Update WRAPPING UP – Terry Hutchinson
Cow Hollow Hotel in the Marina district of San Francisco on the eve of the Farr 40 World Championship, for once it is nice not to be trundling along at 38,000ft in an aluminium tube. San Francisco in October is just one of those special venues – without question a great spot to go racing. This year will be no different! In the Farr 40 class’s 16th year of hosting a world championship this edition will be no different with the level of teams or competition. Current world champion Alberto Rossi’s Enfant Terrible, past world champion Helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon 4, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis’s Transfusion, and Jim Richardson filling in for Lange Walker on Kokomo, the owners and their teams represent a commitment to a well-oiled machine and execution of high- quality racing. Put in there Kevin McNeill’s Nightshift, Martin Hill on Estate Master, Wolfgang Schäfer’s Struntje Light, Johnny D on Groovederci… well, it seems that the list goes on and on, so needless to say this is going to be a bun fight! The 40 class epitomises a game of inches style of racing and as I think about the next four days I know onboard Plenty it is about taking care of what is between the lifelines. Leading into this world championship Plenty has had a turn- around season. We are very fortunate to have the support of a great owner and person in Alex Roepers. Alex provides Plenty with everything required and is committed to racing well. If we have a limitation it is time and yet we train with purpose and focus; it is amazing what is accomplished practising like you race. The process has been working to date as we have won three of the four events this season, a North American championship and the Farr 40 Circuit championship. The next test is just another part of the building blocks and I am excited to see how we respond. On the water the last month saw the final event of the TP52 Super Series in Ibiza, Spain in lightish wind on a racecourse that created some unique geographical features. For Quantum Racing we wanted to finish the season strong. It was the final event for our boat and over the past four years she has done good work for us. But anything other than a win would have been a failure, and inevitably all the teams had the same plan. As I sit in the Cow Hollow the racing of three weeks ago is a bit of a blur. Looking back at the scorecard, Azzurra and Rán both pushed hard through the event and yet we always had an answer. Ed [Baird] started well and the team continually answered all the challenges from the competition. The standout feature of Quantum Racingthis season would be our upwind speed versus the fleet. Quantum designer Brett Jones, with support from Warwick Fleury (the Yoda of mainsail trimmers), Lorenzo Mazza and Jordi Califat continually refined our sails. Nothing fancy, just hard work, good eyes and a commitment to getting it right even when it was not saw Quantum Racing succeed. Rángets the downwind boat of the season; and as we look ahead to next year’s boat Rán’s slipperiness downwind makes us think hard about how to position the new boat in the bigger TP52 fleet that will be out there and waiting for us in 2015. As I think about the highs and lows of the season I am most proud of our win at Key West with Doug [DeVos] driving and our bounceback win at the world championship. Having Doug step onto the boat without driving for 11 months demon- strated the power of the Quantum Racing team and our process of approaching the game. It was awesome to race with Doug against the boats we battle all season and get the same result. The world championship win was a good recovery result after a very disappointing time at Capri Week. Each one different and yet each highlighted the strength of the team. Many thanks to all involved! On-deck, well, as discussed, the Farr 40 worlds in 24 hours, J/70, Melges 32 and RC44s… lots to do and looking forward to a little downtime and 2015 all in the same breath! Standing by, Cow Hollow, 12ft above sea level!
8 SEAHORSE
Austrian 49er coach Ivan Bulaja captured this flying 49er during training ahead of the ISAF worlds in Santander… the landing was reported as satisfactory! 49er sailing continues to advance as more and more crews get on top of the Olympic skiff – hard to believe that when the class first appeared organisers tried to restrict major events to flat-water venues and boats were still wearing around on windy downwind legs. Meanwhile, the ISAF worlds did not pass off smoothly, unfortunately, with both the weather and race management issues compromising an event at a venue that has historically delivered some sparkling regattas
HANS-OTTO SCHUMANN
The grand seigneur of German offshore sailing is dead. Hans- Otto Schümann (inset), known for his many yachts with the name of Rubin, died on Saturday 20 September 2014 at the fine age of 97 at his home in Hamburg. Hans-Otto, as he was always called onboard, was the father figure of German sailing after the war, and an internationally renowned offshore racer. He had been a member of the RORC since 1965 and later on also became a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. With his string of Rubins he took part in 13 Admiral’s Cup campaigns and in 1973, 1985 and 1993 he was team leader of the winning German teams. For eight years Hans-Otto acted as president of the Deutscher Segler-Verband (German Yachting Federation) and in 1981 he was the founder and commodore of the Kreuzer-Abteilung, the cruising division of the federation which now boasts upwards of 18,000 members. He was also the president and commodore of his home club, Hamburger Segel-Club, and an honorary member of the Norddeutscher Regatta-Verein since 1958. In fact, for no less than 42 years (until 1999) he guided the fortunes of the Hamburger Segel-Club as chairman… and he was a member for more than 86 years!
As a longtime member of the Offshore Rating Council within
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