Sail-World New Zealand- February 21, 2014 - Cats to the fore

by . on 20 Feb 2014 Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand newsletter for February 20, 2014

By any measure Emirates Team New Zealand sailor dominated the Int A-Class Catamaran World Championships, taking four of the top five places. Olympic Silver Medalist and former World Champion, Andrew Landenberger (AUS) intervened, finishing fourth breaking a clean sweep for the Emirates backed team.

Glenn Ashby (AUS) won his eight world title, with Blair Tuke (NZL) second and Peter Burling (NZL, third. Emirates Team NZ Tactician Ray Davies (NZL) was fifth, just ahead of 2012 Olymopic Gold Medalist Nathan Outteridge (AUS),

Of the top six overall, three were Australians and three were New Zealanders.

Only one of that group, Emirates Team NZ's Ray Davies, did not have an Olympic medal. In fact in that group there were four Silver Medalists and one Gold medalist - Nathan Outteridge who placed sixth, and won the final race.

Medal podium aside, it was a great regatta, largely unreported, and bought foiling sailing to new levels in a singlehanded class. The views were always spectacular, and lifted the A-Class to the top of the photogenic class.

Quite were it goes to from here remains to be seen - was the 2014 Worlds an oddity - triggered by the the presence of a high profile Americas Cup team. Or is it more - the start of a new dire in the class - and an entry level for potential America's Cup sailors to show their skills in a class which has all the key characteristics of and AC72 or its 2017 relation.

Very simply, the A-Class now provides a great stage on which the America'as Cup wannabe's can perform.

International interest in the even was high with Sail-World receiving several requests for images to be used at boat shows and the like.

In this edition we complete the wrap up of the A-Class Worlds, and have added a lot of new images to the reports from the final days, plus video for the last three days from ARG Marine Media.

We had great feedback on the series of Kaenon Interviews we ran with The Kaenon Team at the A-class Worlds - we have interviews with Glenn Ashby, Peter Burling, Blair Tuke, Ray Davies, featuring two, three or the whole four on most race days.

At the end of the regatta, we spoke with former A-Class World Champion, Pete Melvin (USA) who is also with the Kaenon Team, but is one of the lead designers in the America's Cup, having worked for Oracle in its various teams, and was with Emirates Team NZ in the 34th America's Cup.

Of late, Melvin has been heavily involved in the development of the class rule for the boat to be sailed in the next America's Cup. in this long video interview (17 minutes) he outlines what we can expect to see in the new boat and relates that back to the AC72 with which everyone is more familiar.

Kaenon is fast becoming the sunglass of choice for many sailors at the top end of their sport, including both New Zealand's medal winning crew in the 2012 Olympics, who are also current World Champions, Kaenons were very prominently worn on Emirates Team NZ's AC72. But you can see for yourself by checking for the distinctive Kaenon logos or words when you next see a close up shot of a top sailor.

Of course their website www.kaenon.com is very well done and features some great action sport videos - all very professionally produced. Well worth a browse.

We are pleased to welcome on board two new advertisers.

Zhik are well known to all who follow and participate in dinghy sailing and is the sailing clothing of choice of most top sailors, and has been so for many years.

Not widely know is the fact that Zhik were behind the development and production of the clothing for Emirates Team NZ in the last America's Cup, even though it was not carrying the Zhik logo, as it usually does in a very prominent way.

The gear is excellent, evidenced by how many top sailors wear it.

At Sail-World I made the switch to Zhik, last November, and the difference is noticeable - across not just wet weather gear but also what is worn underneath. The shoes, bags and accessories are work well. Zhik is a great clothing system, and from the conversations with various designers and others in the company their dedication to innovation and improvement is just outstanding.

If you click on one of their ads and visit Zhik.com you can see some of the thinking that goes into the product development and testing process to produce the clothing for the stars of sailing.

Taking this relationship further, Yachting New Zealand have signed a clothing agreement with Zhik - cementing in a relation which existed anyway, by sailor choice. We have re-run the story in this edition of Sail-World.com

We are also pleased to have a new company and product, Wilsecure. As the the name suggests they will secure anything in your boat, vehicle, caravan or garage.

The system developed by a New Zealander is ridiculously simple in its concept but very smart in its ease of operation.

Wilsecure is a racking system designed to hold tanks and containers of all sizes in dimension in one place ready for use.

So it can be used to hold fire extinguishers, dive bottles, round and round or square plastic containers, such as flare containers, fuel tanks, medical kits or just large containers to hold all manner of gear.

The beauty of the Wilsecure system is that it creates space in your boat or vehicle, and at the same time gives you the ability to have items which you need quickly, close to hand.

The other key feature, unlike metal brackets commonly used to hold fire extinguishers and the like is that being webbing the system tucks away when not in use and won't injure or damage people or items as they brush against the old style steel brackets.

Of course for fishing and trailer boats the system is item, as all the gear used on a trip can be secure in the boat, without having to be transferred to an from your car boot, at the start and end of the day. For the trip home Wilsecure easily and quickly holds all the containers and gear in place - stopping them from flying around and damaging themselves or other gear and people.

Wilsecure is available online sales only, details are in the story in this edition of Sail-World.com, you can access their site by clicking on the ad button in this newsletter or on www.sail-world.com and download the brochure to make your order based on the type size and number of brackets you need. You also deal direct with the manufacturer, eliminating retail margins. Any number of items can be held on a single bracket (adjusted for length) and you can either cut the straps to support just a specific item, or leave them long for multi-use in that spot.

Emirates Team NZ have ventured back onto the international racing circuits and are currently competing in the Extreme sailing series in Singapore. Sail-World's Asian editor is in Singapore for the regatta, and we have the first report from him in this edition, along with some great photos, plus the usual team reports and coverage. There are some top sailors and teams at the event, with four or maybe five America's Challengers coming from these ranks.

Emirates Team NZ are lying second overall after two days, with Alinghi leading the regatta by 21pts. Stay tuned to www.sail-world.com for daily updates.

Also in this edition is news that Oracle Team USA will venture south to train with Team Australia in the AC45's - as one wit commented, 'it will be good to see Oracle competing in their 'home waters'.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

sailworldnzl@gmail.com

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