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BSR so close yet so far We completed our last five races today and our goal of winning the first race didn’t quite come to fruition. We managed to win the start, get the first cross but we were a bit impatient by tacking too early and giving up the favoured side of the track. From here, Ian Williams never relinquished the lead. Race two we beat Keith Swinton from start to finish after executing the game plan without making a mistake. Next up was Peter Gilmour who gained an early penalty on us in the prestart. However, we still managed to start where we wanted and lead throughout slowly building a large enough lead to complete the turn and sail on for victory. Race three we took on Johnnie Berntsson who pulled a new trick on us in the prestart but we managed to find a clean lane to windward of him but it cost us a few seconds. These seconds proved decisive as he took the lead at the first cross and built a handy lead throughout. The way the results were falling we had a double do or die race against Magnus Holmberg, whoever won the race would proceed to the quarter finals. We had a cracking start with full pace right at the pin, no more wiggle room at hand either. We slowly built a lead where we were cleanly in front but he was hot on our stern. After trading tack for tack up the beat and trying to stay in phase with the shifts at the same time it was a fairly heated race. To add to the drama, we had tv personal and cameras onboard for the first time. After leading for 2.5 of the 3 lap course Magnus and his team pounced on a mistake of ours as we attempted a gybe in his water. The race was over from here, and we were obviously disappointed on missing out on a quarter final spot especially given we were so close. The team has learnt a hell of a lot at this regatta and we are even more determined to earn another world tour entry. Our next event is in France where we will be competing in a Grade 1 event July 28 to August 1st. The team would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, friends and family for their support. Thank you! Black Sheep Racing Tom Bentham Bradley Farrand Nicolas Derberque Reuben Corbett Logan Fraser Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
Hello Black Sheep Supporters, Finally we got to race here in Sweden after spending all day yesterday watching the majority of the other teams battle it out. There are two pools of eight with the top four in each progressing to the quarter finals. In our pool, we have world number 2, 3, 7, 8, 13, 17 and 50. Today we met Torvar Mirsky and Ben Ainslie who are ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively. Both races were clean, we started where we wanted to, and our boat handling was great but both teams kept in phase with the small shifts better than us to lead at the top mark. Mistakes are rare at this level and neither team made one so there weren’t any passing opportunities. This level of racing is most definitely a step up from the previous regattas we have done and the team is soaking up as much information as possible. We are determined to win our first race tomorrow and make that first cross in our favour. We must win four of our next five races to earn a quarterfinal spot. Thank you to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, friends and family for your encouraging comments. Regards, Black Sheep Racing Reuben Corbett Brad Farrand Tom Bentham Logan Fraser Nicolas Derberque Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
After qualifying as the bridesmaid, Black Sheep were up against Laurie Jury and his team Slam Kiwi Match for the semi finals here in La Rochelle, France. The two top French teams were battling it out in the other semi final. Laurie took the first race but BSR bounced back to win the next two to win 2-1. Cedrique Chateau of France also won his semi final 2-1 against his own countryman Mathieu Durand. For the finals the shifts were enormous in an oscillating fashion but on average gradually clocking to the right. Puffs and lulls were riddled throughout the course making it a real challenge to defend and attack. The first shift off the start line proved to be the most critical, so setting up for this prior to the start would go a long way to determining the winner of each race. In the first, Cedrique had great patience after an indifferent start by being well to leeward and plugging away at the left until the mother of all shifts came through enabling him to tack, cross and hold the margin to take the first. Second race, BSR was right on Cedrique’s tail for the majority of the race before setting up on his inside on the final run and rolling immediately after gybing for the finish. Third race, BSR comfortably won the start and grew a handy lead throughout to go up 2-1 in the first to win three final. Race four, BSR got a bit greedy and took a little gamble shortly after the start in an attempt to make some big gains, however, it didn’t pay. Cedrique sailed on to notch another win, score 2-2. Fifth and final race proved the decider. BSR started strongly, covered in a smothering manner and grew a large enough lead to finish with a sizable margin. Black Sheep Racing win the Coupe d ete Match Race 3-2! This is another step in the right direction for BSR who are working their way up the world rankings. Next up on the list is our first world tour event of the year, Stena Match Cup Sweden where the competition will be a lot more intense. BSR look forward to mixing it with the world best! Black Sheep Racing would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, friends and family for their continued support. Thank you all! Au Revoir, Black Sheep Racing Brad Farrand Tom Bentham Reuben Corbett Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
Bonjour, After two days, four flights and a train ride, we made it to La Rochelle, France for our next event. For this grade three event we welcome a La Rochelle local who has so far lived up to our expectations after being told “he is the best bowman in France”. We are also joined here by fellow New Zealanders, Kiwimatch. The conditions were almost perfect for match racing, with 6 to 8 knots and flat water, gradually building as the day went on. We got through the races with great efficiency in the perfect conditions, managing to complete an entire round robin. We had a reasonable day, winning 6 from 7 races. The one race we lost we had a fairly even start but lost the control shortly after with our opponent to the right of us. We kept it extremely close around the track, but couldn’t quite make the pass and finished one boat-length behind. This puts us in a share of first as we move into the knockout stages of the event tomorrow. As always we would like to thank those who helped make all of this possible, The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, family, friends and supporters. Black Sheep Racing Reuben Corbett Brad Farrand Thomas Bentham Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
After making the top four yesterday we had a wait while the three remaining flights in the round robin were sailed, before the remaining finalists were decided. The top qualifier from the round robin was world number five and defending champion Damian Ihel. As reward for this he is able to choose his semi final opponent, he chose us. He went through the round robin unbeaten so if we were to progress to the final we had to be the first to notch a win against him. We had our work cut out. In the prestart of the first race we managed to catch him on port when we were on starboard and he was handed a penalty. This took the pressure off for the rest of the race as all we had to do was keep it close. We managed to make the pass when he completed the turn on the second beat and hold on to the finish, 1-0 to BSR. The second race, Reuben managed a glamour start with Damien locked to leeward and behind. He attacked hard on the run and we managed to again catch him completing a gybe ‘in our water’. This he was given a penalty for and a second came soon after further down the run for the same thing. He had to do the second turn straight away so it was game over from here for Damien. BSR was into the finals! Our finals opponent was Eugeniy Neugodnikov who also beat us in the round robin. Again we got a nice start in a controlling position and kept a very tight cover throughout the race to notch a win. Eugeniy pushed his luck a bit too far in the prestart of the second race and we capitalised by forcing a penalty on him. However, Eugeniy won the start and sailed smartly to build a lead large enough to complete his penalty on the second beat whilst remaining in the lead. With Eugeniy still leading with a reasonable margin we took a gamble into the tide where there was a large puff and along with Brads expert trimming, enabled us to plane and soak right down onto him. A gybing duel ensued before we went for the roll. Bit by bit we moved ahead where Eugeniy’s frustration set in as he pushed us into the exclusion zone to yet again get another penalty. Black Sheep Racing win their first ever grade one event taking some big scalps along the way. The team is ecstatic as we gain some valuable ranking points but more importantly entry into the World Tour Event the Swedish Match Cup. The team would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, friends and family for their support. Thank you! Black Sheep Racing Brad Farrand Tom Bentham Reuben Corbett Information from Black Sheep Racing Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
Yesterday the wind was from the wrong direction which would have meant setting a course across the river. As half the river is for ferries, it left a very small area in which to race. At 5pm, after waiting all day for the wind to change it was decided not to go racing – most frustrating. Today however was another long day on the Neva River and this time somewhat more eventful. There were long delays while damage was repaired and even a mast snapped. We managed to go through the day unscathed and our damage deposit thus far intact. It was a blustery day, with large shifts and gusts over 20 knots as well as long lulls where the breeze dropped below 10 knots, so we had our work cut out to keep the boat in pressure. Our first three races were against competitors seeded 1st, 4th and 5th. We managed to win two of these losing to defending champion and top seed Damien Ihel of France where we missed out by the smallest of margins. Following that block we had competitors seeded 8th, 9th and 12th where again we won two from three. This means we finish the round robin with 7 wins and 4 loses, putting us in at least third place heading into either the quarter or semi finals for the last day of racing. Black Sheep Racing would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, friends and family for their support. Thank you! Check out regatta website for photos, results and updates. http://www.sailsofwhitenights.ru/ Black Sheep Racing Brad Farrand Reuben Corbett Tom Bentham Information from Black Sheep Racing Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
Hello again from St Petersburg, Russia. Black Sheep Racing improve by twenty places in the latest ISAF Match Race Rankings since starting their Northern Hemisphere campaign three weeks ago. Now ranked 33rd in the world, Black Sheep Racing look to build on that and push further up the rankings. So, here we are at Sail of the White Nights, grade 1 event in the heart of St Petersburg. The race area is literally a stone’s throw away from the shore which provides an extremely shifty and puffy breeze to go with the river like currents. We are now in the thick of it as we compete against teams ranked far superior and to date, each race has been a real dog fight. We managed to finish the day with a positive ledger on 3 wins from 5 races. It was a long day, with racing commencing at 3pm after a five hour postponement, not finishing until 9pm. We have plenty of positives from our races but as always there are things that need polishing. The team is feeling good but looking forward to a good night’s sleep. See link below for regatta website which has updates, results and pictures. http://www.sailsofwhitenights.ru/ Black Sheep Racing would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, family and friends for their support. Thank you! Until tomorrow, Black Sheep Racing Brad Farrand Reuben Corbett Thomas Bentham Information from Black Sheep Racing Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
Hello supporters and friends, When we arrived at the yacht club this morning, it was a beautiful sailing day, blue skies and an 18-20 knot wind. Knowing we had the first 7 flights off we attended briefing then settled into a few games of 500. As the day progressed the breeze picked up and peaked just over 30knots. This was at the time we got in the boats, so the only sailing we managed today was returning to dock. Tomorrow we will be the first race off the line against Finnish skipper Anssi Lyden, hopefully the breeze drops by then. We would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, family and friends for their support. Thank you! Black Sheep Racing Thomas Bentham Brad Farrand Reuben Corbett Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
Today we are reporting from St Petersburg, Russia where we have just completed racing for day one. Four wins from five races in a field of twelve competitors has us in a reasonable position with six races remaining before the semi finalists are decided. We had a couple of interesting races to begin and end our day. The first race we hooked the pin on the keel as we cut it too close with the entry, we then dragged the mark over to the boat before we could get it free. The race committee subsequently postponed the start and we restarted the race minutes later, we had a clean start and led the rest of the way around the course. Race two and three were straight forward races, we won the start and held onto the lead to finish with good margins. Estonian Mati Sepp was our opponent for race four, he managed to win the pin end and obtain a handy lead for the first beat. Rounding the top mark we had a good hoist, gybed early and by the bottom mark we had closed his lead down to less than a boat length. On the next run we made our move and rolled him on the long gybe to the finish ahead. In our final race we had the highest ranked Russian to contend with, we dragged him away from the line but misjudged the time needed to get back to the line in light airs, he won the exceptionally favoured pin end and he was untouchable around the course keeping his lead from start to the finish. We have learnt a lot today and looking forward to getting back on the water tomorrow! We would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron along with our friends and family for their support. Black Sheep Racing Reuben Corbett Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
New skins, sunshine... and them!!! It's yet another glorious summer day here in East Cowes. The first new skins are just being laid down in the hungry female moulds. The doors of the shed are open giving a view out over the Medina River. From the shed you can look out and see Hydroptere out sailing. They arrived yesterday and will spend a week or so taking people out for a blast. It's all extremely motivating to me of course. I can't wait to get this new boat in the water and go finish this job of showing the world what a really fast boat looks like. I think, in one form or another, we may well be racing those guys out there for many years to come. They have left the outright speed sailing chase for now, but in an odd way, I don't feel our next boat is really racing them or the existing record. I think it will be in a class all of its own. We spent a day up at AEROTROPE yesterday sorting out final aspects of the main hull/fuselage design. We are all working hard to get this MkII on the water for the end of summer. I personally want to be at Weymouth Speed Week in October in shape to do something special. That's the plan as it stands... but we won't compromise the final product by rushing it at the end. The main thing is that we are now focusing on the end of the build and we are pushing ourselves to get there. Won't be long now party people. Cheers, Paul
Awakening to a cold miserable morning we set out on our 25min bushwalk to the sailing venue hoping to push on from yesterday’s solid effort and claim a spot in the much anticipated finals. Our first race for the day had us up against local Lars Nordbjerg, who we knew would come out fighting after having a bad day yesterday, only managing one win from six races. He managed to get the better of us in the prestart, where we were given a penalty. We managed to keep it close till the top of the second beat where we took the lead and soon after rounding had a go at clearing a penalty, but Lars managed to get around us and sailing on to victory. Our second race against Peter Wibroe was a come from behind win in which we managed to get past during an incident at the top of the second beat. The incident in which Peter as the right-of-way boat ‘dialled down’ at us as we bore away to cross his stern, resulted in Peter being given a penalty for altering his course and thus not giving us an opportunity to keep clear. Peter managed to clear his penalty but we made the pass, and sailed away for the win. Our last match was against Rasmus Vitloft, was a must win to make the top two, so it was all on. After getting the better of him in the prestart, we led him around the top mark. He gybed on our wind and managed to take the lead which he defended well till the finish. This put us in the 3rd /4th sail off up against world no. 10 Johnnie Berntsson. The races all began with some very tight pre starts followed by a large split up the first beat. The boat that was ahead at the first cross then defended their lead to the finish. Johnnie got the better of us here 2-1, to take 3rd and putting us in 4th. The team is getting stronger with each regatta and look forward to competing in Russia in three days time where we aim to sail mistake free, execute manoeuvres with more precision and finally put the nail in the coffin like we didn’t here. A special thanks to our supporters and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron! Thank you all! Black Sheep Racing Thomas Bentham James Harper Bradley Farrand Reuben Corbett Matthew Randell Information from Black Sheep Racing Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand
Greetings to all from Middelfart Denmark, The Danish Open Wild Card Qualifier is one of three qualifiers for the Danish Open World Tour Event. This regatta has attracted an array of top match racers including three teams ranked in the top twenty and eight of the ten competitors in the top hundred. The heat is on right from the first gun because for some reason or another there aren’t any semi finals scheduled, therefore, just the two atop at the conclusion of the round robin will battle it out for victory. First up we were racing Johnnie Berntsson ranked 10th in the world. After a busy prestart and being caught out by how uncannily manoeuvrable these boats are we came off worst. Johnnie and his team sailed a compelling race never opening up a passing lane. Black Sheep down 0-1. Our other note-able race was against world number 15 Evgeniy Neugodnikov from Russia who taught us a few lessons in the prestart during practice day but today we got the better of him starting at the favoured end with pace. After a tight first beat we lead around mark one with the Russians in hot pursuit. They sailed a couple of good shifts on the short gybe of the run and gained a little control which they milked for all its worth and just lead at the bottom. We tacked around the leeward mark immediately and paced it to the right with them on our hip. From here we burnt them off with pace and a clocking right hand breeze enabling us to lead at the top again. We sailed the shifts well on the final run and positioned wisely for a straight run to the line. Black Sheep 1-1. In our next four races we executed the basics well, starting at the favoured end with pace, sailing the shifts and covering smartly to notch up four more victories. These races were by no means a walk over but hard fought, especially against number 16 Mads Elber. Black Sheep 5 wins - 1 Loss. Tomorrow we have three tough races to conclude our round robin, every single one will count in order to reach the finals. Mousie and Brad are serving up a grand meal but insist all computers be put away while at the table... Signing off for now, Black Sheep Racing Bradley Farrand Thomas Bentham Matthew Randell James Harper Reuben Corbett Tags: Black_Sheep Racing Yacht Sailing Kiwis NZ New_Zealand |
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