Vaud sailor Bernard Stamm's Cheminee Poujoulet was in 5th place Sunday in what the organizers call the "fearsome" Fastnet race (photo, ©2011 Gwendal Danguy)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss sailors were in a strong position at the end of Sunday in the 608 nautical miles Fastnet race, often called a “mythical” sailing event, in part because 15 people died during the storms that battered the race in 1979.
The 2011 race began Sunday 14 August on the Isle of Wight under what the event organizers called perfect conditions, with a record number of entries, 314. A line of clouds on the horizon suggested dramatic sailing might lie ahead.
The race runs along the south coast of the UK, across the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland, before returning around the Scilly Isles to the finish in Plymouth.
Several of the boats, including Steve Ravussin’s (Swiss) Race For Water, were over the line early and had to turn around for a re-start, adding to the day’s drama.
Photo: © Loris von Siebenthal – myimage.ch
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Ernesto Bertarelli’s D35 Alinghi whipped into Geneva Saturday afternoon to complete the Bol d’Or sailing race in a record 6 hours 25 minutes. The previous D35 category record had stood since 2004 when Zebra 7 finished in just under 9 hours.
Bertarelli’s craft, one of a number of his boats named Alinghi, took the lead at the outset and never let up, winning a tough race fought out with 25 knot winds and high waves at Le Bouveret, the eastern end of the lake, on a cold, rainy Saturday. The top four boats crossed the finish line within 10 minutes of Alinghi’s arrival.
Runners-up after Alinghi’s 16:25 finish were: Foncia, with Michel Desjoyeaux; Ylliam, with Arnaud Psarofaghis, and Okalys-Corum, with Loïck Peyron.
Hydroptère fast, but not consistently so
One of the much-awaited shows of the race, Europe’s largest inland sailing competition, was Alain Thébault’s Hydroptère, which had trouble getting going, then put on a fine show at high speeds along the shores of Evian before eventually pulling out of the race.
14:30, the race viewed from above Lutry: more than 500 boats joined the Bol d'Or in 2011
Geneva to the other end of the lake and back, a spectacular race with nearly 600 boats
Location: Port Noir, Cologny
Link out: http://www.boldormirabaud.com/en-ch/index.cfm
Start date: 18 Jun 2011
Start time: 10:00
End date: 19 Jun 2011
End time: 17:00
Bol d'Or start 2010 (photo ©2010 Loris von Siebenthal)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – One of the most beautiful sailing races of the year takes place this weekend, with 500 boats and 3,000 sailors rlunning the Bol d’Or from Geneva to the other end of the lake and back.
The race starts Saturday 18 June from the Société Nautique de Genève, with a weather forecast that promises some unpredictable moments, with sunshine, cloudy skies and rain all part of the mix.
The race features real time online mapping, a new feature this year. Another change: the race finishes at 17:00 Sunday, an hour later, to allow more racers to finish.
A repeat of the two giant sailboats facing off in the America's Cup is not on the books
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Alinghi will not participate in the 34th America’s Cup in 2013, the team announced 26 November. The team lost the last race in February 2010 to BMW Oracle. “After a careful evaluation of the protocol and other initiatives taken by the American Defender and its Challenger of Record, Alinghi considers that the existing conditions make it impossible for the team to participate in the 34th America’s Cup,” the Geneva-based team said 26 November in a statement.
“Alinghi remains interested in the America’s Cup and will be closely following its developments in the coming months but for the immediate future it will concentrate its efforts in other world class challenges. The Extreme Sailing Series, a championship raced with 40-feet catamarans that is expanding geographically and commercially in 2011 whilst maintaining a truly level playfield and exciting competition, provides the perfect ground for Alinghi to develop its international sailing activity.”
PlanetSolar shortly after taking off from Monaco 27 September 2010 (photo ©2010 PlanetSolar)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - MS Tûranor PlanetSolar has made it across the Atlantic in 26 days, 19 hours and 10 minutes, one of the founders of the Swiss solar boat project, Raphael Domjan, says. The team is seeking official confirmation that it has set a new world record for a solarboat crossing the Atlantic.
It arrived in the bay of Marigot in the early hours of Thursday 18 November and is anchored off the island of St Maarten, in the Caribbean Sea.
This is the first leg of its attempt to sail around the world using only solar power. The crew began its journey in Monaco 27 September.
Archaeologists in Canada have located a British ship that wrecked during a rescue mission in 1854.
The 19th Century HMS Investigator was found in Mercy Bay.
The rescue mission’s objective was to reach Sir John Franklin, and his entire crew which had perished in the frozen Arctic. However, the Investigator’s ship itself also wrecked and had to be abandoned.
Getting to the ship was difficult because the bottom of the bay is usually covered with ice.
Additional details: CBC
Bol d'Or 2009, waiting in Montreux, for boats to arrive
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – There is no shortage of events for sports fans this weekend, on TV but also live and in the region. The World Cup is on, of course: be sure to read our Geneva Living blog for big screen locations throughout the Lake Geneva region.
Bol d’Or: sails go up for 10:00 race start!
The big local event is the beautiful Bol d’Or sailing competition, with hundreds of boats in different classes doing the Geneva-Lausanne-Geneva loop. The races start at 10:00 Saturday morning, so check the wind or better, yet, check the race’s virtual tracking page to see where the boats are at a given moment, if you want to find a good spot for watching them. The Bol d’Or has a new video (12 minutes) with the history of the race, which began in 1939.
The weather forecast for Geneva: cloudy changing to partly cloud, high of 25C Saturday, slightly warmer Sunday, when the race normally finishes. Reminder: GenevaLunch now has a weather page with five day forecasts.
Tour de Suisse underway in Lugano
The Tour de Suisse cyclists warm up for the mountains by doing a 7.6km loop around the Lugano area Saturday, before starting the first big run Sunday, 167.5km from Ascona in canton Ticino, over the Simplon pass to Sierre, canton Valais. The race is normally covered by TSR but this year it is on at the same time as the World Cup, so if you aren’t on the route, watching it live, you’ll have to content yourself with roundups on TV and TSR coverage online. You can pick up the live ticker on the Tour de Suisse web site.
International sports, sailing
(video) Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) – Fast, but relatively affordable and fair for everyone: this is the new boat class that sailing’s top race, the America’s Cup, is trying to draw up, or at least that is the word coming out of the first designers’ meeting 18 May in Valencia, where the last race was held. BMW Oracle soundly thumped Geneva’s Alinghi, with both teams racing boats whose masts rose to the skies and whose high-tech prices were equally out of sight.
“The World Sailing Teams Association has been asked to help write the rules for the new class. Nonaligned experts will be used to ensure fairness to all teams, which will have the chance to review the new class rule before it is finalized,” reports AP/Mercury News in a long feature on the attempt to move the race beyond its traditional sparring and get it more focused on sailing.
Russell Coutts, a one-time Lake Geneva region man, is the new CEO of the 34th America’s Cup, expected to be held in 2012 or 2013. He said after the meeting that “The teams want a new boat; the fans deserve one too.”
They should know by September 2010, the deadline that’s been set for announcing the new design.
Title: Swiss regatta
Location: Morges
Link out: Click here
Description: Participate or simply watch! Also, check out the free sailing class.
Start Date: 2010-04-24
End Date: 2010-04-25
Car-gazing, sailing on Lake Geneva or skiing this weekend: you choose
We’ll start with some photos, to help the choice
click on images to view larger
Iced-up boat in Versoix near Geneva, 10 March 2010 (photo Peter Brodbeck)
Geneva Motor Show 2010 (image: Mr Kio)
Jura near Geneva, 10 March 2010 (photo: Shirley Curran)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The sun is shining, slopes are gleaming, the ice around the edge of Lake Geneva is melting and the wind has finally died down after a week’s drubbing. Skiing beckons, all the more so with Swiss skier Carlo Janka putting in a spectacular performance in Germany Friday morning, winning the World Cup’s Crystal Globe for the most points all season.
Weather forecast
Pull out your skis, but keep the warm clothes, including that rarity in the Swiss Alps, thermal underwear, handy. Friday and Saturday mostly sunny with highs of 5C on the plain and 7C in canton Valais, -8C at 2,000 metres. Sunday sunny to partly cloudy, temperatures the same.
Good news once you’re off the slopes: it should warm up to 10C Tuesday and 15C Wednesday. Welcome March spring weather!
Alpine resorts
It’s the winding down season, but the slopes are in good shape with recent snow and cold weather keeping it powdery.
Events in Alpine resorts this weekend: Read more…
BMW Oracle, Alinghi, 33rd America's Cup in Valencia 14 February 2010 (photo: ©Carlo Borlinghi / Alinghi)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Alinghi’s president, Ernesto Bertarelli, has taken an upbeat tone about the future, now that the team’s solid defeat at the hands of BMW Oracle in the 33rd America’s Cup sailing race is behind him. He praised the resilience of his team in a statement on the Geneva-based Alinghi’s web site Wednesday 17 February, part of an announcement that the boat and its team will celebrate Alinghi’s 10th birthday in September 2010.
“Alinghi has had a fantastic run in the America’s Cup. We created this team 10 years ago.
Oracle, headed for a clear victory in race 1, America's Cup, 12 February (photo: BMW Oracle)
Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) – The water and wind were fine at last on Friday, after days of waiting for sailing conditions off the coast of Valencia to be right for the America’s Cup race to begin. But once Alinghi and Oracle put their tall sails to work, American Oracle’s trimaran dominated the race and won neatly over the Swiss catamaran, finishing eight and a half minutes ahead.
The “wing”, as Oracle’s rigid mast has become known, put in a stellar performance, as did the boat’s aggressive crewing. Alinghi’s lead at the outset, due to a stalled start on Oracle’s part, faded, and by the top mark at the end of the 20 nautical mile upwind first leg Oracle was 3 minutes 21 seconds ahead. By the end of the race Oracle’s lead had more than doubled. Alinghi was hampered by a penalty turn handed out early in the race. The Swiss boat was expected to regain time in the down wind leg, but, Sail-World reports, “it was obvious that, in the soft conditions, Alinghi was at a disadvantage.”
Alinghi held a steady pace, but that was no match for Oracle’s performance on the second, downwind leg, and Alinghi’s finish was something of a shambles.
Waiting for the race to start, Friday 12 February, in Valencia (photo: BMW Oracle
Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) – The America’s Cup sailing race has finally reached water. The two tall elegant sailboats built using the latest technology are fighting out the first of their two or three races. The race began shortly before 15:00 Friday 12 February after being delayed Monday and Wednesday due to no wind the first day and high seas the second.
The match can be viewed online live on the America’s Cup site or on the TSR web site in French.
Oracle vs Alinghi
© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
BMW Oracle on the water in Valencia 3 February
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – America’s Cup, the top international sailing event, may happen in Valencia after all, it appears, after months of legal battles between Alinghi and the challenger, BMW Oracle, threatened to sink the race. Remaining legal challenges, over such matters as Alinghi unilaterally setting the start time of the race at 10:06 Monday 8 February were put to rest by the International Jury Wednesday 3 February, which said yes, Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) has the right to set the rules.
The five-person jury early Wednesday refused several challenges from BMW Oracle to what the SNG argues are its rights to set the rules. The Geneva-based SNG, home to Alinghi, holds the Deed of Gift, which traditionally gives the bulk of decision-making power to the defending champion.
Alinghi on the water in Valencia, 1 February 2010 (photo: ©2010 George Johns/Alinghi)
One of the BMW Oracle objections concerns dumping substances in the sea while racing. The jury refused the San Francisco-based team’s objections to rules for this, it emphasized that all applicable laws apply during the race.
Weather will ultimately determine if the race begins on time. The weather forecast for Monday and Tuesday: 8-20C, 20 percent chance of rain and winds picking up from 10kph Sunday night to 21-25kph.
Links to other sites: Alinghi, BMW Oracle
Alinghi sailing near Valencia 21 January 2010 (photo: GJ, Alinghi)
Left to right: Ricardo Peralta, Spanish government delegate; Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi team president; Alec Tournier, SNG general secretary; Rita Barberá, the mayor of Valencia and Vicente Rambla, vice-president Valencia regional government (Photo: Alinghi)
New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) – New York Justice Shirley Kornreich told Geneva-based Alinghi and San Francisco sailing team BMW Oracle Friday in a telephone conference call Friday 29 January that she will not rule on the legality of sails used by Alinghi in the America’s Cup sailing race before the scheduled start to the competition.
The America’s Cup, generally considered the most prestigious race in the sailing world, is scheduled to be raced in 10 days in Valencia, Spain.
Kornreich has presided over a series of legal battles that have threatened the race since Alinghi won the last one in July 2007.
Alinghi promptly announced that the race “is free to proceed as ordered by previous New York rulings: in Valencia on the 8, 10 and 12 February.”
Alinghi in November 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Sailing’s biggest race might just happen after all: Alinghi and the Société Nautique de Genève have published the draft Sailing Instructions and Notice of Race for the 33rd American’s Cup. The race opens 8 February in Valencia, Spain. The two published draft documents have been sent to the BMW Oracle team, against whom Alinghi is expected to race. The two have been locking in legal battles for several months over a number of issues, including the size and other details for the boats.
The draft Notice of Race provides details for the boats in section 7.
Draft Sailing Instructions, America’s Cup 2010 and Notice of Race
BMW Oracle left California 15 December for Valencia, Spain
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Alinghi sailing team is preparing to defend its World Cup title in the chilly winter waters of Valencia, Spain in 2010, following a decision Tuesday 15 December by a panel of New York Supreme Court judges to uphold an earlier decision. A judge ruled 30 October against the choice by Société Nautique de Genève’s of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates for the next America’s Cup. The four-judge panel also upheld an earlier decision to exclude rudders from the measurement of the load waterline length of the race yacht.
Alinghi will face BMW Oracle in February 2010 in Valencia. The BMW team, based in San Francisco, left California Tuesday for Valencia, to start preparing for the race.
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Alinghi, BMW Oracle
In search of safer seas (image ©2009 Alinghi/Carlo Borlenghi)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – New York’s Supreme Court has ruled against the Geneva-based Société Nautique de Genève’s (SNG) choice of venue for the America’s Cup 33rd edition. The race was to be held in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, in the the Persian Gulf, in February 2010. The 27 October ruling stipulates that the race must be held in the southern hemisphere between 1 November and 1 May.
“This is a disappointing result as we were certain that Justice Cahn’s May 2008 decision allowed the Defender to choose Valencia or ‘any other location’,” said Lucien Masmejan, Société Nautique de Genève legal counsel.
Sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson is expected to arrive in Sydney Monday afternoon Australia time after fighting winds to 33 knots and heavy swells. Watson says she is determined to make a bid to be the youngest person ever to sail solo around the globe, and her parents are behind her, but one snag could be the fallout from a Maritime Safety Queensland report issued after she collided with a cargo ship 9 September concluded that she may have fallen asleep and that she “had kept ‘irregular latitude and longitude entries’ in her log, had no course plots nor a fatigue management plan” according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Links to other sites: jessicawatson, Watson’s blog at youngestround.blogspot.com, news.com.au
Alinghi 5, warming up to the America's Cup 2010, in Genoa, Italy 17 August 2009 (© 2009 Carlo Borlenghi/Alinghi)
Geneva, Switzerland/New York, USA (GenevaLunch) - The details of the boat BMW will be sailing in the 2010 America’s Cup race do not have to be divulged until two weeks before the race, a judge in New York has said.
The New York Supreme Court announced a verdict 22 September that went against the Société Nautique de Genève, home to the Alinghi team, and holder of the America’s Cup sailing trophy. It rejected Alinghi’s claim to disqualify the Oracle team from the 2010 America’s Cup race because, Alinghi told the court, the Golden Gate Yacht Club, represented by Oracle, had not provided, by the deadline, the required technical details concerning Oracle’s boat. The court agreed with Oracle, which had argued that a boat undergoes constant technical modifications until the moment it begins to compete.
In her ruling, Supreme Court Judge Shirley Kornreich nevertheless scolded the Oracle team for “unsportsmanlike behaviour” which “resulted in substantially reducing SNG’s (Société Nautique de Genève) advantage as originally contemplated by the Deed of Gift.”
BMW Oracle 90 foot trimaran, sea trials in Washington, USA, 13 August 2009. Photographer: Gilles Martan-Raget
Both teams remain committed to begin the race in February 2010.
The judge’s decision comes on the heels publication of a previously confidential agreement between SNG and the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).
New Alinghi craft sailing from Lausanne to Geneva, July 2009 (photo: D Roberts)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Sponsors are lining up again to provide financial backing to Alinghi, after a dry spell that left multimillionaire owner Ernesto Bertarelli on his own paying the bills for the Geneva-based Alinghi team.
Title: Sailing, food and flea market
Location: Morges, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: A day to enjoy sailing, local flavors and do some shopping in Morges.
Date: 06 Sep 2009
Title: Guided pedal boat tour at night
Location: Morges, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: One night of touring the Lake by pedal boats.
For more information: +41 (0) 79 392 18 65.
Start Time: 20:00
Date: 04 Sep 2009
End Time: 24:00
Title: Special cruise from Lausanne to Thonon
Location: Lausanne and Thonon
Link out: Click here
Description: Attend the oldest fair in France and get there by boat. This is the 532 edition of the Thonon fair. CGN offers a cruise from Lausanne to Thonon and back.
Date: 03 Sep 2009
Alinghi 5 flies away, Photo ©Carlo Borlenghi's/Alinghi
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The giant catamaran Alinghi 5 took to the skies and bid farewell to Lake Geneva. A Russian military helicopter Mi26 took the catamaran towards Genoa, Italy where it will continue its training towards the America’s Cup.
Alinghi “flew” along the Rhone River before gaining altitude at the Great Saint Bernard Pass in the border with Italy. The helicopter and sailboat landed safely in Genoa at 14:30.
Vice-commodore Fred Mayer of the SNG, right, at 1 August arrival of Alinghi in Geneva. Alinghi President Ernesto Bertarelli, left and Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey. Image: © 2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi
Ras al-Khaimah, UAE, America's Cup venue 2010
Click on images to view larger
Update 3 10:35 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The next America’s Cup race, the top event in the sailing world, will be held starting 8 February 2010 in Ras al-Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates, the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) announced Wednesday morning 5 August. The SNG has the right to select the next race’s location, as the home club of Alinghi, holder of the America’s Cup.
“Our absolute priorities in making this decision are the prevailing weather conditions and the resulting safety that they bring to both [Ed. note: Alinghi and official challenger BMW Oracle] teams,” explains Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth.
Al Hamra, Ras al-Khaimah, UAE
“We looked everywhere for a venue that suited having good racing for the Match dates in February. We had trained in the UAE in the winter with Alinghi before and in the end we settled on Ras al-Khaimah in particular because of the infrastructure in Al Hamra Village and because it has a great building sea breeze during the day, similar to Mediterranean conditions in the summer, making it good for these boats and safe for all concerned.”
Title: Sailing competitions and more
Location: Rolle, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: Daily regattas, music, exotic food and fun!
Start Date: 03 Aug 2009
End Date: 07 Aug 2009
Alinghi 5 sailing first time, 20 July 2009
Photos, ©Carlo Borlenghi/Alinghi (click on images to view larger)
Le Bouveret, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The long-awaited new Alinghi sailcraft hit the water at the eastern end of Lake Geneva today to much excitement: the weather was glorious, and legal tussles faded into the background as the magnificent-looking boat had its maiden sail. The Swiss America’s Cup Defender, Alinghi 5, was watched by hundreds of spectators as it went out on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, for the first time at noon, Monday 20 July.
The boat is a 90 foot multihull which took 100,000 man-hours to build. It was put on the lake 9 July and its first foray onto the lake today was in a light 5-7 ESE ‘Vauderon’, according to the Swiss weather service, Meteoswiss.
Strategist Murray Jones, who is running the trials on the new boat, said afterwards:
