Photo: Emirates Team New Zealand

Rod Davis, coach to Emirates Team New Zealand, doesn't like mincing his words. And in his Seahorse magazine column he makes no secret of his distaste for the modern trend of the 'Show' becoming more important than the 'Competition'. His latest blog post is a reminder that in the America's Cup, appearances are nearly always deceptive (and that's a big part of the fun of it, in my view)...

It has been a bizarre time for the America’s Cup; the war of words and press releases has been nonstop for five years when Oracle questioned Alinghi’s Challenger of Record. Since then we have been fed a fatty diet of spin doctoring.

Some would say “situation normal for the America’s Cup”.  Not in my experience and I have been in the game a long time.   Take the headline “Ainslie launches America’s Cup campaign”. What?

Uncle Larry is underwriting Ben’s AC45 sailing and then he joins Oracle in the defence for the USA. Where is the Ben Ainslie America’s Cup campaign in that?  Or the nine challengers listed in the America’s Cup web site, when, in reality only three have paid the money. The trick is to not allow the spin doctors to distract you from the real game.

When you blow away the smoke and see through the mirrors you find the America’s Cup as it is:

CLICK HERE FOR ROD'S 5 BULLET POINTS ON ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW TO UNDERSTAND THE AMERICA'S CUP...

© Rolex/ Daniel Forster: Marit Bouwemeester in the Laser Radial

More than 500 sailors are about to compete at the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in Florida. With just half a year to the Games, it's getting serious.

Among the many international competitors - some with Olympic berths secured and others still vying for spots on their national teams is Marit Bouwmeester (The Netherlands), who finished 2011 on a high note by winning both the Laser Radial class at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.

“Everybody has been training really hard the past year, so I think Rolex Miami OCR will be a tough battle again and it will probably stay that way until the Games,” said Bouwmeester whose company out on the water will include fellow podium finishers at the Worlds and Olympic representatives Paige Railey (USA) and Evi Van Acker (Belgium). (Railey also is the defending Rolex Miami OCR champion and has won the event four times.)

“It is definitely fun racing against all the good girls,” said Bouwmeester, adding that 2012 will be her first-ever Olympic experience. “I always spend two months in Miami and Fort Lauderdale to get my light-wind training in. Miami is the complete opposite of what I’m used to, so it’s a nice challenge and a good opportunity to learn.”

With 82 boats registered, the Laser class promises not to disappoint as the typically largest fleet at the Rolex Miami OCR.  With multiple potential winners embedded in the entry roster, Chris Dold and David Wright stand out from among 13 Canadian entries that are here to participate in their Olympic Trials, which started in Perth and will end with the next ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta (the Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofia MAPFRE) in March.

“It’s going to be fun to watch these guys fight it out for their Olympic Trials,” said Rob Crane (Darien, Conn., USA) who is coming off a jam-packed 2011 schedule that culminated with him winning an Olympic berth for the U.S. team after pulling off amazing 1-2 finishes on the last competition day in Perth to beat out his teammates for the spot.

“After my own experience in Perth, it will be fun to watch other people handle that situation,” said Crane.  “I train with the Canadian team a lot, and I’m good friends with all those guys. It’s great to race against them, but for this regatta their concern is beating out each other for the Olympic spot.”

The fleet also is densely packed with well-known names from around the globe such as Alsogaray (ARG) and Bruno Fontes (BRA), as well as up-and-comers such as Charlie Buckingham (USA).

Traveling more than halfway around the globe are 2011 World Champions and Australia’s representatives for the Olympic Games in the 470 Men’s class  Mathew Belcher and Malcom Page. “After spending the better part of the decade trying to gain Olympic selection, London will be my first (Games),” said Belcher, adding that his teammate Malcolm Page crewed (for skipper Nathan Wilmot) to win an Olympic Gold medal in Beijing (2008). 

“We have and will be working hard to prepare ourselves to defend Australia’s Gold from Beijing, and the Rolex Miami OCR 2012 will provide us with the opportunity to gain high level racing before heading over to Europe,” said Belcher, who will be going up against some power houses who are constantly battling each other in the top-ten at international events, including Olympic-bound Stu McNay (Boston, Mass., USA) with crew Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif., USA); Lucas Calabrese with Juan Maria de la Fuente (ARG); and Matthias Schmid with Florian Reichstaedter (AUT).  “We are a little isolated in Australia and don’t get the level of competition that our competitors can get access to. For us, it’s important to fly almost 30 hours and transport our equipment to Miami to compete for only a five-day regatta. That’s how much we like coming to Miami and how important we think doing this event is.”

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR), in the 470 Women’s class, are always a good run for the money, and after a podium finish in Perth they will no doubt share in some epic battles against World Champions Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout (NED). The USA’s team of Amanda Clark(Shelter Island Heights, N.Y., USA)  and Sarah Lihan Fort Lauderdale, Fla., USA) edged out USA’s Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar during a tie-breaker in Perth, which earned them their berth at the Olympic Games.

As always, the Star class is full of world-renowned champions, and perhaps the best-known names attending are two-time Olympic gold medalists Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA), who just wrapped up 2011 with their second straight title at the Star World Championships (as part of the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Perth).  Though Scheidt and Prada are used to fleet-topping performances, they also know not to discount the tough competition that consistently rotates into the top ten at this event, including Xavier Rohart with crew Pierre Alexis Ponsot (FRA) and Hamish Pepper with Maz Salminen (SWE). The USA’s Olympic-bound Star sailors Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (both Miami, Fla.) also will be in attendance and using their local knowledge to try to dominate on Biscayne Bay.

Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) are top players in the 49erfleet, and in Perth, Denmark had a handful of teams in the medal race, so it doesn’t go unnoticed that Allan Norregaard and crew Peter Land have thrown their hat into the Rolex Miami OCR ring along with Jonas Warrer (Denmark’s gold medalist in Beijing) and Seren Hansen.  Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y., USA) and Trevor Moore (Pomfret, Vt./Naples, Fla., USA) who were inches away from bronze in Perth, are on an upward spiral and expecting to accomplish big things at the Rolex Miami OCR.  But all is not for the veterans at this event.  U.S. up-and-comers Ryan Pesch (Chicago, Ill.,USA) and Trevor Burd (Vineyard Haven, Mass. USA), are looking to retain their status on the US Sailing Development Team, along with Frederick Strammer (Nokomis, Fla.) and Zachary Brown (Nokomis, Fla., USA), who have been training and living in Miami for several months and are making a push for the 2016 Olympic Games.  

TO READ EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS AND TIPS FROM SOME OF THESE LEADING OLYMPIC SAILORS, GO TO SAILJUICE.COM

IKER MARTÍNEZ, Skipper.

We were in front and “Groupama” came up from behind very, very fast and were fighting it out over many miles right up until the finish. It was really interesting and they did a better job and took 20 metres or so on us, just enough to get past. We were very close, there must have been 10 or 20 metres in it, not even one hundred and they skimmed past us. 

© Andrea Francolini: Glenn Ashby cruising into the lead

Glenn Ashby is showing the way round the track ahead of an all-star cast at the Australian A Class Nationals taking place on Lake Macquarie. The multiple A Class World Champion, and Emirates Team New Zealand sailor, is just ahead of his old Tornado team mate Darren Bundock, who holds second place after the first day of racing in winds between 14 and 18 knots.

[FOR SOME TOP CATAMARAN SAILING TIPS FROM BUNDOCK AND ASHBY, GO TO SAILJUICE.COM]

Bundock, who helmed ORACLE Racing Coutts to the fastest ever AC45 500-meter speed run at the ACWS San Diego last November, scored 3-2 in today’s opening races and trails series leader Glenn Ashby by 3 points. Ashby won both races.

ORACLE Racing is well represented at the nationals with five members of the sailing team among the 70 entrants. Also racing are skipper Jimmy Spithill, tactician John Kostecki, wingsail trimmer Dirk de Ridder and Tom Slingsby, who was tactician aboard ORACLE Racing Coutts at ACWS San Diego.

Spithill holds ninth with 19 points, Slingsby is 10th with 20.5 points, de Ridder is 28th and Kostecki is 48th after not finishing Race 1.

The International A Division Catamaran is an 18-foot singlehanded, high-performance cat raced by the skipper who hikes out on a trapeze. It has a soft mainsail usually of a lightweight laminate material.

But some of the new boats in the fleet, which arrived from Europe just before New Year’s Eve, have suffered breakdowns.

Kostecki’s rudder broke in yesterday’s practice race and he had another DNF today. Spithill also broke a rudder, in Race 2, which he noted after coming ashore.

“I had to do the second race with one rudder, it was brand new and it just blew apart,” Spithill said. “It was a shame because I was having a nice battle with Slingers (Slingsby) and the conditions were perfect out there today.”

Slingsby has limited catamaran experience, but he placed 14th at the 2009 A Class World Championship in Australia. His current 10th place, 1.5 points behind Spithill, is representative of his ability to read the wind and hike upwind. In Race 1, sailed in 14-15 knots of wind, he was 2nd at the first windward mark, but then capsized on the run when he stuffed the bows.

In 2008, Ashby and Bundock claimed the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in the Tornado class. Today and in yesterday’s practice race, which Ashby won going away, Bundock chased his former teammate home.

Bundock had an excellent start in Race 2 and worked the left side of the beat to lead at the first windward mark in the 16- to 18-knot winds despite his light weight. Ashby, however, overtook him on the ensuing run and was gone.

“It was nice to get around the top mark first for once, for a little fellow,” Bundock said. “Glenn is in a different class downwind.”

The Wangi RSL Amateur Sailing Club (Wangi Wangi, NSW) is the host club for the nine-race series scheduled through Saturday.

[FOR SOME TOP CATAMARAN SAILING TIPS FROM BUNDOCK AND ASHBY, GO TO SAILJUICE.COM]

Standings (after 2 of 9 scheduled races)
1. Glenn Ashby 1-1 – 2 points
2. Darren Bundock 2-3 – 5
3. Steve Brewin 3-4 – 7
4. Nathan Outteridge 6-2 – 8
5. Simon McKeon 4-5 – 9
6. Andrew Landenberger 7-6 – 13
7. Brad Collett 8-8 – 16
8. Scott Anderson 10-7 – 17
9. James Spithill 9-10 – 19
10. Tom Slingsby 5-15.5 – 20.5
28. Dirk de Ridder 25-35 – 60
48. John Kostecki 71 (DNF)-27 – 98