2003 in review - part 3

We look back at what happened from July through until September

All the chat in the previous three months about the implementation of a new Grand Prix rule was blown away right at the start of July. A star studded cast turned up in beautiful Porto Cervo for the Farr 40 Worlds. 37 boats hit the water off Sardinia and fantastic, tactical, tough and close racing ensued for four days in winds that never dropped below 20 knots – producing some fabulous images. It was the Italian team on Nerone that won in some style. Who needs handicap racing when you can do this?

The biggest event of this summer quarter was undoubtedly the ISAF mega Worlds in September. Medals made, dreams broken. To get there though, we journeyed through a host of national, European and world championships, Cowes Week, the Admiral’s Cup, the Figaro, the Mini Transat and the launch of the most impressive monohull for decades.

And so to the Daimler Chrysler Transatlantic. It was Zaraffa that won, in IRC and IMS. Although she was push close by the former Kingfisher, renamed Team 888 and raced by ex Offshore Challenges team member Mark Denton. During the trip across the maxi Zepyhrus V came close to breaking the monohull 24 hour record, but gear failure put the end to that.

The 60 foot tris were still at it, this time in Marseille. Photographer Gilles Martin Raget got one of the best shots of the year, apparently due to a jammed headsail sheet. The Archipelago Raid was again a great success, with Ellen MacArthur competing this year.

The Swedish Match came to its finale at the Swedish Match Cup. It was the 51 year old Chris Law who defied the pundits and won the event, defeating the Match Racing World Champion Karol Jablonski by 3 races to 2. The organisers also took the opportunity to unveil their new one-design match racing boat. The new yacht, a 40 foot version of a AC boat to the uninitiated will become a bigger feature next year as it travels around with the Tour. While at the event, James Boyd got a rare interview with Paul Cayard.

The second week of July saw the rare sight of the Admiral’s Cup taking place. 16 yachts took the racecourse; with the spectacle diluted more by the fact they took off from separate start lines. After the first weekend Ed Gorman wrote for TheDailySail, including this observation:

This had one unintended consequence on Sunday in particular when cruising yachts of all shapes and sizes invaded the race course, completely unaware that a once-great racing regatta was underway.



The racing did live up to it’s billing however with some excellent battles on the water. It was the final Wolf Rock race that distilled the winning team, with Australia beating the Spanish Telefonica Moviestar Team as the final points were calculated. Bob Oatley was to finish top boat too with his Wild Oats, and this experienced racing owner was chuffed to bits. "It's really special, we're just so happy," enthused Oatley, "we just can't believe it, people are waking up everywhere and coming in the door, it's absolutely unbelievable, the thrill of a lifetime. To win it on the last race, and in a pretty convincing fashion, also top boat of the regatta, it's really spectacular."

Wild Oats was the first of a new breed of round the cans racing yachts to come equipped with canting keel and forward fin. TheDailySail got to have a crawl over her in Cowes. We then did some digging about just what this CBTF was all about and where it was heading.

While the Admiral’s Cup was on, the west coast of the US were all heading for Hawaii in the Transpac Race. All eyes were on the big tussle between Pegasus and Pyewacket for the Barn Door (first home) Trophy, a battle that Pegasus was to win. Bill Turpin’s Transpact 52 Alta Vita won Division 2, Tom Garnier with his J125 won Division 3 and Wild Thing, a ID35 won Division 4.

July also saw a number of high profile championships take place. The 470 Europeans were held in France and plagued by light winds. Sydney Olympic silver medallists Paul Forester and Kevin Burnham of the States won the event, but the title went to the French team of Gildas Philippe and Nicolas Le Berre. At the 49er Europeans the German pairing of Marcus Baur and Max Groy took top spot, with Britain’s Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks in silver.

The Brits has slightly more success at the 29er Worlds, held concurrently with the 49ers in Laredo. Dave Evans and Rick Peacock won, with British teams filling 11 of the top 14 places (56 teams entered).

Just as the Admirals Cup was starting, so too was the fully crewed Calais Round Britain Race. Nine Open 60s took to the startline, along with TheDailySail’s camera. After 9 days Vincent Riou and his squad on PRB took the win.

Another class that caught our eye was the F18 Cats, with their world championship being held in Belgium. The Boulogne brothers won the 50 boat fleet and we got to have a dig around the fleet and speak to Aussie superstar Darren Bundock.

Travemunde Week closed out the month for dinghy sailors. With about a 1000 (a slight exaggeration) classes racing there was plenty going on. Don’t pictures tell a 1000 words?

And so August was upon us, and the grand event that is Skandia Cowes Week. We got some interesting stories from competitors after the first weekend. The big race of the week is the Britannia Cup, won by the IRC boat of the summer Aera. The PR battle was won by Formula One Sailing – their boat sponsored by Hugo Boss with Formula One racing driver David Coulthard taking to the wheel on the Friday. Saturday was the last day of racing and the results can be found here.

We got to speak with the man in charge, Stuart Quarrie about just what it takes to put the racing on for the hundreds of boats taking part. As with all Cowes Weeks, there’s always a bit of fun going on. Our photographic competition proved to be a real hit and we had some excellent entries. The Snake filed another of his not-to-missed reports from the week, if you missed it click here. This a sample of what you are in for:

The Snake is unsure as to the collective noun for a large quantity of bare midriffs, but it may well be 'a wobble' and if one met the girl of one’s dreams in the beer tent there was no better place to take your new found, budget Barbie to work up a vigorous sweat than the heaving Mount Gay Rum Nightclub in the marina’s converted boatshed.

In Palma the rather more sophisticated Copa del Rey took place. The Tour Voile was rather more low profile this year with very few non French teams competing. However the Figaro was another matter with Britains first entry for years in the shape of Offshore Challenges Samantha Davies entered as a Rookie in Skandia. Sam also took us on a guided tour around her new boat. The fleet included some big names in the solo offshore scene and we got to talk to Michael Desjoyeaux. The finish was electric with Armel Le Cleac’h winning by just 13 seconds from Alain Gautier after 1820 miles. As they say it’s not over until its over.

Hannah Mills in her Optimist was continuing as she meant to go on, finishing in fifth place at the Optimist Worlds and top girl. At the other end of the size spectrum (boats that is) we got to talk to Neville Chricton as his Alfa Romeo was cruising around the Solent.

The Alfa Romeo vs Zephyrus match during the Rolex Fastnet was a great duel. The final miles were a full on match race with the final roll of the dice coming up for Alfa Romeo. Ian Moore, navigator on Zepyrus talked us through the last moments.

Of all the championships taking place over the summer for non Olympic dinghy classes - one particular battle stood out. Noel Butler and crew Stephen Campion won the Laser 2 Worlds in Holland against a 70 strong fleet. Talking about the final race battle, you can easily be leaning on the clubhouse bar with them.

We got a Volvo Ocean Race update during August, with Andy Hindley and Glenn Bourke talking through the new course and some more details on the boat.

The International 14 Worlds took place in Japan and the works team of Rob Greenhalgh and Dan Johnson once again proved too strong for the competition. We spoke to Rob and RMW Marine’s Richard Woof about just how they did it.

The Snake was also on fine form. Explaining to the wider world via the Internet just how obscure the annual Brambles Bank cricket match really is.

At the end of August all eyes turned to Athens for the pre-Olympics. Staged as a full dry-run for the event proper next year it often used by teams to get some rare and unique Olympic style experience. Team GBR were on good form and ran out top winners, with special note going to Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield who achieved a Silver medal. Ed Gorman was on hand to cut through the chaff for TheDailySail and give us his opinions on proceedings.

The 1720 Europeans took place in Ireland. A large turn out was complemented by a number of top helms ready for action. It went to the last race when Glenn Bourke got enough boats between him and Tim Powell to take the win.

The first leg of the Mini Transat also got underway. We spoke with American Jonathon McKee, whose form through the year put this talented sailor at the top of the form book. We also caught up with other skippers in Lanzarote at the end of the first leg.

The final big glamour event of the season took place in Sardinia with the Maxi World Cup. The event was to be remembered most for the tangling of rigs between Alexia and Leopard of London during one pre start. Just remember how big these boats are when you read the report.



And so to the main event in Portugal, the much anticipated ISAF Worlds. Over 1000 boats and 1500 sailors descended on Cadiz and it’s environs. The Europes were one of the first class to kick of and the headline ‘ Scandinavian girls on top’ had more than a few readers complaining about being misled. For all the results click here. One of the best battles was in the Finn class with Ben Ainslie again showing just how far you have to dig for that extra 1%, but with it he won his second consecutive Finn Gold Cup. Ainslie’s teammate in the Finn Andrew Simpson finished third. Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks won the 49er class with a day to spare (which means winning by two races) to achieve their best ever result and win the ridiculously competitive GBR slot for the Olympics.

Bundock and Forbes took their fourth world title in the Tornado. Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa of Greece continued their domination of the womens 470, winning with a day to spare. In the Lasers, Portugal’s Gustavo Lima beat Robert Scheidt to take the Gold by a point.

Ed Gorman was there again for us and reviewed the British performance. We spoke to Chris Draper and we also published a couple of photo galleries from the event.

September finished with a couple of big bangs. First was the almost shock appearance of the a wesome Marie Cha IV. This massive schooner hit the front-page with a sledgehammer. TheDailySail was the first media outlet to publish pictures of the new beast, sail on the new beast and talk to the people involved. This was also our biggest day for new subscribers to the site!

The Moet Cup also went down a storm. The sight of Alinghi and Oracle match racing feet off the dock in San Francisco made the realisation sink in that Alinghi really did have the America’s Cup by the horns.