Swiftsure yacht races gets off to gentle start - Victoria Times Colonist

Swiftsure yacht races gets off to gentle start - Victoria Times Colonist Only a light breeze to help boats along when the race got underway.

Michael John Lo
a day ago

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1 / 4 Racers make their way past the Olympic Mountains during the Swiftsure International Yacht Race at Clover Point on Saturday. DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST

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00:03:20

The 80th Swiftsure Lightship Classic got off to a gentle start on Saturday as crews sought out the right combination of tide and wind to give them the edge in the largest competitive yachting event on North America’s west coast.

There was only a light breeze off Clover Point to help boats along when the race got underway at 9:05 a.m.

But the wind shifted south and began picking up slightly about half an hour later, just in time for a later group of vessels to make use of their colourful spinnaker sails.

The slow winds led to delays at the start for the Cape Flattery and Juan de Fuca races.

It very different from last year’s 25-knot, gear-busting winds that caused several skippers to call it quits shortly after the start of the race.

But light conditions come with challenges of their own.

Ged McLean, who is skippering the 43-feet Hanah Mari in the Lightship Classic race this year, said the complex currents, tides and conditions of Swiftsure means that it’s common even for experienced teams with a well-tuned boat to fail to finish the race.

People often drop out of the competition when they find out that there won’t be enough wind to get back to Ogden Point by the race deadline of midnight on Sunday, he said.

“Anyone who goes out and sails across the Strait is worthy of respect,” he said. “You’re racing against weather, you’re racing against the tide, you’re racing against other boats and you’re racing against yourself — because you’ve got to overcome your own fears and your prejudices.”

Out of the 98 competing vessels this year, seven are taking in the 138.2-nautical-mile Lightship Classic, Swiftsure’s marquee race.

98 yachts ready to set sail at Victoria's 80th annual Swiftsure Race - Oak Bay News

98 yachts ready to set sail at Victoria's 80th annual Swiftsure Race - Oak Bay News

Yachters enjoy the 75th Swiftsure International Yacht Race. (The Oak Bay News file photo)

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00:02:52

Dozens of yachts will fill the Strait of Juan de Fuca from May 23 to 25, ready to race for glory at the Swiftsure International Yacht Race. 

Hosted by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, the annual event tests sailors’ endurance and strategy in three trials: the Swiftsure Lightship Classic (138 nautical miles), the Cape Flattery Race (100 nautical miles) and the Juan de Fuca Race (75 nautical miles).  

So far, 98 boats, operated by experienced amateurs and long-time professionals, are registered. 

While the Cape Flattery and Juan de Fuca races take between 10 and 15 hours to complete, the Lightship Classic is a 24- to 36-hour test, which means sailors race through the night. 

“Some nights you have surprisingly good visibility if there's not too much cloud cover and there's a moon out,” said Kirk Palmer, who oversees the event's organization. “Sometimes, if it's cloudy and it's kind of dark and the visibility is poor, you're blasting along and you basically can't see anything.” 

All three of the races begin just off Clover Point on May 24. The Lightship Classic starts at 9:05 a.m., Cape Flattery Race at 9:15 a.m., and the shortest race at 9:25 a.m.  

On the day prior, May 23, the Inner Harbour's gates will be open until 9 p.m. so the public can check out participating yachts and chat with racers. Starting at 7 p.m., a live band will play on the dock.

Palmer, who has competed in the Swiftsure more than 40 times, is one of the sailors taking part in this year’s middle-distance race. Part of what draws him and dozens of others to take part in the world-renowned events is the excitement they boast.

“It's funny – I think it's a diversion,” he said. “When we're racing, I'm not thinking about work or worrying. It's a getaway. We're just focused on the job at hand.” 

“I enjoy getting all my buddies together, people I've raced against, people I've raced with. We have a good time, you know,” he added.  

But it’s not all fun and games.

“When it's really windy, that's when it's challenging – just trying to keep the boat balanced and not flipping over on its side,” he said. “There are a lot of things you have to do at the same time. That's the most exciting part.” 

The shorter races end at the Inner Harbour on May 24, with the Lightship Classic racers coming in on May 25. Race officials in Esquimalt will keep track of boats crossing an invisible finish line between McLoughlin Point and the Ogden Point Breakwater. 

Last year’s winners are set to receive awards at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club on May 23, from 2 to 5 p.m.

Bye Bye Burling. Peter Burling leaves Emirates Team New Zealand • Live Sail Die

Bye Bye Burling. Peter Burling leaves Emirates Team New Zealand • Live Sail Die 

In news that is set the shock the nation, and the sailing world, Three-Pete Peter Burling is leaving Emirates Team New Zealand.

How you feeling? Have you reached for the rum to take a shot yet?

Peter Burling rose to fame when he was handed the keys to Emirates Team New Zealand, taking over from Dean Barker.

He was at the helm when New Zealand won the 2017 (Bermuda), 2021 (Auckland) and 2024 (Barcelona) America’s Cup events.

He’s a unicorn of the sailing world – one of the best, but does he come as a packaged deal with long-time sailing partner Blair Tuke? Will we soon hear news that he is departing as well?

We have to remember one simple thing – pro sailors are professionals. Sailing is their job. It’s how they put a roof over their heads and food on their table, and a Rolex on their wrist

Pete’s decision to leave is one that we respect. He’s putting is faith in himself and pushing ahead with his own path.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t see him with an America’s Cup team in the future. We reckon (but don’t know for sure), that other teams will be lining up with their cheque books ready to sign one of the legends of the sport.

Three-Pete Peter Burling. Photo: Georgia Schofield / Live Sail Die

Official Statement on Peter Burling leaving Emirates Team New Zealand

Emirates Team New Zealand and Peter Burling have today confirmed that they have agreed to part ways ahead of the 38th America’s Cup.

Discussions by the team management and Burling have been ongoing since Barcelona, however an agreement was not able to be reached.

With the America’s Cup now shaping up to be contested in more regular cycles, the requirements on team members are changing. As the balance between design, simulation, boat build, testing and racing windows become more compressed, the integration of key sailors with the design team becomes more critical than ever.

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton said: “Pete has been a central figure who has grown incredibly within Emirates Team New Zealand since he joined 10 years ago. We can all look back with great pride on what has been achieved, having enjoyed unprecedented success as a team with Pete at the helm,” continued Dalton.

“Winning the America’s Cup three times in a row was uncharted territory, but what has enabled winning in the past does not always equate to winning in the future, especially in much tighter America’s Cup cycles which require a dedicated and new approach for continued success.”

Cayard and Spithill Join America’s Cup Hall of Fame Class of 2025 – XS Sailing

Cayard and Spithill Join America’s Cup Hall of Fame Class of 2025 – XS Sailing

by deleteme · Article

California sailing legend Paul Cayard, Australian-born racer Jimmy Spithill, and Susan Henn, the first known woman to compete in the America’s Cup, have been announced as the Herreshoff Marine Museum/America’s Cup Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Each sailor is recognized for their personal achievements and positive influence on the sport and in America’s Cup racing.

Paul Cayard has been in the sailing news for decades and has won seven world championships and the Whitbread Round the World Race, competed in seven America’s Cup campaigns, and is a two-time Olympian. He has also been highly active in official roles behind the sailing scene including board chair for the St. Francis Yacht Club, former executive director of US Olympic Sailing, and president of the International Star Class Association.

Cayard’s sailing career began aboard the El Toro at the age of 8.

© 2025 International Star Class

Cayard’s first America’s Cup campaign was as a sail trimmer aboard the 12 Meter Defender in 1983. He served as tactician in the 1987 America’s Cup in Fremantle, Australia. He went on to win multiple sailing events and championships including the International Star Class Worlds, the Maxi Yacht World Championship, and the 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race. In 2000 Cayard launched an America’s Cup campaign on behalf of his home club, the St. Francis Yacht Club, with his team AmericaOne. He is also an inductee of the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Spithill was just 4 years old when Australia II won the 1983 America’s Cup. His first boat was a race-ready dump-find, recovered from a dump and made ready for racing, and in 1989, together with his sister, he won the first race he ever entered. In 1997 he captained his crew to win the Australian High School Sailing Championship. That same year Spithill was named New South Wales Youth Yachtsman of the Year.

Jimmy Spithill during his last SailGP Skipper’s Press Conference.

© 2025 Kieran Cleeves/SailGP

In 1998 Spithill was recruited to race the Rolex Sydney Hobart race aboard Ragamuffin, and in 2000 at age 20, he became skipper of Young Australia for the 2000 America’s Cup in San Diego — the Cup’s youngest-ever helmsman. Subsequent America’s Cup campaigns followed, including roles with the USA’s American OneWorld and ORACLE teams, and Italy’s Luna Rossa. In 2024, Spithill retired at the conclusion of the America’s Cup in Barcelona but not before having led numerous teams aboard foiling trimarans, the foiling wing sail AC72 and AC50 catamarans, foiling AC75 monohulls, and the foiling F50s as captain for the US SailGP Team.

Susan Matilda Cunninghame-Graham Henn (1853-1911) is celebrated as the first woman to compete, and ultimately command a yacht, in the America’s Cup. Henn sailed aboard the 102-ft steel cutter Galatea in the 1886 match against the Mayflower. Henn and her husband Lt. William Henn sailed across the Atlantic for the race against Mayflower, proving Henn’s disposition for a life at sea. When her husband became ill during a race, Henn took charge of their yacht, once more demonstrating her exceptional sailing skills.

The story goes that Henn insisted on traveling with her pet monkey and raccoon to help keep the race timing. (We have no idea how or why this would work.)

© 2025 Harpers Weekly, August 1886

https://herreshoff.org

The America’s Cup Hall of Fame has inducted over 100 individuals since its founding in 1992. Candidates eligible for consideration include sailing team members, designers, builders, syndicate leaders, supporters, chroniclers, and other individuals of merit. Each nominee is judged on the basis of outstanding ability, international recognition, character, performance, and contributions to the America’s Cup. The members of the Selection Committee are intimate with the history and traditions of the America’s Cup and are committed to maintaining the integrity of the Hall of Fame.

Cayard, Spithill, and Henn will be honored on October 16 at the America’s Cup Hall of Fame Induction at the New York Yacht Club.

The post Cayard and Spithill Join America’s Cup Hall of Fame Class of 2025 appeared first on Latitude38.

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The last stand of Bob Baffert, horse racing's top trainer - Los Angeles Times

The last stand of Bob Baffert, horse racing's top trainer - Los Angeles Times

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The last stand of Bob Baffert, horse racing’s most successful and embattled trainer

Horse trainer Bob Baffert before the 2020 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

(Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)

By John CherwaSpecial Contributor 

Oct. 1, 2021 3:30 AM PT

In his claustrophobic and cluttered office at Santa Anita Barn 5, Bob Baffert, the hall of fame trainer, was pushing papers and moving stacks, hunting for a faded photo of his 17-year-old self aboard a long-forgotten quarter horse from a small racing circuit in Arizona.

He won his first race on that 1970 afternoon — but not as a trainer.

“See, I bet you didn’t know I was a jockey?” Baffert said. “You wouldn’t know it now.”

No, you wouldn’t.

Baffert parlayed a hobby as a 5-foot-9 jockey into a job as a quarter-horse conditioner into a career as a thoroughbred trainer before jumping onto the highest pedestal of horse racing and becoming the most recognizable name in the sport. Two Triple Crown winners and a signature shock of white hair will do that for a man.

Now 68, Baffert is seeing his livelihood and reputation under attack after a series of medication infractions have made him an outcast to some in the industry and a pariah to many more outside of it. He’s the person few in the business want to talk about, but everyone wants to hear about.

“It’s truly painful when you know what the truth is,” Baffert told The Times earlier this week in his first interview on the subject since May. “There have been so many false narratives that have come up and the hearing process isn’t even done yet. The consolation is knowing the truth will come out as the process plays out.

Alberta oil and gas companies could install solar panels to avoid cleanup costs | The Narwhal

Alberta oil and gas companies could install solar panels to avoid cleanup costs | The Narwhal

By Drew Anderson

April 11, 2025  7 min. read

A government-commissioned report suggests oil and gas companies could avoid full reclamation of old well sites if they install solar panels on the land, one of dozens of recommendations laid out by Alberta Energy Regulator board member and special advisor to the premier, David Yager.

Photo: Larry MacDougal / The Canadian Press

Oil and gas companies could avoid full reclamation of old well sites in Alberta if they put renewable energy projects on the disturbed land.

That’s one of several dozen ideas offered in a new report commissioned by the Alberta government. The reports looks at how to manage the province’s persistent oil and gas pollution problem, and contrasts sharply with moves by the same government to restrict renewable energy following a seven-month moratorium, and ensure companies provide full clean-up costs upfront for wind and solar projects. 

The report, written by current Alberta Energy Regulator board member and long-time industry insider David Yager, says oil and gas well sites could be “utilized for solar power generation instead of undergoing full reclamation, delivering both environmental and economic benefits.”

Critics say the idea contradicts other government policies — especially around renewables, which could make it unrealistic. 

“They justified that moratorium and the restrictions on the basis of end-of-life cleanup. Now they’re saying that, in a way, renewables could be used to help the oil and gas industry avoid its reclamation,” Phillip Meintzer, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Responsible Energy, said in an interview. 

“Would someone even be allowed to put renewables on these well sites because of the restrictions that were put in place? I don’t know,” he said. The coalition, made up of environmental organizations, focuses on energy regulation. 

It’s unclear how much remediation a company could avoid by installing renewables on its leases and is only one of many recommendations and ideas presented in the report. Meintzer wants more details to understand what’s on the table and just how much cleanup a company could avoid. 

Meintzer says his organization is focusing on ensuring the polluter pays principle — the idea that a company is responsible for cleaning up the mess it leaves behind — is upheld and costs are not downloaded on to taxpayers.