News Around the World �
Half a dozen C&C 30s enjoyed a good fight at the New York YC regatta in Newport; this is Dan Cheresh’s Extreme2 which has made most of the running since the class appeared a couple of years ago. While the C&C 30 is one-design there is no designated sailmaker and as yet there is no maximum crew weight (there is however a 4-crew minimum). The boat can also achieve Cat 4 for coastal racing
for these casual sailors who just want to be part of the show. Using history as a guide, it was CCA Commodore Herbert L Stone who said in 1923 this race was founded ‘to encourage the designing, building and sailing of small seaworthy yachts, to make popular cruising upon deep water, and to develop in the amateur sailor a love of true seamanship, and to give opportunity to become proficient in the art of navigation…’ The true cruisers certainly fit this descrip- tion, and there are 43 of them in the cruiser division in this race. Not to be ignored is the fact that, of a total entry of 190 boats, only eight are true racers: three Maxi72s, two TP52s, two 47-footers plus the 74ft Wizard(ex-Belle Mente) rounding out the entry list. And except for the international crew on the Maxi 72 Momo, all entries are from the US; somewhat surprising for one of the great classics and something that will be reviewed in detail in due course. As for the NYYC regatta, however, there seemed to be plenty of buzz around town, made more interesting by the highly varied conditions encountered over three days of racing. Although mainly a light-air event, (most) competitors did enjoy some windier races which saw a number of Bermuda entrants sitting undisturbed in their slips – keen to avoid damage ahead of the main event. But in these breezier races there were still useful observations to be made –particularly of the TP52s taking part. Those TPs heading to Bermuda may have been set up slightly better for the fresh con- ditions – certainly a recent change made on Vesper, to a deeper keel, seemed to work well against Spookie and Phoenix; these three and other TPs outside the Super Series are still free to play with their modes, so it will be interesting to see how each US boat evolves and adapts over the course of the season. Meanwhile, 52 Super Series manager Rob Weiland has made
it clear that in current trim these handicap-optimised boats are not welcome in his level-rating fleet because their modes are now so different, with the in-class 52s not wanting to upset the close racing they are enjoying. In any event it is not likely the two groups will meet up until Key West in January, where already there’s talk of two separate classes.
In the one-designs the C&C 30s had a modest turnout of six teams but with some close racing among the road warrior veterans, albeit with the amateur teams once again being guided by the same pro talent you now see at every Farr 40, J70 and Melges 32 event. To date nearly 30 of these boats have been sold, with the most active crews dominating the results… no surprises there. Dobbs Davis
18 SEAHORSE AUSTRALIA
It’s about the blokes – Dave Witt Seahorse: When were you first approached about the Hong Kong Volvo Race programme? David Witt: The conversations started in April 2015. We had Ragamuffinin Hong Kong, and I was approached just after the San Fernando race about the possibility of a Hong Kong entry into the VOR and securing a stopover. We had made considerable progress by early 2016, keeping it all low key until they announced the Hong Kong stop. But we have been pretty much flat out since the announcement. SH: And your brief… DW: The government agreed to contribute some funding towards the stopover and so the sailing federation acted towards securing a Hong Kong team. The modern format of the VOR makes the budgets clearer and more realistic, so I agreed that I would assist in moving the project forwards. SH: Key people driving the campaign… DW:Myself, a Beijing-based group and a sports marketing company here in Hong Kong, but clearly more people will step up once we confirm the structure and firmer plans are in place. SH: The Swiss have a saying, everyone wants to be the first second person… DW: There is a lot of truth in that. Our funding model is based on one major sponsor bringing 50 per cent of the backing with the rest coming from various sub-sponsors. We have had pretty much half our funding for a while now with a letter of intent signed by our major sponsor which is a European company; I am heading to Europe shortly to move things forwards. VOR own the race and so are really quite involved with the syndicates – this is the way the race model is now, and is very different from when I did the race on Innovation Kvaernerin 1997 with Knut Frostad as skipper. Then you got your funding, turned up to race and completely managed your own campaign in isolation. SH: Your role onboard? DW: Skipper and CEO of the team, but once the funding is secured and we are moving forwards I will put a CEO in place to allow me to focus on the sailing team. The commercial activation and man- agement side is not my prime reason for doing this race, but I knew I had to initiate all of that straight away and bring the project this far. The Volvo race is a hard road and needs passion to keep knock- ing on the doors and pushing the project forwards, so I took that
DANIEL FORSTER
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