GOR NEWS

[Guest]

Im getting the odd email from the organisers with some semi useful info so stay tuned for updates in here.

[Guest]

With four days remaining to the start of double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race (GOR) Leg 3 in Wellington on Sunday 29 January, South African sailor, Adrian Kuttel, has arrived in New Zealand to join Kiwi skipper, Conrad Colman, for the 6,300-mile course through the Pacific Ocean, around Cape Horn and through the South Atlantic to Punta del Este, Uruguay, on the Akilaria RC2 Class40, Cessna Citation.

 

 

Both Kuttel and Colman are fully absorbed with pre-start preparation at Queens Wharf in Wellington Harbour. “There are a lot of boat details to complete before we start,” confirms the 40 year-old South African. “We’re checking the sails, provisioning the boat and we’ve put together a programme of three days of training.” While the duo cram in as much sailing as possible in Wellington Harbour and Cook Strait, Kuttel is looking forward to the challenge ahead and with Colman’s Akilaria RC2 taking first place in Leg 2 from Cape Town to New Zealand and holding the GOR’s 24-hour run record of 359 miles, the duo will be pushing hard: “We’d be disappointed if we didn’t match the last leg’s performance,” confirms Kuttel. “But this is ocean racing and anything can happen, but we’ll do the best we can.”

 

Watgch a detailed video of the GOR Class40s preparing for Leg 3 here

 

 

In Leg 2, the GOR fleet encountered a series of brutal, fast moving fronts that combined with cross-seas and mid-ocean currents to deliver harsh conditions and Kuttel and Colman have already been studying the weather for the early stages of Leg 3 across the Pacific. “I’m very excited about it,” says Kuttel. “I think the weather patterns between New Zealand and Cape Horn will be a bit more stable than they were in the Indian Ocean with a bit more heavy-air, downwind sailing, which we’re really looking forward to.” There is also the issue of known ice fields in the high latitudes of the Pacific and the GOR Race Committee have installed a waypoint at 127.30W and 47S, 2,000 miles WNW of Cape Horn at the southern limit of the bluQube Scoring Gate. “Ice is always a concern,” Kuttel admits. “But the waypoint has been put there by the GOR for everyone to go round which confronts this issue and allows us to focus on sailing.”

 

 

While Adrian Kuttel races through the Southern Ocean, his wife, Chiara, and two daughters, 11 year-old Isabella and Sienna who will be one year-old while her father is racing in the GOR, will be following progress from Cape Town. “They have given me a St. Christopher which I’ll be wearing round my neck when we’re racing and Isabella is logged on and will be following me on the race tracker and keeping an eye on me!” His father, Padda Kuttel who campaigned Xargo 3 in the 1981-82 Whitbread Round-the-World Race and Atlantic Privateer in the 1985-86 Whitbread will also be watching closely.

 

 

With a background in shipbuilding, mast and rope making, 40 year-old South African yachtsman, Adrian Kuttel’s input to the Cessna Citation campaign has been invaluable. The former charter skipper, racing skipper and watch captain helped Colman with preparation during the Cape Town stop over prior to Leg 2 and completed his GOR qualifier, but he has had to wait until the Leg 3 start in Wellington for a taste of offshore Class40 racing.

 

 

Kuttel’s offshore experience on Sir Irving Laidlaw’s Corby 49, Cape Fling, and breaking the Cape Town – Salvador race record on Mike Slade’s 30-metre super maxi ICAP Leopard in 2009 has been part of a process leading towards a short-handed circumnavigation: “My intention was to do the complete race this time round,” explains Kuttel. “But like many of the teams here have found, it was really difficult to get the programme together, but I’m now in the game and keeping keen.” The South African sailor’s ultimate sailing goal is the 2013-14 Global Ocean Race: “Hopefully, this experience will give me the jump on the other teams for 2013 and enable us to do the event very competitively,” he reveals.

[Jon 360]

Spent today climbing over Class 40s

Meet most of the crews

Ran some errands

Then went to the P G at port nic this evening

Great day even if it was blowing 50 kts in the marina

[Guest]

Spent today climbing over Class 40s

Meet most of the crews

Ran some errands

Then went to the P G at port nic this evening

Great day even if it was blowing 50 kts in the marina

 

 

Very nice. Heres what the GOR had to say about the prize giving and their wrap of of leg 2

 

 

On Thursday evening local time, the double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race (GOR) Leg 2 Prize Giving was held at the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club (RPNYC) on Oriental Parade on the western shore of Wellington Harbour.

 

 

The prize giving’s guest of honour, the Mayor of Wellington, Celia Wade-Brown, was joined by friends and family of the teams, team sponsors, club members and the media at the RPNYC’s waterside clubhouse and presented all the GOR teams with a Koru, unfurling fern frond, glass blown sculpture representing new life, growth, strength and peace, awarded by Wellington City Council.

 

Watch a video review of Leg 2 here

 

 

In addition to the leg prizes, Conrad Colman, skipper of Leg 2 winner, Akilaria RC2 Cessna Citation, collected two Luminox Steel Colormark watches for his unbroken, GOR bluQube 24-hour run record of 359.1 nautical miles in Leg 2, accepting the rugged, high night-vision watches from the GOR’s Official Timekeeper on behalf of his Leg 2 co-skipper, Sam Goodchild, who has returned to the UK.

 

 

For Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon of Akilaria Class40 Financial Crisis, the prize giving was a hectic evening. The Italian-Spanish duo was awarded the GOR Leg 2 Media Award for the quality of video footage, images and blog content, winning a year’s subscription to Seahorse Magazine and www.thedailysail.com. Nannini and Ramon also bagged the Leg 2 Navigation Prize for handling their Class40 impeccably through gales reaching 60 knots in the Roaring Forties as they raced south of Australia, each winning a handheld, Garmin eTrex20 GPS including a worldwide basemap. In addition to the GOR Leg 2 prizes, Nannini was also celebrating victory in the Italian Yachtsman of the Year Award as online voting closed at midday local time on Thursday.

 

 

Conrad Colman – a member of the RPNYC - was recalled to the prize podium by the RPNYC’s Commodore, Andrew Morrison, to receive a special award from the club for his overall Leg 2 performance winning a handheld Garmin eTrex 30 GPS. GOR Race Director, Josh Hall, also awarded a number of prizes to local sailors and officials who have provided the event with expertise and assistance in New Zealand, including the RPNYC’s Vice Commodore, Geoff Herd, whose team manned the GOR Leg 2 finish line in Wellington Harbour in very challenging conditions. Herd was presented with a pair of GOR-branded, Bollé sunglasses.

 

 

GOR points table and crew list for Leg 3:

 

 

1. BSL: 64 points. Ross and Campbell Field (NZL/NZL)

2. Campagne de France: 56 points. Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron (FRA/GBR)

3. Cessna Citation: 54 points. Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel (NZL/RSA)

4. Financial Crisis: 42 points. Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon (ITA/ESP)

5. Phesheya-Racing: 24 points. Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire (RSA/RSA)

6. Sec. Hayai: 6 points. Nico Budel and Frans Budel (NDL/NDL) RTD Leg 2, DNS Leg 3. Will rejoin GOR for Legs 4 and 5

[Herdy 0]

Danaide, Lapo would be very happy to seel you a Kiwi FC 40. Problem is you wouldn't have it in time for the RNZ.

 

Hope your daughters shouted you out to a nice meal last night?

 

Customs clearance and leg briefing this afternoon. The boats are getting last minute scrubs and calibrations done at present.

[Guest]

At 15:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Sunday, the double-handed Global Ocean Race (GOR) fleet started Leg 3 from Wellington, New Zealand, to Punta del Este, Uruguay, with a 6,200-mile course through the Pacific Ocean, around Cape Horn and through the South Atlantic ahead of the five Class40s.

 

 

Shortly after 13:00 local time, the Class40s motored out of Queens Wharf – the fleet’s base for almost one month – and into Lambton Harbour followed by a spectator armada of motorboats, sailing yachts and dinghies. While the fleet milled in Lambton Harbour around the start line under the watchful eyes of the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club team on the Committee boat, the five teams self-sealed their engines with instructions to email a time-stamped image of the yellow, plastic tie-wrap in place to Co-Race Director, Sylvie Viant within five hours of the start gun.

 

 

In around ten knots of breeze, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel were first across the line with Cessna Citation, followed by the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire with Phesheya-Racing. Colman and Kuttel led the fleet east across the mouth of Evans Bay as the breeze built fractionally and around Point Halswell, hoisting spinnakers and leaving Ward Island and Hope Shoal to port. For a brief period the breeze died completely before switching through 180 degrees, forcing a beat and short tacking through the gap between the eastern shoreline of Wellington Harbour and the jagged, exposed rocks of Barrett Reef before rounding Pencarrow Head and exiting the 2km-wide harbour entrance.

 

 

Cessna Citation led the fleet out into Cook Strait with Ross and Campbell Field on Buckley Systems in hot pursuit and as the Class40s dropped south into the Pacific, the wind built quickly to 20 knots with a long rolling swell for the first night at sea, forcing the teams to reef as the sun began to dip (see aerial images from Cook Strait here). In the 06:00 GMT position poll, the Fields on Buckley Systems were furthest east in the fleet, closest to the Great Circle route and led the fleet with Cessna Citation furthest west dropping back to fourth and Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron moving up to second on Campagne de France. The South Africans on Phesheya-Racing held third place with Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon in fifth with Financial Crisis with just five miles separating the Class40s.

 

 

The GOR’s Race Ambassador, Dee Caffari, explains what is ahead for the teams over the next month: “This is the big one, but it is also rewarded with the infamous landmark of Cape Horn,” she explains. “The main difference with this ocean leg is that there are very few options along the way,” Caffari continues. “The previous leg had the teams cross the Indian Ocean which is littered with islands along the way which can give options. Now, they will have none,” she adds. “Once they leave the relative safety of the Cook Strait, they enter the Pacific with nothing between them and Cape Horn.”

 

 

Compared with the Indian Ocean, the Pacific is potentially a smoother ride for the five Class40s: “It is a long way, but the good news is the weather can be more enjoyable,” says Dee, who has raced around the world through the Southern Ocean four times; single-handed, double-handed and fully-crewed. “The waves will seem slightly longer and wider spaced allowing the boats to have more comfortable surfing conditions,” Caffari predicts. “The bad weather doesn’t seem as frequent as it is in the Indian Ocean, but it is almost guaranteed that there will be a big blow before you leave the deep South and head back into the relative safety of the Atlantic Ocean,” she warns. “It is almost as if the Southern Ocean wants to say goodbye and leave you with a lasting reminder of how hostile it can be. The sailors will finish this leg exhausted, but also exhilarated and possibly even a little bit sad, as saying goodbye to the South is difficult as it is such a magical place to experience.”

[Guest]

The first night at sea for the double-handed, Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s in Leg 3 was an upwind battle in around 20 knots as the fleet left the shelter of Wellington Harbour following a one-month stopover and hammered out into Cook Strait led by Leg 2 winners, Conrad Colman, and South African skipper, Adrian Kuttel, on their Akilaria RC2, Cessna Citation.

 

 

As night fell, the main pack turned east close to the Great Circle route with Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon on Financial Crisis splitting south, making solitary progress parallel to the coast of South Island as the separation built the Distance To Leader figures for the Italian-Spanish duo. Shortly before daybreak in the Pacific Ocean, Nannini and Ramon finally broke south-east as the leadership battle in the northern group continued with Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron taking pole position with Campagne de France.

 

 

However, shortly before midnight GMT on Sunday, fresh north-easterly breeze arrived for the fleet from a low pressure system centred over the Chatham Islands directly in the path of the Class40s with Financial Crisis in the strongest wind as the speed averages began to climb for Nannini and Ramon.

 

 

In the 04:00 GMT position poll on Monday, Financial Crisis was making the best speed in the fleet at just over nine knots, but remains isolated in fifth place, trailing the leaders, Mabire and Merron at the head of the pack with Campagne de France by 46 miles. Meanwhile, Ross and Campbell Field on Buckley Systems are just over one mile off Mabire and Merron’s starboard quarter with Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel on Cessna Citation just three miles off the Franco-British duo’s port quarter. The South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on their four year-old Akilaria, Phesheya-Racing, were averaging just over eight knots and holding fourth place just over 12 miles behind the fleet leader.

 

 

GOR leaderboard 04:00 GMT 30/01/12:

1. Campagne de France DTF 5,914nm 8.1kts

2. Buckley Systems DTL 1.3nm 8.2kts

3. Cessna Citation DTL 3.3nm 7.9kts

4. Phesheya-Racing DTL 12.6nm 8.3kts

5. Financial Crisis DTL 46.6kts 9.2kts

[Hupane 0]

Hi all,

 

Looks like plenty of good interest in the Class 40's and GOR while we were in NZL - unbelieveable support locally in Wellington. Unfortunately we are back in NZL as you all know. We are trying to figure out what to do in the immediate future, but in any case the boat is for sale, and someone might want to take the opportunity of having a very good boat already here to get into the class - a brilliant boat, at a fraction of the cost of new, fully sorted and optimised with everything you will ever need. On most points of sail the fastest Class 40 design out there.

 

So, I am unashamedly broadcasting that the boat is for sale. Apologies if this is not the done thing on your local forums, but I see no other way of getting to some interested parties. Here is some basic information:

 

Verdier design TYKER 40 no. 76 now seriously for sale. Full North New Zealand inventory incl. 3DL, plus many spares (Incidences, North) - effectively 2+ full sail inventories. Spare Mast & Spreaders. Spare rudders. Spare sprit. Category Zero. Extensive spare rigging. Lifting Rudders. All in Excellent condition.

 

Comprehensive systems upgrade 2011. Contact Campbell Field, cmf@cmfield.eu, +44 7884 442 657

 

Currently lying at Half Moon Bay.

 

Give me a call on 0220 819 118 up until 2345 on Friday the 24th (that's when I take off back to the UK...) or drop me an email at the address above.

 

Cheers,

Campbell.