Editorial- Sailing at its best!
by . on 11 Jan 2009
Welcome to Sail-World.Com's NZ newsletter for 11 January 2008
Yesterday the first race in the Audi World Flying Fifteen Championships got underway on Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne. This is the 17th World Championship for the two man keelboat class, designed by the doyen of small yacht design, Uffa Fox.
Yesterday was a typical Port Phillip bay day – which always seems to show sailing at its best, no matter what the class.
Looking up the race track into the seabreeze – which here, comes from the south – there were certainly plenty of sheep in the paddock. Whitecaps aplenty, accompanied by a good swell of over a metre. But appearances are deceptive, and what appeared to be a good 25kt breeze – judging by the sea state, was really only 14-16kts. Perfect sailing weather.
In this issue we feature reports and images from the first day of the regatta, in what is really a Commonwealth class, as opposed to a true international class. With one exception all 100 plus entries are from the old British Empire – Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland Hong Kong and with a single entry from Spain. While we describe the Flying Fifteen as a two man keelboat – it is far from that with a liberal sprinkling of female crews, helms and full crews throughout the fleet.
Overnight, Ericsson 4 has won the in-port race of the Singapore stopover in the Volvo Ocean Race. We have a report in this issue.
The flurry of letters to the Appeal Court in Albany, New York giving advice on the pending America’s Cup decision, has ceased. Not through a lack of advice, of which there seems to be plenty, but simply because the timeline for their submission has expired.
The Appeal Court Hearing is now less than a month away.
The sailing action in the America’s Cup, or rather the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, is well underway in Valencia, with several teams working up for the series which gets underway in three weeks time.
It seems rather odd to see teams sailing 12,000 miles away in preparation for an event which is due to start in three weeks.
The fact is that this Louis Vuitton Pacific Series will take place in supplied boats has turned many of the established 'rules' of the event on its ear.
www.valenciasailing.com!ValenciaSailing.com reports that it is snowing less than 50km away. And, where the teams are training, it is actually zero degrees. A far cry from Auckland and Melbourne, with warm winds and temperatures in the mid-twenties.
Now, the sailors are cycling past the window of our bed and breakfast heading for the next day's racing in the Audi Flying Fifteen Worlds. It's time to go.
Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
nzeditor@sail-world.com
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