VOR, Extreme 40s, Annapolis, OD—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 7 Oct 2014 The long wait is officially over, and American skipper Charlie Enright and his Team Alvimedica team have drawn the first blood in the 2014/2015 Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), winning Saturday’s in-port race in Alicante, Spain. While the in-port races now have their own trophy and no longer count towards the overall VOR results (unless there’s a tie), the race was a huge confidence booster for Enright’s team, which is the youngest squad taking on this year’s race.

Team Alvimedica enjoyed a fairly conservative, mid-pack start, but Enright and the boys quickly began picking off their rivals and made some red-hot tactical decisions-including a great call at the leeward gate-that landed them on the top step of the podium. 'You've got to commit to these laylines, and we owned our side of the gate, which gave us a clean exit on the second upwind leg,' explained Enright.

Yet the race was far from over. Skipper Ian Walker’s 'Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing' team pressed Team Alvimedica hard at the final top marks, nearly stealing the show. 'We were at risk of being rolled by Abu Dhabi, but we couldn't have played it much differently,' said Enright. 'The boys ripped that sail around real fast, but [Walker] had a shot at rolling us, and luckily we got going again just in time. We were kind of lucky that the Spanish weren't too far away, so 'Abu Dhabi' had someone else to think about too.'

Get the full debriefing from Saturday’s in-port race, inside this issue, and stay tuned to the website this week as the VOR ramps up to the start of Leg One, which will take the fleet from Alicante, Spain, to Cape Town, South Africa.

Not far from Alicante (relatively speaking), the Extreme Sailing Series enjoyed a great Act 7 (October 2-5) of their 2014 season in in Nice, France. Skipper Morgan Larson and his Swiss-flagged 'Alinghi' took top honors, followed by skipper Jérôme Clerc and his 'Realteam by Realstone' (SUI) and Sir Ben Ainslie’s 'J.P. Morgan BAR' (GBR). For Larson, this latest win moves him closer to nabbing overall victory in the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series’ season, but with one final 20-point Act left this year (Sydney, Australia; December 11-14), the trophy is still up for grabs, despite 'Alinghi’s' decisive overall season lead over 'The Wave, Muscat' and 'Emirates Team New Zealand'.

'We were confident at the start of the year that we had a little bit of an edge, but now the rest of the field are showing some real force,' said Larson. 'I think now you are seeing the future. More than half the fleet [has] the ability to win an event, and that’s exactly what we’re going to see going into Sydney. That event is going to be worth double points, and if we go out with a bad performance and 'The Wave, Muscat' or 'Emirates Team New Zealand' come in with a strong one-we’re going to lose. So we’ve got to go out and try and get back on the podium.'

Get the full Extreme Sailing Series report, inside.

Meanwhile, much closer to home, this week marks the annual United States Sailboat Show at Annapolis (October 9-13). Here, sailors can expect to find the latest and greatest racing kit, electronics, cruising amenities, and enough sporty new sailboat designs to hold their attention for a long, long time. Sail-World.com will be at the show, so stay tuned for updates, as they become available.

And on the sportboat scene, the racing action was predictably hot at the Melges 20 North Americans, where reigning World Champion John Kilroy and his 'Samba Pa Ti' squad took top honors on their hometown waters of San Francisco Bay. And on the East Coast, Brian Keane and his 'Savasana' crew cleaned house at the J/80 Worlds, which just wrapped up in Annapolis, Maryland on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. ''It was all about getting off the line and catching the first shift,' reported Keane.

Get the full scoop on both of these great One Design contests, inside this issue.

Also inside, don’t miss the wrap-up reports from the 2.4mR Open World Championship, the 2014 U.S. Match Racing Championship, and the Sylt PWA Super Grand Slam.

And finally, be sure to check out the image galleries and multimedia reports from last Saturday’s VOR in-port race in Alicante.

May the four winds blow you safely home,