Volvo fleet soon out of Doldrums... Argo Gold Cup …IMOCA with foils
by Dan Ibsen, Sail-World UK Editor on 23 Oct 2014
Nature's traffic signals in the Doldrums. Team Vestas Wind heading for the Doldrums, the weather begins to change. Brian Carlin - Team Vestas Wind
The Volvo Ocean Race has enjoyed a fascinating nine days on the first leg.
Never before have we seen such close racing in a trans-oceanic event, and the call of Volvo Ocean Race organisers to opt for a one design fleet appears to have paid a big dividend.
The race has become one of navigational strategy, instead of the creeping lead gains, as one boat finds its design groove in a particular set of conditions.
The other great aspect of the race so far is that the fleet has stayed intact without any of the breakdowns. But so far, the weather has been kind to the fleet - and maybe their test is yet to come in the next week in the last half of Leg 1 to Cape Town.
The fleet is about to get through the Doldrums, Abu Dhabi and Team Brunel have big gains in the front of the fleet on a more westerly course, staying close to each other, right now 80 miles in front of Vestas Wind and Dongfeng.
In spite of Hurricane Gonzalo's thrashing of the Onion Patch last week, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the people of Bermuda are ready to host the 2014 Argo Group Gold Cup, Stage 6 of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour (AWMRT). All 20 teams have arrived safely from their corners of the world and will start racing on Wednesday.
Thirteen countries are represented in the 2014 Argo Group Gold Cup. The teams have been divided into two groups of 10 for the Qualifying Session round-robin knockout matches.
The Argo Gold Cup is Stage 6 of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour. Read more at Sail-world.com during the week.
Last week’s decision by IMOCA to place no further restrictions on its class rule will permit both the six new IMOCA 60s currently under construction, as well as the existing fleet, to be fitted with the lateral lifting foils. This kind of foils already helped the 100ft maxi Wild Oats XI to its victory in last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart.
Read more here about how this will influence both the IMOCA 60’s as well as future monohull racing boats.
2014 Sailing Champions League - 23 clubs from 14 nations managed three days packed with sailing sport on the highest level. The premiere of the Sailing Champions League ended in the rain on Sunday, but the atmosphere was brilliant.
The 23 teams enjoyed intense racing for three days and a total of 45 races, each 12-15 minutes in the fleets of eight boats. The Champion League silver bowl - from Robbe and Berking - stays with the hosts from the Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub from Copenhagen, who won by just 0.5 points difference to the second Circolo Canottiere Aniene (Italy). Third was Oman Sail (Oman).
Among the 92 sailors were prominent names of Olympic participants and 22 medalists from World Championships and Volvo Ocean Races winners. The sailors were excited about the new home clubs and national federations about starting national leagues. Several federations among those Holland and Sweden visited the event, more countries are now planning to start national leagues, and planning for next year’s 2015 Sailing Champions League is now underway, possibly with 2-3 events.
Read the final article about the event here.
Stay tuned with the latest sailing news and developments in the sailing world on our UK website and Europe website.
Good Sailing.
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