Weekly Sailing Summary

AC 45 catamaran testing continues, St Jude wins Sydney to Newcastle Race, Australian Youth Sailing Team announced, collision dashes world record hopes

AMERICA’S CUP

Now that the all the boxes have been ticked in the technical shakedown of the new AC 45 catamaran, Core Builders Composites and ORACLE Racing design team have handed the boat over to America’s Cup Race Management. The ACRM team in Auckland is now managing all the logistics and shared testing schedules amongst the teams. www.americascup.com

KEEL BOATS

Australian open match racing champion Evan Walker is back in Sydney to defend the Hardy Cup, the ISAF Grade 3 under 25 match racing regatta conducted on Sydney Harbour from 7-10 February. www.cyca.com.au

Noel Cornish and his Sydney 47 St Jude are the provisional winners of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Sydney to Newcastle Race. David Forbes’ Kaiko 52 Merlin (RSYS) took line honours and second overall. Vamp, the Corby 49 owned by Garry Linacre and David Fuller, was second over the line just six seconds behind Merlin. www.cyca.com.au

Darryl Hodgkinson and his Victoire crew remained patient, taking out the Flinders Islet Race overall, while Bill Wild and his Rodd & Gunn Wedgetail claimed line honours in the Blue Water Pointscore series race after hanging on all night and early this morning waiting for a decent wind to reappear. www.cyca.com.au

Justin Pelly and Sean Rahilly’s Sydney 36CR Crosshaven won line honours and IRC Division in the Grant Thornton Short Haul night harbour race. www.cyca.com.au

Royal Brighton Yacht Club is running their overnight trio of premier club races in conjunction with Sandringham Yacht club on 11 February. Three trophies will be contested over 60-80nm courses. The Lady Nelson Trophy will be awarded for IRC, the Thomas Lipton Trophy for AMS and the F.D. Linacre Trophy for Performance handicap division. www.rgyc.org.au

February 2011 is unfolding as a busy month for the Farr 40 teams who are in Sydney for the 2011 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. In preparation for the Worlds, the Summer Sprint Series scheduled for February 12-13 will be hotly contested with 16 teams from interstate and overseas. www.farr40.asn.au

18 FOOTERS

After a week of high temperatures, a strong southerly wind hit Sydney Harbour just prior to the scheduled start time of the Commodore Cup 18ft Skiff race. Conditions were far too dangerous and the race officer was forced to abandon racing. The next event for the Australian 18 Footers League will be the annual Twilight Race on 11 February. www.18footers.com.au

OFF THE BEACH

The 2011 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Australian Youth Sailing Team has been named with 12 sailors set to represent Australia at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Croatia from 7-16 July 2011. www.yachting.org.au

AROUND THE WORLD

The Velux 5 Oceans fleet of four solo sailors left Wellington, New Zealand, on 6 February in gusty winds and rain bound for Punta del Este, Uruguay. Polish skipper Gutek hit a tree 24 hours into the race but his boat suffered no damage. www.velux5oceans.com

Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron (FRA) on board Virbac Paprec 3 continue to lead the double-handed fleet in the Barcelona World Race. The fleet of 12 yachts is spread almost from Australia’s Cape Leeuwin back to South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. For the leader and six other IMOCA Open 60s their passage up to the Cook Straits through New Zealand will be a kind of homecoming to the country where they were built. www.barcelonaworldrace.com

The fourteen men in the Banque Populaire Team were forced to retire from their first attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy, the around-the-world sailing record. The maxi trimaran damaged a daggerboard in a collision with an unknown floating object. The crew tried to repair the broken piece and resume their round-the-world tour, but the daggerboard would not fulfil its potential during the long upwind voyage ahead to the Kerguelen Islands. www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/press/Maxi-Trimaran-Banque-Populaire-V

CYCLONE YASI

Cyclone Yasi destroyed an estimated 70 boats at Port Hinchinbrook, which is located one kilometre south of Cardwell. One man was thought to be missing after he moved his boat into the protection of the mangroves, but he sailed into Port Hinchinbrook after the cyclone passed. As some pontoons floated off the top of the pylons some boat owners are claiming that the pylons were too short. Port Hinchinbrook was developed by Keith Williams, the developer of the Gold Coast’s Sea World and Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. www.couriermail.com.au

NEWS BRIEFS

Julien Berthier has created a mobile floating sculpture called Love-love made from a 6.5 metre yacht that appears to be sinking. The boat, which was cut in half, is powered by a built-in motor and a keel is attached at the cut line and this keeps it in the 'sinking' position. See the photos at www.julienberthier.org/Love-love.html

The front of Royal Brighton Yacht Club and the car park suffered from flooding last week, but with a few strategically placed table cloths and a two-stage levy at the front door, the amount of water making its way into the club was minimal. www.rbyc.org.au

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Feb 11-14 -- MyState Financial Australian Wooden boat Festival, Hobart, celebrates the nation's rich maritime culture and heritage and has established a reputation as one of the world's best maritime events. Held on Hobart's vibrant waterfront, the four-day festival brings together the biggest collection of wooden boats in the southern hemisphere. www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au

Feb 16-Mar 20 -- WMcA Building Services Van Diemen's Land Circumnavigation Cruise -- 44 boats have registered to participate and the fleet size is limited to 45. However there still may be withdrawals and more Expressions of Interest may be received. www.ryct.org.au

Feb 19 -- The Wooden Boat Rally will be held on the Tamar River at the Seaport Marina in Launceston, Tasmania. www.woodenboatrally.com

Feb 22 -- Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever to visit Australia, returns to Sydney Harbour for a rendezvous with the new Queen Elizabeth. The rendezvous is scheduled for early morning but times may change. www.cunardline.com.au

Feb 24-27 -- Variety Splash. A three-day rally on Port Phillip open to all sail and power boats, commencing at Waterfront City, Docklands, with as evening ‘Welcome’ function. www.varietysplash.org.au

Feb 25-Mar 4 -- Geographe Bay Race Week held at in Busselton is the largest yachting regatta in Western Australia. www.gbyc.com.au

Feb 26 -- Inaugural Marine Rescue "Splash Out" Festival at Darling Harbour will celebrate the launch of CompassNet Boating Safety Network and the achievements of Marine Rescue NSW. There will be kids’ games and rides, free education and training seminars, stage performances, water demonstrations, flare lighting and much more! www.marinerescuensw.com.au

Feb 26-27 -- South Australian Wooden Boat Festival at the historic River Port of Goolwa. www.woodenboatfestival.com.au/

Mar 3-13 -- JJ Giltinan International Championship, Sydney Harbour, sometimes referred to as the 18 Footer Worlds. www.18footers.com.au

Mar 5-6 -- Audi Sydney Regatta, Middle Harbour Yacht Club www.sydneyharbourregatta.com.au

April 11-17 -- Sail Port Stephens www.sailportstephens.com.au

Photograph: AC 45 on high down low, courtesy of Gilles Martin-Raget and

www.americascup.com

Weekly Sailing Summary

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