08/2010 -

After the Imperial Regattas, Corsica had to organize a racing rally with old rigs. This is done with the first Corsica Classic to be held from August 30 to September 5 2010. This race is a friendly regatta open to all “Yachts of tradition”CIM and gauged the “Spirits of Tradition” gauged IRC 2010. Rediscovering Kalliste ” The most beautiful in greek” and the magnificence of old rigs, the course stages (between 25 and 37 nautical day) were designed to offer a vision of the island as it appeared to its discoverers.

From a Genoese tower to another, the steps lead to the “faithful” city Calvi, in the Gulf of Porto, Piana creeks and the impressive red granite cliffs of Girolata, the imperial city of Ajaccio, Propriano and the Gulf, to the Straits of Bonifacio, whose steep cliffs seem like a balcony leaning over infinite. The race will end in Porto-Vecchio. The third city of Corsica has long been known for its beaches (Palombaggia ) and also became a large marina.

Many classic yachts faithful to Corsica, Moonbeam of Fife, Sunshine, Cervantes, Yen
Li, Swanee, Serena, Giraglia have confirmed their participation.

Program and informations

Photo credit : Tibocom

-PR-

08/2010 -

Aethon Wing Destroyed; Americans Out of International C-Class Catamaran Championship

Yesterday (Aug. 25th) the C-Class Catamaran Aethon capsized after the start of race one of the International C Class Catamaran Championship (long nicknamed the “Little America’s Cup” read also our article) and her wing was destroyed. The team hit a patch of turbulence left by a freighter for which they were not prepared and were unable to react in time. Crew Oliver Moore lost his footing and was washed off the boat with the mainsheet wrapped around his leg. As the wing rapidly trimmed in, the boat capsized and helmsman Steve Clark, unable to get out of his trapeze in time, fell through the wing, breaking the mast in the process. Both crew members would be fine, and the platform would suffer only minor damages, but what was left of the wing was all but disintegrated in the three-mile tow back to New York Yacht Club’s Harbor Court.

“The thing I would like to stress here,” said Clark, “is that this was not a product of the conditions. It was a freak accident that could have happened at any time, at any wind speed. If the wing is trimmed all the way to windward and can’t be eased the boat will tip over, and these boats are not designed to do that. It’s a tough end to the last 18 months of work Oliver and I put in, but sometimes these things happen.”

When asked for his thoughts on the sudden death of a wing that had been the best the class had to offer for 11 years Clark was characteristically jovial. “That wing gave us everything it had,” said Clark. “The last time we sailed in heavy air, I told Duncan (MacLane, the wing’s designer), ‘if something goes wrong with the wing here I’m fine with it.’ It has done everything we asked of it for over a decade. If it goes down in flames so be it. At least now I don’t need to decide which museum to donate it to.”

While obviously disappointed in being out of the regatta, Clark was still optimistic about his team’s chances in the future. “Aethon is done for this event, but it is not done for good,” stressed Clark. “In the time that we were racing I felt like we had a rocket. We got away from the line very well and were about to tack on Canaan’s hip, on the inside of the shift, and should have been set up to win the race. It is a tough break for our team that we won’t be able to sail in the rest of the regatta, but we hope to have the new wing up and working soon, and plan on mounting a future challenge. We are going to keep playing this game.”

Despite the loss of Aethon, Clark believes that the event is still set up to be a great success for the C-Class and for the sailing world. “Obviously I would enjoy it more if I were out there,” said Clark, “but there is still some great racing going on out there. Our wing may be broken but the event goes on, and I will be watching with great interest.”

Tags on NauticNews.com: C-Class Catamaran Championship - BMW Oracle

Photo Credit: Christophe Launay

- PR -

02/2010 -

The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) announced the names of the nine Tour Card Holders for the 2010 season. After developing the invite policy introduced in 2009, the WMRT has allocated the Tour Cards for 2010 to:

Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch – ISAF Match Racing World Champion (2009)
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team – Finished 2nd in 2009
Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin – Finished 3rd in 2009
Francesco Bruni (ITA) Team Azzura
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team
Bertrand Pace (FRA) Aleph
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar

“Last year, we had a great season. This year, we have received a tremendous response from the teams and believe that the 2010 series will be an even bigger and more significant series for the WMRT, the skippers and teams, as well as for everyone following the action on-site at the events or through the media,” said Tour Director Craig Mitchell.

The Tour Invite Policy, first introduced in 2009, will guarantee the Tour Card holders invites to six of the first nine events but they can compete in more events if they are able to secure wild card invites from the individual event promoters. For teams that did not receive a Tour Card, there are still opportunities to race on the WMRT through event wild cards or through the events that make up the Tour Qualifying Series that feed into the World Tour events. “We see the level of professionalism amongst the skippers and teams going up each year and 2010 will be no exception. We are looking forward to another great series of events and crowning a worthy champion. It is going to be fiercely competitive from the first race in France, in April, all the way through to the last race in Malaysia, in December,” Mitchell enthused.

Francesco Bruni from Team Azzura of Italy, who whon the Louis Vuitton Trophy of Nice [read our article] said, “I am extremely happy to be part of such an important and prestigious circuit. I am also very proud to have the opportunity to compete for the Match Race World Title wearing the Team Azzurra uniform!”

Mathieu Richard from the French Match Racing Team also shared the same excitement. “I am very glad to have a Tour card, and I am looking forward to taking part to a fantastic 2010 championship! The 2010 field is very exciting, with an interesting mixed of three generations of skippers – young guns like Adam Minoprio (NZL), and Torvar Mirsky (AUS), veterans with Peter Gilmour (AUS) and Bertrand Pace (FRA), and skippers of my generation”.

Schedule 2010 :

Tags on NauticNews.com : World Match Racing Tour - Match Race

Photo credit and informations : WMRT’s web site

-PR-

02/2010 -

In just six weeks time, during the Southern hemisphere Summer, eight of the best sailing teams in the world will race a Louis Vuitton Trophy match race regatta in Auckland New Zealand.

Just over a year ago the inaugural regatta was sailed in Auckland, the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Ten of the best sailing teams in the world, including the current Challenger and Defender of the America’s Cup, competed over two weeks in a match race regatta in two pairs of supplied boats. The boats used were ACC yachts from the 2007 America’s Cup and all teams rotated through the four boats.

The formula was renewed at the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice regatta in November last year, a regatta whose provisional media return resulted in a value of over nine million Euros gathered from over 1200 articles, 354 hours of TV on 400 channels in 163 countries. The next regatta will be the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland from 9 – 21 March 2010.

Following the success of last year’s antipodean regatta the event organisers, the World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA), along with the city of Auckland decided to adjust the dates to enhance the public spectacle. The regatta, which runs from 9-21 March, will be staged from the same venue and at the same time as the Auckland International Boatshow (10-14 March) in Auckland’s Downtown Viaduct Basin, the venue for the America’s Cup in 2000 and 2003.

The WSTA member teams entered for the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta are from seven countries. Unlike last year, the host Emirates Team New Zealand, skippered by Dean Barker, will not get an automatic pass to the regatta finals, but will have to earn the right to be there by passing through the round robin and semi final stages with a winning record. The seven other teams hoping to also make it to the finals and ultimately prevail are:

Aleph (France, skipper Bertrand Pacé)
All4One (France/Germany, skipper Jochen Schumann)
Artemis (Sweden, skipper Paul Cayard)
Azzurra (Italy, skipper Francesco Bruni)
Mascalzone Latino Audi (Italy)
Synergy (Russia, skipper Karol Jablonski)
TEAMORIGIN (Great Britain, skipper Ben Ainslie)

Following the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta the WSTA’s member teams will race in La Maddalena, Sardinia (22 May – 6 June), then in Dubai, UAE (13 – 27 November) before Hong Kong in early 2011 (9 – 24 January).

At a press conference last week in Dubai, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Emirates Airline Group, explained that the Louis Vuitton Trophy Dubai would be held at Mina Seyahi, the home of the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC), located next to the world famous Palm Jumeirah.

“This is a real coup for Dubai. We are honoured to be part of this fantastic event which has rapidly emerged as a renowned spectacle of sport followed by millions around the world.”

Yves Carcelle, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton replied by saying: “Louis Vuitton has been present in Dubai for more than 10 years. We are thrilled that in 2010 we can further build on this relationship through a great sailing event, while reinforcing the age-old Dubai tradition for sailing regattas.”

The Louis Vuitton Trophy on NauticNews.com - WSTA

Photo Credit: Franck Socha

- PR -