London, UK – 26 January, 2012: Match Race Germany, the opening event on the 2012 World Match Racing Tour, has announced world renowned car manufacturer Porsche as a new event partner. This year marks the 15^th anniversary of Match Race Germany which will take place on Lake Constance, Langenargen from 23 to 28 May 2012.
 
Following a successful trial sponsorship by MHP, a subsidiary of Porsche, at Match Race Germany in 2011, Porsche AG will now become a sponsor and boat partner to this year’s event which attracts over 30,000 sailing fans. A marketing campaign, including on-event activation, will allow the brand to engage with current and prospective customers at the annual event. 

Porsche AG is noted for its motorsport heritage and feels this venture into sailing is a natural progression for the brand. “Sailing is a very popular and highly respected sport amongst our customers,” said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of Porsche Germany GmbH. 

“Both sailing and motorsport rely on clear rules, teamwork, strategy, tactics and of course good fortune – and these values are also reflected in our management style. Sailing is clean, fair, free of doping and essentially comes down to one thing – working out how to get from start to finish in the fastest possible way.” 

“Match Race Germany is what the Carrera Cup represents to us,” said Zellmer. “It offers an enthusiastic sporting audience, all within touching distance, delivering a live experience and not just a satellite transmission.”

Speaking about the announcement, Harald Thierer, Match Race Germany Organiser, emphasised that Porsche is joining a group of corporate event partners, including STIHL, MHP, Ultramarin, Rolf Benz and Bavaria, who will each benefit from a year-round activation: 

“Our partners can expect much more than the five-day appearance and exposure at an international sporting event, with enthusiastic spectators and associated media coverage. Porsche and all our other partners will benefit from our wider offering which includes an event centre, business coaching, training programmes and yacht charter department.” 

As a partner Porsche will also benefit from the Tour’s international broadcast both on television and the internet. Sailing fans can follow each event online via a live blog as well as a few hours of live coverage each day including expert commentary from on and off the water. In addition morning and evening shows are produced daily by Red Handed TV showing interviews with sailors, event organisers and sponsors as well as highlights from all the day’s action on the water. 

2 Feb 2012

Good Morning Vietnam

Catch the latest news from the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 as the fleet close in on Sanya and head up the Vietnamese coast.

Leg 3 Addendum inc amendment 2

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on Saturday, January 21st, 2012 at 5:58 pm and is filed under Sailing Instructions

Video: Closing in on China

CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand hugs the coast of Vietnam as they close on Sanya, China, in the closing stages of Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race.

World Sailing Management (WSM), organizers of the MedCup sailing circuit, the official international competition of the TP52 and Soto 40 classes, regrets to announce to all those involved and interested in this prestigious circuit, that it has decided to suspend the 2012 season.

This difficult business decision was taken for the following reasons, all of them related to the economic and financial crisis affecting the whole world and Europe in particular:

1. Serious uncertainty regarding the number of boats, mainly in the 52 Series (TP 52 class), willing to commit to compete in all of the events comprising the circuit with the risk of an insufficient number of competitors to ensure the competitive level reached by the circuit in previous seasons.

2. The lack of financial resources available to local authorities in their bid to become potential venues for the events of the circuit, which limited the ability to address their usual obligations and maintain the circuit’s level of quality.

3. Together with the abovementioned factors, a decrease in the support needed from AUDI AG, which has been the circuit’s title sponsor, has led WSM to terminate, early and peacefully, the sponsorship deal linking both companies.

In brief, WSM believes that it is more rational to suspend the Circuit than let it continue with falling standards.

Nevertheless, WSM will continue to work during 2012 in order to overcome these difficulties, confident that it will be able once again to provide the sailing world with the spectacle that the MedCup Circuit has always been.

Madrid, December 6, 2011

New faces and one new team are confirmed in the line-up for the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour, which kicks off in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote next week (8 February 2012).

Each of the 14 competing teams will be hoping to emulate the success Chris Bake’s Team Aqua (GBR) saw in 2011. Bake will be back with the same team, including longstanding tactician Cameron Appleton (NZL), and fighting to lift the trophy for the second year in a row, despite some heavy-hitters joining the Tour in 2012.

The new all-Italian team joins the fleet for the 2012 season. AFX Capital Racing Team is owned by Massimo Barranco, founder and General Manager of Eurograni SpA Company, the largest wheat and cereal trader in Italy. The team will debut at the first event in Puerto Calero.

With a strict 50-50 split between amateurs and professionals in each eight-person crew, the amateur owners take the wheel for the fleet racing while the pro tacticians get their chance to steer during the match racing phase of the RC44 Championship Tour. In 2011 some of the owners proved very successful themselves at the helm for the match racing, a trend set to continue in 2012.

New professionals such as multiple America’s Cup winner Brad Butterworth (NZL), fellow Cup winner Ed Baird (USA) and Olympic medallist Ross Macdonald (CAN) are listed on the crew lists for first event of the season in Lanzarote.

Butterworth is perhaps best known for his role in the America’s Cup as tactician and skipper for Team New Zealand and Swiss team Alinghi. The New Zealander is no stranger to the RC44 fleet, having last season coached the David Murphy’s Ironbound in Austria. For 2012, he will be tactician for Gennadi Timchenko’s Russian entry Katusha, replacing long-time tactician Paul Cayard who will focus on his 34th America’s Cup commitments as CEO of Artemis Racing.

American Ed Baird also has an esteemed America’s Cup career, having been a coach for the 1995 Cup winning Team New Zealand and a helmsman for the 2007 Cup winning Alinghi team. For the Lanzarote, Baird joins the Valentin Zavadnikov and the crew of the Synergy Russian Sailing Team.

Ross Macdonald is one of Canada’s most successful international sailors, having won silver at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Macdonald will be aiming to help owner Pieter Heerema and the crew of No Way Back (NED) find their way back to the top of the leader board after finishing seventh in the 2011 Tour.

Adding another experienced match sailor to their crew, Team AEZ (AUT) will this season welcome Germany’s Markus Wieser. His past success in numerous Dragon regattas is sure to add to the Austrians’ fighting chances as owner as owner Rene Mangold explained. “It was Christian Binders idea to ask Markus to join the team. Christian wants to concentrate further on his role as a sailmaker/designer for our project and will be on board AEZ as a crew this season, as well as being responsible for the sails and crew management. Apart from Markus the rest of the crew will be the same as 2011. Keeping this consistency we are confident that we have a lot of potential to improve. But it’s anyone’s game and to predict a result is hard to say in a fleet with so many world class sailors.”

 

Absent from the 2012 season is ORACLE Racing, whose crew will be fully concentrating their efforts on the defence of their title at the 34th America’s Cup.

The 14 competing teams will again be challenged by a mixture of lake, ocean and harbour racing in 2012 with new host port, Cascais in Portugal, welcoming the fleet for the second round of the Tour.

 

Saif Al Shibli, Vice Chairman of the Oman Watersports Committee said of the Accreditation, “Since October 2009, Oman Sail has taught over 6,000 people to sail and created a first class sail training scheme. We are delighted that the training scheme is accredited by ISAF, which will allow the programme to go from strength to strength.”

Speaking to ISAF after the Inspection Neil Coxon, the Director of Sailing Development at Oman Sail said, “Of all those we have trained Omanis now account for 26 Full time instructors, 12 Senior Instructors and 3 Examiners. We are looking at opening another National Sailing School in Oman late in February 2012 and we hope to open more throughout the following 2 years. This will enable increased access to sailing and grow the sport for the future benefit of all Omanis.”

ISAF Inspector Andy Jeffrey offered his thanks, stating, “Both of the Centre Managers, Ali Abusaidi and Mohammed Al Balushi provided a superb welcome to their respective Sailing Schools. Their pride in their work, the staff and the achievements so far was evident and justified. The combined efforts of the team in Oman has attributed to the rapid and impressive development of the Omani National Sail Training Programme as delivered by Oman Sail.”

Dan Jaspers, Training and Development Manager at the International Sailing Federation said of this latest accreditation, “Oman has shown that a small MNA can make a huge difference! The Watersports Committee and the Ministry of Sports Affairs in Oman has shown us that a dedicated team of professionals working along very clear guidelines can set up, deliver and maintain a National Programme of Sail Training that is truly beneficial to all in the Country, regardless of age or gender. We welcome the Oman application and resultant accreditation as the first in the Gulf region and encourage all of our other members to see this opportunity to be recognized by ISAF as a step towards creating a truly global forum for sharing of best practice models of delivery for cohesive National Sailing Programmes.

“I thank all those in Oman who offered the Inspector such hospitality and warmth and for being receptive to all the ideas and recommendations that were made. We look forward to many years of growth for the Omani programme and continued partnership with the International Federation.”

If you think that your National Training Programme would benefit from the ISAF Recognized Training accreditation but are not sure of the process or for a full Oman Accreditation Report plus previous inspection reports then visit our dedicated page here.

For updates on all ISAF initiatives and news from the wider world of sailing why not tell all of your friends about our highly commended ISAF Connect to Sailing Facebook page here

For all Training and Development related Twitter discussions why not join us – www.twitter.com/connect2sailing

For any other information on ISAF Initiatives that could help grow participation in the sport of sailing contact our Training and Development Manager, Dan Jaspers here.

London, UK – 26 January, 2012: Match Race Germany, the opening event on the 2012 World Match Racing Tour, has announced world renowned car manufacturer Porsche as a new event partner. This year marks the 15^th anniversary of Match Race Germany which will take place on Lake Constance, Langenargen from 23 to 28 May 2012.
 
Following a successful trial sponsorship by MHP, a subsidiary of Porsche, at Match Race Germany in 2011, Porsche AG will now become a sponsor and boat partner to this year’s event which attracts over 30,000 sailing fans. A marketing campaign, including on-event activation, will allow the brand to engage with current and prospective customers at the annual event. 

Porsche AG is noted for its motorsport heritage and feels this venture into sailing is a natural progression for the brand. “Sailing is a very popular and highly respected sport amongst our customers,” said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of Porsche Germany GmbH. 

“Both sailing and motorsport rely on clear rules, teamwork, strategy, tactics and of course good fortune – and these values are also reflected in our management style. Sailing is clean, fair, free of doping and essentially comes down to one thing – working out how to get from start to finish in the fastest possible way.” 

“Match Race Germany is what the Carrera Cup represents to us,” said Zellmer. “It offers an enthusiastic sporting audience, all within touching distance, delivering a live experience and not just a satellite transmission.”

Speaking about the announcement, Harald Thierer, Match Race Germany Organiser, emphasised that Porsche is joining a group of corporate event partners, including STIHL, MHP, Ultramarin, Rolf Benz and Bavaria, who will each benefit from a year-round activation: 

“Our partners can expect much more than the five-day appearance and exposure at an international sporting event, with enthusiastic spectators and associated media coverage. Porsche and all our other partners will benefit from our wider offering which includes an event centre, business coaching, training programmes and yacht charter department.” 

As a partner Porsche will also benefit from the Tour’s international broadcast both on television and the internet. Sailing fans can follow each event online via a live blog as well as a few hours of live coverage each day including expert commentary from on and off the water. In addition morning and evening shows are produced daily by Red Handed TV showing interviews with sailors, event organisers and sponsors as well as highlights from all the day’s action on the water. 

We find there’s an ironic twist to irony ….

Today is Groundhog Day. Not because today is the same as all of the others, in fact it’s quite the opposite. It’s windy and bumpy as hell.

But it actually is Groundhog day, February 2, when all over North America people dress up in top hats and tuxedos gather around and wait for a large ground squirrel to tell them when winter is going to end. The biggest of these get-togethers is in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, at the Gobbler’s Knob – home of Punxsutawney Phil the Groundhog made famous by the awesome movie, “Groundhog Day”.

Advocates of the hog believe it has between 75% – 90% accuracy in predicting the end of winter. You’ve got to laugh when the National Climatic Data Centre said is actually more like 39%

Lucky for us we don’t have to carry a large rodent on board to give us our weather information. The weather models we get on board are pretty good. Unfortunately though they are telling us that we will be in pretty rough upwind weather most of the way to the finish some 560 miles away. So it’s shaping up to be a hard and tiring slog, and touch wood things won’t be made tougher by the abundance of fishing nets.

There are fishing boats all around out here now, even in the 25 knots and short sharp 2-3 metre seas we are pounding into, they are still out hauling in the fish.

Often in the rough weather conversation on deck is at its best. This morning we touched on a couple of interesting topics:  what is the difference between a se’ (as in South China Sea) and an ocea’ (as in the Indian Ocean)?

And irony – which is always a tricky topic.

Andy McLean said that it was ironic that today is Groundhog Day because it is unlike any other day we have had all leg – this is ironic.

Stu and Mike just started quoting lines from the Alanis Morrisette song, which I don’t think has any good examples of irony. I think the irony of the song “ironic” is that it doesn’t have any good examples of irony in it.

It’s never easy to come up with things that are truly ironic.

I’m sure you get a picture of how a few of us spent the next hour or so taking our minds off the stinging spray and constant thumping.

This race still hangs in the balance, with Telefonica looking like it’s in a strong position, as does Groupama. Things could also potentially come good for Puma who have taken the easterly option.

For CAMPER, the guys are plugging away relentlessly, working on doing everything possible to get us into a position we could potentially move up a place on the boats ahead of us. With a few favorable wind shifts and a bit of good luck this isn’t far from possibility.

We are not far at all now from the Vietnam coast, once there the tack fest will begin

Here’s a fact   bit of drivel for you:

If it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from it burrow it will leave the burrow signifying that winter will soon end. If it’s sunny and the groundhog sees its own shadow it will retreat back into its burrow and means the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.

Why not just listen to the weather readerl on TV instead of a rodent? Great movie though.

GOLDEN QUOTE: “ Less than a Sydney Hobart race to go, and feeling a lot like we are in one as we bash our way up wind. On a positive note it’s a lot warmer than the Hoey will ever be.”

STU BANNATYNE