Yachts & Yachting – April 2018

Nacra injury statement

The Nacra 17 class has released a statement and guidelines to

sailors of the newly foiling Olympic class after news of a serious

injury to Danish sailor, CP Lübeck.

Lübeck was hit by his own rudder’s T-foil after he fell overboard

while training in New Zealand resulting in the need for surgery on

his shoulder. Happily he is now on the road to recovery. But the

injury follows a significant injury to American Nacra 17 sailor, Bora

Gulari last season when he seriously damaged his hand. There have

also been some other reports of rudder strikes in the past year.

Many of the rudder strikes have occurred after a helm or crew

have gone overboard so the advice is to ensure trapeze lines and

other systems are up to the task. However, the statement from the

committee also notes that they have initiated an engineering review

and expect to hear a preliminary report by the end of February.

NEWS

BigbreezeforCarib

TIM WRIGHT/PHOTOACTION; JESUS RENEDO/SAILINGENERGY

Solid trade winds of 25 knots with gusty squalls

and a confused sea state delivered a challenge

to over 800 sailors at the start of the 10th

annual RORC Caribbean 600 race.

George David’s American Maxi, Rambler 88

scorched around the 600-mile track to set a

new monohull course record of 37 hours, 41

minutes and 45 seconds, beating the record set

by David’s previous boat, Rambler 100 in 2011.

Rambler was also head of the field on corrected

time to win the RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy.

The first boat around the 600 mile course

was Peter Aschenbrenner’s 63ft American

trimaran Paradox, which was in scintillating

form, finishing the race in just 37 hours, 5

minutes and 16 seconds to take multihull line

honours and an overall win after time correction.

It was tough conditions for the teams from six

different continents, with a capsize for 50ft

catamaran Fujin – all crew where happily safely

recovered – while there were other notable

retirements from big players, Maverick and CQS,

who suffered a foil breakage and an engine

malfunction respectively.

6 Yachts & Yachting April 2018