Roberto Westerman, sailmaker and skipper of the Open 40 “Spinning Wheel” finishes his Ostar in third place. The boat is equipped with sails that he designed and built using Spidertech™ Technology and skins.

For the Spidertech™ Team, Roberto’s personal achievement is a source of great satisfaction. The Ostar was a tough trial for both the boat and its equipment. The sails were subjected to demanding conditions yet proved to be extremely reliable and took Roberto all the way to the podium. Our congratulations go to this courageous man who proved that he has a place in the world of offshore racing, together with Spidertech™.

Contacted by our team whilst still in USA he gave us a first short story.

I have spoken at length with Roberto over the phone about the race and the sails.

As far as the race is concerned, Roberto has been quite unfortunate, during the very first days he experienced a problem with the auto pilot which forced him to spend long sleepless hours at the helm. On top of that, he had a major problem with the rudders: the windward rudder was getting badly punished by the waves so that quickly the bearings and the attachments were being put at risk. He slowed down severely and at this point the winner opened up a lead of 250 miles, that he carried with him until the end of the race. Even once he managed to set up a patched up repair (a machine box with spectra cabling to keep one rudder close to the hull and the windward one lifted) he was never in the position to use all the power he had at his disposal, to avoid accidental broaches or tacking which would have certainly destroyed the rudders.

He is very happy with his third place although the race left him with a slightly bitter taste. Talking about the sails he was very satisfied. Before the start, many other skippers told him that he was crazy to take the start with such light sails, but in fact they held very well despite the tough conditions and the fact that the sails raced reefed all the time.

Spinning Wheel - the arrival

The mainsail is badly crunched half the way up on the leech, not because of the material, but because he made a mistake building the leech line which could have been tightened only from the third reef up. The consequence was that the leech was vibrating throughout the race. Obviously the vibration slightly cut the leech. The good thing was that the cut did not propagate, so a bit of grey tape did the repair needed.

He made cuts in the lower part of the sail. (but with a knife!) to let the water out when the sail was reefed so as to avoid excessive heel and excessive load on the rudder. These cuts never spread or started any sort of de-lamination.

The code zero though was the sail that impressed Roberto most. He called it “a real powerful tool”, “the force of Nature”. No problem even with this sail, always furled on an anti-torsion cable, folded with little angles and very often left on the deck with waves and anti skid working to destroy it.
He talked about the sails of some other competitors, string fibred too. He reckons that they were very heavy, badly and excessively fibred up. They all had severe breakages not so much in the laminates, but for lack of local fibre reinforcements, (only Spidertech™ allows a higher level of detailed structure), as a result none of those sailors were happy with their sails.

On arrival Billy Black took some pictures. Two pictures are shown here: one was taken at the start and one at the end. The picture taken at the end is taken in 3 knots of True Wind. The boat is sailing at 6 knots under his Ciccio’s Code (Ciccio Manzoli, the solo sailor, intimate friend of Roberto, suggested that sail…)

A more detailed report will follow once Roberto has had the chance to grab some sleep…

Spinning Wheel - racing

Trieste - Dal 12 al 14 giugno si è svolta a Porto San Rocco la seconda edizione del Trofeo Internazionale IRC dell’Adriatico. La regata, riservata alle imbarcazioni stazzate IRC, è inserita all’interno della Settimana Internazionale dei 3 Golfi, giunta ormai alla quinta edizione.
Regata di altissimo livello tecnico e flotta internazionale nutrita che vedeva schierate le barche più competitive dell’alto Adriatico, nonostante la concomitanza di altre manifestazioni. “Grey Witch”, il T-34 appena uscito dal Cantiere T-Yachts che mostra vele della veleria Wave-Dogs realizzate con Spidertech™ Sistema Integrato, partecipa con il suo motivatissimo equipaggio, pur essendo ancora in fase di ottimizzazione. Il campionato vede disputarsi 7 prove estremamente tecniche e combattute, specie nel 2° gruppo, quello del T-34, composto da 18 imbarcazioni.
Le regate sono di livello molto alto ed in tutte le prove “Grey Witch” continua a dimostrare buone caratteristiche veliche e la qualità del proprio equipaggio, sempre attento a cogliere ogni opportunità ed a combattere su ogni bordo contro gli agguerritissimi avversari. I risultati delle prove sono entusiasmanti raccogliendo tra gli altri un secondo ed un terzo posto di giornata. “Il gioco degli scarti e dei compensi ci vede posizionati al 4° posto nella classifica finale, un risultato strabiliante considerata la fase di preparazione della barca in cui ci troviamo, ed alcune “anomalie” di gestione delle iscrizioni e dei certificati che hanno distolto la nostra attenzione dai competitors diretti. La barca certo si è fatta notare da tutti, e da completo out-sider è divenuta una barca da osservare ed un avversario da battere sul campo, condotta egregiamente da un equipaggio capace di primeggiare su tutti. Pur con un po’ di amaro in bocca per la terza piazza mancata e a portata di mano, torniamo a casa estremamente motivati avendo percepito su di un campo super-tecnico e combattuto che ci sono ampie possibilità di competere anche a questo livello, avendo la barca e l’equipaggio dimostrato che la preparazione da completare ci può portare a primeggiare con i migliori” dichiara l’armaotore. Soddisfatto per la tenuta delle vele Aaron della veleria Wave-Dogs che ha contato ancora una volta nella tecnologia Spidertech™ Sistema Integrato per questa ambiziosa gara.

Grey Witch in regata

Monfalcone - si è conclusa il 25 maggio scorso la Combinata Velica Monfalconese. Quattro prove organizzate dalle quattro differenti Società del Monfalconese che hanno visto partecipare un gruppo nutrito di concorrenti di buona qualità. La flotta IRC era quella con più di alto contenuto tecnico, ma purtroppo con imbarcazioni molto diverse tra loro. Il sistema dei compensi, basato sul BSF che notoriamente non tiene conto delle condizioni meteo ma del solo tempo di percorrenza, ha alla fine decretato il vincitore (un first 44.7 ottimizzato IRC) alle spalle del quale, su una prestigiosissima piazza d’onore, si è posizionato il T-34 “Grey Witch” armato Timavo Yachts, con vele realizzate dalla Veleria Wave-Dogs con il sistema di pregettazione Spidertech™ Sistema Integrato.
“Grey Witch” è una barca standard ed appena varata, capace di stupire tutti con un equipaggio di altissimo livello e che ha raccolto 4 prestigiosi podi in altrettante regate. La combinata ci ha visti alla fine secondi classificati IRC, compiendo quello che all’iscrizione era considerato un miracolo per il poco tempo avuto a disposizione e per il molto lavoro di ottimizzazione che ancora resta da fare.

Grey Witch in regata

The Spidertech™ team would like to congratulate Nico Brabers and his team Lenco on their overall victory in class ORC2 of the North Sea Regatta. The sails for their Salona 37 was designed by UK Halsey/De Vries and the skins constructed with Spidertech™ technology.

The sails were tested in all conditions as the North Sea Regatta consists of two offshore races and 9 inshore races and performed vey well.

Team Lenco also came second in the very first Lenco Regatta in April this year at Flevo Marina Lelystad in Class ORC2

Vuurschepenrace

The first offshore race is from Scheveningen in Holland to Woolverstone in the UK. The race is approximately 110 nautical miles. The second offshore race is back from the UK to Scheveningen. This race at 200 nautical miles is significantly longer as the course is routed to the north, direction Lowestoft, and then to the east in the direction of Ijmuiden before returning south towards Scheveningen.

Tuesday 19 th of May

Crew: Pieter Muus, Jeroen and Nico Brabers, Dennis de Ruiter, Jeroen Werkhoven, Ad Kamsma, Naut Biegel, and Balthasar Heesters .

Team Lenco had a very good start and rounded the windwardmark in first position. They lost some time during the night as they had some difficulty trimming the sails at night. In spite of this they were 2nd over the line in class after about 20 hours at sea.

Team Lenco ended in 3d position on handicap, Redan was 2nd and Elenoire that arrived 1.5 hours later was in 1st.

Not a bad start to the campaign and time to rest before the next race.

Friday 22 nd of May.

Once again an excellent start and Team Lenco was 5th around the mark, breathing down the necks of the other boats. Around the mark they hoisted the spinnaker and started gaining ground. Afterwards back on the wind and due to excellent tactics also using the tide they rounded the next mark in 1st place.

Now Team Lenco were really in the groove and not only were they increasing their lead to the rest of their class, but they were starting to catch some of the boats in ORC1 and IRC1 that started 10 minutes before them! Their excellent preparation of the boat and the sail wardrobe, meant they could concentrate 100% on the sailing without dealing with any problems.

Until the early evening Team Lenco were steaming away, but then mother nature stepped in. Around 21:00 the wind died and Team Lenco started drifting slowly towards the Smith Knol, a mark they had to round after about a further 20 miles. Slowly other boats behind them came into sight again and close to Smith Knol the pack were all together again.

Moshulu lay directly behind and rounded the mark a few seconds behind Team Lenco. The race practically had a new start and Team Lenco had lost their hard won advantage. The wind started fillng again and once again Team Lenco started increasing their lead, but they couldn’t shake off Moshulu although they were becoming “smaller” in the distance.

A few hours later and once again the wind died and Team Lenco were drifting on the tide in the direction of Ijmuiden. They had to resign themselves to drifting for a while with Moshulu in sight once again.

Team Lenco felt a slight gust and a windshift and decided to gamble and hoist their Spinnaker. The gamble paid off and they were the first to get going again. As they looked behind them they could see Spinnakers being hoisted on all the other boats.

Team Lenco won line honours in ORC2 at 23:00 after 35 hours at sea. Moshulu arrived 15 minutes afterwards, winning on handicap, with Team Lenco 2nd on handicap.

Overall Team Lenco now lay in 1st position due to their consistent performance in both races. Not a bad position to be in before the inshore races of the next weekend.

North Sea Regatta INSHORE RACES

Crew: Nico and Jeroen Brabers, Naut Biegel, Pieter Dibbits, Pieter Muus, Balthasar Heesters, Ad Kamsma, Jeroen Werkhoven and Jelle de Wit

The North Sea Regatta was blessed with fantastic weather, sun and wind for all of the races. The first three days consisted of short upwind and downwind legs. So that meant hardwork for the teams with a lot of spinnaker hoists, drops and all of that on the North Sea with variable tides, so quite a complicated affair. Team Lenco was competing in a very competitive field of around 36 boats.

Day 1: HOUTRUST CUP

Race 1: Line honours for Team Lenco, but as it was a very tightly fought race, on handicap only 7th
Race 2: Once again line honours for Team Lenco, but this time a much beter 2nd on handicap.

Overall Team Lenco came 3d and on the podium for the Houtrust Cup.

Day 2 & 3: YEOMAN CUP

Race 1: Line honours for Team Lenco, but again only 7th on handicap.
Race 2: A terrible start, a penalty round for touching a mark, but thanks to good boatspeed, still a 9th place finish.
Race 3: A good recovery and a 3d place finish.

The next day:

Race 1: An average start, once again line honours, but thanks to the handicap only 7th place.
Race 2: A very bad start, starting in the 2nd row, at the very last place. Time for some serious boatspeed and in the end a hard fought 9th place!
Race 3: Perfect start, off the line in first place, but choosing the coastal side proved a mistake and the boats going on the seaward side proved to have a significant advantage. The seaward boats came to the windward mark far ahead of Team Lenco. On top of this a mishap with the spinnaker resulted in a dissapointing 14th place

Overall Team Lenco finished in 5th place for the Yeoman Cup

Day 4: FJELLSTO CUP

Day 4 saw a much longer race and Team Lenco decided not to take any risks and to sail a defensive race marking the competition. After a perfect start Team Lenco was at the head of the field and stayed there which resulted in a satisfying 2nd place.

Thanks to the excellent offshore performance of Team Lenco they won the North Sea regatta overall in class ORC2 and the team can look back on a hard fought campaign with a lot of pride in their performance.

Team Lenco have had quite a season so far. They came second in the inaugral Lenco regatta in ORC2 in a competiitve field of 11 boats in their class.

Lenco Regatta:
http://www.lenco.eu/regatta/
For more news on Team Lenco visit their website at:
http://www.lenco-sailingteam.com/

IL 25 maggio alle ore 12:30 è partita la OSTAR (Original Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race), storica regata Transatlantica in solitario da Plymouth (Inghilterra) a Newport (Stati Uniti) che vede schierata la flotta di 31 solitari. Tra loro ben 4 italiani, Gianfranco Tortolani, Roberto Westermann, Marco Nannini, Luca Zoccoli. Il percorso di questa celebre regata, nata nel 1960 da un’idea del colonnello inglese H. G. Hasler, è sempre lo stesso: 2.800 miglia attraverso l’Atlantico fino a Newport, su una rotta al di sopra dell’Equatore resa impegnativa dai venti contrari, fitta nebbia e depressioni improvvise.
Roberto Westermann a bordo dell’Open 40 che lui stesso ha costruito “Spinning Wheel” con vele da lui stesso realizzate con tecnologia Spidertech™ Sistema Integrato partecipa per la terza volta, o meglio la seconda perchè nel 2005 ebbe un incidente durante il trasferimento a Plymouth e non riuscì a partire.
Roberto è senza dubbio uno dei più esperti in gara, la sua barca è un 40′ concepito per regate Open, però a vederla “è molto all round, non è estremizzata come tanti 40 che si vedono in giro, è maneggevole, in bolina si comporta molto bene, non si pianta con poco vento è confortevole e soprattutto comoda” commenta Westermann. “La barca, rispetto ad altre più larghe di ben 60cm nelle andature al traverso con vento forte soffre un po’, ma in tutte le altre andature è competitiva e poi non deve pagare un ormeggio da 16mt a causa della larghezza!” conclude il velista di Sestri Levante.
Il team Spidertech™ ringrazia Roberto per la fiducia che continua a mostrare nella tecnologia di progettazione vele e gli augura una fantatisca avventura…gli augura di vincere!!

I quattro skipper italiani alla partenza