Giacomo win rounds out great year for New Zealand Sailing

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 1 Jan 2017 The Volvo 70 Giacomo's overall win in the 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race rounded out a very good year for New Zealand sailing.

It was the first major trophy win in the event for a New Zealand yacht for 36 years - with the Peter Blake skippered Lion New Zealand being the last winner of the Tattersall's Trophy, (for overall winner) - the Whitbread racer also won line honours in the 1980 Sydney Hobart.

Giacomo's win was just the fourth by a New Zealand yacht in the history of the event and capped off a year of excellent performances by New Zealand sailors. And for the NZ Marine industry, too, with the first seven boats home all carrying New Zealand made spars - the first six by Southern Spars, and the radical CQS carrying Hall Spars.

In February the 18ft skiff, Yamaha came within an ace of winning the JJ Giltinan Trophy in Sydney. Sailed by David McDiarmid, Matthew Steven, Bradley Collins, the NZ 18ft Skiff champion was a single point astern of the winner Smeg sailing on her home waters of Sydney Harbour.

Then in July, McDiarmid and friends won the 18ft Skiff Worlds in Fiji and the Mark Foy Trophy. Yamaha also won the inaugural Triple Crown Trophy after finishing second in the JJ Giltinan in February and the Anzac Regatta in April.

In February, Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox, along with Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie won two silver medals at the 2016 470 Mens and Womens World Championships in San Isidro, Argentina. The performance of Snow-Hansen and Willcox was easily their best to date in the 2016 Olympic build-up and was sufficient to get them Olympic selection. In the Olympic regatta itself, they finished 10th overall, made the Medal Race, and scored a couple of creditable second places along the way.

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie also had a very good regatta in Argentina despite a lot of issues on the course with floating weed.

In the Olympic Regatta, Aleh and Powrie got caught on the wrong side of two incidents which resulted in the defending Olympic Champions scoring two effective DSQ's making an Olympic title defense impossible - for a lesser crew. A Silver Medal in those circumstances was an outstanding result and one which didn't seem conceivable to anyone but Aleh and Powrie, with two days left in the Olympic Regatta.

Staying with the 2016 Olympic Regatta, Peter Burling, and Blair Tuke were the clear standouts for New Zealand - having dominated the class since their Silver medal win in 2012 in Weymouth. Their awarding of the MNZM in the New Year's Honours list announced yesterday is well deserved.

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech also rose to the Rio Olympic occasion turning in a very spirited Medal race performance to come within an ace of winning the Gold Medal in the 49erFX class. As we all know, the three Medals in the inaugrual Women's Skiff event were all determined in the Medal Race - the only class where this happened in Rio de Janeiro.

Sam Meech was a surprise packet in the Mens Laser. The Mens singlehander is highly competitive and winning an Olympic medal is a significant achievement, in a class in which most medalists are not being able to reach the podium until their second Olympics. A consistent last two days of the regatta coupled with a win on the penultimate day was sufficient to get Meech into serious Medal contention ahead of the double points scoring medal race, where he finished fourth - but enough to keep Brazilian sailing superstar, Robert Scheidt off the medal podium.

One of the most outstanding Kiwi performances in Rio came from Gemma Jones in the Nacra 17, crewed by Jason Saunders.

This was the first Olympics for the Nacra 17, and the first ever for a mixed gender event in the Olympics. For Gemma Jones (22) it was her first Olympics, and she was the only female helm in the event to make the ten boat cut for the Medal race - which they won in fine style.

But for a soft end to their regatta, Jones and Saunders would certainly have been on the medal podium at Rio. There's a ton of potential in this combination. Since the Olympics Gemma Jones has progressed to the GC32 circuit and looks to have a great future ahead of her in open competition.

As a regatta itself, the Rio Sailing Olympics was one of the best. There was a lack of over-organisation which has marred the last two Olympics meaning that security was strict but sane. If you wanted something done, you only had to ask, and generally, you could be accommodated.

There was a much more collaborative relationship between competitors, officials, and media than at previous Olympics. The much-publicised pollution issues were largely under control for the duration of the Olympics. For sure everything seemed to come together at the last minute - but that is the Brazilian way. World Sailing's team did a generally excellent job on the water, with maybe the only criticism being some decisions which did affect some teams early and mid-regatta.

Three weeks later the Paralympics followed, and what could be the last regatta for Sailing at this level.

New Zealand qualified in all three events, but only sent one crew - the three man Sonar, skippered by double America's Cup champion Rick Dodson, with Chris Sharp and Andrew May. After a tough, close regatta the Kiwis only lost the Bronze Medal only after the application of a tiebreaker.

Overall the Paralympics were an excellent regatta for Australian crews who won two Gold medals and one Silver from the three events contest.

In early July, New Zealand's Phil Robertson was crowned World Match Racing Champion after beating Taylor Canfield in an epic, high-wind duel in the Final of the World Match Racing Tour.

Robertson and his crew had a big payday of $33,000 for winning the worlds in Marstrand, Sweden, plus they lifted World Champion’s bonus of $1,000,000 - the largest prize money ever awarded in the sport of Sailing.

By pre-agreement, the World Champion's bonus was shared with the other crews to make sure they all had some starting funding to continue in the 2017 World Match Racing Tour in the M32 catamaran.

The final day of racing in Marstrand was spectacular television - without a lot of the gimmicks and technology that have become part and parcel of televised sailing in an endeavour to make a windless venue look exciting.

In Marstrand, there was breeze by the bucketful and some very daring sailing, plus some excellent camera positioning, direction and camera work.

All round, this event broke a lot of new ground and was a great watch - once you realised that this wasn't the match racing game of yesteryear.

The America's Cup, and in particular Emirates Team New Zealand's fortunes had a roller coaster ride over 2016.

On the positive side, the team launched their first and only AC45S, or test platform for the slightly larger AC50, in late June. They were almost the last team to launch - running neck and neck with Groupama Team France for the wooden spoon in that regard. Defender Oracle Team USA have employed three AC45S platforms, others two or three. Challenger Japan has one of Defender Oracle's in a joint test and development program.

The late-start to the Kiwi launch meant that with a little ingenuity ETNZ were able to launch a boat with near the same geometry as the AC50, and one which is believed to use AC50 size daggerboards, the same beam as an AC50 and the same wingsail as the AC50. They launched just after the shortest day DownUnder, and have packed in a solid testing program since.

In July, Emirates Team New Zealand lost their lead in the America's Cup World Series, dropping 20 points in the Portsmouth round - a margin they were not to regain and dropped carrying two points onto the America's Cup Qualifiers starting May 27, 2017, in Bermuda. There were regular unforced errors in the last rounds of the ACWS, which will need remedial action.

In a secret Hearing, before an anonymous Arbitration Panel, in a case that none of the teams are allowed to talk about, or even admit exists, Emirates Team New Zealand won their claim against Golden Gate Yacht Club's marketing and event organisation company, over the removal of the Qualifier Series from Auckland. Yet to be decided is the amount of financial compensation that will be paid along with other time remedies to try and rectify the disadvantage imposed on the New Zealand team by GGYC's actions.

Making retrospective rule changes, where some teams win, and others have a strategy destroyed, seems to be part and parcel of the current America's Cup and it would surprise few Cup pundits if further cases were placed before the AAP for adjudication.

World Sailing, the former International Sailing Federation, gave itself a few uppercuts over the past 12 months - including one king hit.

The exclusion of Israeli sailors from World Sailing events that had been ongoing for three years came to an end. World Sailing sought an undertaking from all venues for its sanctioned events that there would be no repeat of the political duck-shoving that had been exposed by the sailing media. Several venues were unable to give such an undertaking, and World Sailing showed that it was not prepared to compromise and re-allocated the events, even though that caused a lot of short term difficulty and angst.

The hoo-ha that had raged for two years at least over the water condition at the 2016 Olympic venue proved effective in rectifying an appalling situation. If you believed Carlo Croce, the World Sailing President, it was all a figment of the media and organisers had a cunning plan all along, which they couldn't communicate. Whatever was the trigger, the water quality improved dramatically at all the four water sports venues affected.

From a regatta perspective, the Rio Sailing Olympics were outstanding - a tribute to the Brazilians involved ashore and on the water, and the team from World Sailing flown in for the regatta. Other than constraints imposed by the International Olympic Committee there was very little that could be criticised about the regatta other than the location of one course located in the top end of Botafogo Bay, which inflicted 40degree wind shifts on competitors for the first day or maybe two. Thereafter a degree of sanity prevailed. Or, was it a straight out refusal by at least one PRO to take the racing as far out into the bay as he was allowed? But that fix-it attitude was typical of the event - as long as there was some flexibility in the organisation.

Television coverage was disappointing, with there being no live coverage from the courses in the Atlantic Ocean - but that was an IOC decision and not World Sailing's.

The rationale for the dropping of all Southern Hemisphere World Sailing Cup venues from the 2017-2020 calendar was a decision by World Sailing that few south of the Equator could understand.

A bumbling shuffle by the World body over options for the 2020 Olympic class selection, format, and events coupled with the non-selection of Sailing at the 2020 Paralympics did little to assure the sailing proletariat that their elected leaders were not in fact sleep-walking from crisis to crisis.

Against that backdrop, plus a noisy campaign by for ISAF President, Paul Henderson, it was no surprise that the usual two-term tenure by incumbent President Carlo Coce (ITA) was not supported at the World Sailing's General Meeting in November, and the way was open for a third candidate, Kim Andersen (DEN) to be elected President of the World body, along with some notable changes to the Board of World Sailing.

Whether there is actually any real change, remains to be seen. However, the Sailing electorate can at least feel they have done their bit.

The late staging, at just six months notice, of the Aon Youth Worlds held at Torbay in December, was a consequence of the Israeli political discrimination. Like the Olympics, four months earlier, the Torbay based regatta was an outstanding success. Joint organisers World Sailing and Yachting New Zealand were extremely lucky on several fronts. Firstly with the weather - when weeks of gales suddenly abated for the week of the Worlds.

A rapid building program for a new Clubhouse at Torbay was completed in the nick of time.

The new Nacra 15 multihull being used for the first time at a Youth Worlds, proved to be right up to the task and the sight of youth crews double-trapezing a gennaker rigged, semi-foiling multihull, was a highlight of the regatta.

This regatta was the nearest New Zealand will ever get to hosting a Sailing Olympics - with 380 competitors from 66 countries all sailing supplied boats. The only real shortcoming being the lack of coverage of the event by New Zealand media.

As most Kiwis were thinking of the sunshine at the beach, opening Christmas presents and reaching for the next cold drink, Conrad Colman was battling his way through the Southern Ocean in the Vendee Globe.

While the Kiwi sailor realised from the outset that he was unlikely to win the singlehanded around the world race, he has a strong chance of being the first sailor in the history of the event to complete the course without using any fossil fuels.

If he is successful in his endeavour to sail around the planet using only renewable energy sources, Colman will have laid down a significant marker for sailing - racers and cruisers - as sailing moves to become a completely green sport.

With late sponsor Foresight Energy signed, Conrad Colman's performance is one to watch - and once the race is completed the lessons from his campaign and boat should be applied to other round the world races.

No summary of 2016 would be complete without a note on the passing of Paul Elvstrom, the Great Dane, and winner of Gold Medals in four successive Olympics in two classes of single handers.

Many words have been written about his exploits - the winning of eleven world championships in eight different classes, including three in one year. His attitude ashore and afloat. His contribution to the development of what is now a global marine industry.

However, maybe Elvstrom's mana in the sailing community is best summed up in a note from Laser designer and one of Elvstrom's fellow competitors, Bruce Kirby.

'If only there were guys out there today who could win without a thought of naughty sailing and could be equally princely on shore.

'I'm told that during the past decade or so of his life, before the death of his wife Anne - who was a great hostess - the Kings and Princes of Scandinavia used to visit the big old Elvstrom house at Hellerup quite frequently.

'He didn't go to their Palaces - they came to him!'

Thanks for all your support and patience over 2016, which has been a very challenging year.

Have a great 2017!

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Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

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