World Yacht Racing Forum

Over the past two days, I attended the inaugural World Yacht Racing Forum in Monaco. The first thing of note was the representation of sailing that the event brought together. To name a few people and organizations; Goran Petterson – President of ISAF, Mark Turner President of Offshore Challenges (which runs the Barcelona World Race, iShares Extreme 40 Series and Ellen MacArthur’s projects), Knut Frostad – CEO Volvo Ocean Race, the managers of the TP 52 MedCup, representatives of Alinghi and BMW Oracle, the top sailing journalists, respresentatives of Sail Oman, UBS, Pindar, Slam, Audi, St. Francis YC, Royal Hong Kong YC, RYA, the Monsoon Cup, Yachting Korea, Sir Keith Mills who co-chaired London 2012 and

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‘The Black Pearl – A Pirate Ship’

The perfect gift for the holiday season! Only 150 copies of 7000 left!

This is the last chance to purchase a limited edition copy of Captain Cayard’s memoirs of the Pirates of the Caribbean team’s momentous race around the world.

Imagine what it was like onboard ‘The Black Pearl’ for Captain Cayard and his Pirate crew as they competed in Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006.

Copies are $25 or $50 for autographed copies. All proceeds are in support of youth sailing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Buy Now

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CNEV Annual Regatta

The Alinghi sailing team raced SUI100, the 32nd America’s Cup winning boat, to five wins out of six this weekend in Valencia, winning the AC class trophy of the Trofeo Desafio Espanol, Club Nautico Espanol de Vela’s annual regatta.

This three-day regatta heralds a return to racing for the AC Version 5.0s after a long sojourn ashore and has given the teams some much desired America’s Cup Class racing.

Four America’s Cup Class yachts raced alongside the 80-strong fleet of cruiser-racers fighting for the Trofeo Desafio Espanol in the light autumn conditions off Malvarossa beach that last year saw one of the greatest battles in America’s Cup history between Team New Zealand and Alinghi who won the trophy for a second time. This weekend there was less at stake, but it was no less ferocious, with ex-Alinghi helmsman Peter Holmberg at the helm of Luna Rossa, Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie steering TeamOrigin and Paul Cayard at the helm of Desafio Espanol.

The 12 entered challengers and the Defender meet again this coming week in Geneva to continue discussing the design of the new class and the 33rd America’s Cup.

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Scuttlebutt Offshore Championship

SEAMANSHIP 101
– The lower shroud exploded with a loud ‘bang’ on Paul Cayard’s IC 24 on the return race from The Baths during Monday’s Scuttlebutt Offshore Championship held at the Bitter End YC in the BVI. Cayard quickly tacked the boat and handed the helm to BEYC guest John Stephenson. Without wasting a motion, Cayard kicked off his flip flops and climbed the rig with both a spinnaker halyard and topping lift in his teeth. After completing a very crude jury rig, he took back the helm and calmly won the race, and the two-race championship by 32 seconds over Bruce Kirby, with Dave Ullman a half minute further back in third place. The windward- leeward races of the Vineyard Vines Pro-Am Regatta at the BEYC starts on Tuesday, with guests of the resort crewing for the invited pro skippers – Cayard, Kirby, Ullman, Dawn Riley, Zach Railey, Ed Baird, Rod Johnstone and Keith Musto.

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TP52 Worlds

Up and down day today for El Desafio. The wind was 20 to 25 knots from the North and shifty for a change.

The short story is in the first race we had a bad start and could not get in phase and finished 12th. In the second race we had a great start, stayed in phase and won! Consistency! Not at all. But it did feel good to win the last race of the season and the long race, both in big San Francisco breeze! Good to see that my roots haven’t left me.

Planing downwind at a steady 19 knots was fun.

Quantum sailed better than ever and won the regatta without sailing the last race. Mutua hung on to second overall despite getting two 9ths today. And Platoon finished strong to take 3rd place away from Artemis by 0.25 of a point.

Puerto Calero, Lanzarote and Jose Calero and his family… all number 1’s in my book. I’ll come back for sure.

Top 5:
1. Quantum
2. Mutua Madrilena
3. Platoon
4. Artemis
5. Matador

El Desafio 7th.

For complete scores and more information go to:
www.tp52worldchampionship.com/ultimanoticia.php

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TP52 Worlds

Terrible day for El Desafio today with a 13, 10. The wind was 15-20 knots from 000 to 020, very shifty and puffy. In both races we struggled to play the shifts.

Quantum is showing superior sailing skill really. Their boat is fast but so is ours. Today they scored a 1, 3. They are just sailing smart and doing it consistently and it is paying off big. No one else is even close really.

Mutua Madrilena had the second best day with a 6,5 and they are in second place in the regatta even after two very mediocre coastal races. So you can see that apart from Quantum, the fleet is mixing a lot in their results.

Tomorrow is the last day and two races are scheduled. The forecast is calling for similar conditions to today. With a great day and some help we could finish third. That is what we have to be shooting for.

Top 5:
1. Quantum 28
2. Mutua Madrilena 43
3. Artemis 52.25
4. Platoon 58
5. Matador 62.25

El Desafio is 6th with 66.25.

For complete scores and more information go to:
www.tp52worldchampionship.com/ultimanoticia.php

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TP52 Worlds

Shredded sails, crashing boats and big speed was the order of the day today at the TP 52 World Championship. Some how through it all, El Desafio came through for the win!

After a good start we were approaching the first windward mark on starboard. Bribon and Synergy just simply refused to go behind us and I would have hit Bribon amidships if I did not tack to port to avoid them. Hideous! Instead of being 3rd there we were 7th after the melee cleared itself.

Undeterred we immediately starting passing boats. First Synergy, one of the offenders at the windward mark then Audi Q8 on the two sail reach down to Puerto Calero. The breeze was 20 knots at this point and we were sailing about 60 true wind angle for 6 miles.

Once at Puerto Calero, we executed a chicane and set off with our Code 0 on a 90 degree true wind angle reach in 20 to 22 knots. The other boats stayed with the jibs and held a higher course. This was a 20 mile reach to Fuertaventura. As the wind built, we changed back to the jib and came into the buoy hot and rounded right on the heels of Bribon and Quantum who were second and third. Platoon had a handy lead at this point.

Next was a 10 miles windward leg back to the southwest corner of Lanzarote. He we passed Bribon and rounded third right behind Quantum. Most boats had the #4 jib on but we had a #3. As the wind gusted from 20-28 knots, each had his turn as far as which sail was right.

Next was a 10 mile run back to the mark at Fuertaventure. The current was going against the 25 knots + wind and the waves were short and steep. The TP 52’s dig their bows in rather badly actually and aren’t as fun as you would think to sail in these conditions. The bow is burying continuously despite having the entire crew planted on the transom. We left out jib up the whole run so as not to have to deal with people on the bow or the sail getting washed overboard. There were two gybes on the run in which where both rather difficult to execute but we managed to keep the boat upright through it all. Quantum exploded their spinnaker three-quarters of the way down and we closed in and passed Platoon to round the mark in 1st!

For the last fetch back to Puerto Calero and the finish line, we still had our

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TP52 Worlds

Today we were met with very light winds but with the forecast of a front passing through the area and increased winds behind. The wind direction was forecast to stay in the North to Northeast quadrant so we were apprehensive about racing along this Southern coast of Lanzarote.

Fortunately, the front came a bit earlier than expected and a good wind filled across the whole race area. In fact, the wind got up to 22 knots on the final windward leg back to Puerto Calero and the finish line.

We had a very good start in about 7 knots of wind. Artemis and Quantum had poor starts and got flushed out right away. One minute after the start, the wind went 20 degrees right and both Artemis and Quantum were well ahead of us. The first windward leg was short, about 1.4 miles, and the final shift was to the left but too much so we all reached into the mark with El Desafio about 9th. Next was a six miles 90 degree reach in a puffy 8-14 knots.

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PAUL CAYARD TO SPEAK AT WORLD YACHT RACING FORUM

Geneva, 21 October 2008 – Organisers of the World Yacht Racing Forum are pleased to announce Paul Cayard as one of the guest speakers at the inaugural two day conference in Monaco this December. Cayard joins an already impressive list of speakers and panellists including Team Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth (NZL), CEO of Team Origin Sir Keith Mills (GBR), world champion sailor Peter Gilmour (AUS), Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad, Founder of the Louis Vuitton Cup Bruno Trouble, World Match Racing Tour President Scott Macleod, IMOCA Executive Director Franck David, Team Shosholosa CEO Salvatore Sarno, and many more.

Paul Cayard (USA) is one of the most successful sailors in the last 25 years. A veteran round the world sailor, Cayard skippered Team EF Language to victory in the 1988 Whitbread Round the World, and finished a narrow second behind Team ABN Amro in the 2005-2006 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race as skipper of Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

A two time-Olympic sailor and seven-time sailing world champion, Cayard is no stranger to the yacht racing scene,

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TP52 Worlds

Two races were held today off the coast of Lanzarote in 10-12 knots from the Northeast. Unfortunately, we kept our same form from the last race in the first race today, losing five boats on the final run and finishing 12th. In the second race of the day, we got in phase early and with good speed climbed from 5th at the first mark to second at the finish.

Mutua Madrilena had a great day with two firsts. The left was the best upwind in the first race, while the right was the place to be in the second race. The wind shifts had a bit more rhythm today… a bit more progressive in its movements.

Yesterday’s big winner Artemis had a tough day with a 11 and a 13. That shows you how difficult it is here. Quantum was steady with a 4, 6. Bribon and Platoon resurrected themselves both having good days and passing us on the scoreboard.

Tomorrow is the short coastal race of about 30 miles. We will most likely run up and down the East coast here in front of Puerto Calero.

Thursday should be the long coastal race of about 60 miles. Then Friday and Saturday are left to finish off the last four windward leeward races. The coastal races have a 1.25 factor as opposed to the 1.0 factor for the windward leeward races.

Tomorrow’s forecast is interesting in that there is a cold front that is predicted to cross the race area at 1500. This should swing the wind from the Northeast to the North.

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