America's Cup update, ETNZ race Luna Rossa informally in their AC72's

Emirates Team New Zealand have released a new video of the ETNZ AC72 sailing against the Luna Rossa AC72 in the Hauraki Gulf.

G class multihulls, Photo gallery and video of the new Prince de Bretagne maxi in action

The Prince de Bretagne team have released a new gallery of photos by Marcel Mochet and a video of the new G Class multihull, Prince de Bretagne maxi in action.  The focus of this boat is the 2014 Route du Rhum where it will be sailed solo by Lionel Lemanchois but in the interim it will compete in the upcoming Armen Race, Route du Princes, Fastnet Race etc.

The gallery of photos is here

Extreme Sailing Series update, The Wave Muscat come out on top in Act 1, Oman

From the following article on the Extreme Sailing Series website:

http://www.extremesailingseries.com/news/view/red-bull-sailing-team-lose-act-1-by-the-smallest-of-margins-as-the-wave-mus

- Even Leigh McMillan admitted he didn’t think he could pull this one off going in to final day, but picks up where he left off in 2012, at the top of the leaderboard
- Disappointment for Red Bull Sailing Team, missing out on their first ever Act win in the final seconds of the final race, after leading for much of the time
- Alinghi secures first podium position since 2011
- New teams and sailors freshen up the fleet and show moments of brilliance – a sign of things to come in what is shaping up to be the closest Series to date

It may not have been high speed racing on the final day of the Extreme Sailing Series opening Act in Muscat, Oman, today but it was as tense as it gets, and in classic Extreme Sailing Series style, it came down to the final race for the winner to be decided. Defending champion Leigh McMillan and his team on The Wave, Muscat sailed a picture perfect day coming back from a 15 point deficit to Red Bull Sailing Team to claim overall victory, in the closest possible finish on their home turf.

read more here

and the leaderboard of the first act

Interview with Peter Aschenbrenner owner/skipper of racer/cruiser trimaran Paradox

From the following article on Sailing Anarchy

http://sailinganarchy.com/2013/03/07/touching-the-void/

Peter Aschenbrenner’s ballistic Nigel Irens designed trimaran Paradox scorched around the RORC 600 track in just over 40 hours, barely missing the overall record while taking line honours and the multihull class win. Paradox’s design is derived from the ORMA 60 class, but with two tons of accommodation and a significantly smaller rig. We profiled the boat with designer Irens when it first landed in the Caribbean, but here’s our first digital sit-down with scary-smart owner Peter Aschenbrenner.

read more here

AC Discovered Edition 79, AC History with Gary Jobson

This edition of AC Discovered looks back at the modern history of the Cup from the 12 metres onwards.  Also of interest to multihull enthusiasts is the video of the Star and Stripes wingmasted catamaran which easily defeated the NZ 90' monohull challenger.

New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club, boat show March 17, 2013

The New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club are running their annual boat show.  It will be held at Karanga Plaza, The landing the landing at Wynyard Quarter between 9am-4pm.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0BENFBPKBKAVmlrbExvbTU4dTA/edit?usp=sharing

Boats on display include

Weta Trimaran
A Class
8.5, Dirty Deeds, Meltdown, Cubic F82R
Open CLass, XL (Extreme 40), Timberwolf, This Way Up, Pulse, Foiled, Ninja,Little Wing
plus: boats for sale

Multihull designers present,

Derek Kelsall
Tim Clissold
Peter Melvin from Morrelli and Melvin
Roger Hill

Extreme Sailing Series Update, excellent sailing conditions for day one

From the following article on the Extreme Sailing Series website:

http://www.extremesailingseries.com/news/view/extreme-40s-have-their-hands-full-on-2013-series-opener#.UTZV_Rnr-48

Champagne sailing conditions kick-started a glamour first day for the 2013 Extreme Sailing Series at The Wave, Muscat, Oman today in a baptism of fire for the new teams who thrived on the Extreme 40 race course. After scoring first blood in the first race, Leigh McMillan and his crew on The Wave, Muscat start the 2013 Series where they left off in 2012 at the top of the leaderboard, but with new and existing teams stepping up to mark, the competition it set to be one of the closest and unpredictable in the history of the Series.

Sailing conditions were perfect; a building sea breeze that hit 17 knots for the final two races, and the open-water format with long downwind legs allowed the Extreme 40s to really stretch their legs meaning plenty of bow-down, hull flying and water-spraying action.

Roman Hagara and his men on the energy-fueled Red Bull Sailing Team certainly seemed to have wings today, scoring two bullets and getting their 2013 campaign off to a flying start, finishing the day just one point shy of The Wave, Muscat. Hagara, who in this morning’s press conference to the Omani national and international media made it clear this year nothing but the podium would suffice, said: “It was perfect today, I mean we had good conditions, we had good boat handling and the team were doing a really good job on the course. I will be taking it day by day now, the hardest thing will be staying in the top, I think tomorrow it will change because we’re inside and it’s a completely different game, but still we always try to be on the top.”

read more here

Extreme Sailing Series Act 1 of the 2013 series Muscat, Oman

The Extreme Sailing Series has kicked off the first "Act" of the 2013 season in Muscat, Oman.  For those not familiar with the events they are contested in a one design 40' racing catamaran and sailed in the stadium type format which is close to the shore on a very tight course.  The races are short, sharp and tactically challenging not to mention hard work for the teams involved.  The videos will become live as the days unfold.

Marlay Point Overnight Race on March 9, 2013

The Lake Wellington Yacht Club is once again running the Marlay Point Overnight Race in 2013 and once again there is a multihull division available.  You can find all of the Race documents here:

http://lakewellingtonyachtclub.org/marlay-point-overnight-yacht-race/entry-information

There should be just enough time for you to enter if you own a trailer multi that fits within the rules specified in the Notice of Race.

RORC Caribbean 600, final results for multihull division

The Nigel Iren's designed trimaran Paradox sailed by owner/skipper Peter Aschenbrenner and crew won line and handicap in the recent RORC Caribbean 600 and came within 15 minutes of eclipsing the race record set by the ORMA 60 trimaran 'Region Guadeloupe'.  Here are the official results from the RORC Caribbean 600 website.

http://www.rorc.org/raceresults/2013/rc600-multihull01.html

Points

Factored Points

Sail No

Boat

Owner

Finish Time

Elapsed

Handicap

Corrected

Finishing Place

Comments

Points

Factored Points

90

126

CAY1

Paradox

Peter Aschenbrenner

20 Feb - 03:22:52

1 - 16:22:52

1.555

2 - 14:47:33

1

90

126

84

117.6

399BC

Phaedo

Lloyd Thornburg

20 Feb - 13:31:09

2 - 02:31:09

1.259

2 - 15:36:13

2

84

117.6

10

10

6606

Slim

Travis McGarry

1.225

DNF-Did Not Finish

10

10

America's Cup update, Grant Dalton blogs entry on the current AC landscape

From the Emirates Team New Zealand blog by Grant Dalton:

http://etnzblog.com/#!2013/03/changes-in-the-sailing-landscape

Grant Dalton blogs on the happenings of the past few weeks ….

I hadn’t written anything for a while but the PR Department says the changing landscape of everything, “it’s about time you wrote a blog”. So here I am writing a blog on a Saturday afternoon as the shore crew works away changing, maintaining, optimising as they always do.

A lot has happened over the last few weeks in this run up to America’s Cup although to many observers it may tend to look like business as usual.

Well it is to a degree, I guess, but firstly Oracle has re-emerged and Artemis has gone back to the shed. The landscape changed for us on those couple of days that Oracle and Artemis trained together.

We got an answer to the questions: Is foiling correct? Is the trade off worth it? We always thought we were right but could never be sure. Even if the answer is still not totally clear, all teams are headed in the foiling direction so that helps us put that one to bed.

read more here

Trispirit update to cruising/racing trimaran blog

Jason(Trispirit) has updated his excellent blog chronicling his adventures cruising and racing the 46' trimarain "Spirit" this entry covers the delivery from Fiji(Port Denarau) to Australia(Brisbane).

http://trimaranspirit.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/fiji-australia.html

Southport Yacht Club hosts 2013 XXXX Sail Paradise Regatta

Southport Yacht Club is once again hosting the excellent XXXX sponsored Sail Paradise Regatta. 

From the following Sail-World article submitted by Bronwen Ince

http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/XXXX-Sail-Paradise,-host-to-Queenslands-Season-of-Sailing-2013/107022

For the second year running XXXX Sail Paradise, Gold Coast will be the first event in the Queensland's Season of Sailing campaign. Queensland’s Season of Sailing campaign aims to raise the perception that ‘Queensland is Australia’s premier sailing destination’. Part of this goal is to broaden the awareness and exposure of sailing events and experiences in the state by promoting a series of major race events along the Queensland coast under one sailing banner. 

With only three weeks until the launch of XXXX Sail Paradise, Southport Yacht Club have been busy preparing for the expected 50 plus vessels to the event. 

Three courses will be raced during the regatta, with the IRC Division 1 and 2 sailing windward/Leeward, Performance Racing sailing passage races down the Gold Coast, Coastline and the smaller fleet of Blazers, Off-The-Beach Catamarans and Etchells sailing Windward/Leeward courses. 

read more here

Notice of Race is here

America's Cup Update, Video of recent America's Cup highlights

A slick video from americascup.com showing Oracle and Artemis Team going head to head in San Francisco Bay and the Red Bull Youth America's Cup teams racing in their selection trials.

From the following article on americascup.com

http://www.americascup.com/en/news/3/news/12791/a-fine-february-in-san-francisco

With the summer of racing just around the corner, activity on San Francisco Bay was heating up in February.

Artemis Racing and ORACLE TEAM USA were out testing their AC72s, individually at first, and then lining-up against each other for the first time.

read more here

and the video from the story below:

Team Lalou, new Multi50 trimaran under construction

Lalou Roucayrol and Team Lalou are approaching completion of their new Multi 50.  I noticed this video on their facebook page.  They are using infusion for the construction.  Multi 50's only allow carbon fibre reinforcement in certain areas so the bulk of the boat is glass/foam sandwich construction.