Slingsby victorious at Laser Worlds

Tom Slingsby has entered rarefied territory in the Laser class. The ORACLE Racing sailor yesterday completed his march towards a fourth Laser World Championship with an emphatic victory in the Medal Race finale at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championship.

Slingsby won the championship in dominant fashion. He won six of the 11 races sailed and posted a 19-point victory over Nick Thompson of Great Britain. Slingsby also was selected the TAG Heuer Male Sailor of the Week. TAG Heuer is the Official Eyewear and Watch Partner of ORACLE Racing.

By winning his fourth Laser Worlds in the past five years, Slingsby is now second all-time to the incomparable Robert Scheidt of Brazil, who won the Laser Worlds a record eight times between 1995 and 2005.

The Medal Race finale featured just the top 10 in the standings. Slingsby held a 14-point lead headed into the Medal Race, but the finale awarded double points for positions so Slingsby still had to put forth a strong effort.

It helped that the race was run in front of an enthusiastic crowd in a grandstand on a beach in Bathers Bay, creating a stadium-style atmosphere for the sailors.

“This championship is definitely one of the best,” Slingsby said. “Sailing, you’re often off in the ocean and no one can see but to have it here and a grandstand all cheering your name chanting ‘Tom’, I haven’t had that happen before so it’s a pretty amazing feeling. You feel like a real sports star.”

Slingsby was boxed in at the start, but once he found clear air he opened a significant lead of 100 meters and never slowed down. He won the race by more than 20 seconds.

“The start didn’t really go according to plan,” Slingsby said. “I was just a bit too cautious to get up on the line and I got caught between a guy who goes low and a guy who goes high, and just got squeezed out. As soon as I got clear I felt the shift pattern and got in synch. From there on I sailed well.”

With the victory Slingsby earns the Laser nomination for the Australian Sailing Team that will compete at the London 2012 Olympics next summer.

“I’m really happy with the way I’m going,” said Slingsby. “To me, I feel like I’m improving all the time. I’m a lot better sailor than I was four years ago and I think it’s going to show this time around.”

The America’s Cup community was well represented in other classes at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.

In the Finn class Green Comm Racing had three entries with Ed Wright placing 3rd in the 72-boat fleet, skipper Vasilij Zbogar finished 13th and Anthony Nossiter 29th.

In the Star class America’s Cup Race Management CEO Iain Murray and crew Andrew Palfrey, the rules advisor for Artemis Racing, finished 33rd in the 41-boat fleet. Artemis Racing tactician Iain Percy was leading the class after the first four races but then had to withdraw due to a back injury.

Katie Spithill, sister to ORACLE Racing skipper Jimmy Spithill, placed 5th in the women’s match racing event as crew for skipper Nicky Souter.

Related article: Tom Slingsby right in Olympic frame
Visit the event website: Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships
Link to standings: Laser – Men’s one person dinghy
Photos: Daniel Carson/Perth 2011 (top), Richard Langdon/Perth 2011 (bottom)

Laser Worlds Standings
Name (Country) R1-R2-R3-R4-R5-R6-R7-R8-R9-R10-R11 – Total
1. Tom Slingsby (AUS) 1-6-1-1-1-9-1-5-10-(13)-2 – 37 points
2. Nick Thompson (GBR) 3-6-8-2-5-8-9-1-(31)-10-4 – 56
3. Andrew Murdoch (NZL) 6-7-7-4-2-10-(50)-7-6-4-6 – 59
4. Simon Groteluschen (GER) 7-1-7-4-6-1-10-11-2-(23)-14 – 63
5. Paul Goodison (GBR) 5-8-4-1-6-1-2-(23)-21-11-10 – 69
6. Andreas Geritzer (AUT) 1-14-3-14-1-4-5-(28)-5-6-18 – 71
7. Ashley Brunning (AUS) 4-4-10-7-4-2-4-(30)-17-8-12 – 72
8. Johan Wigforss (SWE) 8-2-9-2-2-(19)-12-4-19-14-8 – 80
9. Tom Burton (AUS) 16-11-1-(20)-3-4-3-15-9-12-20 – 94
10. Pavlos Kontides (CYP) 9-1-(21)-1-2-14-21-2-12-18-16 – 96
(Note: R11 scored as double points)

America’s Cup foes don’t have much support

By C.W. Nevius, San Francisco Chronicle // Dec. 17, 2011

It would have almost been disappointing if the environmental impact report for the America's Cup had sailed through City Hall without dissent. C'mon, this is a city that protests paper shopping bags and Happy Meals.

No worries, San Francisco didn't disappoint. No sooner had the Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the report - while praising its comprehensive look at environmental concerns - than a small group of activists filed an appeal to stop everything.

I would just say one thing to those people. You'd better check your back, because there aren't many people behind you. The America's Cup is wildly popular in San Francisco. A University of San Francisco poll found support at nearly 80 percent.

If the swimmers stop a race out of simple pique, or if a tedious lawsuit jeopardizes the event, those groups will look like petulant kids.

This Cup can happen. It can be awesome. The idea of stopping the whole thing dead with a lawsuit, just because you can, is the worst kind of cynicism.

"In the end, if you are always the one who says no to everything," Planning Commission President Christina Olague said, "eventually you are going to exhaust the public."

They're already exhausted. Mess with the Cup and they'll be something more - furious.

Link to full article: America’s Cup foes don’t have much support
Related article: S.F. vote on report big hurdle for America’s Cup
Photos above and below: Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA

S.F. planners OK impact report on America’s Cup

By Stephanie Lee, San Francisco Chronicle // Dec. 16, 2011

The America’s Cup is set to descend on San Francisco beginning next summer - but a crew of opponents is threatening to knock it off course.

In the year since the city was chosen to host the world-famous regatta in 2012 and 2013, organizers have raced to finalize plans. The culmination of those efforts, an analysis of the regatta's impacts on the city, was approved by the Planning Commission 5-0 Thursday night.

The decision clears the way for construction on the waterfront, provided the Board of Supervisors approves the project in January.

And there's virtually no room for delay. In just eight months, the first yachts are scheduled to hit the water under the gaze of hundreds of thousands of spectators.

The report “demonstrated what we can do when we work together as a city,” Commissioner Michael Antonini said at the close of a two-hour meeting, which was attended by about 100 people. “I was very impressed.”

Mayor Ed Lee agreed, saying in a statement: “This is an exciting moment in our efforts to bring the America’s Cup to San Francisco, the only major international sporting event coming to the United States in the next decade,” and noting that the project benefited from “valuable input from many individuals, groups and agencies across the Bay Area.”

Link to full article: S.F. planners OK impact report on America’s Cup

AC, city reach new development agreement

Source: San Francisco Chronicle // Dec. 16, 2011

A compromise agreement between San Francisco and the America’s Cup organizers will save some of the city’s most treasured public views of the bay from being blocked by a proposed marina for the mega-yachts of the ultra-rich.

Under the new plan, the organizers will give up their long-term development rights for piers 14 to 22 ½ in exchange for the rights to develop Pier 54 in Mission Bay.

“This will move the (planned) long-term marina from what is a passive area to a portion that is more a working waterfront,” said Monique Moyer, executive director of the port.

The original agreement would have given the promoters the right to develop the section of the waterfront by the “Cupid’s Span” sculpture by Rincon Park, a spot that now provides one of the only open water views of the bay and the Bay Bridge along the Embarcadero. Plans were to turn the area into a spot for visiting yachts too large for other marinas.

Link to full article: America’s Cup, city reach new development agreement
Photo below: Guilain Grenier/ORACLE Racing

America’s Cup Uncovered Episode 21

America's Cup Uncovered Episode 21 concludes the story of 2011 with a look back to the action from America's Cup World Series San Diego with dramatic finishes in both the Fleet and Match Racing Championships where ORACLE Racing Spithill came out with a double championship win.

“The level’s going to get harder, the racing tighter, that is the perfect preparation for our America’s Cup campaign,” says skipper Jimmy Spithill.

Then we tap into a private phone conversation with Emirates Team NZ's Managing Director Grant Dalton where he discusses sharing AC72 design information with Luna Rossa. But not before checking in with the LiveLine team. Stan Honey Director of Technology for America's Cup Event Authority tells us about the LiveLine evolution and the technology used to enhance the viewing experience for the fans.

Link to video: America’s Cup Uncovered Episode 21

RIBs get in on carbon-fiber action

By Roger Renstrom, PlasticsNews.com // Dec. 16, 2011

Sleek wing-sail catamarans receive more visibility, but America’s Cup World Series organizers make significant use of advanced materials in their on-water workhorse craft.

America’s Cup Race Management owns 29 support boats, said Andy Hindley, ACRM chief operating officer. The vessels include 12 rigid inflatable boats for course marshal, umpiring, medical, rescue and security functions.

Hindley said Extreme Boats Group in Warmond, the Netherlands, designed and assembled 10 of the RIBs. Marstrom Composite AB of Västervik, Sweden, supplied Extreme with preimpregnated carbon-fiber-reinforced components that were cured in an autoclave.

Hindley likes the Extreme boats. “They are very light and have incredible acceleration with ability to get in and out” of locations on the water.

Each 27-foot Extreme weighs 1,870 pounds with an engine — not including fuel — and can reach 53 miles per hour, Hindley said in an interview in San Diego. Twin 115-horsepower Yamaha Motor Corp. engines are on four RIBs, single 225-horsepower Yamahas on four more Extremes and in-board inject-drive Steyr Motors GmbH marine diesel engines on the two medical boats.

Rayglass Boats of Auckland, New Zealand, with its Protector brand, provided the other two RIBs.

Link to full article: RIBs get in on carbon-fiber action
Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA

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