| The latest sailing news from New Zealand and the world. |
30 Oct 2017 |
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  Sail-World NZ - Oct 30 - Volvo Leg 1 Surprise..NZL Sailing Team firing
 | | NZ's Molly Meech and Alex Maloney - day 3 - Enoshima sailing Week, October 2017 Junichi Hirai/ Bulkhead magazine © |
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for October 30, 2017
The first Leg of the 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race is over, and it frustrated the form book.
Series favourite MAPFRE came through to finish second for the leg behind clear winner Vestas 11th Hour who finished over 2hrs 30 minutes ahead.
Team Brunel, with a highly experienced crew, including America's Cup Champion Peter Burling, finished a very safe sixth and was only seven minutes ahead of the last placed Turn the Tide on Plastics (Dee Caffari). Turn the Tide has a crew of five males and five females and appears to have been selected on the basis of political correctness - as would be expected of a crew dedicated to promoting a United Nations 'Clean Seas' campaign message.
Turn the Tide on Plastics also has a youth-focused, gender-balanced crew - which by definition will initially lack the experience of some of the other teams. In this light, their seventh place, close to beating one of the pre-race favourites, is a very good achievement.
The other surprise was the performance of Team AkzoNobel, which was in the middle of the fleet - where the close racing took place on this leg. For all their pre-race turmoil and literally having to pick up a new crew member dockside just before the start, placing fourth and over three hours ahead of Team Brunel was a very good effort in the circumstances.
 | | Peter Burling - Leg 01, Alicante to Lisbon, day 04, on board Brunel. Photo by Martin Keruzore/Volvo Ocean Race. Volvo Ocean Race |
As we saw in Bermuda with the 35th America's Cup, the Leg was manipulated to provide a Saturday finish - conveniently in the early afternoon.
While one can appreciate the organisers desire to provide a spectacle for fans and the like, it is frustrating for those trying to take the race seriously to find the course being lengthened by 200nm mid-race, and for this to be kept reasonably confidential - even though the boats may have been informed.
It does make the race look like a piece of exhibition sailing first and a round the world race second.
It was a similar situation in Bermuda, where the sailing schedule was dictated by ticket sales - underlined with the change in the regatta director's demeanour when racing was staged on a 'non-scheduled' day. Suddenly he was able to start when he liked, finish when he liked and was constrained only by the maximum number of races allowed to be sailed in a day in the Protocol, provided he had permission the night before and advised the teams.
The whole situation got out of perspective later in the series, when the promotion aimed at Bermudians told them that the entertainment was starting at the America's Cup village at 4.00pm and listed out the headline acts - and then mentioned that if you got there by 2.00pm, you could also see some America's Cup racing.
| | NZ's Molly Meech and Alex Maloney - day 3 - Enoshima sailing Week, October 2017 Junichi Hirai/ Bulkhead magazine © |
To be fair, the 'entertainment' included a lot of local talent who might not have had an international profile - and pulled big crowds. The quality of the talent was quite outstanding and well worth the admission - but this was supposed to be the America's Cup :-)
Hopefully, this leg extension practice won't become a regular part of the Volvo Ocean Race just to get early afternoon finishes.
On the entertainment side of the Volvo Ocean Race, what a breath of fresh air to have the video coming off Scallywag SHK with David Witt - one of the real characters of the sport injecting himself into the reports. We have compiled a few of these into a story in this edition - and also included his epic sail in the 18ft skiffs on the Waitemata harbour which is one of the epic pieces of television.
 | | Jack emptying his food pot. Photo by Rich Edwards. Volvo Ocean Race |
New Zealand sailors should come away from the just concluded Enoshima Olympic Week feeling well pleased with their placings.
Two Gold medals and two Bronze medals is a very good result.
Sure some critics will be quick to point out that this is the immediate post-Olympic year, and the fleets are a bit soft as the rockstars of the Rio Olympics take a time-out.
However, when putting together a program for 2020, 2017 and 2018 are probably the most critical years.
The idea is to get the good places in the first round of regattas in 2017, and in then 2018 make sure that you stay there That is easy to say, but for new talent that is going to make the grade in 2020, it is quite an achievable goal.
Of course, the Olympic Qualifier is in August 2018 in Denmark - and making the grade for 2020 two years out from the Olympic regatta is a vital first step.
 | | Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn - Day 3 - Enoshima sailing Week, October 2017 Junichi Hirai/ Bulkhead magazine © |
At this stage, New Zealand's Olympic team looks to be even thinner than 2016, where we were represented in just seven classes - despite having qualified in all ten in the 2014 World Sailing Championships in Santander, Spain.
Although on the other side of the ledger, at this stage there are six classes that even on the most conservative basis would have to be currently ranked as serious Medal potential.
The other pleasing aspect is that in several of those classes New Zealand is starting to build some real depth of talent - meaning that the current top tier gets pushed sailing at home, and can have a very hard summer of sailing and training against world-ranked New Zealand domiciled competitors.
We also pleased to be able to report that Lone Wolf - How Emirates Team New Zealand stunned the World, is selling very well. With just three and a half days of sales, it reached 4 on the Non-Fiction Best Seller list for New Zealand for the week ended October 21 - there were three cooking titles ahead of it - which always dominate this section.
 | | Leg 01, Alicante to Lisbon, day 05, on board MAPFRE. End of the day and the wind doesn't seem to go up again, althought we still fighting against the waves. 26 October, 2017 © Ugo Fonolla / Volvo Ocean Race |
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Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
sailworldnzl@gmail.com
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 | | Leg 1 – Alicante to Lisbon arrivals – Volvo Ocean Race © Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race |
 | | Charlie Enright (USA) driving on Day 5 – Volvo Ocean Race Vestas 11th Hour (USA) © James Blake / Volvo Ocean Race |
 | | 2017 29er Eurocup - Day 3 © Elena Giolai/Fraglia Vela Riva |
 | | 28 October, 2017 - Vestas 11th Hour Racing wins Leg 1 in Lisbon - 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race © Jesus Renedo / Volvo Ocean Race |
 | | Mens Laser - Day 2 Enoshima Olympic Sailing Week - October 2017 Junichi Hirai/ Bulkhead magazine © |
 | | Race 4 – Appliancesonline was amongst the leading group all day – 18ft Skiffs Spring Championship © Frank Quealey / Australian 18 Footers League |
 | | Race 4 – De_Longhi and Triple M lead the fleet om the run home – 18ft Skiffs Spring Championship © Frank Quealey / Australian 18 Footers League |
 | | Final day – China Cup International Regatta © China Cup / Studio Borlenghi |
 | | Final day – Match Racing World Championship © Ian Roman / WMRT |
 | | MAPFRE - Leg 01, Alicante to Lisbon. Photo by Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race. 28 October, 2017. Volvo Ocean Race |
 | | David Witt (AUS) - Leg 01, Alicante to Lisbon arrivals. Photo by Jesus Renedo/Volvo Ocean Race. 28 October, 2017. Volvo Ocean Race |
A QandA with John Craig about the Extreme Sailing Series Los Cabos event
David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor, 
Now in its 11th season, the Extreme Sailing Series's calendar features eight different Acts set in Muscat, Qingdao, Madeira Islands, Barcelona, Hamburg, Cardiff, San Diego and Los Cabos. I caught up with John Craig, Race Director of the Extreme Sailing Series, via email, ahead of the Los Cabos Act to learn more about this high-octane event.... [more]
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