Volvo on launchpad...Kiwi sailors top earners...Rags rebuild images

by . on 2 Oct 2014 Welcome to Sail-World.com’s New Zealand e-magazine for October 2, 2014

The Volvo Ocean Race gets serious on Saturday, with the first of the In Port Races, which will be sailed in Alicante.

Now the talk and profiling stops and crews will start earning points for the race - in this case, the In Port Trophy.

A week later the races gets underway in earnest, with Leg 1 starting off race headquarters in Alicante.

In this edition we present a form guide, compiled by Boating NZ's Ben Gladwell, which gives a good overview of the teams - many of whom will be new to race fans. He looks behind the boats themselves and delves into the previous campaigns of the skippers - where they have succeeded and where they have been less than successful.

Certainly there are some demons to be exorcised.

According to Predictwind, the breezes will be light to moderate for the In Port Race in Alicante. Next week we will look at the wind prognosis for the first leg and the options.

Over the past four days, the NZ Herald has been publishing some research into the earnings of New Zealand sportsmen and woman. This exercise has been done before and then, as now, sailors top the list and are very well ranked as a group.

As with the other Rich List, published by the National Business Review, the incomes are largely an educated guess on the part of the researchers. Whether they are accurate or anywhere near accurate is another matter.

The point is that we should be celebrating this financial success by our top sailors, which puts a new angle on kid's career options. Obviously if you can't make the cut early on as a professional sailor, then you are probably well-advised to do the next best thing and become an accountant or a lawyer.

As we note in the story, while the earnings are of interest, it must be remembered that sailing is the only sport which has managed to develop a substantial industry - which is now worth over $1.5billion per year in revenue - and a high percentage of that in exports. Of course, in terms of 'value-add' the marine industry is top of the list.

As well as the Volvo taking centre-stage this weekend, Emirates Team NZ will also be competing in the Extreme Sailing Series, which has moved to Nice. The dynamic duo of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke will again be aboard the team's Extreme 40, and trying to pull the Kiwi team higher up the points table.

Currently, they lie third overall.

Burling and Tuke have also been nominated for the Rolex ISAF Sailor of the Year award. They are up against America's Cup winner Jimmy Spithill, and other notable sailors. While the bio for the two Kiwis cites their exploits in the 49er, it doesn't expand on their top performances in the Extreme 40's or the A-Class Worlds, plus their ocean racing success.

That broader record should be enough to set them apart from the others, but Awards judging is a funny old game on a good day. It will be interesting to see how this one is resolved in early November.

If you have a sail aboard Steinlager 2, on your Bucket List, then your opportunity to tick that box comes up on Saturday.

The NZ Sailing Trust have made 25 places available abroad the only yacht to have won every leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race or Volvo Ocean Race. Steinlager 2 will sail in the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's Opening Day on Saturday October 4. Afterwards, there is the Prizegiving at RNZYS.

We have details, in this issue, of what will surely be a very memorable experience.

And finally if you haven't got your design in for the ECsix T-Shirt, then you have until the end of the weekend to finish your masterpiece and get it into Southern Spars. If you are judged to be the best entry you'll win an expenses paid trip for two to a Volvo Ocean Race Stopover of your choice.

It's a great prize - just get your creative thinking flowing.

There's plenty of local action this weekend with the North Sails Young 88 Owners Championships, being sailed from Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, and the Stack Winter Championships being sailed out of Murrays Bay Sailing Club.

Stay tuned to our website www.sail-world.com for the latest news and developments in the sailing world.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

sailworldnzl@gmail.com

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