| The latest sailing news from New Zealand and the world. |
21 Feb 2017 |
|
| |
  Conrad Colman - finish or bust? AC50's begin sailing..Opitis at Picton
 | | Emirates Team NZ's AC50 is assembled in part of the Southern Spars facility in Auckland. The 2.7m long bow section is shown as being detached on the starboard (left in picture) hull. Southern Spars |
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for February 21, 2017
The AC50 unveiling/launch/sailing run-sheet has had a few additions since Land Rover BAR were the first to launch on February 6 - the earliest day permitted under the 28-day voluntary Blackout amendment to the Protocol governing the current event.
Oracle Team USA was the second to unveil their AC50 over a week later on February 15 (Bermuda time) and was preceded/followed by Emirates Team New Zealand, who went sailing on February 14 and then officially launched on February 16th.
Land Rover Bar was the second to go sailing - on February 18 in Bermuda.
Then today, February 21, Oracle Team USA went sailing almost a week after their unveiling.
Of the other teams, Softbank Team Japan looks to be the next to unveil, maybe launch and go sailing - on the basis that today a couple more images appeared in social media of the rigged boat, with the comment that launching is imminent.
 | | Land Rover BAR AC50 first sail - Bermuda © Harry KH / Land Rover BAR |
Nothing has been put out about the intentions of Groupama Team France or Artemis Racing (Sweden).
Then to add a bit to the mystery, Emirates Team New Zealand hasn't been sighted sailing since last Wednesday (Sure Friday was pretty average, and they don't sail in the weekend, but the last couple of days have been OK).
All of which is very intriguing - given that before the Blackout was agreed, the teams could have launched and gone sailing 150 days before the start of the Qualifiers, of on December 27, 2016.
The voluntary Blackout was signed off just a couple of weeks before AC race boats were due to be launched and headed off action by the Arbitration Panel as part of the settlement with Emirates Team NZ over the withdrawal of the Qualifier Round from Auckland.
Cup media teams made much ado about there being only 100 days left to the start of racing in the America's Cup Regatta - but that ignored the fact that 50days had already gone - under the original schedule. And even when the sailing Blackout had passed, still the teams were in no hurry to get on the water and get their sailing programs into gear.
 | | 17/02/20 - Hamilton (BDA) - 35th America's Cup Bermuda 2017 - ORACLE TEAM USA - AC45S training Sam Greenfield/Oracle Team USA |
Today's sailing by Oracle Team USA is assumed to have been in their AC50 - but the photos that came with the team release on the occasion were all captioned for their AC45S. A quick question on the veracity of the images went unanswered by the team.
On the basis that Oracle did sail their AC50 today - that marks the point where the omission by the America's Cup Commissioner, then General Harvey Schiller, or ACEA's Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel and now AC Commissioner, sports lawyer, Sam Hollis, takes effect.
The America's Cup Commissioner was supposed to have published a list of allowed training and racing practice days a year out from the start of the America's Cup Qualifiers but omitted to do so for whatever reason - be it deliberate or forgetful.
That failure means that Article 35.5(b) of the Protocol is triggered which says the competitors 'shall only sail or test an AC Class Yacht in a coordinated manner with another Competitor' on the, now unpublished, dates by the ex-Commissioner.
Given that Oracle Team USA is sailing their AC50 and no sailing dates have been published, that would appear to bring to an end the training and development relationship between Oracle Team USA and Softbank Team Japan. Those teams - as must all others as soon as they have sailed their AC50's - must work up and train alone. The swapping of data and debriefings is also disallowed.
 | | Emirates Team NZ's AC50 in fast mode - bow down, rudder foils out, slight heel to windward, and cycling team grinding Hamish Hooper/Emirates Team NZ |
At least one of the teams has had some serious daggerboard issues, including one catastrophic structural failure in their AC45S. Whether that issue extends throughout their stock of daggerboards and maybe across into other teams remains to be seen. But don't expect the issue to break through the PR ice-cap.
Long story short is that either the six America's Cup teams have things extraordinarily well under control and running to schedule, or the transition to the AC50 from the AC45S is proving to be a little less than plain sailing.
The teams are definitely up against the wall time-wise - and being able to get their boats commissioned and into a full sailing program will be crucial to the outcome of the Cup in June.
History shows that those who have launched early and got into a regular sailing and training program have always done very well in the Match, and this America's Cup will be no exception. The chances of a bolter coming through at the last minute are fanciful.
While the litany above may appear to be train-spotting, the fact is that the past and next couple of weeks is when the hard work must go in.
 | | Emirates Team New Zealand sailing team fitness test at the team base in Auckland Hamish Hooper/Emirates Team NZ |
Being slow to get a program into top gear at this stage inevitably means that items get crossed off the development list as race-day looms. Those teams that are on or ahead of schedule do get more sailing time and more smarts on board the boat, and a will better result come June 2017.
Staying with the train-spotting. The sharp-eyed will have looked at the image at the top of this newsletter and realised that the starboard detachable 2.7 metre bow section of the AC50 pictured above represents the sum total (along with its pair on the other side) of the amount of an AC50 which under the current Protocol is required to be constructed in the country of the defending or challenging club. Unfortunately, the Deed of Gift doesn't make this differentiation, requiring the whole of the yacht to be constructed in the country of origin. By our reckoning not all teams are in compliance with the Deed of Gift on this vital point.
 | | The AC50 flies above the floors at the Southern Spars facility in Auckland Southern Spars |
By all accounts, Southern Spars did an outstanding job of building the Emirates Team New Zealand AC50 - begging the question as to whether the long slim AC50's are better built by sparmakers than boat builders. The boat was right down to weight, delivered on time and given the project's starting point was an excellent effort.
Interestingly the construction rules surrounding the AC50 precluded Southern Spars from using a lot of their top end technology in the AC50 - and had that been permitted the Kiwi team would have had an even better Xmas present.
But as with many other companies in the New Zealand marine industry, Southern Spars have proven their ability once again to take on a difficult project apply their composite engineering expertise and know-how to come up with a superb product straight out of the box.
At the other end of the high-performance spectrum, spare a thought for Conrad Colman struggling to finish the Vendee Globe race in the once dismasted, and now Jury rigged Foresight Natural Energy. With his boom repaired and rigged as a new mast, Colman's sailmaking abilities have been put to the test to fit the IMOCA60 with a square-topped mainsail and jib.
 | | Conrad Colman shows his diet of onboard cress and liferaft biscuits, with a splash of sauce © Conrad Colman / Foresight Energy / Vendée Globe |
Unfortunately, Colman is more into controlled drift under his Jury rig. His course, while the shortest theoretical distance to the finish in Les Sables on the western coast of France, has also been upwind in mostly light airs. His speed over the ground has been over 6kts at times, but the VMG to the finish has not been great - as a look on the tracker at vendeeglobe.com will attest.
Colman's support team are predicting more favourable winds for the next few days, which will hopefully get this amazing sailor headed on a more productive course.
Although the immediate focus has been to get his boat sailing again, having achieved that against all odds - Conrad is now very short of food. He is reduced to eating a dwindling supply of liferaft biscuits, soup that was meant for the Southern Ocean and some on-board cress that he has managed to grow.
It is an amazing story - and if Conrad can make the finish will be one of the great feats of single handed sailing as well as an incredible and inspiring book.
His blog and Facebook page are a compulsory read every morning.
 | | Ferry and Open Oppis - Optimist Interislander Challenge and Port Marlborough Starling Championship © Jonny Fullerton |
Follow all the racing and developments in major and local events on www.sail-world.com, scroll to the bottom of the site, select New Zealand, and get all the latest news and updates from the sailing world.
Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
sailworldnzl@gmail.com
Please forward news stories and images these directly to Sail-World NZ using our new very easy to use submission system, or forward to the email address: sailworldnzl@gmail.com as text in the email and attach images in the standard way for emails.
To subscribe to Sail-World.com's NZ e-magazine published two or three times weekly go-to www.sail-world.com and click on Newsletter and Subscribe. You can see previous newsletters by clicking on Newsletter and then Archive from the drop-down menu.
If you are a potential advertiser and want to understand how Sail-World can work for your company, website or product, then drop a line to Colin Preston at nzsales@sail-world.com
If you want to contact Richard Gladwell directly email: sailworldnzl@gmail.com or call (+6421) 301030
Don't forget to check our website www.sail-world.com, at the top of the page, select New Zealand, and get all the latest news and updates from the sailing world.
 | | Sun Fast 3600 Racing competing in the RAYC White Island Race, fellow RNI competitor Marshall Law in background Suellen Hurling |
 | | Below decks on Courageous in the 1977 America's Cup campaign - not cycle pedestals like the Challenger Sveridge - but grinding below in these conditions in a 12 Metre must have been hard work. Paul Darling Photography© Maritime Productions |
 | | Softbank Team Japan AC50 almost ready to launch SoftBank Team Japan |
 | | Battle of the MOD70s: Giovanni Soldini's Maserati (ITA) and Lloyd Thornburg's Phaedo3 (USA) 9th RORC Caribbean 600, Antigua © RORC / Tim Wright |
 | | Phaedo^3 starts the RORC Caribbean 600 © Rachel Fallon-Langdon / Team Phaedo |
 | | Open design AC72's seem so last year - 11 crew, four grinding pedestals and sheet winches contrast with the one design AC50's, cycling grinders, and no winches. © Richard Gladwell |
 | | A serious traditional grinding team - Emirates Team New Zealand, NZL82 before the start of racing on day two in the choppy seas and a breeze of up to 20 knots. Louis Vuitton Act 8. Trapani, Sicily, Italy. Chris Cameron/ETNZ© |
 | | From 11 years ago - IACC NZL81 during sail testing. Emirates Team New Zealand Chris Cameron/ETNZ© |
|
|
|
|
|
|