High Octane One Designs

Here’s a vid for race II over in Carnac.

photography: Christophe Favreau

Here are a few shots from Christophe Favreau from race one and two on the Mark Foy Trophy Race at the Carnac Yacht Club. I race report will be published shortly.

The form book is wide open going into next week’s Finn Gold Cup at Vallensbæk, near Copenhagen in Denmark. With a different winner at each major European event so far this year, picking favourites is easy, but picking a winner would be a hard call.

So far there are 98 entries from 30 countries including 15 juniors and just two former champions. Rafal Trujillo (ESP), winner in 2007 is back again along with 2006 Champion and local favourite Jonas Høgh Christensen (DEN), who is sailing his first regatta since the Olympics last summer.

Post Olympic years are normally down in numbers, but this year’s Finn Gold Cup has, in real terms, attracted the largest post Olympic turnout for 24 years – apart from 2005 when 100 boats were supplied in Moscow.

Most have come expecting light winds, but so far that has been far from the case as the sailors make last minute preparations. One of the best performers so far this year, Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) said, “Up to now I thought this was a light wind place but today I got out of car and got blown by the wind. So this confirms that you can get any wind anywhere, and in this way I prepared myself for this.”

Hogh Christensen adds, “We can expect anything. Windy and shifty, light and shifty, a light onshore seabreeze or a strong one. But both mean decent waves.”

Kljakovic Gaspic continues, “Lots of guys have been sailing all the year and they are sailing great, like Ed Wright, Giles Scott, Rafa Trujillo. And there are guys who were sailing some events and they are also peaking for the Gold Cup, like Marin Misura, Daniel Birgmark and Zach Railey. I think everybody will be a threat.” The world number three ranked sailor concluded, “This season I have been giving a lot of focus to the World Cup and on the Gold Cup. So far I am satisfied but I have one more goal to score.”

The events promises to be one of the most highly promoted dinghy events ever with extensive TV and internet coverage being planned. Jakob Nybroe from the organising committee explains. 

“Getting TV coverage for a sailing event in Denmark has traditionally been very difficult. Though sailing is a very popular sport for a lot of Danes the national media have tented to prioritize more traditional “TV-sports”, such as football, cycling, tennis, etc. This is also why we are very excited that through the “Inviting the World of Sport” programme we managed to secure enough funding for the production, and even more excited that DR (Danish Radio and Television) have agreed not only to provide us with airtime every evening on one of the most popular sport shows on Danish TV, but also to distribute the footage through the Eurovision network, which basically means that every major TV station in Europe and throughout the world will have free access to footage from the Finn Gold Cup.”

He continued, “The TV coverage together with the live tracking of ALL participants for ALL races means that the FGC 2009 will be one of the best covered sailing
events ever held in Denmark.”

Former world champion and long time number one Finn sailor Jonas Høgh Christensen is sailing his first event since the Olympics.

He said, “This year I have probably had 6-10 days in the boat before the first race. I have gone sailing a couple of times with some of the boys who have been around for training leading up to the event. I am expecting to have a fun event. With almost no days in the boat I have lowered my expectations but I am sure once we get started I will want to win.”

On the competition, he said “Ed Wright looks strong, Rafa Trujillo is always in the game, so is PJ Postma and a couple of the experienced guys such as Zach Railey, Dan Slater, and Daniel Birgmark. But also young guns as Giles Scott and Dennis Karpak are on good form and for sure keen to win. It’s always an open regatta in the Finn which makes it so much fun.”

“I am also quite sure that the hospitality will be great. The plans I saw were awesome, so if they manage that it will be fantastic.”

Form guide

Rafael Trujillo (ESP) – World Ranking 1st
2004 Olympics silver medalist and 2007 World Champion. One of the most experienced sailors in the fleet now and is very likely to competing for medals come the end of the week. Traditionally very strong in a breeze, he lost a lot of weight for Qingdao and has struggled a bit since then, but is still winning races and should be a strong contender.

Pieter Jan Postma (NED) – World Ranking 2nd
After taking the silver medals at the 2007 Finn Gold Cup and the Pre-Olympics Postma has never quite reproduced that form. Very physical sailor who can perform very well in big winds and big waves, he has been a bit inconsistent of late, though quite capable to taking a medal next week. Best results this year was seventh at the Delta Lloyd Regatta. 

Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) – World Ranking 3rd
After his performances this year he is one of the top favourites for this event. Convincingly won Hyeres, second in Kiel and third at the Delta Lloyd. One of the lightest sailors in the fleet, he tends to prefer lighter conditions, but is gradually improving in the breeze so expect to see him near or at the front by the end of the week. Finish eighth in Qingdao.

Gasper Vincec (SLO) – World Ranking 4th
Produced some great results over the past couple of years but yet to take a major title. Third in Hyeres this year, his best result was third in the 2007 Finn Gold Cup and generally in the picture at most regattas. Expect to see Vincec in the top five or six going into the medal race.

Daniel Birgmark (SWE) – World Ranking 5th
Finished a frustrating fourth in Qingdao and his best result this year was sixth at the Delta Lloyd Regatta. Clever, thoughtful and experienced sailor who can never be written off, Birgmark has never really realised his potential in the Finn class and though has won many races hasn’t medalled at a championship yet.

Zach Railey (USA) – World Ranking 6th
Silver medalist in Qingdao after making rapid progress through the fleet in the last two years. Now regularly top ten in major events and this year was third at the Rolex Miami OCR and fifth at the Delta Lloyd. Sailing fast and clever, Railey is very fired up for this event and should be among the top few.

Jonas Høgh-Christensen (DEN) – World Ranking 8th
Home town favourite who is ‘ending’ his 2008 Olympic campaign here. World champion in 2006, he says he is ‘here for fun’, but no doubt if thing go his way will be as competitive as ever. Was the number one ranked sailor in the world rankings from 2006 to 2008, but hasn’t sailed more than a few days since the Olympics, where he finished a disappointing sixth.

Ed Wright (GBR) – World Ranking 10th
His ranking position doesn’t reflect his performance this season with wins at the Rolex Miami OCR, and Delta Lloyd regattas, second in Palma and third in Hyeres. He is the current leader of the ISAF Sailing World Cup and is the only sailor across all classes to win that title before the final event in Weymouth. For many Wright will be the top favourite to take the title. Previously European Champion in 2006, his best Finn Gold Cup results was third in the same year.

Rafal Szukiel (POL) – World Ranking 11th
Surprise winner of last week’s Kiel Week, which will boost his confidence going into the Gold Cup. Has been there or thereabouts for many years and is an experienced seasoned campaigned who clearly has the ability to get to the front. Finished tenth in the 2008 Olympics but yet to medal and a major championship.

Giles Scott (GBR) – World Ranking 17th
One of the fastest rising stars of the fleet in his first year as a senior, Scott won the Junior worlds last year and trained extensively with Ben Ainslie before the 2008 Olympics. Has performed outstandingly well so far this year. He won Palma, was fourth in Hyeres and second in Holland, Scott has to be one of the favourites for a medal, if not the title if he can keep it going.

Other potential race winners could come from: Peer Moberg (NOR), bronze medalist in the 2007 Pre-Olympics and Laser bronze medalist from 1996; Eduard Skornyakov (RUS), 2007 European Champion who is starting to show some form; Tapio Nirkko (FIN), who can be blisteringly fast on his day; Bryan Boyd (USA), who has won races at several World Cup events this year;  Marin Misura (CRO), who has won races at gold cup level and is always a tough competitor; Michael Maier (CZE), who has produced some great results so far this year and is sailing fast; and Deniss Karpak (EST), newcomer from the Laser who has already finished top ten in several events including a third in Kiel Week.

Measurement and registration starts on Friday 3rd July, with the opening ceremony on Saturday 4th, and the practice race the following day. Ten qualification races are scheduled between Monday and Friday with the medal race and the final race for the rest on Saturday 11th July.

Strong heat and no wind on the packed parking of the Yacht Club de Carnac for this first day of competition. The 30 crews didn’t have the opportunity to confront one another in the bay of Quiberon and it’s really a pity! The teams brought together for this new competition which is to promote the 18 foot skiffs around the world is indeed rather exceptional. Among the helmsmen, there are no less than 4 winners of the JJ Giltinan International Championship, ran each mid-February in the bay of Sydney and considered as the equivalent of the world championship for this sport and nearly as much among the crewmen.
The Australian Trevor Barnabas, the most titled of them, has brought together with his family team two generations of champions on 24Hr Road Service. It’s his son Trent “the weapon” Barnabas, current titleholder, who is the front crewman. Daniel Philips completes this formidable crew. On the side of the Australians, among the five other boats another family is to be pointed out: the Winnings. John, the father (Yandoo), tireless veteran and generous sponsor of this amateur class and John junior (Appliancesonline), the son who has won several races during the last “JJ”, will be for sure two serious candidate for victory. If the winds are light, we should keep an eye on Grant Rollerson (Slam) and its team (Mike Coxon, double winner of the JJ on Fiat in 2006 and 2007). The three proud New Zealand crews who have come to Carnac should also give the Europeans a hard time.
Hopefully, the large number of boats from the English class have good arguments such as Robert Greenhalgh (Benny), only just disembarked from the VOR 70 Puma in the Volvo Ocean Race and winner in 2004 of the JJ. He has taken the most of this day to refine some very thin settings he has the knack of finding. The crew of Pindar, skipped by Andy Richards, actual European champions, those from Pica (Jamie Mears), Ronstan (Iain Turnbull), Investec Private Bank (Mason Woodworth), TMF Group (Jarrod Simpson) but also Gill/Wild Graphics (Ed Brown) are capable of winning a race and should be taken into account. The American Howard Hamlin (Macquarie), double holder of the precious trophy, coming at the last moment to defend the colours of the Stars and Stripes and the Danish Flemming Clausen, hardwearing competitor capable with his solid crew of astounding speeds as soon as the wind raises.
2 Hungarian teams, 3 French, 3 German and a Swiss complete the list which promises tight starts and very very hot buoy crossings! GPS have been embarked on the boats for a live broadcasting of the race on the website of the organizing club : www.yccarnac.com. Organized from the 28th June to the 4th July, this confrontation should find tomorrow enough wind to offer a real and virtual impressive show!

Leading on the opening day of the event, Rafal Szukiel overcame close competition to win the Medal race and narrowly took his first victory ever in a Grade one event. Szukiel who has been a long time campaigner in the Finn class, is starting to put his mark on the fleet. Second place overall goes to the Semaine Olympique Française winner, Croatian Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic. Deniss Karpak (EST) who has stepped on the Finn early this year after competing for many years in the Laser is steadily improving to place third overall after leading the fleet before the Medal race. At the age of 22, Karpak is a confident sailor with his eyes set on a podium at the London Olympic Games.
Ed Wright (GBR) recovered from his 19th place scored on the first day to place 6th overall. With a further 15 points added to his ISAF Sailing World Cup standings, he is unbeatable before the last event in Weymouth and is the first sailor across all classes to pretend to this new title.

Tomas Vika (CZE) is the first Junior sailor in 14th place. Vika is among a group of five Czech Juniors trained by four times Olympian Michael Maier. Maier decided this year to help these five young sailors, to boost the Finn class in his country and pass his knowledge to the younger generation. The Junior team has sailed all the main European regattas so far and will be a strong team for the future Junior World Championship on Balatonfured, Hungary, starting on the 30th of July.
The next main event in the Finn class is the Finn Gold Cup sailed from the Vallensbaek Yacht Club near Copenhagen, Denmark from the 3rd to 11th of July. The six days racing will be filmed and footage available for TV and website on an ftp site. All boats will carry a tracking device to bring racing close to everyone worldwide. With 98 entries from 30 countries, it promises to provide a real show on the water!

The Gorge is already experiencing some high quality and exciting Moth racing with less than two months to go to the CST Composites 2009 Moth World Championships. Over two days of stellar conditions, Kevin Hall bested a fleet of 12 to win the Oregon State Championship. Kevin won the regatta with consistent tactical sailing, good boat handling, and good all-around speed. The final result was closely contested; Dalton Bergan, sailing a new Mach 2 Moth, was second with a string of four firsts in the final four races. Charlie McKee was four points further back with the other four first place finishes, followed by
Morgan Larson, Adam Lowry, and Andy Mack. (Of these top 6, former 49er crews were 1, 3, 5 – a clear victory over the former 49er helms at 2, 4, 6).

Held at the precise venue of the upcoming CST Composites Moth Worlds, the regatta was a chance to refine the race courses and logistical details, as well as a chance to explore viable wind speeds for competition. The racing was highly tactical with moderately puffy, shifty conditions and lots of opportunities for passing by tacking and jibing in good spots. With 13 races in two days and winds ranging from 8-24 knots, everyone was reminded that Cascade Locks is one of the premier sailing venues in North America, if not the world. Flat water promoted high speeds, while 90-degree temperatures and spectacular scenery rounded out the overall experience. Next up are the US Nationals on Aug 6-7, followed immediately by the CST Composites Worlds on August 10-15.

The venue should bring unparalleled conditions in terms of wind, water and scenery, and the sailors will bring the rest, leaving nothing on the beach. Alongside some fierce racing, the worlds will see the launch of the new CST Nano Spars™ series. The CST Nano Spars™ masts come in two model variants, ‘Pro’ and ‘Extreme’ which will complement CST’s existing high modulus ‘Club’ range. CST have been developing and testing this technology with the help of some of the best Moth sailors to ensure product reliability and performance. ‘CST Nano Spars™ are made from materials which to our knowledge are the highest performance carbon based products ever offered in the dinghy or yacht racing arena. Higher than America’s Cup or Volvo 70! This material is true satellite technology and CST brings it to the Moths as a world first’ said CST’s Managing Director Clive
Watts.

The Notice of Race for the 2009 Rolex Osprey Cup has been posted by organizers St. Petersburg Yacht Club (St. Petersburg, Fla.) to the event website www.rolexwomensmatch.org.  The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 1 match racing regatta – scheduled for October 20-24 – annually attracts the world’s top women sailors such as world’s #1 ranked match racer and 2007 ISAF Rolex Sailor of the Year Claire Leroy (Nantes, FRA); US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), Katy Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Genny Tulloch (Tiburon, Calif.); U.S. Women’s Match Racing champion Molly O’Brien-Vandemoer; and Eurosaf European Champion Lucy Macgregor (Poole, GBR). Women sailors interested in competing should apply for an invitation online through the event website by July 15.

One of three ISAF Grade 1 match race regattas in the United States (Boat U.S./Santa Maria Cup and Congressional Cup are the other two), the Rolex Osprey Cup is expected to receive quite a bit of attention as the match racing discipline for women will make its debut at the 2012 Olympics in England.

“Each year we see a very high level of competition,” said Pat Seidenspinner (St. Petersburg, Fla.), the event’s Principal Race Officer and co-chair with Tom Farquhar. “Increased interest in women’s match racing is being driven by its inclusion in the 2012 Olympics. We expect the competition to ramp up even higher as we get further into the Olympic quadrennium.”

Two competitors will receive invitations to this event based on their performance at the Rolex Women’s Match, a grade 3 event held this past April at the SPYC: winner Genny Tulloch and runner-up Debbie Capozzi.

The Rolex Osprey Cup schedule includes registration and practice sailing on Tuesday, October 20 with daily racing Wednesday, Oct. 21 through Saturday, Oct. 24 just off of the St. Petersburg Municipal Pier. The format consists of a double round robin, with knockout (first to win 3 points) semi-final and final rounds scheduled at the end of the round robins.

The Rolex Osprey Cup was founded in 1996 and in 2000 Rolex Watch U.S.A. became the title sponsor.  The regatta was not held in 2000 in lieu of hosting the Rolex ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship. For more information, results and photos please visit the event’s official website www.rolexwomensmatch.org.

About Rolex Watch U.S.A. Since Rolex Watch U.S.A. first presented timepieces to America’s Cup defenders in 1958, the company has consistently recognized and encouraged excellence in every important arena of competitive sailing, including elite athlete preparation, US SAILING championships, disabled sailing, and offshore, one-design and women’s events.
The Rolex Osprey Cup is part of the Rolex Yachting Portfolio that includes over 20 world-class sailing events taking place around the world such as the Rolex Miami OCR, New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Fastnet Race, Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, Rolex Big Boat Series, Rolex US-IRC National Championship, Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship and Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Here’s a quick note from Frank Quealey of the 18 Footer’s League

pertaining to their 2000-2010 race schedule program. All of these
regatta’s will be held on Sydney Harbour and we usually get the race

reports from Frank himself along with some good photography of the 18’s.

Below is the race schedule.

OCTOBER

11          Alf Beashel Trophy
18          Life Members Trophy
25         Club Championship – Race 1

NOVEMBER

1          Mick Scully Trophy
8         NSW Championship – Race 1                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      15   NSW Championship – Race 2
22    NSW Championship – Race 3
29    NSW Championship – Race 4

DECEMBER

6     NSW Championship – Race 5
13   Syd Barnett Jr. Memorial trophy
20  No Race
27  No Race

JANUARY

3     No Race
10 Australian Championship – Race 1
17 Australian Championship – Race 2
24 Australian Championship – Race 3
26 Australian Championship – Race 4
31 Australian Championship – Race 5

FEBRUARY

5      Twilight Race
7     Club Championship                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          12   Giltinan Championship – Invitation Race

13   Giltinan Championship – Race 1
George Calligeros Trophy
14   Giltinan Championship – Race 2
16   Giltinan Championship – Race 3
17   Giltinan Championship – Race 4
18   Giltinan Championship – Race 5
20   Giltinan Championship – Race 6
21    Giltinan Championship – Race 7

28 Club Championship
MARCH

7     Ferry Patrons Memorial trophy
14    Club Championship
21     Queen of the Harbour
28     Club Championship