The sailing year in review—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 1 Jan 2014 Now that 2013 has but mere grains of sand left in its metaphorical hourglass, I thought that this might be a good time to take stock of 2013 and its watershed sailing events. From the Auld Mug to the Vendee Globe to the Little America’s Cup to the recently concluded Sydney Hobart Race (as well as a ton of other great events and regattas in between), there’s little question that 2013 has been a banner year for sailing. After all, did anyone really except to hear mainstream news commentators using a term such as 'foiling tack' just a year ago?

While it’s easy to point to the 34th America’s Cup as the watershed sailing event of the year, I think that someone could make the strong argument that AC34 was in fact the biggest sailing event in the past five years, if not the last decade. Big words, I know, but-depending on the Protocol employed for AC35-AC34 could prove to leave lasting impressions on all forms of sailing, from the acceptance of multihulls and wingsails to the international foiling craze that’s sweeping a harbor near you.

If this sounds like a lot of steaming hyperbole, consider the fact that other classes of catamarans are now quickly adding foils and monohulls such as the line-honors’ winner of this year’s Sydney to Hobart Race, 'Wild Oats XI', now use a horizontal foil (dubbed 'the ironing board') to help lift the bow. Then there are the foils on kiteboards and the discussion of aggressive foil packages on performance cruising catamarans, and it’s obvious that foils are here to stay. While I’m not exactly convinced that foils will help lower the barriers of entry to sailing (dollar-wise), they sure make the sport more exciting for those of us lucky enough to be on the inside, while also offering up some dramatic imagery for non-sailing spectators.

This foiling craze naturally lent itself to the Little America’s Cup, which was won this year by Franck Cammas and his Groupama team. Interestingly, their winning boat was the first vessel to be 'printed' using Southern Spars’ Thin Ply Technology (TPT; similar to how the company builds some of their high-end masts and spars), a technological step forward for high-end boat building. Cammas’ boat was reported to be exceptionally light, strong and fast, while also being extremely stiff. It will be interesting to see if TPT can be scaled to become economically feasible-if only on the AC scale-or if it will remain a pie-in-the-sky technology, cost-wise.

Cammas was no doubt thrilled to have won the Little America’s Cup, but his real goal is obviously the real Cup, given his recently announced and star-studded Team France, and he is certainly not alone in his quest for the Auld Mug. To date, some of the biggest names in sailing are stepping into the AC35 ring, including Bob and Sandy Oatley, the father and son team who just won line honors in the Sydney Hobart Race, and who are the Challenger of Record for AC35. Like Cammas, the Oatleys may be new to the America’s Cup, but it’s fair to say that they have an extremely solid grip on the tiller when it comes to ocean racing.

Speaking of ocean racing, I can’t recall a more exciting singlehanded offshore battle in recent years than the performance that rookie skipper Francois Gabart threw down in the 2012/2013 Vendee Globe. True, Gabart was closely coached and mentored by the legendary singlehanded skipper Michel Desjoyeaux (who is involved with Team France, of course), but there’s simply no denying that Gabart showed some serious pace, determination and preparation. Count on seeing a lot more from this talented young skipper, who might just find a layline into Cup racing, depending on the fortunes of his countrymen in AC35.

Stepping down many levels from the Grand Prix, I’ve also noticed an impressive technology trickle-down to the Corinthian classes in 2013. Here in Seattle, for example, fiberglass boats are slowly giving way to faster, stiffer and lighter carbon-fiber boats, and this pace of evolution is much quicker in better funded places like Newport, Rhode Island or Long Island Sound. Just in the past year alone I’ve noticed a huge uptick in the number of carbon racing sails on my local waters, a trend that only magnifies closer to bigger cities such as Chicago or New York.

Sitting here in my office, contemplating 2013, there’s little question that many things are getting better in our sport. The boats are getting faster and lighter, the materials stiffer and the sails stronger, just to name a few. So what’s not to like? Unfortunately, 2013 also saw an uptick in reports of the amount of flotsam and garbage that are circling our planet’s oceans. Transpac crews in particular noticed a ton of garbage en route to Hawaii, evidence of both the horrific 2011 Japanese Tsunami, but also of humanity’s overall apathy towards our oceans.

Looking forward to 2014, I hope to see a year marked with plenty of great racing, fast foiling and huge smiles, as well as better stewardship of our natural resources. We sailors may only make up a tiny percentage of all humans, but we’re the ones who travel to the bluest places on the globe, and who have a strongest personal connection with the ocean environment. Never forget that other people are drawn to infectious energy and excitement, so, given sailing’s recent evolutions and revolutions, 2014 could be the perfect year to use your passion for sailing and for the sea to try and open-up other people’s minds…much like AC34 did for our collective sailing conscious.

May the four winds blow you safely home,