SailJuice Blog

Whatever has been said about the concept of the Medal Race – and it has taken plenty of stick over the past year – it threw up some incredibly nailbiting conclusions in the Olympic Test Regatta in Qingdao.

On the final day, Paul Goodison (photo courtesy of OnEdition) scored a lowly 7th out of 10 in the Laser Medal Race, just holding off the 8th placed boat by three seconds. Goodison clinched gold by a point – and those vital three seconds – from Sweden’s Rasmus Myrgren.

On the previous day, Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes potentially through away their 49er gold medal when they hit the windward mark while lying in fourth. Taking a 360 penalty was the last thing they needed in 15 to 18 knots, and a washing machine chop driven by a wind-against-tide scenario. Fortunately that… Read the rest

An undignified response from ACM today, after the Golden Gate Yacht Club’s shot across their bows yesterday. Sometimes it really is better to say nothing.

Here’s one to start with. Michel Bonnefous claims the protocol is not “an attempt to control everything”, although we’ve been offered no evidence to the contrary.

Interesting that there is no mention of the yacht club of convenience, Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV), in ACM’s response, despite the CNEV’s questionable status as a bone fide yacht club being one of the central tenets of the Americans’ objections. You would have thought ACM might have taken this opportunity to leap to the Challenger of Record’s defence. Because they’re going to have to do that when they go to the New York Supreme Court. I hope BMW Oracle’s lawyers have forgotten about that Optimist… Read the rest

After a week of little or no wind, Qingdao finally came good for the first set of Medal Races today. With the breeze blowing a thankfully uncharacteristic 15-17 knots, it was a great day for the Brits, and a pretty good one for the Aussies too.

Despite a poor Medal Race for Ben Ainslie, the reigning Olympic Champion picked up right where he left off exactly a year ago, defending his Pre-Olympic title with relative ease. Ainslie went into the final with an 11-point lead over Croatian Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, but found himself way down the fleet when he recrossed the start line thinking he had jumped the gun.

The Croatian at one stage managed to get enough places between him and the Ainslie to wrest the overall lead away from the Brit, but was overtaken on the final downwind… Read the rest

The Golden Gate Yacht Club have moved a step closer towards getting the America’s Cup dispute with Alinghi heard in court. Here is the GGYC statement in full.

The Supreme Court of the State of New York today granted an order sought by the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) requiring the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) to promptly answer a request to speed up the legal process for resolving its proposed new rules for defending the next America’s Cup.

The San Francisco club sought the Court ruling alleging SNG is in serious breach of its fiduciary duty under the Deed of Gift that governs the Cup. It says SNG has accepted an invalid challenge from a sham yacht club, and is seeking to impose an unprecedented one-sided set of rules that hugely favor the defender to the detriment of… Read the rest

This Rolex Fastnet Race bears more resemblance to a Rolex Sydney Hobart than your average Fastnet. Broken boats, masts, sails and limbs have led to a high attrition rate, with almost 200 of the 271 starters having retired.

All epic stuff, and a far cry from the Fastnet of two years ago, when the fleet drifted around in Mediterranean conditions that barely topped 4 knots – until the Friday that is – when the small boats trickled into Plymouth on new breeze and a little 33-footer from France, Iromiguy, won the race on handicap.

It’s hard to see that happening this time. The big boats have had a dream run, and congratulations to Mike Slade and his rockstar crew on ICAP Leopard who smashed the course record. The 100-foot canting keeler… Read the rest