Posts Tagged ‘USA’

The 2010 Red Bull Air Racing World Championship had an inauspicious start this year when in the second race of the series in Perth, Australia the first ever crash in the events 7 year history was recorded.

Adilson Kindlemann of Brazil lost control of his aircraft after rounding a pylon during practice. Kindlemann managed a near wings level impact, but as the aircraft’s fixed landing gear dug into the water, the aircraft flipped, leaving Kindlemann and the aircraft floating upside down in Perth’s Swan River. As you can see, Red Bull rescue crews arrived quickly to the inverted MXS-R aerobatic race plane and Kindlemann was pulled out alive. Amazingly his injuries were minor – but he was unable to fly when his home country hosted a race last weekend.

The crash is recorded here by AVweb –

As can be seen in the picture below the weather was not looking good for the race which was held off Rio de Janiero’s Flamengo Beach in front of huge crowds. Unfortunately the Top 12 round on Sunday had to be cancelled due to the poor weather and the race placings and points were determined by the pilots times in qualification.

Hannes Arch of Austria was declared the winner and Britain’s Nigel Lamb was awarded second place while championship leader Paul Bonhomme was forced to settle with a disappointing third place in the third race of the 2010 season.

This leaves the 2010 World Championship scoreboard after 3 events with Bonhomme narrowly clinging to his lead – see below.

POS	PILOT	NAT	ABU DHABI	PERTH	RIO	PTS
1	Paul Bonhomme	GBR	12	9+1	9	31
2	Nigel Lamb	GBR	10	8	10	28
3	Hannes Arch	AUT	1+1	12	12+1	27
4	Matt Hall	AUS	4	10	8	22
5	Pete McLeod	CAN	7	7	5	19

Fortunately the Brazilian babes were not deterred and on the Saturday it was not only the planes that drew the photographers attention.

The video below shows action from Rio – both the video and pictures come from Redbullairrace

The remaining race schedule is as follows:

• June 5/6 – Windsor, Ontario, Canada
• June 19/20 – New York, NY, USA
• August 7/8 – EuroSpeedway, Lausitz, Germany
• August 19/20 – Budapest, Hungary
• September 4/5 – Lisbon, Portugal

Tickets and information for any of these events can be obtained from the following link:

http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Generic/Tickets-and-Hospitality-021242756456959?CategoryName=Red+Bull+Air+Race&p=1238611393596

Yesterday we talked about the skeleton event at the forthcoming Winter Olympics to be held in Whistler, Vancouver, Canada and today we turn our attention to an extreme sport that is closely related to skeleton – the luge.

In luge – the French word for “sled” – racers begin by sitting on open fibreglass sleds. Pulling on fixed handles in the ice, they burst out of the start. After this explosive start, they use spiked gloves on the ice surface for extra acceleration before lying down on their backs, feet stretched out in front of them, heads back to be as aerodynamic as possible. Luge racers steer using their legs and shoulders, and brake by sitting up, putting their feet down and pulling up on the sled runners.

Therefore the fundamental difference between skeleton and luge is that the skeleton pilots go down the track head first lying on their stomachs whereas the luge pilots are feet first lying on their back. Which is crazier we are not sure – but a similarity would appear to be that you can see very little be it luge or skeleton.

Luge races have grown considerably faster with refrigerated luge tracks and aerodynamic equipment, so that speeds now regularly reach 140 kilometres an hour or more and G-forces reach over 5G.

The singles events consist of four heats over two days. The individual with the lowest combined time over the four runs wins. Men and women compete on the same track, but the women and doubles begin further down the course. The four-run format is unique to the Olympic Winter Games and designed to reward consistency, endurance and ability to withstand pressure – particularly on the second day.

The doubles event consists of two runs over one day, with the fastest total time determining the winner. All events in luge are timed to the thousandth of a second.

Two athletes — Peter Minsch of Switzerland and George Robertson of Australia — who in February 1883 instigated what was called “The Great International Sled Race”. Their time: 9 minutes and 15 seconds, to slide down a four kilometre track joining the Swiss villages of Klosters and Davos was nothing very special but that didn’t matter – it was the idea that mattered.  But it was not until 1964 that luge for men, women and doubles made its Olympic debut at the Games in Innsbruck.

The action kicks off right at the beginning of the games with the men’s singles competition being held over the 13th and 14th Feb. Then it is the turn of the girls who race over the 15th and 16th of Feb – and finally the doubles who compete on Feb 17th.

The favourites for medals in the luge are the Germans who have dominated the event for the last 10 years and in all probability they have a very good chance of winning again. But strong competition usually comes from Austria, Italy, Russia and the USA but with home advantage see what the 2010 Olympics Luge Coach Wolfgang Staudinger says about the Luge Canada team’s chances at the Vancouver 2010 Games. Thanks RayVanEng for the video.

The Canadian team have monopolised the tracks at Whistler in sports such as the skeleton – gaining an advantage over their opponents. All the other visiting nations will have just six practice runs under Games conditions when they get to Whistler to take them to a total of 40 descents each on the track before the skeleton gets under way on 18 February. The Canadians will be up near the 400 mark.

There are two individual skeleton events in the Olympic Games: one for men and one for women. Both events consist of four heats held over two days, timed electronically to 0.01 seconds. The individual with the lowest combined time wins. The tracks run from 1200 – 1650 m, 1200 m of which are downhill

Men’s skeleton was raced at the 1928 and 1948 Olympic Winter Games, both in St. Moritz. Skeleton then re-appeared as a permanent Olympic sport for both men and women at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Skeleton got its name from the sled used — originally metal, now fiberglass and metal — as it resembles a human skeleton. To start, a skeleton slider grasps the handles on either side of the sled, runs as fast as possible for approximately 50 metres, then dives head first onto the sled. Sliders lie on their stomachs and steer by shifting their bodies very slightly.

Like the other sliding sports of bobsleigh and luge, the start is crucial in skeleton — where a tenth of a second lead at the start can become three-tenths of a second by the bottom of the run. These athletes train much like sprinters to develop the powerful legs they need to explode onto the track. But speed is not the only factor: they must also find the best line and steer smoothly through each turn to keep their speed high.

Canadian skeleton slider Mellisa Hollingsworth won a bronze medal for Canada at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games shortly after winning the overall World Cup title that season and will start as one of the favourites for the women’s event in Whistler.

She will have to be in top form as speeds of up to 140 kmh can be achieved on what is believed to be the fastest track in the world. Athletes  from Germany, Latvia, United States, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, Canada, Korea, Australia, Russia, Norway, Japan, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, France, New Zealand, Ireland, Slovenia,  Bermuda will be lining up to challenge her.

And why not use the home advantage – wouldn’t you – and what else is home advantage for? The Canadians deserve a good return in terms of medals for putting on what we are sure will be a great Winter Olympics – bring them on!

The video below from Blickinsfreie shows you how skeleton is done.

This video from newsliders gives you an idea of the speed you attain as it is filmed from a camera attached to the helmet of the skeleton pilot – terrrrifying!

There are eight teams entered and they include an international mix with the United States, Great Britain, France, Sweden, New Zealand, France, Germany,  Russia and Italy all represented.

The competition started on September 7th in the Bay of Angels on the Cote d’Azur in the south of France. Due to the deep waters of the Bay des Angels, racing for the Louis Vuitton Trophy at Nice Côte d’Azur takes place a few hundred meters from the shore and against the backdrop of the Alps, which plunge at different points straight into the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. A compelling setting.

Winds from the north in the morning of between 6 and 10 knots are the norm and these generally shift to the southeast or southwest in the afternoon and can build up to 15 knots.

Stage 1 is a round robin for all eight teams. Up to four races per day are scheduled through the conclusion of the round robin and will last no longer than one hour in duration.

Here is some action from the first round kindly provided by louisvuittontrophytv

After the first round robin it was the Emirates Team New Zealand who shared joint first place with Azzurra (Italy) both on 6 points.

Stage 2 is a knockout series designed to allow participants to keep sailing as long as possible.

Stage 3 is the knockout semifinals and final. The racing is now drawing to a conclusion with the semi finals having just started. In the first semi final the Italian team Azzurra defeated the British team: the Italian crew played the right side of the course on the first upwind leg and led by 9 seconds at the windward mark.

The British crew tacked to starboard to leeward of Azzurra but the Italians did a wonderful job and increased their lead to 27 seconds at the leeward gate, and then protected the right side of the second upwind leg to increase its lead to 1:16 beginning the run to the finish. The wind lessened throughout this match, from a high of 9 knots to less than 5 at the finish.

BMW Oracle will be the next match up against the inexperienced French team TFS-Pages Jaunes, then the Russian team Synergy sail against Emirates Team NZ – who on the form to date are the team to beat – and finally we will see the Swedish team Artemis take on the host team, All4one, which is a combined French/German entry.

Here’s some action from the same source from round 2.

With only three days left of competition the semi finals will come thick and fast – we will keep you posted and should you wish to visit the Louis Vuitton website click the link here  http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/home/

All of this is of course the precursor of the America’s Cup – have you bought your tickets yet for Ras Al Khaimah – we hope not – more about that another day.

Further to our blog a couple of days ago about global warning – Scuba diving has a bleak future, October 21st – we want you all to know about October 24th – a day of action – OH AND HELLO - THAT’S TOMORROW!

350.org are the coordinators behind a day of worldwide activity – it has been dubbed ‘INTERNATIONAL DAY OF CLIMATE ACTION’ – a day of the most widespread environmental action in the planet’s history.

There will be big rallies in big cities, and incredible creative actions across the globe: mountain climbers on our highest peaks with banners, underwater demonstrations in island nations threatened by sea level rise, churches and mosques and synagogues and ashrams engaged in symbolic action, star athletes organizing mass bike rides—and hundreds upon hundreds of community events to raise awareness of the need for urgent action.

Their website tells us there will be 4227 actions in 170 countries.

Every event will highlight the number 350 – the most important number in the world—it’s what scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Two years ago, after leading climatologists observed rapid ice melt in the Arctic and other frightening signs of climate change, they issued a series of studies showing that the planet faced both human and natural disaster if atmospheric concentrations of CO2 remained above 350 parts per million.

Right now, mostly because we’ve burned so much fossil fuel, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 is 390 ppm—that’s way too high, and it’s why ice is melting, drought is spreading, forests are dying. To bring that number down, the first task is to stop putting more carbon into the atmosphere. That means a very fast transition to sun and wind and other renewable forms of power. If we can stop pouring more carbon into the atmosphere, then forests and oceans will slowly suck some of it out of the air and return us to safe levels.

OK – on most of the above we are agreed and therefore when people agree they mobilise, and when people mobilise, whether they be from the USA, China or the Maldives, they can and will have influence on their governments.

It is going to be tough, some unpleasant decisions are going to have to be made – but unless we let our voices be heard government will do as little as possible.

We are pleased to support www.350.org and we urge you to click on the link and sign up so your voice too can be heard – shout loud!

Here is the video from  350org extremely important stuff

Photo courtesy of Carlo Borlenghi – Alinghi

So here she is – the defender for the 33rd Americas Cup – to be held just off the coast of the United Arab Emirates at Ras Al Khaimah in February of next year – Alinghi 5. Team president, Ernesto Bertarelli, who is Italian by birth and moved to Switzerland in 1977, is a successful and passionate sailor who has raced at the highest level for most of his life,  is 100% committed to retaining the trophy with Alinghi 5.

But first a little history which goes some way to explaing why The Americas Cup is so special – thanks to Hamish Ross for this insight.

‘The America’s Cup is a symbol of yachting supremacy. Winning the America’s Cup is one of the most difficult sporting accomplishments possible.

The Cup itself was made in 1848 by Garrards of London who were, at the time, the Royal Jewellers. The Cup was one of several identical cups made at the time. It languished at Garrards, unsold, for several years until it was purchased by the Royal Yacht Squadron as a trophy for a special race held in the year of the Great Exhibition of 1851 held in London. Now, it is a priceless sporting treasure.

A syndicate of 5 members of the New York Yacht Club built and sailed a schooner they called America to Britain where it entered the Royal Yacht Squadron’s race which was open to all nations but in fact was only raced by America and other yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron. America convincingly won the race and took the Cup home to New York amongst great acclaim’……..they then continuously held the cup for 132 years until 1983.

Since then, besides the American team who held the trophy from 1987 to 1995 it has been won by 4 other nations – Australia, New Zealand, Italy and now Switzerland.

The Swiss won The Americas Cup in 2003, defended it again in 2007 against a Kiwi challenge and will face the challenge of the Golen Gate Yacht Club in 2010 – Larry Ellison will do all he can with USA to bring the cup home.

Alinghi 5

We wrote about BOR90 – or USA – as she is now called – in a previous blog. This is what she is challenging.

Alinghi 5 is a 90ft multihull with a beam comparable to the width of two tennis courts set side by side and a mast that towers some 17 stories high. The boat was launched on the 8 July and underwent its maiden sail on the 20 July on Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

On the 7 August, the catamaran was transported by helicopter from its home port of Lake Geneva to a temporary training base in Genoa, Italy from where it was reported in early September that she had suffered a structural failure. We understand that she is now in transit to RAK where trials and testing will continue.

In the video from AdonnanteTv below you can see she is a very fast boat – the challenge has been made, is the defender ready?