After three days at a truly relentless pace, devouring miles at near record speeds – 520, 530, 550 miles in a seemingly single bite, the top leaders of the Vendée Globe fleet continue to stay ahead of the depression while at the same time their pursuers are dropping off the back of the system, as was expected. And so the expectation is that the leaders will continue to multiply their margins. Behind them cracks become gaps become chasms.

The gap is already growing notably after the top nine and that will become more pronounced between now and the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope late on Friday. Those behind who are dropped off the back will need to wait for the next low-pressure train, but meantime race leader Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) and his closest rivals will continue to race in sustained winds before gybing south to work the of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone.

The Race Directors have decided to drop the AEZ south by almost 100 miles – at least to the Crozet archipelago – which will allow them to now sail a shorter route, at the same time being able to better exploit the depressions which are running further to the south,

Dalin and the lead posse have been sailing 500 miles in each 24-hour increment living life at a hellish pace.

“It’s tough mentally and at the same time it pushes you to keep up the pace”, commented Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) in fourth at 90 miles behind Dalin. “The depression that we are on seems to be reducing. Some will not manage to stay on its back while on our side, we will find ourselves right in it!”, detailed Simon who is anticipating another tough, fast night on the edge.

The AEZ is moved south

“The wind will be strong but also very gusty. We will have to go fast in a sea that will build It will be quite intense”, said Simon who hopes to take advantage of the winds generated by the tightly packed low for as long as possible before being overtaken by it and then gybing towards the South to avoid being caught by the rebuilding Saint Helena anticyclone. But their route is opened as Race Management has chosen to reduce the Antarctic Exclusion Zone (AEZ), this imaginary ring fence drawn around the Antarctic continent (drawn by 72 GPS points separated by 5° each) prohibited to skippers for their safety.

A double advantage

What motivated this decision?

“At the time of the start and during the first days of the race, CLS which provides the Vendée Globe with its expertise in processing radar and altimetric satellite data and in modelling ocean currents to detect the presence and predict the drift of icebergs, had reported echoes close to the zone. Since then, new satellite images have made it possible to identify these echoes are fishing boats and in fact the icebergs and growlers are located quite far away. We have decided to reduce the AEZ by almost 100 miles to the Crozets archipelago,” explained Fabien Delahaye who could, with the other members of the Race Direction team, decided in time, to also change this zone after the Kerguelen Islands.

“This change will allow us to start the Indian Ocean well but also shorten the theoretical route a little,” enthused Sébastien Simon echoing the thoughts of most competitors- even if most of them are thinking of other things right now.

For those who have fallen off the back of the train the conditions suddenly become very turbulent in terms of unsettled, shifting winds and seas: 

“Unlike the boats in front who are ahead of the depression, we are just behind. So we are suffering a little from its torments but we are making progress,” commented Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée) who is unhappy not to be up with the leaders.

Hare hits the buffers

Pip Hare in 16th on Medallia found the conditions tough last night, dropping suddenly out of the wind band to be caught under a cloud. The somewhat random course for a few hours gave some cause for concern but she explained, “I had a pretty calamitous night. We are sailing along next to a massive front just to the south of us. Early evening the wind just died completely and filled back in from 180 degrees.

“The front was bulging up and I sailed under a cloud. And I was there for four and half hours. Every time I got to the edge of the cloud I thought ‘yes I am going to pop out’ but the wind would change direction and by the time I had the sails on the right side I was back under it again. My arms hurt so much and I have not slept at all. I am almost scared to sleep. And I feel so dumb. I am beating myself so much. But I know I can’t stay in this place. I need to move on this is a long, long race.”

And later she added, “I have a winch which I have to rebuild in daylight hours when the boat is doing 22.5kts and so I am prioritizing that. That is the thing with this race is that a small problem can escalate really quickly and so every time you see a technical issue, you need to give yourself the time and space to fix it before it escalates. I can’t imagine what the rest of this race is going to be like, even passing the Cape of Good Hope and heading down into the Big South. But now I need to be back to the tool box. Now I have Damien Seguin two miles ahead of me I can see him and so not only am I trying to fix this winch I am trying to maintain a bit of pressure on him too!”

The post Life On The Edge As Vendée Leaders Dive South appeared first on Sailing World.

Having been spared the significant damage back-to-back major hurricanes inflicted upon many parts of Florida, the team at St. Petersburg YC is pressing ahead with its regatta-packed winter calendar, including the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series, which opened registration this week with the posting of the Notice of Race.

As the marque southern event of the 35-year-old Regatta Series, the St. Petersburg stop (February 14 to 16) is always favorite for locals and visiting sailors from the north escaping winter’s grip. The regatta is renown for its reliable racing conditions on Tampa Bay, a superb host club, and a blossoming city with a night life and cultural experiences on par with any top tourism destination in the Sunshine State.

The invited one-design classes include: A Class Catamaran, J/70, J/24, J/88, J/105, J/111, L30, Lightning, Melges 15, Melges 24, S2 7.9, Sonar, Windmill and Weta Trimaran. Invited rated classes, for three days of buoy racing include ORC or Level.    

The regatta will be the first major event utilizing St. Petersburg YC’s new state-of-the-art marina and concrete dock facilities, which features more slip space for visiting teams, reducing the raft-ups of years past, electrical upgrades, and a pump-out station. With updates to the clubhouse as well, and a new dress code (note: leave your “cut offs, ripped jeans, extremely short skirts or shorts” at home), competitors can expect the same great hospitality the club has extended for three decades of the series.

Along with the traditional classes expecting strong turnouts, five have designated the regatta as class championships: the L30s will sail their North American Championship and the Melges 24 will race their Midwinter Championship, which is also a North American Sailing Series Qualifier. The venerable S2 7.9s will contest their Midwinter Championship, as will the Sonar and Windmill classes. With long-course racing continuing to draw top PHRF teams from around Tampa Bay, the regatta’s distance race fleets will once again enjoy two days of distance races.

With Helly Hansen returning as title sponsor for the 11th year, organizers are planning four nights of social events at the club, including the Sailing World Speaker Series on the eve of the regatta, an hour of storytelling and knowledge sharing with Sailing World Magazine’s Dave Reed and a celebrity guest.

The post St. Petersburg Kicks Off Regatta Series With 5 Class Championships appeared first on Sailing World.

Picking up where they left off in January, Peter Burling’s Black Foils have claimed their third consecutive win in the UAE, soaring ahead of the Emirates Great Britain and US SailGP Team on the pristine waters of Port Mina Rashid. The Black Foils are back-to-back-winners of the Rolex SailGP Championship’s season-opening event.

New Zealand driver Peter Burling said, “Awesome play from the group – I mean as a new team to get to the final this week – it’s one of the hardest things in this light air. And we really pulled it out this season and got a great start and hit it right at mark one. I made a bad choice making it a bit more complicated – taking a right turn – which put us right back in the pack but then it was clean, and it was good to race from there to take a win.”

Following a day of technical, light-air racing on Saturday, the 11-strong Rolex SailGP Championship fleet enjoyed breezy, foiling conditions – providing a spectacle for fans watching along the shoreline.

Finishing in third was an ecstatic US SailGP Team Driver Taylor Canfield, who celebrated, “Any event going on the podium is incredible, so it’s awesome to see how all the hard work we have put in is paying off. It’s early stages, and we have a lot to build on –- but the team are working hard and made a huge jump here overnight. And everyone dug in deep and found a way to get better for today. That’s the goal and it just shows how driven, and that everyone’s got that fight in them – so yeah we are pumped.”

The Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix, presented by P&O Marinas marked a welcome shift for the all-American crew, who have not made it on the podium since the last time they raced in the Middle East. The team delivered a consistent performance on both days of racing, earning the critical points needed to clinch a spot in the podium final.

Celebrating an impressive second place podium finish at his first event since Season 1, Emirates GBR Driver Dylan Fletcher proved he’s more than capable of competing against the best athletes in the sport.

Heading into the fifth and final fleet race of the weekend, a tight battle for third was poised between a handful of teams, including Emirates GBR and reigning Rolex SailGP Champions Spain. But it wasn’t to be for Los Gallos, who couldn’t manage to stay in front of Fletcher and missed out on the three-boat final. Despite leading the fleet heading into day two, the Flying Roo of the Australian SailGP team also missed out after finishing last in race five.

One of SailGP’s two new nations in the 2025 Season, Red Bull Italy, missed out on event points whilst fellow debut Mubadala Brazil added their first point to the Rolex SailGP Championship standings.

Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team Driver Martine Grael said, “There were a lot of challenges. Some during the first day – our first time on the big wings. I think it’s all going well and I’m very happy with our crew. We’ve been trying to improve a lot in the last few days, so it’s been a steep learning curve.”

The league now heads down under in January, with the Rolex SailGP’s first event of the new year, the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland (January 18-19, 2025). The event will be the league’s long-awaited debut in the city. “We’re super excited to get home,” Burling said. “The buzz in town is already growing. The renders of the grandstand, which is just about to get built, is amazing. So, for any Kiwis who have not bought tickets yet, it’s going to be an amazing weekend.”

EMIRATES DUBAI SAIL GRAND PRIX, PRESENTED BY P&O MARINAS DAY TWO STANDINGS

EMIRATES DUBAI SAIL GRAND PRIX, PRESENTED BY P&O MARINAS LEADERBOARD

The post SailGP’s Black Foils Start Season 5 With a Win appeared first on Sailing World.

[Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the addition of the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team to the roster of what is now the Rolex SailGP Championship, following the league’s long-term title sponsorship agreement with the Swiss watch brand.]

SailGP Season 4 is so yesterday, and today the professional sailing series is in full noise in Abu Dhabi with the first of 14 events getting underway this weekend following a flurry of off-season crew shuffles, team reboots and big-time announcements for the league created by Russell Coutts and Larry Ellison.

With a new season comes new expectations, so let’s get to it, starting with the US team, poised to make a move from the basement of the Season 4 rankings. The upstart US SailGP Team, which league broadcast commentators confidently put at the bottom of their pre-season prognostications, certainly has something to prove. With the benefit of an off-season training block in Bermuda over the summer and the addition of experienced flight controller and Olympic medalist Hans Henken to the team’s starting roster this week, they’re in a much better place and poised for the long season ahead which finishes in Abu Dhabi next November. Helmsman Taylor Canfield, team strategist and CEO Mike Buckley, wing trimmer Jeremy Wilmot, flight controllers Henken and Mac Agnese, and grinders Anna Weiss (also the designated jib trimmer), and Peter Kinney round out the All-American starting lineup, which will be out for points on its rebranded F50.

The Season 4 champions of Spain SailGP Team return largely intact with Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year and Olympic gold medalists Diego Botin and Florian Trittel, as well as Joel Rodriguez, the team’s flight controller. With this threesome locked into their normal positions and a solid grinding squad to pull from, there’s good reason to expect a strong showing from the defending champions.

Australia SailGP Team helmsman Tom Slingsby is now free of his America’s Cup distractions and will no doubt return to form, but he’s lost his longtime wingman Kyle Langford and the chemistry the two of them have perfected over the years. Smoothing the transition, however, is Chris Draper, who’s moved fluidly between various teams over the past few years as a reliable and experienced hand on the controls.

Slingsby has retained the rest of the Aussie line-up, including veteran flight controller Jason Waterhouse, grinders Kinley Fowler and Sam Newton, strategist Natasha Bryant and reserve strategist Nina Curtis. Confidence is high that the Aussies will find their way to Dubai’s three-boat finale and will continue to be contenders for the season purse once again.

The Canadian squad was hot and on the chopping block at the end of Season 4, but with a new helmsman in British Olympian and Giles Scott (and the dismissal of the league’s most entertaining helmsman Phil Robertson) and a rebrand as the Northstar SailGP Team, the Canucks are a true wildcard of the league once again. Wing trimmer Paul Campbell-James, who’s been in the league since the beginning, has seen most everything that can happen in an F50, remains with the team, as does strategist and past US Olympian Annie Haeger.

Emirates GBR SailGP Team’s most dramatic lineup change is Olympian and America’s Cup helmsman Dylan Fletcher assuming full control of the wheels from team principle Ben Ainslie, who no doubt was looking for a bit of mental break after a brutal America’s Cup campaign and keen to see the team develop with some new and younger energy. Ainslie will settle deeper into his CEO role.

“It’s a tough one because ultimately I love the sailing part more than anything,” Ainslie said in a team statement. “I still feel good physically, I can get around the boat just fine, but it’s about the future of the team and I don’t think the future of the team on the water should be based around me.”

It will be fascinating to watch develop the dynamic between Fletcher and ace strategist Hannah Mills, who led the INEOS Britannia’s AC40 Athena Pathway program into the Puig America’s Cup Final in Barcelona. Both have been immersed in pinnacle racing for the past year and at the top game, and that will certainly make a difference when the pressure is on.

Denmark’s Rockwool Racing, with its entertaining and humble helmsman in Nicolai Shehested, has been knocking at the top of the fleet for the past two seasons, beset by self-inflicted setbacks, so the announcement this week of onboarding Italian America’s Cup helmsman Francesco Bruni as a coach is welcome news to Rockwool fans. With teams now having direct communication with coaches on shore during the racing, the coach’s booth concept has had a significant impact on better consistency for some teams in Season 4 and as this relationship develops, Bruni will perhaps provide the sage wisdom to keep the Danes more consistent over the duration of the entire season.

Germany SailGP Team, now in its third season, has continued to be a regular presence at the back of the fleet, but with its squad returning behind helmsman Erik Heil, German fans hoped the team’s collective experience of late will advance them up the standings this year, leaving the newcomers of the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team with the burden of rookie status.

But the Brazilians have the league’s sole female helmswoman of Martine Grael, a decorated medalist in the 49erFX, and a force on any racecourse. To fast-track with the F50, the Brazilians have tapped British wing trimmer Leigh McMillian and recruited flight controller Andy Maloney away from the New Zealand Black Foils camp. Grael was expecting to get up to speed with the F50 during the Bermuda training camp, but her time was cut short when the boat’s wing collapsed (no fault of the sailors), leaving them short on time in the boat.

The Swiss SailGP Team, unable to string together a winning package over the past three seasons have rebooted with an interesting new lineup that includes Alinghi Red Bull Racing America’s Cup helmsman Arnaud Psarofaghis as wing trimmer to helmsman Sebastian Schneiter on the wheels. Flight controller Bryan Mettraux is also new to the squad and the team’s management doubled-down on recruiting winning talent from other teams in the league to fill out other roles.

New Zealand, known now as the Black Foils, remains the spoiler as always. With Peter Burling and Blair Tuke fresh off their America’s Cup win in Barcelona, they’ll be eager to put full attention to the season. Leo Takahashi replaces Andy Maloney as flight controller, and Dubai will be the first reveal of how good the Kiwi outfit is for Season 5.

Only days before the Dubai regatta, the league’s 14th team was revealed with the SailGP’s original gangster Jimmy Spithill introducing the sailors of the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team. Spithill, while listed as an alternate helmsman, is leading the young team from the executive suite, leaving the driving of the team’s white F50 to double Olympic Gold Medalist Ruggero Tita. Australian wing trimmer extrordinaire Kyle Langford, was recruited away from the Aussie squad, and is joined by Alex Sinclair and grinders Matteo Celon and Enrico Voltolin. Giulia Fava, fresh of a win of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli is the team’s strategist, and Andrea Tesei is the starting flight controller.

The prize money is on the table, the past is in the past and the SailGP beast is about to be unleashed.

The post SailGP Season 5 Up For Grabs appeared first on Sailing World.

On the afternoon on Friday, August 2, Ian Barrows and Hans Henken became a part of sailing history by winning the bronze in the Men’s Skiff class for Team USA in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games—and the US Sailing Team’s first medal from Marseille. What makes this bronze medal even more sensational is the simple fact that no one has achieved that feat for the United States in 24 years. Receiving their medals was just one flash of a moment in time; behind that moment, however, was a lifetime pursuit.

An Olympic sailing campaign is no easy undertaking. There are countless hours of traveling, logistics, practicing and competing, all of which leads to a four-day regatta that is capped by a single, high-pressure double-points medal race. The sailors have to be ready for anything, and that was exactly what Barrows and Henken were. It was a roller-coaster ride for the Men’s Skiff class as Marseille dished out a variety of conditions for the sailors to master.

When they arrived in Marseille, Barrows and Henken knew that it was going to be a tough event, and their game plan was simple—to be consistent. They had spent several months over the past two years ­getting ready to compete in Marseille, ­learning the venue and winds that range from whispers to near gales. In a regatta with only one discard race allowed, being able to log ­consistent “keeper” scores was the priority. 

Over the four-day medal-race ­qualifying series, as expected, they experienced a wide range of conditions. Light and shifty winds on the first day finally built to a steadier, but still light, breeze by the third and final race of the day. Barrows and Henken were struggling a bit on the starts, but they found themselves in prime positions to stage a few impressive comebacks for the first two races of the day. The third race was looking like a repeat of the first two, but after a weather-mark penalty and turns, they finished 17th. It was a tough end to a long and hard first day of racing, and Barrows considers that port/starboard foul to be their biggest mistake of the regatta. Thanks to their pursuit of consistency, however, the 17th would become their dropped score. After Day 1, the pair were sitting in 12th overall, just outside the ­coveted top 10.

The second day was also light, hot and sunny, but the breeze direction was much steadier, making it a shorter, more conventional day of racing for the racers. They added more emphasis on being able to get better starts, which finally came to fruition on the last race of the day and a fifth-place finish. This brought Barrows and Henken up to sixth overall, and the relief and excitement were easy to see on their faces as they sailed back to the marina, waving to all the fans on the seawall. 

The leaderboard had a big shake-up on Day 3, with waves and extremely erratic winds blowing down from the nearby mountains. Barrows and Henken thrive in such challenging conditions and felt prepared thanks to the amount of time on the water and training that they had put in leading up to the Games in the same wind direction. They were finally on form, scoring a 10, 7 and 3. Their third-place finish was nearly a first, but they got unlucky at the bottom of the last leg, finding themselves in a lull trying to get enough momentum to cross the finish line.

Undeterred by losing out on a potential first-place finish, Barrows and Henken carried their upward momentum into the last day of racing in the qualifying series. Sitting in fifth overall to start the day, the American duo scored their best finish yet: a second. At the conclusion of the qualifying series, they were fourth overall—just 4 points behind the New Zealand team in third; 7 points out of second, held by the Irish; and 12 points behind the Spanish leaders (and eventual gold medalists), Diego Botin and Florian Trittel.

The medal-race day in the Olympics comes with additional ceremonies and a big change for the sailors because they have to appear at a finalist presentation before rigging their boats in a “pit lane” in the spectator venue in front of the crowd. The atmosphere on this August day was loud, the crowd packed with fans, friends, and families cheering and waving flags, a scene completely different from the normal seclusion of the marina.

Barrows says that the medal-race morning was the first real time that it felt like he was at the Olympics, that it felt like a really big deal. The two sailors knew the enormity of the moment, and after finding their friends and family to give a final wave, they launched their 49er and made their way to the course for the race. Mother Nature had a different plan. The breeze was light and dropped to unsailable conditions, not once but twice, saving the pair from two potentially disastrous races and well out of medal contention. Racing was abandoned—a nerve-wracking dress rehearsal for the sailors. 

A second attempt at the medal race the following day was much more promising, with a steady 7-to-10-knot sea breeze. After a strong start and a stroke of good luck with three boats being over the line early, Barrows and Henken enjoyed a healthy lead on the Irish team and were in the leader pack with the runaway Spanish team and the New Zealanders. All they needed to do to secure the bronze medal was to put three boats between themselves and the Irish, and that was exactly what they did.

“Our whole Olympics, we kept ­building and building toward the medal race,” Henken says. “In a way, it’s how our whole campaign played out. Each day, month, year of our journey, we continued to build, learn and improve. We never let setbacks, or results, define our ability to sail. We set clear goals and peaked at very key moments throughout. In the end, it all came down to execution, and that’s how we would define our medal-race performance: precise ­execution at the highest level.”

Barrows shares a similar perspective. “We’ve put a lot of effort into peaking at this regatta,” he says. “I think we did a really good job of improving our speed and starting throughout the event. Our goal was to have a chance at a medal going into the medal race, and we had a great game plan going into the medal race and executed it well. Luckily, things went out with the Irish being over the line. We feel very lucky and honored to have won the medal for the United States.”

It was a once in a lifetime moment built on a lifetime of moments in preparation and something the two sailors say they will never forget. They are proof that no matter what happens, what setbacks occur, if you keep pushing forward, you really can make your dreams come true. They put in 556 days of sailing to get their medals and say that every single one of them contributed ­something to their success.

The post Henken and Barrow’s Olympic Moment appeared first on Sailing World.

Britain’s Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) took the lead today in the Vendée Globe solo race around the world as the leaders of the 40 boat fleet descend south down the Iberian peninsula. Passing the length of Portugal today, Goodchild, pursued by French ace Charlie Dalin, who was 22-nautical miles behind at press time, was passing Lisbon and should be at the latitude of Gibraltar tonight.

The British skipper, who is racing his first Vendée Globe, has benefited so far by taking a course slightly closer to the coast than Dalin and those chasing him, he has been dicing with possible calmer patches, but sailing fewer miles and making slightly fewer maneuvers than his rivals. This afternoon he was repositioning himself to try close the separation from the French skipper who is widely tipped as the pre-race favorite.

The 40-boat fleet have now largely passed the strong winds and big seas off Cape Finisterre, the gnarly northwest corner of Spain, and are heading south today the temperatures are rising and the wind conditions becoming easier meaning rest will be possible.

For the moment it seems like Goodchild might have outsmarted the wily Dalin, one of the master meteo strategists in this fleet. The Brit has gone well in both light and strong conditions which have marked the first two days of the race which started on Sunday out of Les Sables d’Olonne.

But ahead the breezes are set to be lighter as they jibe down a narrow corridor of pressure and it seems there might be the chance for the boats behind to bring down the wind from behind. Nonetheless it is an important morale boost for the 35-year-old Goodchild who attended his first Vendée Globe as an 18-year-old nipper working with British skipper Mike Golding.

The challenge facing him to hold the lead is a big one, the conditions contrasting sharply with the last edition which Brit Alex Thomson also led after battling through Tropical Storm Theta to cross the Equator with the race lead after 9 days 23 hours. Thomson also led the 2018 race and set the existing record to the Equator at 9 days and 7 hours.

Conditions through the second night at sea were tough, winds to 40 knots and crossed, confused seas which meant another night with very little sleep.

Speaking on the Vendée Globe LIVE show in French this morning second-placed Dalin said: “There was quite a bit of wind and maneuvers. Fortunately, it’s not like this every day on the Vendée Globe, I would not like live too many days like the last two. There was quite a bit of wind, very unpleasant and very short sea, but now it’s starting to get better…It’s quite nice to gain speed after a rather slow start. It has been quite hard work doing these short jibes downwind because you barely have time to recover and then it is time to go again.”

Germany’s Boris Herrmann (Malizia Seaexplorer) has continued to climb through the fleet, he has had stronger breeze letting his powerful boat start to do its thing and this afternoon was in ninth place, the fastest of the Top 10.

The choice of going outside the Traffic Separation Scheme, to the west at Finisterre , was a prudent one made by several skippers, notably Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef) and Nico Lunven (HOLCIM PRB).

Lunven is now furthest to the west, more than 180 miles behind the leader, and reported, “I wanted to do something simple, I wasn’t very comfortable with the idea of passing inside the DST of Cape Finisterre with the coastal traffic, quite a lot of wind and seas, gybing. I preferred to take a simple route, even if it meant losing a little. Unfortunately, I had a little problem with my rudder last night, the rudder bar ripped off, so I had to do a bit of fixing and I lost a bit of time.”

That said current routings predict enough of a gain offshore that they may catch right back up with the leading peloton.

Britain’s Pip Hare (Medallia) admitted on Vendée LIVE that she, as have almost others, struggled to rest and is now low on energy after this punishing calm then windy opening phase.

From 24th position today Hare commented, “It has been pretty relentless to be honest, having drifted across the line we have then had 48 hours of really intense sailing, lots of maneuvers lots of jibes, plenty of sail changes, sneaking through between the TSS and Finisterre the sea state became quite big this morning, but it feels like I have only been napping for 20 minutes and then having to get up and do something I have burned a lot of energy for sure. To be honest I am not thinking too much about my position in the fleet too much. I did not get away as well as I would have hoped and it is really easy to dwell on that and get dragged down. I just really struggle at the start of races, I struggle to find my pace, and we have the whole world to go.

Sam Davies (Initiatives Coeur) is also working up the fleet in 17th and reported, “I think I had something round my keel and then I just went the wrong way but I think there will be some compression ahead.”

Making her debut on the French LIVE was the 23-year-old sensation of the race so far, the youngest-0ever skipper Violette Dorange (Devenir) who is sailing the boat which her mentor Jean Le Cam raced to fourth on the last race, best known as Hubert. “I took off my spinnaker a bit early, I lost a bit, I wanted to be very safe, but I’m regaining distance, I’m really concentrating on my race,” Dorange said. “There was a lot of crossing in the fleet. Passing to the west of the TSS seemed easier, so it really didn’t make any difference to the routing.  Hubert is a great boat, she’s my little home, I feel good aboard, I know her well! I was a bit apprehensive before the start, when the wind picked up, but now I’m starting to get into the rhythm. It’s great training to find your bearings in the wind before the south.”

The post Soloists Descend South with Vendée Globe Underway appeared first on Sailing World.

For the 1983 America’s Cup, our plan was to do two new boats and to trial them against each other. We already had two decent boats, Freedom and Enterprise, for comparison. We suspected that the Australians would be competitive and planning to do something special following their clever bendy rig in 1980. Don’t forget that the Americans had won forever, and the foreigners were predisposed to losing—which might not be fair, but I think it was realistic.

We thought that if we designed and built two new boats that we would have the landscape pretty well covered. We decided to have Johan Valentijn design one boat and Olin Stephens and his Sparkman & Stephens office design the other. The Valentijn boat, ironically, would not have been able to race in the Cup because it was too short on the waterline and didn’t fit the 12-Metre Rule.

For the S&S boat, Olin Stephens was getting older, so some others on the S&S team were probably involved, such as Bill Langan and the team behind him. They designed a fairly large boat. Normally, a large boat would be fighting for enough sail area, but they got it by pushing the girth profile pretty hard to gain back some rating under the 12-Metre Rule. It pushed the rule on girth hard. It was large, and the reason it did not have a smaller sail area was because the girths were not penalized. It was V-shaped and not wine-bottle-shaped. You would think with that configuration it would be slow, but it needed to be that way under the rule to get a large boat with a larger sail area.

We tested it against Freedom and Enterprise and realized that the design did not work well. We decided that we needed to either build another boat or rely on Freedom to be a good boat. We decided to have another boat designed and built, and based on some of the innovation that Valentijn had shown with his design of Magic, we let him do it. He designed Liberty, but it was not a great boat. 

The first day, we sailed Freedom against Liberty—mind you, I hate to go swimming, but I said I would go swimming because there must be something stuck on Liberty to be this slow against Freedom. So that did not bode well for our future.

We decided that we would also let Valentijn make changes to Freedom because she was sticky in the light air, and we thought that would improve with more sail area. We decided that we would let him make Freedom a little shorter so that we could add sail area. However, Freedom had the lowest freeboard of any 12-Metre, and that had been grandfathered in because the rule on freeboard was changed in 1983.

Freedom had a low ­freeboard and was quite wet, but it was the low freeboard that gave her better aerodynamic and hydrodynamic qualities. Valentijn did not interpret or misread the rule, so in making the boat shorter to gain sail area, we lost the grandfathering of the freeboard. We ended up with a shorter boat and without any additional sail area. It made Freedom worse in light air without added sail area, and worse in stronger conditions because it was shorter and it rated the same. So Valentijn designed Magic, which could not race for the Cup because its rating was too short; he designed Liberty, which was not a special boat; and he negatively impacted Freedom, which was our best boat after all of this. We ended up having to race Liberty.

In the meantime, the Australians had built two boats: One was Challenge 12 and the other Australia II. They were identical except one had a ­regular keel and one had a winged keel. The winged keel ended up being the better boat. It was the shortest boat you could design and still race, which, if I remember right, was 42½ feet on the waterline.

The problem with a small boat is that it isn’t very good in windier conditions. They figured out how to make it better by turning the keel upside down. They attached the short part of the keel to the hull and had the longer part at the bottom of the keel. That made a short boat with a lot of sail area very stable in the breeze. The tank testing was done in Holland and the idea came out of Holland, which made it illegal, but that’s another story.

The problem with the long keel at the bottom was that it made excess tip vortices—or, in layman’s terms, there was too much drag. They figured that if you added winglets to the keel, it would reduce the vortices. They started thinking that if you were going to add winglets with that drag, you might as well make them out of lead, which would give even more stability. And, if you were heeled over, one of the wings would be more vertical and add lift. So, for Australia, it was all a gain—aside from some additional drag downwind—but the boat was short and had plenty of sail area, so it was not that bad. 

The fact that we were up 3-1 after four races was a ­miracle. But it was a combination of them having some bad luck and not sailing well at the beginning and us having some good fortune. Once they figured out that they were fast, they became formidable. They got stronger and stronger, and John Bertrand got less nervous; they had a good crew and a good boat.

We broke down in the fifth race when the jumpers blew off the mast, which was too bad because those were our best conditions. They had good fortune in the sixth race and were faster. In the seventh race, we were kicking their butts—but the wind dropped quite a bit, and they got stronger and stronger and passed us.

Would I have done anything differently? Maybe knowing what I know now, but what I knew back then, probably not. They were a good boat.

The post America’s Cup 1983: Wrong Horse For the Course appeared first on Sailing World.

Wingfoiling is a new and exploding addition to the world of sailing, and naturally it has a racing component built into its foundation. Wherever there’s wind and water these days, wingfoilers can be seen flying fast with light and minimal equipment, and when two ­foilers meet, who doesn’t want to see how fast they can go? And who’s faster? Even though wingfoiling is relatively new, there’s already plenty of racing developing, internationally and domestically. Whether you are new to wingfoiling and want to race for the first time, or you want to push yourself to the next level, here are my top-10 tips to make the most of your wingfoil racing.

Enjoy the racing. Wingfoil racing is a unique way to share the water with a lot of people. One of the coolest things about foiling is how silently you sail across the water. You can be very close to another person and have a conversation, which makes racing much more social and competitive.

Be open to learning new things. When I work with the kids on the Wylde Wind & Water Wingfoil Youth Team, I tell them that the best way to improve is to race. Racing teaches us so many invaluable lessons about equipment management, reading the water, sailing in a variety of conditions, and pushing our comfort zones. Every race will teach us something, so we have to remember to be open to learning from it. I learn as much from one regatta as I could from an entire month of training on my own.

Don’t stress the gear. The best equipment with which to start racing is the gear you have. Use it to participate in a local race series, and as you get more familiar with the racing formats and as your skills improve, then you can purchase more-advanced equipment for wingfoil racing. Don’t let your equipment be your barrier of entry to try something new.

Learn the different starts. There are three types of starts in wingfoil racing: traditional upwind starts for when you are ­racing windward/leeward courses; reaching starts for when you are slalom racing; and rabbit starts for when you are distance racing or marathon racing.

As your skills improve, you can purchase more-advanced equipment for wingfoil racing. Don’t let your equipment be your barrier of entry to try something new.

The start sequence is typically a 3-minute countdown. Because wingfoilers sail very quickly, you cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, so calculate this into your prestart routine so that you know where to line up at 30 seconds before your start. The goal is to cross the start line going full speed—and in control. You always want to be on foil during the prestart sequence, so jibe or tack in puffs—whatever keeps you on the foil—so you can ensure that you’re foiling when you cross the line.

Pump for extra speed off the line. When pumping for speed off the start, use your whole body, starting with your legs, to compress the foil into the water to generate lift. As the board starts to rise, extend your arms and capture more wind in your wing, which will counter the lift of the foil and propel you forward. When pumping, engage your core, not only for strength and power, but for stability as well. Remember, you are the connection between the wing and the board. Be a solid connection.

Stay fast and tight. On the typical wing racecourse, there are two major obstacles to avoid: dirty air and dirty water. Dirty air can be really disruptive to your top-end speed and your upwind or downwind angle, so do your best to find lanes of clean air to avoid wing turbulence. Wing turbulence is one of the easiest ways to catch a wing tip in the water, which often results in swimming. Foils disturb the water and create turbulence from the introduction of air down the mast. Somebody else’s foil turbulence can knock you off balance or cause your foil to cavitate. Learn how to anticipate foil turbulence, and if you can, avoid it.

Somebody else’s foil turbulence can knock you off balance or cause your foil to cavitate. Learn how to anticipate foil turbulence, and if you can, avoid it.

Embrace different courses. Wingfoil racing can be short and intense, which keeps it exciting. Slalom races are anywhere from 3 to 6 minutes, course races are about 8 to 12 minutes, distance races are around 20 to 25 minutes, and marathon races are at least 45 minutes.

Enjoy the entire wind range. Wind minimums and maximums depend on the ­location and sea state as well, but race organizers typically aim to sail in 6-knot minimum. And the wind maximum? That depends on the race committee, however, I recommend getting a small wing because wingfoil racing in 35 to 40 knots is chaotic but a ton of fun.

Clean and safe mark roundings. It’s especially important to pay close attention to your exit angle from a mark rounding. You’re moving at a high rate of speed, and your exit angle can make or break your race. Also, just as you would off the starting line, pump out of the turns to accelerate.

Find your fleet. Where to wingfoil race? There are many race opportunities around the world, including the high-level Wingfoil Racing World Cup tour, GWA Wing Foil, X-15 Class races (one-design), and national and local races. Connect with your local sailing club or federation to learn more information about the upcoming races in your region, and if you don’t have a local wingfoil racing scene, start one. All it takes is another winger.

The post Wingfoiling Racing Beginner Basics appeared first on Sailing World.

The Swan One Design Worlds came to a dramatic conclusion in Palma de Mallorca over the weekend with the world champions crowned in three ClubSwan Racing classes—two by a single point—and the season-long Nations League ultimately decided.

In the ClubSwan 36 fleet, teams from Brazil, Germany and Spain took the top spots with Haakon Lorentzen’s Mamao, of Brazil, claiming the ClubSwan 36 title after overhauling series leader and three-race winner Black Battalion. Edoardo Ferragamo’s Cuordileone completed the podium.

“I am feeling great, it is our second time,” said Lorentzen, adding the key to their success was never giving up and fighting to the finish. “I was 68 when I won my first world championship, and now I am 70 and have won my second.”

Mark Bezner’s Olymp, hailing from Germany, claimed the ultra-close ClubSwan 50 title by a single point from Raquel and Graeme Peterson’s Moonlight. Leonardo Ferragamo’s Cuordileone, the 2023 world title holder toke the final place on the podium. The level of competition was highlighted by the fact that the top-five boats in the 12-strong class were each only a point apart.

“It’s outstanding and a great reward for our team,” Bezner said. “We’re a new team and the first day was a bit rough but today we had two great starts—we like challenging conditions, we do a bit better. I have only been with ClubSwan Racing for four years, having never raced a regatta before, so you can imagine how I feel.”

Perhaps appropriately, given the Bay of Palma arena, the similarly tight competition for the ClubSwan 42 world title was an all-Spanish affair, with Pedro Vaquer Comas’ Nadir edging out Jose Maria Meseguer’s Pez de Abril—again by a single point. Adriano Majolino’s Canopo, the 2024 Rolex Swan Cup winner with two race victories on its Palma card, was third.

Back ashore Comas said, “We’re feeling very good, it has been a very competitive event for everyone. The 42 class is very strong at the moment and this is the second time we have won the Worlds so we will enjoy it. The team has been together 10 years so I am very proud.”

The teams in the Swan One Design Worlds experienced varied conditions throughout the week, providing a suitable challenge of their skills across the wind range, as well as a rather different challenge for the experienced race management team at the Real Club Náutico de Palma, host for the ClubSwan Racing regatta.

It was an equally close-run affair in the 2024 The Nations League ClubSwan 50 series with Moonlight — despite a strong performance in Palma and victory in the recent Rolex Swan Cup — ending the season as runner-up to Marcus Brennecke’s Hatari, with the German yacht adding to her winning streak.

“It is disappointing to have lost the World Championship, but Olymp deserved it,” said Brennecke. “On the other hand, winning the Nations League title for the fifth time in a row shows that we are sailing well. But it is so competitive and everyone can win — that is the beauty of ClubSwan Racing.”

Despite their third-place finish in the Swan One Design Worlds, Cuordileone was able to secure the overall season ClubSwan 36 Nations League title. Edoardo Ferragamo said, “It was a very beautiful season even if the weather wasn’t the easiest, but we managed to keep the team strong to the end, so we are happy with that.”

A similar tale unfolded in the ClubSwan 42 class, where earlier performances in the season secured the overall title for Jose Maria Meseguer’s Pez de Abril.

“We are very happy obviously as the Nations League is a very important trophy,” Meseguer said. “The highlight for me is that we have been able to hit our targets through the season. We have so many new people who are coming in and they are improving a lot — so everyone is trying very hard to get better and it is a lot of fun.”

While most of the attention has been focused on the action on the water, as ever the shoreside made its own contribution to the ClubSwan Racing atmosphere. A major highlight of the social scene was the Owners’ Evening which was held in the historic and famed location of the 300-year-old Gordiola glass blowing factory, whose architecture is inspired by the Castle of Perpignan, and is a candidate for UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Summing up the season at the celebratory Prize-Giving on Sunday evening, Nautor Group President Leonardo Ferragamo said, “This event marks the conclusion of a Nations League season which has seen friendly and competitive racing merged with the lifestyle and friendship at the heart of the Swan family experience.

“As ever the Real Club Náutico de Palma has been the perfect host allowing us to celebrate the season to date which has been full of so many special events.”

Head of Sport Activities Federico Michetti added: “This has been another exceptional year for ClubSwan Racing and I would like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to all the owners, their friends, partners and crews who have done so much to make it so special.

“We have all been privileged to have been able to compete is so many welcoming venues, here now in Palma de Mallorca, and earlier in the season in Scarlino, Bonifacio, Alghero and Porto Cervo. Their contribution has been fantastic, as has the ongoing support of our partners Rolex, Porsche, Randstad, Henri Lloyd and Banor. Together we have made it happen.”

The post ClubSwan One Design Worlds Play Out in Palma appeared first on Sailing World.

Seven to two—that is the final outcome of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona following a decisive win for Emirates Team New Zealand, now third time defenders and supreme masters of the AC75 America’s Cup class of their design. While INEOS Britannia had high hopes and no lack of effort in trying, the Auld Mug remains firmly in the hands of Team New Zealand, now awaiting the next challenger and the next chapter of its dynasty.

On a warm and sunny afternoon on October 19, the New Zealand sailing powerhouse delivered its final and convincing blow to the British Challenger of Record on the sixth and final day of racing, stirring a black swarm of New Zealand fans into a frenzy along Barcelona’s waterfront. There were two races scheduled, but the Kiwis only needed one, and it was theirs from the first cross onward.

Scripted to perfection for a Saturday final race, the wind forecast was questionable with the remnants of the previous day’s northerly fighting the arrival of the sea breeze. At the morning race briefing, race officer Iain Murray alluded to the potential of a hard 3:30 cut off, but with only a slight delay, the sea breeze found its footing to the delight of crowds that worked their way to vantage points along Barcelona’s waterfront. To borrow a oft-heard phrase of Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman Nathan Outteridge it was, “all good.”

Going into today’s do-or-die race, the British knew their fate was not with better boat speed, but rather a bare-knuckle approach to the pre-start.

And with 8 knots of breeze, Emirates Team New Zealand entered on port with INEOS on starboard entry going immediately on the offensive, chasing the Kiwis to the bottom of the starting box. New Zealand was ready for it and knew a jibe and tack would set them up for INEOS’s next move.

The British came at the New Zealanders once again, but with the maneuverability that has been the hallmark of their series, the Kiwis tacked and then went right back at them. After a Kiwi push to the line, INEOS was just ahead off the start, but with a slight right the New Zealanders promptly tacked and went for a bigger piece of the shift.

The Kiwis on Taihoro had the first cross by 24 meters, and while the chase was on and close at times over the six-leg, 26-minute race INEOS had no passing lanes. It was wire to wire again for Team New Zealand.

“It’s a surreal feeling, to know we’ve won it again, and seeing the crowd and the cheering,” Burling said after racing. “Our whole team is incredibly competitive and we get along and get the best out of one another—everyone pushing forward and that showed on the racecourse.”

The push to seven started with four straight wins early in the series before the Kiwis stumbled on the fourth day of the regatta with two surprise losses. The team’s regroup from those missteps, Burling said, was his personal highlight of the Barcelona experience—he was happy to silence the critics and get the job done with authority.

Much will be debated and analyzed once the champagne has been sprayed and the sting of the loss fades for the British outfit, but if there’s one undeniable fact of this regatta—Team New Zealand’s Taihoro was the fastest boat of the third-generation AC75s.

Emirates Team New Zealand’s Dan Bernasconi, architect of the rule that produced the most technical sailing craft of a generation says there’s still more to come with the big foilers, whenever that may be.

“With the performance of these boats you’re fighting over 10ths or hundreds of knots, but the way you can sail them can make a huge, huge difference,” Bernasconi said about the team’s developments through the Barcelona series that began back in August. “We’ve made real steps forward between the round robins and the final: how to minimize the losses in tacks and jibes, roundups, bear-aways, what you do in situations where the winds in a different direction for the waves, how you trim the sails, high modes, low modes, and positioning on the racecourse.”

Earlier in the series Burling had said they’d been modifying how they use the power team’s input and while Bernasconi declined to share specifics, he said, “there are a lot of decisions about where we direct the power. There’s a very tight limit of power to use, and you’ve got about 20 functions controlling the sails. There’s a lot of complex logic there, and we’ve been working on that way all the way through. It’s one of the few things you can change right until the end of the Cup, as to how you direct that power.”

Was maneuverability a real strength of the platform? “It’s been a massive learning curve for all teams where being able to minimize losses in tacks and jibes. I think we’ve seen these boats match raced very hard, and if you can save 5 meters in every tack compared to the other guys, that makes a massive difference.”

While much lip service had been given to the similarities of the boats in terms of all-around performance, Bernasconi—understandably—was perfectly happy with the package that got the job done in a wide range of conditions, but especially in the America’s Cup matches themselves.

“I think we had a slight edge in the conditions that we raced in,” Bernasconi said. “I think the two boats did target slightly different conditions. If every day had been in 18 to 20 knots of breeze would the results have been the same? I don’t know. You’ve got to pick your design and you have to put the target somewhere. Of course, we knew it could be 18 to 20, and we designed a boat which wouldn’t be bad in those conditions, but we wanted to be absolutely the fastest boat out there in 8 to 12.”

While the tradition of the America’s Cup is to have the next Challenger of Record step forward as soon as the Match is won, there were no such formal proceedings made known. Instead, the parade of yachts and small craft that had lined the racecourse to witness Team New Zealand’s historic third win on the water followed them into Port Vell, for the speeches, the champagne and the party over Kiwi Corner that will no doubt last until the sun rises again over Barcelona.

Whether the next Cup match remains in Spain or moves to the Middle East, as some rumors claim, is unknown, but one thing for certain is INEOS is not going anywhere, or at least not Ben Ainslie, who said, “See you next time.”

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