Portsmouth to host America’s Cup

BY ADMIN • MAY 4, 2015 • HOMEMOSAIC, NEWS, RACING • COMMENTS OFF • 69

The English south coast naval port, which is home to Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team, is to host the first event of the 35th America’s Cup cycle. This follows the withdrawal for the Italian Luna Rossa team from competing in the Cup, and the controversial cancellation of an America’s Cup World Series event in Auckland, New Zealand.

The race area for the Portsmouth event, which will be sailed in foiling wing-sailed 45ft catamarans, will be close to Southsea sea front, allowing on shore spectators to get a great view of the action.

However, with some 30,000 yachts moored within a three-hour sail of the venue, there’s also scope for a considerable number of people to view proceedings from designated viewing areas on the water.

The event promises to be the most popular sailing spectacle in British waters for many decades, with almost 100,000 tickets for on shore spectators already sold. The race village will be open from Thursday July 24, when there will be a parade of sail and other events. The following day, in addition to the practice races there will be a display by the RAF’s Red Arrows display team.

The racing will consist of two races per day on Saturday July 25 and Sunday July 26, following a practice race day on Friday July 24. Points collected in the America’s Cup World Series in 2015 and 2016 will count towards the America’s Cup Challenger Series that’s scheduled to be held in 2017.

The event will overlap with the bi-centenary celebrations for the Royal Yacht Squadron, less than 10 miles away in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Yachts that will be making the pilgrimage to one of the world’s oldest and most influential yacht clubs include four of the giant J-Class yachts that competed for the America’s Cup in the 1920s and 1930s. In addition there will be a grand-prix fleet including some of the planet’s most successful contemporary racing yachts, including the Ker 46 Tonnere of Breskens, Elan 40 Flair, TP52 Gladiator and Grand Soleil 43 Quokka.

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Who says climate change is all bad? Certainly not the intrepid sailors who are planning to race across the legendary Northwest Passage.

These adventurous, some may say foolhardy, yachtsmen are planning to take advantage of global warming and the changes in the arctic pack ice to follow in the footsteps, or should that be wake, of Norwegian explorer Amundsen.

Sailing The Arctic Race (STAR) is due to start in the summer of 2017 and will run from New York (USA) to Victoria (Canada), sailing north to Halifax and Greenland, before heading west through the Northwest Passage, rounding Alaska to Dutch Harbour and finally arriving in Victoria for a well-earned cup of tea.

“The loss of sea ice allows a short window of time to cross this Arctic area when it was absolutely impossible a few years ago. In spite of its dramatic consequences for the environment, climate change offers an incredible opportunity to bring world-class skippers to these magical spaces where no one has yet dared to race,” says Guillaume Henry, the race’s Chief Operating Officer.

STAR will see the world’s top sailing teams racing the new one-design volcanic fibre racing yacht, the SYCC46, aka the STAR46, designed by Austrian-based Yacht Construction Consulting and made out of rock. Yes, you read that correctly, the hull and deck of the STAR46 will be a sandwich-laminate construction with the inner and outer layers made from FIPOFIX UD volcanic basalt fibre around a balsa core.

Basalt fibre has a similar chemical composition to glass fibre but has better strength characteristics and, unlike most glass fibres, is highly resistant to salt attack making it a great material for boat building.

Making basalt fibre is easy all you need is basalt and a very hot oven. The quarried rock is washed, heated to 1,400°C, and then extruded through small nozzles to produce continuous filaments. Nothing added and nothing taken away – just hot rock thread.

It’s at this point the FIPOFIX (FIbre – POsitioning – FIXation) magic comes into play. The basalt fibre is positioned and fixed into place creating a strong unidirectional fabric. The patented process ensures the brittle thread is laid without breaking. This is apparently much better than traditional methods of cloth production such as weaving, stapling and sewing, which damage up to 40% of the filaments.

The STAR46 won’t be the first volcanic yacht to hit the water. In 2014, FIPOFIX launched its first yacht, the Proof of Principle Open16. The 16 footer was piloted on her maiden journey by Harald Sedlacek who sailed her singlehandedly across the Atlantic not once, but twice, with no damage to the volcanic basalt hull.

Harald is the son of extreme sailor Norbert Sedlacek who also happens to be a FIPOFIX chief executive. Sedlacek Sr knows a thing or two about sailing in icy conditions having completed a solo Antarctic circumnavigation in year 2000 spending 93 days at sea covering a distance of 14,315 nautical miles.

The STAR46 will differ significantly from its diminutive FIPOFIX predecessor. Not only is it significantly larger but it has many safety features that will make it as “ice safe” as possible. The 46 has dual hulls, a crash box, a hinged canting keel and six watertight compartments.

The STAR46 fleet will be built in Canada by Philbrook’s Boat Yard. Construction will begin in the summer of 2015 with the first hull expected to be launched before the end of the year.

At the moment there are eight STAR46 hulls planned but if enough teams sign up there will be as many as 12 built. Currently only the Spanish have confirmed but the organisers are in negotiation with a further seven countries and there’s still two years to go.

Ironically (comfortingly?) the STAR46 is made out of a 100%-recyclable material so production shouldn’t hasten the melting of those ice caps…

sailingthearcticrace.org

www.fipofix.com

www.open16.com

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Team Brunel were on Tuesday battling towards possible victory in Lisbon on Leg 7, just over two weeks after skipper Bouwe Bekking (NED) had declared that their challenge for the overall Volvo Ocean Race trophy was likely to fall short (full story below).

– Skipper Bekking well placed to bury bad memories

– But MAPFRE and Dongfeng hot on heels of leaders

– Follow the race to the line on our innovative App

ALICANTE, Spain, May 26 – Team Brunel were on Tuesday battling towards possible victory in Lisbon on Leg 7, just over two weeks after skipper Bouwe Bekking (NED) had declared that he feared their challenge for the overall Volvo Ocean Race trophy was likely to fall short.

The Dutch boat had eked out a 6.6-nautical mile (nm) advantage over MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) in optimum sailing conditions during the final ‘sprint’ towards the Portuguese capital in the transatlantic stage from Newport, Rhode Island (Tuesday, 1244 UTC).

However, Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) were just 3nm astern of the Spanish boat while the race’s overall leaders, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR), were lagging in fifth behind Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA).

Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR), meanwhile, were still trekking north of the fleet, but had lost the stronger breeze which had helped the women’s crew make up an 80nm deficit on the pack on Sunday (see panel above).

So the 12th edition’s second and final 2,800nm transatlantic crossing is, once again, heading for a nerve-wracking, too-tight-to-call climax with the latest predictions forecasting a finish of around 0600 UTC (0700 local time)  on Wednesday morning in Lisbon.

Victory in the leg will surely taste sweeter than most for Team Brunel skipper Bekking.

The 51-year-old had to order the abandonment of his sinking boat, movistar, in the 2005-06 edition at the same stage in the mid-Atlantic, a painful episode he had assured reporters last week that he had put behind him.

On arrival in third place in Newport earlier this month, he had glumly conceded that his record-equalling seventh bid for offshore sailing’s leading event looked to be heading for disappointment, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 10 points clear of his crew.

However, if the current positions stay the same on this stage, they will cut that deficit by four points and leave the Dutch with a mathematical chance, at least, of catching the Emiratis in the last two legs to Lorient and Gothenburg, the latter via a pit-stop in The Hague.

Certainly, the mood on board Team Brunel early on Tuesday was buoyant, but totally focused on the finishing line.

Their closest pursuers, MAPFRE, however, are equally determined to snatch their second leg victory following their triumph in the fourth stage from Sanya, China, to Auckland, New Zealand.

MAPFRE’S skipper Iker Martínez, the joint 2004 Olympic 49er champion with co-skipper Xabi Fernández (ESP), wrote: “Even with Team Brunel enjoying a very good advantage, the winner will not be decided until we cross the finish line. That being said, the three top boats are also in a very, very good position with regards to the rest.

“We are now focusing our energy on making the right decision as to where to cross the Traffic Separation Scheme ahead, and sailing as fast as possible as to keep up with Dongfeng and Team Brunel, and ahead of the chasing boats.”

The boats’ finish in Lisbon is to coincide with the arrival there of the rebuilt Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS), which is expected to reach the city in the early hours of the morning via ship and road following a journey from Bergamo, Italy.

The fleet, seven-strong for the first time since November 29, when Vestas Wind struck a reef in the Indian Ocean on Leg 2, will then have an 10-day maintenance period before returning to competitive action on June 6 for the In-Port Race, before the Leg 8 departure for Lorient a day later.

Current latest standings (low points wins, In-Port Race Series splits ties): 1) Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 11 pts, 2) Dongfeng Race Team 17, 3) Team Brunel 21, 4) Team Alvimedica 24, 5) MAPFRE 24, 6) Team SCA 35, 7) Team Vestas Wind (Denmark) 44.

via Lisbon gears up for thrilling finale | Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

The ISAF-appointed independent international jury will be hearing four cases during the Lisbon stopover after alleged breaches of sailing rules during Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race, it was announced today (full story below).ALICANTE, Spain, May 26 – The ISAF-appointed independent international jury will be hearing four cases during the Lisbon stopover after alleged breaches of sailing rules during Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race, it was announced today.Team SCA are to answer two cases: that they sailed against the traffic flow in a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), and, additionally, into a Rhode Island Sound exclusion zone.Dongfeng Race Team and MAPFRE are also facing protests that they sailed against the traffic flow in a TSS.The Race Committee has brought all the cases to the jury, If a penalty is to be given, the jury has discretion on what it will be.No date has yet been set for the hearings although race organisers say they want to have them settled as soon as possible following the fleet’s expected arrival in Lisbon on Wednesday (May 27).Full details of the cases are available on the Race Noticeboard.

via International jury to hear four cases during Lisbon stopover| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

A powerful 24-hour surge by Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) piled the pressure on overall race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) in Leg 7 on Monday, as the battle to finish first in Lisbon gathered pace (full story below).

– Team SCA surge leaves race leaders trailing last on Leg 7

– Atlantic ‘drag race’ ahead all the way to Lisbon

– Fleet expected to arrive on Wednesday morning

– Follow the action all the way on our fabulous App

ALICANTE, Spain, May 25 – A powerful 24-hour surge by Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) piled the pressure on overall race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) in Leg 7 on Monday, as the battle to finish first in Lisbon gathered pace.

Team SCA navigator Libby Greenhalgh (GBR) had decided on a northern course to skirt the Azores High in the mid-Atlantic where there was more wind, and by early on Monday, they had all but wiped out an earlier 100-nautical mile (nm) deficit on the leaders to bring them right into play.

By 0942 UTC on Monday, they had overtaken Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and were challenging other boats in the pack, which was being led by Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED), just over 17nm ahead in the 2,800nm stage from Newport, Rhode Island, USA, to Lisbon, with MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) hard on their heels (see panel above).

The push by Team SCA left Azzam in an unaccustomed position at the back of the fleet, with their six-point advantage at the top of the overall standings under real threat.

Before the race started last October, their British skipper Ian Walker had targeted a top-three podium finish on each leg to secure overall victory.

Until this point, that plan has been carried out to perfection and has included two leg wins, leaving Walker’s crew with what looked like a firm grip at the top of the standings with two stages to go after this leg.

The Chinese entry, Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA), are currently third, just 1nm astern of Team Brunel.

In the overall standings, they trail Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing by six points in second place and have the opportunity to make big inroads into that lead with a strong finish in this transatlantic leg.

Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA), chasing a first leg victory, are right in the mix of the action too, just 10.7nm adrift and holding fourth place.

The six boats are now heading for a ‘drag race’ – straight-line racing in good winds and sea state – for Lisbon. They are expected to arrive on Wednesday (May 27) morning between 0500-1200 UTC.

After an 11-day stopover in Lisbon for boat maintenance, the fleet will restart on June 7 for the final two legs to France (Lorient) and Sweden (Gothenburg), the latter via a pit-stop in The Hague.

The race concludes in Gothenburg on June 27 after covering 38,739nm in nine months and visiting 11 ports and every continent.

Current latest standings (low points wins, In-Port Race Series splits ties): 1) Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 11 pts, 2) Dongfeng Race Team 17, 3) Team Brunel 21, 4) Team Alvimedica 24, 5) MAPFRE 24, 6) Team SCA 35, 7) Team Vestas Wind (Denmark) 44.

via Piling on the pressure| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

Team Vestas Wind’s (Chris Nicholson/AUS) incredible journey to re-join the Volvo Ocean Race was nearing its final lap on Friday when the rebuilt Vestas Wind emerged out of the Persico boatyard ready for the trip to Lisbon (full story below).

– Rebuilt ‘wreck’ emerges from Persico yard

– Skipper Nicholson acknowledges ‘huge effort’

– Thrilling mid-Atlantic battle to clinch Leg 7

– Keep up with Vestas Wind’s journey to Lisbon

– Follow all the action on and off water here

ALICANTE, Spain, May 22 – Team Vestas Wind’s (Chris Nicholson/AUS) incredible journey to re-join the Volvo Ocean Race was nearing its final lap on Friday when the rebuilt Vestas Wind emerged out of the Persico boatyard ready for the trip to Lisbon.

Australian skipper Nicholson hailed the return to the event as ‘a modern day miracle’ after the team’s Volvo Ocean 65 smashed into an Indian Ocean reef on November 29 during Leg 2, and was initially considered a write-off.

In a huge logistic operation managed by GAC Pindar, the boat was skilfully hoisted off the rock and coral reef on to a Maersk Line ship, and transported via Malaysia to Perisco’s yard in Bergamo, Italy, for a rebuild.

The team had long planned their target to be on the start line of Leg 8 departure on June 7 from Lisbon to Lorient, France.

It was always, however, a very ambitious goal.

A full build of a new Volvo Ocean 65 takes around eight months to complete – the transformation of Vestas Wind from a wreck to a fully-compliant, one-design, race boat for the world’s leading offshore race, has taken four months.

The boat’s emergence into the Italian sunlight on Friday, ahead of its loading onto a truck for a midnight start to the journey to Lisbon, was witnessed by Nicholson.

“It’s good to be on the move. We’re getting out of here. It’s the right time. We’re one day in front of schedule and hopefully we have a faster shipping time, which might actually mean one or two extra days out on the water before our start in Lisbon. So it’s all good,” Nicholson said.

“You think of the journey everyone has been on since the reef and to be here with a boat functioning, ready to go, is a huge achievement for everyone. There were so many things along the way that almost stopped us completely.

“It’s effectively a new boat. There were some old bits from our previous boat – I’m still not sure what to call it. I don’t know whether it’s our ‘new boat’ or our ‘old boat’. I guess it’s going to be a combination of the both.”

He paid handsome tribute to the workers of Persico for completing the mission of returning the smashed boat to the start line in such a short period of time.

“If you had sat back at the start and looked at it on paper, you wouldn’t have taken it on,” he said.

“Persico were taking on risk to do this project. I take my hat off to them for what they’ve done. They’ve made a modern-day miracle. It’s a huge, huge effort from them.

“Without these guys, it wouldn’t have happened.”

The team plan to transport the boat by ship and truck to Lisbon by midweek in time to reunite with the rest of the fleet, which is expected to arrive in the Portuguese capital around May 27.

Meanwhile, in mid-Atlantic, any one of the six boats in the racing fleet could be first into port after the thrilling, 2,800-nautical mile (nm) Leg 7 from Newport, Rhode Island, which has been contested head-to-head so far.

At 1244 UTC on Friday, Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) held a tiny 0.9nm lead over MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP). Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED), Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA), overall race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) and Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) were all right on their heels (see panel above).

Later on Friday, the fleet faced a key decision on how to deal with the Azores High. Most of the weather models showed that a northern course would pay in terms of more wind, but the southern route was more direct to Lisbon.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, protecting a six-point lead over Dongfeng Race Team in the overall leaderboard after six legs, will be tempted to play safe and stay with the main pack.

via Bon voyage, Vestas Wind!| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

Team Brunel’s Bouwe Bekking was embroiled in the battle for the Leg 7 lead in the Volvo Ocean Race on Thursday, nine years to the day when he was at the centre of one of the most dramatic episodes the race has ever seen (full story below).

– Bekking puts boat sinking memory behind him

– Just 6.9 nautical miles separates well-matched fleet

– Follow the race all the way to Lisbon on our App

ALICANTE, Spain, May 21 – Team Brunel’s Bouwe Bekking was embroiled in the battle for the Leg 7 lead in the Volvo Ocean Race on Thursday, nine years to the day when he was at the centre of one of the most dramatic episodes the race has ever seen.

The 51-year-old is taking part in a record-equalling seventh challenge in the 2014-15 race, having lost none of his competitive instinct in 30 years of competition in offshore sailing’s toughest event.

Team Brunel currently lie in third position in the overall standings and were vying for the seventh stage lead with Spanish boat MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) on Thursday morning, with just 0.2 nautical miles (nm) separating the two.

The thrilling tussle to reach Lisbon, Portugal, first must seem a million years away from the torrid night nine years ago when his boat began to take on water in the mid-Atlantic.

With the weather closing in, skipper Bekking was left with the agonising decision of whether to abandon ship, or attempt to save his stricken vessel. With ABN AMRO TWO’s crew standing by, he opted to put the safety of his sailors first, and movistar eventually sank, never to be recovered.

Bekking was asked about that dramatic night in the pre-departure press conference before the fleet left Newport, Rhode Island.

He said that the episode had served as a vivid reminder of the dangers of the Atlantic, although he had confidence that the more robust, one-design Volvo Ocean 65s, were now better prepared for the challenges of the 5,800nm leg.

The subject also came up in the latest episode of the Race’s Inside Track, daily digital programme on Wednesday evening. The big Dutchman insisted he had moved on.

“I haven’t thought about it at all. At that time, it was a shame because we’d been working for two years on a project, but I haven’t laid awake one night (thinking about it) and I never will in my life,” he said.

Meanwhile, he was forced to cede a narrow advantage at the head of the 2014-15 fleet to MAPFRE, who were able to make the most of slightly better breeze to nudge ahead.

With around 1,950nm and a week’s sailing left before the fleet arrives in Lisbon, all six boats, once again, have a chance of snatching victory.

Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) made the most gains in the latest position report at 0931 UTC (see panel above), thanks to an extra knot of boat speed, and although they still trailed at the back of the pack, they were only 6.9nm adrift of MAPFRE.

Overall leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) were, as usual, handily placed in third place despite reporting a collision with a wooden pallet.

There was no damage done to either crew or boat, but the team slowed briefly while they cleared the pallet off the keel. In all, they lost about four miles.

via Bad memories buried| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet was still locked together no more than four nautical miles (nm) apart after more than a day and a half of racing in Leg 7 on Tuesday, with overall leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) reporting two cases of sickness on board (full story below).

– Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing hit by double illness blow

– Dongfeng leads but it’s so close as Gulf Stream ‘bashes’ fleet

– Follow the head-to-head racing on our fabulous App

ALICANTE, Spain, May 19 – The Volvo Ocean Race fleet was still locked together no more than four nautical miles (nm) apart after more than a day and a half of racing in Leg 7 on Tuesday, with overall leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) reporting two cases of sickness on board.

The 2,800nm stage from Newport, Rhode Island, after a triumphant stopover there, to Lisbon, already promises to follow the race-long pattern of extraordinarily close duelling between the six-strong fleet with around 400nm covered so far through the Atlantic.

At 0942 UTC, Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) were protecting a wafer-thin 0.9nm advantage over Walker’s Emirati-backed crew, but even sixth-placed Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) were right in the hunt, with Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED), MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) and Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) sandwiched between them in that order (see panel above).

Walker had the immediate headache of keeping pace with the Chinese team who are six points adrift of them in the overall standings and a crew who have been a thorn in their side since the event started in Alicante, back in October.

The Emirati cause will not be helped in the short term by the sickness afflicting bowman Luke Parkinson (AUS) and trimmer Adil Khalid (UAE).

The team’s onboard reporter, Matt Knighton (USA), gave a graphic account of the problems, effectively reducing the team’s firepower by 25 per cent.

“Luke had a raspy cough that has only gotten worse since leaving Newport. You can see the strain on his face each watch as he pushes through it, but lately his voice has turned from the familiar Aussie accent to nothing more than a whisper,” Knighton wrote.

“Adil can barely keep down food and is losing energy. You can see his strength leaving his arms as he was trimming on the main sail with each turn.

“With a quarter of our manpower down, the constant reefs and headsail changes are beginning to slow. The hunt to cover Dongfeng for eight days seems an impossible task. If only they knew how fragile we were.”

The boats can not access their rivals’ blogs from the boats (look here), but all will be all too aware of the challenges of riding the Gulf Stream that the fleet has now entered.

“The waves are generally large but far more concerning is the randomness in direction and timing; there’s no order to any of it and the boat’s movements are unpredictable and sudden,” wrote Team Alvimedica’s onboard reporter, Amory Ross.

“It’s a true bathtub bashing, but at least the water’s warm; 21 Celsius compared to last night’s eight!”

The sailors are predicted to complete this challenging and key leg between May 27 and 29.

They will enjoy a brief respite in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, before setting out from June 7 for the frenetic finale of the race with the final two legs leading to its conclusion on June 27 (see route here).

via Sickness on board! | Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

Olympic sailing events may be moved

07 May 2015

This NASA image highlights Rio on the left side of Guanamara Bay. Around 70% of Rio’s raw sewage apparently flushes into the bay

RIO OLYMPICS: At long last, it appears the ISAF is taking notice of the complaints lodged ever since Guanabara Bay in Rio was announced as the venue for the 2016 sailing events.

The bay is essentially an enormous drain into which Rio’s sewers empty. That’s raw sewage from 7,000,000 people a day…

So sailors have been coming down ill with skin conditions and various illnesses after falling into the fetid waters.

Many of those duckings were caused by the sailors’ boats hitting submerged objects, causing damage to the boats and tipping crews into the appalling foul waters.

Check the rubbish for yourself by entering ‘Guanabara Bay pollution’ into your favourite search engine…

After an exceptional campaign mounted by journalist Glenn T McCarthy, who writes for the Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation newsletter and the ChicagoNow blog, ISAF is now actually pushing Rio to get the Olympic sailing venue moved.

Emailed

Mr McCarthy actually emailed every journalist he could around the world. He also emailed every country’s Member National Authority (MNA), telling them what was happening.

Now it appears Mr McCarthy’s efforts seem to be having an effect. More articles have appeared – like this one – highlighting the awful truth. National newspapers have run articles supporting Mr McCarthy’s views.

And things are beginning to happen. Like the ISAF now pushing to get the 2016 Guanabara Bay Olympic sailing venue moved.

But the Brazilian government’s immediate response to articles demanding the venue should be changed was to get Rio de Janeiro’s State Environment Secretary – André Corrêa – to jump into the water during a television interview.

However, onlookers – including Brazilian ex-Olympic sailor and ex-politician, Lars Grael – pointed out Mr Corrêa took his dip fully clothed at the mouth of the bay and at the top of the tide when clean Atlantic Ocean water enters the bay.

“Here it is just like the beach at Ipanema,” Mr Corrêa is reported to have claimed.

Then again, BB can think of another suitable quote from many years ago: “He would, wouldn’t he”.

Infectious disease

Even then an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro claimed the high ranking Mr Corrêa could have become severely ill as a result (of his short immersion).

But is it likely the ISAF’s demand to move the venue will be met?

Alastair Fox, the head of competitions for the ISAF, said: “If we have to race all the races outside the bay, if that’s what it comes to, to ensure a fair regatta, then that’s something we’re going to explore and could do.”

Mr Fox said the ISAF had asked the Switzerland based International Olympic Committee (IOC) to pressure Brazilian politicians.

According to Mr McCarthy, previous Olympic venues have been moved.

The Los Angeles 1984 event moved its sailing venue four times. And for London 2012, the venues for gymnastics and badminton were changed 18 months before the games opened.

Two venues

The organising committee for the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games had offered two different venues for sailing in its bid package.

Like Rio, Barcelona was heavily polluted and the proposed marina was part of a major shipping port – and that really wouldn’t have worked.

So the then president of the ISAF, Canadian Paul Henderson (often called the ‘Pope of Sailing’) negotiated with the Barcelona authorities to build a new marina away from the commercial traffic.

He also got them to clean up the sewage that was being dumped into the Mediterranean.

Apparently, Barcelona came through and, while the water wasn’t perfect, it was highly improved by the time the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games opened.

So there should be no reason why the Brazilians can’t offer sailing something similar…

via Boating Business – Olympic sailing events may be moved.

12-Metre regatta on San Francisco Bay

12 May 2015

The America’s Cup yacht Freedom, sailed by Dennis Conner in Freemantle in 1980 – photo: wikipedia.org

12-METRE REGATTA: Tom Ehman, a former America’s Cup executive, is launching the Golden Gate Yacht Racing Challenge to be sailed annually on San Francisco Bay beginning in July 2017.

According to an Associated Press report yesterday, the event will be an updated version of the venerable 12-metre class designed to “restore stability and style to yacht racing”.

The regatta will offer yacht racing’s largest purse, $500,000, have a strict nationality rule and be contested in the strong, steady breeze that blows in through the Golden Gate Bridge.

Mr Ehman said he envisions the Golden Gate Challenge as the Wimbledon of yacht racing in that it will be held every year at the same venue. Unlike the America’s Cup, Mr Ehman says all teams will be challengers, meaning they’ll start on an equal footing each year.

While Mr Ehman hopes to attract some big name owners and skippers, but points out the star of the regatta could be the 12-metres themselves.

They were used in what many consider the golden era of the America’s Cup, from 1958-87, when larger than life personalities, such as Dennis Conner and Ted Turner, dominated racing held in Newport, Rhode Island, and then Fremantle, Australia.

The 12-metre era ended when Mr Conner won back the America’s Cup in the big wind and waves off Fremantle in 1987.

Mr Ehman said he’s having designers look at modernising the 12-metres and hopes to keep the cost below $3 million per boat.

All boats would have the same hull shape, which would make the regatta a test of sailing skill, rather than a design competition, helping to hold down costs.

He’d like the hull to look like Freedom, which Mr Conner sailed to victory in the 1980 America’s Cup.

Beyond the cost of a boat, Mr Ehman believes a team can compete in the Golden Gate Challenge for less than $1 million a year, far less than staging an America’s Cup campaign.

via Boating Business – 12-Metre regatta on San Francisco Bay.