[Source: Maserati] Maserati ready to challenge the New York-San Francisco record. Maserati’s departure towards San Francisco is expected tomorrow, on Monday 31st December, around 18pm (Italy time). Giovanni and Maserati’s team are expected to sail 13225 miles by Cape Horn in less than 57 days, 3 hours and 2 minuts (record by Yves Parlier with Aquitaine Innovations).

Boris Herrmann – navigator of Maserati – explains the weather conditions: “We are ready. Everything is prepared to leave tomorrow. Even the inside stacking is sorted and optimized for the upcoming weather: Everything movable in the boat has been stored to the starboard side and aft to help the boats’ righting moment with the expected winds from starboard in the next couple of days. In fact we expect strong westerly winds till the 3rd of january which makes this is a great moment for us to start the big “Gold-Route” – record around America. We plan to start tomorrow (monday) in the morning local time. Once we pass the famous “Ambrose Light Buoy”, the official record start line, it will be 6 pm in Europe.

We will be steering a general course of around 110 degrees – heading southeast – pushed along downwind in 30 to 35 knots and some increasing sea state. What a great way of welcoming 2013! Fingers crossed we wont have ice and snow for the start.

Giovanni Soldini and the Maserati crew, ready to leave New York

2nd of January we can expect to sail 150 or 200 miles north of Bermuda and getting rolled over by a strong cold front later that same day. At this point we will likely see some gusts up to 40 knots and wave heights up to 5,5 meters. After 3 days of power reaching we will be approaching a high pressure zone with diminishing winds. Already much warmer conditions by then will make forget the coldness of the north.

If everything goes to plan and we make it through the transition zone of the high pressure quickly, we will catch he trade winds at the end of day 5 and pick up speed again this time in much more pleasant conditions.

If the scenario sticks together we will be already close to the equator by day nine: The trade winds are well established and far north. All depends on how we get through the high pressure transition on the 4th/5th january and how we get through the doldrums…”.

[Source: America's Cup] The International Jury for the 34th America’s Cup has deducted sailing days from ORACLE TEAM USA as the final decision in the espionage case brought against the defender by Italian syndicate Luna Rossa Challenge 2013.

Last week the International Jury announced that it found in favor of Luna Rossa, which alleged that ORACLE TEAM USA had breached part of the Reconnaissance Article (37.2(g)) of the Protocol for the 34th America’s Cup by being within 200 meters of the Italian AC72 during a training session in New Zealand in early November.

Citing the importance of the Reconnaissance Article in the Protocol and the importance of a meaningful penalty, today the International Jury announced that it has deducted from ORACLE TEAM USA the final five sailing days, April 26-30, 2013, of the Second AC72 Sailing Period (Feb. 1-Apr. 30, 2013).

The International Jury acknowledged that ORACLE TEAM USA has returned 10 photos as instructed and also levied costs of €11,500 (approximately $15,200) against the team.

The International Jury for the 34th America’s Cup (from left): Josje Hofland, John Doerr, David Tillett, Bryan Willis, Graham MacKenzie. Photo copyright America’s Cup / Gilles Martin-Raget

[Source: Nacra Sailing] Due to quality issues with the upper section of the carbon mast, decision has been taken to suspend delivery of the Nacra 17 with the carbon mast.

The Nacra 17 will be delivered with an alloy mast until further notice. This mast section is similar to that of the Nacra F16 and F18. All teams which have already taken delivery of the Nacra 17 will receive an alloy mast and fittings to retrofit their boat.

We expect that delivery of the carbon mast will resume as soon as we are 100% convinced about the solution. All alloy masts in the marketplace will be swapped back to carbon masts. Instructions will follow.

Above actions has been discussed and agreed with both ISAF and NACRA 17 class association

Merely half a year after becoming a new Olympic class, the Nacra 17 suffers from major quality issues

In the process of finding the limits sailing with the curved daggerboards equipped Nacra 17, various teams have been sailing in conditions above 25 knots of wind accompanied with big waves thus huge loads on the boat during sailing and capsizing.

Although expected and taken into account in the design and test phase we found that some teams discovered cracks in their mast above the hound below the top of the mast.

Nacra Sailing regrets these problems and is fully aware of this situation and is taking its full responsibility. We believe that any Nacra products should be strong enough, also in extreme rough conditions as we have proven in the last 35+years. We are working hard with our design and production teams to overcome these problems and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

If you have any questions:

You can contact your regular contact within the organisation of Nacra Sailing, your dealer, distributor or if direct purchased by MNA’s through info@nacrasailing.com. We are more than happy to answer your questions but please bear with us as it can be busy as you can imagine.

[Source: Regatta News] Robert Oatley’s Wild Oats XI was announced this morning as the Overall Winner of the 68th Rolex Sydney Hobart. It had become clear overnight that none of the yachts still at sea could better the corrected time established by the 30.48m (100 foot) maxi skippered by Mark Richards. Wild Oats XI has repeated its historic performance of 2005, when it secured the treble of Line Honours, Overall Winner and Race Record.

Aside from Rani, in the very first race, Wild Oats XI is the only yacht ever to have achieved this impressive display of dominance. She has now done it twice. Bob Oatley was understandably impressed: “The main aim was the fastest time. To get the handicap too was fantastic, a real bonus. Getting the record trip was really the icing on the cake.”

By 15:00 AEDT on 29 December, 13 yachts had finished the 2012 Rolex Sydney Hobart including two of the international entries: KLC Bengal from Japan and Ambersail from Lithuania. Last year’s winner, Loki, has so far come closest to unseating Wild Oats XI. Finishing last night at just before 21:00 even she was two hours adrift on corrected time. Black Jack, which arrived an hour before Loki, lies in third overall. Chris Bull’s Jazz holds fourth.

Bob Oatley, Owner WILD OATS XI, and Skipper Mark Richards receive Tattersall’s Cup & a Rolex Timepiece from Patrick Boutellier (Rolex Australia). Hobart, 29 December 2012. Photo copyright ROLEX / Carlo Borlenghi

Victorian yacht Calm had appeared to have the best opportunity of the yachts destined to arrive before dawn today. Needing to finish before 01:31, she was behind schedule yesterday afternoon. Owner Jason Van der Slot believed they would pick up pace but had not counted on stalling close to the finish: “We parked for two hours off Tasman Island and for an hour in the Derwent. We were aiming to finish in time to win and up to Tasman Island we were on track. It had all gone according to plan until then.” She eventually finished at 06:06 this morning and holds fifth place.

Five yachts have retired so far and, for the 58 yachts still racing, a difficult evening lies ahead. In the lee of northeastern Tasmania there is a substantial wind shadow. From midway down the eastern seaboard to Tasman Island spindrift is flying off 3 metre waves in a 26 – 36 knot west-southwesterly. These conditions are forecast to prevail through much of 30 December too.

[Source: ORC] In the last few weeks of this year, rating offices and event organizers around the world have been sending in their dates so that the 2013 ORC Calendar of Events is now available at www.orc.org/calendar. To date there are 121 national and international regattas listed in 16 countries, with more expected in the coming weeks as organizers and sailors do their planning for the 2013 season, while in the southern hemisphere their summer season is already well underway.

In the coming year the most important event for ORC will be the 2013 ORCi World Championship, sanctioned by ISAF as the Offshore World Championship, which in 2013 will be held in Ancona, Italy over June 21-29. This event will feature a week-long mix of inshore and offshore racing on the Adriatic coast from the event venue based at Marina Dorica. As in the last two years, the number of entries is expected to exceed 100 boats, and even now there are already 28 entries from 7 countries on three continents.

Another major event for ORC is the ORCi European Championship 2013 to be held in Sandhamn, Sweden over August 3-10 and hosted by the Royal Swedish YC (KSSS). This regatta will also have a mix of inshore and offshore racing conducted on the Baltic coast east of Stockholm in the beautiful Swedish Archipelago. There has been strong initial interest in this event as well, with 21 entries from 7 countries pre-registered from throughout Europe.

The 2013 ORCi World Championship will be held in Ancona. Italy from June 21 to 29

Besides these and other ORC championship regattas, there are several other major international races and regattas using ORC ratings and scoring. These include the Circuito Atlantico Sur Rolex Cup in Argentina & Uruguay, the North Sea Regatta in the Netherlands, the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta in Italy, the Giraglia Rolex Cup in Italy and France, Rolex Ilhabella Sailing Week in Brazil, the 32nd Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre in Spain, the Rolex Middle Sea Race in Malta, and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race in Australia.

And in addition to these established high-profile events, there are other new events in new countries to use ORC. For the first time ORCi will be used in Denmark at the Aarhus Big Boat Race as well as the Big Boat Challenge in Kerteminde as part of a new western Baltic series that also includes Kieler Woche and concludes at the ORC German Championship in Warnemunde. The Royal Danish YC (KDY) will also be using ORCi at a new international offshore teams event in Bornholm called the Royal Ocean Cup.

And ORC will be also be used for the first time in China at the Chinese Yachting Association’s City Clubs Open Regatta International in Qingdao.

Video highlights from the third day of the 2012 Rolex Sydney Hobart as Wild Oats XI breaks the course record and wins line honors for the sixth time.

[Source: Rolex Sydney Hobart] The time difference was a long one in terms of how the crew would have been feeling in those last 16 minutes of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 628 nautical mile race. Could they or couldn’t they?

At 5 am today, Wild Oats XI’s 2005 record of one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds seemed out of reach, but at about 7 am, her dashed hopes were revived, and as the minutes ticked by, her chances improved.

Initially, skipper Mark Richards and his crew were a tantalisingly 40 minutes outside the record time and were expected to finish at about 8.30 am. However, as the clock ticked, the super maxi picked up speed to around 15 knots and her finish time was upgraded to 8.00 am, then 7.50 am, 7.36 am, 7.23am and 7.13 am with five nautical miles to go.

The breeze eased. Richards ordered a bigger headsail to keep it moving, which ended with their record victory. It remains to be seen whetherWild Oats XI can go all the way and take the treble (victory on corrected time as well as line honours and the race record).

WILD OATS XI crosses the finish line in Hobart in time of 1 day 18 hours 23 mins 12 secs, a new race record. Hobart, 28 December 2012. Photo copyright ROLEX / Carlo Borlenghi

Dockside, Richards said: “We’re all over the moon. How many places have this level of race with a fleet this size?

“Last year we were beaten by Investec Loyal (now Ragamuffin-Loyal) by three minutes, which was very disappointing. This year we beat them by much more.”

Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin-Loyal that was about 45 miles behind the line honours winner.

“We’ll be back next year,” Richards said.

Of the new record, he said: “We just kept chipping away. You expect it to be light in the Derwent and it did get lighter towards the end. This is a very testing event and the Derwent is very, very, testing. It’s always a tough race.

“We have a great bunch of people on board and we’re all good mates,” Richards said of the mostly long term crew who were aboard in 2005 and are still sailing the boat today.

Of navigator Adrienne Cahalan (who was aboard for the 2005 record) and co-navigator Tom Addis, Richards said: “They did a great job. It’s a difficult job with meteorology to look at, all the updates and critical decisions to make.”

WILD OATS XI on the final approach. Hobart, 28 December 2012. Photo copyright ROLEX / Carlo Borlenghi

Richards also praised tactician Iain Murray, who has taken time out of his role as Regatta Director and CEO of the America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM) organisation to return to sail the yacht again.

“I can’t wait to give the Oatley family a big hug,” Richards said, grinning from ear to ear.

He said that although the race was a relatively easy one “we had some very hard and fast running conditions; we blew out a spinnaker and had some gear failure, so it wasn’t all smooth sailing”.

Covered live on Channel 7, the tension could be seen in the faces and movements of the Wild Oats XI crew, which included Murray, Cahalan and Addis and Steve Jarvin, who was thrilled to claim the record on his milestone 25th race, as they sailed the final miles to Castray Esplanade.

Through dint of luck, or just choosing the right boats, Jarvin also holds the record for the most line honours victories in the race’s history, this being his tenth.

Following his boat down the Derwent River aboard a spectator boat, owner Bob Oatley looked close to tears as his ever-evolving yacht made it across the line in record time. Joining Oatley in the celebrations were his wife Val, son Sandy and their families.

“We’ve never given up; we’ll try to do it again next year. New wings on the keel helped enormously I’m sure, so did the new jib. The design, the crew, the sails and the modifications are what makes the boat fast,” Oatley said dockside.

“I’m over the moon,” he added, keen to reach Richards, or Ricko, as he’s known in yachting circles, and the crew.

Wild Oats XIwill go into the history books as only the second boat in the history of the race to break its own race record. OnlyMorna, later renamed Kurrewa IV, exceeds that record, have cracked its race record twice.

Video highlights from the second day of the 2012 Rolex Sydney Hobart as Wild Oats XI is on the verge of breaking the course record