Yacht Yakka

But, before I say anymore. The feed back I received from the Yachtyakka Profile of Bill was unbelievable, simply unbelievable, thanks to everyone who sent me a message. For example from the underside of the blackstump, one off my yachtyakkarees in Europe sends yachtyakka onto 40-60 of his mates in France, blew me away, fancy having that many friends.

Since 1965, 43 championships have been sailed, but none more exciting than the 2007/08 series. This was the fourth series held on a Monday night with 0.06nm races held off Westhaven Marina in Auckland, back racing with the Squadron, 21 windward / leeward races and 1 Mark Foy harbour race. Right from the start the racing was extremely close. In the spinnaker division after 6 W/L races there were 6 different winners and when the pre Christmas part of the season was over (10 races) only 4 points separated the top 4 yachts.

The top 4 were Pioneer 31 points, Psyche 33 points, Playboy and Pahi. After 19 races with 3 still to sail on the last evening Psyche won the 20th race and Pioneer came 4th, meaning that Psyche then led by 1 point. In the 21st race, Pioneer just scraped home 1st and Psyche was an extremely close 3rd meaning that starting the last race Pioneer was again in front by 1 point. Obviously there were a couple of very tense crews waiting for the start gun for the last race. The start was extremely close and halfway up the first beat 6 yachts were virtually touching and anything could, and did happen.

Rick Royden and crew on Psyche somehow came out of the tangle in front and led at the top mark and Pioneer, having tacked away had dropped to 4th. If the positions had stayed the like that the Psyche would have won the series by 2 points. Halfway down the first run the positions were still the same and Psyche looked safe.

By the great skill or huge amount of luck, Pioneer obtained an inside overlap on Playboy and Pahi, who were at this stage 2nd and 3rd. This enabled Pioneer to round the bottom mark 2nd a position she maintained until the finish, with Psyche getting the gun. Never had the racing been this close in 43 years!!

Out came the rule books as the series scores were now leve at 38 points each. The sailing instructions call for a count back with the yacht with the most 1st’s Both Psyche and Pioneer had 8 1st’s. Still no winner. Then number of 2nds, Pioneer with 8 and Psyche with 3, but surely after 22 races at close quarters surly a shared title would have been a better result.

Of the 22 races 1 was won by 1 second, 2 by 2 seconds, 1 by 3 seconds, 1 by 5 seconds and 1 by 7 seconds,

Lawyers should never ask a Mississippigrandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.
In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know me?' She responded, 'Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you'll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.'

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?'
She again replied, 'Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a
youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.'

The defense attorney nearly died.

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said,
'If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you both to the electric chair.'

Malcolm Tennant
It is with great sadness, that I must inform everybody that Malcolm Tennant passed away on Saturday.

Malcolm has been involved in the design of power and sail multihulls for many years, and it was his life long passion. Malcolm's influence on the design of Multihulls in New Zealand and around the world is undeniable and he will be missed by many in the industry as a pioneer and as a friend.

Malcolm Tennant's funeral will be held this Friday the 16th of May near his home in Auckland NZ. -- Tony Stanton

Yachting New Zealand is pleased to announce the facilitators that will run our new coaching courses: Craig Monk, Bruce Kendall, Ian Neely, Alistair Rowlands (Race Coach only), Greg Wright (Race Coach only) and Andrew Brown.

Over the winter Yachting New Zealand has several coaching courses throughout the country. The next on offer are…

Auckland, June 4th 6.30pm Takapuna Boating Club
Specialised Module 2: Race Course Analysis
Contact: Andrew Brown andrewb@yachtingnz.org.nz

Wellington, June 6th & 7th Paremata Boating Club
Specialised Modules 2 and 5: Race Course Analysis & Weather 2
Contact Lynette Merry lynette@yachtingnz.org.nz

To apply for either of the above courses please download and complete the application for on the YNZ website (through the link below) and return it by 1 June 2008.

To find out about more upcoming courses, or about the coach development opportunities that Yachting New Zealand offers visit the Coaches area of the Yachting New Zealand website.

[ Coach Course Application Form ]
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Out of desperation for a Mt Gay, and no coke and the shops are shut on Waiheke at 1am. Dropped a weee dram into some roses blackcurrent.

By Josh Tucker

This weekend the pinnacle of world sailboat events is taking place on the Waitemata Harbour.
The inaugural ‘North Sails’ SR26 National and Intergalactic Championships.
Boats have come from far and wide, some as far as the weiti boating club on Whangaparoa peninsular to compete in this prestigious event.
The regatta is run by Buckland Beach Yacht club with 8 races scheduled over Saturday and Sunday in the area by Bean rock.
The SR26 was designed by Gary Lambert in the 80s. The concept was simple, a performance racing boat with enough room for comfortable cruising and most important of all- affordable. SR stands for syndicate racer, which has remained true as half the boats are still owned by Syndicates.
Nicknamed the ‘Family frightener’ by most who have cruised in the SRs due to the large sail plan and narrow easily driven hull shape, they have proven to be popular racers in mixed fleets as well as class racing.
5 years ago the class was re established with the first National championships being held out of Bucklands Beach. That regatta was won by the then recently refitted ‘Aqua Vitae’. Since then it has proved to be a very tight regatta with ‘Rattle and rum’ Taking the championships twice in a row. Last year The ‘Jagged Edge’ won the most tightly contested championships so far with a very narrow win over ‘Trainsmash’ and ‘Rattle and Rum’
Now with 9 boats entered in the regatta, it has turned from a very relaxed event to a full on competitive regatta with every boat having extensive work done to ensure the best possible chance of a result.
Jagged Edge has undergone a major interior and structural rebuild and looks set to be a contender, Trainsmash is sporting a brand new mast and plenty of other little ‘go fast’ modifications, Rattle and rum, Mercenary and ‘TRex’ are still out of the water getting the final sanding and fairing done on the bottom, ‘Gaucho’ is once again making the delivery trip down from the Weiti river to buckland beach to give the title another shot, ‘Aqua Vitae’ has called in a gun helmsman for the event hoping to get back the winning form, ‘Traveling Man’ who is always a serious contender on the longer courses is back to see if he can stamp his mark on the Sprint series, Finally there is the ‘Markone’, with a new set of sails and a gun RNZYS youth training program graduate crew are sure to be giving the top boats a good run.
The last few weeks has seen everyone keeping a close eye on each other to ensure no little ‘go fast’ modifications are overlooked and every boat is set up as good as can be.
This is by far going to be the most hotly contested SR regatta ever, Every boat has stepped the game up substantially and it is sure to be a very exciting and close fought event. With Some generous Support from Crew.org and Mt Gay the social side of the regatta is also looking good. Traditionally the Saturday night has always been good with everyone participating fully in the ‘shore based activitys’ on the dock after racing. This year will be no different with most of the boats all tied together outside the yacht club and a few bottles of Mt Gay to be consumed.
Although not a strict one design class the boats remain to be very similar in speed. There are a few different keels and rudders on the boats and some slightly different rig configurations. All the boats have 2 modes, non class with prods and gennakers, and class racing with set sizes for mainsails, genoas and Spinnakers. For the nationals the boats get stripped of all non class gear and put into class racing configuration. Having the rules open allows everyone to play with different setups and set the boat up for each event. The Simrad 2 handed series will also see about 5 SRs competing against each other with no holds barred. The biggest possible sails, longest prod, you name it the SR fleet has tried it!
Currently there are 2 SR26s up for grabs, come and join the fun. Check out the SR26 forum for more details and information.

Thanks to the regatta sponsors;

Crew.org for supplying the Mt Gay rum for the SR26 dock party on Saturday night at Bucklands beach.

· [9 Hrs Ago] Last position update

· While the big news this afternoon is naturally Michel Desjoyeaux's retirement, the race goes on and the situation is once again looking tricky... If Sébastien Josse, still leading, was parked this afternoon with less than 2 knots of speed while the rest of the fleet was catching up, he's back at 10 knots tonight while PRB is now completely stopped... 0,7 ... »

· [11 Hrs Ago] Live with Michel Desjoyeaux

· "About two hours ago, I was upwind doing 10 to 11 knots, I was in the boat and I heard a crack. I felt the starboard daggerboard hit something - it's probably broken. I can't get it up more than 1.5 meters. I hope there won't be a big leak. I don't see any interest in pursuing the race with a ... »

· [11 Hrs Ago] Foncia retires

· Michel Desjoyeaux, skipper of the Foncia IMOCA monohull, is forced to retire following a collision with a whale. Thursday May 15 2008, while in 5th place of The Artemis Transat, the Foncia monohull hit a whale. The boat was hit in her front section, and around the starboard daggerboard area, and Michel Desjoyeaux is concerned about the state of the lower ... »

· View More Updates

Day 5: Foncia out - "My first offshore race retirement", says Desjoyeaux 15 May 2008 At 14h45 GMT, Thursday May 15 2008, Michel Desjoyeaux contacted The Artemis Transat Race Direction to inform the team he had hit a whale and had to withdraw from the race. His position at the time of the impact was 46°24.59 N 30° 40.33 W

Day 5: The double ridge effect - is the fleet in for a re-start? 15 May 2008 Could this be a decisive moment in the race? Sébastien Josse's escape, revealed this morning by the first positions update, makes for the biggest gap seen within the leading pack since the start of The Artemis Transat, and it would certainly be very worrying for his rivals if...

Jean-Luc Nélias examines the ridge 15 May 2008 Of all the boats that you can race single-handed on, the IMOCA 60 is the most physical, and notably in light airs when the conditions are variable. In effect, there is a big wardrobe of sails onboard

TargetDate = "11 May 2008 13:00 GMT"; BackColor = ""; ForeColor = ""; CountActive = true; CountStepper = 1; LeadingZero = true; DisplayFormat = "%%D%%d %%H%%h %%M%%m %%S%%s"; FinishMessage = "It is finally here!"; 04d 14h 43m 58s

· 3D Race ViewerFollow the Artemis Transat fleet with live tracking and 3D Graphics.

Day 5: Race update (ENG) - Foncia abandons race Michel Desjoyeaux retires from a solo ocean race for the first time

http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com/

Run Dean

And also some very cool raft sailing

BMW ORACLE Racing Competes in Extreme 40s

[Source: BMW Oracle] Valencia, Spain, 20 May 2008 – BMW ORACLE Racing skipper Russell Coutts and helmsman James Spithill are going head-to-head this week in Extreme 40 catamarans in a nine-race, in-house battle as part of the team’s race training for the 33rd America’s Cup.

Today was the first day of the three-day series off Valencia’s Malvarossa beach. After some fickle spring weather the past few days in Valencia, the sunny spring day brought a steady 14 knots of afternoon sea breeze and plenty of action. Much of the afternoon, the catamarans were “flying a hull” (one of the two hulls out of the water), reaching speeds of 15 knots upwind and over 20 knots downwind.

In today’s racing, multihull expert-consultant Franck Cammas (FRA) was helming Coutts’ boat with team members Jonathan Macbeth (NZL) grinding and Alberto Barovier (ITA) on the bow. On the Spithill team, John Kostecki (USA) was calling tactics, Dirk de Ridder (NED) was grinding and Alan Smith (NZL) was on the bow. The crews will remain the same but they will swap boats throughout the three days of racing.

“The conditions were just perfect today,” Spithill said. “It doesn’t get any better than this. It was really good fun.”

BMW Oracle's two Extreme 40 catamarans carry out in-house training. Valencia, 20 May 2008. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle

Following the season-opening regatta in RC 44s in Italy, the sailing team gears up this month for a very full program competing in RC 44s, TP 52s and Extreme 40 catamarans in Spain, Austria and France.

“We are racing across a range of classes and against some great competitors this season,” said BMW ORACLE Racing helmsman James Spithill. “Right now we are placing more priority on multihulls and match racing in preparation for the 33rd America’s Cup.” This includes an in-house match racing series in Extreme 40s in Valencia later this month and a 60-foot multihull training session in France in June.

Next week, nine BMW ORACLE Racing team members will join Torbjorn Tornqvist on board Artemis in the season opener of the TP 52 Med Cup circuit in Alicante, Spain May 13-17. John Kostecki will call tactics and will be joined by eight other BMW ORACLE team members. BMW ORACLE Racing will enter a new TP 52, USA 17, later in the season with an afterguard that will include Spithill as well as team owner Larry Ellison and skipper Russell Coutts.

In Valencia, an in-house regatta May 20-22 will pit two Extreme 40s head-to-head for team bragging rights in the high-performance catamarans. Many of the core sailing team will compete including Coutts, Spithill and Kostecki and multihull consultant Franck Cammas. The team also plans to return to France next month for its second training session with Cammas on the 60-foot multihull Groupama 2. In other multihull sailing, Kostecki and Cammas teamed up last weekend in Geneva at the Grand Prix Chopard D35, placing sixth overall.

The team will return to the RC 44 circuit with a BMW ORACLE Racing entry for the Austria Cup on Lake Traunsee May 28-June 1. As in Cagliari, Italy last month,12 BMW ORACLE Racing crew will compete across three entries. After winning the match racing event at Cagliari and placing second in the fleet racing, Larry Ellison is planning to be at the helm again for the BMW ORACLE Racing entry in Austria.

“Racing in the RC 44s is a great chance to get out and compete against some of the top guys, and we can continue to develop our match racing techniques,” Spithill said. “We are enjoying the match racing so this circuit will continue to be a priority for us. In both the RC 44 and the TP 52 classes, we have our crew across different teams so we compete against each other as well. With all of this racing, we are learning from each other and our competitors.”

The team’s Valencia base is also serving as the Med training camp for Olympic Star class contenders Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams who will represent New Zealand at the Games in China in August.

BMW ORACLE Racing is preparing for the 33rd America’s Cup in a Deed of Gift challenge expected later this year.