America’s Cup World Series – San Diego

Three races were held today on San Diego Bay in 10 knots of wind and flat water. Now in the third event of this series, the fleet is getting much more competitive resulting in closer racing and lots of mixing of the results.

The top team after three races is the French Team Energy with 24 points followed by Emirates Team New Zealand with 23 points, ORACLE Racing Spithill with 22 and Artemis Racing with 21. The individual race winners were ORACLE Racing Coutts in race one, followed by Artemis Racing in race 2 and Energy in Race 3.

A “Time Trial” was held after race three which was won by Emirates Team New Zealand with an average speed of 21.2 knots across the 500 meter course.

At the conclusion of the fleet racing tomorrow, the top two teams will be seeded into the match racing semi-finals on Saturday, while the teams in places 3-6 will race in the quarter-finals Friday.

Paul

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Paul Cayard inducted into National Sailing Hall of Fame

At the inaugural ceremony this evening in San Diego, Paul Cayard was among 15 sailing greats inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame.

Having started sailing at the age of seven, Paul Cayard has become one of the best known American sailors of his time. A seven-time world champion, two-time Olympian, Round the World race winner and a veteran of six America’s Cups, Cayard is also the CEO of Artemis Racing – Challenger of Record for the 34th America’s Cup.

This evening’s ceremony recognized the tremendous contribution made to sailing by individuals such as Joshua Slocum and Olin Stephens, as well as living legends Buddy Melges and Lowell North, to name just a few.

Based in Annapolis, Maryland, the National Sailing Center & Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational institution dedicated to preserving the history of sailing, honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to American sailing while also inspiring and encouraging sailing development.

“To be inducted into any Hall of Fame is more than an honor. It is historical, something that can never be taken away, something for future generations. I feel there are plenty of US sailors more worthy of the Hall than I, so I am humbled and flattered to be included in this illustrious group,” said Paul Cayard. “I have crewed for four of the eight living inductees: Dennis Conner, Gary Jobson, Buddy Melges and Lowell North. No question, I had great mentoring in my younger days from these four and a few others. I thank them for their tutelage.”

Over the past year, Paul’s father Pierre Cayard completely restored the El Toro which he built for his son in 1968, the start of his foray into sailing. This evening, Pierre Cayard presented El Toro #6168 to the NSHOF for display in the museum in Annapolis for generations to come.

“On this very special occasion, I was able to be joined by my parents and my children which meant a lot to me,” said Paul. “It is a fairy tale story. I got into sailing by chance when a second grade class mate took me one day. Sailing became my passion, then my vocation. Life is a journey and I have been blessed with an amazing ride.”

In a few short weeks Cayard and Artemis Racing will return to San Diego for the America’s Cup World Series which begins on 16 November, the first event of this Cup cycle to take place in the US

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RC 44 Croatia

Rovinj

Two races were held today in 6-7 knots of wind and the Artemis/Katusha team had a good day.

Artemis had a 1, 2 and Katusha had a 5, 1. Artemis moved up to second place for the regatta behind Aqua who did just what they had to do to seal their first place. Cereef had a great regatta to round out the top three.

Having a good day today and winning the last race of the regatta was a bit of redemption especially for me as I did not do a good job this week tactically. Unfortunately, it was too late to make an impact on our position for this regatta.

Rovinj was spectacular. Unusually good weather blessed the fleet this week with temps close to 30C and not a cloud in the sky all week. I am sure the RC44 fleet will be back soon.

The next RC44 event is the World Championship which will be held at Puerto Calero in Lanzarote in November.

I am back to Valencia tomorrow for the Artemis Racing America’s Cup campaign.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Croatia

Three races were held today for the RC44 fleet in light winds topping out at 7 knots.

Aqua continued their form from yesterday maintaining their lead in this regatta. Cereef is keeping consistent and is second overall. Aleph and Oracle had good days and are tied for third.

Artemis had a pretty good day with scores of 9, 4, 5 and are now in 5th place overall just 1 point out of 3rd place. Katusha had a good first race then struggled and scored 4, 10, 10 and are in 9th place.

Racing concludes tomorrow. The forecast is for more of the same light winds and bright sunshine.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Croatia

Rovinj

The perfect weather allowed the Race Committee to serve up 4 races again today here in Rovinj. The bright sunshine and 10 knots sea breeze made for a perfect day of racing…third in a row really. And the forecast is for the conditions to remain the same through the end of the event on Sunday.

Team Aqua had the best day today with scores of 2, 4, 1, 1 and took and handy 7 point lead in the event at 30 points. Cereef followed closely with 3,3,3,1 for the second best day and moved into a tie for third with yesterday’s co-leader Artemis, each with 40 points. Islas Carnarias scored 20 points today and is in second place with 37 points. Yesterday’s other co-leader Oracle Racing scored 26 points on the day and slipped to 5th place.

Onboard Katusha we had a bit better day scoring 26 points for the day, 12 points less than our abysmal day yesterday. Finishing second in the last race was a nice way to end the day. We moved up to a tie for 8th place with Ironbound at 64 points.

Tomorrow the President of Croatia is coming to visit the event and attend the gala dinner. There are three races on schedule for tomorrow.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Croatia

Rovinj

4 races were held today in 6-13 knots.

Artemis had a good day.

Katusha had a bad day.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

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RC 44 Croatia

Rovinj, Croatia

First, this place is beautiful. I was last here in 1990 for the ACI Match Racing Regatta. The town is charming, the water perfectly clear, and the locals are very friendly and happy to host this international competition.

Today was the Match Racing day of the event. The technical committee decided to shorten the races to one lap as the fleet has grown to 15 boats and only ten teams (five pairs) can race at a time on the race course.

On board Katusha we raced in six races today and won five across the line but ended up with three points. The main reason for this was a penalty call in our first race. There are plenty of situations out there and we all get calls that go against us, but this one “remarkable” and it cost us two points.

Anyway, we crossed the line first in five of our six matches. The one we lost on the water was against ORACLE Racing. We led at the top mark but were hesitant to match them in the first gybe and they rolled us for the win.

So, it was a long day with a bit of frustration. But that’s racing.

Tomorrow starts the fleet racing which will continue through Sunday.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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D35 Antibes

The D35 season came to a close today here in Antibes. The wind gods were a lot more pleasant to the fleet today providing 6-11 knots of wind which allowed for four races.

Artemis Racing had some up and down scores and finished 5th in the event. This was two positions better than Velti Group (7th) who we were trying to pass for the a third for the season. In the end we came up one point short for the season and finished 4th overall. Still not a bad result for our first season.

The top of the class was Foncia once again who won the event here, as well as the season championship. Hats off to Michele Desjoyaux and the Foncia team! Alinghi finished 4th here in Antibes and second for the season.

The boats will go back to Geneva now for the winter. The 2012 season will start there in May.

I am off to Valencia tonight for a day in the office tomorrow before heading to Croatia tomorrow night for the RC44 event there next week.

For complete results go to www.vulcaintrophy.com

Paul

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D35-Antibes

Antibes

No wind, no racing. Went for a nice run this morning and going to have dinner with my cousins in Mougins tonight.

Hoping for wind tomorrow.

Paul

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D35-Antibes

Antibes

The final regatta of the D35 season started Thursday in Antibes. At the end of Friday the fleet has raced four races, all of them in very light winds. In the second race of Thursday we started in 5 knots of wind and finished in 2 knots of wind.

Onboard Artemis, we struggled yesterday in the very light winds and managed 6th place in each of the two races. Alinghi had a similarly difficult day while Zen, who usually is nearer to the back than the front of the fleet was leading at the end of Thursday.

We discussed our performance, and did a bit of recon amongst the fleet, last night and came out today with a bit different set up, more powerful, and we were more proactive in adjusting our trim as the wind velocity changed.

Today the wind was a bit stronger…6-8 knots…and we were able to “fly” the hull a few times. After a bad start in the first race we managed to finish second. Foncia won the race and Alinghi third. In the second race of the day, we did not have a great start again but we were going a bit better and although we rounded the first mark 8th, we managed to claw our way back to 5th just beating Foncia at the line. Alinghi sailed a great race, were very fast, and won the race easily.

With four races completed, the fleet gets to discard one race. Foncia leads the fleet with 5 points, Zen is second with 8 points, and Alinghi third with 9. We are 6th with 13 points. So it is all very tight still.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for winds similar to today so hopefully we will get 3-4 races in.

For complete results go to www.vulcaintrophy.com

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