| Sail-World New Zealand: December 5, 2012 |
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Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand newsletter for December 5, 2012 Yesterday, a new long distance offshore race was announced at the Royal Akarana YC. We carry the statement issued at the launch announcement by the Event promoters. Quite where this one is headed is really up to the owners and sailors. While it is all too easy to be gung-ho about a new yachting event, this is a race, double the length of the three classics of world offshore racing - the Sydney Hobart, the Fastnet and the Newport to Bermuda, all of which are around 600nm in distance. Additionally the race extends into some of the most inhospitable waters in the world, and going the wrong way into the prevailing winds, off a lee shore offering little in the way of shelter. To say the race is a challenge is an understatement. Quite how it all unfolds will be watched with great interest.
The 34th America's Cup continues to be an intriguing tale of two Cities. In Auckland the Italian and New Zealand Challengers are getting good training and racing - having got in three race days, now. Emirates Team New Zealand are fast chewing through their allocation of 30 days before January 31, 2013. Currently they have just three sailing days left. Italy have 20 days left on their counter.
In San Francisco, the Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing is getting more on the water time, but currently have only five days of sailing, and should soon overtake the Defender, Oracle Team USA who have eight days on the clock and are not expected to be sailing for almost two more months. Time (assuming adequate budgets) has always been reckoned to be the most scarce commodity in any America's Cup campaign, whether that proves to be the case in the 34th America's Cup remains to be seen.
In this edition we feature a round up from the three teams who are sailing - with coverage of the race training between Luna Rossa and Emirates Team NZ. From Artemis racing there is a video with the new afterguard giving their thoughts on what lies ahead. Artemis have missed the Foiling by Day 4 milestone achieved by the other three teams. Whether this is by design or default remains to be seen. But certainly on the video Artemis racing is sailing at speeds that would be expected to be foiling conditions for both Emirates Team NZ and Luna Rossa, and certainly Oracle Team USA would have been giving it a serious crack at those speeds. However foiling aside, Artemis looks good at speed - using her full waterline length and sailing fast. And certainly her afterguard are a very talented individuals, and as we have said before there is no reason why they should not gel as a team.
A new World sailing Speed Record has been set at 65.45kts by the Vestas Sailrocket team - meaning that the record has been lifted by ten knots in less than a month sailing on Walvis bay, Namiba. We have confirmation of the new mark in this edition of Sail-World.com's newsletter. Suddenly the 70kt mark doesn't seem to be out of the question.
This Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Events Clothing will be holding a pre-Christmas sale at Royal Akarana Yacht Club. There are some massive price reductions on all the popular brands of sailing clothing with some items reduced by 80%. This is a great chance to revitalise your wardrobe, or get some one-stop Christmas shopping done on the cheap. Don't miss it!
Many thanks to those who have contributed to this edition, particularly those using our online submission and image loading facility which can be accessed by clicking here
Richard Gladwell NZ Editor sailworldnzl@gmail.com Send your news and images directly to Sail-World by clicking here To subscribe a friend to Sail-World's FREE newsletter click here If you are an potential advertiser and want to understand how Sail-World can work for your company, website or product, then drop a line to Colin Preston at nzsales@sail-world.com If you wish to come off our mailing list please click the unsubscribe button on this newsletter, or drop a line to deletesailworld@gmail.com, giving the email address that appears at the top of your newsletter. Or, if you want to contact Richard Gladwell directly email: sailworldnzl@gmail.com or call (649) 489 9267 Stay up with the latest sailing news, as it happens, on our website www.sail-world.com/nz
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