Louis Vuitton America’s cup world series oman.
TOP OF THE GULF REGATTA
APRIL 30-MAY 4
THE 12TH TOP OF THE GULF Regatta (Apr 30-May 4), presented by Ocean Marina, will showcase the Gulf of Thailand’s world-class sailing credentials when sailors from around the world descend on Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Jomtien near Pattaya for the penultimate regatta in the AsianYachting Grand Prix series of championship events.
Asia’s largest multi-class regatta brings the region’s top racing boats and sailors to Southeast Asia’s biggest marina, Ocean Marina, to compete across 12 classes ranging from keelboats to multihulls, dinghies, optimists and windsurfs.
Joining the five keelboat and multihull classes is Asia’s largest onedesign competition, the Platu Coronation Cup, which sees entries from Russia, United Kingdom, Holland, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Thailand.
The region’s most diverse regatta of its kind is expecting to welcome more than 200 boats and 600 sailors at the Top of the Gulf this year, with the keelboats and multihull classes racing over four days and the dinghies, Thailand Optimist National Championships and RS:One Asian Championship racing over three days.
2016 SAMUI REGATTA
MAY 21-28
BOAT OWNERS AND SAILORS from around the world are heading to Thailand’s second largest island to compete in the 15th edition of the Samui Regatta, hosted by Centara Grand Breach Resort Samui, on Chaweng Beach.
The Samui event is the final event of the AsianYachting Grand Prix championship. A notable component of the Samui Regatta since day one has been the IRC racing classes.
Organisers expect another heavy dose of Hong Kong-based entries this year that feature many new designs among the racing boats.
“For some, the onshore part of the regatta is almost as important as what happens on the water and this year the local support from Samui businesses has been overwhelming,” says Race Director Simon James. “A number of new resorts have offered their support and we are excited to welcome back many long-term supporters and be working with them again. The regatta has really become a true community event.”
ROLEX CAPRI INTERNATIONAL REGATTA
MAY 24-28
THE ITALIAN ISLAND OF CAPRI is the perfect setting for one of the largest events dedicated to sailing.
Created by the Italian Yacht Club of Genoa in partnership with the Yacht Club Capri and the prestigious Circolo Canottieri Aniene of Rome, the Rolex Capri International Regatta marks the beginning of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week.
The four-day regatta will encompass various yacht classes and races, including superyacht races featuring staggered start times and coastal races.
South African shipyard Southern Wind will likely have a strong performance during the regatta, with 12-13 Southern Wind yachts arriving for the yard’s 25th Anniversary Rendezvous and Southern Wind Trophy, coinciding with Capri Sailing Week.
GIRAGLIA ROLEX CUP
JUNE 10-18
ROLEX’S EUROPEAN YACHTING season continues in mid-June with the 64th edition of the Giraglia Rolex Cup, which includes the Mediterranean’s oldest offshore race.
Following a first leg from Sanremo in Italy, the fleet will gather in Saint-Tropez, France, for three days of inshore competition before embarking on the main event, the 243-nautical-mile offshore race to Genoa via the Giraglia rock.
The final prize-giving ceremony offers a celebratory occasion, with a true demonstration of the competition’s spirit. Winners are awarded a Rolex timepiece alongside impressive trophies.
SIMPSON MARINE FOUR PEAKS RACE
HONG KONG’S ABERDEEN BOAT CLUB (ABC) welcomed this year’s rescheduled Simpson Marine Four Peaks Race (Feb 27-28). The forecast for the multisport race included light winds from every direction.
Philippe Delorme and his crew on Red Kite II finished first, followed by Glenn Smith’s Blackjack team less than half an hour later. Tolo’s runners, Skipper Jonny Cannon and long distance hill-runner Alex Orange, came in third.
The fickle weather kept up during the small hours, giving those lucky enough to be in southern Hong Kong waters three hours of steady force 3 northerlies before, again, shutting down and repeating the first days of sporadic and brief winds.
Delorme and his crew on Red Kite II put in a great race in incredibly testing conditions, finishing at 0406 on the second and final morning. They were hotly pursued by Glenn Smith’s Blackjack less than half an hour later.
At 0606, still just hanging on to the leading pack, came Tolo’s runners. The remaining four boats trickled in slowly over the course of Sunday morning. The leading boats had shown that whatever the winds, the Four Peaks Race is a challenge of endurance, skill, cunning and smart tactics.
www.abclubhk.com/Four_Peaks_Race_2016.aspx
LOUIS VUITTON AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES OMAN
DECORATED OLYMPIC sailor Ben Ainslie led his Land Rover BAR team to victory at the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Oman (Feb 27-28).
Ainslie beat his former skipper Jimmy Spithill on Oracle Team USA by two points, with the winning margin secured on a late charge in the final race. Emirates Team New Zealand came in third.
With a third place result in Oman, Emirates Team New Zealand retains its place atop the overall Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series leaderboard, but Oracle Team USA in second place has closed the gap to just six points.
The leader at the conclusion of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series will carry two bonus points forward into the qualifiers in May 2017 in Bermuda. The second-place team earns one bonus point. The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Oman marked the first America’s Cup sailing in the Middle East and was a milestone event for the host, Oman Sail. The next World Series event will be held in New York (May 6-8).
www.americascup.com www.acws-oman.americascup.com
ROLEX CHINA SEA RACE
THE 2016 ROLEX CHINA SEA RACE (Mar 23) came to an end with Phillip Turner’s RP66 Alive claiming line honours, setting a new record for the race of 47 hours 31 minutes eight seconds – 11 minutes and 59 seconds faster than the previous record.
The 565-nautical-mile race kicked off in Hong Kong’s iconic Victoria Harbour and finished in Subic Bay in the Philippines.
After an unfavourable harbour start for the fleet, Alive made slow progress out of a foggy, damp Hong Kong and had it not taken four hours for the northeast monsoon to kick in, she could have been looking at taking a much larger chunk out of the record.
Once in open water, the breeze picked up and the RP66 had stiff competition for line honours nearly all of the way, with Banuls 60 Catamaran MACH2 making impressive gains through the middle stretch of the race. Both vessels raced close to the rhumb line, however just over 200nm from the start, Alive chose to peel off south to stay off the coast and set up a more westerly approach to Subic Bay, leaving MACH2 to take an inside line.
The tactics paid off for Phillip Turner and while MACH2 sat in the dreaded Luzon hole for five hours, making slow progress, Alive benefitted first from the mid-morning sea breeze kicking in. Anthony Root and Steve Manning’s Ker42 Black Baza lifted the China Sea Race Trophy for corrected time on IRC handicap, with Alive posting a second overall and William Liu’s A40RC Seawolf in third, as well as first in IRC Racer 2.
Black Baza finished in the early hours of the morning after just over 60 hours of racing, with crewmember Wade Morgan enthusing about the previous 24 hours of racing saying, “We were coming in hot all the way, which was unexpected. We probably played the middle a little bit to the south and then we had good breeze so we managed to come straight in to the coast without having to do too much fancy work.”
www.rhkyc.org.hk/rolexchinasearace.aspx
STANDARD INSURANCE SUBIC BAY TO BORACAY RACE AND BORACAY CUP REGATTA 2016
PART OF THE 2016 PHILIPPINES GRAND PRIX, the Standard Insurance 7th Subic Bay to Boracay Race (SBBR) was held February 26-29 prior to the Boracay Cup Regatta (Mar 1-4).
SBBR brought out competitive racing across four classes. Hong Kong Skipper Frank Pong on Jelik took the overall spot, followed by Philippines’ Standard Insurance Centennial III in second and Hong Kong’s Antipodes in third. Australia’s Ragmuffin 90 claimed line honours.
During the Boracay Cup Regatta, the final spot was claimed by Ernesto Echauz’s Standard Insurance Centennial III of the Philippines by a mere four seconds. Ray Ordoveza on Karakoa, also from the Philippines, took second and Hong Kong’s Freefire claimed third.
Standard Insurance Centennial III claimed the top spot for the combined races in Racing Class 1. Steve Manning and Anthony Root on Black Baza (HKG) had the combined win for Racing Class 2 and Helmut Hennig Vineta (HKG) was the combined winner for the Cruising class.
CLIPPER ROUND THE WORLD YACHT RACE – LEGS 5 & 6
Derry~Londonderry~Doire recorded an impressive back-to-back-to back win in both races of Leg 5, as well as Leg 6 of the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race. The Northern Irish entry took the top spot in both races of Leg 5’s Asia-Pacific Leg from the Whitsundays in Australia to Da Nang, Vietnam, with the final stop in Qingdao, China.
During Leg 6, the team again claimed a victory in the Seattle Pacific Challenge from Qingdao to Seattle, USA. Unicef recorded its best result and first podium of the race series, finishing in second place after a duel with LMAX Exchange, whixh came in third.
The 6,000-nautical-mile Pacific Ocean Crossing proved to be a big challenge during Leg 6, as the fleet faced tumultuous weather.
Leg 6 was not without misfortune, as the second fatality in the race’s history was reported. IchorCoal crewmember Sarah Young, from London, failed to regain consciousness after being swept overboard during high winds. The first fatality occurred during Leg 1 of the race, when IchorCoal’s Andrew Ashman was knocked unconscious by the mainsheet of the boat. Leg 7 of the Clipper Race has since begun enroute to New York City. The 5,400nm route will include two races, taking the fleet from Seattle to Panama and ending up in the Big Apple.
