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South Africa’s first ever
America’s Cup Campaign is starting to take shape in Cape Town. The team’s
training boat, ITA 48, a 2000-generation boat purchased from the Prada
syndicate, arrived in Cape Town yesterday. She will be based at the V & A
Waterfront and will be used for crew training. The team issued a press release
detailing its plans and naming key personnel in the syndicate. We have
published the entire release in this newsletter as it makes for very
interesting reading. Not surprisingly news of South Africa’s entry into the Cup
has attracted a lot of interest both locally and internationally. I was please
to see that it warranted inclusion in the SABC’s TV news on Monday evening and
it has got more than its fair share of column space on yachting web sites
around the world. This campaign is a truly bold initiative. It’s a step into a
very daunting arena and even if only moderately successful, will be a
tremendous boost for the South African yachting industry. To be fair, any new
team in the America’s Cup is doing well to get past the second round of the
challenger series with the next measure of success being whether it can regroup
for a second challenge or simply fade away into oblivion as so many do. It will
be interesting to see how this campaign unfolds and Smooth Sailing will
certainly be following it every step of the way.
Situations
Vacant
MACS Inhaca Race 2004
Jules Verne
Record Attempts
Cheyennne
On Record Pace In The Southern Ocean
South Africa is to
mount its first ever full-scale America's Cup Challenge at the
32nd edition of the historic 153-year-old yachting event to be held in
Valencia, Spain in 2007.
Held every four years, the America's Cup is
regarded as the most esteemed sporting event of modern times. It attracts the
most technologically advanced nations around the globe in what has become the
fiercest of competitions for the world's oldest and most prestigious trophy.
The 2007 event will see the America's Cup being defended in Europe for the
first time in 153 years following the Swiss defeat of New Zealand in 2003.
Today's official
announcement of South Africa's America's Cup Challenge was made by Captain
Salvatore Sarno, chairman of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) South Africa,
who is also managing director of the South African America's Cup Challenge, and
is driving the multi-million rand, three and a half year campaign as a
"Proudly South African" initiative that he hopes will involve the
participation of the entire nation.
Known for his huge
vision and ability to bring reality to impossible dreams, Captain Sarno is
utterly convinced that South Africa has the "people, skills, technology
and resources" to succeed in the venture and has already spent a number of
years meticulously working at putting key aspects of the campaign in place.
The South African
Challenge has already been enthusiastically welcomed by Mr Nconde Balfour, the
Minister of Sport, who has given his backing to the
Challenge and
assured full support.
Cape Town's Royal
Cape Yacht Club has been nominated as the SA Challenge club.
The campaign will
involve the local design and building of two highly sophisticated,
state-of-the-art 25 metre America's Cup racing yachts, to be aptly named
"Shosholoza", a three month
seeding regatta series in Europe in 2005, sail training and sea trials for the
new Shosholoza yachts off Spain in 2006 and the Louis Vuitton elimination
regatta in Valencia in 2007 which will decide the new Challenger to
contest the Swiss for the Cup.
Captain Sarno's
announcement coincides with the arrival in Cape Town by ship tomorrow night
(Sunday 7 March) of the 25 metre America's Cup Luna Rossa yacht which was built
for the Italian 2000/2003 Prada Challenge. It was bought earlier this year by
the South African America's Cup Syndicate for 520 000 Euros and will always
remain in Cape Town for sail training purposes.
The ship which
will be offloaded on MONDAY morning is the first America's Cup yacht ever seen
in Cape Town and officially marks the
start of the South African Challenge.
An exuberant
Captain Sarno, a long time supporter and sponsor of South African local, international
and Olympic sailing, who has passionately pursued a dream of a SA America's Cup
Challenge for some years said. "This is the start. This yacht is here. It
exists. Our Challenge exists!"
He said the Luna
Rossa yacht will be re-fitted, re-rigged and dramatically
"re-dressed" in the official SA Challenge colours - a black hull with
a beaded wave pattern in the bright colours of the SA flag - for its
re-launching next month (10 April). It will be based at the newly established
South African Challenge headquarters in premises specially made available in
the V&A Waterfront through invaluable support from the Manager, Bill Shewell and the Managing Director,
Derick van der Merwe". Sail training will start immediately.
Sarno said he was
honoured to announce the appointment of Mr Mafika Mkwanazi, former CEO of Transnet as President of the SA America's
Cup Challenge. Other appointments include top SA yachtsman Geoff Meek as
skipper, Paul Standbridge, a professional yachtsman and veteran of three
America's Cup Challenges as sailing manager, top British yacht designer, Jason
Ker, who will head a locally-selected design and yacht building team, Manuel
Mendes as technical advisor and Henri Hiddes as shore manager.
Meek is a world
champion yachtsman who was the alternate skipper for the British team in their
pre-America's Cup trials in Freemantle in 1987. He has won many big boat events
over the years, among them the Fastnet Race, Cowes Week, the Sydney Hobart
Race, the SORC Race Week in Miami, Block Island Race Week off New York,
Sardinia Cup, the Southern Cross Cup in Sydney and the Onion Patch regatta in
Newport. He was also invited to skipper one of the 82 foot Maxi's in a European
Series organised by Ernesto Bertarelli, head of the Swiss Alinghi Challenge, the
current America's Cup defending champions.
Meek has also won
every major offshore regatta in South Africa and holds the
record of 20 Table
Bay Race Week championship titles.
Standbridge, who
was bowman for the British team in the 1987
America's Cup Challenge and sailing manager for the British in the 2003
event in Auckland, will be responsible for the selection and training of a team
of at least 60 sailing and shore crew.
Sailing crew
members signed up so far are: Ian Ainslie, David Rae, Golden Mgedeza, Ashton
Sampson, Marcello Burricks, Marc Lagesse and Guido Verhovert. A further four
top South African International sailors who will join the yacht on a part-time
basis are Jan Dekker, Jonathan Swain, Mike Joubert and Michael Giles.
The full crew compliment
will be selected during selection trials, which will be held throughout this
year.
In a telephone
interview from England, yacht designer Jason Ker said he had already packed up
his office and would move to South Africa within a week. He had visited South
Africa a few times and was very impressed with the local yachting industry. His
most successful racing yacht, the Ker 55 was built in the Cape Town boatyard,
Acheson Rossa, and he was utterly delighted to be part of the SA Challenge.
"To be given the opportunity to design an America's Cup yacht represents
the pinnacle of our profession," said Ker.
The South African
Challenge Syndicate has been incorporated as a Section 21 Company (non-profit)
which will be represented legally by Shepstone & Wylie and administratively
by Ernst & Young, who are also the auditors and trustees.
Captain Sarno who
already has sponsorship commitments from a broad base of some 19 South African
corporate companies said Mediterranean Shipping Company, a Geneva-based
company, had undertaken to be the first of the 20 corporate firms to sponsor
the Challenge as part of MSC's 25 anniversary celebrations in South Africa. MSC
is the second biggest container line in the world.
The SA America's
Cup Challenge Syndicate will also be used to promote different children and
youth foundations.
Texwise
based in Randburg Johannesburg, is looking for a Marine salesman to assist and
run the chandlery side of the business. The incumbent must be professional,
enthusiastic and driven to succeed. This, together with computer skills will
secure an exciting position in the marine industry. Please contact Alex or
Keith at 011-792 0243 or fax CV to 011-792 0774.
There are now only 20 days to go until the closing date for entries for
the 2004 MACS Inhaca Race. Of course you can enter after the closing date but
this comes with a late entry penalty of an additional R200-00, which I am sure
that more crew’s budgets can do without.
MACS-Maritime Carrier
Shipping. The title sponsor of this year’s race is an independent and privately
owned shipping line based in Hamburg/Germany and has been operating in Southern
Africa since 1980. During this time MACS has emerged and established itself as
one of the strongest and most reliable multi purpose shipping lines in the
North West Continent (Europe) and Southern Africa trade, and with it's
subsidiary Gulf Africa Line in the US Gulf/Mexico and Southern Africa trade
specialising in bulk, liquid bulk, break bulk, project cargoes, containers and
reefer containers. Currently we have 5 modern ships employed in the European
service and 5 in the American service guaranteeing regular sailings between
certain destinations. Our team of qualified personnel will gladly attend to any
enquiries and further contact details and details about the company can be
obtained from our website www.macship.com. To date two Fast 42’s and a Lavranos 40
have entered the race but you can bet your bottom dollar that there are plenty
more to come. It will be interesting to see if any of the rival Leisure 42’s
are on the start line for this event. They didn’t make it to Table Bay Week
last year and lost the battle in the Vasco Race in 2003 after having beaten the
Fast 42’s across the line, but crucially not on handicap, in the last Rio Race.
Certainly it looks like the Fasts have the edge at the moment, will they keep
it though? If you haven’t already got your copy of the Notice of Race or entry
form you can get it off the Smooth Sailing Notices of Race web page.
The MACS
24-Hour Challenge took
place last weekend with a fleet of 33 boats taking part. Of those four retired
with the rest lasting the distance. This year was the year of the Enterprise
with these boats taking the top 7 places. The winning boat was Team Bojangles
who completed 171 laps. I don’t have any further details of the race but have
posted the full results on the Smooth Sailing Notices of Race web page.
One of the hot topics in the international yachting media at the
moment is the issue of Foilers. Foilers are boats, mostly dinghies, that
are fitted with hydrofoils on their rudders and centreboards, allowing the
hulls to lift out of the water at speed. This offers greatly reduced resistance
and obviously allows for higher speeds to be reached. Foilers have, until now,
been a very on the edge development but look set to come into the mainstream in
a big way. A lot of this has to do with the recent Australian Moth Nationals,
which were won in convincing fashion by a foiler. Rohan Veal became the first
Moth sailor to be able to master the tricky balance act required to get one of
these boats around the course efficiently. One of the problems that foilers, in
the Moth class in particular, have been faced with up to now, is the tricky
transition between sailing on the hull and the foils, in particular coming down
from the foils. Often the boats tended to come down bow first resulting more
often than not in a nasty pitch pole. Now complex systems have been developed
that control the angle of the foils making the boats more controllable when up
in the air. It is all very interesting stuff and mostly way more complex than I
am comfortable trying to explain. If you have the time of day though it’s well
worth having a look at some of the interesting material that’s posted out there
on the web. Start at www.fastacraft.com/index.html. Fastacraft are the current leaders in
foil technology in the Moth Class and have developed all the systems that are
successful at the moment. At www.monofoiler.com you will find some interesting details of
a home built skiff foiler in the USA. As well as details of the boat there are
some interesting pics of previous foilers that have been developed around the
world as well as links to related sites.
Steve
Fossett and his crew aboard the 125ft catamaran Cheyenne
yesterday recorded their best day yet. They sailed an amazing 623 miles which
puts them 2,042 miles ahead of the previous record set by Orange I at this
stage of the challenge. The staggering speeds over the last few days are a result
of the consistent 25 to 30 knot winds coming from around 300 degrees.
Yesterday was a
good Day 11 for the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran, Geronimo. Despite winds
that remained unstable, she covered 521 nautical miles on her 11th day at sea
at an average speed of 21.72 knots point-to-point. Here's what the skipper had
to say this morning: "We're making about 25 knots over the surface in 20
knots of winds with intermittent squalls under full main and solent.
Fortunately, Geronimo is fast in light-to-medium weather conditions. We're not
losing any time now, but we certainly need to make some up!
Meanwhile Orange II has retired once again from her Jules Verne record
attempt. This time it’s a fairing attached to the drive unit of one of their
engines that’s failed. Actually it’s cracked but at speed this is causing a bad
vibration in the boat. While it’s not a structural problem there is no doubt
that the boat cannot be sailed to her full potential in this condition. This is
no way to try and break such a demanding record and with the potential of the
vibration causing other problems on the boat the best decision was to abandon
this attempt and head back home. Its really not surprising that Orange II is
having so many problems given that she was only launched on the 22nd
of December. This has given her skipper and crew precious little time for sea
trials and means that she is a largely untested boat. With this in mind it is
probably fair to think that the whole record attempt was a bit optimistic on
Bruno Peyron’s part. Perhaps he was just desperate to convert his sponsor’s
cash into publicity as soon as possible. With all that’s gone wrong so far the
sponsors are certainly getting their time in the limelight, but it is the kind
of attention that they were looking for?
Cheyenne’s Web Site: www.fossettchallenge.com
Geronimo’s Web Site: www.trimaran-geronimo.com
Orange II’s Web Site: www.orange.fr
World Sailing Speed Record Council: www.sailspeedrecords.com
Our Notices of Race page on the Smooth Sailing has all the NOR’s available to us. If you
have a regatta coming up and would like to make the NOR available online then
e-mail it to hethcot@iafrica.com and it will be posted and
listed in this newsletter. To get your copy simply click on the name of the
regatta you are interested in below:
|
Regatta |
Venue |
Dates |
|
Point, Royal Natal & Zululand
Yacht Clubs and Club Naval, Maputo |
December 2003 to July 2004 |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
13 & 14 March |
|
|
Witbank Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Point Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Mossel Bay Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Mossel Bay Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Mossel Bay Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Aeolians Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Island Sailing Club |
27 & 28 March |
|
|
Zululand Yacht Club |
9 April |
|
|
Point Yacht Club Easter Regatta Including Sprog, 505
& Dart kZN Champs |
Point Yacht Club |
9 to 12 April |
|
Hoedjiesbaai Beach, Saldahna Bay |
9 to 12 April |
|
|
Dabchick Downham Trophy &
Optimist Interclub Challenge |
Pretoria Sailing Club |
24 & 25 April 2004 |
|
Algoa Bay Yacht Club |
24 to 30 April |
|
|
Transvaal Yacht Club |
24 to 27 April |
The Classifieds has been updated on the Smooth Sailing web site. Take a surf past to see what is for sale or sought after in the wanted column. To place an ad, e-mail the details to andrew@smoothsailing.co.za.
Fastest small
keelboat in SA
Complete with
kevlar main, No1 Jib, No3 jib and dacron storm jib.
3 x spinnaker
On trailer
with cover
3hp outboard
Carbon mast
and prod
R197 000-00
Contact: Alex
Schon
Cell: 082 806
0918
Placed: 23/02/04
On trailer
New mesh tramp,
rigging and more.
R15 000-00
ONCO
View Durban, @
RNYC
Contact: John
Lupton-Smith
Cell: 083 301
4775
R3 500-00 onco
Contact: Shane
Hone Phone: 031-708 4118
Cell: 084 403 3357
Placed: 23/02/04
Stainless steel
In Edenvale, Gauteng.
Contact: Peter Lung
Cell: 082 423 0674
Placed: 23/02/04
505
Fiberglass hull
with wood deck
Extra spinnaker
& dolly but no trailer
±35 years
Good sailing
condition, sailed 2004 Round the Island Race
Can be viewed
at Forest Sailing Club, Mpumalanga
R5 500-00
Contact: Hano
van Rooyen
Cell: 082 538
8630
Home Phone:
013-750 2917
E-Mail: hano1@ananzi.co.za
Placed: 23/02/04
WANTED
In reasonable
condition.
Will pay fair
price and postage
Cape Town
area.
Contact:
Lance McIntosh
Home: 021-785
5332
Cell: 084 426
3475
Placed: 04/03/04
Drop down,
lifting type.
Contact:
Andrew Mackie
Cell:082 570
5141
Placed:
23/02/04
Fairly good
condition
In Gauteng
area
Contact:
Wayne
Cell: 083 289 3098
Relatively cheap!
JHB Area
Contact: Mark Meredith
Cell: 082 771 2708
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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