The Daily Digest: Our second midday update; and we have exclusive breaking VOR news
SAN FRANCISCO – At the request of a number of our Dear Readers, yesterday we launched a new feature – The Daily Digest – with links to recent race results, upcoming events and notable news and views all in one post. Except on Tuesdays, when we are getting ready for our live "Tuesdays with TFE" netcast, we will post The Daily Digest at midday Pacific Time when the majority of our Dear Readers are awake (1200 Pacfic / 1500 Eastern / 2100 Central Europe / 0800 New Zealand). Of course we will continue to post features from time to time, and breaking news immediately.
The Daily Digest allows us to email you more timely news while cutting down on inbox clutter. Our unique, visual format is quick to peruse – you don't have to wade through a lot of unnecessary cut-and-paste verbiage that comes late in your day, or in the case of Europe, in the middle of your night. And it will arrive in your email (if you have subscribed to Sailing Illustrated) seven days a week.
Thanks for your amazing support of Sailing Illustrated – hard to believe it's been only five months since we launched May 15th. As always your comments and suggestions are more than welcome, via sailingillustrated@gmail.com.
Now for the breaking news....
BREAKING – A few minutes ago Sailing Illustrated was informed by two highly reliable sources that the Skipper of Team AkzoNobel, our former AC colleague and good friend Simeon Tienpont (NED), has been excused from further participation with the team on the eve of tomorrow's Alicante In-Port Race. This on the heels of another poor showing in today's practice race, and a disappointing "pre-season" of preliminary racing. More later. Team AkzoNobel website.
Ian Walker (GBR), double Olympic medalist, Volvo winner, and the newly appointed Racing Director of the Royal Yachting Association (GBR national authority), talks about the shrinking professional sailing scene, the return of pros to the sailing "trades" in addition to their paid-to-race jobs, and the need to help women, especially, find such jobs. 2:31 video, above.
Last evening the Hudson River Community Sailing kicked off their "Sailing for Scholars" weekend with a gala fundraiser in the historic Model Room at New York Yacht Club's W. 44th St clubhouse in NYC. Today is practice sailing with coaching led by Steve Benjamin, 2016 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year and winner of the 2017 Etchells Worlds. Tomorrow is the formal racing. Check out this terrific organization and event here, and, better yet, buy a ticket and watch the racing with HRCS tomorrow on the beautiful M/V MANHATTAN.
Wow! Check out this just-released 1:12 video showing off World Sailing's posh new offices in London's swank W2 postcode north of Hyde Park and east of Notting Hill at 20 Eastbourne Terrace, "conveniently situated opposite London Paddington station with Heathrow Airport just 15 minutes by train." World Sailing (formerly ISAF) had been located at Southhampton on England's south coast sailing region.
The US Match Racing Championship for the Prince of Wales Bowl is underway today at Oakcliff in Oyster Bay on New York's Long Island Sound. We understood there was to be a netcast of the racing, but so far we have been unable to find it. Sailing Illustrated contributor Jeffrey Petersen is skippering his Cricket Racing team, at age 15 the youngest skipper in the event and, ew believe, the history of this prestigious regatta. Event website. Latest results.
The Volvo Ocean Race village at Alicante, Spain, where the seven teams will start a week from Sunday (October 22), opened this week. This is a nice 1:00 video of the grand opening a couple nights ago. VOR website.
On this week's "Tuesday with TFE" Facebook Live netcast we ran this route map for the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race. It was a bit hard to see on our live show, and several of our Dear Readers asked that we run it here. Starting in Alicante, Spain in the Med about 100km west of Valencia, the 2017-18 edition has reinstated the long and challenging Southern Ocean leg from Cape Town to Melbourne, has a long (almost three weeks) stopover at Auckland in February, is repeating the popular and successful stop in Newport, RI next Spring, with the finish is, again, in The Hague, NED. On Tuesday we gave you the proper pronunciation (with thanks to Pierre Orphanidis) of the Brazilian stopover in the beautiful port town of Itajia – ee tahj ay EE – with the accent on the last syllable. VOR website.
The first official racing of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race will actually take place tomorrow (Saturday afternoon) with the MAPFRE In-Port Race Alicante, marking the first point-scoring competition of the event. The starting gun will fire at 14:00 local time (12:00 UTC) with seven of the best sailing teams in the world pushing hard to lay down a marker in the first competitive confrontation with points on the table. Full story on tomorrow's In-Port Race. VOR website.