Naturally I got some questions regarding our sail inventory; sails, materials, crossovers etc. But I wanted to do a couple of races before I wrote an article. In the first part I’ll focus on the upwind sails, and then I’ll cower our downwind inventory in a separat piece.
We choose to go for the One Design sails for main and jibs. North CSD (Class Sail Development) have spent lots of time and effort on the designs, and have experience with the J/111, at least in the US. We did the same choice on the J/109 and have been very happy with what we got, so why change a winning formula.
When it comes to material, we were one of the first boats in Scandinavia to go with 3Di in 2010, and we made the same decision again. We’ve raced them hard for two seasons and they show almost no signs of wear and tear (even in the hands of amateurs) and they’re still very fast. Two weeks ago (above) we won the Marstrand Big Boat Race with the J/109 and “old” sails.
-Det finns inga alternativ. Man måste fortsätta. Att lägga sig ner och dö eller hoppa över bord är töntigt.
Stig Lundvall har nu kommit tillbaka till Sverige och landbacken efter sjödramat på andra sidan jorden. Det var efter ett masthaveri som den 66-årige ensamseglaren blev drivande till havs.
Masthaveriet inträffade under en storm i januari. Stig berättar att han först inte märkte att masten hade brutits eftersom ovädret tvingat honom att ta skydd i segelbåtens ruff.
-Vågor slog mot skrovet och jag hörde inte att masten bröts.
Dagar, blev till veckor, som blev månader. Tiden gick utan att någon upptäckte honom. När han avfyrade sin sista nödraket sågs den av ett fartyg i närheten. Då avfyrade Stig den sista nödraket han hade ombord.
Fartygets befäl uppfattade att något var snett, varpå de bytte kurs för att plocka upp Stig. Trots det långvariga dramat mitt ute på havet säger Stig att han aldrig tappade hoppet eller var orolig. Han menar att oro leder till negativa tankar.
Den erfarne seglaren Stig Lundvall utgick ifrån brittiska Falmouth i juli förra året för att via Sydafrika ta sig till Australien, när olyckan inträffade utanför Sydafrika. Eftersom vännerna inte kunde få tag på honom blev han efterlyst av Interpol.
Efter att Stig togs om hand av besättningen på det grekiska fartyget Proteus meddelade de den sydafrikanska sjöräddningen att den förliste skepparen var omhändertagen och vid god hälsa, men fullständigt utmattad.
Double Damned är ett festligt race. Och det brukar bli bra underhållning. Alla vet hur filmen kommer att sluta!
Onboard Monster Express – Express 27 – Double Damned Race 8/6/11. Cascade Locks OR to The Dalles OR – 41 miles upriver, downwind. Top speed: 17.2 kts. Windspeeds: 30kts ++ Sailing between Dog Mountain and Hood River.
With a final bullet scored in the ninth and final race, Felix Riedl Consulting’s TP52 Aquila, led by skipper Christian Bayer, has won Class A of the ORC Mediterranean Championship. The team from Austria traded wins all week with the other podium finishers, Peter Mosny’s Slovakian team on the J/V 42 Quebramar in second, and Jani Lehti’s Finnish team on their Grand Soleil 42R Audi in third. And in today’s perfect 8-10 knots Aquila won by the highest margin of the week: over 4 minutes in corrected time.
And Jiri Liska’s Czech team on the M37 Escandalo had enough points to stay home and not do the final race, yet they still went out to score yet another win to smash the competition in Class B.
Their win today was by an astonishing margin of nearly two minutes, a feat the Escandalo team had been achieving nearly all week.
Runner-up in the class was Robert Manzoni’s Italian team on Dieci x Dieci, and in third was Richard Shultz’s Slovak team on his First 40.7 Sixtynine.
Cres has once again proven to be a great place to race: in five days of competition, all nine races planned were run, beginning with a strong wind, then fading into medium and light air conditions, providing a wide variety suitable for a championship event.
The race committee also got high marks from the sailors and the jury – only one protest hearing was needed – and the event this year provided live tracking from the race course and daily video shows, including some aerial coverage. The sailor’s satisfaction on leaving Cres is the greatest reward for the organizers, who have already started preparations for the 15th anniversary Cres Sailing Week, a prelude to the 2013 ORCi World Championship to be held in Ancona over 21-29 June 2013.
Stort grattis till Robin Verhoef och John van der Starre som har blivit uttagna i Team Benelux inför årets Commodores’ Cup. Då kanske man inte skall skämmas över att de slog oss i Spi Ouest…
Team Benelux: The Cream of Belgium and the Netherlands
After they fielded three teams in pre-global economic meltdown 2008, but were absent two years ago, the Netherlands returns to the Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup this July with Team Benelux, comprising two Dutch boats and one from Belgium.
While this might sound like a compromise team, this is anything but the case. All are top competitors in their home waters and regularly race aboard and all three, for example, participated in the Rolex Fastnet Race last year.
The Benelux big boat will be Harmen Jan de Graaf’s latest Baraka GP, a Ker 40. This brings the tally of Ker 40s competing in Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup up to four, with Keronimo and Magnum III in GBR Red and White respectively and the Hong Kong team’s Peninsula Signal 8.
Baraka GP will be joined by Robin Verhoef’s J/111, Xcentric Ripper, and from Belgium, François Goubau’s First 47.7, Moana.
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Robin Verhoef acquired his J/111 Xcentric Ripper last July and since then has campaigned it extensively. He and John van der Starre entered the Rolex Fastnet Race last year finishing third in the two-handed class. This year they have competed in SPI Ouest and the North Sea Race.
“It is a great boat with a lot of potential,” says van der Starre of their J/111. “It is a short period we have had the boat, but we have a very good feeling about it.”
For the Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup they are re-extending their bowsprit to its full length (previously reduced to remain within IRC Two in Holland). “We are going maximum length and maximum speed, because, in the Solent, it is very important that downwind you have all the power you can get,” says van der Starre.
As to their chances in the big event, van der Starre says the Benelux team is hoping for a top three result. “We are all very keen and motivated. We are not coming to be in last place. We are all very experienced sailors and we always get top places – we do and Baraka and Moana is the best boat from Belgium. But I realise the competition is tough. I hope we can say we had a tough fight and we did the best we could do and we finished in the best place we could.”
Sailing on Xcentric Ripper will be Dutch yacht racing legend Bouwe Bekking, who is also Captain of the Benelux team. Having competed in three Commodores’ Cups previously and in countless Admiral’s Cups, Bekking is extremely familiar with the complex waters of the Solent and the Channel, but is also well versed in team events and its common flaws.
