Larson Melges 24 World Champion

The fifty-one international teams, who had travelled from across North America and Europe to compete in the Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis 2009 Melges 24 World Championships, finally got the welcome opportunity to race in double-digit breezes on the final day of the regatta. Despite the Championship racecourse being shrouded in appropriately Halloween style mist for most of the day, the Race Committee successfully banged off two four-leg races in winds which peaked at around fourteen knots.
Chris Larson at the helm of 'West Marine Rigging/New England Ropes', who had led the regatta on-and-off for much of the week, took a seventeen point lead into the final day and looked odds-on to take the title. However with the potential for three races to be sailed today, Larson was always potentially vulnerable to attack from second placed Gabrio Zandona at the helm of the Italian entry 'Joe Fly'.
If Larson was in fact feeling the pressure of leading the championship into the final day, there was no visible evidence at the start of the first race. With several of the top teams including Zandona, Lorenzo Bressani on 'Uka Uka Racing' and Terry Hutchinson on 'Quantum Racing/Gill Race Team' being called OCS soon after the start, Larson was able to pick his way skilfully through the melee at the pin and followed eventual race winner Nico Celon on 'Fantastica' off the line. Rounding the top mark with only Carlo Fracassoli on 'Gullisara' in front of him, Larson sailed a calm and composed race and went on to record his fourth second place of the week. Zandona, Bressani and Hutchinson all received twenty percent Z-flag penalties and following an announcement from the Race Officer that there would be no third race, Larson now found himself in an unassailable position. With no reason to compete in the second race of the day, he and his delighted crew: Mike Wolfs, Curtis Florence! and tactician Richard Clarke, headed ashore to start to begin to celebrate their Melges 24 World Championship victory.

AC not in Ras Al Khaimah

The New York Supreme Court today ruled that the 33rd America's Cup, scheduled in February 2010, must take place in a venue in the Southern Hemisphere as per the strict reading of the competition's governing document, the Deed of Gift, or in Valencia, Spain, as the only exception to that rule.
“This is a disappointing result as we were certain that Justice Cahn's May 2008 decision allowed the Defender to chose Valencia or ‘any other location',” said Lucien Masmejan, Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) legal counsel. “Ras Al Khaimah has put enormous time and effort into this 33rd America's Cup project. We thank them and feel sorry for this unexpected result out of the New York court”.
“We are satisfied, however, as Justice Kornreich confirmed that the Deed of Gift Match will be conducted under SNG rules as she had already ruled in a previous court order,” added Lucien Masmejan.

GGYC replied to the decision: "We're pleased with the court's decision today that Alinghi's choice of the venue for the 33rd America's Cup was not allowed under the Deed of Gift. We look forward to Justice Kornreich's decision later this week regarding two additional issues. First, we hope she will agree with our position that Alinghi cannot add additional ballast, equipment or sailors to the boat after it has been measured for compliance with the Deed of Gift's restriction on length along the load water line. Enabling any team to add additional weight after measurement - thus lengthening its load water line and increasing its speed - violates the Deed of Gift, decades of sailing practice, and the spirit of the rules that govern the America's Cup.
Second, Justice Kornreich understands the need for a fair and impartial jury. Our position is that the sailing jury must have the normal powers to adjudicate. We remain motivated to negotiate all remaining issues with Alinghi to ensure a fair, competitive and successful America's Cup in February 2010. We took a big step towards this goal today. "

America's Cup to Court

The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) has asked the New York Supreme Court to remove the Swiss yacht club from its position as Trustee in a Breach of Fiduciary Duty complaint filed today.
In its place, GGYC - the Challenger of Record the 33rd America's Cup - has requested the Court to appoint a faithful, fit and proper substitute to oversee the next Match to be sailed in 2010, starting 8 February.
Foremost among a catalogue of failures of SNG and listed in a Breach of Fiduciary Duty complaint are:
- Offering the America's Cup hosting rights in order to extract secret commercial deals
- Repeated attempts to seize control of the rules and officiating processes to ensure that Alinghi can not lose
- Moves to disqualify GGYC's yacht despite assurances to the New York Supreme Court that this would not happen
- Selecting Ras Al Khaimah for the 33rd Cup to further its own business interests whilst exposing GGYC to unnecessary danger

"Winning the Cup brings not just honor and pride, but responsibilities too. The honor may have gone, but the responsibilities remain," said Russell Coutts, Skipper and Chief Executive of GGYC's challenging team, BMW ORACLE Racing.

"The America's Cup is meant to be hard to win, not impossible to lose," added Coutts.

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“By filing their eighth legal action against the Defender of the America's Cup in two years, Larry Ellison and his Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) have demonstrated yet again that their true intention is to win sailing's most prestigious trophy in court instead of on the water. After failing in their attempts to circumvent the terms set in the governing Deed of Gift, Ellison is now seeking to snatch the Cup from Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) with a new round of baseless allegations,” said Fred Meyer, Société Nautique de Genève Vice-Commodore. “As two-time winner of the America's Cup and organiser of what was widely considered the most successful America's Cup event ever in Valencia, Spain, in 2007, SNG and Alinghi will continue to fight for their legitimate rights in order to promote the sport of sailing around the world. We hope that GGYC will abandon this unsportsmanlike conduct and either join the competition on the waters off Ras Al Khaimah this February or let other teams who want to participate challenge for the Cup,” he concluded.

Alinghi team skipper Brad Butterworth said: “BMW Oracle should clean up their unsportsmanlike behaviour with a dose of saltwater and sunshine and challenge for the Cup on the water. Otherwise they should stand aside and let other teams compete.” "The complaint is an affront to the America's Cup, to the UAE, to our country's relationship with an important ally, and to the judicial process. It is just a PR stunt. There is nothing in the complaint that hasn't been the subject of prior or pending legal proceedings. Basically, GGYC doesn't want to race SNG on the water after it disenfranchised 19 other clubs from competing in an elimination series and dislocated hundreds of sailors and participants in the sailing industry,” concluded lead counsel for the Société Nautique de Genève, Barry Ostrager of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Transat 650

Portuguese sailor Francisco Lobato illuminated the night with his flares a few seconds after greeting the jury's boat. The Series winner, happy and relieved, was celebrated by his friends gathered on the dock of the marina's yacht club. "It's done!" he exclaimed. And he honoured his predecessor, Charlie Dalin who arrived yesterday afternoon, too late to make up the 22 hour gap in their total elapsed time for the two legs.

"Charlie has done a very good race. I can finally relax." Impressive speed and consistency between The Charente-Maritime and Madeira, the young Portuguese made a more conservative crossing of the Atlantic to Brazil; "The important thing was to get here, regardless of the advance one minute or 20 hours I don't care, I am happy. I really thought about Sam Manuard who had dismasted just before the finish." No risks were taken in this leg of a thousand traps. "I left Funchal tired and not at all in my race, after a week of media madness" he explains. "The passage to the Canaries, with rotating winds in the west almost cost me a lot. I chose to be more conservative in the crossing of the doldrums. I was there 3 days two years ago. I lost miles on Charlie but I did not panic. I focused on my route without minding about the others. And now, my team and I, are rewarded of four years of work. I know that my partner is satisfied and I now I look forward to attack the next Figaro sea! son. "

The racing time of Francisco betwwen Funchal and Bahia is 20 days, 17 hours, 8 minutes and fifteen seconds.

His overall time is 26 days, 19 hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds at a speed of 6.65 knots on average.

Before any Jury adjustments, he is ahead of Charlie Dalin by nearly 11 hours.

Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice

With two weeks to go until the eight teams are scheduled to assemble for practice sailing in Nice, preparations for the first Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta are gathering pace.

The facilities in Nice are being readied, the race boats are being tested, equalised and prepared for racing, and some of the teams spent some time on ACC yachts last week, working out the kinks ahead of the first race day, November 7.

In Valencia, the site of the last America's Cup where several teams still maintain a base of operations, the four ACC boats that will be used for the racing in Nice have been set-up for the November regatta.

On Tuesday afternoon, two of the boats, GBR 75 (provided by TeamOrigin) and FRA 93 (provided by ALL4ONE - previously known as K-Challenge) arrived in Nice under tow, following a 400-plus nautical mile journey up the Mediterranean coast.

The confirmed line-up of eight world-class sailing teams for the Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice, which runs from the 7th to 22nd November, includes:

- ALL4ONE (FRA/GER)

- Azzurra (ITA)

- BMW ORACLE Racing (USA)

- Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)

- Swedish Challenge Artemis (SWE)

- Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS)

- TeamOrigin (GBR)

- Team French Spirit (FRA)

BMW ORACLE Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand and ALL4ONE (as K-Challenge) each competed in the last America's Cup and TeamOrigin competed in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series earlier this year. While the other four teams are new to ACC racing, experienced Cup sailors are sprinkled throughout their crew rosters. This past week in Valencia, the Synergy Russian Sailing Team and Azzurra had an ACC familiarisation session using boats belonging to Victory Challenge, while ALL4ONE sea-trialled with FRA 93.

The Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice is the first event inspired by the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in Auckland, New Zealand, earlier this year. The host team of the Nice event is ALL4ONE. Further dates and venues for the 2010 season will be confirmed soon.

Oman Unveils Majan Tri

After four months of assembly in Oman's southern most port of Salalah, skipper Paul Standbridge has been stretching the legs of Oman Sail's new Arabian 100 (A100) trimaran during sea-trials off the Omani coast. Now named Majan, after the ancient name for Oman, Oman Sail's new flagship is now operational and is heading into the Gulf and a tour of neighbouring countries.Based on the proven design of another trimaran, Sodebo, which is the holder of the solo North Atlantic crossing record, the design has been tailored for the needs of Oman Sail and their objective of training and developing Omani sailors to compete on the international stage.The launch of Majan is an ambitious addition to the project's mission to inspire a new generation of young Omanis. The first chapter was started when Mohsin Al Busaidi returned to the shores of Oman after successfully circumnavigating the world non-stop on Majan's 75ft sister ship, Musandam. From there, success has followed success as the two Oman teams took 1st and 3rd in the 2009 European iShares Cup and two Omanis are currently also sailing around the world in the Clipper Race. At the heart of all this success lies the Oman Sail Academy where young Omanis are now taking part in try sailing courses and looking to emulate their peers. Oman Sail's aims are ambitious: by 2015, the project aims to have seven academies running across the country enabling over 30,000 Omanis to try sailing. Majan will sail with a crew of seven: 50% of the sailors will be Omani offshore trainees joined by three international professional crew and a cameraman providing the one-on-one training that the recruits require at this early stage of their career. The first chapter will be a 'Tour of Arabia' starting next week from Muscat, which will include stops in UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar before Majan joins the Dubai-Muscat race back to Muscat one month later. The name Majan is used with pride within Oman and is a fitting name for a futuristic racing yacht for a country with a long maritime history. As Majan's newest crew member, Mohsin Al Busaidi, commented "The acceleration of Majan is incredible: we moved from 20 - 30 knots in one gust of wind. We now look forward to showing the world what she can do!"

Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race

Team Finland has taken line honours in Race 2 from La Rochelle to Rio de Janeiro of the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race. Crossing the line at 16:00:36 local time (18:00:36 GMT) their latest victory makes it two out of two for the Scandinavian entry.

In a race which has been marked by light winds, Team Finland took an early lead out of La Rochelle but soon lost it by sailing into a wind hole as the fleet rounded Cape Finisterre. The fleet then headed on a westerly course towards the scoring gate south of the Canary Islands in an attempt to take the first points of Race 2. As weather forecasts indicated light winds across the 90 nautical mile long gate, Team Finland made the decision to bail out and focus on a ten point win into Rio. It proved to be the defining moment of Team Finland's race, as they regained the lead and held it all the way to the line.

Periods of light winds have dogged the fleet for the first trans-Atlantic crossing of Clipper 09-10. With virtually no wind at the start in La Rochelle, around the Canary Islands and for half the boats through the Doldrums, the normally reliable trade winds have also been lighter than expected. As the fleet neared its final destination of Rio de Janeiro, once again light conditions brought the leading boats to a near halt.

The Clipper 09-10 Race Committee has announced a shortened course for Race 2 from La Rochelle to Rio de Janeiro. The amended Sailing Instructions has given the teams 24 hours notice of the shortened course and the final positions will be taken at midday GMT on Tuesday 20 October. Those teams that have crossed the finish line will be awarded the relevant finishing position, while the others will be awarded the position based on their distance to finish at that time.

Once finished, the teams will make their way by fastest means, through a combination of using their engines and sailing, to the Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro, which will host the fleet for the duration of the stopover.

Photo Copyright onEdition 2009© Zoe Williamson

Rolex Middle Sea Race

ICAP Leopard (GBR) was first home at the 2009 Rolex Middle Sea Race taking the award for line honours. Try as they might, Mike Slade's all-star crew were unable to crack the nut that is Rambler's course record. Arriving just before midday at the Royal Malta Yacht Club line in Marsamxett Harbour, the 100-foot Farr designed supermaxi was just over half an hour outside the mark set by George David and Ken Read two years ago. She had made a tremendous effort never straying far from the pace required despite less than perfect conditions.Slade made no excuses on the dock after stepping ashore. He believes they raced as well as they could. ICAP Leopard's record attempt was always in the balance the moment they crossed the start line. They gave it a good go though, relishing a promising forecast. Slade was quick to compliment his crew on a job well done. Even if one sails the boat to its full potential and suffer no breakages, success is still dependent upon the weather. Completing the 606 nautical mile Rolex Middle Sea Race in less than 48 hours is well within the capability of a canting keeled, water ballasted flying machine staffed by some of the world's top inshore and offshore yacht racing specialists. The wait for the next boat home was a short one. Just as during the Rolex Fastnet, Karl Kwok'sBeau Geste (HKG) had been shadowing her bigger rival for the whole course, waiting for a chink in the armour that might let her snatch the lead. Skipper Gavin Brady, tactician Francesco de Angelis and navigator Andrew Cape are a deep-filled talent pool, but even they found the conditions testing. Brady is a tough customer, but even he acknowledged the severity of the situation after Stromboli on Saturday night/Sunday morning. With two boats tied up in the harbour we have a yacht race. When Beau Geste crossed the line at 15.28 she moved into pole position on handicap. Her moment in the spotlight was short lived. Alegre (GBR) finished at 18.33 and moved back into a lead that she has held since Stromboli. Neither Ran (GBR) nor Luna Rossa (ITA) were in a position to dislodge her when they finished. Intermatica VO70 (ITA) won the battle of the two Volvo boats, beating Ericsson (SWE) on handicap although not on the water. The bulk of the fleet is still racing. 23 yachts have now retired citing various reasons, mostly sail and equipment damage resulting from the vicious squalls that persisted until Monday midday.

Roma Wins The War

Coming into the final day of racing, Roma enjoyed a nine-point margin over nearest rival, Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP), and with excellent teamwork, good boatspeed, and consistent results the Italian team lead by helmsman Paolo Cian (ITA) needed only to finish within three points of the local-based team to claim the overall GP42 Global Cup crown. On paper, this looked easily achievable, but the highly-competitive nature of this class means nothing is predictable, especially in the perfect 14-17 knot conditions of today's racing.

In the first race, for example, the two front-runners found themselves tangled up with each other and Team Nordic, all fighting for a pin-end start as the fasted path to the favored left side of the course. Aggressive maneuvers between the three resulted in flags, shouting from the teams, and a whistle from the on-water jury before the three disentangled and set off for the left corner. Keeping clear of the fight with an perfectly-timed start in the middle of the line, Javier Goizueta’s (ESP) Caser-Endesa (ESP) took and held the lead for their second win of the series. Roma’s (ITA) third place and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero’s (ESP) second place in this race closed the point gap down to eight, but there were still two races left.In the second race, Team Nordic (SWE) was this time nowhere to be found, having dropped out for an unrepairable gear failure on their deckhouse, yet somehow Roma and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero got tangled up, fighting yet again for the pin. The Italian team won the fight this time, forcing the Canarians to tack away and duck the rest of the fleet coming off the line on starboard tack, but Roma paid the price of being slow and barely able to clear the pin end.Yet this power of the pin kicked in further up the leg, allowing Roma to stay close and hang on as the breeze built and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero found a favorable lane on the right side and put her awesome boatspeed in these conditions to work and take the lead. With Caser-Endesa having to fight off a late charge made by Jose Maria van der Ploeg’s (ESP) Turismo Madrid (ESP), and the two finishing overlapped with Caser-Endesa in the lead by a mere metre, Roma was able to go into the final race with a strong position: a 7-point gap now with the local Canarias team and only one race left.

In this race Caser-Endesa this time took the pin for themselves, and in a playbook now very familiar after four days of racing, they led to the left corner, crossed everyone close to the layline, led around the top mark and offset, and simply continued to lead around the track to extend to victory. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero had tried repeatedly to get into a passing lane, and for a while Caser-Endesa would make aggressive covering manouevers to prevent this, but the 3-point gap needed to fill with other boats to take the runner-up position from the local favorites just couldn’t be overcome, so Caser-Endesa, with owner Javier Goizueta (ESP) on board as a guest, had to settle for being third overall but satisfied as winner of the day on scores of 1-3-1, their best day of the series and second time being champions for the day.

This is the final event of the GP42 season, after an impressive debut in this year’s Audi MedCup’s five stages, an Owner-Driver Championship in Cascais, and this spectacular Global Cup finale in Lanzarote.

The next event for the GP42 class will be at next year’s Audi MedCup Circuit Stage One in May, 2010 in Portugal.

Puerto Calero GP42 Global Cup Final Results

1. Roma (ITA, Paolo Cian), 27 points

2. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP, José María Ponce), 33 points

3. Caser-Endesa (ESP, Juan Luis Páez), 34 points

4. Turismo Madrid (ESP, José María Van der Ploeg), 48 points

5. Quebramar Xacobeo 2010 (POR, Felipe Regojo), 55 points

6. Airis (ITA, Roberto Monti), 58 points

7. Península Petroleum (GBR, John Bassadone), 84 points

8. Nordic Team (SWE, Magnus Olsson), 97 points

Extreme Sailing Series Asia

OC Events, organisers of the award winning iShares Cup, the European Extreme 40 Sailing Series, has announced today the creation of the inaugural Extreme Sailing Series Asia to be staged between November 2009 and March 2010. The first year of the Asian series will include events in Hong Kong, Singapore and Oman with the possibility of a fourth venue to be confirmed, and with a plan to grow this to a six-event series by 2011/12. Bids have already been received for the future series from a number of other venues across Asia.

After the spectacular finale of the six-stage European iShares Cup circuit last weekend in Almería (Spain), five of the boats were packed up to be shipped directly to Hong Kong. Mark Turner, CEO of OC Group, which includes the Series’ organisers OC Events, declared: “The iShares Cup has been running very successfully for three years now in Europe and the Extreme Sailing Series Asia is the next step in the evolution of this exciting sailing format - a format which has become a benchmark in terms of changing the way sailing is seen. Our aim is to build this series each year on the same foundations on which the European iShares Cup has been built - a comprehensive sailing entertainment event that packages the sport to appeal to the public, media and provide experiential VIP client hospitality. For this inaugural series in Asia we won’t be focused on the public side directly, instead we will work hard on the VIP and media aspects, as we did in the early iShares Cup years. But, of course, our aspiration is to build this circuit up over the coming years to match the award-winning iShares Cup format including a strong public element.”

Each event will consist of five days of racing, combining the established format of short, easy to understand races, a media day, VIP sailing days and special events. The Extreme Sailing Series Asia Notice of Race has been issued today and the announcement of the first of the competing teams will follow imminently. Five boats have already committed to the Asian circuit, as in the first year of the iShares Cup series in Europe.