Yacht Racing World Newsletter – Issue 25
March 21
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Ranger rolls out as Saint Barth's J Class winner
The combination of an enthusiastic owner who is brand new to sailboat racing and a vastly experienced crew who gelled together perfectly at their first ever J Class Yacht regatta proved a winning combination as Ranger clinched the Saint Barth's Bucket J Class title today after the round the island contest was abandoned mid-way through.
Under America's Cup winning skipper-helm Ed Baird, who himself was steering a J Class yacht regatta for the first time, Ranger finished one point clear of Hanuman and Velsheda after four races were sailed.
It is Ranger's best J Class regatta finish since 2011 when under her original owner and team - they won in Newport although in 2016 the boat finished second at Saint Barth's on countback to Hanuman.
This replica Ranger was built out of steel in Denmark 2002-3 as the first of the 'replica' J's, constructed to the original Starling Burgess and Olin Stephens lines of Harold Vanderbilt's 'Super J' which won the 1937 America's Cup 4-0 against Endeavour 2.
With the boat more than a year in refit, the new owner has had to wait nearly two further years to be able to compete in his first race. At 28.6m Ranger is the longest on the waterline of the trio racing here compared to 27.7m for Velsheda and 26.8m for Hanuman and even after losing six tonnes in refit is the heaviest at 196 tonnes compared to Velsheda's 180 and 172 tonnes for Hanuman.
After racing for over an hour today on a 25-mile anticlockwise course round the Saint Barth's islands, the decision was taken to abandon the contest because of the wind and sea conditions which were expected to deteriorate. It was a decision which denied today's race leader Hanuman their chance to atone for earlier, costly misdemeanours and repeat their title success here of 2016 and 2017 but which secured the regatta win for the quietly contented Ranger debutant team who missed Race 2 with a winch failure.
"This win is about three years of hard work, long days and nights and a very happy owner," smiled Greg Sloat, the Ranger project manager. "Between COVID and everything else we wondered at times if we would ever get here and go racing. We are very happy.
“This win more than anything is down to persistence. With us having the lowest rating we just have to stick in every day and see how it goes. We had very, very little crew issues. Our sets were good, our drops were good but with one winch down. And we had three days training here before the event sailing with the full team. So, it really is a big deal to have come this far this quick."
Yacht Racing Life – SailGP: Teams train on San Francisco Bay ahead of Season 2 finale
With exactly one week to go until the SailGP Season 2 Champion is crowned, teams took to the iconic San Francisco Bay for the first time in preparation for the Grand Final, March 26-27.
First to hit the bay was the home team, with Jimmy Spithill returning to the scene of his incredible comeback in the America’s Cup in 2013 for the first time. With his place in the Championship Final Race guaranteed, Spithill and his U.S. team wasted no time getting to grips with the F50 and the conditions.
Spithill said: “It was great to be back sailing on the bay. There’s a heap of history here and San Francisco Bay really is one of the best racing venues in the world so it was good to finally get out there on the F50.
“The event’s almost sold out and I can’t wait to see that huge turnout on the weekend. It’s just great to see how much interest there’s been, it’s going to be a massive event in front of our home crowd and I am really looking forward to it. We are the underdogs, but that’s not a bad thing in San Francisco.”
Also guaranteed a place in the final is the overall season leaders and defending champions Australia, driven by Tom Slingsby, who also made their debut on the bay today.
Slingsby said: “It was really beautiful conditions out there today. We had a great session, our boat handling was good and we were practicing a few moves for this weekend. The level was high on the water and it was tough to gain advantage over our rivals in speed. The U.S. team looked strong but we were certainly in the mix so it bodes well for the Grand Final.
The final place in the championship race is undecided although Nathan Outteridge’s Japan team is the front-runner to take the final spot.
All eight national teams will be training this week, representing the U.S., Australia, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand and Spain.
Shirley Robertson’s Sailing Podcast – Jason Carrington
Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast this month features one of the most respected names in boat building, as Jason Carrington takes to the mic to discuss his phenomenal career in the sport. Carrington has been at the forefront of high performance boat building for several decades, but as his chat with Robertson reveals, his achievements in the boat shed are more than matched by an impressive career offshore.
In this two part edition, Carrington reveals how a childhood spent on the water in Lymington (UK) led to an apprenticeship at the groundbreaking Green Marine, under the tutelage of the pioneering Bill Green himself.
It wasn't long before he was impressing as a bowman, and was soon setting off on his first Whitbread attempt on the 1993/94 "Fortuna" campaign with British Whitbread stalwart Lawrie Smith.
It was the first of four Whitbred / Volvo campaigns for Carrington, his second seeing him again take on the Round the World race with Smith onboard Silk Cut.
The Yacht Racing Podcast – Matt Gotrel
Justin Chisholm speaks to British America’s Cup sailor and Olympic gold medalist rower, Matt Gotrel, who has just re-signed as a member of the powerhouse grinding team for the British Challenger of Record at AC37 – Ben Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia.
Gotrel comes from a sailing family and began his career crewing in dinghies on lakes in the south of England. He quickly progressed through the 29er class and into the 49er to join the British Olympic Sailing Team before putting his sailing on hold to go to university
That’s where he was lured into the world of competitive rowing – a sport in which he worked his way up to Olympic selection and won the gold in the Men’s 8 at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
But Gotrel wasn’t done with sailing yet and joined Ineos Britannia for the British syndicate’s 36th America’s Cup campaign. Now he is back for another try at winning sailing’s oldest and most prestigious trophy.
Afloat – New pastures for Marcus Hutchinson
Marcus Hutchinson of Howth and Kinsale is leaving France's TR Racing, where he was team manager for Thomas Ruyant during the last Vendée Globe campaign.
Hutchinson took on the role in January 2018 and is credited by solo skipper Ruyant as being one of the linchpins of the team's performance.
As regular Afloat readers will know, the Hutchinson-managed Vendee Globe-entered IMOCA 60 provided major publicity for the not-for-profit social organisation LinkedOut.
Of his TR departure, Hutchinson said (in a post translated from French) "We started from scratch in January 2018. We didn't even have a screwdriver in our name when Thomas and Laurent Bourguès asked me to join them," “Thomas had a very clear vision and great motivation to set up a successful project off the beaten track. Together, in "start-up" mode, we have put together a great team and we have built a beautiful boat with the support of Advens.
“We did quite well in sporting terms with fine podiums, successful competitions and a landslide victory in the Transat Jacques Vabre. We can also be proud to have generated enormous media value around our project, directly broadcast to a very important societal cause, and all this in a difficult context linked to the health crisis.
“I would like to thank Thomas and his entourage for giving me this opportunity, for having confidence in my choices and for having shared this adventure with so much class. I wish the TR Racing team all the best for the future. I know they will continue to do great things on the water and on land. Thanks again and keep doing better and better".
Fears in Cork as deadline looms for Irish bid to host 2024 America's Cup
The clock is ticking on Ireland’s hopes of hosting the 2024 America’s Cup race with just 13 days left for the Government to decide if the country should bid for it – writes Eoin English.
Race organisers are due to announce their preferred venue on March 31, with Jeddah and Malaga already locked into the bidding process.
The Department of Tourism, which has been conducting due diligence for several months on a possible Irish bid focused on Cork Harbour, remains tightlipped on the process.
Minister Catherine Martin’s department did not answer a list of specific questions from the Irish Examiner about what work or reports it has commissioned or received as part of the due diligence process, and about whether it will have made a recommendation to government about a possible Irish bid before the March 31 deadline.
Members of the New Zealand team celebrating a previous win hoisting 'the Auld Mug', the America's Cup trophy, in Auckland, New Zealand. Picture: Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty
Members of the New Zealand team celebrating a previous win hoisting 'the Auld Mug', the America's Cup trophy, in Auckland, New Zealand. Picture: Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty
It instead issued a two-line statement, stating: “The department has been engaged in an assessment aimed at evaluating the potential of this event and whether or not Ireland should move forward in the host venue bid process. This process will inform any possible decision on whether or not to recommend the hosting of this event to government.”
Government sources said the minister is acutely aware of the timeline but they refused to be drawn further.
NZ Herald – America's Cup: The inside story of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke's rise to greatness
Blair Tuke still remembers the first time he saw his name etched on the inside of a beer bottle cap.
A brewing company puts sports trivia questions on their bottle caps and, in this instance, asked which athletes won New Zealand's 100th Olympic medal.
That honour fell to Peter Burling and Tuke with their silver in the 49er at the 2012 London Games, a result which announced their arrival to the wider New Zealand public. It's fair to say, 10 years on, they are the answers to an abundance of trivia questions.
In Olympic class sailing alone, they accumulated six world 49er titles together, three Olympic medals and countless other continental, World Cup and national titles. They were also named World Sailors of the Year – Burling also picked up the gong in 2017 – and were the most dominant combination in modern Olympic sailing.
We might never see anything like that sort of pre-eminence again, and certainly won't see it from Burling and Tuke in a 49er again in the near future.
The pair announced recently they had re-signed with Team New Zealand for the next America's Cup. The timing of that Cup defence, together with their ongoing commitments with the New Zealand SailGP Team (they're sailors and joint CEOs) and their environmental charity Live Ocean, makes it impossible for them to chase a fourth medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. They haven't officially retired from 49er sailing, saying "never say never", but the chances are exiguous.
"Those things mean we really have our hands full again and we just didn't feel we could give the Olympics the time and energy they deserve or require," Tuke told the Yachting New Zealand podcast, Broad Reach Radio. "It was a pretty tough decision when it's been such a big part of your life but we have some awesome memories to reflect on and you never know where it will go in the future. We're definitely keeping our options open but we're firmly in place with Team New Zealand and SailGP over the next couple of years."
Yacht Racing Podcast: Laurence Mead – Cowes Week regatta director
Justin Chisholm’s guest is British sailor Laurence Mead – the regatta director at the world’s oldest and largest regatta week: the annual UK spectacular that is Cowes Week.
The first Cowes Week regatta was back in 1826 and it now takes place every year on The Solent – that narrow tidal waterway between the English south coast and the nearby Isle of Wight.
Laurence – who took over at Cowes Week in 2018 – is an accomplished sailor in his own right, having competed internationally in the Etchells class and on World Match Racing Tour, as well as at the Admiral’s Cup and in the Sydney Hobart.
During the interview the pair discuss the unique experience of competing at Cowes Week and Laurence gives a glimpse behind the scenes of what goes into running an annual week of racing for around 600 boats and 5000 sailors.
America’s Cup – AC75 Class Rule and the AC Technical Regulations published
The Defender and Challenger of Record are pleased to announce the official publication of the AC75 Class Rule and the AC Technical Regulations today.
These documents will govern the technical aspects of the 37th America’s Cup, and define the specific parameters to which every competing AC75 yacht must be built. The development of these rules has been a collaboration between the design teams of Emirates Team New Zealand and INEOS Britannia, the two teams representing the Defender and Challenger of Record for the event.
A draft of both documents was first released in November 2021, and since then the rule writers have been working through several rounds of feedback received from all challengers that have entered the Cup. Today’s publication marks the official release of the rules, effectively starting the clock for the design race that will end on the water when the competitors’ AC75s face each other in the Challenger Selection Series and ultimately the America’s Cup Match.
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