Latest News

Hugh Styles forms new company TIME ON THE WATER

posted 19 days ago

Hugh Styles joins forces with David Lush to create TIME ON THE WATER a company focussing on providing bespoke marine consultancy services.

Time On The Water offers a one stop location for all things sailing from consultancy to insurance, clothing to race training. For a comprehensive list of our services, please see below – or why not get in touch with us.

Coaching: Programmes for Developing Nations, National Teams, Clubs and Classes.
Boat Tuning: Sail and Layout design and Consultancy, with North Sails.
Team logistics and Laser charter, Corporate SB3 Events with Pelican
Boat & Kit Branding with Rule 26, Sponsorship and Campaign advice,
Design and Management.
Individual ‘Improve Your Sailing’ Programmes with designed outcomes and recommendation
and advice feedback.
Consultancy on Sail Boat Racing for Clubs, Classes, Organizations, Teams and Nations.
‘Safety Guru’ marine Leisure Risk Assessment tools and other coaching tools.
Education short course design and provision for Coaches and Instructors, Qualification
mapping and framework creation, with ISAF
Advice on Race Management, Race Organisation.
Crew: Structure, Advice and Team Building,
Team Kit advice; Design and Supply with Magic Marine, Gill & Musto.
Introduction to Keel Boat Sailing Programmes, with Laser SB3 and Laser Performance,
Elan 44’s, weekend induction courses to ‘Big Boat sailing’.
Specialist Advice and Management, for Youth Sailing.
Advice and Consultancy on Software and New Media use in the sailing world, such as DVD,
Internet and applications.
Educational Consultancy for sailing training and coaching with specific reference to
Assessment and Outcome consistency
Leisure Marine industry seminars with Marine Resources.

NACRA F20 Carbon takes the limelight at RYA Dinghy Show

posted 6 months ago

NACRA F20 Carbon takes the limelight at RYA Dinghy Show

The NACRA UK stand at the RYA Dinghy show was a very busy place this weekend with a great deal of interest in the new F20 Carbon from NACRA. This catamaran incorporates several new concepts, but the main one being that it sports curved dagger boards, which will create lift, help reduce the wetted surface area of the boat in the water, and turning this powerful carbon (hulls, mast, foils, and sails) catamaran into what is almost a flying machine.

The boat has been designed by the Morelli and Melvin team which helped to design the massively fast and powerful BMW Oracle Americas Cup winning trimaran which defeated the Alinghi catamaran so effectively in the beginning of February in Valencia Spain this year. This design team has been behind many cutting edge catamaran projects and are also the draughtsmen of the twice world championship wining NACRA F18 Infusion.

This weekend the RYA Dinghy Show Alexandra Palace London, was the first occasion that the brand new NACRA F20 Carbon was exhibited to the UK sailing population and it was a resounding success, the stand was hectic all weekend, with both catamaran and non catamaran sailors enquiring about the remarkable machine. This first boat was officially handed over to its proud owner Nick Elmore of Thorpe By yacht club in Essex. Nick could only just about contain himself, commenting “The NACRA F20 Carbon epitomises everything catamaran sailing is all about for me, an awesomely powerful boat which damn near flies! I am looking forward to doing a horizon job on the rest of the fleet when we race with this beast, and in the mean time we will have a great time learning how to tame her!”

The NACRA UK team had a great show with a huge amount of interest not only in the NACRA F20 Carbon but also in the successful F18 Infusion (back to back F18 World Championship winning boat). There was a great deal of interest in new boats for the 2010 season which is fast approaching and there are now hardly any second hand Infusions left on the market. The NACRA 500 is also proving popular with families, which want a good all round powerful smaller catamaran which is good for Dad to sail single handed, with the family and just 2 sails or race with the wife or one of the kids in club races, with the spinnaker system. One of the other favourites of the NACRA range is the Playcat, always a winner for blasting up and down at the beach, its such easy sailing with one sail and an unbelievably tough rotor moulded catamaran hull, that gives speed and easy access to the water.

Looking to the sailing season the first race of the F18 catamaran racing calendar kicks off in 2 weekends at Datchet, followed swiftly after that on the Easter weekend at the Weston Grand Slam, which is open to all catamarans, however big or small. Make that a date in your diary to come and see the NACRA F20 Carbon demonstrate its awesome performance at its first regatta of the season, we look forward to seeing you there!

If you would like any information about any of the products mentioned in this email or want an occasion to come for a sail on one of the NACRA range of catamarans, please do not hesitate to contact, Hugh, Grant Piggott or Carl Jones on the details below.

Key West Melges 24 with Team Kleine Rainbow

posted 7 months ago

Key West 2010 and the Kleine Rainbow Team comes back together

It was 2 years ago in Key West when the Kleine Rainbow team were last sailing together, this year was a vintage race week for the variety of weather conditions, and a good quality fleet arrived for the Melges 24 to contest the title. The Kleine Rainbow team this year was the same, with Bent Dietrich owner and helmsman, Hugh Styles mainsheet and tactician, Paul Williams downwind trimmer, Jerry Epplett upwind trimmer, and Susan Veal Bow.

It is always takes a little while to get into Key West regatta,as it’s just after Xmas and everyone is still recovering from the festivities of the new year. This was compounded for team Kleine Rainbow as the owner had not sailed at all since the last Key West regatta we raced in 2008, so steering the boat again was a bit tricky for the first few days.

The competition was close in the first 3 days of racing with 7 to 12 knots of wind speed and a shifty wind blowing from the North East along the Key West coast line. The Kleine Rainbow team had mixed fortunes with a couple of results in the top 5 the most notable. The top three teams in the regatta were UKA UKA racing team from ITA followed by BLUE MOON ITA and then the WTF USA team.

Thursday dawned windier from the south to south west with a big swell and at last some fabulous surfing conditions and at last a chance to get the boat flying downwind. The Kleine Rainbow team enjoyed the conditions but a little rusty in this sort of breeze, we had two solid results of two tenth place finishes and this put the team in 10th overall going into the last day. The leaders were still the UKA UKA racing team with close behind the BLUE MOON in second and third WTF.

The last day Friday dawned a hot and sunny affair with the wind in the south south east and a left over swell to contend with from the previous day, very tricky conditions to keep the boat going in! We sailed the best and most consistent of our week’s regatta and finished with an 8th and 7th, which leap frogged us up the overall standings by a place into 9th overall. It was nice to finish off the regatta well, it has been good to help the owner (who for the past two years has been business focussed) regain the form he has showed in previous regattas.

NExt off to Oman for racing the Extreme 40 catamaran Sin Yi Dai for the last event of the Asian Extreme Sailing Series

2nd in Class for Evolution in Rolex Sydney to Hobart

posted 8 months ago

This was my second Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht race, 628 nautical miles of what can be some of the harshest yacht racing conditions in the world. But this year this was anything but the case with a variety of conditions, but nothing too testing, the race, had a little of everything, but most of what my memory recalls was flat calm conditions, waiting for the wind, this is evidenced in the fact that the average speed for the winning boat was 6 knots.

The race began on a rainy Boxing day morning with the wind from the South West, and a down wind start and a stampede for the first turning mark in the middle of the Sydney Harbour entrance. Then with the wind in the South the fleet swiftly exited the Harbour and set off on a starboard tack beat into the South East. The route most of the boats elected to take was to get South as fast as possible whilst avoiding an area of no wind which was scheduled to be on the route to Hobart off the New South Wales coast during the early hours of the first night. We managed to avoid too much of this until day break on the 27th when somewhere off Eden we were enveloped in the light winds.

At this stage the big maxis had about 50 or so miles on us and we conversely were doing really well on handicap, with several boats much larger than ourselves. But the wind stayed light too long for our boat the good ship Evolution (which would have been much happier with wind at 25 knots on a reach all the way to Hobart) and the Shogun TP52 managed to get some leverage and distance on us as the wind went round to the East.

As we approached the end of Australia on the evening of the 27th we were trying to sail to the west of the rumb line to be able to hook into the forecast Westerly expected to blow through Bass straight as we got half way across. We maintained our position in the overall standings and fought some close battles with the likes of Raptor a 60 foot swan and the TP52 named Ragamuffin. The Westerly came but not for long enough and although we gained time on the big maxis it wasn’t enough to get us into the lead. As we closed eyes for the evening of the 28th we were in line with the top of Tasmania and still plenty to play for.

The 29 dawned our last day and another light wind patch and a park up much to our dismay, but the good news was that the wind was due to go to the south and blow to over 30 knots, thanks god. All morning the wind pulsed in and then died away and it wasn’t until about 3pm that the wind really started to come in and that it did. The wind increased rapidly and we were pulling sails up and down like a yoyo! I remember being in my bunk off watch with the water crashing over the deck and the wind howling in the rigging wondering what was going to happen next.

The breeze reached a hiatus around 4pm and then started to peter away slowly, but by then we were within sight of the Tasman Rock and it felt like we were nearly there, but this is still 40 miles from the finish in Hobart and still a lot of sailing to do. Fortunately for us it was a reach and run all the way to the finish from Tasman rock and finally a windy power reach at that, finally the boat took off and with the whole crew hiking off the back corner and the canting keel fully extended we stretched our legs and pushed on for the line.

It was 2230 when we finally crossed the line 12 position on the water, 2nd in class Zero under IRC rating and 17th in the Tattersall’s Cup for the overall Handicap placing.

Now back to Sydney for a break until going off to Key West in the mid to end of January and then onto Oman in the start of Feb for the next edition of the Extreme 40 Asian sailing series. Happy new year to all of my sponsors and thanks again for the support over 2009 and prior to that.

Sponsors: Gill, Holt, Marlow Ropes, NACRA Watersports, Tacktick, Towergate Mardon Insurance

Hugh Styles racing Evolution Cookson 50 for the Sydney Hobart

posted 8 months ago

Evolution prepares for the Sydney to Hobart

Saturday and Sunday of this weekend saw me racing as part of the Evolution sailing team in the Rolex Rating regatta involving a few offshore coastal races. I have been brought into the team as a driver and strategist for the Hobart and will be starting helmsman for the great race when it starts on Saturday from Sydney Harbour.

This weekend we put the Cookson 50 through her paces running through all of the safety checks and sail changes, then we lined up against our main opposition who were also preparing for the Sydney to Hobart. This was the first occasion for me sailing a Cookson 50, which has a canting keel, amazingly powerful especially on a reach when the wind is strong.

The Saturday and Sunday races were between 20 and 30 nautical miles off the Sydney coast, with variable winds which made for a tricky tactical calls on Sunday as the first leg was an upwind mark to the East. The bigger boats got away to start with once all had passed the Harbour entrance, but then we reeled them back in as the light and fickle winds changed over the next 2 hours. In the end a long downwind run back into the harbour worked out well for us and we came in fast catching the pack of boats in front of us just at the finish.

The Evolution team raced well and hard in the Rolex Rating series, but the light and fickle winds were not to the boats liking really, but with the forecast for the race this coming Saturday the prospects are good for the Evolution team, with windy forecast with plenty of reaching involved the sailing world should be watching as this team put their bid into the mix for the overall handicap win of the race and the right for the Tattersall’s cup.

The Rolex Sydney to Hobart starts at 1300 on Saturday the 26 December, the web site to follow the racing on is:http://rolexsydneyhobart.com, there you will be able to find a tracker to watch the proceedings. All the best to everyone for Xmas and the new year, thanks to all the sponsors and supporters of my racing I will be keeping everyone posted on how the Evolution sailing team gets on.

Hugh Styles to steer in Asian Extreme Sailing Series 2009/10

posted 10 months ago

Sailing an extreme 40 is an awe inspiring experience, whether steering one of these beasts whilst exhibition sailing or as 5th man onboard in a race of the Asian Extreme 40 Sailing Series. It is one experience never to be forgotten and a money cant buy chance to race at the sharp end of the most competitive fleet in sail boat racing in this day and age.

Hugh Styles is a skipper for the series this winter and can offer charter opportunities, for corporate sailing with VIP guests through to racing opportunities involved in a team at an event, for example in Hong Kong for the round the island race in the end of November.

If you would like to know more about the sponsorship packages please contact Hugh Styles Ltd on the web site, or by Phone.

Double Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson to skipper Team iShares

posted about 1 year ago

Robertson, one of Britain’s all-time greatest female Olympic sailors, returns to the helm of an Extreme 40 having also competed in last year’s series. She will be joined by former British Olympic Tornado sailor Hugh Styles, with the remaining two crew members still to be named.

Having won back to back gold medals at the Sydney Games in 2000 (in the Europe dinghy) and Athens in 2004 (in the Yngling keelboat), Robertson now combines her busy sailing schedule with life as mother of twins and work as a TV presenter for the BBC and CNN.

Shirley Robertson
© onEdition

The Scot was named female sailor of the year by the International Sailing Federation in 2000 and was awarded an MBE for her services to British Sailing in 2001 and an OBE in 2004. Robertson has played a major role in bringing the Olympics to London in 2012 as a key ambassador and athlete delegate in Singapore and as a member of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) Sport Advisory Group.

“We are delighted to have a sailor of Shirley’s calibre skipper Team iShares this year and look forward to supporting her and her team throughout Europe in what promises to be the most exciting iShares Cup to date,” said Rick Andrews, Head of iShares Marketing Europe.

Robertson is eagerly anticipating the start of the season too, which kicks off with a launch event in Paris on the 5th of May. “Skippering an Extreme 40 is definitely the most fun I’ve ever had in sailing,” she says. “Last year we had some good results with a win at the opening event in Lugano and this year I’m back with a new team – Team iShares – and am really looking forward to the start of the season and getting back out on the water and competing.”

Hugh Styles
© Vincent Curutchet/DPPI

The iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series is a six-event European sailing circuit featuring the world’s best Olympic, round the world, America’s cup and solo sailors who go head-to-head in crash and burn racing close to the shore, in some of Europe’s most stunning locations.

The 2009 venues for the iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series are:

Event 1 – Venice, Italy, 15th to 17th May
Event 2 – France, 3rd to 5th July
Event 3 – United Kingdom, 1st to 3rd August
Event 4 – Kiel, Germany, 28th to 30th August
Event 5 – The Netherlands, 25th to 27th September
Event 6 – Almería, Spain, 10th to 12th October

iShares Extreme 40
© Steven Tee/LAT

Follow all the action from the iShares Cup atwww.iSharesCup.com

Andalucía to host the sixth and final round of the 2009 iShares Cup as part of a 5-year deal

posted about 1 year ago

Mark Turner, CEO OC Events, speaking at the iShares Cup Almería announcement
© Junta de Andalucia

The iShares Cup Almería official announcement took place in the Port of Almería on Friday, 6th March where OC Events CEO Mark Turner, together with Luciano Alonso, Minister of Tourism, Trade and Sports of the Andalusian government, spoke in front of an audience of 200 people, representing media and VIP guests. According to Luciano Alonso, this event is “very attractive” since it will be the first time an iShares Cup Extreme 40 event will take place in the Andalucia region, but also in Spain, and “will position Almeria as an international reference on the world map of sailing”.

The iShares Cup finale will take place right in the heart of the port in Almería, the most Eastern city in Andalucía, and will be a key focus in the sporting calendar for the Government of Andalucía who have agreed a five-year deal with OC Events to host a round of the iShares Cup. This is part of the Andalucian government’s long-term strategy to host major sporting events in their region. Large crowds are expected to descend on the port of Almeria as 12 October is a national holiday in Spain. OC Events is working closely with the City to finalise details not only for the spectacular racing, but also creating an inclusive public entertainment package for the general public.

Port of Almeria
© Autoridad Portuaria de Almería

The iShares Cup races are all between 12 and 20 minutes long on tight race courses that are designed to give the best possible viewing opportunities to the general public as well as providing challenging and testing conditions for the top skippers and crews taking part.

“This is a really great development for the Series,” said Gilles Chiorri, OC Events Director. “The iShares Cup provides something for everyone. World-class competitive racing for the top sailors, an excellent VIP hospitality package for sponsors and their guests, as well as fantastic public entertainment, both on and off the water. This will be the first time we have organised an iShares Cup event in Spain, so we are delighted to have managed to add yet another country to this growing circuit,” he concluded.

Rick Andrews, Head of iShares Marketing, Europe commented, It’s fantastic to see the iShares Cup expanding so quickly and great news for the event. In 2007 we had four stops on the circuit, increasing to five in 2008 and with today’s announcement of Andalucia as the venue for the final event of the season, 2009 will see this unique sailing event showcased in six European markets"

The 2009 Series will open in Venice, Italy (another new location for 2009), before heading to France, then to the United Kingdom, before returning to Kiel in North Germany where crowds of over 80,000 watched the action last year, before the penultimate event in the Netherlands.

Hugh Styles, iShares Extreme 40
© Sabine Albers / OC Events

The iShares Cup will roll into Almería on Monday 5 October when the teams will start to construct their boats and the VIP and media facilities are built on the banks of the waterway. The boats are highly portable, packed into a 40 foot container, and can be transported anywhere in the world and built in less than a day.

The iShares Cup has been recognised as delivering a very high return on investment when it won the European Sponsorship Award’s Best Business to Business Sponsorship and the judges commented that the iShares Cup was, “a sponsorship that had everything – clear objectives, well-managed execution, good attendance by the target audience, and excellent evaluation. This was truly international, and was an excellent choice of event in that it clearly achieved everything that iShares had aimed for. and more.” It has also been shortlisted in the Sports Industry Association’s Best Sponsorship of a Sports Event or Competition.

Racing close to the shore in front of huge crowds at Kiel, Germany
© Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/OC Events

The iShares Cup has been watched around the World thanks to a six-part TV series produced by host broadcasters Sunset&Vine|APP. The programming is distributed internationally to over 220 million homes as well as in-flight with ten airlines and featured in the world’s most watched sports magazine show, Gillette World of Sport five times in 2008.

In addition, independent agency Sports Marketing Surveys, evaluated the media coverage for last year’s iShares Cup in excess of 5 million euros in the five European territories (UK, France, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Germany) with 9hours 30minutes of broadcast news distribution alone.

The 2009 iShares Cup will visit:

Event 1 – Venice, Italy, 15th to 17th May
Event 2 – France, 3rd to 5th July
Event 3 – United Kingdom, 1st to 3rd August
Event 4 – Kiel, Germany, 28th to 30th August
Event 5 – The Netherlands, 25th to 27th September
Event 6 – Almería, Andalucía, 10th to 12th October

The remaining venues in France, the UK and The Netherlands will be announced in the coming weeks. Teams for 2009 will be confirmed following their official entry as per the Notice of Race.

Excitement builds around 2009 edition of the award-winning iShares Cup

posted about 1 year ago

In detail:

The 2009 iShares Cup is gearing up to be another sensational season of racing and entertainment. A new phenomenon in sailing, providing grandstand viewing in the heart of Europe’s leading venues, the iShares Cup is fast and furious racing on Extreme 40 multihulls that push the sailors to the limit – and beyond. The iShares Cup has over the last two years become sailing’s hottest property.

In 2008 five first-class regattas were held just meters from the shore – millions watched on TV and thousands watched at the events including an unprecedented 80,000 spectators in Kiel alone: “It’s really the only circuit that is really high-level, international, multihull circuit that goes round to different places,” James Spithill, America’s Cup Challenger, BMW ORACLE.

© Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/OC Events

Last November the iShares Cup won the ESA European Sponsorship Business to Business Award against some strong competition, sealing what had already been an outstanding 2008 season – now the 2009 iShares Cup looks set to extend its appeal.

Teams…

Twenty-two pro teams have registered their desire to enter with the iShares Cup organisers, OC Events: “The enthusiasm for the iShares Cup is just growing and growing across Europe and around the world,” said Gilles Chiorri, OC Events Director. “The sailors love it because the racing is high-level and intense, the public love it because they can get really close to the action and for sponsors it offers a sensible value-for-money budget. It’s perfect for the current ‘difficult’ economic environment with a high return in both B2B and B2C terms, with the costs spread across multiple markets.”

© Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/OC Events

There will be at least two new French teams – Groupama skipper Franck Cammas has already announced his team’s participation and skipper Erik Maris, who competed at the iShares Cup Hyères event in 2008 racing TWINS, is planning to step-up to a full season of racing in 2009 under a new boat name ‘Luna’. Plus two other potential French teams are lining up – one headed up by Yvan Bourgnon and another from a leading existing French sailing campaign.

2008 teams set to return are iShares (International), BT (International), Holmatro (NED) and the Oman Sail Team are expected to enter not one but two Extreme 40s for 2009. BMW ORACLE RACING is also considering entry in a full iShares Cup season following their participation at the Cowes event last year.

© OnEdition/OC Events

OC Events plan to issue the Notice of Race for 2009 and 2010 by the end of January so the teams can then officially enter the circuit – with entry numbers limited.

Venues…

“We will be staging five events, and possibly a sixth, across Europe for the 2009 iShares Cup,” said Chiorri. “Returning to the key territories of the UK, Germany, France, Italy and The Netherlands. We also expect some of the teams who have the flexibility and budget to participate in other Extreme 40 exhibition and invitational events in other countries, such as, Switzerland where we plan to return in the iShares Cup 2010.”

© Vincent Curutchet/DPPI/OC Events

The ideal iShares Cup venue is one that can offer easy accessibility for VIPs and international media, in other words a major European city with shore-side spectator capabilities where the boats can race very, very close to shore coupled with good facilities for the teams.

“Over the last two years we have been able to show that the iShares Cup can attract big crowds plus VIP and media attendance, and leave a significant positive economic impact on the host venue. If you add in the OC Events organisation and the teams, the iShares Cup effectively brings 600 people on location, before you add in the thousands of spectators, and that starts to generate serious income. We’ve had excellent interest from many new cities and regions and after an intensive bidding process. All but one of the venues have now been decided, the first of which we will announce next week along with the 2009 iShares Cup calendar,” concluded Chiorri.

© Vincent Curutchet/DPPI/OC Events

For more information about the iShares Cup,http://www.iSharesCup.com

Inaugural Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge proves a huge success for iShares Cup teams

posted about 1 year ago

iShares and Oman Sail racing for Round 2 of the Arabic Extreme 40 Challenge in Muscat
© Mark Lloyd / Oman Sail

In detail
The inaugural Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge has been voted a huge success, with four teams – including a host of crew members from this year’s iShares Cup series – taking part in the first ever Extreme 40 event in the region.

The first Act took place in Dubai from 27-29 November, racing under the spectacular skyscrapers off the Mina Seyahi. Oman Sail, who had been sailing together consistently throughout the 2008 iShares Cup season to finish a respectable fourth in the European Series, won the first round convincingly, helmed by Chris Draper. They took a lead of 15 points over second placed iShares, skippered by Hugh Styles. Third was Oman Air, skippered by Shirley Robertson, with Team Aqua – another iShares Cup team with French multihull specialist Karine Fauconnier taking the tiller – in fourth.

Karine Fauconnier, skipper of the Dubai-owned team, enjoyed her first experience of close-quarters Extreme 40 racing at their home venue: “The Extreme 40s are so much fun to race and my crew were fantastic. We’ve had great conditions, perfect for what we are doing here and with such a narrow race area it means there is plenty of action on the racecourse which provides a great spectacle for the public.”

iShares racing off Dubai for the first round of the Arabic Extreme 40 Series
© Mark Lloyd / Oman Sail

The Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge then moved on to Muscat, Oman for Act 2, racing for the Oman Air trophy from 2-4 December near Port Sultan al Qaboos and the Al Bustan Palace. With royalty, dignitaries, VIPs and members of the international media watching from nearby dhows, the carbon-fibre multihulls enjoyed ultra-close racing on a variety of courses in testing conditions.

Race Director Gilles Chiorri said, “These are the world’s best sailors and they are being particularly tested with the tactical decisions they have to make on the race course. Shirley Robertson [skipper of Oman Air] in particular has made some great strategic calls which saw her keep well in the game.”

Joining each Extreme 40 were two Omani core crew members from Oman Sail, taking the opportunity to learn from the best with Olympic gold medalists, America’s Cup winners and round the world sailors all in the fleet. “It’s hard for these guys, really tough, but they work fantastically well as part of the team,” said iShares skipper Hugh Styles, for whom Oman is the ninth country he has raced the iShares Extreme 40 in, following the five-event iShares Cup circuit and a host of exciting corporate sailing opportunities. “Racing on an Extreme 40 as part of the crew, without much sailing experience, is like being a co-driver in a rally car, having never stepped inside a car before, and travelling down a near vertical slope and asking them to help the car go through a 90 degree corner. It’s really tough, but they are improving each day.”

Oman Sail, winners of the inaugural Arabic Extreme 40 Challenge
© Mark Lloyd / Oman Sail

The Oman Sail crew of Pete Cumming, Chris Draper, Mark Bulkeley were joined by Saleh Al Jabri and Mubarak Al Battashi, and continued to post a series of wins to take the Oman Air Trophy, but were pushed hard by the other teams including the iShares Extreme 40, skippered by Hugh Styles, and Shirley Robertson on Oman Air. Shirley won the inaugural 2008 iShares Cup event in Lugano and is clearly something of a specialist when it comes to racing in light and changeable airs. At the end of six days of racing iShares finished second, with Oman Air third, and Team Aqua in fourth position.

iShares Cup goes Dutch for nail-biting final in the 2008 Series

posted about 1 year ago

In brief
- Grand finale of the iShares Cup kicks off tomorrow in Amsterdam
- Dutch Olympic medalists join the fleet for today’s practice racing
- Joint leaders TEAMORIGIN and Alinghi currently tied on equal points
- Two Dutch boats and 10 Dutch crew members race on home waters in the IJ-Haven canal, just inches off Java Island

In detail
The iShares Cup fleet had their final shakedown before the final of the 2008 series today, with three practice races before the serious business of deciding the overall champions begins tomorrow.

The 10 Extreme 40s took to the IJ-Haven canal, a narrow strip of water just a few minutes away from Amsterdam city centre, off Java Island. Cheered on by scores of school children who lined the dockside to marvel at the Extreme 40s whizzing past just inches away, the iShares Cup skippers all put on a show by flying a hull and waving to the cheering spectators.

Some of the Dutch crew taking part in the iShares Cup at Amsterdam (l-r): Mark van Gelderen, Gerhard van Geest, Mischa Heemskerk, Sander Speet, Pieter Van Neiuwenhuyzen and Ed van Lierde.
© Sander van der Borch/iShares

The home crowd had plenty of local sailing stars to cheer for – with ten Dutch sailors on board the Extreme 40s, a quarter of the top quality fleet are from the host nation. Herbert Dercksen skippers the all-Dutch Volvo Ocean Race crew, and helped develop the Extreme 40 class specifically for this kind of sailing in the city. “It’s great that you can fly a hull in such a small space, it’s really good, just what the boats are designed for. It’s all excitement, we had an entire school on the side of the canal cheering for you and they even know the team names – what more you could you want!”

“We hope to do really well here, and put in a good performance. It’s going to be a great venue, a lot can happen. If you’re last then you could still be first, and if you’re first then you could suddenly be last, so a lot could happen!” he added.

The iShares Cup fleet were joined today by four Dutch Olympic medalists for the informal afternoon of racing. Marcelien de Koning, silver medalist in the 470 class crewed onboard iShares, whilst Herbert Dercksen stepped aside from his usual position on the helm of the Volvo Ocean Race Extreme 40, as the team were joined by Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen, who have just returned from winning silver in the Yngling sailing class at Beijing.

“I had to do the hard job!” joked Herb, as he moved from the tiller onto the mainsheet winch. “I had two of the Yngling girls who won a silver medal at the Olympic Games, they steered the whole day and did a fantastic job. Mandy’s ready for helming one of the 40s that’s for sure.”

“It was really, really cool! We weren’t the fastest, we have to practice a little, but we need a girls’ boat next time!” said Merel after racing. “It was wonderful sailing,” added Mandy, who helmed for the day – including a tricky spinnaker start. “The downwind start was a bit difficult to begin with – there were boats everywhere and Herbert was saying ‘Go between them!’ and we were saying ‘No, we can’t!’.”

Dutch Olympic silver medallist Marcelien de Koning joined the iShares Extreme 40 (helmed by Hugh Styles) at Amsterdam
© Sander van der Borch/iShares

There was plenty more Dutch interest in the fleet as Olympic sailor Marcelien de Koning joined the iShares catamaran for the day’s racing, having won a silver medal at Beijing in the 470 class. “What an awesome experience. I’ve heard a lot about these boats, but have never been on one, so to have the chance to sail today with iShares in Amsterdam was too good an opportunity to miss. I’ve had such a great time, I hope to come back over the weekend and cheer the team on.”

The bright orange Holmatro catamaran is also flying the flag for the home country. Skipper Andreas Hagara was looking forward to having plenty of supporters at the iShares Cup final: “We are going to be really busy with a lot of guests because Holmatro is a Dutch company and half our crew is Dutch.

”Amsterdam is a fantastic place to have the final. Racing this close to the harbour walls will be exhilarating for both the teams and the spectators. I can’t wait for the first start tomorrow."

Tommy Hilfiger racing at Amsterdam prior to the 2008 iShares Cup final
© Sander van der Borch/iShares

Tommy Hilfiger have also got strong connections with the Netherlands, “Tommy Hilfiger is a Dutch-owned company and the American image of Tommy Hilfiger fits perfectly with the US team, it’s a really good match,” said skipper Randy Smyth. Randy and his team got things off to a good start today by winning the final practice race, while Shirley Robertson on JPMorgan Asset Management again showed her skill in light and shifty winds to take the first of today’s races.

The Amsterdam venue could well be one of the trickiest so far, with light winds, sudden puffs and shifts, and an ultra-small racecourse to contend with, but it didn’t phase Randy Smyth. “Actually we kind of like this stuff, it’s like we have a really short attention span!” he joked about the continually changing places.

“It’s funny, last year we had eight boats and it was kind of crowded, but this year there’s 10 boats on the same sized body of water but what you can really see is that we’re all sailing the boats better. All the teams are experienced and they can predict each others’ moves, so it’s not as hair-raising.”

Racing takes place tomorrow from 1.00pm, with a parade of sail along Java Island before races in the IJ-Haven, Amsterdam.