J/24 Kingdom Match Cup Report

(Manama, Bahrain)- Young Sam Gilmour continues his “glam” run up the ISAF world match racing tour ladder, and the Western Australian, an Anarchist since he learnt to read, sent in this exclusive report from another new Arabian venue that may be following in Dubai and Oman’s footsteps as an “up-and-comer” for the next generation of sailors.  As you’ll learn, the regatta was spectacular, with sunny skies, winds blowing a gale and many an experienced skipper humbled by match-racing J/24s in fairly demanding conditions.  Gilmour’s commentary follows:

“The 2013 Kingdom Match Cup held out of the Bahrain Maritime Sports Centre was held over the week 15-21 December, beginning with a qualifying event, followed then by the open regatta. Competitors flew in from all over the world to compete for the title, and with serious prize money up for grabs as well as an Omega sponsorship, the competition was fierce.

Neptune Racing, consisting of skipper Sam Gilmour, trimmer Adam Negri, tactician Chris Smith and bowman Justin Wong travelled to Bahrain hoping to contest for the title. We as a team knew we had to bring our A-game with some others with impressive résumés racing. We hadn’t heard much about Bahrain previously, so we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived by the modern layout of the capital city Manama, and the difference in culture was a real eye opener to us.

Having qualified for the open event already, we sailed the qualifying regatta as a warm-up event. This gave us a chance to orient ourselves with the boats, conditions and some of our opponents. We were racing J/24’s- a very common class, and whilst not ideal for match racing, the team adapted to the boats quickly- finishing the qualifier just ahead of Sergey Musikhin from Russia, Seviero Ramirez from Italy and Mati Sepp from Estonia. These guys had some high ISAF rankings, with Sepp being 20th and Musikhin being 23rd in the world, so it was a positive sign for us to take out the lead up event.  Directly after this we went into racing the open Kingdom Match Cup. Whilst most of the teams had raced in the qualifier, a few teams joined the regatta- including Olli-Pekka Lumijarvi from Finland and Vladimir Lipavski from Russia.

In the opening day of the event we were met by an onshore breeze, ranging between 15-18 knots, bringing with it a very steep chop due to the shallow waters surrounding Bahrain. As a result, conditions were really challenging, with a number of teams (including us) having some big wipeouts as a result of mistimed maneuvers. We managed to go through the first day of racing with a record of 4 wins and 1 loss which put us in a good position for the remainder of the round robin- after which, four teams were to qualify for semi-finals to be raced on the final day.

Because of the regatta format we had a few days mid-regatta of no sailing. This lead to all of us getting a little side tracked, and nearly resulted in Justin thinking he’d take up a new profession, almost getting taken to Pakistan on a falcon expedition with some local hunters. The rest of us just managed to get him back in line for the next day’s racing.

As it turned out, the breeze hung around the entire regatta, increasing at times to well above 20 knots, not falling below 12 knots. Whilst difficult at times, we found our boat handling to be one of our strong points, which allowed us to make up for mistakes made at other points around the race course. Eventually, we finished up the round robin series with a record of 8-3, and qualifying us in second place for the semi-final! We progressed to the next round along with Lumijarvi in first, Musikhin in third and Lipavski in fourth. We were pretty pleased with our position going into finals, but knew we had to step up another level to finish strongly.

Lumijarvi chose Lipavski to race in the semi’s, meaning we were matched against Musikhin in a first to 3 points semi-final. We got off to an ideal start by taking out the first race convincingly, but Musikhin came back strongly and with a show of impressive boat speed around the course, winning the second race. Knowing that we were up against it, the team really lifted for the next two contests, allowing us to progress into the final with a scoreline of 3-1. Meanwhile in the other semi-final, Lumijarvi was able to achieve a similar result, also winning 3-1.

The finals series got underway immediately, though due to a time constraint it was shortened to a first to 2 series. Fortunately, we managed to come out firing! We won race one after leading around the entire course. This meant a great deal to our confidence, as Lumijarvi had shown great speed in the boats all week.

The match point position put an increased level of pressure on both teams, and it showed in the next pre start, with penalties flying for both teams. Eventually though we started with a penalty off the line (meaning we had complete a circle at some point around the course), but with the lead. The race began with a flurry of tacks up the first leg where we were able to put some distance between us. It was going to be close getting our penalty in, but we took the spin whilst managing to just keep the race lead. From there, it was a tense final leg where we were able to hold Lumijarvi off giving us both the race and regatta win!  It was awesome to come away victorious, winning our first-ever Grade 2 event, as well as going home with some beautiful new watches and prize money in our pockets, definitely making the win that little bit sweeter!

From here, out next event is the Warren Jones International Youth Championships held in home waters at Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club in Australia. With some strong international competition coming down to contest the title [including brother David -ed], it’s going to be a thrilling week of sailing.

The team is already looking forward to getting back out on the water, taking huge steps forward every time we compete. Our next step:  To continue funding these events as we keep climbing the ISAF world rankings (currently we are up to 33rd), so thanks to RFBYC and all our supporters for helping us to make it happen!” Thanks for contribution from Sailing Anarchy.

Youtube Sailing videos of J/24 match-racing-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tNItDkuI8w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYS4qxQyC8A with Smack That remix
http://www.thebahrainyachtclub.com/?q=content/watersports

PRIVATEER 3rd In Chairman's Cup Race

(Muscat, Oman)- The RORC recognized 230nm Bank of Beirut Chairman’s Cup Race came to a dramatic conclusion on Tuesday, 27th November. A 40-knot rain squall ripped through The Strait of Hormuz, just as the bulk of the IRC Racing fleet approached the finish line. Under pewter skies with thunder and lightening lighting up the steep mountain province of Musandam, it was an electrifying finish to the race. After three nights at sea, all of the yachts competing in the Bank of Beirut Chairman’s Cup Race are all accounted for and the feisty finale was in stark contrast to the majority of the race, where calm seas and gentle breeze had provided sublime sailing conditions for the best part of three days as teams competed for a total of $50,000 USD in prize-money generously donated by The Bank of Beirut.

For the J/92 team sailing PRIVATEER, the radical change in conditions cost them at least $10,000 USD in prize-money!  There was heartache for the Two-handed J/92 team from the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club- Matt Britton and Joel Bryant. The team had been in contention throughout but was caught out by the brutal windstorm within sight of the finish. Short-handed, they struggled to reduce sail and were forced to bear-away and run with the wind.  After sailing away from the finish, PRIVATEER lost precious minutes and the delay cost second place by just 20 minutes, in a race lasting over three days. However, their smart action in difficult conditions was recognized by the award of the Seamanship Prize for the race.

As it has in previous races, the decisive part of the race was the approach and negotiation of The Strait of Hormuz. In the 19th century, it was the location of a British repeater station used to send messages from London to Karachi. It was not an easy posting for the operators and is thought to be the origin of the term “go round the bend” with a reference to the heat making British officers desperate to return to civilization, which meant a voyage around the bend in the Strait of Hormuz.

After their second night at sea, the IRC Racing division was past the halfway point in the race. The fleet had enjoyed fast conditions in the early start of the race. However, going into the first night the wind dropped to just zephyrs and sailors were looking for pressure on the water by moonlight. During the second day, a light easterly breeze filled providing fast reaching angles under spinnaker.  At this time, after time correction it was clear Matt Britton’s J/92 PRIVATEER was very much in contention for overall honors. The tactical decision facing the teams in the morning was whether to sail the extra miles into shore in search of sea breeze or to remain offshore and use the south easterly gradient, which was expected to build to ten knots during the day, especially as the funnel effect of The Strait of Hormuz starts to kick in.  Plus, the weather models predicted rain coming in from the northwest by midnight, which could bring much heavier wind in the squalls. No matter which "road was taken" offshore, the teams would be sailing past some spectacular scenery in the northern most province of Oman with its lagoons, mountains & fjords, not to mention that Musandam itself was a spectacular setting for the finish of The Bank of Beirut Chairman’s Cup.   For more Bank of Beirut Chairman’s Cup sailing information

J/92 Prevails in Stormy Dubai-Muscat Race

(Muscat, Oman)- After three and a half days of racing the prestigious Dubai to Muscat Race came to a conclusion with all yachts accounted for on the morning of Thursday, 22nd November. Racing under the RORC’S IRC Rule, one of the sailors commented, “We stayed out of trouble and kept going, it was as simple as that. We stayed offshore at the start in the Arabian Gulf, to keep away from fishing nets and we got the added bonus of more wind than the yachts that chose the inshore option. Later in the race, after we rounded Khasab (the "horn" of the UAE that creates the Strait of Hormuz), we could see a terrific storm ahead and we prepared to reef and eased sheets to avoid it, this good seamanship was rewarded as we managed to skirt around the edge of the storm."  Another sailor commented that "..we experienced a huge range of conditions, probably the most bizarre was a series of water spouts, which caused very confused winds."

In the end, Matt Britton from the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club sailed his J/92 PRIVATEER double-handed for the 360nm race.  As the smallest yacht in the class they claimed third overall-- it would have been tough going on their 30-foot yacht in the raging storms and wind they encountered along the way.

With all of the yachts in the Dubai Muscat Race finished, attention in Muscat turned to two days of inshore racing. Hundreds of sailors from Oman and overseas took part in the regatta.  For more sailing information about Dubai-Muscat Race    Dubai Offshore Sailing Club has a great Facebook page.

J/92 Sailing Dubai-Muscat Race

(Dubai, United Arab Emirates)- This year's 21st edition of the RORC Dubai to Muscat Race got off to a fantastic start on Saturday 17th November 2012 with the Rally Class first to go and enjoying near perfect sailing conditions with blazing sunshine, good breeze and flat blue water. Competitors relished 12 knots of wind from the northwest providing a fast reaching start along the glittering shoreline of Dubai. The wind held through the night and by dawn on the second day, the leading yachts had safely sailed through the Arabian Gulf and The Straits of Hormuz.

The IRC Racing division started on Sunday 18th November. An international fleet of performance cruisers set off from Dubai for the 360 nautical mile race to Muscat. By dawn on Monday 19th November, the IRC Racing Division was approaching one of the trickiest parts of the course; the complex tides of The Straits of Hormuz.  On Monday night, the IRC fleet was experiencing solid pressure of over 20 knots with thunderstorms and squalls charging up the night sky as they past the islands that form the northern part of Dubai in the Straits of Hormuz before the fleet turns right and heads SSE down the Gulf of Oman towards the harbor of Muscat.

At this stage of the game, Matt Britton and his merry bandits from the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club are leading the overall IRC Division 2 prize in the 360 nautical mile Dubai to Muscat Offshore Race.   Sailing PRIVATEER, "the old bird of the J/92 fleet", as Matt describes her, they hope to remain in contention to the finish.

The international fleet of sailors from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and South Africa are expected to arrive in Muscat to participate in the Muscat Regatta. Two days of inshore racing are scheduled involving well over 100 dinghies and keelboats. Followed by the grand finale where 15 yachts are expected to take part in the Bank of Beirut Chairman's Cup with a $50,000 cash prize fund.
For more Dubai to Muscat Race sailing information     Dubai Offshore Sailing Club has a great Facebook page.