BAR and Softbank duel before the start

Bermuda

The 35th America’s Cup got underway today with 6 matches.  The conditions were ideal with southwest winds of 11-13 knots and flats seas.  The race course is inside Great Sound and the America’s Cup village and bases are at Dockyard, the most western extremity of the island.

I will be down here for the entire America’s Cup which runs from today through June 27th.  I have two roles; for the first two weeks I am an onboard expert ( a nice way of saying a “has been”) for the yacht Rosehearty and her guests.  From June 9, I will join the ACTV team for the daily broadcasts.  Also, I will try to write something every day for you.

The racing today was better than I expected.  Four of the 6 matches were very closely contested and 5 of the 6 teams seemed fairly even with only the French off the pace. The boats are very fast, 35-40 knots today and it is impressive to watch them live.  Two of the matches ere spectacular; Match 2, Japan vs. Sweden and Match 5; New Zealand vs. Oracle Team USA. In Match 2, Japan (Softbank) got out to a strong start and built a lead of 20+ second only to be reeled in and passed by the Swedes (Artemis), on the second windward leg.  There were 30 degree wind shifts on the course and Artemis played them well.  Japan tried to tack on Artemis half way up the second windward leg but the Swedes simply powered through them and forced the Japanese to tack away.  That was pretty much the end of it as Artemis got to the right and had starboard tack advantage at the next cross. Artemis went on to win fairly comfortably.

In the rematch of the finals of the 34th Americas Cup in San Francisco,  Oracle led at the first mark only to be passed by the Kiwi’s who got a left shift upon the first windward leg.  The Kiwis held the lead down the first run but the American’s got the split at the bottom gate and stayed out of phase  with the Kiwi’s but in phase with the wind up the second windward leg. At the windward mark, the Kiwis tried to tack onto starboard in front of Oracle but they were a bit late and the American’s shot through to gain room at the mark and luffing rights.  Oracle luffed the Kiwis rather aggressively but no contact occurred.  The American’s shot out in front and went on the win the race by 6 seconds.

Oracle Team USA at their dock and Super Yachts in the AC Village Harbor.

In both of these races it seemed the boat ahead, half way through the race, had an unsurmountable lead.  I am excited to think that we may see these types of lead changes for the entire regatta!

In the final race of the day, Team BAR (GBR) was up against Softbank (JPN).  A substantial collision occurred 20 seconds prior to the start.  BAR’s port hull ended up on top of JPN’s starboard hull.  Fortunately no one was injured although many of the JPN crew had to move out of the way.  The port hull of GBR got quite a bit of damage from the brining handles on JPN which punctured holes in the hull of the British boat.  The British were deemed to have fouled and were further penalized but the umpires.

In the two days that I have been here, I have toured one team base, talked to a few of the sailors on various teams and met with the chief umpire to understand how they make the calls.  I have reviewed tape of these teams practice racing.  I have only scratched the surface of this event.  But I feel like this is going to be very interesting and very competitive. I believe a big part of winning this event will be evolving, improving, learning technique, etc.  No team is going fast enough today to beat the eventual winner.  So the team whose shore team and technical team can make the biggest gains coupled with the sailing team who learns how to mast what they have and use it in a consistent manner, will most likely be the winner.

There is so much to master.  Flying these boats in a consistent way, so that the hulls never hit the water, is very tough.  You can have more conservative boards and pay for stability and control with top speed, or you can live on the edge of control and hit higher speeds but maybe dip the hulls in the water more frequently when tacking or gybing.  Then you have the crew who are grinding, or pedaling as the case may be, for the entire race to produce hydraulic pressure. The hydraulic pressure is used to control all the wing and dagger board functions, which are critical to the performance of the boats. These sailors have become world class athletes, at the same level as a triathlete or soccer (football) player.

I need to explain the schedule, the format, the village, the pairings and so much more but I wont try to do it all tonight.

The forecast for tomorrow is for less wind…12-8 knots and dropping to as little as 6 by late afternoon.  Then light winds on Monday. For information, scores and more, go to https://www.americascup.com

 

Paul

 

Photos by Carlo Borlenghi

St. Barths, French West Indies

Today was the final day of racing of the St. Barth’s Bucket, the annual Super Yacht regatta down here in the Caribbean.

I sailed as tactician onboard Rosehearty, once again, with my friend Joey Kaempfer and a fantastic team. We trained a bit on Wednesday and Thursday last week and had one race a day beginning on Friday.

The breeze was 18-20 knots from the east for the first two days. A tactical mistake by me on Friday gave us a third place finish, while our rival Perini Navi, Perseus, won the race and Meteor took second.

Perseus, Zenji, Maltese Flacon, and Rosehearty are all Perini Navi yachts from the famous yard in Viareggio, Italy. They are beautiful sailing yachts. Rosehearty and Zenji are sister ships at 56 meters (182′) and 500 tons of displacement. Perseus is 60 meters and Maltesse Falcon is 80 meters. All are exquisitely appointed and also very seaworthy capable of voyages anywhere in the world including the Northwest Passage and Antarctica.

Getting the spinnaker out of one of the forward hatches

Saturday was redemption day for Rosehearty was we got the bullet but not before a match race up the last windward leg, covering a fast approaching “Meteor. Meteor is a classic Schooner design built by Royal Huisman in Holland.

That put Meteor and Rosehearty in a tie for first going into today’s final race with Perseus 2 points back in third. Today’s course, clockwise around the island, is mostly upwind and favors Perseus so it was nice to have the 2 points on them. But it would be a duel with Meteor. The winds were considerably lighter at 12-18 knots from the east-southeast.

We had a good start and first downwind leg, passing Zenji, who rates just a bit lower and got a 30 seconds head-start on us. On the long windward leg up the north side of the island to the east end, we played the right side, ducking in and out of the small islands on that side, while our competitors went out to open water to the North. We benefited from smoother water and held the lead in our class as we rounded the northeast end of St. Barths. Meteor and Perseus were sailing fast and had closed in on us. Meteor, unfortunately for them, got tangled up in a bit of traffic and had to take another tack out to sea when we fetched the top of the island.

Perseus, closed to within 4 boats lengths as we round the last mark of the course. Our spinnaker set was perfect and theirs was not. Chapeau to the crew of Rosehearty! They make those of us up in the flybridge look good.

We pulled away from Perseus but Meteor continued to bear down on us sailing lower and faster. Perseus finally got their spinnaker set and started to come back into us a bit. We were never overly concerned about Perseus as we could afford to finish one place behind them and still win the regatta. What we could not afford to do was to be passed by Meteor. On the final maneuver of the race, Perseus’ spinnaker exploded as we both gybed for the finish. Meteor kept closing. It was a bit tense onboard, everyone wondering if Meteor would catch us. About one mile from the finish, it was clear that Meteor would run out of race track. Rosehearty ran down to the finish to take the win on the day and overall in our class.

 

This is the third time we have won our class in the Bucket on Rosehearty and it was clearly the toughest as the other teams are improving each year.  While we will be enjoying the win for a while, we will have to step up our game for next year.

I will be transiting to Sydney over the next 40 hours to race with the Beau Geste team in the Australian IRC national Championship starting Thursday.

Paul

Photo by Marco Oquendo

Coconut Grove

The wind had difficulty materializing this morning but we finally got one race going around 12:40 in 6 knots of wind from the southeast.

After yesterday’s results, things were tight at the top and with the fickle conditions today, anything could have happened.

Danny and I had a decent start and shortly after tacked to port to head right, in the middle of the fleet.  The wind was fickle and dropping in strength as we neared the windward mark. We rounded about 7th with Augie Diaz in front of us. Augie blazed down the run as usual and rounded the gate with a big lead. At this point the regatta was his.

Racing in conditions like this is very challenging.  It is not hard to get a few things wrong and find yourself back in the pack.  We were very lucky as most everything we did this weekend turned to gold.

On the second windward leg, Augie and Arnie went to the right and Danny and I stayed a bit more to the left. This worked out for us and we passed Augie. Down the final run to the finish, Augie again super fast, passed us to finish third but our 4th was all we needed to win the regatta.  Gris Dolf and Luke Lawrence won the race with Larry Whipple and Austin Sperry in second.

I haven’t had this much enjoyment from sailing in a while. I experienced this when I raced with both Danny and Allie to Hawaii, twice. That was 10 years ago.

Next for me is IRC racing with the Beau Geste team in Austrailia at the end of the month.

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com.

Paul

 

Photos Marco Oquendo

Coconut Grove

Three races were scheduled but only two races were held today on Biscayne Bay before the wind pipped up ahead of a front that will hit Miami tonight.

The first race started at 10:30 in 12 knots from the southwest. Josh and I had great speed and got to the first mark second. Alberto Zanetti of Argentina, with Mark Stube crewing, led and held the lead down the first run. On the second windward leg, our speed showed through and we grabbed the lead and held on down the run to the finish.  Charlie Buckingham, (little Buck) sailing with Austin “Hoss” Sperry, sailed very fast on the final run to pass Zanetti and finish second. George Szabo finished 4th, Jim Buckingham (Big Buck) finished 5th and Augie Diaz, the regatta leader, finished 6th.  Things were tightening up.

In the second race we had a bad start and had one of our competitors tack on us right as we tacked to clear our air coming off the line.  We then got tangled up with another boat in an unfortunate situation. We did a penalty turn. Needless to say, at this point we were deep.

Jack Jennings and Frthijof Kleen sailed fast the lead at the first mark.  Diaz and Zanetti were up in the front with the Buck Family.  We sailed fast and rounded the first mark about 10th and passed a couple more boats down the run and up the next windward leg to round the last mark 4th.  Our speed upwind in the freshening breeze was excellent.  Down the final run I stuck the bow into a couple of waves and filled the boat top with water.  This ultimately cost us Big Buck and we finished 5th.  Jennings and Kleen won the race with Zanetti second, Diaz third, Big Buck 4th, Josh and I 5th and Szabo 6th.  The Race committee called it for the day as a couple of boats had lost their masts on the final lap.

We are in 4th place at this point. Tomorrow, two or three races could be sailed however the forecast is for very strong wind.  Unfortunately Josh and I won’t be racing anymore in this regatta as I am headed to Italy tonight to make a speech on Monday in Napoli.

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com

Paul

 

 

Coconut Grove

Josh and I are back at it here in Miami in the Star Mid Winter Championship, four days of racing with up to 8 races in total.  The first two days races will count for the Bob Levin Memorial trophy.  Today’s racing was delayed while the race committee waited for the northwesterly wind to die and the southeasterly sea breeze to fill.  This made the start of race 1 around 13:00 in 7 knots.  The sea was flat and the maximum wind of the day was about 15:00 at 8 knots.

In the first race, Josh and I sailed pretty well and got up into the lead half way up the first leg. But  a couple mistakes that kept us from winning.  We finished 4th behind George Szabo in first, Charlie Buckingham in 2nd and Jack Jennings in 3rd.  Buck senior was 5th.

In race 2, we were in a group of four boats called over early at the start down at the pin end of the line.  The race committee took about 45 seconds to make the call (which they are not required to do but do regularly within 10-15 seconds).  This put us and the other three boats about 1:30 behind the 26 boat fleet by the time we started.  There was nothing remarkable about either race today so making a comeback in the second race was tough.

George Szabo leads the regatta with 6 points, Jack Jennings in 2nd with 7 and Augie Diaz, the current World Champion, in 3rd with 10 points.  Josh and I got back to 15th in the 2nd race so we are in 10th overall with 19 points.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for light sea breeze to fill in the afternoon again.  Saturday is supposed to be 14-16 knots from the south and Sunday is forecast to be 22-26 knots with gusts well over 30 knots from the north northwest.

Four complete results go to; http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=2926

Paul