VOR, BWR, Two Gates Pursuit Race—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 6 Jan 2015 If you love distance racing, these are fine days to be a fan of the great sport of sailing. Two grand races, the fully crewed Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) and the double-handed Barcelona World Race, are now in full swing, with the former starting the third leg of its 2014/2015 contest on January 3 (from Abu Dhabi to Sanya, China) and the later starting its non-stop battle around the planet on December 31, 2014.

And while the nature of these races is vastly different, both fleets have been facing lighter-than-appreciated winds, at least in the initial few days of their first sailing adventure of 2015.

The VOR kicked off its third leg under foggy skies and light winds on the waters off of Abu Dhabi, adding mystery to a leg that is already shrouded in question marks. Some of the waters that the fleet will ply en route to Sanya have been better charted than others, and the Malacca Strait will offer a geographical 'pinching' as the waters narrow to just 1.5 miles across in spots, a fact that Will Oxley, navigator of the American- and Turkish-flagged 'Team Alvimedica', has on his mental radar.

'It’s the most challenging part of the whole race,' said Oxley, just before the leg began. 'I'm pretty happy dealing with big waves and strong winds, but the complexity of dealing with a narrow channel, and a very large amount of shipping is what causes the problems.'

'Some 300ft of steel coming at you at 20 knots is always concerning, particularly if you haven't got much control over your speed if there's not much wind,' continued Oxley, who went on to describe other tricky sections of the next leg. 'Then you have squalls, very violent squalls in the night, and there's lots of fishermen who are not showing navigation lights and have long nets. You can get tangled in the nets, or worse still, run someone over.'

As of this writing, Team Dongfeng was in the pole position, followed by Team Brunel and Team Alvimedica, with all boats reporting speeds of less than 5 knots.

Get the latest VOR report, including news from Team Vestas Wind on their plans to rejoin the 2014/2015 VOR, inside this issue, and stay tuned to the website for more racing action, as the teams make carefully pick their way towards Sanya.

Meanwhile, in the Barcelona World Race (BWR), the fast teams have now all exited the Mediterranean, with Alex Thomson and Pepe Ribes, sailing aboard 'Hugo Boss', leading the charge (and setting a new course record exiting the Med), followed by Guillermo Altadill and José Muñoz, racing aboard 'Neutrogena', and Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín, racing aboard 'GAES Centros Auditivos'.

According to the latest reports, the winds currently remain light for the BWR sailors, but this is expected to change later in the day on Monday as the teams start to hook into the trade winds.

'So more or less we are trying to keep the boat in the race and not lose contact with the other boats,' said 'Neutrogena’s' co-skipper, Guillermo Altadill. 'We will try to do some maneuvers a few times to try to find the wind, which should come from the right side. So we’re expecting to gybe and probably not necessarily to be able cross the bows of the other ones but to be closer to them.'

'It’s just the beginning of the race so on these long races you try not to lose contact with the top of the fleet,' continued Altadill. 'I’m not so very obsessed by the idea to be with them all the time, to control them, but just really to not lose contact. If they are 10 miles in front or 10 miles behind, you want to be in the same system all the time. The main thing, what we are doing now, is sailing our own race basically.'

Get the full BWR briefing, inside.

Meanwhile, much closer to home, the Long Beach Yacht Club hosted their Two Gates Pursuit Race over the weekend, with sailors enjoying weather fit for shorts, t-shirts, big smiles and great racing. Ultimately, Bill Durant’s Santa Cruz 52, 'Relentless' took home top honors, followed by Ray Godwin’s Farr 40 'Temptress' and John Sangmeister’s Santa Cruz 70 'OEX'. 'It was a phenomenal day with the dream team, with my son and all of my very close friends [aboard].' said a jubilant Durant.

Get the full report from Two Gates Pursuit Race, inside this issue.

Also inside, get the latest news from the 30th anniversary Rose Bowl Regatta, the OK dinghy Worlds, the Seaweed Soup Regatta and the Bob Levin Memorial Trophy.

May the four winds blow you safely home,