Volvo Ocean Race Route

The final piece of the puzzle was revealed today when Auckland was announced as a stopover port for the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race. It will be the eighth time the City of Sails has featured in the event.

Auckland last hosted the event in 2001-02. This time it will stage the leg four finish from Sanya in China and the start of leg five, which will take the fleet into the Southern Ocean once again, round Cape Horn and onto Itajaí, Brazil.

With the confirmation of Auckland, the route for 2011-12 is now set and includes: start port of Alicante (Spain), Cape Town (South Africa), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Sanya (China), Auckland (New Zealand), Itajaí (Brazil), Miami (US), Lisbon (Portugal), Lorient (France) and the finish port of Galway (Ireland).

"Our host port programme around the world is now complete and I can confirm that Auckland has won its bid to become our stopover port in New Zealand," said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad.

"This announcement completes the route and our goal of contracting all the ports before the end of March 2010, significantly earlier than in previous race cycles. The preliminary course will be published during April.

"The people of Auckland have an immense appreciation of sailing, and the Volvo Ocean Race in particular. Many of the world's best-known sailors are from New Zealand, and we are proud to bring the race back to the City of Sails, where we will be sure of a huge reception."

Auckland's selection as the port of choice and return to the race route was welcomed by Mayor John Banks. "This event is a great fit with Auckland's maritime location and of significant economic benefit for our city," he said.

"Auckland has a proud history associated with this event and we look forward to welcoming the fleet and many spectators to our city once again."

New Zealand has fielded many of the world's greatest sailors, including Sir Peter Blake who competed five times in The Whitbread Round the World Race, which became the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001. Blake's victory in 1989-90 on Steinlager 2 included a clean sweep of all six legs.

Velux 5 Oceans

One of the UK's most exciting young sailors has confirmed his entry into the oldest solo round the world yacht race - the 2010 Velux 5 Oceans. Nineteen-year-old Oscar Mead will line up against some of the world's top sailors for the 30,000-mile Velux 5 Oceans race which starts in France in October.

Oscar hit the headlines last year after becoming, at the tender age of 18, the youngest person ever to compete in the Original Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (OSTAR).

Oscar will be the youngest ever skipper to enter the gruelling nine-month round the world race.

Oscar will put his yacht and powercraft design degree at Southampton Solent University on hold for a year while he takes part in the race.

The Velux 5 Oceans starts from La Rochelle in France on October 17 and features five ocean sprints. After heading from La Rochelle to Cape Town, the race will then take in Wellington in New Zealand, Salvador in Brazil and Charleston in the US before returning back across the Atlantic to France.

LV Cup Auckland

Italian skipper and helmsman Francesco Bruni snatched a victory from Britain’s three-time Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie at the first weather mark of their race as their boats rounded the mark overlapped. Sailing above the mark, Ainslie tried to luff his opponent only to see the Italian execute a swift spinnaker set, sail clear and go on to win.

“Azzurra sailed a good race today, they seem to have a knack of overtaking us which is getting very frustrating!” Ainslie said. “We were fully in contention at the top mark and tried to hold them up, we were unfortunately set up for a gybe set and they were set up for a straight hoist which allowed them to gain some distance.”

In their efforts to stay on schedule, the race committee spent a long first day on the water. In the morning, cloudy skies killed any chance of a sea breeze developing and delayed racing. The Rangitoto Channel entrance to Auckland Harbour was so glassy at late morning that Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio joked that it appeared to have been paved.

The long wait for wind ended at 2:45pm as the first pair started on the Blue Course at the mouth of the channel between Rangitoto Island and the Takapuna cliffs. The breeze was five to seven knots from the northwest. After a second race in similar conditions, the breeze switched to the south for the third race inside the harbour. The last race didn’t start until 7:10pm and finished after sunset just before 8:00pm

Race One: All4One def. Mascalzone Latino Audi Sailing Team, 00:44 – In the draw last night, the German/French boat All4One chose the starboard entry for the start and they protected the right side in the pre-start today. They split before the gun with All4One going out to the right on port tack, while Mascalzone Latino Audi enjoyed an early lead on starboard. All4One skipper and strategist Jochen Schümann said a man up the mast had spotted wind out to the right and they chose to concede an early lead to reach the stronger pressure. All4One eventually tacked to starboard to cover and Gavin Brady steering the Italian boat initiated a tacking duel. However Sébastien Col on the helm of All4One had already worked out to a controlling lead on the right that he never relinquished.

Race Two: Azzurra def. TEAMORIGIN, 00:53 – Great Britain’s TEAMORIGIN enjoyed the starboard entry in its match against Italy’s Azzurra and used it to advantage in a dialup that took both boats well above the line before they sailed back with Ben Ainslie on the British boat chasing Italian Francesco Bruni. Ainslie grabbed the right as they split away at the gun but Bruni kept it close and when they crossed for the first time Ainslie on starboard came down and hunted the Italian who tacked close to leeward and forced the British boat away. It happened again before they came into the weather mark overlapped, with Ainslie holding his opponent out from rounding. They tacked above the mark and the British boat luffed the Italian until Bruni capitalized on a miscommunication on Ainslie’s boat. Bruni was first to set a spinnaker and rolled over TEAMORIGIN forcing the British boat to gybe away. From there the Italians controlled the next three legs, finishing with a comfortable 53 second margin.

Race Three: Emirates Team New Zealand def. Artemis, 01:40 – Dean Barker overcame the handicap of a port entry in the pre-start to grab the right side of the course off the start line. Strong outgoing current and shifty breezes played a major role as Terry Hutchinson steering Artemis took the fight to Emirates Team New Zealand but trailed by 55 seconds at the weather mark. Artemis came charging back on the run to close within 12 seconds at the leeward gate but then lost ground in lighter air under North Head. The Kiwis extended to win comfortably.

Race Four: ALEPH Sailing Team def. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 03:26 – The Russian boat steered by Karol Jablonski dominated Bertrand Pacé’s French entry in the pre-start only to see ALEPH wriggle clear and lead by three boat lengths at the gun. Jablonski kept it very close, pressuring Pacé on the first beat and was only 11 seconds astern at the top mark. As the sun set over the Auckland City skyline it was also sunset for the Russians as they ran over their spinnaker at the leeward mark. The French sailed away to a comfortable victory.

Lisbon in VOR

Alicante, Spain – 01 March 2010 – After a fierce bidding process, Lisbon has been chosen as the first of the European ports for the Volvo Ocean Race, starting from Alicante in the autumn of 2011. Lisbon, located in the west of Portugal, at the point where the river Tagus flows into the Atlantic Ocean, will be the finish of the transatlantic leg of the race during the summer of 2012.

It will be the first time that this historic Portuguese port has played a part in the world’s premier ocean race.

Interest in hosting the Volvo Ocean Race in Europe was received from 34 cities, 15 of which went through to the final phase of the bidding process. This clearly underlines the enormous interest the race generates and makes Europe by far the most competitive continent in the selection procedure.

“It is great to have such an iconic city included in our list of stopovers and Lisbon, especially, has wonderful sailing conditions, which will make for a very exciting in-port race,” said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad. “Lisbon is a delightful city with much to offer the Volvo Ocean Race and this will be a stopover to look forward to after the rigours of the transatlantic leg,” he added.

“Portugal is a country of navigators that opened the world to new horizons and its capital, Lisbon, was the starting point for the fabulous saga of the Discoveries. A city with such grand nautical tradition had to be associated with the biggest transoceanic adventure of modern times and it is with utmost honour and pride that we are now a part of the Volvo Ocean Race’s global itinerary,” said António Costa, Mayor of the City of Lisbon.

The next European port will be announced on Wednesday 3 March.

The Volvo Ocean Race traces its origins back to 1973 and is the world’s premier offshore sailing race. The Volvo Open 70 racing boat is sailed by professional athletes, who race around the world with the prevailing winds.

Alicante to Cape Town

The racetrack for the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race, due to start from Alicante in Spain in the autumn of 2011, is now set and the first port of call will be Cape Town, South Africa, making its eighth appearance as host to this premier ocean race. This marks the beginning of the port announcement process for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 and the rest of the course around the world will be revealed before the end of March.

The Volvo Ocean Race is the only professional sailing event that visits ports around the world and it is a delicate balance to select a track that is not only challenging to sail, but presents an attractive business case for potential sponsors and partners for both the race and the competing teams.

Leg one at 6,500 nautical miles, which in 2008-09 took the eventual race winner Ericsson 4 21 days, 17 hours and 54 seconds to complete, is one of the longest in the race and historically, the team that wins this leg has gone on to claim the winner’s trophy.

For Cape Town, hosting the 11th Volvo Ocean Race/Whitbread will be the biggest event following its hosting of the FIFA World Cup. Over two million tickets have been snapped up for the World Cup, which takes place throughout South Africa in June this year.

The V&A Waterfront will be a perfect place for shore crews to prepare the boats for the next test in the race, and for guests to enjoy the ambience and unique atmosphere this ocean classic generates. However, the stopover will allow little time for rest. There will be a full schedule of sailing ahead of the start of leg two, including the important in-port racing, which counts points towards the overall winner’s trophy, as well as pro-am racing.

The European ports of call for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2012, including the finish port will be the next to be announced and the entire route is set to be revealed before the end of March.

BMW Wins 33rd AC

Alinghi put forth a tremendous effort today in its attempt to defend the 33rd America's Cup. The Swiss team from the Société Nautique de Genève led for most of the first leg of the triangular course, but couldn't hold off the Challenger BMW Oracle Racing. Alinghi lost the race by 5m26s and the America's Cup Match, 2-0.

Team president and principal helmsman Ernesto Bertarelli congratulated his competitor after the race: “Congratulations to the BMW Oracle team. The boat was faster, there's no question about that.”

Today's race was postponed for more than six hours from the scheduled start time of 10:06 as, similar to Friday, the race committee waited for the wind to settle. Around 16:10 the race committee set a windward mark bearing 100 degrees, just south of due east, and the two crews started at 16:25. Bertarelli guided Alinghi 5 onto the race course on port tack about mid-line, despite receiving a penalty. The crew wanted the right side of the course, hoping for the favourable wind shift. Almost 14 minutes into the race Alinghi 5 tacked to starboard and into a right-hand wind shift that lifted the 90ft load waterline catamaran into the lead. For the next 35 minutes or so both boats held starboard tack with Alinghi, now steered by Loïck Peyron, to windward of the challenger and holding the lead in the wind shift.

Alinghi crossed the challenger near the windward mark, but lost the lead when it tacked to port to approach the mark. The challenger led by 28 seconds at the first mark and then, propelled by its wing, increased that lead by more than 2 minutes at the second mark.

Alinghi was created in 2000 by Ernesto Bertarelli and won the 31st America's Cup at its first try in 2003, defeating Team New Zealand 5-0 to become the first European team to win the Cup. The Swiss team successfully defended the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia in 2007 defeating Team New Zealand again 5-2.

Groupama 3

After 24 hours on the water, Groupama 3 is conceding a deficit of nearly a hundred miles in relation to the reference time. However, this minor discrepancy at the start of this round the world is nothing to worry about, since it was all part of the plan for Franck Cammas and his crew as they set sail from Ushant on Sunday afternoon.

On paper, this might appear worrying, but on water the situation is becoming favourable again for the giant trimaran this Monday afternoon: the calm conditions settling over the Bay of Biscay are now a distant memory for Groupama 3. This was the first challenge during this impromptu start, which only really took shape 24 hours before they set off. Indeed the chance to be part of the 'meteorological window' was worth taking And for the time being the forecasts are holding true on the water. The ride across the Bay of Biscay was fairly quick until the early hours, where Franck Cammas and his nine men had to put in a gybe to anticipate the NE'ly wind shift.

Groupama 3 had to link together three gybes to clear Cape Finisterre and free herself from the coast (and the shipping) in order to benefit from an E'ly wind, which was increasing in strength the further south the giant trimaran got. From midday, Franck Cammas and his nine crew were racking up steadier speeds again for the long drop down towards the equator. As such the haemorrhage of miles conceded in relation to the reference time has been stemmed and this afternoon the boat was making the same speeds (over 22 knots) as its predecessor, Orange 2. Groupama 3's position has become favourable as she will now be able to make the descent towards the Cape Verde archipelago on virtually one tack.

Constructed in Country

Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), the 33rd America's Cup defending yacht club, today presented its opposition arguments to the New York Supreme Court in response to Golden Gate Yacht Club's (GGYC) ninth lawsuit; a misguided interpretation of the ‘constructed in country' (CIC) requirement of the Deed of Gift, the event's governing document. SNG's comprehensive set of papers reaffirms its interpretation that only the ‘yacht or vessel' has to be constructed in the country of the club holding the Cup, and that sails do not.

SNG's affirmations are supported by historical precedent, as reflected in the expert declaration of John Rousmaniere, a leading America's Cup historian, ‘the donors of the original Deed of Gift never contemplated limits on foreign sails or foreign sail technology. Those donors, in fact, hoisted British sails in first winning the Cup with the schooner America. In fact, in adding the CIC clause to the Deed in 1882, George Schuyler, the last surviving donor, sought to ensure that the Cup remained a genuinely competitive event, while preserving the Cup's international character. He thus struck that balance by limiting the CIC requirement only to a competing vessel's hull, but not its sails.'

Additional documents presented to the court confirm that GGYC's CIC claim is factually wrong: SNG's sails were constructed in Switzerland and this fact is supported by an affidavit from Tom Whidden, president of North Sails, and an official certificate of Swiss origin from the Swiss Chamber of Commerce.

“SNG is certain of our yacht's Deed compliance, including the ‘constructed in country' provision and our interpretation is supported by the language of the Deed, historical precedent, and by the Cup donor's intentions,” said Fred Meyer, vice-commodore of SNG. “In any event, GGYC's CIC claim is factually wrong and we have submitted to the court substantial evidence proving that our sails are Swiss made. It is our view that we should go racing on 8 February. GGYC should end their legal strategy to try to delay the Cup and to try to gain competitive advantage over the Defender and should proceed with the competition on the water. If they wish, however, to pursue their latest lawsuit, then the judge should have a close look at BMW Oracle's yacht, which does not comply with GGYC's own interpretation of the Deed,” he concluded.

‘Constructed in country' counter motion

In parallel to the opposition papers, SNG has presented a counter motion stating that, should GGYC's interpretation of the CIC in the Deed of Gift be validated by the Court, then its own boat would be illegal. Affidavits from a number of leading experts in the field of yacht design, such as Duncan MacLane and Nigel Irens, support the fact that GGYC's trimaran is in fact a French-designed boat and not American, as supported by photographic exhibits the boat also includes a number of non-American constructed elements. In addition, BMW Oracle's yacht is not even a sloop, propelled by sails, with a main and a jib, as declared in the American club's certificate of challenge, but a wing-mast rig.

SNG's set of documents showcases how this latest motion by GGYC is in contravention of the spirit of the Deed of Gift and how Larry Ellison's yacht club has forgotten the call for friendly competition between nations.

The Nineth Lawsuit!

While Brad Butterworth, Alinghi skipper and Société Nautique de Genève representative, was in Singapore engaged in good faith discussions to resolve remaining issues ahead of the 8 February America's Cup Deed of Gift Match in the presence of David Tillett, the chairman of the ISAF America's Cup Jury, and David Kellett, the ISAF representative, BMW Oracle unilaterally aborted talks by filing their ninth lawsuit against the Société Nautique de Genève at the New York Supreme Court seeking to disqualify the Defender from the upcoming Match.

“BMW Oracle has already successfully disqualified 18 teams through the US courts to gain access to the Match, now they are seeking to win the Cup without ever racing for it,” said Brad Butterworth. “This latest lawsuit has come as a shock given we were planning a further meeting to finalise discussions today, it demonstrates extreme bad faith. Clearly they are not ready to race. They have completely disregarded the jurisdiction of the ISAF America's Cup Jury, which they sought so hard to have instated, and have instead reverted to the New York courts where they clearly feel they have a greater chance of success,” he added.

SNG's defending yacht has been constructed in Switzerland in compliance with the provision of the Deed of Gift. SNG disagrees with GGYC's interpretation.

BMW Oracle's statement that Alinghi will be using USA-made sails is wrong. The sails for the Match have been constructed in a sail loft in Villeneuve, Switzerland. Furthermore, the 3DL process of making sails is subject to Swiss intellectual property rights. The inventors of the process, Jean-Pierre Baudet and Luc Dubois, are two Swiss engineers. Every challenger and defender for the America's Cup since 1995 has used 3DL Swiss technology based sails.
“BMW Oracle's attempt to derail the America's Cup, and disregard ISAF's jurisdiction, and their continued unsportsmanlike behaviour is unacceptable,” said Fred Meyer, SNG vice-commodore. “Alinghi is ready to race on the 8 February as mandated by the 7 April 2009 court order,” he added. “We won the right to defend the America's Cup on the water by winning the 31st and 32nd editions, we want to go racing, we do not want the outcome of the America's Cup determined in court,” he concluded.

Sailing Instructions - Notice of Race

The Société Nautique de Genève, the 33rd America's Cup defending yacht club, today published a draft version of the Sailing Instructions for the 33rd America's Cup Deed of Gift Match due to start on the 8 February. This draft document has been sent to the challenger and may be discussed at the meeting between the two teams in the presence of the ISAF AC Jury Chairman, David Tillett, in Singapore on 12 January.

Please click here to read the draft Sailing Instructions for the 33rd America's Cup Match.

Also published, draft amended 33rd America's Cup Notice of Race

SNG also published a draft of the amended 33rd America's Cup Notice of Race incorporating the New York Supreme Court's recent decisions and following discussions with GGYC/BMW Oracle Racing representatives in Sydney on 15 December 2009.

Please click here to read the draft amended 33rd America's Cup Notice of Race.