Claas Lehmann and Leon Oehme lived the longest day of their sporting lives on Friday—and came away champions. With Lehmann steering and Oehme out on the trapeze wire, they went to the line of race nine of the 2013 SAP 5O5 World Championship as one of three teams with a chance at the title, all of them German, all of them veteran, one of them a five-time champion who would have been the house bet to win.
For the first time, every minute of the racing action from Act 4 of the Extreme Sailing Series in Boston will be available live on the internet. After Alinghi's big crash in Istanbul, what's in store for the 40-foot extreme catamarans? Action starts 1300hrs, Eastern time in USA....
Paul Pascoe, long-time multihull enthusiast and chairman of the ISAF Multihull Commission, writes this in-depth, frank and honest appraisal of what happened at the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting in Russia at the beginning of May. It's a real insight into the politics and back-room dealing involved in selecting Olympic events. Pascoe's words will make for tough reading for the ISAF Executive Committee...
Olly Turner has won the SailJuice Global Warm-Up, the four-event winter travellers' series which concluded at the weekend with the Hoo Freezer. Turner's victory is particularly special because he sailed as crew in three events and as helm in the other, proving himself a versatile sailor at both ends of the Merlin Rocket that he competed in. Turner, crewing for Richard Whitworth at the Hoo Freezer in Kent this past weekend, finished 9th in Saturday's practice race, which was won by the International Canoe sailed by Simon Allen. At the time Turner can't have realised the significance of completing the practice race, but with winds gusting up to Force 7 across the Medway estuary on Sunday morning, Saturday's warm-up took on a new level of importance.
More than 200 sailors are revving up for Round 3 of the SailJuice Global Warm-Up Series this weekend at Rutland Water. The John Merricks Tiger Trophy attracts the best dinghy racers from around the UK for two days of frenetic racing in the middle of the country.....
Where Peter Barton had capsized his way around the Bloody Mary three weeks earlier, the more moderate conditions suited his T-foiled Cherub to a T, with Barton and crew David Ellis winning both races of the Asymmetric fleet. After two events, victory at the Bloody Mary plus their 3rd at the Steve Nicholson keeps Andy Smith & Tim Needham's 505 in pole position, but just a point ahead of Barton's Cherub...
Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell lie in 2nd place in the early stages of Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. Friend of SailJuice, editor of OffshoreRules.com Justin Chisholm caught up with Luke and Stu after their first day of racing to ask them more about their new partnership and their aspirations for the future...
With sub-zero temperatures, bone-chilling winds gusting over 25 knots, just 61 entrants and 29 finishers, this year's Bloody Mary must go down as one of the toughest in its 37 year history. This classic pursuit race throws up many different kinds of winners, and this year it was the turn of a 505, immaculately sailed by Staunton Harold's Andy Smith and Tim Needham, to lift the coveted trophy.
SailJuice gets an exclusive interview with Mike Drummond, design coordinator of BMW Oracle Racing, the day after the extraordinary 190-foot wing rig goes for its first test sail on the DogZilla trimaran. Mike is talking straight from the boat, and shares his views on the benefits of solid-rig technology and his first impressions of this feat of modern engineering....
Azzurra strategist Tom Burnham looks back at a classic - and controversial - day's match racing at the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice. We also ask Tom to offer his views on the controversial Thierry Henry hand-ball incident in the recent World Cup qualifier against Ireland in the football.