The International Maxi Association’s new Caribbean Maxi Challenge concluded with an impressive ‘victory with a day to spare’ in the Maxi class for Jim Swartz’s Judel Vrolijk 72 Vesper…
Williams wins 57th Congressional Cup
Long Beach, CA (April 23, 2022) – Ian Williams (GBR) and Team Gladstone’s Long Beach have won the 57th Congressional Cup – and a fifth iconic Crimson Blazer – toppling defending champion Taylor Canfield (USA) and Team Stars+Stripes 3 to 1 in the final matches of this thrilling five-day regatta.
Sailing with Williams were: Matt Cornwell, Andrew Estcourt, Jon Gunderson, Steve Mitchell and Richard Sydenham…
International Moth – Simon Hiscock cleansweep for Inland Title
Simon Hiscocks maintained his winning touch to take a cleansweep of all eight races at the Moth Class UK Inland Championship hosted at Grafham Water SC…
Congressional Cup – Williams v Cranfield Finals
57th Congressional Cup Final will be Williams (GBR) versus Canfield (USA) on Saturday at Long Beach YC…
International Moth Inlands – Simon Hiscocks dominates first day
Simon Hiscocks was obviously enjoying the strong wind conditions for the opening day of the Moth Class Inland Championship taking a cleansweep of the first three races…
Star Eastern Hemisphere Championship Preview
The Star Class returns to Naples. The International Star Class Yacht Racing Association are organizing from Wednesday, April 27th to Sunday, May 1st 2022 the Star Eastern Hemisphere Championship 2022…
Rough return at Les Voiles de St. Barth
Saint Barthelemy (April 22, 2022) – After yesterday’s off day, the crews of the 11th edition of Les Voiles de St. Barth Richard Mille returned for the penultimate day of racing. The Maxis, the Multihull ORCs, and CSAs, then the Diam 24 ODs completed a 35-mile course, while all the CSA classes completed two races of 12 to 18 miles in the east of the island.
The day included its share of perfect results shaken, but nothing compared to the drama that unfolded on the CSA 1, 2, and 3 course, which shares the same starting line and includes boats ranging from the 52s down to Arabella, a Cape 31.
Prior to the start of the first race today, Niall Dowling’s new Cape 31 Arabella dismasted after the Cookson 50 Triple Lindy’s bow sprit tangled up into the back of the Cape 31, hooking its running backstay and then dragging the much smaller boat along with it until the top half of the mast finally gave way…
Clipper Race teams battle it out on final push
Ten of the Clipper Race teams are racing on the final stretch of Race 10: Sailing City – Qingdao Cup into Seattle, after a long and enduring voyage across the North Pacific Ocean…
US Sailing announces 2022 US Youth Worlds Team
US Sailing has named the 15 athletes that will be representing the US at the 2022 Allianz Youth Sailing World Championships…
Congressional Cup – Latest and LIVE!
Racing continues to a best of five result to decide the finalists at the 57th Congressional Cup
Ryan Finn’s Solo Sail From New York to San Francisco a Success
At 6:04 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, Jzerro and Ryan Finn passed under the Golden Gate Bridge in an amazing display of seamanship, boat design and adventure. But the last miles to the Gate were not easy. In his only downbeat post during the whole trip, he mentioned the frustration. “I was hoping to glide under the Golden Gate Bridge at noon today, and that was a conservative estimate. Well that’s well out of the window now. I’m drifting at 3 knots toward S.F., which is unbearable at this point. 56 miles at 3 knots is far, far away.
“Clearly the Pacific is not done with me, and punishing me for assuming there would be stable wind for the final part of this voyage. Assume nothing. My friends and family are already in S.F. waiting. It hurts to think that I could be out here for another day, but I have to accept that as a possibility. Unfortunately, the only entertainment I have on board is waiting for a weather file to download, so I’m partially at fault for continuing to suckle at that teat of misinformation. I now look at the weather models the way I look at a children’s show, with the costumed host singing and dancing in front of a smiling sun and inflatable trees. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in what feels more like a David Mamet play.”
We’ve been there too, waiting just outside the Gate, knowing it’s windy just ahead but it’s taking forever. Ryan and Jzerro finally received enough wind to make it on a flood current in daylight. At the Richmond Yacht Club docks, Ryan summed up the journey. “It’s pretty presumptuous for me to think I can sail nonstop from New York to San Francisco in a 36-ft boat, right? By the time I got to Brazil I thought, ‘If I just make it around Cape Horn, that’s all I want.’ Leaving New York in winter was hard as shit. Getting around the Horn was hard. Going up the Pacific Coast is hard. This was a hard trip. Those guys that did this in square-riggers were incredible.” And he did all that singlehanded. Incredible.
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74th Newport to Ensenada Race Starts Today
When the 74th Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race starts today, 164 boats will be on the line.
In honor of NOSA’s 75th anniversary, the celebrations in Ensenada will be for the successful racers, trophy winners, and an organization that for the past 75 years has taken sailors on a fun, competitive coastal sailing adventure, making history along the way.
Taking to the Dana Point racecourse is Charles Ullman on his L30. He’s not only the youngest son of sailing great and Ullman Sails founder Dave Ullman, he’s grandson to Charles Ullman, one of NOSA’s very first directors, named handicap chairman in 1947. Also on the Dana Point course, racing for Parkinson’s awareness, will be California Inclusive Sailing’s 16-ft RS 4U.
More than 20 first-time sailors have registered for the classic course south of the border. A few are big enough and fast enough to break the monohull elapsed time record. Topping the list is Manouch Moshayedi’s Rio100, (the largest entry in recent memory), which, although second to finish the Puerto Vallarta race this year, still beat the previous record.
Others include Ray Paul’s Artemis, a Botin 65 from SFYC, and from CBYC, George Hershman and Mark Comings’ R/P 63 Good Energy, a sistership to the monohull record holder Aszhou. The record is 9:35:34.
But N2E is not just for serious racers. PHRF racers are the heart and soul of the regatta, as illustrated by Joe Markee’s Ohana. The 1975 Swede 55 does really well in light conditions and has won its class the last few years. Andy Horning’s Day Tripper II, an inauspicious 1990 Hunter 40, has been a PHRF class winner 15 times. He attributes the winning streak to a maintenance ritual before race day.
N2E has not been a favorite of Southern California sailors — and a bucket-list race for racers across the US and Canada because of the camaraderie and the fun — but because no matter how big or small the boat that floats up to the start, any boat that starts could win. In 2009 Doug Baker’s Magnitude 80 set a record for monohulls that would stand for seven years. But it was Sojourn, a Catalina 30 in PHRF K, that won Best Corrected Time honors despite finishing 10 hours behind the record-setter.
Weather models are calling for epic winds and a wild and bumpy ride. Sailing enthusiasts not racing can watch the action via YB trackers. See https://nosa.org.
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ILCA European U21 Championship – Final Results
Champions decided on final day of 2022 ILCA U21 European Championships on Lac d’Hourtin, France…
Top four advance at Congressional Cup
Long Beach, CA (April 21, 2022) – Taylor Canfield (USA), Ian Williams (GBR), Johnie Berntsson (SWE), and Chris Poole (USA) have advanced to the semi-finals in the 57th Congressional Cup, after a dicey day of sailing in winds grazing the top range for the Catalina 37 fleet.
The mission today was to complete the double round robin series, and ten of the world’s top-ranked match racing teams battled 20 knots of wind for a chance at the Crimson Blazer at Long Beach Yacht Club. Proving their world ranking, it is Williams (#2), Canfield (#5), Berntsson (#7), Poole (#8) that advance.
None of these four skippers are strangers to the rigors of Congressional Cup stages; Canfield, Williams and Berntsson already have in their closets an iconic Crimson Blazer: yacht racing’s equivalent to The Masters’ green jacket. And Poole, who qualified for the semifinals in 2021, has tasted blood.
The dream makers – Episode 4
It is a long and mostly difficult path to the start line of the Vendée Globe and not everyone makes it. Here is number four in our series of those team members who work behind the curtain in a while variety of different roles…
Scottish District Wooden Hull IOM Championship
This uniquely Scottish IOM event was hosted by Tayside Radio Sailing Club at their home venue of Forfar Loch. The boats entered are home built with 75% of the fleet to designs largely developed by Ian Dundas (Corbie) and Brian Summers (Buzz)…
Caribbean Maxi Challenge – Hat trick for Vesper
For a third day running the winner in the Maxi class under IRC corrected time was Jim Swartz’s peppermint-coloured Judel Vrolijk 72 Vesper…
Ian Williams on the hunt for fifth Congressional Cup
Four-time Congressional Cup winner Ian Williams, leads the chasing pack, two points off leader Taylor Canfield of the USA…
Registration open for 2022 Rolex Middle Sea Race
The Royal Malta Yacht Club (RMYC) is pleased to confirm that the Notice of Race for 43rd Rolex Middle Sea Race is available online and yachts may already register their participation…
100th J/99 in production
Three years after the launch of our last sport sailboat, the 100th unit is already in production! Let’s look back at some figures reflecting the success of this sailboat…
Canada reveals SailGP Team
(April 21, 2022) – When SailGP Season 3 commences on May 14 in Bermuda, Canada’s first-ever fully professional sailing team will be on the start line among the field of ten F50 foiling catamarans.
Since the beginning of the year, Phil Robertson, Driver for the Canada SailGP Team, has been trialing and training a curated selection of Canada’s top sailors at the F50 simulator in Belfast and onboard the team’s GC32 foiling catamaran in Portugal. F50 safety training followed soon thereafter in San Francisco, in the lead up to the SailGP Season 2 grand final.
“Phil knows what it takes to bring a new team up to speed and has done it successfully twice,” said Jean-Sébastien Chénier Proteau, CEO of the Canada SailGP Team, noting Robertson’s involvement with the Chinese and Spanish teams. “Canada won’t be an exception…
a good battle to win
Hi, my name is Gintare,
I’m a sailor and I live in Italy. Yesterday our sailing club welcomed the Ukrainian sailing team and now they are getting ready for the Centenary regatta. Circolo Vela Torbole is helping them with the housing and club hospitality during this race. Unfortunately, they can not go back home after it and their financial support is running out. There is nobody from Ukraine to help them at this moment…
57th Congressional Cup at LBYC day 2
All aboard the Congressional Cup express! On Day Two of this world-class match racing regatta, everyone got on board: on the scoreboard that is, in a day of action-packed competition off the Belmont Veteran’s Memorial Pier here…
this is what you want…
The Italian shipyard Persico Marine has transferred its R&D work to the 36th America’s Cup to create a new circuit of foiling monohulls directly inspired by the AC75s for wealthy owners. The first unit of the Persico 40Fly One Design is under construction. What, exactly, are wealthy owners going to do onboard? Drive? Bahaha…
The Sailing Museum announces grand opening
The Sailing Museum has announced it will officially open its doors to the public on May 10th, 2022…
World Sailing follow-up statement on Ukraine
World Sailing follow-up statement concerning the situation in Ukraine…
it’s tricky
After leaving Les Sables d’Olonne yesterday at the very end of the morning, the 33 competitors in the 19th Solo Maître CoQ had some tricky first miles, particularly downwind of the Ile de Ré where they made numerous tacks edge flush with the coast to play with the currents, so much so that one of them, Basile Bourgnon, ran aground.
More fear than harm, fortunately, for the young skipper of Edenred who managed to get out of his situation on his own before resuming his race. A race which, as expected, then quickly turned into a “speed test”, which notably enabled Tom Laperche (Brittany Region – CMB Performance), the defending champion, to regain command of the fleet, previously occupied by Alan Roberts (SeaCat Services), author of remarkable mastery over the first section of the course…
Top 10 reasons to go weeknight racing
After initially publishing this list in 2019, it remains a good reminder from Adam Loory of UK Sailmakers on why racing isn’t just for weekends:
10. You can practice your tactics and maneuvers in a low-pressure environment.
9. You can bring along and train your B Team so they are ready to step-in when your weekend warriors can’t make it.
8. It forces you to get out of the office earlier than usual – bring a co-worker so they can finally appreciate and understand all those odd things they overhear you saying on the phone to crewmates.
7. It’s a great way to get your kids or other juniors out in big boats.
6. Chances are you’ll see a great sunset.
5. You can rotate your crew through different positions, which helps crewmembers understand maneuvers better.
4. You can sharpen your starting skills.
3. There often is a social element après sailing.
2. You just can’t get enough time on the water.
And the #1 reason to do weeknight club racing:
1. They don’t call it “beer can racing” for nothing!
Caribbean Maxi Challenge – Similarly challenging conditions for St Barts
In a repeat of Monday’s outcome, in the Maxi Class Jim Swartz’s Vesper finished close enough to her longer rival, Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente, to win under IRC corrected time…
Antigua to Newport record confirmed
The World Sailing Speed Record council ratified a new world record from Antigua to Newport, RI. Jason Carroll (USA) and a crew of seven on the MOD70 Argo completed the 1560 nm course on April 6-9 in a time of 03:00:16:30 (21.58 knots average), bettering the previous record set in May 2015 by Lloyd Thornburg (USA) and crew on MOD70 Phaedo 3 of 03:05:54:49…
Global Solo Challenge welcomes 46th entry
He became Italian sailor of the year in 2021 in the category “Tag Heuer Most Voted” in the competition organized by “Giornale della Vela” and has always promoted social inclusion with his non-profit association New Sardiniasail…
hang on
69F’s sure seem cool, and they can sure take flight!
the russians (aren’t) coming
Following their March 1 decision to suspend the participation of all Russian and Belarussian athletes and officials from World Sailing events, the sport’s international governing body has now notified its intention to extend those bans.
All Russian or Belarussian members of “committees, commissions, working parties, the Council and any other relevant body of World Sailing” are to be temporarily suspended…
The Maxi are Back in classic big wind St Barts . . . what you come here for
After a two year hiatus due to the pandemic, racing at last resumed at Les Voiles de St Barth Richard Mille, the third and penultimate event in the International Maxi Association’s Caribbean Maxi Challenge…
solo, yo
The 33 Figarists involved in the 19th edition of the Solo Maître CoQ got to the heart of the matter on Tuesday. At 11.50 am, with a very slight delay on the scheduled time, they set off on the long course of the event, propelled by a northerly airflow blowing between 10 and 12 knots.
A flow which should however ease during the afternoon and switch to the northwest, thus making the first miles of the race to the island of Ré tricky, the bypass of which also promises to be subtle and probably decisive. There is, in fact, a safe bet that those who have taken the advantage of this section of the course will take an interesting option for the future which is likely to quickly resemble a sprint race…
Unshakeable moments in sailing
Luissa Smith, PR Director for the 2022 Bacardi Cup invitational Regatta, quizzed well-known sailing personalities about unshakeable moments that propelled them forward and incidents that still keep them up at night:
Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL)
4-time Olympian (Gold – 1996, Bronze – 2004), 2-time Star World Champion (2019, 2008), 2- time Finn World Champion (2000, 1998), 1999 Rolex World Sailor of the Year.
Breakthrough:
It was in 1992, when I was 17 years old. I came to try the Finn for the first time at the Polish Nationals, just after the Barcelona Olympics. There were big guns and experienced sailors on the starting line. Everyone knew nobody could beat them. But I didn’t know that. I didn’t think about it. I just sailed beautiful races and won three of them. Surprisingly, I finished second overall. It was just the beginning…
American Magic returns to Pensacola
The New York Yacht Club’s American Magic team will be training for the 2024 America’s Cup in Pensacola Bay, returning to the Florida venue in which they were based in 2019 and 2020 while preparing for the 2021 America’s Cup. In the water training can begin this fall, with the USA team to have about 60 permanent members living in Pensacola with their families plus an additional 30 team members for temporary periods. – Full report
Ichi Ban wins Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race
Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban has won the Gladstone Ports Corporation’s iconic 74th annual Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race overall on handicap…
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