Offshore and Olympic class news—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 23 Apr 2015 As spring slowly steamrolls its way across North America, the time has arrived to start thinking in earnest about this summer’s racing program, especially for offshore events that likely require some new-crew training, sail purchases and new-equipment fitting. At the same time, North American sailors also have a great opportunity to see the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) fleet up close and in-person at the Newport stopover, which is slated to begin in Newport in early May when the first boats arrive.

In the meantime, however, the six teams fighting for line honors on Leg Six must first confront the remaining 4,420 miles (at the time of this writing) that separate their bows from the Newport finishing line. While the fleet began racing on Sunday, they have been experiencing sticky and slow conditions that have forced the boats to pack up as they search for stronger trade-winds pressure. As of this reporting, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing was leading the hunt, followed by Team SCA and MAPFRE, but with less than 10 miles separating the leader from the stragglers, this leg is still wide-open to interpretation.

While Dongfeng Race Team worked super hard to rejoin the fleet in Itajai, Brazil after dropping their rig some 200 miles west of Cape Horn, calamity is once again plaguing the team, this time in the form of a failed watermaker. As a result, the team is reduced to hand-filtering their potable water rations-a time-consuming task that can easily burn up plenty of valuable calories simply to keep the crew nourished and hydrated.

“It’s funny how, once you lose access to something as simple as drinkable water in the Atlantic Ocean, you start to notice all the water you can’t drink,” wrote Sam Greenfield, Team Dongfeng’s Onboard Reporter.

The team is planning to attempt a repair on their main water filter, but as of now the ride for Team Dongfeng is both a slow and thirsty one. Get the full VOR multimedia report, inside this issue.

Speaking of offshore sailing, the weekend was a huge one for co-skippers Renaud Laplanche and Ryan Breymaier, who-along with their team-obliterated the speed record for the Newport to Bermuda run aboard the 105-foot maxi trimaran “Lending Club 2”. The previous record, established by the late Steve Fossett aboard the 125-foot catamaran “Playstation” in 2000, was 38 hours, 35 minutes and 53 seconds, an average pace of 16 knots. “Lending Club 2” managed to reel off these same 635 nautical miles in a mind-boggling 23 hours, 9 minutes and 52 seconds, an average pace of 27 knots.

“Steve Fossett was a great sailor who I had the honor to sail with on “Playstation”,” said Breymaier. “We are very happy to honor his memory with such a fast time! He would have been content to see his mark bettered with such a great time.”

Get the full report, inside this issue.

Also in offshore news, the Golden Globe Race will be reincarnated in 2018 to mark the 50th anniversary of the fabled 1968 race, which was the first solo, nonstop around-the-world race. The new race is set to start in Falmouth, UK on June 14, 2018, the same day that Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the winner of the 1968 race, set out on his historic journey some 50 years before. All entrants must sail the 2018/2019 race aboard period yachts (designed before 1988, and with full-length keels), using period equipment. Critically, that means no satellite-based navigation.

“The overriding aim is for a race where adventure takes precedence over winning at all costs; one where sailing skill and traditional seamanship, rather than modern technology and outside support, gets you round, and where the achievement truly belongs to the skipper,” said Don McIntyre (AUS), the founder of the 2018 event, as well as one of the competitors.

Get the full scoop on this exciting new adventure race, inside this issue.

Meanwhile, this is also a big week for Olympic-class sailors as the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres (April 20-26) is now in full swing in Hyeres, France. According to reports, 19 American sailors are taking part in the event, which is one of the last major international regattas en route to the Rio 2016 Olympics.

'The whole town is very involved in this event, and it makes for a fun atmosphere,' said Briana Provancha, who-along with teammate Annie Haeger-is aiming to repeat the same performance that propelled her to the Women’s 470 podium at this same regatta last year. 'We've been building more speed since November, and we feel very prepared going into this event. We're excited to race against the top 40 boats in the world.'

As of this writing, Provancha and Haeger were sitting in fourth place overall and are joined in the Top Ten leaderboard standings by Charlie Buckingham, who is looking fast in the full-rig Laser. Get the full scoop from the US Sailing Team Sperry and the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres, inside.

Also inside, get the wrap-up reports from this year’s Antigua Classics Weeks, the Barcelona World Race, and Charleston Race Week.

And finally, be sure to check out Joy Dunnigan’s great image gallery of the Melges 20 U.S. National Championships. Enjoy!

May the four winds blow you safely home,