SPEEDBOAT 04 - Hull 3

Footage of the outer skin being laminated onto Speedboats hull at the Cookson Boats factory in Auckland, NZ.

SPEEDBOAT 03 - Hull 2

Footage of the nomex core being fitted and glued to the first skin of Speedboats hull at the Cookson Boats factory in Auckland, NZ.

Motivation

In these difficult times - we can always do with a little bit of positive motivation.

SPEEDBOAT 02 - Hull 1

Footage of Speedboat's hull mould construction and first skin lamination process at Cookson.

Speedboat 01

First clip in a series of videos on the build of Speedboat at Cooksons, NZ.

CFD on the wing

This video gives a brief overview of some of the CFD work Applied Fluid Technologies (www.appliedfluidtech.com) has done BMW Oracle Racing team, the winner of the 33rd America's Cup.

Coutts wins RC44 fleet racing

Stronger winds shuffle the standings and make the docks resemble pit lane.
BMW ORACLE Racing skipper Jimmy Spithill and amateur helmsman Anders Myralf of Denmark rode the strength of all single-digit finishes to push their yacht 17 in the lead for the RC 44 Fleet Race World Championship for the Islas Canarias Puerto Calero Cup...

Russell Coutts enjoying the CAVA after winning the RC44' fleet racing in Puerto Calero. Foto: Nico Martínez

RC 44 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ISLAS CANARIAS PUERTO CALERO CUP

Fleet Racing (after 10 races)

1. BMW ORACLE Racing (USA) Jose Juan/Russell Coutts – 2-5-2-3-5-4-11-10-4-3 – 49

2. 17 (USA) Anders Myralf/Jimmy Spithill – 3-11-1-1-7-3-2-7-12-7 – 54 points

3. No Way Back (NED) Pieter Heerema/Ray Davies – 5-6-8-2-4-1-10-4-6-9 – 55

4. Team Sea Dubai (UAE) Harm Müller-Spreer/Markus Wieser – 4-1-12-10-1-9-7-9-3-2 – 58

5. Katusha (RUS) Guennadi Timtchenko/Paul Cayard – 13-7-10-5-2-7-3-5-5-1 – 58

6. Ceeref (SLO) Igor Lah/Rod Davis – 11-8-3-6-3-10-4-3-7-6 – 61

7. Artemis (SWE) Torbjorn Tornqvist/Terry Hutchinson – 10-3-5-4-8-8-6-2-9-8 – 65*

8. Team Aqua (UAE) Chris Bake/Cameron Appleton – 6-10-7-8-13-12-9-1-1-4 – 69*

9. Mascalzone Latino (ITA) Vincenzo Onorato/Francesco Bruni – 1-9-9-9-10-5-14-13-2-5 – 79*

10. AEZ RC 44 Sailing Team (AUT) René Mangold/Christian Binder – 8-13-4-11-6-13-1-11-8-11 – 86

11. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP) Daniel Calero/Jose Maria Ponce – 7-2-13-13-9-6-8-8-11-12 – 89

12. Peninsula Petroleum (ESP) John Bassadone/Inaki Castaner – 12-4-6-7-12-2-14-12-13-10 – 92

13. Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS) Maxim Logutenko/Evgeniy Neugodnikov – 9-12-11-12-11-11-5-6-10-13 – 100

(*Points total includes 2-point penalty for on-water infraction)

Final Standings (including match and fleet racing)

1. 17 1-2 – 3 points

2. BMW ORACLE Racing 3-1 – 4

3. No Way Back 6-3 – 9

4. Katusha 4-5 – 9

5. Artemis 2-7 – 9

6. Sea Dubai 8-4 – 12

7. Ceeref 7-6 – 13

8. Aqua 5-8 – 13

9. Mascalzone Latino 9-9 – 18

10. AEZ RC 44 Sailing Team 10-10 – 20

11. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero 11-11 – 22

12. Peninsula Petroleum 12-12 – 24

13. Synergy 13-13 – 26

More on http://www.rc44.com

AC 45 production

Iain Murray, the newly-appointed CEO of ACRM, has paid a visit to New Zealand and the Core Builders facility where work is underway on the first AC45 catamaran.

The first boat is due to be launched before Christmas, with initial sea trials are planned immediately afterward. Representatives from potential challengers to the 34th America's Cup will be invited to participate.

The video below was shot with Iain during his visit to Core Builders in Warkworth, New Zealand

Lewmar signs J-Class

(Source: Lewmar)

Lewmar has announced the signing of the latest of the new-generation J-Class yachts, Yankee. She will feature a full set of Lewmar aluminium high performance racing winches, and a compliment of satin-blast stainless deck hardware. Designed by Dykstra & Partners Naval Architects, Yankee will be built at Holland Jachtbouw alongside the fully Lewmar-equipped J-Class, Rainbow.

The Lewmar Team has a long association with the J- Class, and Yankee will benefit from the breadth of custom design experience. With previous projects including Velsheda, Shamrock, Endeavour, Hanuman, Lionheart and Rainbow, Lewmar has worked with both designers and skippers to develop a series of cutting edge solutions for the demanding performance requirements of a modern J-Class racing yacht.

“Having supplied deck gear to the older, steel-hulled J-Class yachts, we are naturally very excited to be involved in the next generation of aluminium-hulled J-Class racers”, commented Matt Johnston, Lewmar's Sales and Marketing Director. “Having recently set up our new Custom Division in Holland headed up by Hendrik van der Linde, we have seen a noted increase in both performance cruiser and superyacht project signings.”

ABOUT LEWMAR MARINE LTD Lewmar is the world's premier leisure marine equipment supplier, designing, manufacturing and distributing products including anchors, winch, windlass, hatch, hardware, rigging, steering, and thrusters. The Company is the most recognized name in recreational boating deck equipment. In 2006, the Lewmar OneTouch winch handle won the top DAME award, the most globally competitive prize for marine equipment, at the Marine Equipment Trade Show in Amsterdam. Manufacturing is located in the U.K. and the U.S. Lewmar sells through a worldwide network of agents and distributors

NAVTEC Go big!

(source: Navtec)

Navtec's fully equipped rod and fibre rigging facility based close to Cannes on the south of France has just completed building a full replacement set of rigging for the 88m, 3 masted French commercial superyacht 'Le Ponnant'.

Emphasis on quality, delivery and value for money
The rigging package has been completed on schedule within a tight timeframe 2 months after receipt of order. This achievement marks the start of an initiative to ensure that Navtec once again becomes the number one choice for rigging and service within the superyacht industry with the emphasis on quality, delivery and value for money.

The Navtec team is proud of what they have achieved. Navtec's USA facility has pulled out engineering resources over the August holiday period to redesign, build and produce all the components to a high superyacht standard and the local team have done a great job assembling and heading all the rigging elements. We look forward to the successful completion of the project when the rigs are re-stepped later next month.

Back to the future 2013?

Can this...

become this by 2013?

(Must be an image from the past with a dinosaur floating around!)

They managed it here.. so no reason why we don't see big change somewhere

Evolution Of A Race

A Brief History of the Volvo Ocean Race and the Whitbread Round the World Race 1973-74 to 2008-09 - to whet your appetite ahead of the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12. Featuring the stars such as Sir Peter Blake on Steinlager, Ken Read on PUMA, and even a trophy presentation by Diana, Princess of Wales. Expect more like this to be uploaded to the Official Volvo Ocean Race YouTube Channel in the future. Get all the latest updates on www.VolvoOceanRace.com

Extreme series end

Paul Campbell-James Wins Final Round To Claim Overall Extreme Sailing Series™ 2010
Tuesday, 12th October 2010, Almeria, Spain: British skipper Paul Campbell-James and his crew on board The Wave, Muscat has won the final event in Almeria of the 2010 Extreme Sailing Series™ securing overall victory in the 2010 series, beating pre-season favourites Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (Yann Guichard).

The fourth season of the Extreme Sailing Series™ came to a close in Almeria after 130 races, across five European venues, 'stadium' racing in front of tens of thousands of spectators. The 2011 Extreme Sailing Series™, one of just four circuits with ISAF's Special Event Status, has already been confirmed with an eight event global circuit across Europe, the USA, the Far East and GCC region.

The Kiwis finished well down the pack ' steep learning curve ahead for them.

Sail area reduction for the AC72

We now have a suitable proposal to incorporate into the AC72 Class Rule regarding a wing area reduction method. After performing additional research into the feasibility of the previous 4m removable tip concept, we concluded that this concept would not significantly improve the safety and controllability of an AC72 in higher winds, and therefore eliminated the removable tip in the latest draft (2.0) of the AC72 Class Rule released Oct 6.

Attached are diagrams showing the wing measurement grid and conceptual sailplans for the standard and small wings. The small wing will effectively be very similar in profile of the standard wing but with the height reduced by approximately 10 meters. We believe this wing reduction method includes the following benefits over other choices:

1. A reduction of 10m in wing height will significantly improve the safety and controllability of an AC72 in higher wind speeds. The minimum hull-flying true wind speed is estimated to increase from approximately six knots (with the 40m wing and Code 0) to twelve knots with the 30m tall wing without headsail.
2. Competitors can utilize existing lower sections of the wing spar and simply add a new, smaller upper section of wing spar.
3. Competitors could convert a standard wing to the small wing while using as much of the standard wing parts as possible.
4. When a small wing is used, only one Gennaker is to be on board the yacht.

To me this just looks messy and a bit disorganised ' prove me wrong!

AC 45 progress

Cookson Boats and other key suppliers have been engaged to work with Core Builders to ensure swift production of the first batch of boats at a rate of two a month. Another designated boatbuilder in the USA or Europe is envisaged.

RC 44 in Lanzarote

Russell Coutts talks about the starting of the RC44 event in Lanzarote.

[Source: RC44 Class Association] The first three medals of the inaugural RC 44 World Championship for the Islas Canarias Puerto Calero Cup were awarded today in recognition of the match racing portion of the regatta.

Jimmy Spithill and the 17 crew won the gold, Terry Hutchinson and Artemis the silver and Russell Coutts and BMW ORACLE Racing the bronze.

Spithill, a winner in 2005 of the ISAF World Match Racing Championship, defeated Hutchinson 2-0 to claim the championship that began yesterday afternoon and concluded today.

"It feels fantastic, very satisfying. We were up against some tough conditions and top competition," said the 31-year-old Spithill, who won his first match racing regatta on the RC 44 circuit. "As a team we’re sailing a lot better than when we first came into the class this year. Before this event we did a lot of preparation with our coach, Philippe Presti, and our teammates."

Both races were sailed in light, streaky winds. Spithill and 17 won yesterday’s race with breathing room, but were under pressure to follow it up today. The 17 crew fell behind on the first leg and trailed for most of the race before nipping Artemis at the finish by 1 second.

"It’s like a swift kick in the crotch," said the ever-honest Hutchinson. "Credit to Jimmy and those guys for doing what they had to do. We sailed a loose race and tried to pick the shifts. Some went for us and some against, but we still led at the last top mark comfortably."

Coutts and his BMW ORACLE Racing crew won the bronze medal by defeating Paul Cayard and Katusha by a similar score of 2-0.

Coutts and crew held a slim lead at the first windward mark of their second race. After the rounding both boats performed a jibe set to starboard tack, but Katusha had trouble completing the maneuver and had to jibe back to port. That allowed BMW ORACLE Racing to gain control through the rest of the match.

"We’re pretty happy," said mainsail trimmer Dirk de Ridder. "The conditions were real dodgy. Yesterday we had a huge lead, like half a leg, and only won by one length. That’s part of sailing in these conditions."

In other racing, Cameron Appleton led Team Aqua to fifth place by defeating Ray Davies and No Way Back, 2-0.

Rod Davis and Ceeref defeated Markus Wieser and Sea Dubai also by a 2-0 score to place seventh and relegate Sea Dubai to eighth.

Racing resumes tomorrow with the commencement of fleet racing. All 13 boats will line up with amateur helmsmen in a series scheduled through Saturday with a maximum of four races per day.

RC 44 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ISLAS CANARIAS PUERTO CALERO CUP
Match Racing Final

1. 17 (USA) Jimmy Spithill – 8-1
2. Artemis (SWE) Terry Hutchinson – 6-3
3. BMW ORACLE Racing (USA) Russell Coutts – 5-3
4. Katusha (RUS) Paul Cayard – 3-5
5. Team Aqua (UAE) Cameron Appleton – 7-2
6. No Way Back (NED) Ray Davies – 4-4
7. Ceeref (SLO) Rod Davis – 5-3
8. Team Sea Dubai (UAE) Markus Weiser – 4-5
9. Mascalzone Latino (ITA) Vincenzo Onorato
10. AEZ RC 44 Sailing Team (AUT) Christian Binder
11. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP) Daniel Calero
12. Peninsula Petroleum (ESP) John Bassadone
13. Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS) Evgeniy Neugodnikov

Bloodcam

Onboard race action with Phil 'Bloodsie' Jameson (Mid Bow) TP52 World Championship 2010

Produced by Keith Brash for Quantum T.V, Video by Phil Jameson
Quantum Sails: www.quantumsails.com/Racing/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Quantum-Racing/84 727408409?ref=ts

Final Delivery

Final delivery of the good ship! We take her to rest in Burriana!

Produced by Keith Brash for Quantum T.V
Quantum Sails: www.quantumsails.com/Racing/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Quantum-Racing/84 727408409?ref=ts

Barcolana regatta winner

Esimit Europa 2 won the 42nd Barcolana regatta and among the 1852 entrants and thousands of spectators set the new record time on 16.8 miles long course, which is 56 minutes and 13 seconds.

Igor Simcic and his all-star crew started off perfectly and soon took the lead, sailing in average at about 15 knots. Glorious victory by the side of fantastic atmosphere in Trieste was very well deserved – experienced team prepared great tactics and did their best to get maximum of yacht’s performance. Congratulations team!!!

More on www.esimit.com

Departing....

With the departure of most of the teams in Valencia imminent, could this be the last time we see a big event in Valencia? There wont be a healthy pool of Cup sailors to tap into anymore and much has been said about the lacking infrastructure for visiting yachts. Great work by Sander van der Borch for Artemis.

Around the docks

Cameo appearance from Sir Russell.... some of the people spotted around the dock in Valencia this week. Nice video from Jesus Renedo.

WMRT Play of the day

Canfield v Monnin
Flight 4 Match 2 from the Argo Gold Cup

Radich vs Ainslie in the final tomorrow - a re-run of the Stena Match Cup final Sweden! Place your bets now...

Quantum celebrate

The victorious Quantum crew celebrating their victory

09 10 2010, TP52 World Championship Valencia 2010 © Nico Martinez/WSM

Quantum Racing did what they had to do win their second TP52 World title in three years, containing the 2009 world champions - the spirited, never-say-die Matador crew -through today’s one showdown, final race of the TP52 World Championship off Valencia.

The long delay, waiting for enough of a settled breeze to allow competition to take place, only one race was possible, starting at 1517hrs.

With a points cushion which meant that only one of these two could win the title, andQuantum Racing holding a three points cushion, the last race proved to be a tough head-to-head, match race as fully befits the America’s Cup waters.

While their title duel certainly warranted top billing, so too there were a set of supporting matches in the flukey 5-7 knots breeze - private battles and tussles to settle final results throughout the nine boat fleet.

The other key match was for third. Russia’s Synergy were seeking revenge over Artemis(SWE) with whom they tied for third on points in Palma last year. This time it was Synergy who prevailed, countback for third on the podium favouring their two race wins.

Matador were forced on to the back foot off the line when they jumped the gun, forced to re start. Though they did so swiftly and efficiently, Quantum Racing were immediately in a position to work them left, all the way the port tack lay line.

Whilst Bigamist (POR) went on to finish their season in style, winning the last TP52 race of the season, the title fighters rounded the first turn with Quantum Racing in eighth andMatador ninth.

Whilst Quantum Racing did good work herding Matador back into the darker depths of the fleet, the biggest threat arose when the duels ahead of them slowed, offering Matador half a chance of escaping back into the fleet.

But they crossed the finish with Alberto Roemmers’ team eighth and Doug DeVos’Quantum Racing in ninth, enough to the give the title to the American flagged team by two points.

For Quantum Racing it completes an unmatched record of two world titles in three years, and a second, only losing out last year on countback to Matador, and adds the perfect final flourish in their final race with the Botin Carkeek designed boat in which they won the Audi MedCup title in 2008 and finished runners-up in 2009 and this season.

Finishing in fourth place, just ahead of their arch-rivals was enough for the Russian team to take third, but illustrating just how close it was also in the body of the fleet, only one point separated Synergy from sixth placed Cristabella, with Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis (SWE) fourth, and Audi A1 powered by All4ONE (FRA/GER) fifth.

TP52 World Championship 2010
Final Results

1. Quantum Racing (USA) - Terry Hutchinson (USA), 1+3+3+1+4+7,5+2+19= 31,5 points
2. Matador (ARG) - Alberto Roemmers (ARG), 4+2+5+3+5+1,5+3+2+8= 33,5

3. Synergy (RUS) - Eugeni Neugodnikov (RUS), 5+1+1+2+7+6+10(DSQ)+4+5= 41
4. Artemis (SWE) - Torbjorn Tornqvist (SWE), 3+5+2+4+1+9+7+6+4= 41
5. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE (FRA/GER) - Jochen Schuemann (GER), 2+10(DSQ)+8+6+2+4,5+4+3+2= 41,5

6. Cristabella (GBR) - John Cutler (NZL), 6+4+4+7+9+3+1+5+3= 42
7. Bigamist 7 (POR) - Afonso Domingos (POR), 7+6+6+5+3+10,5+5+8+1= 51,5
8. Pace (GBR) - Johnny Vincent (GBR), 9+8+7+10(DSQ)+6+12+6+7+7= 72
9. Weapon of Choice (GBR) - Tom Wilson (GBR), 8+7+9+8+8+13,5+8+9+6= 76,5

Quantum win TP 52 Worlds

Bigamist crosses finish line first, then Audi A1, Cristabella and Artemis! Matador crosses ahead of Quantum but no boats in between. So Quantum crew raise their fists and salute their supporters!!...Quantum Racing, TP52 World Champion 2010. Congratulations!

Day 5 - Alberto Roemmers (Matador) congratulates Terry Hutchinson (Quantum Racing) for their victory.

TP52 World Championship 2010 Valencia © Carmen Hidalgo/WSM

Ed Reynolds and Terry Hutchinson celebrate their victory

TP52 World Championships Valencia 2010 © Carmen Hidalgo/WSM

Quantum Racing and Matador battling for glory

09 10 2010, TP52 World Championship Valencia 2010 © Nico Martinez/WSM

DAY 5 - Quantum Racing looking happy around the course

09 10 2010, TP52 World Championship Valencia 2010 © Nico Martinez/WSM

Quantum Racing and Matador battling for glory

09 10 2010, TP52 World Championship Valencia 2010 © Nico Martinez/WSM

Quantum Racing and Matador battling for glory

09 10 2010, TP52 World Championship Valencia 2010 © Nico Martinez/WSM

Day 5 - Synergy

09 10 2010, TP52 World Championship Valencia 2010 © Nico Martinez/WSM

Day 5 - Bigamist

09 10 2010, TP52 World Championship Valencia 2010 © Nico Martinez/WSM

Argo Gold Cup drama

So... the final ruling: The three-way tie hinged on the jury’s decision that the countback should include all races sailed to date, not just those in the Play-Off. That means Ian Williams goes home, while Adam Minoprio and Ben Ainslie go through to the Quarter-Finals!! What a day!

After today’s frustrations, anger and confusion, it was back down to business in Stage 8 of the World Match Racing Tour this afternoon where the top-placed skippers in each qualifying group chose their opponent for the knockout Quarter-Finals.

Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team had the privilege of choosing first, picking Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing. “All the skippers here are very strong, so it was a very tough choice but the rifle ended up pointing at Reuben.”

Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Racing Team was next to choose, plumping for the other young skipper left in the running, Taylor Canfield (USA). This left Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, winner of the third group in the Qualifiers, facing a giant dilemma to choose between Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN and Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team: “Johnie won this event two years ago, and Adam and Ben were in the finals last year but after discussing it at length we decided on Johnie.”

Minoprio must feel like Ainslie is his arch nemesis this week as he is once again pitched against the British team who have turned them over twice already in Bermuda. Commenting on the challenge ahead, Minoprio said: “We raced Ben in Group 2 of the Qualifiers and again in the Play-Off. Those matches didn’t go our way but we’ve improved as the event has progressed and we’re going to give it everything we’ve got.”

Quarter Final pairings:
Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team vs Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing
Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Racing Team vs Taylor Canfield (USA)
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team vs Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team
Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN vs Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing

Heli cat

BOR testing out new logistical transport methods for the 34th or Hydroptere on the way to her launch from Decision?

Quantum Bullet

Race action from TP52 World Championship 2010!

Produced by Keith Brash for Quantum T.V
Quantum Sails: www.quantumsails.com/Racing/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Quantum-Racing/84 727408409?ref=ts

More from the other Boss

Can you spot Alex all Hugo Bossed up?

The Boss

And she isn't slow either!! Some funky thinking going on there with the new Hugo Boss.

ACRM Board close to complete

(Source ACRM) America’s Cup Race Management Welcomes Board Appointees 7 October 2010, Valencia, Spain – As part of the continuing process toward establishing the neutral, independent, professional and fair race management entity to run the 34 th America’s Cup and AC World Series regattas, America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM) today welcomed the appointment of two directors by the World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA) to the five-person ACRM Board of Directors.

James Farmer (NZL), a Trustee of Emirates Team New Zealand, and Mikhail Tuzov (RUS), a founding member of the Synergy team, were nominated by the WSTA board this week at a meeting in Valencia, Spain.

“ACRM welcomes the appointments of James Farmer and Mikhail Tuzov as WSTA’s board representatives to ACRM,” said Iain Murray, ACRM CEO and Regatta Director of the 34 th America’sCup. “This brings us one step closer to formalizing ACRM and moving forward on preparations for running the 34 th America’s Cup regatta. The Board will play an important part in assuring a fair competition for all.” Murray was appointed Regatta Director last month and serves as CEO of ACRM which is still in the early stages of its formation. The ACRM is being established by the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), the current America’s Cup Trustee, as a perpetual entity to run fair racing for the benefit of all competitors.

The Protocol Governing the 34 th America’s Cup calls for a five-member ACRM Board consisting of: the Regatta Director (who also serves as Chief Executive), one person appointed by the Defender, one person appointed by the Challenger of Record, and two persons appointed by WSTA. The Defender and Challenger of Record representatives are expected to be announced soon.

Mikhail Tuzov is a businessman, engineer and investor in Russia who was among the founders of the Synergy Russian Sailing Team, which has successfully competed in the TP52 Class on the Audi MedCup circuit and in the Louis Vuitton Trophy.James Farmer is a Barrister and Queen’s Counsel in New Zealand and has been a Director and Trustee with Emirates Team New Zealand since 2004. He was the team’s representative on the Challenger Commission during the 32 nd America’s Cup. The complete ACRM Board is expected to be in place later this month and plans to convene for the first time in advance of a Competitors’ briefing scheduled for 22 nd October in Paris.

ed With all this - can the Cup get back to this?

Coastal Race Images

Day 3 - Coastal Race - Boats finish the race inside the port

TP52 World Championship Valencia 2010 © Enrico Fager/Audi MedCup and © Nico Martinez/WSM

Check out the results and more at http://www.tp52worldchampionship.org