First for Equation at BVI Spring Regatta

Sadly, the crusty Caribbean salt’s washed off, the sunburn’s beginning to peel, and the rum’s done for sailors who raced this year’s BVI Spring Regatta held off Nanny Cay last week. More than 100+ boats competed in the 41st edition of the regatta, with as many new faces as repeat players, including Bill Alcott from Michigan who celebrated his 15th event - this year on his newest boat Equation, the TP65 formerly known as Rosebud.

Equation took first place in Class 1, a particularly sweet prize, as it’s been a while since the racing beauty’s enjoyed the taste of success. The boat was designed by Bruce Farr and built in 2007 at Westerly Marine, Santa Ana, Calif. Originally owned by Roger Sturgeon, she won the 2007 Sydney Hobart among other international prestigious races. She dismasted in heavy weather during the Middle Sea Race off Malta in October 2009, and shortly thereafter was purchased by Australian Ray Roberts in early 2010.

Roberts fixed her up, including a new mast, and sailed a Newport regatta with the intention of taking her back to Australia later that year. But he didn’t.

Instead, the sleek 65, one of three including Money Penny and Luna Rossa built to the Rule, was purchased in spring 2011 by the American partnership of Bill Alcott, Ed Palm and Tom Anderson, aka ‘TA’, all from Michigan. They renamed her Equation.

Alcott says that the partnership was looking for a boat to race on the Great Lakes in summer, and also be ocean competitive for winter racing in the Caribbean. He said, “Rosebud was very successful when Roger owned her and we thought that maybe we could learn to do the same thing.”

Alcott, who has owned some 14 boats, says Equation’s a very technical boat and a step up for the boys. “We’re more traditional boaters and when it came to adapting to a boat with hydraulics, we had to rethink how we were going to do things and it’s been a slow learn, I think, for us. We intentionally looked for guys who had sailed her when she was Rosebud as they know the boat and that’s been an immense help.”

Guys like Matt Smith…who has a long career in the America’s Cup behind him and is currently involved in the Bella Mente Racing program, managed pit on Equation for the BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival.

It was a kind of homecoming for Smith, one of the original crew on Rosebud. He was involved in her build and raced on her for the three years following.

“It's been lots of fun to come back,” Smith said. “She’s still fast and easily sailed. I sail on a lot of leading edge boats and Equation still has a lot of potential for a niche boat.”

This year’s BVI Spring Regatta was number two for Smith - he previously raced it on the old Rosebud 52. “It’s a real diverse fleet that caters to all different types of racers," Smith said. "The course is also refreshing - sitting on the rail passing beautiful islands is very cool.”

For Alcott, this year’s regatta was only disappointing in that there weren’t a lot of big boats to do battle with. “We thought there would be more in our class - but the other boat that did show up - Passion 4C (Turner 56) was fun competition.”

Asked if the Regatta keeps getting better, Alcott replied, “I keep coming back with different boats so no, it’s not always better - LOL!”

Alcott, 74, has become enamored with Caribbean racing over the years as he loves the warm water, balmy temps and great racing, especially in the BVI where the water is relatively flat. “How can you not?” he challenged.

The BVI win was good regardless, especially after Equation was forced to pull out of the recent Heineken regatta in St Maarten after breaking a spreader. Project Manager Stu Argo, who has worked with Bill and his boats since 1995, says they were sailing upwind in about 18 knots of breeze in big seas when the second spreader broke.

“We came off a wave when the spreader broke but very happily we kept the mast - it’s very unusual that the mast would stay up - it’s also very unusual to break a number two spreader. The mast probably had 22 days of sailing on it - it was all pretty new. We sent the spreader back and Hall Spars ran some tests. We sent the lower spreaders back also and they made those spreaders stronger as well.”

“The boat’s an all around good boat,” Argo commented. “The wind range in the Caribbean is probably a little better suited to the TP52 - that mid range - whereas the TP65 is good in light and heavy air. I don’t think the 65 has a particular wind level that it’s weak on other than a jib reach which occurs with a lot of boats with non overlapping jibs. But that’s the fun part of the race - getting the right sails up at the right time,” Argo said.

There’re no plans for any major modifications on Equation, just general tweaking and replacing sails, which are key to success in the Caribbean as Smith pointed out.

"The racing here does offer up some navigational challenges and it’s key to have really nice sails for the island approaches - sails can make or break this regatta for sure, they make a huge difference.”

While she needs about 16-20 sets of legs over the rail, Argo says he’s never had any difficulty recruiting crew. “These events can logistically be a challenge - it’s easy to find 16 pros and pay for them to come down but that gets expensive. It’s not so easy to find that number of good amateurs who can take the time off and pay their own way but people do like sailing with us. We throw 2-3 pros in the mix in the specialty areas then get a crew together who have been sailing with us for the past few decades so we know them - seems to have worked out the past few weeks!”

Full Class 1 Results: http://result.vg/bvisr/minisite?series_id=16

Results for the 2012 Bitter End Cup, Nanny Cay Cup, Sailing Festival & Spring Regatta: http://result.vg/bvisr/minisite?p=vindex

* Ron Sherry wrote an informative article on Equation’s technical attributes last year, after Alcott et al purchased her: Equation is a very complex machine capable of doing amazing things as she does battle with the wind. In reaching conditions in light wind, Equation will sail 3.5 to 4 kts. faster than the wind speed. Sailing up wind, the Equation's target speed is 10.2 kts, and tacks inside of 65 degrees including leeway. -- Read on: http://iceboatracing.com/equation.html

Oracle's Tactician Happy To Be On Home Turf for AC34

John Kostecki is the sole American on the American America’s Cup sailing team, in an event that is being held in America for the first time since 1995. Fortunately, the renown tactician’s career successes more than make up for the absence of fellow countrymen on the Oracle Racing team.

I recently caught up with JK in a café near his home in Marin County. He arrived on bike, one of the creature comforts he’s been enjoying since spending more time at his Bay Area home. JK grew up sailing his parents Lido 14 - the same boat, by coincidence, that his boss Larry Ellison grew up sailing on. When he was 8 years old he joined the Richmond Yacht Club and its junior program. It was a great program for JK, and the club/junior sailing became a big part of his life. Later his dad graduated to a Cal 20 and the young JK raced on that.

Like most America’s Cup sailors, JK’s humble beginnings proved to be the foundation essential for his future success in the sport. He says, “I wouldn’t be where I am today without dinghy sailing. Every time I go back to it I really enjoy it. It’s probably the best way to become a better sailor and a fast way to learn as they’re so sensitive.”

Fast forward more than a few years…JK’s focused on the next 15 months and his job as tactician for Oracle Racing.

What does it mean to you personally to have the Cup in SF?
JK: It’s great - it’s even a little surreal. It hasn’t happened yet but it’s great for me, being from here. Every once in a while I have to pinch myself, “Heck, is this really happening, you know?”

What’s changed in the role of tactician?
JK: With the AC45, there’s only 5 guys on the boat and it’s obviously quite demanding - we’d rather have 6 or 7 crew to do all the jobs. There isn’t a dedicated tactician per se - the helmsman is really the tactician and the rest of the crew contributes to the tactics - that’s how it’s mainly different to more traditional Cup boats.

What about equipment that you use to do your job?
JK: It all depends on what kind of racing you’re talking about - say Bay Racing - there really hasn’t been a whole lot of change - there’s a lot more access to weather information, tidal information - you can now download it to your phone - not huge changes.

But, you’re going to see a lot of exciting changes for this next Cup with equipment and electronics because of the way the boats have changed and the races have changed with the shorter courses. The last Cup with the trimaran and the catamaran were a stepping stone - there’s going to be big changes - stuff that’s being developed in-house. (Ed’s note: JK was clearly excited about some of this “stuff” that he couldn’t talk more about…)

How do you become a good tactician?
JK: Good question - sailing singlehanded boats on my own starting out - you really have to become your own. Growing up we weren’t a financially wealthy family so it was always hard for me to get even decent equipment - it was always below average so the equipment held me back so I had to make up for it in other ways. LOL! That’s probably the start of it all - how I learned to become a smarter sailor I guess.

What do you prefer - helming or being tactician?
JK: I enjoy both. The thing about being tactician that I like is that it’s a smaller area you can really focus on. Being the helmsman, a lot of the time you’re not only the helmsman but as the skipper you have ultimate responsibility for everybody on the boat. It’s a more demanding job.

How interesting is the tactical game in the AC45 for you?
JK: With multi hull sailing it’s just a lot different - there are a few really key moments especially with the way we have these new courses set up. You really have to focus at critical times to get it right otherwise you can lose a race. It’s still fun and challenging - just a different game.

You’ll see tacking duels at times, like we had a tacking duel with Team NZ in San Diego - it’s not a conventional type of tacking duel but we probably did 5 or 6 tacks on that short course. That’s a lot of work and it’s slow. In a match race you can do it, like in that particular race, Team NZ and ourselves wanted to stick close together and that ended up happen, especially as we all get more comfortable with the boats.

There’re a lot of young guys in the AC now - you must be seeing some great talent?
JK: I think it’s great. For sure there needed to be a change to get more young people involved in the sport, particularly in the America’s Cup. It was turning into an older guy’s sport. The change to the boats makes it quite obvious that young, stronger people need to get more involved. It’s going to bring the average age down a fair amount and it shows on all the teams.

Everybody has younger guys this time around - people coming out of the Olympics. We have three guys who are doing Olympic campaigns now and a few other guys who have just come out of the Olympics. It’s a great learning opportunity on both sides and it really pushes you too. It’s great to have that extra push. Just doing the A-Class stuff with Nathan (Outteridge) and a bunch of the younger guys in January in Australia - it makes you work harder trying to achieve another level.

Can you recall a time when you’ve been especially challenged as a tactician?
JK: Yeah - you always make errors! I’m a relatively conservative tactician. I always try to rely on other aspects - boat speed, crew work. I’d have to say some of the offshore sailing that I’ve done has been challenging. We had some races in the 01-02 Volvo when I was skipper on Illbruck where I would have to say at times we made some big mistakes. It really gets tricky because it’s a big team and stuff got spread out over the internet - we all had high expectations and so a few of those moments stand out. It was hard to swallow those mistakes sometimes. But that’s the Volvo - there’re some incredible highs and incredible lows - I remember both!

Are you following the current Volvo?
JK: Oh yeah. But, for whatever reason it seems that the Volvo is not as popular as it used to be. People really aren’t following it as much - generally seems like people have lost interest. I’m a little disappointed. The only thing I can really think of is the new course - less southern ocean and less traditional route. Could also be the worldwide economy. Seems like there’s less involvement and it’s still expensive.

Do you like ocean racing?
JK: I do - I’ve enjoyed that part of my career. I don’t see myself doing a whole lot more but I really enjoyed it. It’s just different. Just like multi hulls are different. I really enjoy learning new things - it’s how this game is now - I’m constantly learning, especially with the last Cup and the trimaran. In that sense I enjoy the offshore sailing. I didn’t think I would but ended up liking it. Every once in a while I think, ‘Man, I wish I was out there in the middle of a race,’ and other times I think, ‘God, I wouldn’t want to be out there in that race’

Do you like your job?
JK: Yeah! I really do.

What about the people you work with in this game, like Larry?
JK: Absolutely - like I said before, it’s great to meet different people and learn from others - I really enjoy that part of my work.

What’s been the pinnacle of your career - pick one!
JK: For sure the Olympic sailing is a lot of fun. That really developed my sailing level. I think it really got me into professional so I’d have to say Olympic sailing. It really develops more of a routine on how you go about sailboat races.

What does your day-to-day routine look like?
JK: It’s always in the gym in the morning whether it’s a race day or not. Either a big day in the gym or a race day training routine in the gym which gets you physically ready. Then we’re into planning meetings or debrief meetings on racing or training. That’s normally a big chunk of the mornings then normally sailing or racing in the afternoons. We have Phillipe Presti who used to work with Jimmy at Luna Rossa - we have him working with us on tactics, strategy and starting - now he’s a full gambit coach - he’s like a Rod Davis for us.

Do you do any other kind of sailing?
JK: I’m actually pretty busy - it’s always a balance with family - my kids are 4 and 1 ½. It’s challenging. In this day and age I’m trying to stay with multi hulls as well because the mono hulls are a lot different to the multi hull. I don’t want to be going back and forth and try to relearn habits - you relearn everything that you’ve forgotten then go off and sail another boat. It’s nice to stay with multi hulls at this stage of the game. I’m a little wary of doing too much mono hull sailing. You can go out and do a race or two or a regatta or two, but you can’t really do a lot of sailing just because the timing and everything is just so different.

Plus, the AC45 are really cool boats. I’m going to have to say there aren’t too many better boats than an AC45 out there to sail right now. They’re really nice boats, well designed.

What’s your favorite part of a campaign?
JK: Pretty simple for me - my favorite part is the racing. Racing’s fun and I really enjoy it. I also enjoy the training side. It can still be tedious - when you’re trying to develop speed you still have to go out and test equipment etc. - that part of it really hasn’t changed too much. As long as you’re involved and understand what’s being tested then it’s still pretty fun. You’re learning how to make the boat go faster.

If you weren’t sailing what else would you be doing?
JK: LOL! Riding (his bikes). I don’t know - I enjoy the financial markets - always keep a close eye on that. It’s similar to my role in sailing because it’s quite tactical there’s a lot of strategy involved. I enjoy that and would probably be involved in some aspect of that. Right now it’s very busy, it’s only going to get busier. It’s only just around the corner.

When are you going to throw your 4-year old on a boat?
JK: She’s been on a boat - not here but my wife is from a sailing family - Anne Marie - Dirk De Ridder is her brother. They’re a big sailing family from Holland so our daughter every summer goes back they go back to sail with the grand parents. Eventually we hope to move back to Marin and get a boat and have more of a normal family sailing atmosphere. LOL!

* John Kostecki is the only person in sailing to hold a “trifecta” of the sport’s most elite events: an Olympic medal (Silver in the Soling class, Seoul 1988), a Volvo Ocean Race win (skipper and helmsman of German yacht Illbruck in 2001/2002), and victory in the 33rd America’s Cup (tactician BMW Oracle Racing).

PHOTO CREDIT: Guilain Grenier/ORACLE Racing

Chemistry On & Off the Course for America's Cup Team Korea

I have to say Team Korea has piqued my interest this past few months and it’s not just because the average crew age is 30. Chatting with skipper Chris Draper (GBR) reminded me of conversations I’ve had in the past with Grant Dalton, the drive behind Emirates Team NZ - the most successful team in the America’s Cup. Like Dalton, Draper leans into the conversation fully engaged and straight to the point. And like Dalton, Draper is massively driven by competition.

I was curious to learn how this first-ever Korean entry have put together a first class team who are doing really well holding their own - mid-fleet - in the inaugural America's Cup World Series competition.

Cliché or not, the phrase, “there’s no ‘I’ in team”, comes instantly to mind when talking to Draper. It’s clear that he’s hand-picked his guys - he wanted skilled, hard-working sailors with a winning chemistry, and he’s pretty sure he’s headed in the right direction.

Currently on board, starting at the front, is Matt Cornwell “Catflap” who has worked with Areva Challenge and GBR Challenge and more recently, Team Origin. He was Ben Ainslie’s bowman on Ben’s match racing tour winning team last year. “Matt brings a lot of Cup racing experience with him as well as a lot of match racing experience,” Draper said. “He’s very relaxed and great to spend time with.”

Next up is Mark Bulkeley, a silver medalist at the Tornado world championships and a representative in the Tornado for GBR at the Olympics. He was also Draper’s mainsheet trimmer in the Extreme 40 series when they won in 2009. Bulkeley was also Draper’s best man and is a very close friend. Bulkeley’s taken on the trimming role and doing an excellent role, Draper said. “He’s got a good physical presence at about 95kilos is very strong and fit.”

Next back is Chris Brittle who’s the float, 110 kilo aerobic machine - he can do 2000 reps on the ergo in 6 minutes flat. Draper says he’s an absolute weapon but that sadly Team Korea is about to lose Brittle as he’s moving to Artemis (Team Korea weren’t on fixed contracts so he made the decision to move to them). “With Cup experience on +39 and Team Origin, he has a huge work ethic and physical presence plus he’s a really nice guy to spend time with, Draper said.”

Team Korea’s wing trimmer is Troy Tindill who has been working with the AC 45s from day 1. It was suggested to Draper that it would be a good idea to have Tindill involved with the team. “It was quickly apparent that he knew a huge amount the boats, plus he’s also great to be around. He’s been a huge asset - without him we wouldn’t have picked up the boat as quickly as we have. He’s a young guy learning all the time, and helping us learn as well,” Draper said.

33-year old Draper knows all too well how important chemistry is to success on the water. He’s sailed Olympic classes for the past 10 years, and before that came up through the classic youth sailing program - Optis, 420s, then sailed the 49er for 10 years, going back and forth between being 1st and 2nd in the world. He took a break from that after missing selection for Beijing, and started doing Extreme 40s in ’08-09.

“I then gave the 49er another shot with a different team mate for the London Olympics which didn’t really go to plan, as we just never quite jelled as a team - the chemistry wasn’t quite perfect, although we had some good success, winning the Europeans last year, he said”

As that plan didn’t work out, Draper started looking for opportunities he knew existed in the Cup because of his background. Enter Team Korea.

Like himself, Draper says there’s a new wave of people coming into America’s Cup sailing who have been Olympic campaigning full-time for the last 10 years and who are used to working with a team-mate who they’re with everyday perhaps spending 200+ days a year with training etc. and who have come to understand the importance of good relationships.

“From the brief glimpses I have had of past America’s Cup teams, personalities can be quite abrasive and I think we’re trying very hard at Team Korea to make sure we have people who get on well and who will work hard and give it their all, and feel good that the person sitting next to you is watching your back, or if you make a mistake, they’ll back you up - that’s an ethos we’ve started for this campaign and we’ll try to maintain that all the way through.”

Draper knows that he’s got some good youth, enthusiasm and talent now but wants to make sure he backs that up with experienced Cup winners. “There’re plenty of those guys out there, a lot of them are people I’ve sailed with who are not involved just yet. We’re also very aware that the design and production of an AC 72 is a huge project and we need as much help as possible with that. We still want to maintain the youth & fitness but make sure we have the balance.”

Although this is his first Cup campaign, Draper thinks while there’s a lot less time to build and plan a strategy for AC 34, nonetheless, the boat-handling is still a massive part of it. “With these one design classes is it’s about refining and getting the most out of the boats sailing as quickly as possible but it’s also about doing the maneuvers well enough that you’ve got tactical options.

We took the approach that we wanted to have the top tactical options but that we might be a little bit on the back with the input to make those tactical decisions. We’ve had a few times where that’s fallen down. But, it’s exciting racing, quick decisions, you have to be thinking fast and I think more and more it’s those that can make those quick gut instinct decisions who are doing well.”

And, Draper likes to think he’s in that category.

“It’s what I’ve been doing for the last 10 years and that’s what I love about the sport - I love the physical aspect of the boat handling, steering the boat to make the boat handling easier and I love the communication to make everyone’s life easier to be able to make good decisions that can be executed quickly.”

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t know Draper but just in talking to him I guessed he was extremely competitive…

“Yes, I’d say that!” Draper laughed. “I think if you look at any of our races when we have a bad race we’re seriously upset when we’ve made a mistake and managing that passion is also hard but being young and enthusiastic sometimes doesn’t help that. We’re trying to develop maturity and be unflustered but what I see that people I’ve always thought don’t seem to be flustered can get pretty wound up at times! But yes, we are very competitive, I’m hugely competitive . I really like to win, whatever it is!”

For this regatta, the top three things on Draper’s to-do list have been to work on starts, try out some new sails, and further develop the Team’s strategy for the future.

“We’ve been trying to improve our boat speed but haven’t had a huge amount of time to get used to the new sails but they seem like an improvement - they’re a little bit different to use. We’re also working on where the Team is headed which I have to admit has made it a harder to focus on what we’re trying to achieve here on the race course. But that’s just part of the Cup and the territory.”

Draper expects that after San Diego the Team will probably go to Valencia, which is where other teams are headed. Down the road he’s hoping they’ll have some additional training boats to work with also, citing that a few more AC 45s would be nice but a cheaper alternative is most likely.

“There’ll be a good group to sail with in Valencia so we’ll all develop and move forward. I think if we step away from that and let that happen without us we could potentially lose ground,” he said.

Great Commentary Makes a Difference in the America's Cup

Peter Isler needs little introduction in sailing circles. Internationally renowned sailor, motivational speaker and author, he’s been inextricable from the America's Cup since winning it as navigator aboard Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes in Australia in 1987. He’s sailed in five Cup campaigns (most recently with the BMW Oracle Racing Team in Valencia, Spain), winning it twice.

He was an analyst for ESPN's Emmy Award winning coverage of the America's Cup in '92 & '95. For the '03 and '07 Cups Peter both sailed and announced on TV. In my books, he's one of the best commentators in the sport and it’s great to have him in the role as racing in the America’s Cup World Series gets underway on Wednesday in San Diego. SailBlast chatted to Peter about the differences working as a commentator under the new Cup format...

What’s different about the way commentating is happening now?

I just got three days in Plymouth, and I’m here in San Diego now so I’ve had just a taste of it. I’m actually not out on the water working but in a little booth - I’m really watching television watching the same video image that the viewers are watching. Sometimes we have two shots in our announcement booth but usually just the feed - so we’re watching the feed, we’re not watching the whole race. But we have a monitor that’s linked to race management and the umpires - (referred to as STOWE, name of the manufacturer) - it’s like watching an instant messaging screen - it gives us all the race data, all the mark rounding is recorded, every protest flag - every time a button is pushed for protest, every umpire decision - all on this official screen. We’re relying on our directors who have all the different camera shots to choose from to pick the right one to tell the story and that’s part of the fun, you’re really part of a team.

Does it make your job easier or more difficult?

Put it this way, I’d say it’s absolutely essential when you’re a commentator for television broadcast to talk to the picture. One of the things that is risky for an expert sailor coming in and doing the job is the tendency to talk about the important thing that’s going on in the race that may not be in the picture so having that image is great.

That said, it’s also very helpful to have a 2-dimensional overhead view of the entire racecourse which we will also ultimately have so that you can follow the racing and you know what’s going on outside of the visual range of the camera shot. But the great thing is that there are sailors in the directors’ chairs calling the shot changes etc., so normally the story that’s on the ACTV is the story a sailor would want to be following anyway.

Talk about the equipment and tech now involved in the sport of commentating?

Stan Honey, my college room-mate, is running the LiveLine technology and those guys have wired the racecourse and the boats technologically for sound so that they can do their graphical images on live video, which is their expertise That was their mandate from day one and is different to what we have previously enjoyed in America’s Cup TV coverage which is the computer animation with the information on it.

Now we have the actual real video with the technical information, like the three boat lengths, the wind direction, the protest status etc. For the commentator like me, it’s just amazing, it’s unlike anything ever been done before. While too much info can be dangerous, but information does allow you to make better decisions. I think we’re really just using how to use it to its full potential.

Is it challenging keeping up given how quickly everything happens now?

Because the races and the legs are shorter there really isn’t a lot of time to go off talking about a random subject. You really have to stay, as a commentator, on topic and basically call the race. It makes it a lot of fun. Those of us who enjoy other sports, for example tennis, there’s drama in every shot, or every play in football there’s another exciting thing to watch.

In sailing, it’s been, ‘now they’re on a 25 minute leg and they’re going to tack once or twice’ - there’s a lot of time to ramble on or listen in on board which has been fun. But here, like those other fast-paced sports, there’s a technical sports move happening - like just deciding positions - every few instances.

What do you think about the AC45s for the A-Cup in general?

I’m a big fan of the America’s Cup s - I’m a Cuphead and I take the broad picture of not only appreciating the America’s Cup for the spectacle it is here in San Diego this week and the great sailboat racing it is but also its historical place in international sport. So, for me it’s great to have been a part of it and to continue being part of telling the Cup story but I’m in awe of the America’s Cup and it keeps changing and it continues to evolve. It’s unlike any other event anywhere and that’s the thing about the Cup. It’s not just about a sailboat race, it’s not just a race about boat design and technology - it’s more than all of that. It’s bigger than all of us.

* A former Collegiate Sailor of the Year at Yale University, Peter resides in Southern California. He co-authored the best-selling book, Sailing for Dummies (Wiley) and wrote the acclaimed business book, At the Helm: Business Lessons for Navigating Rough Waters (Doubleday) with Peter Economy. His most recent title, Peter Isler’s Little Blue Book of Sailing Secrets (Wiley) was published in 2011.

He is president of Isler Sailing International, Inc. When at home in San Diego, Peter enjoys time with his two daughters and playing guitar and keyboard in a variety of bands.

Photo Credit: Bob Grieser/America's Cup

Pic 1/2: Peter at work in the booth

Pic 3: Peter & former pro basketballer Bill Walton, at the ACWS opening press conference today.

Dean Barker: "We're about winning the America's Cup"

38-year old skipper Dean Barker and his team Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) currently sit at the top of the leaderboard of the America’s Cup World Series Championship with 38 points (19 scored in match racing, 19 in fleet racing), just four points ahead of Oracle Racing Spithill. With the third and final World Series event for 2011 just around the corner, Barker updated Sailblast on ETNZs training progress…as well as shared some thoughts on the new AC game…

What was one thing that you took away from racing AC45s in the recent in events in Cascais & Plymouth?

The biggest eye opener is the maneuverability and how the racecourse and boundaries operate. It makes the racing just so much tighter and more emphasis on crew work and boat handling than ever before.

Emirates Team NZ (ETNZ) did extremely well - what do you attribute your strength to this early in the game?

We were really happy with our performance. We know we can sail a hell of a lot better but I’m sure like all the teams you make a lot of mistakes around the course but it’s a challenge with these boats in tough conditions and close quarters with other teams. It’s going to be hard to sail at a high level.

We’ve put a lot of effort into our crew work and boat handling and that’s paid dividends. I think during the period in Auckland we’re a bit off the pace. At our first crack at the soft sails, they were good but not good enough so we’ve developed our sails - we're into our second generation and that’s been a big improvement in our speed. We feel like we’re a lot more competitive now against Oracle who in Auckland who had quite a big jump it felt over the rest of us. We’ve made some good gains there. But we’ve worked really hard on things like getting around the corners and being able to react in all different situations around the course. That’s been a big strength.

How are you preparing for San Diego?

To be honest we’ve been pretty full on working with boat design for the 72. San Diego is rolling around pretty quickly so we will need to get our heads back in the game for racing but we have a few practice days there before racing proper starts so that’ll give us an opportunity to get back into it all. We’ve been doing a bit of sailing back here in Auckland on the 33s as obviously like everyone else, except Oracle who have a couple of extras, our 45 is en route to San Diego.

How’s the transition to the multihull been for you?

I’ve been sailing multis now for a year and it’s amazing. It feels like the progress that we’ve made since we came last in Almeria in the Extreme Series last year. It feels like we’re making some really good progress. I’d say it’s still not necessarily instinctive like monohull sailing was. There’re times when you know what you want to do but you can’t quite make it happen instinctively. But it’s coming - it just takes time to reprogram yourself to adjust to different situations where things happen very very quickly. You have to be able to make decisions a lot quicker than in the monos. But it’s all a really good challenge.

Who is your back-up skipper?

We’re a pretty small sailing team at the moment. We really don’t have a lot of back-ups in any position to be honest! Depending on who is injured at any time we’ve got cover by three grinders and a few others who aren’t sailing on the boat.

When will ETNZ expand its sailing team?

That’s about it really. We’re not going to have two 72s. We just don't have the resources to do it. It’s too expensive to take two 72s off the dock and go two-boat testing. It’s an expensive game we’re in and to take two 72s sailing, you’d need an army of people. There’s probably only one team that’s in that position right now.

Where are you at in the 72 design/build process?

We’re in the final stages of our design. What we’re learning pretty quickly is that the more you learn the more you don’t know! You just have to try to narrow in on the first design. The good thing is that we’re making good progress, the hard thing to know is what is the level you’ll need to be at in 2013. The learning curve makes it seem like we’ve got a long way to go but we’re at a level where we think we’ll be competitive enough. We have a design group of about 30 people we draw from including Pete Melvin, Scott Graham, Luc Du Bois - there’s a bunch of guys who are contributing. Cookson’s will build the hull and structures, and Southern will build a lot of our wing and wing components.

Who is developing your sails/sailplan?

We’ve done most of sail development in-house so far. We get a lot of input off the chase (boat) and evaluate our sails against where the opposition is. Oracle is by far the most experienced in these boats and have sailed them more than everybody else and have probably built more sails than the rest of us. You’re always looking to measure yourself against where they’re at and the direction they’re going. But, we’re pretty happy with the choices and development we’ve made.

What are some things you can see from the 45 that will translate to the 72?

The 45 is a nicely balanced boat, it’s fun to sail, it’s relatively easy to sail compared to the more traditional X-40 type designs, it’s quite a robust boat and seems to perform well across a variety of conditions. We’ve learned a lot just from sailing that but it is limited in a lot of ways. It’s got straight boards, it doesn’t have any real lifting component, it gets limited by wind speed, it’s a bit hard to push up the range but it’s a fantastic boat for learning about multi hull and sailing with a wing.

The 72 is a hugely more powerful boat. When you scale the 45 up to a 72 boat, it’s quite underpowered. The challenges that are going to go with the size of the 72 are pretty daunting. The boats in a strong breeze are going to be animals. They’ll be very hard to sail in SF conditions and you’ll certainly have to have your wits about you to get around the course. They’ll have capability of very high speed and you’re going to have to be really in tune to sail with them well.

What’s different about this Cup Campaign for ETNZ?

Apart from the obvious, lifestyle and scenery, it’s adapting to a different world. We’ve moved from a world of detailing and fine tuning to one of complete new world of open book, fresh paper design. Any ideas are certainly worth consideration. There are no stupid questions or ideas right now. With this multihull world, we’re just scratching the surface of a huge unchartered territory. It’s not even like a new design rule within the monohull environment.

Do you think it was entirely necessary to move up to the 72 for the real deal in 2013, or do you think a successful Cup could be staged in the 45?

Well, the 45 would really detract from what the essence of what the America’s Cup is about. It has always been a design race. I think to take away that aspect of the Cup would be a tragedy. It’s about managing so many different aspects of a campaign for a successful America’s Cup. When you get it right, then rightfully you deserve to win the America’s Cup. From a sailor’s point of view, one design racing is great because in the end the best team wins. There’s no argument about who had the better boat. It comes down to who sailed the best. So, there’s two schools of thought but in some ways I still believe in the traditional values of the Cup. It’s about managing a whole lot of different aspects: design, sailing team, campaign management and just getting to the start line. I still think it’s the right move that we’re racing in a development boat in the America’s Cup.

If Oracle was so committed to keeping costs down for AC34, how could they then go buy four AC45s while the other teams have only one? What’s ETNZ’s position on this?

There’s no way Oracle is committed to keeping costs down. It’s a complete fallacy that they’re trying to keep costs down. It’s absolute bullshit. The whole idea of this next America’s Cup was to try to make it more affordable for the teams. I can tell you right now that the budget for doing this campaign is at least what we spent last time and you can do it for less but you just don’t have a chance to perform. It’s a complete joke if they can sit back and say it costs less money, it’s not. It’s way more expensive. But that’s the game we’re in. If you want a crack at winning the America’s Cup you have to play by the rules and these rules are more expensive.

* Ed's note: America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM) does not limit the teams' training outside of World Series events, for instance, some teams will sail as soon as boats are off the ship in San Diego and others will opt not to sail until closer to the start of racing. And, any team can purchase an additional AC45 for training…assuming that they can afford to.

If ETNZ knew what it knows now before you signed up, do you think you guys may have given this next one a miss?

Definitely not. Emirates Team NZ exists for the America’s Cup and we’ve weathered the storm since 2007 to give ourselves the opportunity to compete in the 2013 event. You can’t afford to sit out, it’s just too hard to come in green and expect to get straight on the pace. If you miss a cycle, with all the development you’ll never catch it back up. It’s too much time. We decided that whatever the direction the Cup took that we’d contemplate it seriously, evaluate whether we could raise the money and give it a really good go at winning it. We're not it in to make up the numbers, we’ve only entered because we think we can put up a challenge with a team that’s good enough to win. Time will tell if that’s the case. But, we’re a team that’s about winning the America’s Cup.

Much of the excitement over the 45, particularly for the non-sailing fan, is thanks to the crash factor. We wont (hopefully) see that with the 72. Without the crashes do you think the event will remain interesting for the non-sailor?

There’ll be an element who tune in to just watch the crashes, looking for the capsize or the collision. Those people you’ll try to capture - you have to accept that there’ll be that element. Hopefully people will be interested in watching the racing for what it is as well and we’ll be able to capture a new interested audience. In the short-term while there’s still a lot of spectacular action that’s going to motivate people to watch. It’s no different to the X-40s - the biggest hits come with the best action.

Do you think a nationality rule would help the AC grow as a fan sport?

I think it helps countries identify with their teams. We’ve got other nationalities involved in our team but it’s still pretty much all NZ, which certainly helps our fan base within NZ and the support we get as opposed to some of the other teams. Even though they may represent the US, Sweden and so on, they’re not true national teams to the degree we are.

How does your family take your busy lifestyle?

Fortunately my wife Mandy is really good with it all because I’m a bit of an absentee dad at times. I have four kids - 3 girls and a boy between six and one. It’s a lot of fun, never a dull moment. You feel like you leave one circus and go home to another one!

What’s your other business and how do you find time for that while still running a top AC team?

My primary focus is with the team so I spend the majority of my time sailing and working with the design group when I’m not traveling to events. When I do have a little down time I try to keep up to speed with Kiwi Yachting Consultants, a company I’m involved with in NZ, and also Nexus Marine which marine electronics company in Sweden.

When do you expect to be moving full-time to SF?

As a team we wont go up to San Francisco - mainly because of cost - until April/May 2013 full-time. We’ll be there next year for the events in August and September which will be great. I’m absolutely looking forward to sailing on the Bay, I’ve done a little bit of sailing there but not much. It’ll be an amazing spectacle for sure.

Pic Credit: ETNZ

One Million Dollars Saves Lives

The sad news this afternoon of Steve Jobs’ death at the way-too-young age of 56 of a rare form of pancreatic cancer got me off my butt to write up my notes on the fabulously successful 6^th annual Leukemia Cup, hosted by the San Francisco Yacht Club, raising a massive one million dollars for cancer research.

In fact, I may not be writing this today if it weren’t for my MacBook, iPhone, iPod and multiple other iAccessories, and I extend my gratitude to Jobs for his ingenuity, creativity and courage to continue his incredible contribution to life as we know it today, especially in the light of multiple misfortunes he encountered in his own life.

I like a quote that Jobs made six years ago, talking about how a sense of his mortality was a major driver behind his vision:

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Jobs’ words lend meaning to the all-around success of last weekend’s Leukemia Cup.

It was one filled with stories of local sailors who have survived the disease and live to continue their passion - racing sailboats.

Guest speaker at Saturday night’s VIP dinner was no less than John Doerr, of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the world’s most famous venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley.

Doerr’s first words Saturday night?

“Cancer sucks!”

Any thoughts I initially had that Doerr’s speech may be on the dry side were quelled pretty much instantly. He held a spellbound audience for a good 45 minutes and they/I would have happily let him continue.

In 2008 he and Jobs announced the Kleiner Perkins $100 million iFund, declaring the iPhone "more important than the personal computer" because " it knows who you are" and "where you are," stated Doerr, reminding a captive Leukemia Cup audience that mobile media began with Apple’s resurrection in the late 1990’s, and combined with other incredibly innovative Apple products are worth $88 billion a year in new biz for Apple.

“Apple makes you lust for its products,” Doerr categorically stated.

Oh yeah! Do they ever. I fondly remember my first desktop computer - an Apple. I was in love.

Doerr focused his speech on “the tsunami of social media” - So, Lo and Mo - Social, Local and Mobile, and how Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter have transformed the way we live today.

“Our teens have 500 Facebook friends," he said. "If Facebook was a country, it’d be the third largest in the world.”

Doerr’s sincerely inspiring words followed the audience out on the Bay on Sunday where some 100 boats enjoyed perfect fall racing conditions as a steady westerly breeze of 10-12 knots came in for a noon start.

A challenging regatta to get off the line, with 9 divisions catering to boats ranging in size from 20 to 50 feet, PRO Bartz Schneider sent racers on a “Bay Tour” with almost as many courses as divisions.

“My target was to have all of them finish in about 2 hours,” Schneider said. “The range of ratings and the range of speeds was tremendous. The lowest rated boat was a Farr 400 with a rating of -21 seconds and the slowest a Cal 20 with a rating of about 250. That’s one big difference. The other difference is that for most regattas today we use inflatable marks so we can control the course. For this regatta we use all government marks so I don’t have a choice. And, 90-100 boats is a lot of traffic when they’re all milling about in the starting area!"

First place in Division A (spinnaker boats with a PHRF rating of 54 & under) went to Skip and Jody McCormack racing their Farr 30 Trunk Monkey, beating the Farr 400 Team Premier by 24.6 seconds on corrected time over a course of 13.6 NM.

Pro sailor Dee Smith skippered Team Premier, a brand new boat just built in Dubai that Smith brought over to race in last month’s Big Boat Series and kept it around just for this regatta. Smith is a cancer survivor and sailed with fellow cancer survivor Paul Erickson (grinder), and leukemia survivor Dave Wilhite (grinder).Third in Div A was Farr 40 Astra skippered by Mary Coleman.

“The event’s got a lot of great support even from the really good sailors in other yacht clubs. It’s not just exclusively a SFYC event by any means,” Schneider acknowledged.

A great weekend of fun…and most importantly, hope.

Photo Credit: Ellen Hoke

Pic 1: Tom Perkins & John Doerr (Perkins is a perennial support of the Leukemia Cup)

Pic 2: Team Premier

Pic 3. Winner Div A Trunk Monkey: Matt Noble, Will Paxton, Skip McCormack

Pic 4. Team Premier: Norm Davant, Paul Erickson, Dee Smith, Doug Holm, Russ Silvestri, Dave Wilhite, David Blanchfield, Peter Cameron, and Katie Pettibone

Pic 5. Div 4 Winner Yucca skippered by Hank Easom

Full results at: https://event-manager.compete-at.com/Manager/event/results.do?eid=3690

PETER SHOPE CROWNED LASER SLALOM 2011 CHAMPION

FINAL DAY LASER SLALOM 2011

With 25 knots registering on the committee boat the Laser Slalom 2011 fleet hit the water for the wildest ride on the Bay, the St Francis Yacht Club’s Heavy Weather Slalom event, presented by Laser Performance and Maclaren. Racing began about 1pm in a flood tide and white caps. Not quite perfect but good enough, noted Don Trask, event founder.

Of the final four, Peter Shope and Ben Richardson (both USA) went head to head, with Shope prevailing and taking the overall first place trophy after four exhausting races. “I don’t know where that came from,’ said an elated Shope. “I tried to stay in the moment and not to look forward too much. I made sure that the vang was in the right position for the run at the beginning of each reach because I didn’t have time to deal with it going into the reach. That really helped me.”

Scott Ferguson (USA) took third prevailing against Mike Matan (GBR). This year's top three in the competition are incidentally all from Laser District 7.

This regatta is all about the spills and Ferguson took first prize for a phenomenal crash in his last race that catapulted him some two boat lengths off his stern. “I needed to jibe, I got a huge puff and was just not going to make the gybe. I got pretty zapped especially after I crashed in the third race. Making the gybe is the difference between staying in the race - or not! It was a lot of fun.”

The talent-stacked fleet included international competitors from 18 years to 70-something, with anything from 40 years Laser sailing experience to six years. An elimination ladder saw yesterday’s winners advance and for those who lost two races, it was game over. With no room for error, spectacular - and frequent - crashes throughout the fleet made for tense moments on and off the course.

LaserPerformance Ambassador and Team Maclaren skipper Anna Tunnicliffe made it through to the final six. She said she was a little nervous going into the event as it’s been a while since she’s sailed a Laser (she’s been busy campaigning the Elliot 6m for the 2012 Olympics). “The upwinds were hard because I’m a good 30 pounds lighter than the others racing but I liked the downwind.”

The Laser Slalom proves wrong beyond doubt anyone who argues that sailing’s not a sport because it’s not a workout. Watching competitors’ rapid fire maneuvering and hiking in the bigger breeze today demonstrated just how intense the job is in the Slalom to make it around the course unscathed (even the top guys - and gals - capsized). Racers cited gym workouts and aerobic exercise as a key part of their training for the event, and on the water, competitive drill sessions. “I usually finish my race training with a 20 tack/20 gybe drill,” Ferguson said.

And that’s what Laser sailors love about it. Said Tunnicliffe, “I really like the physical aspect of the boat and how you have to work really hard to make the boat do what you want to do it. I had to consider every move I had to make and I had a great time.”

That’s the end of the Laser Slalom for 2011. When it’ll next take place, no-one really knows. It worked out well to hold the event at St FYC this year because it slotted in between the Laser Youth and Master World Championships. Ideally it’s the perfect event to hold on a weekend to encourage greater spectatorship and most definitely when at a time when a howling breeze is guaranteed. Maybe it can become a stand-alone event going forward - there’s certainly no shortage of enthusiasm:

Said Ryan Nelson (USA), “It was a blast, I can’t wait to do it again, I was just so bummed to go over when I did.”

* John Bertrand was the winner of the first Laser Slalom event held in 1974.