Stella's recent China Coast Series and Raja Muda Regatta wins will firmly place this Sydney 38 amongst the favourites on this years Asian Yachting Circuit.

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CONTENTS

1. Editorial
2. "Unluckiest sailor of the month" Award
3. Asian News
4. International
5. Speed Records

Browse past editions of News & Views by clicking on January February March April May June July  August September October November

1. Editorial

Apologies must be made to all for a system malfunction that made sending the 16th Phuket King's Cup Regatta 2002 Race Reports unworkable. To view the compiled daily reports click on http://asianyachting.com/news/PKCR2002.htm  Congratulations must go to Peter Ahern and the crew of Yo! for holding off Linklaters Mandrake's formidable challenge which was fully imported with a top professional crew from the UK for this occasion and Neil Pryde's rebuilt Hi-Fidelity putting in a strong finish.

As the racers at the top end of the sport are now becoming an elite class it must be mentioned that the race committee's must respond to their particular needs by providing true windward / leeward courses and be quick to react to any changes that may develop during the coarse of a race. The end result must be based on boat speed and crew work not a lottery of wind shifts and shortened courses. As the stakes are considerably higher in this class competitors are willing to endure postponements if the wind shifts or dies and wait for conditions to settle in a effort to produce fair results.

Last months Raja Muda Int Regatta 2002 Press Releases and Race Reports can be browsed on website at http://asianyachting.com/news/RMIR2002.htm  Warwick Downes and his crew on the chartered Sydney 38 Stella took the top spot with 4 seconds and one first. Amir Zohri's Gotcha Lagi! hung onto second place for a consecutive year and Frank Pong's big performance in the final windward/leewards displaced Dato Razif's Piccolo to forth place overall in the racing classes. Stella also took out racing A and Gotcha Lagi! racing class B.

Next up on the Asian Yachting Circuit on Jan 15 - 19 is the Volvo Singapore Straits Regatta 2003 - In recognition of the current regional situation, every effort will be made to incorporate appropriate security measures into the event's planning. As has been the case at all regatta's held so far this year. Full details can be found on their Website: http://www.straitsregatta.com

2. "Unluckiest sailor of the month" Award

Entries for this award came in thick and fast last month during the ROUTE DU RHUM that it is hard to judge the eventual winner. More appropriately the event is being dubbed a ‘demolition derby’. Fifteen of the 18 trimarans entered retired through capsize, collision, dismasting or simply because they’ve fallen apart. And that’s not taking into account the numerous monohulls that pulled out for many of the same reasons. http://www.routedurhum.org

The Route du Rhum features some of the most advanced technology in design and construction that sailing has to offer. Forward thinking developments found on the ORMA 60 ft Tris and IMOCA Open 50 and 60s are at the Top - End of technology within our sport. Therefore is comes as no surprise the number of casualties experienced at the beginning and during the race. Less than 12 hours after the start disaster struck one of the race favourites, Franck Cammas on Groupama. At 2015 Karine Fauconnier on Sergio Tacchini called Race HQ and signalled that Groupama had capsized. Shortly thereafter, Jean Le Cam on Bonduelle (another 60' trimaran) rammed the upturned trimaran, causing damage to Bonduelle's port side float. Both sailors were unhurt and Groupama was towed to Roscoff.

Two competitors crashed into ships, something which will do no favours for the cause of singlehanded ocean racing. These included Loick Pochet on the Open 60, La Rage de Vivre and the Open 50 Apic A3S sailed (or more accurately not sailed) by Christophe Huchet.

As the wreckage continued to spread, the Route du Rhum lived up to its reputation. It also prompted the vastly experienced Loick Peyron on Fujifilm, to comment: "You have to be really careful with these boats. It's not a game. It's hell." Hell was fresh winds across the Bay of Biscay. Even tiptoeing was not enough to prevent Francois Joyon's Eure et Loire (ORMA 60 multihull) from flipping 175 mines from La Corona Spain. Joyon was sailing close hauled in a very rough sea. He was on a manoeuvre at the foot of the mast when he was hit by a squall. "The boat was immediately lifted on one float and I rushed to the cockpit, but I did not have time to ease the sheets. The boat capsized in two seconds. At the moment I am hiding in the cockpit and I am trying to empty the boat with water. I will ask assistance from a tow boat. We will arrange all that today. Anyway I will not set off the distress beacon. I will stay on my boat, and I am not in distress and I do not need any further assistance."

Steve Ravussin on the leading multihull TECHNOMARINE capsized only 734 miles from the Guadeloupe finish line and Loick Peyron's Fujifilm suffered a simular fate and despite attempts to rescue her was eventually lost. He will have to start all over again and the ORMA 60 class will be very depleted next year.

2. Asian News

1. The 2002 China Coast Regatta photos are now up on Guy Nowell's professional website at www.guynowell.com

2. The Standard Insurance Manila to Boracay Race, organized by Manila Yacht Club, will start at 2200 hours on Wednesday 12 February 2003. Distance approximately 200 nautical miles and the course is from Manila through the Verde Passage, leaving Mindoro to starboard to finish off Boracay is designed to take advantage of the Amihan, the strong North East trade winds at this time of the year. The Sailing Instructions, Entry Form and more info is available from the Manila Yacht Club Tel: (632) 526-7868 Fax:(632) 523-7183

3. The Langkawi International Regatta committee is pleased to announce that they have received over 30 expressions of interest to contest the inaugural Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad Challenge Trophy to be hosted at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club from Mar 11 - 15  Sunsail have kindly made some yachts available for youth teams to compete in a separate class in a all out effort to introduce yacht racing skills to school kids who have come up through the dinghy classes and state sailing associations. The esteemed trophy will be presented to the overall winner of the LIR series by Dr. Mahathir at the closing ceremony to be held at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club on the 15th March 2003. More at www.langkawiregatta.com

4. The President's Cup Regatta in the Philippines advise that the event is to be held in Subic Bay from the 23 to 26 th April 2003. The Notice of Race for IRC/PYS and Cruising Classes and more details email Connie by calling +632-526-7868.

5. Merit aims to better the record in the Coral Sea Classic 2003. Since breaking the Gosford-Lord Howe Island Race recently, Ian and Andrea Treleaven have set themselves up for a busy 'summer of sail,' which will include having a crack at the 10 year old race record set by Decimator in 43 hours 36 minutes in the Cairns to Port Moresby leg of the Coral Sea Classic Series.

6. Darwin Dili Dally Rally - Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association in Darwin's Northern Territory is organising a yachting event to Dili tentatively set for August 2, 2003, pending final agreements with the newly elected government of the Democratic Republic of Timor - Leste. The inaugural Darwin to Dili Yacht Race in 1973 was Australia’s first international ocean yachting event, that was so successful that a second race was held in ‘74 with a larger fleet. The Darwin personnel involved in organising this event consist of some of the original Committee, guaranteeing a level of expertise. More info on the website where expressions of interest can be logged www.darwindilidally.org.au

7. The Race organiser Bruno Peyron announced not just the next edition of his non-stop event - The Race 2004 - but, more ambitious by far, The Race Tour - a round the world race with stops, to be run every four years from 2006. The route of The Race Tour is not yet settled but it will start in Marseille, go through South-East Asia with possible stops in Singapore and Shanghai, to Japan, San Francisco, round Cape Horn to New York and across the Atlantic to finish “at a Scandinavian port”. A new 80-ft maxi-catamaran design has been launched which will allow amateurs to race around the planet in equity, and to find a boat that will meet their ambitions sports-wise.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has launched the official website for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2002 - Major feature of the website will be Yacht Tracker, a satellite tracking system which will provide real time positions of each yacht throughout the race, updating every 10 minutes. The CYCA will equip each boat in the fleet with an Inmarsat D+ transmitter which will automatically update the yacht’s latitude and longitude and transmit it via satellite to an earth station. From there, the data will be transmitted to the website, showing in text and graphics each yacht’s position in the fleet, its place relative to other boats, and the speed currently being achieved, as well as the direction the boat is sailing.

2. The Official Cape To Rio 2003 Race Website is now live. The race website - www.capetorio.org brings the excitement & thrills of ocean racing to viewers around the world and features something for all.

3. ROUTE DU RHUM
The IMOCA [International Monohull Offshore Class Association] class has shined in this race. Ever since the first Rhum race in 1978 the multihulls ORMA [Offshore Racing Multihull Association] have stolen the limelight and whilst there are two winners in this race it is historically the first time a monohull has been the first yacht to be welcomed into Guadeloupe.

Ellen MacArthur on Kingfisher won the 60-foot IMOCA monohull class and set a new monohull course record of 13 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes with an average speed of 12.19 knots. Ellen slashed two days, five hours and 52 minutes off the previous monohull mark set in 1994 by Frenchman - and good friend of Ellen - Yves Parlier. Mike Golding on Ecover came second. More can be found at: http://www.kingfisher-challenges.com/

Michel Desjoyeaux on Géant won the 60 foot ORMA multihull class, saying that the Route du Rhum in a trimaran is harder than the Vendée Globe. Marc Guillemot, skipper of Biscuits La Trinitaine-Ethypharm, finished second with Lalou Roucayrol on Banque Populaire third. The remaining 15 ORMA multihulls abandoned the race.

Nick Moloney on Ashfield Healthcare won Class 2 and is the first Australian to ever finish the race. Moloney broke the record set by Ellen Macarthur in 1998 by nearly 2 days. His next project is to better his round the world record on Orange but this time as part of the crew on Ellen's catamaran Kingfisher II. To finish first, first you have to finish...

Speed Records

1. Ellen MacArthur's Kingfisher II has arrived in Cherbourg and the newly completed 38m mast will be fitted and followed by sailing trials. Following the sinking of the oil tanker 'Prestige' the base is set up in Brittany and not Galicia. The plan is to be ready to depart on the world record attempt for the Jules Verne Trophy from the mid to end of January.

2. FIRST BIG STORM FOR VAN DEN HEEDE
Jean-Luc Van den Heede's 44th day at sea. During the night of Sunday 8th and Monday 9th Dec he faced his first strong depression, with 60 knots of wind, gusting to 70 with strong seas. Still, he is 5 days ahead of the current east-west record held by Philippe Monnet.

Van den Heede took advantage of the storm to head north, having now rounded the Cape, but has now turned west towards New Zealand. There is another depression directly ahead of him, but smaller and less powerful than the one he just endured. He will not follow in Monnet's footsteps and sail close to Antarctica. "I do not intend to find myself in the ice".

3. FOR THE RECORD
Steve Fossett has set yet another new record. Together with co-pilot Terry Delore (NZ), Fossett (USA) set a new Gliding World Speed Record for 1000 kilometres Out and Return. Despite difficult wind and cloud conditions, the duo flew the 1000 kilometre course at an average speed of 166.46 km/h (103.44 mph), breaking the previous record of 152.74 km/h (94.91 mph) set by Walter Binder (GER) in South Africa in 1999. On November 15th the team of Fossett and Delore smashed the 500 kilometer triangle record in 2 hours and 44 minutes - setting a new World Record speed of 185.63 km/h (115 mph). 2002 has been an extraordinarily year for Fossett. The American adventurer has set new World Records for speed in 3 sports - gliding, sailing and ballooning including the 'First Solo Round the World Balloon Flight' in June-July.

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