Ogletree Steps Up—Sailing News from the U.S. and Beyond
by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 2 Sep 2011
China Team had a rough start to their AC45 career, finishing last in the first event of the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS), held off of Cascais, Portugal. Following this disappointing showing, multi-hull specialist Mitch Booth, the team’s skipper, left for unspecified reasons, and now China Team has announced that American Charlie Ogletree will step up his job duties from tactician to skipper. Ogletree has been with China Team since their nascent days and has a strong multi-hull background, including earning a silver medal in the Tornado class in the 2004 games and competing in four additional Games. Booth, it should be noted, has moved on to a new job as an on-the-water TV commentator for the next stop on the ACWS tour, Plymouth England (September 10 to 18).
'Our challenge throughout the next 18 months will be to place well in the [ACWS events], but [to] also train the Chinese sailors,' said Thierry Barot, China Team’s CEO. 'We will be fine-tuning this process in Plymouth and continue to improve on it at every opportunity,' he added. 'Our ambition is to build a Chinese team capable of winning the America’s Cup, and that is what we are doing.' It will be interesting to see how Ogletree’s leadership affects China Team’s performance in Plymouth.
Offshore sailors, be sure to check out Campbell Field’s update from his shakedown delivery to Palma for the start of the short-handed Global Ocean Race. River will be competing with his father, Ross, a two-time winner of the Whitbred/Volvo Ocean Race in a Class 40.
'We were running in solid 20's which gave us a great opportunity to test some sail combinations,' reported the younger Field. We found ourselves by mid-afternoon in 25 to 30 [knots] with an A6 fractional spinnaker and one reef in the main, blasting along at a great rate of knots—having to remind ourselves that this is only a 40-footer after burying her a few times. We peaked at 20 knots of boatspeed and averaged over 15 knots for a number of hours. Bloody good fun and big grins all around, until we started seeing 30 knots of wind and started to wonder how to get the spinnaker down, both being pretty green when it comes to Class40 sailing. We figured it out and our knowledge in how to mode the boat is growing every day.'
Leg 1 of the Global Ocean Race starts on September 25 and goes from Mallorca to Cape Town. Thus far, nine teams have entered, so this should make for some super entertaining virtual spectator sailing. Stay tuned.
And finally, be sure to check out Francis Joyon’s thoughts on capsizing his maxi trimaran, IDEC, the latest from the Clipper Around The World Race, as well as the inside scoop on Telefonica’s 2,000-mile qualifying run for the Volvo Ocean Race, which starts on October 29 in Alicante, Spain.
May the four winds blow you safely home,
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