saturday.

The race marked 85 years of racing for the 22 foot mullet boats over harbour courses - a tradition which makes this event the oldest one design class racing in New Zealand.

The Lipton Cup trophy, is from the same silversmith as produced the Americas Cup. It was presented to the Ponsonby Cruising Club by Sir Thomas Lipton and is proudly displayed in the Club's trophy cabinet.

After a delay of 45 minutes, while the fleet waited for wind, racing got underway in a very gentle ENE breeze and an ebbing tide. Tamarau (Jim McKay) got away to a flier of a start and was never challenged - although she was a little concerned and even had the anchor ready when the breeze all but faded at No. 3 buoy. The breeze returned and she was off to take line honours!

The course, in accordance with the Lipton Cup rules was approximately 20 miles long starting and finishing at Westhaven and a written copy is given to all skippers at the briefing.

The start is always on the wind to a laid mark and there after round nominated fixed marks and yesterday's course was a good mix of windward beats and spinnaker runs which gave plenty of opportunity for gains and losses amongst the minor places.

Tamarau is the newest of the fleet at six years old and is the current holder. At seventy something, winning skipper Jim McKay is one of the veterans of the small boat sailing and boatbuilding scene, and has been sailing competitively for over sixty years.

Taotane (L-38) with her original gaff rig won the Cup for her first time in 1940.

Second placegetter was Scullet, a fibre glass boat, was the winner in 2004, Third overall was Girlie who won the event in 1998 and 1990.

One of the oldest boats sailing was Komuri (L7 ) who was the winner in 1934.

Honey had a win in 1975 when she was sailed by Jim Davern. Jim and crew were back yesterday sailing Honey, contributing to a very traditional event with a great history.

The final results:
LINE: 1 L61Tamarau, 2 L56 Scullet, 3 L58 Girlie.
HANDICAP: 1 L46 Kanae Ra, L38 Taotane, 3 L61 Tamarau.

Maquita takes Logan Memorial

Light winds delayed the start of the 2006 Logan Memorial Trophy, which was contested by 13 boats.

The Logan Memorial recognises the contribution of Arch Logan, a noted builder and designer of M-class who had a building shed in Stanley Bay. The Trophy was donated a year after his death in 1940.

The M-class are an 18-foot kauri-clinker, unballasted sailing dinghy, first formed in 1922 following designs by Arch Logan and subsequently adopted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

The boats have been updated with modern Bermudian rigs and racing is still very competitive. This year, the Logan memorial was no exception with three boats being judged over the line at the start with only two returning.

The racing developed into a closely fought affair at the front of the fleet with the lead swapping several times in the building seabreeze which hit around 10 knots for a time during the 90 minute race.

First boat home was Marquita, skippered by Dave Bush, with Mach One (Ted Miller) in second and Marksman (Brian Craies) in third place.

Mach One was the winning boat last year and was expected to do the same again, however class veteran Dave Bush was able to work the harbour course to perfection and carried the day.

On handicap, Marksman (Brian Craies) was first with Marquita second and Motivator (Brian Houston) third.

Around 150 sailors and supporters turned up for the after-match function at the Royal Akarana YC, which was conducted in the usual Emmy style.

Leander Trophy to Auckland Veterans

Naval Point Club Lyttelton hosted the 56th running of the R Class Skiff National Championship from 9-12th March 2006.

Previous winners from Wellington and Auckland raced for the coveted Leander Trophy. Canterbury is the ancestral home of the R Class and the local fleet was keen to wrest the trophy from the Auckland Squadron.

What a contest!. There was everything from light southerlies, strong blustery southerlies, shifty (NW influenced) North Easterly and good old solid Lyttelton NE, making for an exciting contest. The conditions were varied enough that wins were spread among three boats.

Due to a hectic sailing schedule (Interdominions and 18 footers in Australia) the Auckland and Wellington squadrons were down on numbers, but not quality. Top boats, with gun crews, from each province ensured a hard fought contest.

It's great to see the resurgence of interest from youth sailors with Jess Hix, Mike Rhodes and Jamie White competing in all races and Chris Carlaw and Joshua and Daniel Hughes sailing on Friday afternoon and the weekend.

Day 1: Neill Wood (Stagecoach) deserves special mention for confusing AM and PM and greeted the guys with ‘what @#$@#$ time of day do you call this’ when they rang from Wellington airport at 6:15am to see where he was. Neill went on to miss two more flights, got grounded due to hail and still made it in time for Race 1, much to the amusement of everyone (except Hoggy).

The blustery SW Invitation Race was won in fine form by heavy weather specialists from Auckland, Simon Ganley and Rod Chave sailing Dimension Polyant. Race 1, a lighter afternoon race had locals Sean Milner and Dan Leech (Nuplex Davie Norris) off to a good start with the first of their four back to back wins. Race 2 was abandoned due to too little breeze.

Day 2: Canterbury's best day! Nuplex Davie Norris Boats winning 3 races, Meridian Energy's Dave Pairman and Tim Allan with two seconds and a third. Aucklander's Paul MacIntosh sailing with Kenny Fyfe on Martin Huges sailed well to be tied for second with Meridian after 4 races.

Some great performances from Canterbury's International Rope Braids sailed by Steve MacIntosh and Doug Gale elevated them to 4th overall and some smart tactics from Subwoofer's Jess Hix helped them to 6th overall by the end of the day. With five Canterbury boats in the top six and Nuplex Davie Norris over 100pts clear, things were looking good for the locals.

America's Cup

Evans goes with Alinghi

America’s Cup tactician Peter Evans (NZ) has joined Alinghi, the Swiss Defender, for the start of the 2006 sailing season.

Evans brings a wealth of experience to Alinghi, with four Cups behind him, three with Team New Zealand (including two wins) and one with the Japanese challenge.

The man grew up in Devonport, Auckland, sailing at his local yacht club, Wakatere BC, in Sabots, Starlings and Lasers earning several National Championships before later moving on to the Olympic 470 class and representing his country for the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. By 1992, he had a Match Racing World Championship to his name and in 1997 held the ILC40 World Championship title. Having met Brad Butterworth while competing in the Europe Dinghy Worlds in Copenhagen in his teens, the two converged again in 1992 in San Diego with Team New Zealand.

Now, as from the start of the Alinghi sailing season on 21 March, they will be team mates again, this time opposite one another, as tacticians, on the two-boat training program: “We’re happy to welcome Peter Evans as a new member of the Alinghi team. He brings a lot of skills and experience needed to defend the America’s Cup. He has great strengths in many areas of the campaign and will be a real asset to our team,” comments Brad, skipper and tactician of Alinghi.

ABN Amro takes the money, again

The team of professionals sailing ABN AMRO ONE, with Mike Sanderson (NZL) in charge, remained focussed and foot perfect throughout the whole of this, the longest leg of the Volvo Ocean Race at 6,700 nautical miles.

They drifted across the finish line today in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro at 00:18:23 local time (03:18:23 GMT) after 20 days, one hour, 48 minutes and 3 seconds at sea to claim first place. The team collected 3.5 points for passing the Cape Horn scoring gate first, and seven points for the leg win, bringing their total now to 49 points and putting them solidly at the top of the overall scoreboard.

An ecstatic but tired skipper, Mike Sanderson reached the dock and said:

“It was a really tough leg, but it was amazing, the guys did a fantastic job. It was unbelievable and I’d thank the whole team.

“It was a very stressful leg and the leg that I was most worried about. It was really hard work mentally, but it was exhilarating, it was fast and we reached some great speeds. It was like taking a 49er across the Atlantic, it was really full on and it was just a question of hard you could get away with pushing boat.

Navigator Stan Honey, the man that Sanderson says it is an honour to work with, said,

“This leg is the essence of the race. It takes you half way round the world and past Cape Horn and it is one of the reasons why I am taking part. The other reasons are to sail round the world and to sail with these guys.”

The last stages of this leg have predominantly featured light airs, something for which this Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed yacht is not optimised and it has given Mike Sanderson his fair share of worries as he watched his lead decrease and increase with the fickle and unstable breeze.

Auckland Boatshow is a stunner

A stunningly luxurious 28.8 metre (95 foot) superyacht, the futuristic-looking bio-diesel fuelled Earthrace and, weather permitting, the new trans-Tasman speed record holder are all highlights of the 2006 Auckland International Boat Show in the Viaduct Harbour until Sunday.

Members of the public can for the first time, be able to not only see the spectacular Earthrace, they can also tour its interior and make a contribution to the success of the project.

Dubbed 'the World's Coolest Boat' as well as one of the greenest, Earthrace will attempt to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat „o the first time a renewable fuel powered boat has attempted an official UIM Powerboat record.

For those who like their 'cool' a little more refined, Yachting Developments latest super-luxurious superyacht is an essential port of the call.

Prominently displayed on the floating marina, Vesper represents the latest in superyacht technology and innovation. A high tech composite superyacht, Vesper features a twin-saloon interior, finished in elegant raised and fiddled mahogany with leather upholstery; a lower saloon with dining for eight, a hidden entertainment system and great outside viewing though both the port and starboard hull windows; an exceptionally large owner¡¦s stateroom and very easy access to and from the water thanks to a huge boarding platform and ascending stairway.

Big fleets for Auckland Champs

The 2006 Auckland Champs were organised jointly by the Glendowie Boating Club and the Howick Sailing Club over the weekend of March 11th and 12th 2006 at Eastern Beach. The first day of the regatta also included the Dirty Dog Regatta for the Optimist classes.

In the 420 class, 27 boats competed, with main point of interest being the entry of Simon Cooke and Scottt Illingworth. Cooke intends to sail in the 2007 420 Worlds at Takapuna and finished third overall, placing in the top four in each race (except for one where they had a DNF).

Top 470 combination Geoff Woolley and Mark Overington also competed but had gear failure, and sailed only two of the six races.

Winner of the 420 event was the top combination of Carl Evans (KYC) and Peter Burling(Tauranga), who won two races and were always in the top four placings. The Tauranga crew of Jason Saunders and Bruce Kennedy placed second overall, also winning two races, but not having the consistency of Evans and Burling.

Two womens crews finished in fifth and sixth overall in the Open fleet, with Sarah Bilkey and Rosie Sargisson heading off the 2005 ISAF Youth combination of Georgina Hill and Michelle Kennedy by two points.
<:img med_DSC_5856.jpg right :> The previous weekend eight of the top nine 420’s completed an intensive weekend of training in Tauranga taken by Simon Cooke and Mat Brown. The two world championships in six months for 420’s has certainly created a lot of interest in the class with regatta fleets regularly around 25-30

The Auckland Championships regatta attracted 290 boats and 317 sailors sailing in Optimist, P-class, Paper Tiger, Splash, Starling and Techno board classes.

The largest class was the Open Optimist fleet with 116 boats from Kerikeri to Christchurch. Marcus Hansen won the Open event with Scott Barnes and Hyatt Brown – all from Murrays Bay SC – and the club dominated the event with seven sailors in the top ten overall. In the Green fleet, Verity Judge, again from Murrays Bay, won with Olivia Mackay (Napier) in second and first boy was Hamish Dunning-Beck (Wakatere) in third overall after seven races sailed.

In the Dirty Dog Regatta, Scott Barnes (MBSC) won, with Thomas Saunders (TYPBC) second and Ashleigh Lamberg (Glendowie) in third – she was also top female skipper in the four race event. The Green fleet proved to be a rehearsal for the Auckland Championships with Verity Judge again showing the way for the 79 strong fleet, Hamish Dunning-Beck top boy, in second place and Sam Schofield (Torbay) finishing third overall.

movistar on the road, again

After two or three days out of the water, movistar has recommenced racing on Leg 4 of the Volvo OR. This excellent shot was taken just before her launch, by Oskar Kihlborg/ Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006

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movistar, gone by lunchtime??

Movistar on the crane (just to the right of the blue ship) in Ushuaia, Argentina (Photo: Volvo OR)

MOVISTAR QFB LEG FOUR DAY 14
Sent: 04 March 2006 00:59
13 miles to go Ushuaia. The sail in to the Beagle Channel would have been way more enjoyable if we weren't still in a race. It must have been the only day of the year that there was a blue sky. Of course the wind was coming right on the nose with puffs up to 40 knots in the beginning of the canal, then they eased of to a steady 25knots.

Work is underway on fixing the "bomb doors" which help seal the "wet-box" which contains the business end of the canting keel mechanism.

The bomb-doors provide a flexible keel around the canting keel and stop the ingress of high-pressure water. (Photo: Volvo OR)

Most of the day we have been using our #4 jib, and the main remained down. We can't sail faster than 10 knots, because in case we hit a wave (and there are plenty) the pressure gets to high on the repair we did, and water starts coming in again. Another issue is that the connection from the rams to the keel head is sealed by rubber manchets, and of course the water is trying to come through there as well. Luckily we had extra manchets with us, so these were installed as an extra safety margin to prevent water coming into that way. I am very happy that we spent some extra kilos in this area, and would like to invite the other competitors to at least have a look at our design, as this worked well even under the tremendous water pressure.

Stu Bannatyne is coming here for the 2nd time in his life, (dismasted with Silk Cut), again with mixed feelings.

We all know that we are still in contention for 2nd and 3rd place overall and that is our goal and we will work hard for this. We know we can bounce back and have shown this again on this leg. As far as I know we had the best 24 hour run of the fleet, 549.7 miles in 24 hours, and this would have gone even more up if we hadn't broken down.

We will try to lift the boat out tonight, and have a look at the extent of the damage, and start from there on. The Spanish America’s Cup team has assisted us again with some of their boatbuilding staff led by Javier Mendez, a big thanks to all of you to be here in record time. As well a thank you to the two locals, Roxana Diaz and Jonothan Selby, who have arranged everything.

And a big thanks to crew off the Chilean navy vessel, who have escorted us all the way without us requiring this. And the final thanks to the Argentinean navy vessel that joined us halfway down the channel.

The bomb door fairing removed before the repair (Photo: Volvo OR)

Not sure if I will manage to report in tomorrow, but will do my best to keep everybody updated of the progress of movistar

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

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movistar almost sinks at Cape Horn

movistar enters port in South America after suspending racing

At 0315 GMT today, Bouwe Bekking reported that movistar was taking on water at a high rate and requested that the boats nearest to movistar, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) and Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) should standby to offer immediate assistance. They were sailing in 30 – 35 knots of breeze with a jib top, small staysail and one reef in the mainsail, 242 nautical miles from the scoring gate at Cape Horn.

movistar blasting before the sinking incident (Volvo OR)

"We are sinking. Everybody up,” commanded Bekking as the water poured into the boat around the keel box. “Slow the boat down, the water is coming in very fast, and close the water tight hatches,” was the command.

The water was coming in from around the top of the keel box. Within minutes the sailors were knee deep in water. The water tight hatches were closed immediately and safety gear and grab bags moved onto deck. The sail area was reduced to only the stay sail and the yacht slowed down, as the crew frantically pumped.

Bouwe Bekking’s report leaves nothing to the imagination:

“A sailor’s nightmare is sinking, and this looked like a pretty serious situation. If we had rats onboard they would have jumped off by now.

“We mobilised some people on deck to drop all the sails, and when I went downstairs again, I got a real shock. The generator box was already completely underwater, and the water had spread now through the entire mid compartment, and was close to washing over the main engine box as well. And what a mess inside, sails, sleeping bags, food bags, you can't name it, were floating around. In the mean time Spike (Peter Doriean) had collected all the safety gear and put it on deck, just to be sure.

Scenes from the "wetbox" (volvooceanrace.com)

“Capey (Andrew Cape) had already informed race-headquarters. After seeing the amount of water, I decided to ask headquarters if other boats could assist. Water and electricity don't like each other too much, so the circuit breakers were popping off all the time.

“With the personal torches on it looked like a scene that Hitchcock could only dream of. Now Chris (Nicholson) was diving underwater to connect the two emergency high capacity bilge pumps directly to the batteries, as that was the only way of assuring power and running of the pumps. What else do you do? Bail of course, like mad, but I felt it was like watching television where somebody is using one small water hose to protect his house against a raging bushfire. Even though we knew we were on the losing hand, strangely enough you don't give up.

movistar running in heavy seas (VOR)

“Then the shout, PUMPS ARE RUNNING. Now we maybe have a chance to beat the incoming flow rate, and get the level down.

“To all our big relief, this was the case. Slowly but surely, the levels went down and we got the situation under control. We have made an emergency fix on the leaking box, and the incoming flow is minimal. I’m proud of the boys, they did well, not just in this emergency situation, but also in the way that they have sailed movistar so magnificently up to that moment. We are now heading for Ushuaia (Argentina) to look at damage.”

Bekking said in a radio interview this morning that the team is planning to make a stop in Ushuaia where they will have to make a huge reinforcement to the keel box and then carry on from there to Rio de Janeiro.

Elsewhere in the fleet, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) leads the chase towards Cape Horn, 62 nautical miles ahead. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) is in second place, 28 miles behind Sanderson, followed by Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and, bringing up the rear, Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald).

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Shorty's Legacy

From: ABN AMRO ONE LEG FOUR DAY 11
Sent: 01 March 2006
To: DUTY OFFICER
Sent: 01 March 1604

It’s Shorty Alderman’s fault.

I grew up sailing at Los Angeles Yacht Club. Shorty Alderman lived in a room at the back of the club. Shorty had been the club caretaker but when he got too old to do much work LAYC just let him live out his years in his room at the club. Shorty had good days and bad ones. On the bad ones he mostly yelled at the kids or kept to himself. Occasionally, however, a few of us (then kids) could get Shorty to let us into his smoke-stained room and tell us stories of his years at sea.

ABN Amro One passes Cape Horn (Volvo OR)

Shorty had been the second mate on the Falls of Clyde, one of the last working full-rigged ships. Shorty had made several passages “Around the Horn” and we were fascinated by Shorty’s stories.

Much later, after Shorty was long gone and I was navigating on Transpac races, I toured the Falls of Clyde which is now part of the Honolulu Maritime Museum and was warmed to see photos of Shorty as a young (and even then short) man, when he was second mate. Ever since those days I’ve wondered whether I’d ever get the chance to “Round the Horn.”

Shorty’s influence had quite an effect on me. Three times I’ve joined sailing projects that I expected to include “Rounding the Horn.” As it turns out, however, Playstation broke down in The Race, and I ran out of time to navigate Cheyenne on the Round-the-World record.

The odds of my “Rounding the Horn” are somewhat improved recently, but are still not a sure thing, as I sit at ABNAMRO ONE’s navigation station typing this as we are 500 miles from the Horn and sailing towards it at 25 knots. Shorty would be amazed if he saw this boat under sail.

My last memory of Shorty was when I left LAYC to sail my family’s sloop to the Caribbean. I was taking a year off from college for the trip with some friends. Several of us were among the group of kids that years earlier used to coax square rigger stories from Shorty. Shorty hadn’t been very clear-thinking for some years then, but he did remember us and understand that we were off to the Caribbean. Shorty took us aside to advise us to bring bigger ground tackle and to watch out for the naked women. Good advice both.

When I round the Horn, I’ll think of Shorty.

Stan Honey
Navigator
ABN AMRO ONE

Chinese Anyone?

From: ERICSSON RACING TEAM LEG FOUR DAY 9
Sent: 27 February 2006
To: DUTY OFFICER
Sent: 27 February 2006 02:45
Chinese for dinner?

Sounds like a nice idea doesn't it; well not if you are talking about Chinese gybing a Volvo 70 at full speed in the middle of the night in the Southern Ocean. For those of you without a clear picture of a Chinese gybe it’s just about the ugliest thing that could happen to us bar sinking!

Anyone know what's for breakfast? A big wave aboard ABN Amro One (Volvo OR)

We broached last night with everything up: full size main, spinnaker and staysail, I am sat in the nav station and I hear the rudder stall first; a huge rush of air under the boat as it loses its grip on the fast flowing water. This is accompanied by a very quick change of heading and a large heel angle.

The scariest part was looking up at the boom which was pointing nearly vertical by now and knowing that within seconds the mainsail would gybe uncontrollably. The sail, the ropes attached to it and, more worryingly, the boom come across with such phenomenal power that anyone in the way would be lucky to survive. The problem is magnified massively by the fact that our canting keel is no longer helping to keep us upright but actually contributing to heeling us over. Combined with tons of kit now on the wrong side, the boat lays over to about 70 degrees and the mess on deck is completely indescribable; everything is on the wrong side, the mainsail is pinned against the runner and every single rope is a tangled heap of spaghetti in the cockpit which is now full of tons of water.

It’s amazingly disorientating trying to work out where to stand and which winches and ropes you are after. First job is to make sure we still have everyone and no major injuries and at that point things start to happen very slowly. The next thing is to get the keel back in the middle; fortunately the race organizers are smart enough to make us have an automated button to do this. You can't start the generator; it’s a gravity fuel system and the cooling inlet would be three feet in the air. The batteries kick in a DC motor which moves the keel slowly but surely to the middle. You only have to press on button to do it, but it’s now above your head where you aren't used to it and it took a couple of minutes to find it when it normally takes a couple of seconds.

At this stage you need some careful thinking to get out safely with the minimum of damage; moving around is painfully slow and fairly dangerous so careful planning is the order of the day. The list of tasks is long and I won't describe everything here, apart from to say that it took two hours to get upright and get sailing again, albeit slowly.

A day like today will be hard to forget and although I know we will laugh about it one day, right now it sits as a reminder of how close to edge we are.

Suddenly, Life at the extreme doesn't seem like just a catchy slogan.

Steve Hayles - navigator

What's a Chinese Gybe? See this Quicktime video clip of of Grant Dalton in Amer Sport : http://www.nautorchallenge.com/html/play.asp?movieid=129&rs=0

The Cayard Chronicles - 2

From: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN LEG FOUR DAY 7
Sent: 25 February 2006
To: DUTY OFFICER
Sent: 25 February 2006 12:06
Position: 48,14.86S , 135,49.96W
Speed: 20 knots, Course: 88 deg.

This one is going to be hard to write. We are slamming pretty violently on a 100 true wind angle reach, even though we are only going about 20 knots.

I just came down below from steering the boat for a couple of hours and could not help but think that tonight is one of those nights, that if any normal person were on the boat, they would think we were all nuts. Picture this; on deck, it is a caustic environment; pitch black, drizzling and blowing 25 knots. The spray is pelting you in the face and chest as you stand exposed at the wheel. You are wheeling this 70 foot boat around, heeling over at up to 28 degrees as you go catapulting down the waves that you can't see. You are clipped on because the amount of heel is so steep that if you lose you balance, you will fall 15 feet to the rushing water below on the leeward said of the boat.

We are traveling along at 20 knots average with the apparent wind angle (the wind you feel on your face) coming from 50 degrees off centerline which pitches the spray and wind in your face at about 35 knots.. The helm has a very light feel on the wheel as the front half of the boat is out of the water most of the time. Then you think about where you are, surfing across the bottom of the planet, thousands of miles from anywhere, and even you begin to think that this is crazy.

Down below in these conditions, it isn't much better than being on deck. When you try to get dressed, it is all you can do to not get thrown down and smash your face into the leeward hull 15 feet below. The noise is and ride would be like being inside a 55 gallon drum and being dragged down as cobble stone road. As for the nav-station, you have to wedge your knees up under the table to hold on while you use your hands to type or run the computer for routing, etc.. really good ab workout. I think riding in the nav station in these is similar to riding a bull. Then you hit a wave and
it is a violent smash. Water is hard when you run into it at 20 knots.

Everything shakes and vibrates for a few seconds, the lights and computer screens flicker, the keel makes a few loud popping sounds, but we all continue just as though nothing had happened. And then it all happens again.

Since we have all these great cameras all over this boat including in the nav station, I am filming myself typing this report just to document how difficult it is.

Well that is 45 minutes worth, about all I have in me for today.

Paul Cayard - skipper
Pirates of the Caribbean

NZ Racing

Countback decides Zeddie Nationals

Wellington sailors Ross Giblin and Chris McCarthy have won the 2006 Z Class ‘Nationals’ held in Napier at the weekend.

The Z class is one of the oldest sailing fleets still competing in New Zealand, with many of the boats handed down through the generations. Twenty Z-Class sailing boats competed in the ‘Nationals’, which were sailed from the Napier Sailing Club in light winds and choppy seas.

Part of the 20 strong fleet line up for the Zeddie Nationals (Photo: Hilary Parker)

Over the years they have been modified to become highly competitive and demanding two-handed boats to sail and are now mostly sailed out of Wellington at the Paremata and Plimmerton boating clubs.

The ‘Nationals’ was a closely fought contest of six races over three days starting Friday (Feb 24).

The battle went down to the very last race with Giblin (skipper) and McCarthy (crew), of the Paremata club, having to do well to win.

In the end they were just one second behind their closest rivals John Bulleyment and Kevin Saunders, from the Plimmerton Boating Club.

Giblin and McCarthy (Hilary Parker)

The overall winner was then decided on a countback. Giblin and McCarthy’s three wins topped Bulleyment and Saunders’ two, knocking them into second place.

Giblin says the win was incredibly satisfying.

'Going into the competition we were hoping for a top five placing and were delighted to take out the championships. The moderate sea breezes suited us well.'

Third place went to Bruce Bradey and Laurie Greene from the Plimmerton Boating Club.

The overall handicap winners were Ross Barcham and Richard Ireland also from the Plimmerton club. Second place went to Robin Auld and Steve Usbatch and third to Andy Mills and Paul Thompson.

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Kiwi Campaigns

Kiwis on for top ten place in 18ft Worlds

Brad Marsh reports from the 18ft Worlds in Sydney:

"Well we only have two more races to go. Yesterday was our lay day and many spent it recovering from a session at the Rag and Famish Hotel in North Sydney on Thursday night.

(Photo: Andrea Francolini)

Thursdays race was the best yet for the Fishers Fine Arts team who finished in fourth place. After tacking onto port off the start line they lead the fleet to the first right hand shift and used that to centralise themselves in the race course and in second spot. Rounding the top mark right on the tail of Pegasus racing we held our position until getting stuck in the bad air of a spectator ferry and letting two boats pass us. Having been in this top end of the fleet a few times in the regatta and watching ourselves slip back we were determined to fight hard and not let anyone else pass us.

Finishing the race in fourth spot we held off the series leaders Asko Appliances and our closest competitor, Appliances Onlines.

The winner of the race was the defending champions Club Marine, followed by Pegasus Racing and then the Rag and Famish Hotel was third.

Pil Airey (Flow) had a 13th place after struggling up the first work and SsangYong NZ (Graeme Catley) had a 26th position.

(Photo; Andrea Francolini)

Now that we have completed five races we are able to drop our worst result and this has changed the results somewhat.
Asko Appliances, Pegasus Racing and Club Marine head the top three places.
Fishers Fine Arts / Helly Hansen are the best NZ boat tied for ninth place, CT Sailbattens is in 15th place overall and SsangYong NZ is in 27th place.

Thats all for now, I will give you a report on Monday afternoon after packing the boats into the container with the final results

Thank you to our sponsors, www.fishersfinearts.co.nz , Helly Hansen, Southern Ocean Ropes, Dimension Polyant, SsangYong, CT Sailbattens, Fyfe Sails and NZ Rigging
An archive of all the updates and photos can be seen at www.thedreamteam.co.nz "

Brad Marsh

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NZ Racing

56th Leander Trophy Attracts New Boat, New Sailors

Organizers expect 15 boats on the starting line when the Leander Trophy heads to Christchurch March 9-12 at the Naval Point Club Lyttelton.

Tradition dictates that it's the Canterbury R Class Squadron's turn to host the regatta (the location rotates among Auckland, Wellington, and Canterbury each year). This year, however, it seems even more appropriate that the 56th running of the Leander be in the class's home waters.

Subwoofer and Dimension Polyant scream downwind at last year's Leander.(Rclass.org)

The R class, known for pushing the limits of yacht design and construction techniques, started in Canterbury in the 1930s when the Canterbury Yachting Association reorganized the T class as the R class. The new class invoked minimal design restrictions: a maximum length of 12'9", minimum beam of 4'6", sail area of 110 square feet, and a maximum spinnaker size of 100 square feet. Everything else – including crew placement, hull shape, and sail design – was left to the sailors' discretion.

The class really came into its own in the 1950s when the likes of Graham Mander, Peter Mander, and Brian Wall brought about new innovations to the developmental fleet. Some changes were quite controversial, while others seemed like a natural progression in technology. Early boats featured cold-moulded construction, adjustable jib leads, and trapezes – all quite sophisticated for their time.

In the 1960s, Gavin and Colin Cooke introduced the false floor and extremely low freeboard. Also in the 1960s, Brian Treleaven debuted twin trapezes in the class. One of the bigger recent additions came in 1985, with the addition of spinnaker prods.

The L2 (left) and L3 (second from left) hull shapes are drastically different from one another.

Compared to the hulls made from the Woof mould (the other four boats pictured),

the differences are even more striking.(Rclass.org)

The tradition of innovation will continue at this year's Leander when the newest R – with a hard chine, retractable wings, and all-carbon construction – makes its debut on the national scene. The boat, the L3 Nuplex Davie Norris, is the brain child of Diamond Harbour naval architect Dan Leech (who also crews on the boat) and builder Sean Milner, who believe it to be the next step in the evolution of the R.

"When you see the L3, the Woofs, the L1 and the L2 all lined up on their sides, it's amazing to see how the design of the boats has changed in the last 10 years," Milner says. "With each design, you learn what works and what doesn't. Dan designed the L1 based on how he thought the Woof design could be improved. The L2 incorporated improvements on the L1. The L3 was a radical departure from the concepts tried on Rs before, but it seems to be working."

While there's excitement about the new design's potential, the class is still challenged by a decline in numbers. It's the same story facing racing fleets around the country: too many races, too little time, and more shore-side commitments. (A schedule conflict with the 18' skiffs racing in Sydney will prevent at least two Leander regulars from attending this year's regatta).

So it's also worth noting that at least three of the boats set to be on the starting line at the Leander are rookies: Michael Rhodes and Jamie White of Timaru in Crack R; Rhys Jones of Ashburton and a yet unnamed crew in Custard Square; and Josh and Daniel Hughes of Christchurch in Pork Sword.

For the remainder of this story see: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=21874

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The Cayard Chronicles

From: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN LEG FOUR DAY 4
Sent: 22 February 2006
Subject: Slim pickens for the Fre-eco

The wildlife watch has been a bit fruitless this week so far, however there was some glorious company on day one and two from grey headed albatross and yellow nose albatross. Solid numbers of 2-4 at a time, inthe sunny weather it was thrilling to watch them, and from time to time a bloke actually looked at the spinnaker luff as well,.... so what if it was inside out !!

Pirates of the Caribbean nailing it in the Southern Ocean. Photo Sally Collison/Disney

Great wanderer alby showed up too, but only for the first coupla days, and today and yesterday is sooty terns galore by themselves. One puny little flying fish hitched a ride but forgot to get off, so the little fella is dried out solid now.

We smoked past the Chatham Islands in a cloud of spray. Plenty white pointers up tharrrr, we didn't see one, but he was lurking under us
somewhere.

No whales as yet, but ever optimistic the big blue fella might rear one day, never seen one in my life yet.

When the sky clears the atmosphere is "clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze" at night, and the air is getting crisp at 52degS. Looking at the water maker filter, it is picking up very little in the way of silt or sediment, so the water is clean clean clean here.

So far its pretty nice for the fre-eco sheik, he's about the weirdest creature out here right now ! I'm cultivating my own festering kingdom betwx my toes, and it should be a full blown green culture blossom by the time we reach some tropical spring conditions round that cor-Horner.

Roll on, the wild animal kingdom.....

For a wild ride in the Volvo OR click here: (either view online using Quiktime, or download, save the file, and then view offline on a large hi-res screen)

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Tugboat's start shots - Leg 4 Volvo Ocean Race

Volvo start coverage

(Photo's by Tugboat - see URL's below for full gallerys of the Leg 3 finish, movistar repairs and Leg 4 Start)

Peter Montgomery provided live commentary together with Ross Telford on Newstalk ZB.

The Volvo Ocean Race starts leg 4 in Wellington (by www.Volvooceanrace.com )

To hear the 'Voice of Yachting' click on http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/audio2/newstalkzb.asx and hear Peter Montgomery live from 1420hrs NZT to 1500hrs NZT later you can go back into the Archive and listen to the commentary on http://www.newstalk.co.nz/weekondemand.asp?menu=2&menuitem=3
just enter the time (Sunday) and time and you can hear the commentary from this link for the next seven days.

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Scene in Sydney

The Kiwi 18ft skiff teams gear up for the 18ft Skiff World Championships in Sydney

Racing starts Saturday

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The Tugboat Files:

Click here to see more of Tugboat's fine work from the Volvo OR "pitstop" in Wellington VOR2006 photo album - Photobucket.com or for the latest on repairs see Running Repairs

Ever wondered what it feels like to sail at 25knots plus on a Volvo 70?

Click here to find out: http://www.piratesracing.org/Chopper_Pirates.mov or you can download the full file (4.7MB) and run offline using Quicktime

For TVNZ's Martin Tasker's report on the Leg 3 finish of the Volvo OR click here or to see his report a day from the finish click here

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Does it get any closer than this?

In the battle for first place, the Spanish entry, movistar, skippered by Dutchman Bouwe Bekking, finally broke the offshore domination of the Dutch yacht ABN AMRO ONE in the Volvo Ocean Race, by crossing the finish line in Wellington today, nine seconds ahead of the black boat, skippered by Kiwi Mike Sanderson from Auckland.

Photos by www.Volvooceanrace.com

The finish canon signalled Movistar’s finish at 13:09:26 local time (00:09:26 GMT) with ABN AMRO ONE following at 13:09:35 (00:09:35 GMT). As he stepped ashore, winning skipper Bouwe Bekking said:

“This is a really sweet victory. We just managed to hang in there so we are really happy. We have a really fantastic team and a strong after guard in Stuart Bannatyne, Chris Nicholson and myself and it means that we could swap over so we all managed to get some sleep.

“This leg has been unbelievably tense. We managed to get a little lead and it was gone in no time. New Zealand is a nice leg to win and after the start we had to the race this feels particularly special.

“The boat is in good shape. We have no serious damage and nothing too dramatic has happened.”

Stuart Banatyne (movistar) from Wellington, said:

“That was an epic leg. It was unbelievable to be the first boat into Wellington. I never thought it would come down to a one boat length win, but a win is a win! This is where I grew up, where I learnt to sail, and it is just fantastic to be back here. This is just really awesome and so special to me.”

Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABNAMRO ONE, who finished second, commented:

“It was a bit sad for us but great for movistar. We lost a 40 mile lead and that is pretty tough but we have had some awesome racing over the last 24 hours so we are pleased that we managed to hang on. We can’t be upset, we have extended our lead by adding six points to our score and that is why we are here.

The dockside in Queen’s Wharf, Wellington, was lined with spectators, as the New Zealand Army performed the Haka, in honour of movistar. Helicopters buzzed over head as the climax to leg three, 1,450 miles from Melbourne to Wellington, became more nail-biting by the minute.

For the remainder of this story see; www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=21767

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Lead Changes in last Miles of Volvo OR

As leg three of the Volvo Ocean Race comes to a nail biting end, Bouwe Bekking and his crew on movistar has stolen ABN AMRO ONE’s (Mike Sanderson) top spot as the wind drops in Cook Strait. But will they be able to keep it up until the finish in Wellington, or will Kiwi Mike Sanderson celebrate a third offshore win in his home country? The answer is predicted to come by 2100 GMT tonight (1000hrs NZT).

Johnathan Swain keeps an eye on ABN AMRO ONE from on deck on

Volvo Open 70 movistar as the boats head in towards Wellington Leg 3 (Volvo OR)

Massive gains were made in the past 12 hours by all the fleet except ABN AMRO ONE as they had reached Cape Farewell on the north western tip of New Zealand’s South Island and the fickle breeze. At 0400 GMT movistar was 32 miles behind the Dutch yacht, by 1000 GMT they were neck and neck and at 1300 they had a slim lead of one nautical mile. They are now level pegging with just 49 miles to go to the finish line.

Bouwe spoke earlier about finally managing to get into his sleeping bag, but was of course still fully dressed in his wet weather gear, ready for any eventuality like all the crew. He described the conditions that brought him up and past ABN AMRO ONE today. ‘We had some fantastic sailing last night, not so much breeze, but big swells, which are coming from a perfect direction, so we are surfing them down all the time. Everybody is working hard, to get the maximum out of movistar.’

The yachts have all been gybing downwind trying different tactics to make gains on their rivals. It is currently early morning in Cook Strait and as dawn approaches, the tide will change and the fleet will slow, causing more bunching.

For the remainder of this story see: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=21749

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Kiwis at Toshiba OK Dinghy Worlds Day 3

Aussies chase hard on day 2 of the Toshiba OK Worlds' Lynne Burton

What looked like a gentle breeze in the morning quickly turned in to one of the windiest days over both regattas with gusts of up to 28 knots and a short steep chop.

What many though would be a light regatta is quickly turning into an event for the big boys!

Once again the New Zealand team put on a strong performance in race 5 of the regatta with Karl Purdie fourth, Adrian Mannering sixth and Russell Wood eleventh.

In the second race of the day Wakatere sailor Russell Wood put in a commanding performance leading the race from start to finish in conditions that were at the upper limit of the allowable wind range.

Karl Purdie and Greg Wilcox also put in good performances coming fourth and sixth respectively.

In the overall results Wellington Sailor Karl Purdie is the top Kiwi in second overall with fellow Wellington sailor Greg Wilcox fifth.

Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow.

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OK Worlds - Great Day 2 for the Kiwis

Greg Wilcox (522) winner of both races, is chased by Kevin Purdie (NZL) Lynne Burton

With a lighter breeze on the second day of racing in the 2006 OK Dinghy World Championships, the New Zealand sailors stamped their authority on the days racing. The wind was quite unstable and produced some major wind shifts, especially during the second race.

Race three was led from start to finish by 2002 World Champion Greg Wilcox, closely followed by Worser Bay team mate Karl Purdie. Race four was also won by Wilcox with Wakatere sailor Mark Perrow second, Purdie third and Russell Wood fourth, completing the kiwi domination of the day.

Wilcox said after the days racing. ‘It was a good days sailing, but there’s still a long way to go.’

Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow with the weather set to return to the 20 knot winds of the previous week.

Full results on www.okworlds2006.sydney.net

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OK World Championship Day 1

'2006 OK Worlds Day 1 - Jorgen Lindhartsen (DEN)

is chased by a pack of Australians and Kiwis' Lynne Burton

Just for a change, the wind blew at Lake Macquarie on day 1 of the 2006 OK Dinghy World Championships. What was looking to be the first light wind day of the two week-long regattas, abruptly ended and a 30 knot southerly swept in as if a switch has been turned on. By the start of the first race it had moderated t

o 20 knots.

The Kiwis had an average day on the water, with only four boats in top ten places in both races. Race 1 saw Ade Mannering 4th and Mark Perrow fifth.
In race two Greg Wilcox was first Kiwi in 7th followed by Steve McDowell in 8th.

Overall we have ten Kiwis in the top 20.

Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow in similar conditions.

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New champions in OKI 24 hour Race
'

The OKI 24 Hour Race was sailed on North Shore’s Lake Pupuke over the weekend.

40 boats competed in the OKI 24 hour race on Lake Pupuke' Richard Gladwell

Conditions for the regatta were generally light, meaning that the boats were able to sailed single-handed throughout the 24 hour period. Skippers sailed the boats in shifts of one to two hours maximum, before being required to change.

Originally sailed in the Rothmans Father and Son Class, in one or two man mode, the event had a ‘time-out’ for ten years as local Council planning requirements became too difficult for organiser compliance.

However last year the event was revived sailing Laser class yachts and now the event is back on full song with a fleet of 40 competing yachts – all sponsored – in a major fundraiser for the Murrays Bay Sailing Club’s junior program.

The success of the event can be measured in the number of junior sailors who have gone through the Murrays Bay program and are now coming out to put something back into the club by lending their support to the event. About ten Olympic sailors competed in the event, and some very competitive racing ensued between the 40 boats or 80 sailors who sailed.

One innovation this year was the introduction of 'The Legends' boat, sponsored by 'The Mad Butcher' and which was sailed by top sailors like Dean Barker, Ben Ainslie, Grant Beck and Peter Lester and was kept alive in the small hours of Sunday morning by a keen team from the Junior ranks of the Murrays Bay Sailing Club.

Winner of the Open event was top Laser sailor, Michael Bullot who teamed up with Tom Slingsby (AUS) to defeat the defending champions, YNZ Olympic squad member, Andrew Murdoch and Matt Blakey.

In the womens event, last year's winner, Jo Aleh, also a YNZ Olympic Squad member in the Laser Radial, teamed up with Olivia Powrie to beat the other half of the winning combination for 2005,

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Belgians win NZ Tornados title at Takapuna

'Double Olympic medalist, Rex Sellers, explains a point on Tornado sailing to Sebbe Godefroid (L) and Carolijn Brouwer (R) who won the 2006 Nationals in the Tornado at Takapuna.' Richard Gladwell

Two races were sailed on the final day of the 2006 NZ Tornado Nationals, with Takapuna turning on sparkling seas and an average breeze of 9 - 11 knots.

The Belgian combination of Carolijn Brouwer and Sebbe Godefroid won the last race in the regatta to clinch the title from NZL combination of Aaron McIntosh and Bruce Kendall, who rounded out the event with a second and third placing.

Surprise packet on the final day was class newcomer, Scott Kennedy who sailed with top Finn sailor, Dan Slater, for much of the event, but switch to a ring-in Australian crew, Josh Chant, saw them win the first race on Sunday. The Belgian crew won the final race and take the title.

A third and a second for Aaron McIntosh and Bruce Kendall meant they finished second overall to CarolijnBrouwer and Sebbe Godefroid. Kendall and McIntosh had caught the fast starting Kennedy/Cant combination just before the finish, however by sailing the wrong course, Kendall/McIntosh let the young Kiwi's slip through, followed by the Belgians. In the end, the result did not alter the outcome of the series which would still have gone to the Belgian crew on a counback.

Third overall was another first season combination of Brett Sellers and Nigel Williams, who placed a very consistent third in each race all week, after opening their score with a couple of DNF's on the first day.

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Christchurch crew take NZ 470 Nationals

Christchurch crew of Stephen and Philip Keen won the 2006 NZ 470 Nationals without having to start the final race.

Geoff Woolley and Mark Overington

The crew from Naval Point won the opening four races if the 10 race regatta, and got away to a good early jump on the fleet. However from the mid-point of the regatta the racing between the top three crews became much more even - and in the final results, just five points covered the top three overall.

New combination of Andrew Brown and David Healy, had a good trail-end to the regatta winning three of the five races. Skipper Andrew Brown reports:

'The top three were all racing hard with competitive close racing.

'I jumped in with David Healy as crew starting two days before the regatta. Our rate of improvement throughout the regatta was good, being able to win three of the last four races. We finished third overall but in the end we were only one point off second place.

'The top juniors were Mike Snow-Hansen and Josh McCormack showing huge improvements in their sailing ability throughout the regatta.'

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Kiwi Campaigns

Battle for second goes to Russell Wood

'
The final race of the 2006 TOSHIBA OK Dinghy Australian and Interdominion Championships was sailed in the lightest winds of the week, with large shifts coming through from both sides of the course.

OK rounding windward mark final day' Lynne Burton

The overall title was already decided, but the other medal positions and top ten were wide open. Second and third placed overnight Russell Wood (NZL) and Nick Craig (GBR) were tied on 17 points with Andre Blasse (AUS) just four behind them, while just nine points separated fifth to ninth.

The wind had turned southerly again and the lighter winds at force 2-3 also brought the shiftiest conditions of the week. While the left seemed favoured most of the time, the right often looked good, bringing boats through the fleet. Those who opted for the middle took a gamble on finding one of the many large holes in the wind.

Both Craig and Wood started near the pin end and headed left, but Mark Williams (AUS) started the near committee boat and found a large shift to cross the fleet and lead round the first mark. He gradually extended his lead throughout the race to win by a considerable margin.

Behind him the battle for second place was turning into an epic. Wood rounded the first mark second after reaching in from the left side of the course in a large shift. Craig did the same and rounding about 12th. On the succeeding legs Craig gradually pulled through the boats to lead Wood round the final leeward mark.

The final beat turned into a gruelling tacking dual between the two, with Craig looking to be in charge. However, within sight of the finish line he dropped his mainsheet and capsized to windward to let Wood through to take second overall. Mark Perrow (NZL) took advantage to finish third in the race with Andre Blasse in fourth. Craig finally finished fifth to make sure of third overall.

Roger Blasse finished in ninth place, but had already won the Australian Nationals for the tenth time and the Interdominions for the fourth time. The TOSHIBA OK Dinghy World Championships starts on Monday

Zephyr Jubilee attracts over 80 competitors

Over 80 sailors competed in the 50th Jubilee Nationals for the Zephyr class off Milford beach, with race management provided by the Takapuna Boating Club.

Class designer, Des Townson, sailing the original Zephyr class

The nine race series was shortened down to seven races after a combination of light winds and a south westerly breeze in excess of 30kts on the Sunday, tested the fleet and the race officer.

The event was won by four times national champion, Glen McKenzie, who took his fifth title, who only once finished out of the top five, and won three of the seven races sailed. Second was Steve Pyatt (Murrays Bay) who was competing in his first Zephyr nationals, with current 3.7 national champion, Mark O’Brien in third overall.

However it was 67 year old Jimmy Gilpin of Tauranga who stole the show, finishing fourth in his first ever Zephyr nationals, even though he has been sailing the class for three years. Gilpin is the only person to have won the P-class, Tanner Tauranga Cup double, three times – which he achieved in 1951, 1952 and 1953. The previous winner of the Tanner Cup, in 1950, was Des Townson who went on to design the Zephyr class.

At the prizegiving for the Jubilee Nationals, Gilpin recalled receiving a telegram of congratulation from Townson, back in 1951. With the passing of time, the gesture had slipped Townson's memory, however Gilpin still has the telegram and pulled the original out of the glove-box of his car for all to see 55 years later!

In fifth overall was Murray Sargisson, another Zephyr stalwart who has won the national title seven times previously.

The trophies for the age groups was shared amoungst the top four with Steve Pyatt taking the title for the 40-49yr olds, Murray Sargisson took the 50-59yr old title with Jimmy Gilpin winning the 60yrs plus.

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