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IN BRIEF

The radical new America’s Cup class design has just been revealed.

A 75ft monohull with no keel that is it’s claimed will be faster than the foiling cats of the last Cup. The World Sailing Show takes a closer look.

Sometimes an Olympic medal doesn’t get you a head start, especially if you’re embarking on a 7,000mile race offshore. We check in with some of the rookie Volvo Ocean Race crews as they head south to Cape Town.

And on the subject of offshore, we take a look at the two monster trimarans in the double-handed race from France to Brazil that set a blistering pace and smashed the course record.

Meanwhile inshore, a massive turnout for the J70 Worlds Championships in Sardinia started with controversy and ended with spectacular racing in one of the biggest one design sportsboat fleets ever seen.

We also take a trip to China to report on an impressive regatta that also played host to a distinguished guest, plus....

  • Volvo Ocean Race Leg 1 & 2
  • Rolex World Sailor of the Year
  • J70 Worlds
  • Transat Jacques Vabre
  • New America’s Cup Class revealed
  • China Cup


 
FEATURES

Volvo Ocean Race Leg 1 & 2 – The baptism of fire
There can be few occasions in sailing when an Olympic medal doesn’t get you a head start, but as crews set off on the 7,000mile leg from Lisbon to Cape Town it was a baptism of fire for many of the new wave of young Olympic and World champions as they headed into the unknown. We asked some them how they were feeling before they set off and caught up with them later mid Atlantic.

Rolex World Sailor of the Year
The most prestigious awards for individual sailors were announced, but when it came to accepting the trophies, while one was on stage in Mexico, the other was thousands of miles offshore. So who were they?

J70 Worlds – Massive turn out, superb racing
As the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup fleet left Porto Cervo, Sardinia after their spectacular event a record breaking fleet of small, high performance sportsboats arrived as the J70’s came into town.
For the 175 entrants, this was the big one, the World Championships and the stakes were high from the start
The event kicked off with controversy before the weather kicked in and caused delays. But when racing did get under way it was spectacular.

Transat Jacques Vabre – The 4,000+ mile match race
For northern hemisphere sailors, November is not the time to be heading offshore.
But, for the 39 teams that had entered the biennial Transat Jacques Vabre, the prospect of a battering from the weather as they exited the English Channel on their way south to Brazil was just one of the hurdles that the double handed crews had to face.
Among a fleet that included some of the world’s most advanced offshore machines sailed by the world’s top crews, there were two monster multihulls that stood out, Sodebo and Gitana 17. Theirs was to be a 4,000+ mile match race that would smash records in the process.

New America’s Cup class design is revealed – Wild, whacky and powerful
She’s a monohull, but not as we know it. At 7ft long and with no keel and a claimed performance that will be as fast if not faster than the foiling cats of the last Cup, it is clear that the design for the new America’s Cup boat is radical. Little surprise then that the early details have raised eyebrows around the world.

 

China Cup
In 2005 a group of ambitious but inexperienced Chinese sailors bought a boat on the west coast of France and sailed it home to China. Eager to share their newfound passion and develop the sport at home, they created The China Cup. Today, the event attracts over 250 boats and this year played host to a very special guest, the America’s Cup.

World Sailing Show