Of Alfreds,Volvo, BRW race and more
by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World team on 19 Mar 2015
Jimmy Spithill competing in the Melges 32 National Titles in Newport Rhode Island with Ryan Devos on Volpe. SW
Until the 1980's the most successful Olympic sailing nation was not, Virginia, GBR but the USA, who in recent time have fallen on hard times, just as Australia was medal free in sailing in Athens 2004, so too was the USA IN London 2012. Lack of funds has been a major issue for the Seppos.
Now they have gotten a major leg up with a brand-new, fully revamped Olympic Development Program (ODP), which is aimed at putting American sailors back on Olympic podiums. According to reports, US Sailing's ODP was made possible thanks to a $5M donation from the AmericaOne Foundation and will serve as a development pipeline for talented junior sailors. Maybe in time their best known sailor will not be two time America’s Cup winner and Rolex ISAF Sailor of the Year for 2014, Jimmy Spithill. Well he does have an American wife.
An on that subject, bet there will be another full house at the Alfreds when the Pittwater local hosts a Q&A session during the Club Marine Pittwater Sail Expo.
Across the ditch yesterday the Volvo Ocean Race was finally able to get underway in light airs Wednesday after a three-day postponement to allow Cyclone Pam to pass clear of the racetrack and allow the teams to start their gruelling Southern Ocean leg, which will take crews from Auckland, New Zealand, to Itajaí, Brazil, in a 'relatively' moderate conditions.
At the time of this writing, 'MAPFRE' was leading the chase by roughly two nautical miles, followed by 'Team Alvimedica' and 'Team Brunel', but with well over 6,300 nautical miles to go until Itajaí, this leg is obviously anyone’s game. And with Cape Horn lurking somewhere over the far, far horizon, the one thing that all sailors can bank on for the next 22-24 days is some of the most gruelling-and most rewarding-sailing imaginable.
Meanwhile, in the double-handed Barcelona World Race (BWR), all skippers have now rounded Cape Horn and are making tracks for the finishing line, with Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, sailing aboard first-placed 'Cheminees Poujoulat', expected to finish racing in roughly one week. At the time of this writing, Stamm and Le Cam had some 1,605 miles separating their bow from the finishing line, while second-placed Guillermo Alatadill and José Munoz, sailing aboard 'Neutrogena' still had 2,512 miles to go, and third-placed Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin, sailing aboard 'GAES Centros Auditivos', were still looking at some 2,617 remaining miles.
On the local scene, get the latest news from Hobart with the WOXI crew cycling south, news from Hamilton Island Race Week, Sail Port Stephens and more.
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