iShares Cup - Kiel
An amazing 50,000 spectators came to see Extreme 40 racing in
This event was held in
Alinghi and TEAMORIGIN have definitely established themselves as the tops of the fleet by finishing first and second respectively in the past three events. But the final iShares event will be held in
The Centomiglia Race
After the iShares Cup was over in
Our winning team for the Centomiglia Race. From left to right - Stan Schreyer, Randy Smythe, Miko Benamati, At van Barneveld, and Jonathon Farrar. At is our team manager from Tommy Hilfiger, and it was great to have him on board for the race. His background is mostly board sailing, but he loves catamaran sailing too. Miko is a local from the Lake Garda region. His father, Roberto, was racing on a Libera, and his boy was very happy we beat dad across the line.
iShares Cup - Hyeres
I just got back from the latest Extreme 40 event for the iShares Cup, which was held in Hyeres, France. Our team consisted of Randy Smythe, Jonathon Farrar, Mark van Gelderen, and myself. Eleven boats raced in total. It was a great event, with 18 races held in total. Conditions were typical for Hyeres - very windy. There were tons of close quarters situations at marks, several near capsizes, and one boat did flip over. It was very exciting racing. We did not have a great event, finishing 10th out of 11. This was our first event of the year, and we entered it with almost no practice time at all. Podium places in order were - 1st - Alinghi, helmsman Ed Baird, 2nd - Team Origin, helmsman Rob Greenhaulgh, 3rd - Volvo Ocean Race - helmsman Herbert Dercksen.
Although we did not finish well, we did manage to distinguish ourselves with this move right in front of the seawall. For the record, we did not capsize here. Hey, if your not on the podium, you need to give them some reason to talk about you.
Full results, more photos, and video can be seen at www.isharescup.com
Tommy Hilfiger Wins Italy’s Centomiglia Regatta!
In early September, we took the Hilfiger Extreme 40 to the beautiful Lake Garda, located in Northern Italy. Our team was comprised of Americans Randy Smythe, Jonathon Farrar, myself and the Dutchman Mark van Gelderen. The four of us arrived in the village of Torbole on the North end of Lake Garda on September 3rd to prepare the boat for the regatta, and to get some practice time in. In addition to doing some normal boathandling drills, we had a new spinnaker we needed to try out, and we also had to practice doing spinnaker changes. Throughout the 2 years we have been racing the Extreme 40, we had entered only one distance race, and it was short, so we had never practiced sail changes on the boat before.
Photo by Roberto Vuilleumier/Slidebox.it.
We combined our practice time with come corporate entertainment for Tommy Hilfiger. The setting of Lake Garda was excellent for corporate sailing. It is such a beautiful place to sail. Picturesque mountains rise right out of the lake. Small Italian villages dot the hillsides all around the lake. We took several Tommy employees and clients out sailing, and we also spent a day with Marco Melandri, an Italian star on the Moto GP circuit. Although the Extreme 40 was not as fast as his bike, he did find it exciting. He liked the quick movements of the boat, and talked about how funny it was to be darting around on something that was noiseless. After a quick orientation, we gave Marco the tiller, and he liked steering. But he said it felt strange because he had to rely on the crew members to trim the sails, as opposed to his bike, where he is in control of everything.
The Centomiglia Race began around 8:15 AM on September 9th. Roughly 300 boats entered the race, and several fleets had started ahead of us. We were not bound by the normal X40 crew rule of four people, so we brought on a 5th person as tactician and this paid off in spades. Through our hotel manager, we met Roberto Benamati, a world class Star sailor, and 7 time winner of the Centomiglia Race. Whenever you can stack the cards in your favor, you do so. Lake Garda is a tricky place to sail, especially in this race, where the course is start, sail 25 miles to the North end of the lake, 50 miles all the way down to the south end of the lake, and then another 25 mile leg back to the middle of the lake. The north end of the lake is shaped like a finger, and it is very narrow at some points, with mountains rising right out of the water on either side. The wind funnels either up or down this portion of the lake. The south side of the lake is quite open, and the wind can often be light and variable there. Having a local on board removed a lot of guess work for us on this day.
We had a light (about 4 knot) southerly as we started the race, which meant we had our spinnakers up as we crossed the starting line. After about 15 minutes, the northerly overpowered the southerly in one of the fastest 180 wind transitions I had ever seen. There was virtually no transition zone between the two breezes, one instant we were in a 4 knot southerly, the next, we were furling our gennekar because we were going upwind in a 4 knot northerly. The 4 knots became 8 knots, which became 12 knots, and in about 8 minutes time we were sailing upwind in an 18 knot Northerly breeze. The breeze continued to build as we sailed up the lake, and it probably topped out over 25 knots sustained (and puffs that were higher) as we sailed through one particularly narrow area on the lake.
Photo by Roberto Vuilleumier/Slidebox.it.
We had some equipment problems during this part of the race, as our jib sheet ripped off of the clew board on the sail. We were able to put it in another hole on the clew board, which quickly ripped out. So we lashed it through the remaining 5 holes in the clew board, and hoped that this would spread the load out. Fortunately, our fix held for the rest of the race. But our jib issues did not stop with the clew board. We were also ripping the jib luff out of the foil on the forestay. Only about the bottom 6 inches had gone by the time we noticed, and we were able to punch some holes in the luff of the sail, and sew it to the forestay before it ripped out any further. This was not an easy job though, as it required us to send someone out onto the spinnaker pole, and climb up the forestay bridle to the point where the sewing needed to be done. We were fortunate that we were able to get this fix done without incident. About the time were doing the fix, we were sailing through the bulk of the monohulls in the race, which had started before us that morning. While sewing the job to the forestay, I would catch an occasional glimpse of a monohull on its ear, or struggling with their own breakdowns. The race had gone from boring to out of control in only a few short minutes.
The wind was a bit more manageable at the first turning mark, located at the extreme north end of the lake. We rounded that mark in winds of about 10 to 15 knots, but we knew we would see more as we went downwind away from the hills, and back to the more narrow areas of the lake. We had a new spinnaker on our boat which was much larger than the one we use for one-design racing. The builder expressed some concern with us using this sail, as it is hoisted to the mast head, where the normal sail has a hoist point of over 2 meters lower. Having used the big sail for the week prior to the Centomiglia race, we felt comfortable that the mast would be okay. And we knew this sail was faster!
We had about a 10 minute lead on the next boat at the first mark, and quickly extended, ripping downwind through the rest of the boats. Again, we saw about 25 knots sustained, and some puffs that were higher. We had to be cautious, and sail the boat very deep in this much wind. A pretty substantial chop had developed, and we needed both hulls in the water to keep the bows from plowing through it. We also needed to be careful of not overloading the mast. We reached the midpoint gate having made very good time. No one looked at their watches as we passed through it, but I believe we had done the first half of the 100 mile race in about 2 and a half hours.
Photo by Roberto Vuilleumier/Slidebox.it.
The rest of the race though, would take a bit longer. After the mid-point gate, we sailed into the southern half of Lake Garda, which is much more open than the northern portion of the lake. During favorable sailing weather, one sails through a small transition zone around this point of the race, and into a southerly breeze which takes one to the final turning mark in the race. This was not one of those days. The southerly never materialized, and we limped downwind, sometimes sailing in absolutely no wind at all. We were struggling to keep flow over our blades in some spots. We even had to furl our gennekar at points, as it was simply draped on the shrouds and it was actually stopping our forward movement. At these times, we find it helpful to leave just a few feet of the gennekar unfurled, and we use that portion of the sail as a windseeker. This proved helpful, as small zephyrs were materializing from any and all directions.
We slowly made our way to the south end of the lake, sometimes drifting, sometimes sailing in a light Northerly breeze. By the time we rounded the final turning mark and started sailing upwind, we had a very light, but steady northerly wind. At this point, we were being followed by many spectator boats, and a couple boats from the Italian media. The Centomiglia Race is very popular in Italy, and it was being covered live on Italian television. Although we had a substantial lead by this point in the race, we knew it was not over. Our tactician, Roberto, kept reminding us that the lake is very finicky on days like this, as it would be possible for the fleet to sail right up to us in a breeze we did not have.
Fortunately, this did not happen. We finished the race in a 4 knot Northerly, which was light enough for us to keep our gennekar up while we sailed upwind. We were met at the finish line with a gun shot, followed by much applause and shooting of horns. Champagne arrived quickly, and was sprayed away just as quickly. Our elapsed time was just about 8 hours and 15 minutes, which was good enough for the multihull course record. We were very surprised to learn this since the second half of the race took so long. But Extreme 40’s are fast, we ripped through the 1st half of the race, and even approaching the finish line, we were averaging about 8 knots. It was a good thing we brought that big sail along. It was also a good thing we brought Roberto. Our local tactician definitely took us to some good spots we would not have known about. It is always good to sail with a local, especially a smart one.
Victory! From left, Randy Smythe, Jonathon Farrar, Mark van Gelderen, At van Barneveld (our program manager from Tommy Hilfiger), me, and Roberto Benamati. Photo by Roberto Vuilleumier/Slidebox.it.
The Centomiglia was a great race for us. We sailed well, and had tons of fun. Lake Garda is truly an amazing place. It is a great place to race, or to go for recreation. Sailing, windsurfing, kite boarding, biking, hiking, you can do it all there. If you have the opportunity, it is a place worth checking out.
Extreme 40 iShares Cup – Amsterdam
The fourth and final stop of the 2007 iShares Cup was Amsterdam. This was by far the most interesting sailing venue of the Grand Prix. Being that we sailed right off the shore in
We raced in a canal on the Southeast side of the city, in an area just over 200 meters wide. The starting line ran almost all the way across the canal, with the committee boat tied to the seawall on one side, and the pin being anchored about 2 lengths off the sea wall on the other side of the canal. Fortunately, the wind cooperated and generally blew down the canal, only blowing slightly askew at times.
Kind of an odd sight for an alley in a city, but it was the norm in this part of Amsterdam for a week last September. Photo credit to Vincent Curuchet/DPPI/OC Events.
Since we were sailing right in the city, a healthy crowd gathered to watch racing every afternoon. On Friday, the first day of racing, they were not disappointed. The first eye-brow raiser took place before racing even began, when BT Betterworld, helmed by three-time Tornado World champion Darren Bundock of Australia, nearly capsized on their way to the dock. It was very gusty, and this proved as a reminder to all the teams that the edge is never too far away in an Extreme 40, even when one is playing it safe.
Close One! They managed to keep her upright though. Photo credit to Vincent Curucht/DPPI/OC Events.
On the Tommy boat, our team consisted of three Americans - helmsman Randy Smyth, traveler man Jonathon Farrar, and I was the jib and spinnaker trimmer. Our fourth man, Mark van Gelderen, handled things on the bow. Since he is a resident of Amsterdam it was a home game for him.
Day one started with Easterly winds of about 10 knots. Looking up the canal to the windward mark, the wind was blowing just to the left of straight down the canal. There were some buildings upwind of the course area which were about 10 stories high, and this caused the breeze to be puffy, with some gusts as high as 15 knots. That was plenty of wind for the 8 Extreme 40’s to get used to sailing in such a small area. Things were so tight around the starting line that it was common for one or two boats to be sailing on the upwind side of the starting line as late as 2 minutes before the start. The most powerful point of sail for any catamaran is a reach, and there was simple not enough room for all 8 boats to be reaching around in such a small area.
The fleet lining up for a start. It was pretty tight for boats this size! Photo credit to Vincent Curuchet/DPPI/OC Events.
We did not have a great start in the first race, but we managed to climb back and win the race on the final leg of the three lap heat. The windward-leeward course was only about 600 meters long. But because the course was so narrow and the wind was so puffy, there were a lot of opportunities to gain. One did not reach the layline until the very top of the beat, so “Room to tack,” was a commonplace call all the way up the leg, as boats were always short-tacking one seawall or the other. With the racing so tight, there were many close crosses and ducks, both upwind and downwind. The first real crash came during the prestart of race 4, when JP Morgan, helmed by British Olympic medalist Shirley Robertson, ran into the seawall while trying to bear away into a gybe. They were fortunate in that an inflatable boat managed to get between them and the seawall, preventing major damage to the bows of the boat.
The Volvo Ocean Race boat, skippered by Jean Christophe Mourniac, rounding the windward mark. Note how close they are to the bridge. If they did not make the turn, the boys would be getting peeled off the pavement! Photo credit to Vincent Curuchet/DPPI/OC Events.
By race five, the skies had become overcast, and the wind had built to about fifteen knots, it was still gusty, and rain had begun to fall. Not very nice weather, most would say, while a Dutchman would tell you it is a typical day. The weather and wind set the stage for some more carnage, when a major collision occurred between Basilica and JP Morgan. On the first beat, Basilica was on port attempting to duck JP Morgan on starboard. They appeared to be ducking clean, when they were hit by a puff. Basilica tried to dump their traveler and duck further, but they were unable to react in time. They hit JP Morgan square in the rear beam, and the bow of Basilica became firmly planted in the side of JP Morgan’s leeward hull. For a minute it appeared as though the worst had not come, as some of the sailors scrambled to get Basilica helmsman Rob Greenhaulgh back on board (Rob was launched 20 feet forward and off the boat, landing in the water near his boat’s main beam), while the rest attempted to dislodge the two boats. It was an amazing sight to see the two Extreme 40’s interlocked, spinning around each other, and drifting downwind. Basilica withdrew from the race, taking a DSQ. Of course, JP Morgan was out for the day. They had to crane their boat out of the water for repairs. This was a challenge, as their entire port hull had filled with water. On their first attempt to haul the boat, the mast hit the crane because the boat was so lopsided. The mast had to be taken down before the boat could be hauled. An all nighter by Tornado Sport’s expert boat repairman Arjiane had JP Morgan back in the water for the second race on Saturday afternoon. JP Morgan was awarded redress for the four races they missed as a result of the collision.
Back on the Tommy boat, after winning race one, we did not have much to cheer about. We had some problems with our gennekar furler which rendered it inoperable for three straight races. We finished last in every one of those races, trying to fix our furler all the while. We finally got it fixed, but it still did not work very well, and it was tough to get back on track. We finished the day only a couple of points off bottom of the score sheet.
A tight finish along the seawall. The race committee is covered by the gennekars. Photo credit to Vincent Curuchet/DPPI/OC Events.
Saturday was a sunny day, and relatively light. After all of Friday’s excitement (which included numerous small collisions apart from the major one mentioned above), most sailors were happy to be greeted by a more mellow day. Again, we won the first race on Tommy, but again, that would be the high point of our day. The racing was in very close quarters, and we were not making the right moves. Holmatro held a commanding lead by the end of day 2, followed by Basilica, and BT Betterworld was a distant third.
We finished racing early on Saturday as we needed to crane our boats over the canal bridge to a basin on the other side. There we did some demo sailing next to a festival that had been organized along the shore. Even the demonstration sailing was exciting in the tiny canals of Amsterdam, and it proved to be a bit too tight, as some collisions still occurred. One when Basilica’s hull landed on our rudder (they were flying high, then sailed out of the breeze), and when JP Morgan flew a hull, unsuccessfully, over an inflatable boat taking photos. JP Morgan was stuck on the inflatable for some time, but the boat was removed without damage to either boat or to any passengers.
Hoisting the Holmatro boat over the canal bridge. Photo credit to Vincent Curuchet/DPPI/OC Events.
Photo credit to Vincent Curuchet/DPPI/OC Events.
After the demo sailing, we docked the boats, ate dinner, and had two more demonstration races in the dark. There was almost no wind at all for these races. It was a great experiment though, as it was still pretty exciting to race the boats at night. Since they were just demonstration races, some of the teams had a little fun. The French and Dutch teams sailed in costume, and we raced with flares hanging out of our beams.
Night sailing in the Dam! Photo credit to Vincent Curuchet/DPPI/OC Events.
The next morning, we craned the boats back over the bridge for the final day of racing in the iShares Cup for 2007. We finally got out acts together on the Tommy boat, winning the last three races of the event. But it was too little too late. We finished the regatta 5th overall, only two points out of third place. Basilica was the 2007 iShares Cup champion, winning all four legs of the Grand Prix. Congratulations to the British team of Rob Greenhaulgh, Peter Greenhaulgh, Justin Slattery, and James Grant. The Basilica boys are a great group to race against. They are talented, hard working, and great sportsman. They really earned this championship.
The Tommy Hilfiger team ended the 2007 Grand Prix in 4th overall. We had some bright points over the season, but not enough to get us to the top. Thanks to At van Barneveld and everyone at Tommy Hilfiger Europe for giving us the opportunity to represent them on the race course. We are looking forward to more Extreme 40 racing in 2008.
Extreme 40 iShares Cup - Cowes Week
We are closing in on the end of the second Extreme 40 Grand Prix, and the racing is showing no signs of getting boring anytime soon. Our latest event, at Cowes Week, may have been the most exciting event yet. Having never been to Cowes Week myself, it was great to see so much sailing activity in one place. The volume of boats and sailors participating in Cowes week is a sight for any racing or cruising sailor.
Racing downwind on Day 1, near the Isle of Wight. Photo by Mark Lloyd/DPPI/OC Events.
The three day iShares Cup Extreme 40 event began with an exhibition race where one end of the starting line was the Royal Yacht Squadron. This is typical for all Cowes Week starts, but it was a bit new for everyone on our boat, trying to line up the lights in front of the Squadron so we knew when we were on the starting line. A fresh southwest breeze of 15 to 20 knots with a strong Westerly tide made for a very interesting day of racing. After the exhibition race, the course moved upwind only slightly, and we spent the day racing in front of the famous Green near the Royal Yacht Squadron.
The conditions on day one really did make for some extreme racing. Because of the strong tide running with the wind, it was advantageous to short tack the beach. This was a bit tricky as there was a line of moored boats which ran the length of the course, only about 10 boatlengths off the beach. There were calls for room in any scenario one could imagine as the line of Extreme 40’s motored off the starting line on starboard tack, ducking moored boats, calling for room to tack along the shore, and then sailing through the line of moorings again. It did not get any easier as the fleet approached the windward mark, as that buoy was only about 10 lengths off the shore. Bearing away around the windward mark in an Extreme 40 in 20 knots can tend to raise one’s blood pressure, as the boat does not exactly turn on a dime. Fortunately though, no one ended up sailing into anyone else, or the sea wall. There were some minor casualties by the end of day one, mostly in the form of broken rudders. We did not escape the list of wounded, as we hit a steel mooring with our windward daggerboard (we almost flew over it, but not quite!).
Tommy Hilfiger (above), and BT Challenge (below) both poking their bows a bit on the bearaway. Photos by Mark Lloyd/DPPI/OC Events.
Our boat, sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger, and sailed by Jonathon Farrar (traveler, tactics), Mark van Gelderen (trimmer), Richard Feeny (bow), and myself, faired well on the first day. We had a tough first race, but won one race, and finished the day third overall. This was good enough to win us a spot on the podium, and a bottle of champagne at the prize giving. Champagne for the day’s top three has become a tradition on the Extreme 40 circuit, but it is usually not used for drinking as much as it is for spraying one’s competitors.
Farrar in a champagne fight with Basilica helmsman Rob Greenhaulgh. Photo by Mark Lloyd/DPPI/OC Events.
Day 2 brought less wind, but some more tight racing. We were on the North side of the Solent for most of this day, racing only our final race in front of the Green. After a string of lousy finishes, we ended our day with a third, making us want to race all of the races in front of the green as we faired better there. However, our lackluster results have nothing to do with location. It was a bad start here, bad layline call there, and before we knew it, we had put together five poor races. An inch is really a mile in this fleet, the legs are less than a half mile long, and the boats travel at speeds of more then 20 knots, one bad layline call or poor tack, and you are out the back.
We managed to put together some good races on the final day, winning another one, and finishing in the top three in every race, until the last one where we were OCS. We had a bit of a trigger finger, and with strong tide pushing us over the line, this was a bad thing. We ground back to a distance where we could fight with the leaders, but we could never get around them. The OCS was a tough end to a good day of sailing for us. With a good finish in the final race, we would have been low point for the day, and we probably would have finished third overall. We ended up finishing 5th in the event.
Accelerating off the starting line on Tommy Hilfiger. Photo by Mark Lloyd/DPPI/OC Events.
We leave Cowes with some positive feelings about our sailing, we had good boatspeed, and our boathandling is coming together. The Extreme 40 fleet features a lot of talented sailors, Olympians, medalists, world champions, and Around the World race champions. Starting and tactical errors cost us points in Cowes, points that a competitive fleet does not give back to you. We are confident we can work these things out, but we have to be on our game to get to the top of the podium in this group.
Complete results for this event, and the entire Extreme 40 iShares Cup, can be seen at www.extreme40.org.
Extreme 40 iShares Cup - Marseille
July 7 – 9
Approaching the windward mark. Photo by Philippe Millereau/DPPI/OC Events.
The Tommy Hilfiger Sailing Team raced in the second event of the Extreme 40 iShares Cup on July 7 – 9. The Tommy team in Marseille was comprised of Americans Jonathon Farrar and myself, and the Dutch duo of Mark van Gelderen and Ed van Lierde. Ed was a new addition to the Tommy Team. But he brought with him experience on the bow of big boats such as the Volvo 70 Brunel, and the TP 52 Mean Machine. The Tommy team struggled a bit at this event, finishing 5 out of 7 boats. We had poor boatspeed throughout the event, due to some boat set-up issues which we were unable to resolve over the three day regatta. We did improve as the event went on, and had some decent races on the final day of the event, but this was not enough to overcome poor scores early on in the regatta.
After light air and sometime random shifts on the first day of the event, Marseille offered up excellent sailing on the latter two days of the regatta. The wind peaked over 20 knots on both Saturday and Sunday, and the tightly packed fleet of 7 boats had some spectacular mark roundings in the heavy air.
For the second regatta in a row, the Basilica Team was victorious, winning handily. Basilica is helmed by ABN AMRO veteran Rob Greenhaulgh, and also includes his brother Peter Greenhaulgh, Justin Slattery, and James Grant. Second place went to the legendary French trimaran team Groupama, led by Frank Camas.
The next event for the iShares Cup will be held at Cowes week on August 3-5. This will be one to follow for sure, as it will be the first time these state of the art boats race at the historic regatta, which has a great reputation for excellent sailing conditions. More information can be found at www.extreme40.org.
During the event, the Tommy Sailing Team did a couple of photo shoots for the company which required us to dress up in suits. Our fellow competitors found it a bit odd when we showed up to the competitors meeting on the final day of sailing dressed in suits, but the photos came out well.
Both photos by Phillipe Millereau/DPPI/OC Events.
