Brought to you by 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
Defending Champion Markus Wieser Wins Dragon Gold Cup
Medemblik, Netherlands: Defending champion Markus Wieser wins the Dragon Gold Cup again. The professional sailor, competing for the United Arab Emirates, was in the lead of the 70th Dragon Gold Cup the whole week, but didn't get it for granted. Lawrie Smith (GBR), Yevgen Braslativ (UAE) and Lars Haigh (DEN) were close in the ranking. Surprisingly, however, Dutchman Pieter Heerema scored a second place overall after six races. By scoring a 1st and 2nd place in the last two days, he completely made a catch up. Yevgen Braslativ finally won the third prize. First Corinthian is Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen who finished in 6th place overall.
The 70th Dragon Gold Cup in Medemblik, which was sailed from 7 to 12 September, went well. On the opening day on Sunday there was no race due to lack of wind and also on Tuesday. These races were resailed on Monday and Wednesday, therefore all six scheduled races eventually were sailed. The conditions were perfectly, especially on the two last days. Moderate to strong wind, a light chop and plenty of Sun.
Final top five:
1. Markus Wieser, Pugachev Sergey, Leonchuk Georgii, UAE, 42
2. Pieter Heerema, Theis Palm, Claus Olesen, NED, 59
3. Braslavets Yevgen, Sidorov Igor, Timokhov Sergiy, UAE, 61
4. Lars Hendriksen, Frithjof Kleen, Pedro Andrade, DEN, 70
5. Anatoly Loginov, Vadim Statsenko, Alexander Shalagin, RUS, 74
One Point Wonder: Rios Takes The Championship
It doesn't get closer than this. Skipper Raul Rios and his crew Fernando Monllor won the Snipe Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship by a single point.
Going into the final day of racing, Rios was one of three teams with a real shot at nabbing the coveted title of champion.
A mere four points separated Soubie and Rios before the final race, and getting off the starting line quickly was more crucial than ever before. Rios and Monllor were in sixth place by the time the fleet made it to the gate marks. They maneuvered around their competitors with sharp tactical handling, making their way up the fleet to ultimately finish third in the race, just behind the two USA teams skippered by Diaz and Hart.
Argentinean sailors Luis Soubie and Diego Mini Lipszyc struggled to maintain their position as regatta leaders throughout the final day of racing. Though they previously did well on the first two days of the ocean course, they couldn't seem to get the starts they needed to lead either of today's races.
"Today was a disaster," Soubie said of his 25th finish in Race 9 and 10th place finish in Race 10. "We ended the day feeling like we didn't do much racing at all today. We were constantly in an emergency or getting away from trouble." Both of today's races ended up being throw out scores, making them rely on their previous four days of top finishes to secure their position in second place overall.
Final top five:
1. Raul Rios / Fernando Monllor, PUR, 30 points
2. Luis Soubie / Diego Mini Lipszyc, ARG, 31
3. Breno Bianchi / Flavio de Castro, BRA, 45
4. Rafael Gagliotti / Henrique Wisniewski, BRA, 57
5. Alexandre Tinoco / Alexandre Niederauer, USA, 66
SK2. Welcome To The New.
Click on image for SK2 Videos
The fast and fun sportsboat with a canting keel. Developed by Swing Keel Sailing Ltd and built by Ovington boats.
The SK2 will be shown at Southampton Boat Show 2014 and will be available for test sails at the show. The boat will be in the marina in berth M010. Book your test sail early by e-mailing us at or come to see us on our shore based stand at E032.
For more information on the SK2 and what it has to offer visit www.sk2sailing.com
Tornado German Open & Torbole Trophy
Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy: There were magnificent sailing days with best winds at the German Open for the Tornado catamarans in Torbole on the Lake Garda. The famous Ora wind was blowing on the 3 days of the German Championship with 3-5 Bft. and provided fantastic sailing conditions.
The 17 teams from four nations had pure sailing fun with their ultra-fast boats. But there were also tactically very challenging races, which remained exciting until the end.
For our team, everything went perfectly. With the individual results 1-2-1-1-1-2-1-4-1 we could win all the series of the Championship at the end. First we won the open class, the legendary Torbole Trophy and then also the mixed ranking.
Last year on the final day of the German Championship we broke our mast and lost the title. This year it was a great feeling that it was running smoothly from the beginning until the end of the regatta.
Even though we drove a very consistent series with many race wins, it was still very open and close racing. There were 5 teams from Switzerland and Germany, who really had a tough match. The lead changed several times within a race.
By winning the German Open, the sailing season comes to the end for us in Europe. Soon we will pack the container for the Tornado World Championships (29.12.2014-03.01.2015) in Perth / Australia. -- Roland and Nahid Gaebler, http://www.teamgaebler.de
Final top five
1. Roland Gaebler / Nahid Gaebler, GER, 10 points
2. Martin Rusterholz / Jean-Marc Cuanillon, SUI, 25
3. Bob Baier / Marc Baier, GER, 31
4. Marcel Steiner / Joerg Steiner, SUI, 37
5. Dieter Maurer / Katrin Oldenburg, GER, 47
Full results:
circolovelatorbole.com/uploads/regate/27_fr_02___.htm
Outteridge Not Pleased With 49er Fleet Size At Santander
A chaotic battle is looming in Santander as the big Olympic Skiff fleet battles against the numbers in the qualifying stage of this 2014 World Championship.
The 49er boat park is full to overflowing in Santander with 90 boats currently entered and possibly 92 likely to be racing and there is a big spread in the experience and quality
ISAF and the regatta organisers in their wisdom have put those 90 plus boats into just two fleets for the qualifying series. There will be 45 or so boats per fleet and they are going to sail just six race in two days. They are then going to reduce down to a Gold fleet of just 25 boats.
As Class Representative Ben Remocker says 'The 49ers normally sail for safety reasons in fleets no larger than 30 and the big qualifying fleets make the chances of mishaps very likely.'
2012 Gold Medallist Nathan Outteridge is firmly of the opinion that the regatta organisers and ISAF have compromised the 2014 ISAAF organised 49er World Championship experience in the way a class run World titles would not have done.
'Not a single person in the whole fleet is happy with it to be honest. The 49ers have always raced with 25 boats for the last 16 years and ISAF pushes into these formats of two days of racing five races in 45 boats to qualify. That is not a good solution for the class. It worked ok for the girls because they have the right number of boats to do that but for the boys we really should be in three groups.
Racing in fleet of 45 boats for one it is dangerous if we get any breeze and two the racing is completely different to what it would be with 25 boats. The class has a limit on the number of boats in the fleet for a reason and when ISAF changed the rules to suit the ISAF Worlds, ten classes all at one venue, because they can't have enough race courses., that means the racing won't be as good as it would be if we had our own World Championships run by our own class.
More in Sail-World.com: www.sail-world.com
* Only the 49er yellow fleet were able to get racing in on the fourth day at the Santander 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships as light, teasing winds played havoc across the seven race courses.
www.santander2014.com
www.sailing.org/2014-ISAF-Worlds.php
Solent Whisper At Southampton Show
Photo by onEdition. Click on image to enlarge.
Southampton Solent graduate Geoff Holt, the first quadriplegic sailor to sail solo across the Atlantic, will be unveiling the University's latest exciting technological development - an innovation which could change the face of small boat inshore racing.
This year's PSP Southampton Boat Show will give the industry its first real look at 'Solent Whisper' - a 5.9m sailing catamaran with a cutting-edge hydrofoil system.
Designed and built using the state-of the-art yacht design and engineering facilities at Solent's Warsash Maritime Academy and city-centre campus, the catamaran's technology has already attracted attention from world-class sailors during sea trials this summer.
The revolutionary new hydrofoil system provides stability, ease and safety, which along with an affordable projected purchase price, has the potential to offer America's Cup-style sailing to the masses. The craft's easy and stable sailing style also mean it could prove popular and accessible for disabled sailors.
The new hydrofoil technology is the brainchild of Ron Price, a Solent yacht and powercraft design graduate who is now Senior Lecturer in Naval Architecture at the University's Warsash Maritime Academy. -- Afloat magazine
Team Vestas Wins VOR Leg Zero
They entered the race last, but they are ready. Chris Nicholson's men proved it at dawn Sunday, winning Leg 0 in Alicante.
Sure, it's only a practice race, and Brunel wasn't far behind - just 10 seconds and 100 metres in fact. But hats off to Team Vestas Wind - they started their campaign two months ago, and today they took the honours. Well done!
Arrival times
1. Team Vestas - 06:34 local (04:34 UTC)
2. Team Brunel - 06:34:10 local (04:34:10 UTC)
3. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing - 06:46:25 local (04:46:25 UTC)
4. Alvimedica - 06:50:58 local (04:50:58 UTC)
5. Team SCA - 06:53:56 local (04:53:56 UTC)
6. Dongfeng Race Team - 07:09:20 local (05:09:20 UTC)
7. Team España - still at sea / estimated time of arrival around 1400 CEST (1600 UTC)
Seahorse October 2014
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
World news
Stamm And Le Cam team up for the Barcelona World Race, Soubenn beats Cammas to the Tour Voiles, no Atlantic records (for now), the Irish close out the French in Cowes, another 'new' Half Ton launch (in Kiwi), plus a new Class 950, Iain Murray on making 'that' difficult decision... and design data for all courtesy of Stan Honey and friends. Blue Robinson, Ivor Wilkins, Patrice Carpentier, Dobbs Davis
Rod Davis
An illuminating reprise of coaching methodology from one of the latest recruits to Artemis Racing
Seahorse build table - Welcome back
Time for a new raceboat from Stephen Jones
It all started in a garage - Part 1
Dobbs Davis sits down for a serious history lesson with J/24 designer Rod Johnstone
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USA Wins The New York Cup Challenge
Point Richmond, California, USA: The New York Cup, established in 1885 and the second oldest international sailing trophy after the America's Cup, was won by the USA International Canoe (IC) team today. IC sailors from any country can challenge the current trophy holder, and Great Britain followed tradition by challenging the USA, the cup holder since 2011. As is also tradition, the challenge itself took place the day following the IC World Championships.
Different in format from today's collegiate team racing, the New York Cup Challenge is a competition between two teams, each racing three boats, with the Cup awarded to the first team with a boat crossing the finish line first in two out of a possible three races.
Great Britain's team was composed of Alistair Warren from Saxmundham, Suffolk, Phil Robbin from Barnes, London, and Robin Wood, from Newport South Wales. The US team was composed of the new IC World Champion Mikey Radziejowski from Santa Cruz, CA, Chris Maas, from Anacortes, WA, and Del Olson, from Point Richmond, CA.
The conditions for the days' racing couldn't have been better, having moderated from the 21+ kt conditions that forced the abandonment of yesterday's final race of the IC World Championship. The first race today began in 8-knot winds and USA racer Olson led for several legs, but Warren slipped ahead to win for Great Britain. The wind was building slowly by the start of race two, and after some fairly aggressive maneuvering on the start line, USA's Maas and Radziejowski quickly took the lead, with Maas finishing first. With the wind building to 16 kts, the same two USA boats again led throughout race three, this time with Radziejowski first across the finish line, cementing the win for the USA.
Letters To The Editor -
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.
* From Bengt O. Hult: On Sept 12th Adrian Morgan wrote that he is fed up with AC. I think many people are and I cannot agree more with him. Right from the first AC race in 1870 the rules and/or the organizers have never allowed a challenger to win (with one exception when the American boat made a tactical mistake). And in fact, AC is not a yacht race but a technical competition. Just look at the last time when a computer won the cup. When the AC is sailed in one-designs I will start looking.
* From Adrian Morgan (re: John Burnie's letter): Morning John! Long time, if you're the same one I knew many years ago. Firstly, yes I am being contentious which is surely what letters to Scuttlebutt are all about. Speed is fine, but relative. Lewis Hamilton considers 150 mph cruising speed and fans don't follow F1 races for the speed alone. Going a lot faster does not make it more exciting to watch; going a tiny bit faster than your rival does. In the same way you soon get used to 40-knot catamarans, and the fact that they are partially airborne also becomes quite normal.
Long before the end of the last AC match I for one had become immune to the sight. Sticking foils on everything that floats is not the answer to spectator excitement, although it may have an immediate thrill for those on board, until they too get used to the sensation. At club level it will no doubt be divisive; to foil or not to foil. And what about launching a foiling Laser, Moth etc into an easterly shore break at Swanage Sailing Club? Sure, let's go down the foiling route, it's human nature to want to innovate, but let's not get carried away. I am no Luddite. A 1937 Vertue at hull speed (around 6 knots) in a big sea, offshore in 30 knots, butting her way across The Minch is pretty good (especially with a kettle on and the wood-burner chugging away below).
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