Blog Page – Page 43

February 15, 2016 By Jack Griffin

ETNZ’s Burling and Tuke continue 49er dominance

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke won the 2016 World Championships in the 49er, which ended yesterday, 14 February, in Clearwater, Florida. They have now won 23 49er regattas in a row, including the last four World Championships. The last time they were “beaten” was at the 2012 London Olympics, where they took the silver medal behind Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain “Goobs” Jensen, now with Artemis Racing.

Outteridge and Jensen were in second place going into the final, double points medal race in Clearwater, but an OCS (false start) in the medal race dropped them back to sixth place.

Emmett Lazich coaches Outteridge and Jensen, and believes they can win in Rio. It was Lazich who helped plan their buildup to the London Olympics. Burling and Tuke trained together with Outteridge and Jensen under Lazich’s guidance. He knew it would be a risk, possibly helping Burling and Tuke “too much” but the plan worked perfectly in 2012 with gold for the Aussies and silver for the Kiwis in London. Outteridge and Jensen went on to sail for Artemis in San Francisco in 2013 while Burling helmed the winning Kiwi boat in the 2013 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, with Tuke in the crew. Here’s Lazich in a video interview by Andy Rice during the Worlds last week.

Outteridge clearly has more demands on his time from Artemis than Burling does from ETNZ. He and Jensen should be able to prepare for Rio from May until the Games, in August. Even so, Burling and Tuke are the clear favorites.

We sailing fans get to witness a great rivalry being played out in the America’s Cup and in the Olympics. Let’s keep an eye on this!

February 15, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Team France skipper Franck Cammas on the mend

Groupama Team France skipper Franck Cammas is working hard in rehab and moving around with an “iWalk” hands free leg brace that lets him keep his injured right foot off the ground and walk without traditional crutches. Backup helmsman Adam Minoprio will be onboard at the AC World Series in Oman at the end of February, but Franck hopes to be sailing on the AC45F the following week during a training session in Oman. Read about Franck’s accident here.

Franck Cammas has been spending five to six hours per day in rehab in addition to going to the team’s offices for regular design meetings.

February 15, 2016 By Jack Griffin

America’s Cup World Series Oman 27-28 February 2016

Practice racing Friday 26 February. Two races per day for points are scheduled each day, Saturday and Sunday, 27-28 February.

In some countries you can watch the racing on the AC+ app. See what is available in your country here.

When ACEA publishes their list of TV broadcasters carrying the Oman event, I’ll post it on the the Cup Experience website.

February 8, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Team Updates: SoftBank Team Japan

Since late January, SoftBank Team Japan has been sailing the AC45X test boat they bought from Oracle. The are also buying Oracle’s design for their America’s Cup Class race boat. Their head of design, Nick Holroyd, formerly headed the design team at Emirates Team New Zealand.

Holoyd has pointed out that daggerboard design will be the highest priority.

The protocol allows teams to fit only four boards (two sets) into their AC Class race yacht. Design considerations include wind range, sea state and stability. When the race boat is launched, the first set of boards will be one of your two racing sets. There is little time for deciding on a final design for the second set of boards – It takes about three months to build a set of daggerboards.

Add to this the fact that contractors have specific build windows in which to construct these underwater carbon fiber wings and it becomes clear that every practice session on the water is precious.

SoftBank Team Japan testing with the AC45X test boat they bought from Oracle

Inspecting the damage to Team Japan’s AC45X test boat. Dean Barker reported that the damage was due to a “board system issue.” The damage is located near some important components of the hydraulics. Did this happen because of crew error? Or did it happen because of a design or build error?

Two Japanese crew members selected

After an intense selection process in Japan in December, Yugo Yoshida and Yuki Kasatani have joined SoftBank Team Japan. They were selected following a three-day tryout in Zushi, Japan where 22 Japanese athletes were put through rigorous fitness and sailing tests.

Yugo Yoshida is an Olympic 470 sailor. Yuki Kasatani is an oarsman.

February 8, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Team Updates: Groupama Team France

Since his training accident at the end of November, Franck Cammas has been spending a fair amount of time at the office, working with the design team. At the same time he has a rehab program that he hopes will allow him to sail again soon, although almost certainly not for the AC World Series in Oman at the end of February.

New color scheme

Groupama Team France now sports the traditional “bleu – blanc – rouge” of their country’s flag. While the green and orange of their old color scheme were certainly different, these colors are more to my liking.