Gemma and Jason have finished 9th at the first ever Nacra 17 World Championship.
Congratulations !!!


Across eight races sailed the kiwis were in the top ten in five of those and if the final day had provided wind they were within reach of further improving their final placing.

In May 2012 the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) selected the Nacra 17 as the equipment for the new mixed multihull class; Rio 2016 will be the first time a mixed gender discipline features in the Olympic sailing regatta.

19 year old Gemma Jones (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) and 22 year old Jason Saunders (Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club) paired up to campaign the class earlier this year and have competed at four other European regattas after receiving their new Nacra catamaran in the lead-up to this World Championship. 

Saunders represented New Zealand at the 2012 London Olympics sailing finishing 5th in the Men’s 470 with Paul Snow-Hansen at the helm. Gemma Jones has represented New Zealand twice at ISAF Youth Worlds in 2011 and 2012 where she placed 5th in the SL16 multihull.

2013 Nacra 17 World Championship, The Hague, Netherlands
9th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders
36th (11th in silver fleet) Nicole van der Velden and Tomer Simhony
51st (26th in silver fleet) Gareth Moore and Vicky Francis
http://www.nacra17class.com/%E2%80%A9nacra17world%E2%80%A9championship%E2%80%A92013/results/

The week has been plagued with light winds and this coupled with a very strong tide has made for extremely difficult conditions for the race officers and sailors.  Infact one of the two qualifying fleets has had only one days racing during which they held 5 races in one day.  In this fleet in NZL teams Francis/Moore and Simhony/van der Velden competed and have ended up in Silver fleet which has had no races yet in their final series.

Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are now in 5th overall and on equal points to the crew placed 4th after they crossed the line in 7th in today’s race. 

Gemma and Jason combined and opened their campaign in the new Olympic multihull early this year and have improved their results at the international regattas attended during 2013 with their best to date being a 4th at Garda and Trentino Olympic Week in Italy this May. Saunders represented New Zealand at the London Games in the Men’s 470 with Paul Snow-Hansen at the helm.

There are three final races needed to start the Medal Race scheduled for Saturday, and five to discard the worst result. That makes two discards: one in the qualification and one in the final series. For tomorrow there are three races planned for the Silver fleet and two for the Gold, but the weather forecast remains the biggest challenge.

Racing resumes at both regattas tomorrow with medals to be decided and presented on Saturday.


2013 Nacra 17 World Championship, The Hague, Netherlands
5th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (7, 3, 20, 3, 4, 7)
37th Nicole van der Velden and Tomer Simhony
59th Gareth Moore and Vicky Francis

Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are 8th in the 2013 Nacra 17 World Championship standings where points are close at the top of the leader board after five races.With an impressive 65 boat fleet, kiwi duo Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are proving themselves as solid contenders in this new Olympic class. 

Three races were sailed today (25.07.2013); the kiwis placed 20th in the opener, then 3rd and 4th in the subsequent races and are laying 8th overall at the midway mark.

2013 Nacra 17 World Championship, The Hague, Netherlands
8th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (7, 3, 20, 3, 4)
37th Nicole van der Velden and Tomer Simhony
59th Gareth Moore and Vickery Francis
http://www.nacra17class.com/worldhome/
and the link for the results:
Gold fleet after 5 qualification races
http://www.nacra17class.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FR_02___.pdf
Silver fleet after 5 qualification raceshttp://www.nacra17class.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FR_03___.pdf

The 2013 Nacra 17 World Championships got underway today but just one of two (split) fleets completed their races. Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders have made an encouraging start with a 7th and a 3rd on the water,  they are placed 2nd in the standings.The sailing conditions were difficult as the wind started to die out.

Despite spending hours on the water those in the yellow fleet including kiwi crews Nicole van der Velden & Tomer Simhony and Gareth Moore & Vickery Francis are yet to record any race results.

2013 Nacra 17 World Championship, The Hague, Netherlands
2nd Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (7, 3)
Nicole van der Velden and Tomer Simhony
Gareth Moore and Vickery Francis

Nacra17
 World
 Championship The Hague 2013

Gareth Moore              (Helm)       Vickey Francis   (Crew)
Gemma Jones            (Helm)       Jason Saunders  (Crew)
Nicole van der Velden  (Helm)       Tomer Simhony   (Crew)   


Event program

Friday 19 July                             Registration
Saturday 20 July                         Registration & equipment inspection
Sunday 21 July                           Registration & equipment inspection
Sunday 21 July                           Practise Race
Sunday 21 July                           Opening Ceremony
Monday 22 July                           3 Qualification Races
Tuesday 23 July                          3 Qualification Races
Wednesday 24 July                     2 Qualification Races
Thursday 25 July                         3 Final Races
Friday 26 July                              3 Final Races
Saturday 27 July                          1 Final Race + Medal Race
Saturday 27 July                          Prize giving (1800 hour)


http://www.nacra17class.com/%E2%80%A9nacra17world%E2%80%A9championship%E2%80%A92013/event-program/

http://www.nacra17class.com/gallery-22-july/

http://www.nacra17class.com/nicole-van-der-velden/

NEW ZEALAND’S NACRA 17 SAILORS: FROM KIEL TO DEN HAAG FOR WORLD CHAMPS

Two New Zealand Nacra 17 crews including Jason Saunders and Gemma Jones, and Tomer Simhony and Nicole Van der Velden are counting down for the upcoming World Championships.

Having just completed Kiel Week both crews and are en route to Den Haag, the Netherlands to set up for three weeks training before the Nacra 17 World Championships.

Kiel Week was a good regatta for both crews with Jason and Gemma making the top six medal race in fourth position. 

The medal race was very windy 23 knots gusting 30 and freezing cold.  They were the only combination of female helm and male crew in the medal race and it would appear that the male helms are experienced cat sailors and therefore have that on their side for now, but the general consensus is that in the end the combo of female helm and male crew will work better. However the jury is still out on this and on the optimum weight for the boat.

Jason and Gemma finished 6th and Tomer and Nicole 13th

The Nacra 17s are having a few teething problems and the kiwis are needing to get work done on their centre cases which are resulting in some leaking of the hulls and also causing the foils to not always stay up which is a problem down wind. 

Many of the European crews have managed to get this fixed but the kiwis only arrived back in Europe four days before Kiel Week regatta so some work to be done. Otherwise the boats are very good and are proving popular.

The Nacra sailors are very friendly and the culture is great with everyone enjoying the learning experience.  Nacra are totally oversubscribed with it being impossible to even buy sails before the Worlds (20-28 July).  They are hopeful of 70 boats at the first Nacra 17 World Championships in Den Haag, Netherlands.

A further crew will join the New Zealanders in Den Haag and compete at Worlds:
Gareth Moore and Vicky Francis 
Briar Dye-Hutchinson and Sam MacKenzie are purchasing a Nacra 17 to be shipped to New Zealand for the summer.

Anton Paz, Olympic 49er sailor from Spain, is going to be coaching the team during the World Champs and Murray Jones will coach them in the lead up.

http://livecenter.kieler-woche.de/classes/nacra-17/

Jason and Gemma finished 6th and Tomer and Nicole 13th.

The International Nacra 17 Class Association of NZ Inc.
has been formed in New Zealand to support the Olympic multihull catamaran – 
the Nacra 17.



There are currently three kiwi crews in Europe who have already purchased boats and to further build the fleet the Class Association intends to purchase another three Nacra 17 Class boats to have here in New Zealand. 

The first ever 2013 Nacra 17 World Championships are to be held in Holland at the end of July and the Class Association hopes to have four crews competing at this event.  They will travel to Holland with a manager and coach. This is an exciting time for catamaran sailing and offers a great opportunity for New Zealand.

The Worlds team includes

Gemma Jones & Jason Saunders

Tomer Simhony & Nicole van der Velden

Vicky Francis & Gareth Moore

Briar Dye-Hutchison & James Sandal

Coach : Anton Paz (Spain)

The current crop of sailors that have chosen to campaign the Nacra 17 for the Olympics have all come through the Optimist, Youth and Olympic Classes and have a wealth of international experience and results. 

2012 Olympian in the Men’s 470 class Jason Saunders has paired with Gemma Jones to campaign in the mixed multihull. The pair have sailed three major internationals already including ISAF Sailing World Cup Regattas in Palma, Spain and Hyeres, France, as well as the opening EUROSAF Regatta in Lake Garda in early May where they placed 4th.

Olympian Jason Saunders reports in with a campaign update…

Back in January Gemma [Jones] and I decided to team up in the exciting new Olympic class catamaran called the Nacra 17, with Gemma helming and myself crewing. The class is a mixed combination, where a girl and a guy sail together, deciding between themselves who is helming and crewing. The Nacra 17 is a brand new class designed specifically for the Olympics, and with the help of some cool design ideas, is the fastest on the circuit!

Because I am so new to the multihull scene, and Gemma is new to the European circuit, we decided on a program this year that included a lot of racing and as much time as possible with the new boats. With this in mind we opted to go first to Palma for the first World Cup event of the year, then to Hyeres, France and lastly a smaller event in Garda, Italy.

So off to Europe we went, and the first hurdle we had to overcome was figuring out how to put the boats together! We basically got given a manual to follow and all the parts we needed, and had to figure the rest out ourselves. Luckily with the help of a few people along the way, and some long days doing boat work we managed to get it all together and looking like a pretty speedy machine! Palma came around quickly and we were looking forward to the big learning curve ahead.

Our goals going into the regatta were to enjoy ourselves and just learn as much as possible about what the boats and what the experienced teams were doing. The regatta provided a good mix of conditions and provided us with a good look at what the racing was all about! We ended the regatta in 20th place but were happy with our progress and had a couple of good races during the event.

Next up we had a low key training regatta in Barcelona where we wanted to work specifically on our boat handling in a less intense environment. This was a great lead in to the next World Cup event in Hyeres, where all the top boats were competing again. The regatta started off a bit rocky for us but got better as it went on, and by the last day we were in with a chance to make the top 10 medal race. We had a solid last day but unfortunately ended up missing out by 1 point! Still we were very happy with our improvements and felt we were starting to get a better feel for the boat.

Last on the agenda was a smaller regatta on the famous Lake Garda in Italy. We were looking forward to showing what we could do and wanted to get a good result. We almost didn’t make the start line though… one morning we came down to the club to go sailing to find our boat upside down with the mast sticking out at a 90 degree angle! Apparently during the night our boat got hit by a freak wind gust and got blown off our trailer down a rocky bank. The mast was bent in half and we had a few scratches and dings on our boat, but really it could have been a lot worse! Luckily for us we had a spare mast we could use thanks to Tomer who had gone home and was missing the event.

So after we managed to sort everything out after that excitement it was time for the regatta to start! We had made some big improvements with our speed, especially in light winds and this helped us to get some good results over the next few days. We sailed well all week in some variable conditions, and going into the medal race we were in second overall! The new format being trialled out meant that only the top 6 were able to race, and you added the medal race result to your place going into the medal race and the winners were found. If it came down to a tie the person who beat the other in the medal race won on count-back. It basically meant that after a week of racing it all came down to one race! Unfortunately the race didn’t go well for us.. just before the start we dropped our gennaker and the retrieval line broke meaning we couldn’t pull the gennaker into the bag. We tried to fix it but weren’t able to and had to sail the race without using it. This meant we dropped to 4th overall which wasn’t the best way to finish the week, but there were a lot of positives to take away.

 It all got pretty hectic from here! We had a mad rush to pack up the boat and had to leave as soon as we could to Geneva that night. A slight brain fade from Gemma meant she had left her passport behind in France and it was currently lost in the post somewhere.. Anyway to cut a long story short we drove to 2:30 in the morning that night, got up early the next morning to get Gemma a temporary passport, then drove to Zurich to drop off our boats and fly out that evening. By the time we got on the plane we were completely exhausted!

Everything else went smoothly enough and we arrived in New Zealand after a long but successful trip. We were very happy with how fast we were picking it up and really enjoyed the racing. We are home now for a couple of weeks before heading off again to build up to our World Championships this July in Holland. We will keep everyone posted with how things are going and are really looking forward to the rest of the year!

Later on in the year I have also been selected along with six others to represent the NZL Sailing Team with Emirates Team New Zealand at the Red Bull Youth Americas Cup. This is the first regatta of it’s kind and we will be racing on the exciting AC45’s! It is an amazing opportunity for our team and we are looking to put in a really good result. We are currently trying to fundraise to get over to San Francisco and could use as much help as possible! If anyone is able to donate or knows someone that can help out we are doing this thing called Thrill Pledge that people can get involved with and get behind our team! 

Will keep everyone posted on our year as it progresses!
Jason

EUROSAF Regatta, Garda
The five day regatta wrapped up overnight in picturesque Lake Garda, Italy where yet another new format for scoring was being trialled.

The Nacra 17 is new to Olympic competition set to debut as the mixed multihull class in 2016 and New Zealand’s pair of Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders has had a solid week in Garda to finish 4th overall. The result bodes well for the future and Jones and Saunders proving they’re a crew to watch.

EUROSAF 2013 Champions Sailing Cup: Vela Garda Trentino
New Zealand’s Final Results
Nacra 17 (20 boats)
4th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders


About EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup

The Eurosaf Champions Sailing Cup is based on five top European events for Olympic and Paralympic Classes. The EUROSAF series follows the ISAF Sailing World Cup Series. The series, which complements the ISAF Sailing World Cup, is based on established regattas within Europe, in order to guarantee the highest level of event and race management.

Regattas included are: 

• Fraglia Vela Riva 8-12 May, Italy
• Delta Lloyd Regatta  21-25 May, Netherlands
• Sail for Gold 8-12 June, United Kingdom
• Kieler Woche 22/26 June, Germany
• Semaine Olympique Française 9-13 Oct, France

http://www.velagardatrentino.com/cId/115/pagina.aspx
Highlights video footage here: http://www.velagardatrentino.com/lang/en-US/ncName/Videos/news.aspx
Find images here: http://www.slidebox.it/Other/Garda-Trentino-Olympic-Week/29337707_7gcxtG#!i=2502867883&k=dt55CKc

Results of Final Race
Garda Trentino, 12 mai 2013 
Starts with “good wind” the  Eurosaf Champions Cup Sailing, that took place on the Garda Lake, Italy, from May 8th to 12th.
Is called “L’Ora”, and is  the wind that blows, sharp at noon, on the Garda Lake. This wind  allowed to play all the Final Race of the nine Olympic classes in the race.


The new format of the international regatta Eurosaf has been successfully tested for the first time in Italy, in this event, involving over 43 countries, and a good presence of Olympic medals. So begins a new four-year to the next Olympic Games, with two new Olympic classes, whose official test was made right on Garda Lake. We are talking about Nacra17, the first “mixed crew” class. 

Nacra17 
No          Sailno         Name                                                                    Scores  1     2
1   AUT  35      Zajac Thomas, Frank Tanja Chiara, BYC                       3,0       1      2
2  AUS  36      Waterhouse Jason, RPAYC                                            4,0       3      1
3  ITA    37      Bissaro Vittorio, Sicouri Silvia, Fraglia Vela Malcesine 7,0        4     3
4  NZL  102    Jones Gemma, Saunders Jason, MBSC                         8,0        2     6
5  ITA    55     Salvà Federica, Bianchi Francesco, Fraglia Vela MalC.  9,0       5     4
6  ITA    91     Porro Francesco, Banti Caterina Marianna, C.C.Anien  11,0       6     5