Monday 17 December 2012
Tuesday 4 December 2012
Middle Sea Race win
Xp 44 places 3rd Overall and 1st in class In IRC as well ORC in Rolex Middle Sea Race 2012
A record entry of eighty-three yachts lined up in the historic Grand Harbour of Malta for the start of the 33rd edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race ( RMSR). This race has become the most prestigious long offshore race in the Mediterranean and at par with the Rolex Fastnet and Rolex Sydney Hobart races. Xp-act Banks Sails Racing finished 3rd overall in both IRC and ORCi and first in Class 3 in both categories.
Timmy Camilleri (X-Yachts Malta) together with Josef Schultheis, organized the preparation of the boat and just managed to get her in the water the week before the race. The experienced crew sailed together a couple of times prior to start of the RMSR but immediately gelled and their potential was evident. After a very good start in 12 knots of SE wind Xp-act Banks Sails Racing (BSR) was soon in the lead of Class 3. The 50 Nm leg across to Sicily was quite straight forward but on reaching the Sicilian coast the wind dropped, as was forecast, and from then on it became crucial to keep the boat moving and in the breeze as much as possible. With Jochem Visser as navigator, Paolo Semeraro ( Co-Skipper - Banks Sails Italy) on tactics and with local knowledge provided by Timmy Camilleri (seventeen times a participant in RMSR and four times winner ) and Sebastian Ripard (Malta’s 49er crew and winner of one RMSR ), Xp-act BSR was always up with the front runners of the fleet and in the top three positions on corrected time. The passage through the dreaded Messina Straits went well.The first trying task was sailing round the active volcano Stromboli in very light down wind conditions. At this point, Xp-act BSR was in fifth place overall but from then on with a good strategy and hard work from all the crew, we managed to move up to second place at the next two check points, with Artie, a J122 (overall winner in 2011), ahead and Hi-Fidelity a Wellbourne 46 from South Africa just behind on corrected time. The penultimate 90 mile leg between the islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa was crucial for Xp-act BSR and with some fantastic routing from Jochem Visser she managed to keep in the breeze for a changeover of weather fronts. Despite having to beat the final 40 miles in 10 knots of wind, Xp-act BSR was first on corrected time with a two hour “cushion” on Hi-Fidelity at Lampedusa. The last leg to Malta was expected to be a 100 mile fetch in 10 – 12 knots and easy for Xp-act BSR to keep her time. However, one can never be complacent in the Mediterranean in October and in fact that night Xp-act BSR was hit by a huge thunder storm with torrential rain and winds ranging from 40 to 45 knots for one hour. At the time Xp-act BSR had the Code zero up and a full main. Thanks to the skill and experience of the crew we managed to get the Code zero down with no damage but due to the ferocity of the wind had to keep running with the storm for about forty-five minutes at 13 knots in the wrong direction!
With the conditions at the time; lightening, gale force winds and torrential rain, everyone on board was glad to be on such a strong and safe boat! Eventually the storm passed but left Xp-act BSR 10 miles off course and with a light 80 mile beat in lumpy seas up to the finish! This essentially cost Xp-act BSR the race with the bigger boats riding in front of the storm reaching Malta much faster. Hi-Fidelity went on to become overall winner of the RMSR 2012 and Speedy , a Marten 49, placed second. Xp-act Banks Sails Racing crossed the finish line in Valletta on Thursday 26th October at 18.00 to a great welcome from everyone at the RMYC. Xp-act Banks Sails Racing finished 3rd overall in both IRC and Orci and first overall in Class 3 in both categories. Xp-act BSR owner and skipper Josef Schultheis was anyway very satisfied at the end of the race and said “… we managed to put together a great package of boat, sails and crew to seriously challenge for the top honours. We just missed it but will be back next year and complete our mission!”
A record entry of eighty-three yachts lined up in the historic Grand Harbour of Malta for the start of the 33rd edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race ( RMSR). This race has become the most prestigious long offshore race in the Mediterranean and at par with the Rolex Fastnet and Rolex Sydney Hobart races. Xp-act Banks Sails Racing finished 3rd overall in both IRC and ORCi and first in Class 3 in both categories.
Timmy Camilleri (X-Yachts Malta) together with Josef Schultheis, organized the preparation of the boat and just managed to get her in the water the week before the race. The experienced crew sailed together a couple of times prior to start of the RMSR but immediately gelled and their potential was evident. After a very good start in 12 knots of SE wind Xp-act Banks Sails Racing (BSR) was soon in the lead of Class 3. The 50 Nm leg across to Sicily was quite straight forward but on reaching the Sicilian coast the wind dropped, as was forecast, and from then on it became crucial to keep the boat moving and in the breeze as much as possible. With Jochem Visser as navigator, Paolo Semeraro ( Co-Skipper - Banks Sails Italy) on tactics and with local knowledge provided by Timmy Camilleri (seventeen times a participant in RMSR and four times winner ) and Sebastian Ripard (Malta’s 49er crew and winner of one RMSR ), Xp-act BSR was always up with the front runners of the fleet and in the top three positions on corrected time. The passage through the dreaded Messina Straits went well.The first trying task was sailing round the active volcano Stromboli in very light down wind conditions. At this point, Xp-act BSR was in fifth place overall but from then on with a good strategy and hard work from all the crew, we managed to move up to second place at the next two check points, with Artie, a J122 (overall winner in 2011), ahead and Hi-Fidelity a Wellbourne 46 from South Africa just behind on corrected time. The penultimate 90 mile leg between the islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa was crucial for Xp-act BSR and with some fantastic routing from Jochem Visser she managed to keep in the breeze for a changeover of weather fronts. Despite having to beat the final 40 miles in 10 knots of wind, Xp-act BSR was first on corrected time with a two hour “cushion” on Hi-Fidelity at Lampedusa. The last leg to Malta was expected to be a 100 mile fetch in 10 – 12 knots and easy for Xp-act BSR to keep her time. However, one can never be complacent in the Mediterranean in October and in fact that night Xp-act BSR was hit by a huge thunder storm with torrential rain and winds ranging from 40 to 45 knots for one hour. At the time Xp-act BSR had the Code zero up and a full main. Thanks to the skill and experience of the crew we managed to get the Code zero down with no damage but due to the ferocity of the wind had to keep running with the storm for about forty-five minutes at 13 knots in the wrong direction!
Wednesday 24 October 2012
Sunday 9 September 2012
Tuesday 10 July 2012
Round the Island 2012
For Cool Runnings the reach from the Needles to St Catherines ended with overtaking the 164 ft Eleonora, steered by Ben Ainslie, by the "beast" in spectaculair fashion. Captured by David Beaumont, above.
Keen to create some good footage we were equiped with a Gopro Camera on the bowsprit as well as one on the end of the main boom. With the new Gopro remotes we could now switch them on and off on demand to create some good stuff........except that I forgot to put the memory card in the back one! Nevertheless the bowsprit cam came up with some good views of the pocket rocket skipping over the steep waves at St Catherines.
Sunday 1 July 2012
CV & Results
Jochem is one of those rare sailors which have the ability to combine their sailing talents with an array of other skills, such as design, development and an everlasting dedication to improve.
Starting as a One-design sailor in the Netherlands he quickly acquired multiple World, European and National titles as a driver and tactician followed by a win in the Admirals Cup in 1999.
Famous for his skills to make his boats just a bit faster he was quickly nicknamed "The Boatspeed Doctor". His specialities include driving, tactics and navigation. As a navigator he won the rare combination of the offshore classics Fastnet, Sydney-Hobart, Newport-Bermuda and the Middle Sea race.
Fluent in English, Dutch, German and..........Deckman and Expedition tactical software.
Feel free to contact him to turn your boat, team and campaign into a winning concept
JOCHEM'S RACE RESULTS SUMMARY
3x World Champion
6x Top 3 in World Championships
2x European Champion
51x National Champion
5x Winner Kielweek
4x Winner Seascape 18 Nationals
2x Winner Middle Sea Race
2x Winner Cento Miglia
Winner Admirals Cup
Winner Sydney Hobart
Winner Fastnet Race
Winner Newport Bermuda Race
Winner Round Britain & Ireland
Winner Tour Belle Ille
Winner Copa del Rey
Winner GPEN
Saturday 12 May 2012
Cool Runnings wins in the Tour Belle Ile
Cool Runnings was succesfull in the recent Tour Bell Ile (the frensch version of the UK RTI). She kept all the other Open 750 at bay after a light and tricky start she excelled in te final stages with more breeze to take visctory with a substantial lead.
Thursday 12 April 2012
Spi Ouest 2012
Spi Ouest 2012 provided all the action the Open 7.50’s could ask for. With 128 J-80’s on the course, another 60 other One designs, all together on a 1sq. mile area, a gennaker that blinds about 50% of your view and speeds in access of 20kn we had more action than we could have wished for. With the 7.50’s originating from La Trinite the class attracts some of the key French offshore multihull sailors as well as the first Uk team, Cool Runnings. On the first day with winds in 25-30kn range we quickly discovered that an Open 7.50 kind of eats its crew and spits it out. After 4 short races on the first day, with plenty of drama, Cool Runnings was leading but not without trouble. On one of the kite drops the articulating pole was released slightly ahead of the gennaker tack line and bowman Jamie Smith, fully set up to do a weather drop, became the first carbon pole propelled human cannonball. He disappeared from the cockpit to the forestay in less than a second…..and perfectly captured by Thiery Martinez. For most of the Open 7.50 crews pain killers where high in demand during breakfast the next day. Day 2 and 3 produced lighter breeze and Safran (Marc Guillemot) took the lead Cool Runnings and Atchoum ( Nicolas Groleau) with some amazing high skilled sailing. The last day brought the breeze back again and with Safran in comfortable lead it was between Atchoum and Cool Runnings to battle for 2nd and 3rd on the final race day. Nicolas showed his skills as a sailor and builder of the boats and managed to keep Cool Runnings at bay. Spi Ouest provides excellent racing and I cannot praise our race officer on our course enough. With back to back racing and many many starts it was absolutely flawless race management I’ve seldom seen. The Open 7.50 seem to have a revival. The boats are extremely well build and exceptional fun for the money. With over 28 build by Nicolas originally there are plenty for sale and the ultimate way to get into adrenaline fuelled sailing for a modest budget.
Tuesday 17 January 2012
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