Hull wins at Hammo...America's Cup developments ... More Olympic News
by . on 30 Aug 2016
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie on their way to winning the Silver medal - 2016 Sailing Olympics Richard Gladwell
www.photosport.co.nz
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for August 31, 2016
While our focus has been on matters Olympic for the past three weeks or so, there has been plenty happening in other areas of sailing.
This edition of Sail-World.com is something of a catch-up.
On the America's Cup scene, there has been no decision announced from the Arbitration Panel on the issue of the removal of the Qualifiers from New Zealand.
Ahead of the Decision being announced, it has been confirmed that Harvey Schiller, the Commissioner for the America's Cup will be 'stepping down' as of today.
It was Brig. General Schiller (a decorated Vietnam combat pilot), who counter-signed the Qualifiers Agreement signed by Emirates team NZ for the hosting of the Qualifiers and published in part by the Kiwi team a few days after it was canceled by America's Cup Events Authority whose CEO is Sir Russell Coutts.
It was Gen. Schiller who told The Associated Press in late March 2015 the biggest was Team New Zealand 'bouncing back and forth on support' for the unprecedented mid-course downsizing. That was a reference to the change from the AC62 to the AC50, nine months after entries opened and which was responsible for the exit of Italian Luna Rossa, a position supported in social media by ETNZ and which triggered ACEA's action a few hours later.
It was Gen. Schiller who on his Facebook page on August 20 posted the one-liner 'if you tell the truth, you'll remember what you said.'
Some have taken that as a reference to triggering his departure from ACEA, the Arbitration Panel Hearing, and outcomes. But as we all know with the America's Cup, nothing is what it seems and we shall just have to wait until the outcome of the Hearing is known before passing judgment.
Meanwhile on the positive front with the America's Cup, the construction of the Oracle Team USA AC50 is well advanced at Core Builders Composites. Emirates Team NZ's AC50 was a later start at Southern Spars and will be launched in NZ before being shipped to Bermuda. No doubt the team will be looking to the Arbitration Panel restoring the Qualifiers to New Zealand, which will make life logistically simpler. Softbank Team Japan is also believed to be having their AC50 built in New Zealand - so a switch in Qualifier venue would really affect only three European teams.
In Bermuda, both Softbank Team Japan and Oracle Team USA have announced that they have mastered the foiling tack in their AC45 Surrogates. This milestone was apparently achieved in April and has now been announced/confirmed some four months later - underlining the complete lack of media attention to the nuances of the Cup build-up in Bermuda. In San Francisco, a foiling tack would have been on the sailing fans' screens a day or two of it happening, thanks to the likes of John Navas and others. In Auckland, it might have taken a little longer - maybe a week. But four months?
The release of these technical nuances and developments, external to the team's PR departments, are what helps build the intrigue in an upcoming America's Cup contest, and are lacking from the current Cup due to the remoteness of the venue. Other events are fast stepping up to the mark to fill this vacuum created by what was the world's premier sailing regatta.
Staying with foiling, Simon Hull and the Frank Racing Team (formerly TeamVodafoneSailing) have taken the team's GC32 foiling catamaran to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week and won the Australian Multihull Championship which was on the line at the regatta. The freighting of the GC32, plus support boat inside a 40ft container underlines the transport simplicity of the new breed of high performance one design racers for international competition and regattas.
Hamilton Island RW also saw two supermaxis go head to head - the veteran Wild Oats XI and the new Scallywag (formerly the rebuilt Ragamuffin). Scallywag after some upgrades and effecting some basic repairs to her canting keel following a terrain closure in the Southport race, put up an excellent showing against the Sydney Hobart champion.
Karl Kwok's Beau Geste, skippered by New Zealand's Gavin Brady was an easy winner of Division 1 on IRC against Australia's top offshore racers.
The two teams helped to win the Southern Cross Cup for New Zealand.
We have full coverage in this edition.
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron have also announced an addition to their highly successful Youth Program. At a time when most yacht clubs around the world think they are doing really well getting a fleet of match racing boats together for a youth training program, RNZYS are on their third generation of match racers - with the Elliott 7 fleet.
Now the Nacra 20 is being added to train crews in foiling multihull technology and techniques - now essential for America's Cup and the match racing and professional sailing circuits. While New Zealand seems to have enjoyed a jump on the rest of the world, placing first and second in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup held in 2013, it would seem likely that this skills and breadth gap can only increase in the coming years. Plus it is a great option for young sailors looking for a professional sailing career without the cost of an Olympic campaign.
We continue with some Olympic wrap up stories including a review from the Women's 470 team of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie on their Silver medal win - which is one of the great comeback stories of New Zealand sailing. We also have a gallery of images of the sailors in the Zhik team who won 17 of the 30 medals on offer in the 2016 Sailing Olympics, plus a Bronze won by a member of the Australian kayaking team competing in Rio de Janeiro. It is a picture story of dominance - remembering that these sailors are wearing Zhik by choice - and their teams - Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand were the top three teams in the regatta - depending on how they scored the regatta. Over 50% of the medals were won by teams from three countries, and the remaining 13 medals were shared by 63 countries.
Finally a great result through this morning for the New Zealand Etchells fleet with Andrew Wills , Anatole Masfen and Matthew Kelway winning the two day Open European Championships sailed at Cowes, Isle of Wight from a 50 boat fleet. The World Championship starts next Monday (local time) and the Kiwis look set for another great result.
Follow all the racing and developments in major and local events on www.sail-world.com, scroll to the bottom of the site, select New Zealand, and get all the latest news and updates from the sailing world.
Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
sailworldnzl@gmail.com
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