Displaying items by tag: Weymouth
Book Your Berth for the Olympic Regatta
#WEYMOUTH – Applications for booking visitor berthing in Weymouth Harbour and anchorage in Weymouth Bay during the sailing events of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are now open.
It will not be possible for visiting boats to enter Weymouth & Portland Harbours and expect to be accommodated during Games time without pre booking their berth or anchorage. It is essential therefore that bookings are made in advance, as it is expected that all available berths and anchorages will be fully booked, well before the start of the Olympic Games.
Weymouth and Portland Harbours will still be accessible at all times during the Games, via a dedicated channel and will continue to operate as working harbours for ferry services to the Channel Islands, commercial shipping, fishing, diving and other recreational water based activities. There will however be restrictions on the waters within Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour where the race areas are located, (known as the field of Play) during race times themselves.
Olympic sailing will take place between 28 July and 12 August 2012 Paralympic sailing will take place between 29 August – 6 September 2012
Over the last 18 months the Weymouth Harbour team has been working hard to ensure that boat owners who come to Weymouth & Portland in summer 2012 enjoy the unique experience of visiting the waters around the Olympic sailing events.
There will be plenty going on during the summer of 2012, including the free 'Live Site' on Weymouth Beach, where the sailing and other Olympic sporting events will be screened, the Weymouth Bayside Festival, which will host exhibitions; Dorset products, catering and entertainment, together with a 12 week programme of local cultural events called the 'Maritime Mix'; part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Festival.
Peter Mole Weymouth Harbour Master, said: "We can start to share the excitement and feeling of anticipation with those who will be joining us for this once in a lifetime experience. Improvements are being made to services around the harbour, including new showers, extra pontoons, pump out facilities, Wi-Fi and a water taxi serving the 2012 anchorages out in the Bay.
"The Weymouth Harbour team look forward to welcoming boating visitors to view the Olympic races talking place in some of the finest sailing waters in the world with the beautiful backdrop of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. However all prospective visitors need to be aware that there will be restrictions during Games times and that for capacity and security reasons, all berthing and moorings in the harbour must be pre-booked."
Sail Training Vessel Rescued by Weymouth RNLI (Video here.)
The crew of the Weymouth RNLI relief Severn class all-weather lifeboat Beth Sell assisted a 24 metre sail training vessel with 16 persons onboard that was dismasted South of Portland Bill. The footage taken by crew members iphones and pentax hand held camera. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO
Storms continued to batter Britain and Ireland's coast today as autumn arrived with a roar as forecasters warned the unsettled conditions could last for two weeks.
The Sail Training Vessel's wooden 90ft tall mast broke in half in the force seven winds and the boom, sail and rigging plunged into the choppy 12ft seas.The crew of the stricken yacht, who were all young adults, were unable to retrieve the stricken mast in the poor conditions and called the Coastguard for help.
The Weymouth RNLI lifeboat rushed to the scene at around 5.35pm yesterday.
None of the sailors were injured in the incident, although some were suffering from seasickness in the rough conditions.
The Daily Mail has more here
'Prodigious' Takes Pride of Place on 'Afloat Boats for Sale' Site
'Prodigious' is a very special, go anywhere motor yacht according to her broker, Hugh Mockler of Crosshaven Boatyard. This Weymouth 51 foot motor cruiser has just been added to Afloat's Boats for Sale site today and this 1988 craft is taking pride of place.
Originally constructed in accordance with Lloyds rules under the supervision of a Lloyds surveyor. In 2000 she underwent an extensive refit at the renowned Fairlie Restorations yard at Hamble and flew her pre purchase survey - the highly regarded David Hopkins declaring "She is the best example of her type that I have personally seen and she is in a good, sound and seaworthy condition."
The boat is lying on the south coast of England and priced at £229,000
All the details and specs are on the Boats for Sale site here. Vid below here too.
Sign up and We'll Send You This Weekend's Irish Sailing News
Monday's edition includes photos and pics from Sunday's Figaro departure from Dun Laoghaire and the start of the Fastnet race from Cowes. Will it be Gold, Silver or Bronze from Weymouth? How will Peter, David and Annalise end up at the Pre-Olympics? Plus: The Topper Worlds at the National YC, Flying fifteen South coast champs in Dunmore East, the J24 Nationals from Lough Erne, Teens battle for the RS Feva Nationals in Cork Harbour, the Cove People's Regatta, The Oppy Nationals at Howth and the Dragon Nationals from Kinsale. There's also the full results from Dublin Bay SC and Howth.
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Irish Star Shines Bright in Second Overall
In an impressive show of speed and strength that may yet produce one of the top Irish Olympic campaign performances of all time, Peter O'Leary and David Burrows notched up two more top six results in the Star Class yesterday to be second overall - by a margin of 11 points - at the Weymouth Pre-Olympic regatta.
The Stars, who were abandoned on Wednesday, continued with Race 7 and 8 yesterday. Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) continue to lead on 12 points. The day's race wins went to Britain's Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in Race 7 and Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria in Race 8.
O'Leary and Burrows have a very solid score line of 6 5 4 4 1 3 2 6 to give them 25 nett points in their 21-boat fleet Third is current Olympic gold medallists Percy and Simpson on 36 points.
The Stars have a further two scheduled races today before tomorrow's medal race.
Only two races were possible in the 49er class After 13 races Iker Martinez and Xabier Hernandez (ESP) lead Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen by a single point. In Race 12 the Australians finished a second ahead of the Spaniards to take the bullet but both teams finished out of the top three in Race 13 as Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) took the bullet and sit in third place on 48 points trailing the Spaniards by six.
Ireland's Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton are 14th. Listen to the video interview here.
No racing was possible in the Finn class and they will race today as will the 49er and Star fleets.
The Laser, Laser Radial and Men's and Women's 470 will take place today with the first race scheduled to start at 12:00 local time.
Murphy Drops to Fifth in Weymouth
Lighter winds brought trouble for Annalise Murphy in Weymouth today as her scores of 16 and 18 in the Laser Radial dropped her three places from second to fifth overall in the Olympic Test event. Still the Dun Laoghaire 21-Year old is only four points off the bronze medal position with two races left to sail.
With winds coming from the NW variability on the course was a big issue today. Annalise recovered well from a bad start in the second race to
climb back into the teens in the 40-boat fleet.
Dutch sailor Marit Bouwmeester however has opened up a 24 point lead after eight races in the Radial after yet another fantastic day at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta.
After two big wind days the conditions were lighter and shiftier with winds ranging from 9-12 knots. Bouwmeester proved she could handle the big conditions two days ago and after a reserve day she showed she could lead the fleet in the lighter winds and recorded her fourth bullet in Race 8 after a second place in Race 7.
The World #1 and ISAF Sailing World Cup Laser Radial title holder has been the standout sailor in the Laser Radial and with seven top three finishes out of eight races she goes into Races 9 and 10 with a strong lead.
World #2 Evi Van Acker (BEL) won Race 7 but hasn't shown the consistency of Bouwmeester and is second on 35 points. Paige Railey (USA) is in third place on 56 points following a sixth in Race 7 before discarding an OCS in Race 8.
It is a different story in the Laser fleet with just eight points separating first to fifth place after eight races. ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Tom Slingsby (AUS) and Andrew Murdoch (NZL) looked as though they would run away from the fleet after six races. But after Slingsby went 17-19 and Murdoch finish 8-12 on the fourth day of Laser sailing Pavlos Kontides (CYP), Rutger van Schaardenburg (NED) and Paul Goodison (GBR) remain in contention following better days on the water.
Murdoch leads on 37 points with Slingsby in second on 40 points but Kontides finished 2-3 to move up to third on 41 points. Van Schaardenburg went 13-7 and slips from third to fourth. Beijing 2008 Laser gold medallist Goodison had his best day on the water finishing fourth and second to climb up to fifth making for an interesting finish in the 56-boat Laser fleet.
The day's race wins went to Andrew Geritzer (AUT) in Race 7 and Javier Hernandez (ESP) in Race 8.
Silja Lehtinen (FIN) advanced to the Final of the Women's Match Racing competition in style as she breezed past Sally Barkow (USA) 3-0 in the first semi final. But in the second Semi Final Ekaterina Skudina (RUS) was made to work against Claire Leroy (FRA).
The Russian went 2-0 up against the World #1 French match racer but Leroy fought back hard to level the tie. It all boiled down to the final race and Leroy had the better of the pre-start forcing Skudina to the right hand side of the course. But Skudina rounded the first mark ahead and gradually extended her lead to win by four boat lengths to advance to the final.
In the Petit Final Leroy faced Barkow to decide the bronze medal. And in the first two races penalties ultimately cost Leroy the race wins as she went 2-0 down. But she was unable to replicate her comeback against Skudina and lost the third flight by four boat lengths to
Skudina and Lehtinen will meet in the Final on Thursday to decide the gold medal.
After ten races in the Men's RS:X Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED) and Nick Dempsey (GBR) have finally unlocked horns after trading blows over eight races. The Dutchman moved into the lead following his fifth bullet in Race 9. He discarded his eighth place in Race 10 to lead on 16 points. Meanwhile Dempsey finished second in Race 9 and tenth in Race 10 to trail the Dutchman on 23 points. Both sailors are guaranteed either gold or silver medal so it should be an interesting Medal Race.
The battle for bronze in the Men's RS:X is tight with Julien Bontemps (FRA) and Byron Kokalanis (GRE) on 50 points with Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL) hot on their tails on 53 points.
The Women's RS:X sailors were last off the water in Weymouth. Race 9 took place on the Nothe course and Zofia Klepacka (POL) picked up where she left off from Race 8 on Monday by taking the bullet. Following a course change to Portland Harbour Marina Alabau (ESP) came through for her fifth bullet in Race 10. Klepacka remains in the lead on 19 points and Alabau is second on 25 points. Bryony Shaw (GBR) finished second twice to move into the final podium spot with eight points separating her and Charline Picon (FRA) ahead of the Medal Race.
The RS:X Medal Races are set to take place on Thursday on the Nothe Fort course.
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) continue to lead the Women's 470 but their lead has been cut from ten to eight points after eight races. Mills and Clark finished second in Race 7 and discarded their ninth place in Race 8 to end the day on 24 points. Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JPN) had a steady day on the water coming third and fifth to close the gap slightly on the leaders.
The day belonged to Brazil's Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luisa Barbachan. The World #15 Brazilians won Race 7 by 45 seconds over Mills and Clark before coming second to Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout (NED) in Race 8. They move up to third place on 38 points.
Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos (FRA) extended their lead in the Men's 470 after yet another consistent day. They went 5-1 in Races 7 and 8 and with 19 points they have a 17 point advantage over ISAF Sailing World Cup Men's 470 title winners Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page (AUS). Sweden's Anton Dahlberg and Sebastien Ostling won Race 7 and are fifth overall.
The 49ers, Finns and Stars resume sailing on Wednesday and the 470, Laser and Laser Radials continue. The remaining matches in the 5-8 place sail off in the Women's Match Racing will also take place.
Solid Performance Moves O'Leary and Burrows up to Second
A very sold performance from Cork-Dublin pairing Peter O'Leary and David Burrows has produced second overall at the halfway stage of the Olympic Test event in Weymouth today. The pair are racing in a 21-boat fleet, a fleet size that will be reduced to 16 for the Olympic regatta next year.
World Number 1 Star duo Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada had, by their standards, a bad day at office finishing second in Race 5 and ninth in Race 6. But with the discard coming into play they discard their ninth place and continue to lead on seven points. O’Leary and Burrows had a good day placing first in Race 5 and third in Race 6, working their way up from 11th at the first mark in race six.
O'Leary/Burrows move to second overall and Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki are third on 19 points. Canada’s Richard Clarke and Tyler Bjorn won Race 6 and with 40 points they sit in ninth place.
The Laser and 470 were on a lay day today.The Star rests tomorrow and it's back to business for second overall Annalise Murphy in the Laser radial and Ger Owens and Scott Flannigan in the 470.
Murphy Second, O'Leary/Burrows Third in Windy Weymouth
In the Star class, Peter O'Leary and David Burrows are third after four races in the 21–boat keelboat class.
470 veteran Gerbil Owens sailing with Scott Flanigan got off to a flyer at the test event in Weymouth. Scoring a 10th and a 5th on Friday racing the pairing lay in 7th overall but have dropped back to 17th after further rounds at the weekend.
Blustery winds ranging from 19-24 knots welcomed the sailors on the sixth day of sailing at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the Olympic Test Event.
And it was the Australians that excelled throughout the day as Tom Slingsby took the lead in the Laser, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen went ahead in the 49er and Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page notched up double bullets.
Belcher and Page put their poor start to the regatta behind them as they won both of their races to move up to second overall in the Men’s 470. After the first four races of the regatta the Men’s 470 ISAF Sailing World Cup title holders had a card of 12-11-10-2 and were down by a considerable margin to leaders Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos (FRA). But they found their way on the third day of 470 sailing to stay in contention. Belcher said, “It was nice to be racing inside the harbour and to have that experience again. It felt more like our boat today. It felt normal. We settled down a little bit and we are getting used to the Olympic course.”
Overnight leaders Leboucher and Garos (FRA) remain in the lead after they maintained their consistency from the opening two days of racing. They came second in Race 5 and discarded their ninth in Race 6. They lead on 13 points with the Australians in second on 25 points and Japan’s Tetsuya Matsunaga and Kimihiko Imamura are third on 28 points.
In the Women’s 470 Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) continue to lead after a steady day on the water. The Brits discarded their eighth in Race 5 before coming second in Race 6 to end the day on 14 points. Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JPN) won Race 5 and came fourth in Race 6 to move from fifth to second overall on 24 points. Gil Cohen and Vered Bouskila (ISR) won Race 6 and jump up to third place.
Outteridge and Jensen (AUS) swapped places with Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez (ESP) in the 49er after the Australians recorded their third bullet of the regatta in Race 6. The Australians came fifth in Race 4 and seventh in Race 5 before winning Race 6 by six seconds ahead of Gianfranco Sibello and Pietro Sibello (ITA). On their day Outteridge said, “It was really good for us today. It was really windy and a bit shifty but the flat water was great. We had a shocker in Race 4 but that was down to me as I had a swim. We ended fifth because of that. But it didn’t hurt us too much as the Spanish had two swims.”
Outteridge and Jensen lead on 15 points with the Spaniards, who won Race 4, second on 18 points. Race 5 winners Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) are third on 21 points after finishing third in the days other two races.
Australia were once again at the top of the podium in the Laser as ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Tom Slingsby (AUS) put in another strong performance. The World #1 came ahead of Rutger Van Schaardenburg (NED) by six seconds in Race 5 but the Dutchman hit back in Race 6 taking a comfortable 31 second victory. Overnight leader Andrew Murdoch (NZL) went 11-4 to slip to second trailing Slingsby by eight points and Van Schaardenburg’s 2-1 moved him from eighth to third overall on 25 points.
World #1 Laser Radial sailor Marit Bouwmeester (NED) continued her fantastic regatta with her third race win and a second. With eight points she leads Annalise Murphy, in second on 26 points, and Krystal Weir (AUS), on 27 points, in third.
Pieter Jan Postma (NED) relished the windy conditions on the Weymouth Bay West course to pick up two convincing race wins in the Finn. The Dutchman won Race 3 by 52 seconds and Race 4 by 16 seconds and is third overall on 17 points. Ben Ainslie (GBR) continues to lead on 14 points despite a 6-5 with Jonathan Lobert (FRA) in second on 14 points. Ainslie maintains his lead after his win in Race 2 but with the discard coming into play tomorrow there may well be changes.
ISAF Sailing World Cup Star title holders Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) once again showed they are the team to beat in the 21-boat Star fleet. The Brazilians went 1-2 to lead on five points. Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (USA) won Race 4 but are seventh overall on 31 points.
The Brazilians nearest rivals are Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki. The Polish Star sailors are on 19 points and have a long way to go to catch up with the Brazilians.
The Laser, Laser Radial and 470 enjoy a reserve day tomorrow but the 49er, Finn, RS:X and Stars continue racing. Places 5-8 in the Women’s Match Racing will also be decided tomorrow before Tuesday’s Semi Finals.
Racing Round up: Dun Laoghaire Regatta, ISAF Youths, Optimists, Paralympic, RORC, WIORA, Quarter Ton, Kiteboarding.
In offshore news, the Transatlantic Race 2011 Nears a Finish, and RORC yachts that headed West did best in the St Malo from Cowes race. Ireland's entry in the Tall Ships race, Celtic Mist, is safely in Scotland. WIORA starts this week in Clifden, thirty boats are expected.
Two top Cork performers are in Cowes for this week's Quarter Ton Cup.
In other boating news, rower Siobhan McCrohan won bronze at the World Rowing Champs in Lucerne, Kiteboarding debuted in Dun Laoghaire. There were Medals for Irish Kayakers at Athens Special Olympics.
And finally after a Elaine 'Shooter' Alexander is set for hero's welcome this week as she becomes the first woman from Northern Ireland to circumnavigate the island of Ireland.
All on our home page this morning, thanks for your interest in Irish Sailing and Boating.
Ireland is on the entry list in six classes for the Weymouth and Portland International Sailing Regatta 2011, the London 2012 Olympic Test Event, that has been finalised today.
Ireland's leading hopes for a top result is in the Radial class where Annalise Murphy took bronze at the Sail for Gold regatta at the same venue. There's also high chances in the Star class with Peter O'Leary and David Burrows. Also sailing for Ireland is James Espey is in the Laser, Ross Hamilton in the Finn, Ger Owens and Scott Flannigan in the 470, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern in the 49er. A full entry list is available for download at the end of this post.
Sixty six nations have submitted the names of the 460 sailors who will test the conditions at Weymouth and Portland one year ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.
For many of Member National Authorities there has been a selection headache with nations following game time rules where only one athlete per event is allowed.
In the Finn class Great Britain's Ben Ainslie was selected ahead of Giles Scott and Ed Wright, Spain's Marina Alabau received the nod ahead of Blanca Manchon and Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) lost out to Sally Barkow (USA).
The Women's Match Racers open the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta on 2 August 2011 with the start of their Round Robins. The Men's and Women's RS:X begin on 4 August followed by the Laser, Laser Radial and Men's and Women's 470 on 5 August before the Finn, 49er and Star sailors begin their competition on 6 August.
The London 2012 Olympic Games Sailing Competition will take place at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy and Portland Marina, located in Dorset on the South Coast of England. Racing is scheduled to take place from 29 July to 11 August.At the 2012 Games sailing will introduce women's match racing for the first time. The racing format will be a single round-robin, quarter finals, semi-finals and then the finals. The nine fleet racing events will all sail an opening series before the top ten in each event contest a double-points Medal Race to decide the final positions. The Medal Races have a target time of approximately 30 minutes and will take place close to the shore at the Nothe to allow spectators ashore to get close up to the action.
