This year there were 35 Open 5.70 at the Worlds held in La Rochelle, France. Be sure to check out all the photos and the results.

The 2010 Open 5.70 Worlds are to be held in La Rochelle, France and will be hosted by EVR (Ecole de Voile Rochelaise). Racing takes place from October 30th through November 1st. The NOR (in French) for the race is available online. Last year there were 20 Open 5.70s competing including 3 teams from the US. The number of entries is expected to be much higher this year especially as La Rochelle is considered the home of the Open 5.70 as the French factory, Phileas Boats, is less than 20 miles from the venue.

Read about the US exploits at the Open 5.70 worlds in the latest issue (September, #79) of The Mariner.

The first day of the race saw huge desert winds. Day one of the race was canceled and bocce ball games were organized on the beach for stranded racers. But Chris said, “We didn’t come to France to play bocce ball!  Let’s take out the boat and go screaming by the beach a few times.” So we did.  At the club that night Jerome told us that everyone dropped their bocce balls and ran to the shore as we sailed by in 30+kts of wind. “What are they doing?!? The water is too shallow! The wind is too strong!” they said. “Every eye was on you!” Jerome told us.

“Readers of these pages will remember Gimmy Tranquillo as the snarling face on the monthly ElementShield.com dry shirt ads. Gimmy moved last Spring to Florence, Italy with his wife Catalina and daughter Sisi, telling friends to “come and visit!””

Find the complete article in the August #79 issue of the Mariner Magazine – pick one up or check it out online.

The Columbia Gorge Racing Association is the host for the 2009 CST Composites International Moth Class World Championships. This regatta, one of the premiere events in the world of competitive sailing, has attracted top level sailors from around the world to test their skills in the famous winds of the Columbia River Gorge. The Moth Worlds, held annually since 1933, will be returning to North America for the first time since 1976.

Photo by Pacific Fog

Be sure to check out the official event website for pictures, results and daily reports.

There is also an awesome Moth video which is well worth watching – check it out here [be patient it has been very slow to load lately].

The 3rd day started early and based on the previous day’s breeze we weren’t optimistic about their being enough wind to start racing at 11 – fortunately we were proved wrong and the breeze was up, way up, early. (more…)

Conditions on Sunday started light and as the 20 Open 5.70s made their way to the start line around noon a fresh thermal breeze of 8 – 10 knots began to fill in. (more…)

Registration opened at 10am and the first start was scheduled for 3pm. The wind was already blowing a good 20 knots from the North by the time we got to the yacht club. The wind continued to build as the race committee braved the conditions in the power boat to go out and take wind readings. (more…)

http://cvm-cam.no-ip.biz/public/livej.asp

The wind from the last couple of days had been blowing all day and all night and by this morning it had blown itself out completely and it was dead calm and ridculously hot. (more…)