ISAF Worlds, Bart’s Bash, OD—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 23 Sep 2014 After almost two weeks of racing in a wide variety of conditions, the final guns have sounded at the Santander 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships (September 8-21), and U.S. sailors are going home happy. As fans of Olympic sailing know, the ISAF Sailing Worlds take place once per Olympic cycle (or quadrennium) and serve to qualify countries for the next Olympic games, as well as provide each individual sailor with a 'mid-term' speed check. In the case of U.S. Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, there were no medal finishes, but the team qualified for their intended Olympic berths in the Laser, Laser Radial, Men's 470, Women's 470, and Finn, and the squad also fielded four proud top-ten finishes.

'We are encouraged by the top US performances in Santander,' said Josh Adams, Managing Director of US Olympic Sailing. 'US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider athletes demonstrated that they are Olympic contenders in their respective classes and on track to perform well in Rio 2016. Our team's top performances in Santander showed significant progress over the results from class World Championship events in 2013. This event represents the midpoint of the Rio 2016 quad, and we are seeing positive results from the team's effort so far and are looking forward to continuing our team's training process to Rio.'

American sailors finished well in the Laser, the Finn, the Men’s 470 and the Women’s 470 classes. Stuart McNay and David Hughes secured a strong fifth-place finish in the Men’s 470, Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha earned a seventh-place finish in the Women’s 470 class, as did Charlie Buckingham (Laser) and Caleb Paine (Finn).

'It's been a hard-fought regatta, and a close one,' said Paine. 'There were some significant moments and races that cost me some points, and in the future I can correct those mistakes with better execution. Overall, I'm very happy with my result here.'

Get the full multimedia report from the at the Santander 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships, inside this issue, and stay tuned to the website for the latest in Olympic sailing news, as it becomes known.

Also in international sailing news, the sailing world celebrated Bart’s Bash, which is a series of international regattas that were set up to honor Andrew 'Bart' Simpson, the British Gold medalist who was tragically killed during an onboard training accident on Artemis’ Racing’s first-generation AC72 when it failed catastrophically on the waters of San Francisco Bay in April of 2013. Additionally, Bart’s Bash aimed to break the Guinness Book of World Records for the Largest Sailing Race (24 hours). Once the data from the event has been submitted and processed, Guinness is expected to validate the submission by the end of 2014.

According to reports, the event attracted more than 18,000 sailors from 700-plus clubs and 68 different countries. 'The response has been unbelievable, almost overwhelming; a true testament to Bart’s popularity within the sailing community,' said Sir Ben Ainslie, who was one of Simpson’s closest mates, and who now serves as a trustee of the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation (as well as a challenger for the 35th America’s Cup). 'Over 18,000 sailors from over 700 sailing clubs across 65 countries have taken part, from New Zealand to Newquay, from Hawaii to Heathrow, which is where I have been racing, at the Queen Mary Sailing Club. It was always going to be a special, fun and inspiring day and it has exceeded all expectations, thank you to everyone who has supported it and worked so hard to make it happen.'

Meanwhile, on U.S. waters, Thomas Carruthers, Andrew Palfrey and Chris Busch, sailing aboard 'Elizabeth', took top honors at the 2014 Etchells North Americans, which were sailed out of the Chicago Yacht Club over the weekend. 'We had a good day today,' said Carruthers. 'Good starts, good speeds. We just went out there trying to be ourselves and did well.' The 'Elizabeth' crew beat-out a talent-packed field to claim the top step of the podium, and were joined during the prize-giving ceremony by the crews of 'SCIMITAR' (Steve Benjamin, Chris Larson and Scott Norris) and 'Raging Rooster' (Peter Duncan, Jud Smith and Tom Blackwel).

Also in the Windy City, returning champion Taylor Canfield (USVI) and his 'US One' team (Rod Dawson, Mike Rehe and Hayden Goodrick) took top honors at the 2014 Chicago Match Cup, beating out skippers Ian Williams (GBR) and Mathieu Richard (FRA) for first place and a purse of $18,750. 'It was fantastic to defend this event in front of all of our families and friends,' said Canfield. 'And I really have to thank my team for an incredible performance this week in only losing two matches.'

Get the full report from the 2014 Chicago Match Cup, inside this issue.

Also inside, get the latest news from the Soling North Americans, the U.S. Multihull Championship and the PWA Cold Hawaii World Cup.

And finally, be sure to check out Thom Touw’s great image gallery from the Women’s 470 medal races at the Santander 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships. Enjoy!

May the four winds blow you safely home,