Realstone Cup – D-35

Crans, Switzerland

A pessimistic forecast gave way to the best day of wind here in Crans for the Realstone Cup. Foncia, who finished 8th I believe in the first event two weeks ago, won this event easily.

4 races were held today in winds varying from south to north and 3 knots to 15 knots. Thats racing on these lakes.

Onboard Artemis Racing our finishes for the weekend were 5, 5, 6, 3, 4. Very consistent but just not high enough up for the win. We finished 4th equal with Alinghi but lost the tie breaker to finish 5th overall. The placing’s were very tight at the end. At one point, just prior to the 3rd race, the wind came up to a solid 15 16 knots. I got my first taste of being scared in this boat. Bearing away is a scary moment as the leeward bow wants to dig in and cartwheel the boat. We avoided that but it was “hot” as the French onboard say.

We are continuing to get to know our boat, SWE 12, and the class. We have a little problem upwind against the fleet but we are very fast downwind. We will work to improve our upwind speed.

For complete results go to www.vulcaintrophy.com

Back to SF tomorrow morning for some meetings with ACRM and the other AC competitors.

Paul

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Realstone Cup – D-35

Crans, Switzerland

Today was the first day of racing for the D-35 fleet in the second event of the season, the Realstone Grand Prix d Crans. Unfortunately the wind was almost non existent but we did manage to have one race in very light conditions of 6 knots dropping to 4 at the finish. Onboard Artemis Racing with Torbjorn Tornqvist at the helm, we managed a 5th place out of 10 teams competing. Pretty good for Torbjorn’s first multihull race! He was very happy with that and it is great to see him getting involved first hand in multihull racing since the Cup will be in Cats and he is obviously very passionate and committed to our America’s Cup campaign.

Alinghi continued their strong performance from the last event with a win today while the winners from two weeks ago, C.E.R finished just behind us in 6th today.

The forecast for tomorrow isn’t very good…light winds with the addition of rain possible.

For complete results go to www.vulcaintrophy.com

I spent last week in Valencia with our team. We had some very good sailor/design team meetings discussing the design of our AC72, deck layouts, etc. Terry Hutchinson and his crew of Rodney Ardern, Morgan Trubovich are on their way to Istanbul today for the Extreme 40 event there next week. Julien Cressant, who is sailing with us here in Switzerland on the D-35, will join them Monday to complete the X-40 crew.

Lots going on….always.

Paul

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RC44 Austria

One race here in Austria on the final day for the RC44 fleet. It was a rainy and cold day….temperature about 10C. It hailed at one point.

Oracle Racing continued their dominance of the event by winning the only race of the day. Onboard Katusha, we had our worst race of the event finishing 10th and finished up 6th overall. For sure it has been a frustrating three days since our good start last Thursday. Lake Traunsee is always an extremely tricky venue and this year I did not do a good job of figuring it out.

Artemis had a tough regatta and finished 11th.

Oracle Racing with Russell Coutts as tactician really did a great job and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time and that was quite a feat considering the wind was shifting 90 degrees regularly and 150 degrees at times.

Aqua, a brand new boat for this event got on form also in the last couple of days to finish second.

We are looking forward to the next event in Cagliari, Sardinia June 28-July 3.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Austria

Gmunden, Austria

A very light wind day today on Lake Traunsee. There was no wind until 1400 and then it was very light and unstable. We had one bad race, one mediocre race. We dropped to 5th place overall. Oracle is still leading, but two good races by Aqua have pulled them to within 5 points.

There are no particular highlights to share with you other than to say that the wind was very difficult to pick and the fleet was reshuffling positions all the time. There were periods when the leaders fell into holes of no wind and the others came from behind and sailed right around them.

Tomorrow’s forecast is a bit better than today but not much. 4-6 knots of wind is on the menu. Last start tomorrow is 1500.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Austria

A tough day today on Katusha and we are now fourth overall. Three races were held and Oracle had great scores in the second two of the three so is well in front now. I did not sail well today as tactician and got pretty frustrated by it all. Our helmsperson for this regatta is Sarah Gundersen and on top of steering the boat well, she is doing a good job of keep my attitude upbeat through all that happens out there.

The first race of the day was a classic Lake Traunsee. Wind shifts of 180 degrees, flat calms and puffs of 6 knots and in the end only 6 boats finished within the required 10 minutes of the winner. We were not one of the first seven boats, neither was Oracle. Team Aqua sailed well and won this classic.

In the second and third races it seems we had a bit of a bullseye on our backs and we got tacked on pretty hard. We had to live in thin lanes the whole time and this made our races pretty difficult. We finished 8th and 7th respectfully.

So after 7 races, Oracle is leading with 19 points, Team Aqua is second with 24, No Way Back is third with 29 and we are 4th with 37 and the US boat Ironbound is 5th with 38.

The forecast for tomorrow is not special so it could be more racing like the first one today.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Austria

A good day today for Katusha and not quite as good for Artemis. Three fleet races were held today on Lake Traunsee in light and very shifty conditions. Oracle Racing had the best day followed by Katusha and then the new Russian team of Nika.

It is a place where you are never out of the race if you are behind and you never have the race in the bag if leading. 50 degree shifts are the norm on the track. Velocity changes from 4-8 knots of wind speed. 13 boats so plenty of traffic. It is intense and very dynamic racing.

For complete results go to www.RC44.com

Paul

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RC44-Austria

Today was match racing on Lake Traunsee. Five flights were held in 7-10 knots of wind.

We had an ok day on Katusha with a score of two wins, two losses that felt very frustrating as we were winning the two we lost.

Our first race against Puerto Callero we led the entire way. In our second race, against ORACLE, the start was slightly to their favor but they could not tack and cross us. As they approached on port, we dialed them down and they got penalized. We then squandered the lead and they got enough distance on us to do their penalty turn at the finish line.

Race 3 was against our team mates on Artemis. The start was fairly even but we were able to get out ahead enough to tack and cross them and that was about it.

In our last race, we had a slight collision in the prestart with Cereef, them to windward, our shroud against the leech of their main. Both boats flew flags but no penalty was issued. From there it was close to the top mark. At the top mark, Cereef on the inside luffed us head to wind and we both parked. As they bore away we followed and had a better set and rolled them. They gybed and parked. We stretched, and gybed once our air was clear. Their side was hugely favored and they crossed ahead the next time. The course was onesided for the second lap and that was that.

Artemis had a very good day with owner Tornjorn Tornqvist steering his boat to a 2 win and 3 loss day. That a nice result for him. More owners are starting to steer their boats in the match racing now which is good.

The wind died at 345pm and that was it for the day.

Aqua won the day with 5 wins.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

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D-35 Lake Geneva

First, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s from Artemis Racing!

Light air today on Lake Geneva and only one race was held.

Onboard Artemis Racing we had our worst race finishing 6th. Alinghi was 5th and C.E.R. was 4th. Velti Group won the race in the 7 knots of wind which dropped to 3 knots by the finish.

The final standing for the event are:

1. C.E.R. 11 points

2. Alinghi 12 points

3. Artemis 14 points

Not bad for our first event. We are happy with that and look forward to a fun season.

We were not fast upwind in the conditions today but we observed some things the others were doing so we look forward to trying them in two weeks at the Grand Prix de Crans.

I am off to Austria tonight to joining the Katusha team at the RC44 Championship Tour event there. Training tomorrow and a “long distance” race on Tuesday, Match Racing Wednesday and Fleet Racing Thursday through Sunday.

For complete results go to: www.vulcaintrophy.ch

Paul

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D-35 Lake Geneva

Another good day for Artemis today. Four races were held for the fleet of 10 identical catamarans and our scores were 4, 1, 3, 5 and were are now 2nd overall on 9 points, equal with Alinghi. The young team on C.E.R. is leading with 7 points after performing very consistently at the top in all four races.

There is too much action to recount it all but the last windward mark of the last race saw plenty of action as 5 boats arrived at the windward mark at the same time and plenty of protests followed. A few did penalty turns, and one hit the mark. We were clear of that which was fortunate.

We had some big come backs in two of the races which is always fun.

The 8 knot northerly wind was just enough to make the racing exciting in these very fast Cats. The boats go upwind with Code 0 at 11 knots and downwind under gennaker at 15 knots. Amazing really.

Tomorrow is the last day and the forecast is once again for light winds.

For complete results go to; www.vulcaintrophy.ch

Paul

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D-35 Grand Prix Beau Rivage Palace

Geneva,

Today was the first race in the D-35 fleet for Artemis Racing and we won it.

The wind did not arrive until 1400 so there was just one 20 mile “long distance race” finishing at Societe Nautique de Genève. The wind was 8-10 knots from the east and we were doing 18 knots downwind under gennaker.

The D-35 is a one design, 35 foot catamaran, raced on Lake Geneva. It is very well endowed with sail area, which is needed in the normally light winds of Lake Geneva. There is a fleet of 12 identical boats containing some great sailors like Michele Desjoyeaux on Foncia, Ernesto Bertarelli on Alinghi.

The D-35 is the “Ferrari” of sailing on Lake Geneva. With Artemis Racing Chairman Torbjorn Tornqvist’s decision to enter the America’s Cup, sailing the D-35 in his home town has real appeal.

There are 7 events in the season, the Beau Rivage being the first. The “big” event is the Bol d’Or June 18, in which boats of all types and sizes race around the entire lake. The Bol d’Or is about 100 miles in with the light and fickle winds of the lake, it often is an over night race.

Racing continues tomorrow and Sunday.

For complete results go to www.vulcaintrophy.ch

Paul

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