(July 18, 2021) – The three starting groups are making tracks along the 2225 nm 2021 Transpac Race course, with the wind clocking to the north east for the leaders, the reward for enduring the early days of tight reaching on the heel, but both ends of the fleet are still searching for sun.

With staggered starts from July 13 to 17, it tightens the finishing window in Honolulu but leaves open the debate of fairness for the overall title. A look at the tracker shows the earliest starters struggled for pace beyond Catalina Island whereas the second and third waves had greater success managing the situation. Once the exit from California is complete, everyone more or less gets dealt the same hand of cards.

Event information – Race details – Entry list – Tracker – July 18 Roll Call

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We all know what an odd year 2020 was, and even though we’re now halfway through 2021, the year to be remembered is still with us in many ways. Ordinarily it wouldn’t be remarkable to be posting a story about the previous year’s US Coast Guard boating safety statistics, but this time it just feels a little more, “Oh, but of course; it was 2020 after all.”

According to the report, there were “767 boating fatalities nationwide in 2020, which is a 25.1 percent increase from 2019. the total number of accidents increased 26.3 percent (4,168 to 5,265), and the number of non-fatal injured victims increased 24.7 percent (2,559 to 3,191).”

The report states there is evidence that boating activity increased significantly during the pandemic — this was based on “reports of increased boat sales, insurance policies taken out, insurance claims, and calls for towing assistance.” We certainly noticed the increase of boat sales. Yacht brokers and boatyards talked about the increase in business throughout 2020. Of course we all know sailing is a good pastime, and when everyone had a lot of time on their hands, it made sense to use it on the water. But of course this also translates into an increase in risk. Accordingly there were a number of cases where “boaters had recently purchased the vessel involved in the incident, but had not taken many of the proper safety precautions before getting underway.”

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In recent months, the Covid-19 situation in The Netherlands had improved and with the number of new infections dropping dramatically, the government has relaxed the rules and gave the go-ahead for the Championships which we as organization have communicated to the sailors.

However, in the past two weeks things have taken a turn for the worse. The relaxed rules and regulations have resulted in a severe spike and a 10-fold in infections. Consequently, the government of the Netherlands has reinstated, most of the previous restrictions until August 13th.

Today, 15 July 2021, this has resulted that the Netherlands has obtained the “code Red” classification according the ECDC (European Centre for Disease and Control).

Without doubt, this will cause many travel restrictions and complications for most participants which brings the entire organization of our 8-Metre World Championship in serious jeopardy.

Furthermore, it is impossible to delay the final decision until the new guidelines and regulations are published on August 13th.

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Larry Lemieux never climbed an Olympic podium during his sailing career, but he does possess, arguably, the rarest Olympic award there is: the Pierre de Coubertin medal.

Only 17 athletes have ever been awarded the medal, which is given by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to recognize those who demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship in the Olympic Games.

Each of those 17 medals were awarded under vastly different circumstances, but one in particular resulted from dramatic moments that could rival any gold-medal victory.

This is the story of one Canadian sailor’s heroism in the heat of competition at the 1988 Games. Read on.

Tip of the hat to anarchist James.

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Britain’s Hannah Diamond, who missed out on qualifying for the Rio 2016 Olympics, and more recently has been pursuing offshore races, provides a preview of the upcoming Olympic Games:

Over the last few days many of the athletes competing at the Tokyo Olympics have started to make their way out to Japan for the first time since 2019 to unpack their containers and re-familiarise themselves with Olympic waters prior to the first races starting on the July 25.

The excitement is already palpable for the national teams and the individual sailors and the Olympic regatta in Enoshima promises to be an amazing event to follow. However, the build-up to the sailing events has been so different to previous Games…

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Yet again, the dreaded Coronavirus threatens to disrupt offshore racing in Australia.

It is becoming increasingly doubtful whether the Sydney-Gold Coast Race, an annual 384nm sprint North from Sydney to a finishing line off Main Beach at Southport (above), will start as scheduled on July 31.

A recent sudden spike of COVID cases in and around Sydney has prompted the New South Wales state government to impose tough restrictions on travel and social gatherings. These include a limit of two people for any exercise activity and a prohibition on traveling further than 10 kilometers from home for anything other than work or essential purposes.

A further complication is that the finishing line, and the host club for arriving competitors, are at Southport on the Gold Coast, just a few miles North of the state border between New South Wales and Queensland. The state of Queensland will probably close its border to NSW as part of a strict virus-containment policy…

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David Dellenbaugh’s Speed & Smarts newsletter shares how-to tips for racing sailors, and in this article reprinted by WindCheck Magazine, Dellenbaugh discusses how to avoid bad air from other boats:

When it comes to other boats, your biggest tactical problem is usually the wind shadows they create. While it’s true that you sometimes have to change your course to avoid hitting your competitors or to give them right of way, these problems are generally not as significant as the widespread effects of bad air.

In a big fleet it’s not uncommon to sail in disturbed air for at least part of each upwind leg, especially the first one where boats are usually bunched quite close together. But whenever you’re affected by another boat’s wind shadow, you can be sure you’re going slower than, and losing ground to, many other boats…

The existence of wind shadows on a beat is one obvious reason why the leaders keep getting farther ahead and the tailenders farther behind. So one of your main tactical challenges on any beat is figuring out how to keep your air clear as long as possible.
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Dellenbaugh goes on to offer some ideas on how to keep your air clear, which are good ideas except for really fast boats. Here are the Scuttlebutt observations from the 36th America’s Cup:

• Know the location of bad air.
Always coming from the lead boat, regardless of wind angle. Trailing boat is in the wash, upwind and downwind.

• How bad is bad air?
Bad. Really bad, and fast boats leave wind shadows that extend far behind them… because the lead boat is fast. Plus, when an AC75 gets caught in a wind shadow, they can fall off their foils which is extra bad.

• How valuable is clear air?
Valuable. Really valuable, and probably the only aspect of this topic that is the same regardless of boat type.

• Steer clear of your competitors.
Hard to do. Boundaries limit opportunity to escape or get leverage. Did we mention how the trailing boat is always getting gassed?

• Use other boats to help you.
Nobody but you. If you’re behind, suck it buttercup.

However, if your boat is the type that doesn’t have abnormally high G-forces in the turns, Dellenbaugh’s tips will be of help: click here

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Marina Degli Aregai, Italy (July 10, 2021) – After the USA secured the top of the leaderboard yesterday at the 2021 420 World Championships, a lack of wind on the final day today confirmed their victories in three of four World titles – Women, Under 17, and Men/Mixed.

The Women and Under 17 championships completed 10 races in total, while the Gold and Silver Men/Mixed fleets count 9.

Freddie Parkin/ Thomas Widden (USA) won the Under 17 title while Spaniards Maria Perello/ Marta Cardona (ESP) finished second to claim the Women’s U17 championship.

Vanessa Lahrkamp/ Katherine McNamara (USA) claimed the Women’s title while Tommy Sitzmann/ Luke Woodworth (USA) are the Men/Mixed World Champions…

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Tokyo, Japan (July 8, 2021) – The Tokyo Olympics will be held without spectators at venues in the Japanese capital due to a spike in coronavirus infections, Olympic minister Tamayo Marukawa said today after organizers made the unprecedented decision just two weeks ahead of the opening of the global sporting event.

The announcement, abandoning their earlier plan to stage the Olympics in front of a limited number of fans, came after the Japanese government decided to put Tokyo under another state of emergency until August 22, amid rising concern the games could trigger a further surge in infections.

The new policy of barring spectators in the host city was agreed on at a meeting attended by International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach and representatives of the four bodies, the games organizing committee, the International Paralympic Committee, as well as the Japanese and Tokyo metropolitan governments.

“It is extremely regrettable that the games will be staged in a very limited manner in the face of the spread of novel coronavirus infections,” Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organizing committee said. “I am very sorry for ticket holders and local residents who were looking forward to the games.”Details: https://tokyo2020.org/en/games/schedule/olympic/

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