[Source: Barcelona World Race] Paprec-Virbac 2 has left Cook Strait in its wake as skipper Jean-Pierre Dick and co-skipper Damian Foxall begin the second half of the Barcelona World Race with their well-earned lead in good shape. Theyve begun their descent southwards again, heading to the Southern Ocean for the second time.

Getting through and away from the Cook Strait we were pretty lucky, said Damian Foxall. Its a bit of a transition areawe went from 25 to 30 knots downwind to at least 30 knots upwindit was a busy day, wet and windybut now were out into the Pacific. Read the rest of this entry »

Published: Mon Dec 24, 2007 2:00 AM MST

Here is some rough video footage from last weekend's SuperTour classic sprints at Soldier Hollow. The races were won by University of Utah skiers Even Sletten and Kjersti Boe. Second and third in the men's and women's races respectively went to Reid Pletcher (SVSEF) and Marshall Greene (Alpina/Madshus/XC Oregon), and Kristina Strandberg (Subaru Factory Team/XC Oregon) and Laura Valaas (US Ski Team/APU). For more on these races see last weekend's article: http://www.fasterskier.com/racing4851.html .

Our apologies for the shakiness of some parts of the videos - while the beautiful open landscape at Soldier Hollow makes it possible to see nearly the entire race from one location, keeping the camera rock steady when zoomed in 1500% can be tricky! Given the lack of SuperTour coverage by the major tv news networks however, we thought this would still be worth sharing. Please enjoy what you can.

Women's B- and A-Finals:

Men's B- and A-Finals:

Women's Podium:

Coming Soon: Video from the women's mass-start 10km skate race. Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from Chapter 15 (http://www.mydigitallife.co.za/index.php?option=com_myblog show=erin—chapter-15.html Itemid=99999999):

… Without even glancing at the huge shadow, Ray dashed down another corridor. He…
Originaly from Source

Valencia Sailing would like to wish all its readers Merry Christmas!

Unless there is some extraordinary news, we will be back on Wednesday.

Originaly from Source

[Source: Barcelona World Race] The leaders in the Barcelona World Race continue their duel at the head of the fleet, just hours apart as the conditions turn nasty. Paprec-Virbac 2 reported gusts of up to 45 knots overnight, making for miserable conditions on deck.

Theres a point where youre happy to just put the autopilot and get in underneath the combing for protection, Damian Foxall said from Paprec-Virbac 2 this afternoon. But when we were helming today, its still in full four weather gear and survival suits onthe whole worksits still pretty heinous I would say. Read the rest of this entry »

At 21.37 Spanish time on Friday, Dee Caffari and her dismasted Open 60 Aviva arrived at La Coruna port, ending an ordeal in the Bay of Biscay that had lasted over 60 hours. Caffari, who lost her mast on Wednesday morning, had spent the last 28 hours hand-steering her 60 foot yacht whilst being towed by Spanish tug boat, Ibaizabal Uno.

An exhausted and extremely relieved Caffari was met by the Aviva Ocean Racing campaign manager, Harry Spedding, who provided her with a welcomed embrace on the dockside. The team will now ensure that Aviva is safely moored in the port this evening. Caffari and her team will fly home this weekend in time for Christmas. Read the rest of this entry »

[Source: Paul Cayard] I am back in San Francisco after a three month stint in Valencia. The short story is that I joined Desafio Espaol assuming that we were in for a short America’s Cup, with a new class of boat which I found very interesting as it meant a new game and a compressed time frame.

As we all know, the event has yet to gain traction. The court case between BMW Oracle and Alinghi has completely derailed the America’s Cup. As of this time, there is no date, there is no class of boat, and no venue. There is a defender (Alinghi) and one (1) challenger, BMW Oracle. Read the rest of this entry »

Published: Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:00 AM MST

APUNSC continues to lead the Team SuperTour standings, but Rossignol made a big push over the weekend, moving from 4th 211 points back, to 2nd, 112 down. The University of Utah fell from 2nd to 3rd, despite strong individual finishes in the sprint.

Top 5 Teams - Overall SuperTour Standings
APUNSC 465
Rossignol 353
University of Utah 315
Factory Team 261
CXC 252

Full team standings can be found at the USSA website
“>here.

Garrott Kuzzy (CXC) holds a slim 2 point lead over Even Sletten (U of Utah) in the men's overall SuperTour ranking. David Chamberlain (MWSC) is third.

Sletten holds a commanding lead in the sprint rankings with a 27 point lead over Marshall Greene (Alpina/Madshus), while Kuzzy tops the distance rankings, with Andrew Johnson (Fischer/Craft) in second.

On the women's side, Laura Valaas (APUNSC) leads Kristina Strandberg (Factory Team) by 35 points. Karin Camenisch (Rossignol) is third, 9 points in back of Strandberg.

Valaas also tops the sprint list, with Camenisch second and DU's Katie Ronsse third.

Strandberg swaps places with Valaas in the distance standings, holding 5 point lead over the APUNSC star.

Full individual standings can be found at the USSA website
“>here.

The individual rankings will be used to determine which skiers will race for the US in the Canadian World Cups at the end of January.

Related on FasterSkier:
Canadian World Cup Qualification Criteria
Sletten, Boe win SuperTour Sprint in Soldier Hollow
SuperTour: Strong Day For USST Women, Babikov

[Source: Barcelona World Race] Hugo Boss closed to within 12 miles of race leader Paprec-Virbac 2 on Wednesday, before slightly falling back again over the afternoon at the Barcelona World Race. At the 16:00 position report, Hugo Boss was 21 miles behind, but sailing a couple of knots slower. Still, its been an 18 mile gain over the past day, so the cat and mouse game continues.

At one stage we were 400+ miles behind the leader, so were feeling pretty happy about where we are now. Its taken a long time. We left the Mediterranean in eighth place, Alex Thomson said today, when asked about closing the gap. Read the rest of this entry »

[Source: Barcelona World Race] Skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall arent about to give up the lead in the Barcelona World Race without a fight. After seeing a significant lead diminished to just 12 miles over the past three days, the race leaders have stretched out again and lead Hugo Boss by 83 miles, an increase of more than 60 over the past 24 hours. But it hasnt been easy; conditions are very, very difficult.

There is a lot of wind today, at times over 40 knots, was the description from Jean-Pierre Dick. Its stressful, because the waves are big and the water crashing over the deck is freezing, which makes it a challenge to manoeuvre and change sails, for instance. It takes a lot of time when the conditions are like this. Read the rest of this entry »