community weblog - [ Sailing ]

The smaller of Bay City's two Appledore schooners is making its way through northern waters this summer.

After a trip through the Great Lakes, Appledore V sailed into Halifax harbor in Nova Scotia. The schooner arrived there Wednesday.

The crew has nothing but good comments about the schooner, which was purchased in the fall of 2002, said Roger Nugent, executive director of BaySail, the nonprofit group that owns the Appledore V and its larger sister ship, the Appledore IV.

"We're still getting to know it," Nugent said. "But she's really become a crew favorite. It's a smaller boat that handles very well. She handles well under power and under sail, including in ocean swells."    more...

Short on years but long on sailing ability, Ben Spiller holds the Sheboygan Yacht Club in high regard.

“Per capita, we have the best sailing in the Midwest,” said Spiller. “No place on Lake Michigan has this kind of quality.”

Spiller, 18, a product of Sheboygan’s solid youth sailing program, will be one of the sailors to watch at this weekend’s Brotz Regatta, which takes place Saturday and Sunday off the shores of the Sheboygan Yacht Club.

Spiller, who guided his team during the Lightning Youth World Championships recently in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is the Brot Regatta’s defending champion. About 20 boats from all over the Midwest are expected to attend the popular event.   more...

There is much of the rich kid's approach from Bertarelli - "it's my ball and we will play the game my way" - while Coutts's is the voice of experience. "My style of management and leadership over the years has been formed both by observing how things run within highly successful teams," he says, "and also by participating in that leadership in a key role. Last time it showed that that leadership was successful. I was surprised to see a departure from that style after we had won the cup."   more...

Canadian Bill Abbott, his wife Joanne and Paul Davis are the Soling Worlds Masters Champions, at Lake Michigan. In a close battle that turned into match racing USA 842 Stu Walker, Doug Loup, Andrew Dizer from Annapolis beat Joe Hoeksema his wife Rose and Matias Collins who finished third.  more...

Coutts, the most successful skipper in America's Cup history, was dismissed after refusing to sail for the team in several recent regattas.

The New Zealander was sacked for "violations of his duties" but Coutts says he will fight back.   more...

The Suunto M9 is designed to provide cruising and racing sailors relevant information while sailing so that they can concentrate more on increasing their performance and on making right decisions.

While cruising, the Suunto M9 delivers useful navigational information and helps to keep the boat on the correct course. Up to 50 routes and 500 waypoints can be stored in the units memory. The quick access to the MOB-feature allows quick reaction to a Man Over Board -rescue situation during a race, the unit gives the advantage of a better start by calculating the correct start line bias each time the wind direction is updated. It also displays the distance to the start line in connection with the start timer to help cross the line at the right moment. After start, the unit helps discover changes in wind direction on upwind legs and keeps track of laylines for optimum tacking around the buoys.   more...

Swiss biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli has given Team New Zealand a $10 million loan to ensure the former America's Cup holders will contest the 2007 event in Valencia. The move has caused consternation in New Zealand and among other challengers.

"I'm astonished," said GBR Challenge chairman Peter Harrison, whose own campaign is "at the crossroads". He added: "It's almost unbelievable and it's unfair."

The loan was made to trigger Team New Zealand's participation by taking the two-time winner of the Cup past the funding threshold which team manager Grant Dalton set as the go-ahead point.

The loan is a personal one from Bertarelli and has nothing to do with either his team, Alinghi, who will defend the Cup, or the new America's Cup management company, who own the rights to the Cup and will manage the event.   more...

Brad Butterworth admits he was surprised to learn of Ernesto Bertarelli's multi-million dollar loan to Team New Zealand.

The Alinghi tactician, who sailed in both of Team New Zealand's winning campaigns, says it is not really anything to with the sailing team.

He told Newstalk ZB's Peter Montgomery that Bertarelli's explanation - that he wants good challengers to take part in the cup - rings true.
 more...

Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli has dipped into his own pocket to make sure New Zealand gets to the America's Cup.

The Herald can reveal that the Swiss billionaire, Team New Zealand's arch-rival, propped up the start of their campaign with a significant amount of money.

Last night, Emirates Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton said a deal had been struck, but it was a "no strings attached" loan which would be repaid.

The loan is believed to be for millions of dollars.

Dalton would not say how big the loan was, but when asked if it was in the tens of millions of dollars, he said: "Well, there wouldn't be much point doing it for $100, would there?"    more...

ISAF Website Goes Into Olympic Mode

From Monday 2 August 2004, the ISAF website – www.sailing.org - will go into Olympic mode, with a new “Olympic” look and all the latest from Athens direct from the ISAF website. Throughout the 2004 Olympic Sailing Competition the ISAF Website will bring you the latest mark by mark roundings, results, reports and images from the race course as it happens.   more...

Grosse Pointe Yacht Club

75th Summer Regatta

Saturday, August 7, 2004

Grosse Pointe Yacht Club race program PDF

Grosse Pointe Yacht Club race program  HTML

Light Winds, Tight Race and Corner Recoveries In another astonishing day of sun and a breeze from the Southeast at 6 to 8 knots on Lake Michigan competitors sailed a two hour race in flat water where the “Masters” sailed beautifully.

CAN1 Bill ABBOTT, Joanne and Paul DAVIS drove smoothly into another first place in the only race on Wednesday.

Two local sailors fought hard to finish second, but USA818 John KENNEDY, Niels HEEMSKERK and Sal AQUINAGA just got the win over USA845 Jorgen JOHNSSON, his son Martin, and David SNODGRASS who finished third.

In another close finish farther back, five boats came all together at the finish and this day not the day for the legendary Stu WALKER and his crew Doug LOUP, Andrew DIZER who were knocked into a sixth place by USA807 with Joe HOEKSEMA, his wife Rose and Matias COLLINS who finished fifth after a over early start. They made a good recovery from the bottom. USA832 Charlie KAMPS, John WALTON, and Vitas KASIUNAS hit the perfect right corner on the last beat going from seventh to fourth place at the finish.   more...

The Coaches

Supporting our Olympic sailors this summer in Greece is an ace coaching staff. At its core are the US Sailing Team’s full-time coaches: Gary Bodie (pictured at right), Luther Carpenter and Skip Whyte. Throughout each quadrennium, they carry out the mission of the Olympic Sailing Committee: to help members of the US Sailing Team reach the elite level and prepare for competition at the Olympic Games through training on and off the water. Up until the Games, coaching is mostly about developing dedicated training regimens, along with independent racing skills and individual program management.   more...