News Around the World
MB:We adjusted the balance between domestic and international training, as we live on the Gold Coast and down in Sydney, then regrouped with the rest of the internationals in Miami. We were looking to get back into big fleet sailing at the North Americans and Miami, and we were pretty happy with how we went; sailing a charter boat we came home with two medals. Plus a long list of things we wanted to do! SH: The boat was OK? MB: Yep, it was good. After the significant damage to our 470 in March last year we struggled to replace that, but we managed to secure quite a new boat for Europe and Miami, and actually found a good hull to fill that gap thanks to my father-in-law’s Ziegelmayer Boats in Germany. In terms of gear, the top teams have been at it for a while and
so no new revolutionary equipment at this stage, just refining what they have. In the 470 it’s not really about gaining the advantage with unique equipment, it’s about getting the equipment that suits your style of sailing. It’s not like we would buy multiple sets of sails
USA Silver linings The effects of Covid-19 hit the USA a month or so later than Europe but with the same ramifications, forcing cancellations and postpone- ments. Three large, well-attended events were among the first fixtures off the calendar: Charleston Race Week, often cited as the ‘fastest growing regatta in the US’, the Newport-Ensenada Race, an annual overnight race to Mexico billed as ‘North America’s largest interna- tional yacht race’, and the iconic Newport-Bermuda Race which every even year drives much of the offshore scene on the east coast and beyond. The Caribbean was also effectively slammed shut after the Heineken Regatta and Antigua Superyachts, doing no favours to island economies like BVI that are in their prime season and still in need of recovery help after Hurricane Irma two years ago. The effects of cancelling go even deeper than this: overseas
entries that had planned a winter season of Caribbean racing were able to sail the RORC’s Caribbean 600, but then were marooned in Antigua without knowing which way to go: carry on to the US and hope the season unfolds by summer or bail out and ship back to Europe. Unfortunately a few chose the latter, which then cancelled their entries in important events after the summer. Fortunately the choice of timing in late September should leave
the ORC/IRC Worlds at New York YC unaffected, except for European teams who have already bailed out. The ORC Green Book also confirms that a world championship only needs a minimum of 14 entries to grant a title in each class. Making an argument of principle for questioning the competitive-
ness and suitability of a worlds fleet comprising mostly US entries is also rather unfair, even in these strange times: applying rigid minimum nationality criteria would mean the event would never be held outside Europe. In match racing, for example, event grading criteria used in ranking lists has long evolved away from having a Euro-centric bias over a decade ago in recognition of the planet’s geographic realities, and this has worked well. In fact, many argue that an event like this for privately owned offshore boats should travel around the globe to energise participation more broadly than the already established regions within Europe. Another silver lining to the dark clouds is the new-found time to
In the Caribbean they managed to get a bit of racing in before the world came to an abrupt end, but the consequences of so many regattas being cancelled in an area that is still struggling to recover economically from the hurricanes of two years ago will be far-reaching – especially if yachtsmen now start to have second thoughts about making plans for next winter’s racing
to get something that works, we know that we can make the majority of sails work when we find the right combination that we’re happy and confident with. SH: And so you have just returned from Europe… MB: Sure. We had been in Spain for about a week in the build-up to the Princess Sofia, happy with our work-up, in great shape with Iain Murray there to support us. The day before measurement we got the call to get out of there… the worlds had been cancelled so the Spanish authorities advised us to leave immediately. I got home to Australia, but Will had planned to stay in Europe
for the whole summer and so he had a lot to sort out – and the extra 24 hours was just enough to get him over and into the quarantine period when he landed back in Sydney. But he is clear now and all fine. The boat is in Hamburg, we are leaving it in Europe at the moment
as we were due to send it to Japan. There is still a great deal to be confirmed. Will and I were the first athletes to be confirmed in the Australian Olympic team, so by the time next year’s Olympics comes round it would almost have been two years since we were nominated. And that does feel a bit strange...
Blue Robinson 26 SEAHORSE
focus on event planning for regattas postponed into next year. Randy Draftz of Charleston Race Week says they were also fortunate to have set aside some contingency funds so that the event is not in financial peril and can return entry fees or, as many are doing, urging entries to leave these fees in place for 2021. With the Bermuda Race cancelled, the Storm Trysail Club quickly
used the opportunity to move its annual Block Island Race from the end of May to the Bermuda Race start date in the middle of June. This pushes the race further away from lockdown danger and also keeps the offshore constituency energised and motivated for this traditional offshore season opener in the northeast. Lockdown restrictions in California and Hawaii proved to be too
difficult for the 64 entries in the Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Kaneohe, so the organisers cancelled, with the next edition to be held in 2022. This race runs on the off-years of the older and more widely known Transpac Race from LA to Honolulu, yet is less restrictive by inviting a broader diversity of monohull entries ranging from tiny mini-Transat boats and Santa Cruz-born Moore 24s to comfortable cruisers to the occasional Maxi greyhound. The California lockdown also forced postponement of the
LA-Tahiti Transpac to an uncertain reschedule date, although Jim Partridge who entered his Antrim-designed Rapid Transit had a sug- gestion: ‘(1) Schedule a hard date 4 July start. (2) The day before this start schedule the whole fleet for a 15-minute corona virus test. (3) Weather should be OK in the area until at least mid-August. It’s quite unusual to have much hurricane activity earlier… although it has happened! That’s guesswork but the race should be hurricane free – we just need a safe harbour in Tahiti until our escape! ‘Let’s go for it! I don’t think I’ll live long enough to go on the next
race,’ he said. Who doesn’t admire Jim’s enthusiasm. Dobbs Davis
q
INGRID ABERY
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