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Scuttlebutt Europe #347 - 6 November 2003
Produced by boats.com Europe and Seahorse magazine, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com
TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE
Le Havre, France: At 10 o'clock French time exactly, the canon was fired at last for the 14 Open 60 Multihulls which have been tied to the pontoons in the Paul Vatine basin for an extra 3 days. The sea was beautifully flat, the sun already up and the wind breezing from the South East at 20-22 knots with gusts of 25 knots. All the trimarans had 1 reef in the mainsail, which they should soon take out when they round Cherbourg and then head out of the English Channel. With the wind behind them, these Formula 1 carbon racing machines flew across the line, it was Foncia first, skippered by Anglo-French duo Alain Gautier and Ellen MacArthur, followed by Groupama (Cammas/Proffit) and then Bayer (Le Peutrec/Cressant)...They are heading towards Barfleur 57m away, then Cap Hague 22m further down the coast. They are expected to enter the Atlantic Wednesday night - last time round Belgacom took no more than 11 hours to reach the mouth of the English Channel!
The 50ft multihull Mollymawk skippered by British duo Ross Hobson and Andi Newman have re-entered the race! After hitting a UFO off Ushant on Monday, the trimaran limped to Plymouth, and Ross announced on the satellite phone that they were abandoning the race. However, as they had not even had the opportunity to send through an official declaration of their abandon, once they reached port, they soon realized that they might be able to repair and restart before the 60ft multihull start today. The jury finally gave their authorization for the team to re-enter the race and Ross and Andi were able to restart over night. They are currently 4163 miles from Brazil, rounding Ushant.
Racing 200 plus miles off the Portugese coast to the west of the rhumb line, the 14 Open 60 monohulls on course are positioning themselves for the favourable NW winds a bit further down the track and the skippers can't wait to change their scenery from relentless wet boat-bashing upwind conditions to fast downwind flying. Wednesday morning the fleet came through the last of the bad weather as a strong low pressure system gripped them for several hours overnight, throwing 40 - 50 knots of headwinds at them and rough seas. Even in survival mode, leader Ecover (Golding/Thompson) managed impressive average hourly boat speeds of around 13 knots in 38 knots of wind.
The new Farr design Virbac came dangerously close to Ecover yesterday, but this seemed to motivate the Brits to find more power from their brand new Owen-Clarke steed and have since pulled ahead by 9 miles in their game of cat and mouse.
In the Open 50 Monohulls, Conrad Humphreys and Paul Larsen on Hellomoto were matching the race leader mile by mile and positioning themselves more in the west to avoid the worst of the rough seas off Cape Finisterre, but have dropped to 30 miles behind Open 50 Storagetek (Guillemot/Salnelle) due to the failure of both autopilot systems. -- Mary Ambler
* Thomas Coville & Jacques Vincent on Sodebo hit a UFO at more than 20 knots and as a result the starboard foil has broken, the two skippers nursing their boat towards Roscoff where their technical team await them. The red pizza-sponsored trimaran should reach port at 8pm local time to replace the foil and leave at around 10pm.
Elsewhere, Banque Covefi, 1 metre of their mainsail track broke off at 1500hrs local time after the start and they stopped in Cherbourg at 1700hrs: "Difficult to guess when we'll be able to leave again, " commented skipper Steve Ravussin, "but we'll know more tomorrow. We are waiting for some pieces from Lorient. It's not an easy repair job as aluminium and carbon are not compatible."
Latest position report at 0300 GMT 6 November
Open 60 monohulls:
1. Ecover, Mike Golding & Brian Thomson, 33.74.6 nm to finish
2. Virbac, Jean-Pierre Dick & Nicolas Abiven, 15.1 nm to class leader
3. Sill, Roland Jourdain & Alex Thomson, 72.0
4. PRB, Vincent Riou & Jérémie Beyou, 91.2
5. Team Cowes, Nick Moloney & Sam Davies, 131.7
6. Cheminees Poujoulat - Armor Lux, Bernard Stamm & Christophe Lebas, 148.4
7. Carrefour Prevention, Dominique Wavre & Michèle Paret, 160.5
8. Arcelor-Dunkerque, Joe Seeten & Eric Dumont, 196.7
9. Garnier, Patrick de Radiguès & Elie Canivenc, 266.2
10. 60ème Sud, Didier Munduteguy & Juan-Mari Odriozola, 291.1
11. Adecco, Bob Escoffier & Servane Escoffier, 385.0
12. Loire Atlantique, Antoine Koch & François Robert, 396.9
13. Tir Groupe, Mike Birch & Robert Birch, 515.8Note: Sebastin Josse and Isable Autissier on VMI have had an Argos beacon failure and are not recorded in the standings above. They have not withdrawn, and are estimated to be in 5th or 6th place at press time.
Open 60 Multihulls:
1. Geant, Michel Desjoyeaux & Hervé Jan, 4043.2 nm to finsh
2. TIM, Giovanni Soldini & Vittorio Malingri, .9 nm to class leader
3. Groupama, Franck Cammas & Franck Proffit, 8.9
4. Belgacom, Jean-Luc Nélias & Loick Peyron, 9.5
5. Foncia, Alain Gautier & Ellen MacArthur, 11.3
6. Biscuits La Trinitaine, Marc Guillemot & Yann Guichard, 12.2
7. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam & Kito de Pavant, 12.5
8. Sergio Tacchini, Karine Fauconnier & Damian Foxall, 14.9
9. Gitana, Lionel Lemonchois & Marc Guessard, 21.4
10. Banque Populaire, Lalou Roucayrol & Pascal Bidégorry, 25.8
11. Bayer Cropscience, Fred Le Peutrec & Julien Cressant, 27.5
12. Sopra Group, Philippe Monnet & Laurent Bourgnon, 36.0
13. Sodebo, Thomas Coville & Jacques Vincent, 37.7
14. Banque Covefi, Stève Ravussin & Yvan Ravussin, 226.3Open 50 Monohulls:
1. Storagetek, Régis Guillemot & Olivier Salnelle, 3736.4 nm to finish
2. Hellomoto, Conrad Humphreys & Paul Larsen, 17.5 nm to class leader
3. Branec III, Roger Langevin & Henriette Lemay, 138.1 nm
4. Defi Vendeenm Jean-François Durand & Stéphane Chemin, 141.0Open 50 Multihulls
1. Mollymawk, Ross Hobson & Andi Newman, 4170.05 nm to finishNORTH SAILS IN CANNES
North Sails Mediterranee opened their loft in Mouans Satroux just 5 minutes away from Autoroute exit 42 last September. This 1400 square meters of convenience for North customers in the south of France has seen a phenomenal reception from Superyachts in particular. North Sails Med actively seeks to store and service the enormous Superyacht sails. Just call +33 (0) 4 92 28 25 00 and our truck will be on the dock to take away your sails in need of repair or storage. The Manager, Marcus Lubken, is the definitive Sailmaker for south of France Superyachts. http://www.northsails-mediterranee.comCLIPPER SIGNS RIGHTS DEAL WITH DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
Clipper Ventures announced Wednesday that the port city of Durban will represent South Africa in the Clipper 2005 Round the World Yacht Race, joining the UK city of Liverpool and the State of Western Australia in a highly competitive international line-up.In a £427,000 (5m Rand) deal, the city of Durban will provide a cash rights fee and event hosting infrastructure and services during a high profile race stopover in November 2005. The Clipper fleet's stay in Durban Bay will be hosted by its main marina, served by the Point Yacht Club and Royal Natal Yacht Club.
The rugged east coast of South Africa is one of the most notorious coastlines in the world; powerful winds and huge seas are more the norm than the exception. With large Southern Ocean rollers meeting the strong flowing Agulhas current, sailing conditions can be very lively on the approach to South Africa and will test the Clipper crews to their limits.
The hunt is now on for a complement of South African men and women to crew the Durban yacht, as well as a professional South African skipper to take the helm. Many of the crews will cut their offshore teeth for the first time on the Clipper 2005 Race, as no sailing experience is required prior to joining the intense Clipper training. -- Loretta Spridgeon
http://www.clipper-ventures.com
VISITING CASCAIS AND LISBON
CupInfo.com's undercover agent conducts a reconnaissance trip to Lisbon and Cascais:From the AC consumers point of view, the other 3 prospects will need to be pretty damn good to beat Cascais/Lisbon as the host. If there is downside to this place as an AC venue then we didn't see it.
If contemplating staying in Cascais itself, though, then start saving now. The town's usual description as a weekend escape for Lisbon's well heeled is supported by the price tags in its boutiques and the number of stars on its hotel signs. I would hate to think of the what the costs would be if the AC circus comes to town.
The projected 3 race areas are spread right across the larger bay which leads to the Tagus river on which Lisbon sits. This makes it quite viable for spectator boat access to the race areas from Lisbon itself. The Lisbon waterfront has a large dock infrastructure and well established ferry terminals that I am sure the tour operators will make good use of. A bonus to competitor and spectator alike will be that much, if not all, of the race areas will be in line of sight of Cascais and the marina.
Full report at http://www.cupinfo.com/en/cascaisinspection.htm
LOOKING STRONG FOR VALENCIA
It looks like Spain has been given the nod to host the next America's Cup.A short-list of four cities has been drawn up, but rumours abound Valencia will be announced as the successful host in three weeks.
Commentator Peter Montgomery says it comes down to two, most likely Valencia but also possibly Lisbon in Portugal.
But he says Lisbon has been affected by fishing protests and Valencia appears to have the most cash.
P.J. Montgomery says the King of Spain is also involved in the Valencia bid, which appears to have pushed the Cup to a new level.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/40389.htm
BOOMS WITH THE WINNING FORMULA
During the past season Formula Spars have designed and produced moulds for several new Booms.For Racing, the SLAB BOOM features a really deep vertical section, developed to offer the most advanced performance from carbon production, optimised to give maximum vertical and lateral strength, maximum downwind area, minimum drag for windward work, and minimum weight. This new design was used devastatingly by "Bribon" in the Admiral's Cup 2003.
For Ocean Cruising, the PARK AVENUE BOOM has a wide vee section for sail collection and stowage on a strong but low weight carbon boom. This is deal for coastal and ocean sailing specifications.
PWA WORLD TOUR
Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles: The 2003 PWA world tour is set to conclude its season on the sun drenched beaches of Bonaire for the final freestyle event on the tour calendar. Commencing with Registration on 2 December the event will run through until 9 December at windy Lac Bay.The small Island of just 12,000 people is fast becoming one of the premiere windsurfing locations in the world with almost constant trade winds and mirror flat turquoise water providing perfect conditions for the freestyle discipline.
Bonaire is home to local brothers Tonky and Taty FRANS who are both currently ranked in the top ten on the freestyle tour and more importantly a whole host of young hot shots who revel in the year round training conditions at their home spot.
This years battle for the men's title is a clear cut race between Brazilian sailor Ricardo Campello and British top ranked freestyler Robby Swift. Campello cleaned up at the opening event of the season in Pozo Gran Canaria but Swift fought back to steal the show on the windswept beaches of Fuerteventura two weeks later. They now both hold equal ranking points after two events so whoever wins in Bonaire is likely become the 2003 overall freestyle champion. Also in the running for the end of year podium positions are Kauli Seadle of Brazil, Diony Guadagnino (Neil Pryde) of Venezuela and Colin Sifferlen (Starboard) of New Caledonia.
In the women's title race the battle is a three horse race between Daida Moreno of Spain, Karin Jaggi of Switzerland and Iballa Morenoof Spain. Daida Moreno currently leads the rankings after placing first in Pozo and second in Fuerteventura but both Jaggi and Iballa are hot on her heals after securing podium finishes at both events. -- Vivienne Masters
CHARTER NEWS
* Cape Town is set to join a select group of destinations listed as the "most beautiful cruising areas in the world" following the recent extension of a local franchise by the world's largest sailing, watersports and yacht charter company.As an official cruising destination of Sunsail Worldwide Sailing Ltd, which operates over 1 200 yachts at 39 bases in 23 countries worldwide, Cape Town will automatically become part of a multi-billion dollar international yacht charter industry.
The announcement, made at the Cape Boat Show in the V&A Waterfront yesterday, was welcomed by Cape Town Tourism Manager Sheryl Ozinsky, who said she was excited that Sunsail had added the Cape to its list of exotic bases which included the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Asia and Australia. -- http://www.sunsail.co.za
* The Moorings, the Clearwater, Fla.-based charter company, says it will open a base in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in April.
The company says its facility is only three miles from the historic section of the medieval city. The fleet will consist of five monohulls between 33 and 50 feet, and two catamarans - a 38- and 42-footer. -- http://www.themoorings.com
ADRIEN WILL LEAVE ON THURSDAY
"I've still got two or three little things left to do to keep me busy " joked the tall bearded man. 48 hours before the start of his global challenge, Jean-Lud Van den Heede isn't in the least bit stressed." Why would I be? If I was stressed out at the start, I'd be better off staying at home. I've been ready for a few weeks, so there are just a few last minute details to sort out. I'm finishing tidying up Adrien. I've handed over the insurance documents to Bruno (my assistant with Adrien). I'm making sure my bottles of wine are well stowed away. Otherwise they'd get broken... " jokes Jean- Luc. Up to his usual standard, the man from Amiens seems once again ready to set out on a Sunday pleasure trip, except this one will take several months, and is far away from the quiet canal tow paths.
In order to beat Philippe Monnet's record, he will have to be back in port in less than 151 days. If the route is easy to describe (around the world from East to West), in practice it's much harder to explain in detail. The same starting line, based around an imaginary line drawn between the Lizard and the island of Ushant, the same marker to pass, Antarctica, which he will leave on his port side, with everything being carried out against the wind and against the prevailing currents.
"I'll be leaving Les Sables d'Olonne on the rising tide. Pierre Lasnier is announcing a 15 to 20 knot south-easterly, which will come around to the north. It will be ideal for the start. I'll be on the line off Ushant on Friday around midday." -- Véronique Guillou
NOKIA OOPS CUP
Skipper Magnus Olsson, one of the most experienced offshore sailors in Sweden, has closed a deal with W.L.Gore & Associates for the Nokia Oops Cup 2004. Team GORE-TEX is the first boat team to announce their participation in the event next year.W.L.Gore & Associates experienced a huge interest from the event and the City Races in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo this year. The organizer Atlant Ocean Racing will increase the racing schedule for 2004 and the preliminary plans are to take the event not only to Sweden, Denmark and Norway but also to Helsinki in Finland and Poland or Germany.
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Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. - Benjamin Franklin