The REAL America's Cup on SF Bay, VOR update —Sailing news from the U.

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 28 May 2015 Ask anyone who has been involved with this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), and they will happily tell you that Newport, Rhode Island delivered the goods when it came to a fantastic stopover and a memorable send off across the Pond. From Newport, the fleet experienced mostly calm-but-taxing conditions as they ripped across the North Atlantic to Lisbon, Portugal. After several leaderboard changes and some last-minute surprises, Team Brunel took the bullet, followed by Mapfre and Team Alvimedica, who beat-out Dongfeng Race Team by 55 seconds in an exciting sprint to the finishing line.

“It was one of the calmest trans-Atlantic legs that I’ve ever sailed,” said Team Brunel’s skipper, Bouwe Bekking. “We had hardly any wind. Only on one occasion last night we had a 24-knot wind but the rest of the leg was mostly cruising over a flat Atlantic Ocean. On the other hand, the racing was particularly intense. With such short distances between the boats, you can’t relax for one second. Every mistake is punished mercilessly.”

This win represented some impressive sailing from the Dutch-flagged team, who started the leg out well astern of the usual leaderboard suspects, but fought their way to an important win.

While the mood was obviously light and happy aboard second-placed Mapfre, it will be interesting to see what happens in Lisbon, where the International Jury will conduct four hearings to determine why Dongfeng Race Team, Mapfre and Team SCA all elected to sail against the flow in a VOR-enforced Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS); moreover, Team SCA will have to answer why they elected to sail across an exclusion zone in Rhode Island Sound.

For Team Alvimedica, however, this third-place finish is proud proof that the group of young guns on this dual American- and Turkish-flagged boat are not only improving their game but are now capable of being a serious threat on offshore legs.

“We have been awake for the last 24 hours so it’s still settling in,” said Team Alvimedica’s skipper, Charlie Enright. “No one gave up and we kept ourselves in touch so that we could make a play in the end.”

While the Team Alvimedica lads are off celebrating their first podium finish on an offshore leg, the mood was considerably more sour aboard Dongfeng Race Team, who suffered one of the tightest finishing-line defeats in VOR history. “I am really angry with myself for the mistake we made just before the finish line, but at myself not the team – they did a great job,' said skipper Charles Caudrelier.

“My main mission is to keep my anger in me and to apologize to my team, as I don’t think I was a very good skipper this morning,” continued Caudrelier. “They had a very good spirit and mine was negative which was maybe why we lost that position. I need to work on me. I need to spend a few days back with my family to recover.”

Unfortunately for Caudrelier, however, his recovery period will also include a conversation with the International Jury.

Also VOR-related, Team Vestas Wind has now completed their rebuild process and have arrived in Lisbon to rejoin the fleet for the final legs of the race, after running aground on a reef while sailing at 19 knots in late November. “We’ve been waiting for this day to arrive for some time,” said skipper Chris Nicholson. “It’s a testament to all those involved in the rebuild to have the boat and team almost back in race mode.”

Get the full VOR report, inside this issue.

Meanwhile, much closer to home, news is breaking about the San Francisco Yacht Racing Challenge, which is the brainchild of Tom Ehman, Vice Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, who envisions a return to 12-Meter racing on the waters of San Francisco Bay, starting in 2017. According to reports, inside, the new race series will use modified “Super 12s” (read: modern undercarriage and liberal use of carbon fiber) that will be raced by invited yacht-club teams from around the world. Critically, Ehman envisions an environment of contained costs, fantastic racing and sailing’s biggest prize purse.

Inside this issue, don’t miss the full report on the San Francisco Yacht Racing Challenge, compliments of Sail-World’s New Zealand editor, Richard Gladwell.

Also inside, get the latest news from the Delta Lloyd Regatta 2015, the Finn World Masters, the Block Island Race and the SSS Single Handed Farallones race.

And finally, don’t miss shooter Chris Howell’s image gallery from the 2015 J/24 U.S. Nationals.

May the four winds blow you safely home,