last day....and the fleet race championship....

for the Plymouth leg of the ACWS takes place this afternoon at 3pm. I haven't been able to make head nor tail of the courses as they seem to change according to the weather conditions at the time. I was very impressed with the 'Big Screen' commentary and live camera work up on on the Hoe yesterday though. Really impressive. i do have some video material which I need to put together over the next few weeks but in the meantime....here are the shots from the AWCS that are slightly different and non AC45 related

medical boats

marker boats

boats for the World's press

TV cameras and reporters

crowds at the village

a pause to catch breath for support crews

maintaining boats

'getting the prime location to see it all'

Crowds on the Hoe

a tent village in Millbay docks

some awesome cutting edge technology

time to play baseball!

a World wide communication centre

a bolt hole to retreat to for bacon butties and tea

the restored Lido

rather breezy at times

constant changing of courses

excited spectators from all parts of Europe and the UK

remembering to dodge the Ferry

ignoring the harbour speed limits

chaos on the water

thrills....and some spills

pain, sweat, frustrations, and bags of commitment

ancient castles and modern boats

low flying helicopters

crowds on very vantage point

desperately wishing you had a ticket for a seat on THAT boat

or even for this one

floating advertising

umpires and race officials

the sight of the Missus actually coming to a boating event with me.....wow!

rain, rain and more rain.....

getting out the big guns!

dodging those rain bands

music lovers

constant updates

live bands on the Hoe after the races

I've just realised something......................it is going to be very boring around here next week!

ACWS people, we have loved having you in Plymouth. It has been a joy and privilege sharing your trials, tribulations and successes with you. We hope we have done you proud. You have certainly done that for us.

THANK YOU  for coming to share your lives with us and we hope that you will come back again one day and do it all again.

ACWS sailors and support teams - Plymouth salutes you!

and it was almost a fairy tale ending

..........but not quite. Team Korea, a nearly all British crew, couldn't quite do it and came second in the ACWS Plymouth match racing leg, to the bookies favourite Team New Zealand.  having won both quarter and semi final heats......they looked slightly exhausted. team New Zealand didn't have any races before hand. well that's the way the cookie crumbles and of course, the New Zealand skipper is more experienced.

Today was thrilling racing and around 25,000 lined Plymouth Sound again. It has been a fantastic week and we are all looking to the fleet race finale tomorrow. So, here for your enjoyment, are my best shots of the day.

Steve

Umpires boat and countdown clock to first race

match racing: two boats go head to head

whilst support crews and coach boats look on

burning 4000 calories in an afternoon's races

the fittest of the fit

jumping from one side to another constantly

all under the scrutiny of helicopters

Artemis showing a fast turn of speed

as helicopters get lower and lower to get those 'head on' shots

the ex navy seal umpires whizz about on upgraded jet ski's

Team china warming up for their match race

whilst getting some coaching encouragement

thousands watch on the big screen on the Hoe

Team Korea......almost but not quite....but wow, didn't they do well

at some starts boats are less than a metre apart

Tomorrow, shots and videos from this weekend and a selection of the odd shots I've taken over the week.

well who would have thought it

The Skippers

New kids on the block Team Korea seem to be doing pretty well!!

Match race spectacular


Team Korea wins three in a row to advance to the semis, while both ORACLE Racing crews are knocked out on the first day of match racing.



QUALIFYING RACES

Green Comm Racing defeat Aleph; 1-0

Team Korea defeat China Team; 1-0

ORACLE Racing Spithill defeat Green Comm Racing; 1-0

Team Korea defeat ORACLE Racing Spithill; 1-0

Team Korea defeat Energy Team; 1-0



SEMI FINAL ONE

Emirates Team New Zealand defeat ORACLE Racing Coutts; 2-1

Here is the report from ACWS team about today:

Today was always going to see six teams knocked out of contention for the Plymouth Match Racing Championships title, but the big surprise was that both ORACLE Racing boats would be among them.

After beating China Team in his opening match of the day, Chris Draper and Team Korea pounced on ORACLE Racing Spithill when his team was struggling with a faulty jib clutch. Once Spithill fell behind, the Korean team never looked like giving up their surprise lead and went on to take an upset victory. Then, the Koreans dispatched Energy Team to move into the semi-final phase tomorrow; a best-of-three match against Artemis Racing.

The first Semi-Final between Emirates Team New Zealand and ORACLE Racing Coutts, brought two former team mates head to head, Russell Coutts and his fellow Kiwi and former apprentice Dean Barker. With each team scoring a come-from-behind win in the first two matches, it went down to the third before Dean Barker and the Kiwi team prevailed over the Defender in a close deciding race, to sail into the Final.

 

"We made it hard,” Barker said. “Those guys are pretty quick and start the boat well, and it was pretty close in all three races. But we're a lot happier with the way we finished off the last race.”

 

With another big crowd enjoying the racing from the seafront of Plymouth, the crowd witnessed many dramatic matches, starting with Green Comm Racing’s contest against Aleph when Vasilij Zbogar pounced on errors by the French team to move to the next phase.

 

Aleph now sit out the racing tomorrow, and will be scored as ninth place in the Match Racing Championship. Green Comm Racing sailed well against Spithill, but never really threatened the reigning America’s Cup skipper. The Spanish team goes up against China in tomorrow’s matches to decide seventh and eighth.

Team Korea dominated China Team in their match, leading from start to finish. Then Draper came from behind to win his next two races, first against Spithill and then against Energy Team. Loick Peyron’s start was excellent but handling errors allowed the Koreans back into the game. Draper seized his chance to earn his spot in the Semi-Finals.

 

Three victories from three matches was a perfect score for a team with very little match racing experience. It also marks the second time that Chris Draper has handed out a match racing lesson to the Defender, having also toppled Russell Coutts in Cascais a month earlier. "I've nothing against ORACLE,” said Draper. “We are trying to improve our match racing skill. The changing format has given us some more opportunity. Our experience in match racing is limited but we have some smart guys on board."

 

Spithill was generous in defeat: “Certainly Korea has caused some problems to ORACLE Racing but full credit to those guys. They hung in there. We had a few issues with the gear and we made a tactical error on the run. We got what we deserved.”

 

Tomorrow is another busy day as the Plymouth Match Racing Championships reaches its climax. First up is the best-of-three Semi Final between Team Korea and Artemis Racing, who sat out today’s competition after winning the fleet racing phase yesterday. Then come the matches to decide the minor placings, and then a best-of-three Finals.

copyright Ricardo Pinto

 

Of course, there is no need to point out that the winning team, TEAM Korea, is an all British crew..............but I'm going to anyway!!

I'll report for last time on ACWS tomorrow night. Tomorrow looks like its going to be real fun!!!!!!!!!!

Steve

ACWS update

It is hard being in school when you know that ACWS is going on 3 miles away!!

Here are some photographs from Wednesday and today - all copyright Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA

I'm trying to find out what happened here

nice to see that the crowds are still turning up even on a week day

Here are some video updates about the sailing too

Weather wise, it looks like the nice little high pressure lull is coming to an end - blustery and heavy showers for Saturday and Sunday....so I suspect going out in Arwen may not be an option for weekend viewing of the races

The weather forecast can be checked here

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/sw/sw_forecast_wind.html

I'm still trying to work out the race course from last weekend and will try and update tomorrow what the course was and what the new match racing course is for the weekend.

Steve

from AC 45's to small boats again

Remember 'Jaunty'? 'Jaunty' was Dave P's navigator in which he made some fantastic voyages. Well a new video clip has just appeared on YouTube of 'Jaunty' and here it is below

If you are tiring of my current obsession with the America's cup, firstly I apologise and secondly I hope this goes a little way to addressing the current imbalance. Enjoy.

I hope to get out in Arwen this weekend when I'll be able to report on the new outboard and some modifications to the lazy Jacks. Of course it will be weather AND America's Cup course dependant!!

I'd hate to have a collision with one of the AC 45's. One of the boats did stray outside the course on Sunday and there is a great bit on the local news about one poor spectator minding his own business at anchor inside one of the designated spectator zones (he was in a 19' white boat with a little cabin), when he heard loads of yelling. Sticking his head out of the cabin, he wasn't too amused to find a whacking big AC 45 about to wrap itself around his anchor warp!! I've never seen a guy in a small boat move so fast!!  Ah! the disadvantages of having on board cameras - they capture EVERYTHING!

Finally here is a dilemma..........I've been offered a place on one of the spectator boats for Sunday's final fleet 'winner takes all' race in the Sound.  Now Sunday is marking and work preparation day....so in the words of the song.....'should I stay or should I go now; should I stay or should I go now?'

Duty over sheer pleasure..........tough call!

Steve

well the damage is impressive.......

There seems to be plenty of fallout from Sunday’s racing.......and some thrills from today’s practice racing as well.

copyright Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA

China's unfortunate accident today

There have been some great quotes from the skippers about Sunday.....but  you need to see why first:

Russell Coutts, ORACLE Racing Coutts, on the importance of paying attention:

"A lot of things had your full attention today. You could screw up a tack and capsize today. It's good, it's a test of sailing skill, and that's what it's all about, isn't it? Wait until the fleet goes to San Francisco. We'll be racing in those conditions every day."

Chris Draper, Team Korea, on the moment of capsize:

"We knew we were slow when we went into the bear-away, knew it was a bit high risk. Not ideal to be practicing these things in a race, but good that it happened now, and a credit to our shore crew that they helped us get upright again and for us to finish the race."

 

Vasilij Zbogar, Green Comm Racing, falling in just moments before the finish:

"Capsizing at the end was really bad, but I guess we were very tired. It was the first time we sail in these hard conditions and first time racing in these conditions. For the first half we sailed very well, but the second half people were very tired, we started to make more mistakes. We wanted to play it safe and approach safely to the finish, but with these boats you can’t play it safely. You have to go 100% all the time otherwise you capsize. Unfortunately we capsized just before the finish but we could have capsized anywhere around the track."

Dean Barker, Emirates Team New Zealand, on the challenge of high wind racing:

"It all comes down to nailing the boat handling. Unfortunately we missed two tacks today, didn't take all our opportunities. But overall we are pleased. For us these events are all about developing our team, getting more and more comfortable sailing in multihulls. It’s nice to have a good variety of conditions because the conditions we’ve seen today are what we expect to see in San Francisco, so you’ve got to get comfortable in it."

James Spithill, ORACLE Racing Spithill, always looking for improvement even after winning:

"There are a few things we need to sharpen up on, but we're happy. Today was trying to be smooth. What's great about conditions today is that if you make a mistake you pay for it. And that's how it should be. It shouldn't be easy."

 

Bertrand Pacé, Aleph, thankful for a gracefully slow nosedive in front of the crowds in Plymouth:

"When we capsized it went over very slowly so everyone had time to hold on and so no one was injured."

All quotes are copyright of ACWS

In the meantime, as I said at the top, the China team capsized during a training sail today and whilst all crew are safe I think it’s safe to say the wing sail sustained a wee bit of damage!!

copyright Ricardo Pinto

copyright ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget

“Unfortunately the way the boat landed, the wind got under the wing and caused more damage. The boat then flipped over and over going downwind, from stern to bow, which was pretty exciting,” said Will Howden, a crew member on China Team. “A pretty nasty one but everyone's OK and that's the main thing."

copyright: AWCS


The China team’s shore crew will be working through the night in an effort to get the team to the start line tomorrow....so some people are going to have a long night ahead of them. Oracle and Artemis racing have offered to help out which is kinda nice....all pulling together.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericasCup#p/u/1/pukmrxX0THE

Despite all these great observations there have been some little niggly comments from crews surfacing in our press. Clearly one or two crews are finding Plymouth Sound somewhat restrictive and small. Apparently it is testing them and their boats to the full and they aren’t able to get nice long reaches. Without being disrespectful to any of them or the amazing effort and accomplishment of the whole America’s cup project and team.....so what? Surely that is the aim – to test the best sailors in the world fully!! Or am I missing a point somewhere? And surely what they have managed to do in just a few days here is turn it into a mass spectator sport and isn’t that a really good thing to do because latest figures released estimate that 28,000 people were around Plymouth Sound on Sunday watching the races!! There were 20,000 on the Hoe alone!!

despite the breeze (that is such an UNDERSTATEMENT - force 6 and rising!!) so many turned out on the Hoe and at Mountbatten, Jennycliffe and Bovisand

20,000 on the Hoe alone.....now for what is regarded as a rather 'exclusive' sport.....that is pretty cool!

Sunday was impressive and I understand how tough it must have been on the crews and boats. Three boats capsized but only one finished; Team Korea recovered from a spectacular nosedive capsize to get the boat upright and finish the race; whilst Aleph and Green Comm Racing were not so fortunate, being forced to retire after their capsizes.

Crews are reporting that conditions were the strongest winds they have ever sailed in. Well hey guys stick with it after all as one of you said above.........it’s what you’ll be facing in San Francisco – not the short legs but certainly the conditions...and if our little city Plymouth is proving a wee bit testing – well it’s all in good stead!!

Queen's Harbour Master bouncing around as he drives through the 'chop'

winds up to 30 kts made conditons' tricky'

I actually came home with windburn across my face.....glowing red like a tomato!

Chris Draper, Team Korea, put his bear-away and subsequent capsize to a “moment of madness”. “The boat wasn’t properly set up for the bear-away, and we were going slowly, but I’d reached this point where I thought we could get away with pretty much any bear-away in this boat,” said Draper. “Obviously that proved not to be the case!”

Draper praised his shore crew saying they moved the support boat into position to help right the AC 45 very quickly. He also explained that

“The thing is the wing is in danger of filling up with water and the longer the boat’s on its side the more likely the damage is going to increase. So there’s a double incentive to get the boat upright as quickly as you can - to preserve the boat and finish the race.”

I’ve only just learned and missed in my technical report yesterday (so sorry), that each AC 45 has the option of having righting lines tucked away under the trampoline net that can be used to help right the boat after a capsize. Team Korea was the only boat to have fitted righting lines, but after Sunday – well you can bet everyone will have them fitted by tomorrow!! When Adeph went over just off Mountbatten pier she drifted a long way into the Cattedown before the ribs managed to secure tow lines. You live and learn don’t you!!

one of the medical boats carrying divers and medic racing to one of the capsizes

Personally, I think all this is great. It gives a real ‘edge’ to the sailing and makes it a fantastic spectator sport. If it gets more people out onto the water to enjoy it and treasure it then surely that is a good thing.

Talking of which........................

The America’s Cup team on Monday’s ‘day off’ from racing focused on coastal conservation and marine protection, both locally in Plymouth, as well as in a global context. Skippers and team members gathered at our national marine aquarium in Plymouth to do some coastal conservation removing plastic, debris etc from some local beaches.
I quite like the quote from Vasilij Zbogar of Spain’s Green Comm Racing who said......

“The word green doesn't simply form part of the team's name, it also identifies its character. We want to show that you can still be environmentally friendly without compromising your competitiveness. That's why all the guys from the team went down to the beach and helped with the effort.”

copyright: Ricardo Pinto

Later in the day, attention shifted to the AC Sustainability Forum, a panel discussion featuring some of the leading lights in marine conservation and research. Moderated by Paul Cox, the Head of Science and Learning at the National Marine Aquarium, the Forum focused on Marine Protected Areas. These are a new thing across the UK and causing much debate and controversy between the sailing and conservation communities. I’ve reported on the case of Studland bay in a previous blog and received some nasty vitriol from both sailors and conservationists....but so what!

Jason Hall-Spencer, a marine biologist at the University of Plymouth, thinks.....

“We've got world class diving here in the south-west of England. We've got protected areas. Even Plymouth Sound is a protected area. The biggest mollusc in the UK is rare but it occurs off the Plymouth Hoe. As a protected area, you're not allowed to anchor yachts there. The message is getting through to harbor masters and others.”

copyright Ricardo Pinto

Dr. David Gibson, Managing Director, National Marine Aquarium noted that it’s up to each person to take responsibility for improving the health of the oceans.

“The single most effective change that people can make in their lives is reducing the carbon footprint in their homes,” said Dr. Gibson. “The biggest single threat to global eco-systems is climate change; that has the potential of destroying plankton and phytoplankton which are a major source of providing the oxygen which everyone needs.”

Craig Thompson, the CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority, said linking the competition for the oldest trophy in sport to the health of the world’s oceans was a natural fit.

“We at the America's Cup have a very unique opportunity that most sports don't have,” he said. “Our sport takes place on the ocean, our athletes love the sea and our boats use the power of the wind. So we thought, what a great opportunity to link the America's Cup with saving the world's oceans.”

I think these guys have the right idea. I think the case of Studland is special in that it is a safe anchorage in a very exposed coastline and sailors do need it as a bolt hole. As far as other MCZ’s go – I think generally they are a good thing as long as they are negotiated so that people who use our sea for a living do not lose out. Our fishermen have been badly hit in recent years by fishery policies which frankly are daft! I would not want to see them lose out further!

Steve