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Rambler 888 Takes Line Honours at the 12th Palermo-Montecarlo
Click on image to enlarge.

Palermo-Montecarlo At 10.00pm on Tuesday Rambler 88 helmed by Brad Butterworth crossed the finish line of the 12th Palermo-Montecarlo to take line honours. The result is another notch on the trophy board of the 27m sloop, winner of the Voiles de Saint Barth in 2015 and 3rd in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race the same year.

As he sensed from the start, and due to conditions on the course that saw the fleet leader beating upwind, the New Zealander and four-time America's Cup winner did not manage to beat the record, set by the 100-foot Esimit Europa 2 last year of 47 hours 46 minutes 48 seconds.

Organised by Circolo della Vela Sicilia, in collaboration with the Yacht Club de Monaco and Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, this 500nm course attracted a record 57 boats representing 11 nations (Italy, USA, France, Monaco, Germany, Spain, UK, Malta, Turkey, Russia and Hungary), including six Maxi yachts. It is also the fourth and final stage of the Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge 2016 on the International Maxi Association (IMA) calendar.

After a tightly grouped start on Sunday in a light 7-8 knot breeze in the Gulf of Mondello, competitors encountered rough seas and 25 knots on the approach to Porto Cervo with seven boats forced to abandon the race. They included the event's 2015 winner, Extra 1 helmed by Massimo Barranco, and Ville de Genève who were lying 3rd when they had to pull out.

The next arrivals are due in today, notably the futurist Monegasque Infinity, the only foiling mono-hull to be produced in a series, belonging to Gordon Kay and currently lying 4th.

Prize-giving is on Friday 26th August at 7.30pm at the Yacht Club de Monaco.

To follow the race live: www.palermo-montecarlo.it or www.ycm.org

Prospect Of Olympic Foiling Dinghy As Sailing Comes Under Review For Tokyo 2020
The President of the governing body of International Sailing has spoken about the possibility of a foiling boat in the OIympic Sailing line-up for Tokyo 2020. In a far reaching interview with Scuttlebutt's Craig Lewick, World Sailing's Carlo Croce also says that sailing is one of six sports under review for the 2020 Games. It looks certain therefore that there will be changes in the sailing classes, something World Sailing, according to Croce, is hoping to keep to a minimum as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) looks for 'spectacular' events.

'I think in November we will be able to announce good news to the Council, but at the moment we're still confidential because the IOC has not yet formally decided. Maybe kiteboard, maybe foiling boat... I don't know. Perhaps an old hobby of mine - a long distance race with very simple and basic one design boats with no extreme equipment', Croce said.

The choice of a foiling boat, such as the Moth class, might be looked on favourably by Ireland as Olympic silver medalist Annalise Murphy, in the Laser Radial class, is also a keen foiling dinghy sailor. Annalise has already finished second in the Women's world Moth championships, a pioneering international foiling class with 15 boats sailing in Ireland.

www.afloat.ie/sail/olympic-sailing

Craig's interview

Boatbuilders Wanted
boatbuilders wanted For a refit program of a 60 foot cruising yacht we are recruiting a team of Boatbuilders, carpenters, electricians, fitters for a two month - high intensity program as the owner wants to catch the winter trades across to the West Indies.

Location: Slovenia

Project start ASAP.

Applications and CV in English to

www.segelwelt.at

Cape Crow Yc Leading J/70 Swedish Sailing League
Malmo, Sweden)- Series leader Crow Cape Yacht Club from Gothenburg retained the lead in the Swedish J/70 Sailing League after winning Act III in Malmö this past weekend; they finished only two points ahead of the KSSS- the Royal Swedish Yacht Club from Stockholm. Third was Ekolns Sailing Club from Uppsala.

Sailing in their fleet of six identically matched J/70s, eighteen clubs sailed in Malmo, completing 14 races for each club over the three-day weekend. Cape Crow YC won nine of their 14 races and had only one race outside the top three! For the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, they also had nine wins in their scoreline, but were two points back from the Gothenburg team.

As a result of the standings from Act III in Malmo, the overall series leader continues to be Cape Crow YC with a 2nd in Motala, a 1st in Ekero and 1st in Malmo for grand total of 4 pts. Holding on to a comfortable second place is KSSS with a 3-2-2 in those events for 7 pts. Third overall in the series is Ekolns Segelklubb with a 4-6-3 for 13 pts.

The fourth and final race of the Swedish Sailing League takes place in Gothenburg from September 2nd to 4th.

www.svensksegling.se/SSFtavlingar/Allsvenskan/

Melges 20 World Championship
Scarlino, Italy - The wait for the International Melges 20 fleet is over and tomorrow, the trigger on the 2016 Melges 20 World Championship taking place at Marina di Scarlino/Club Nautico Scarlino will be pulled.

The colors of those fifteen national flags symbolize 56 teams that are set and ready to race on Thursday, August 25 (thru Sunday, August 28) on a race course set by Club Nautico Scarlino.

Among the many names are champions who routinely compete in the Melges 20 one design fleet such as John Kostecki, tactician aboard Michael Illbruck's Pinta, Cameron Appleton will call tactics for Achille Onorato on Mascalzone Latino Jr., alongside Alessandro Rombelli will be Paul Goodison on STIG, Flavio Favini will call the shots aboard Yukihiro Ishida's Yasha Samurai, and Morgan Reeser will once more assist Californian Drew Freides on Pacific Yankee.

Of course these names also include that of John Kilroy, Jr. and his son Liam. John, at the helm of his famous Samba Pa Ti will attempt to further extend his unbeaten record run in the World Championship challenge having won in 2014 (Riva del Garda), and again in 2015 (at home in San Francisco, CA).

Russia is by far the largest fleet in attendance and looking to secure a win, because up until now, the stage has been dominated by Italy and the USA - Francesco Farneti on ITA-157 in 2010. Rombelli in 2011, Dario Levi on Fremito D'Arja in 2012, John Taylor's Ninkasi in 2013 and then Kilroy in both 2014 and 2015.

Tracking: barracuda.news/tracking

www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=2886

Finessed
Quantum Key West 2017 Thirty years of fast fun - Quantum Key West 2017

For 30 years racing at the tropical island of Key West has been a midwinter dream and a mainstay on the international calendar: while the rest of the Northern Hemisphere freezes the participants at Quantum Key West Race Week have enjoyed five days of competition in the warm blue-green waters at this 'southernmost point of the USA'.

Main picture: Great boat and glorious Key West colours... 2016 saw the first class start for the new C&C 30, with Bobsled winning the prize for the best-looking paint scheme. The C&C 30s do seem to be edging ahead in the battle of the modern 30-footers that have appeared over the past three years. We look forward to hearing the reports after their first proper offshore contest...

Within the first decade this event that started as a mostly fun series among casual racers has since seen the level of excellence in both competition and race management increase to where this is now regarded as one of the world's top international regattas.

Last year's 29th edition was managed for the first time by the Storm Trysail Club, who introduced some new features to help attract a growing audience of participants among both the serious and the casual handicap racers. These included a Navigator's class for cruisers and multihulls who wished to race only once a day, and two new club classes to replace PHRF. Those features will return in January 2017, along with racing on three course areas for ORC, IRC and the numerous one-design classes who form the majority of entries.

Full article in Seahorse:
www.seahorsemagazine.com

RIO 2016 Paralympic Games
Sailing at the Paralympic Games is one of the only sports in which athletes of many different disabilities compete against each other on equal terms.

The upcoming Paralympic Games has so much to offer for the competitors and the viewing public. The adaptations on the boats, the 2.4 Norlin OD, SKUD18 and Sonar, allows a wide range of disabilities to compete in a beautiful backdrop of iconic sites like Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain. Just look at the images that came out of the Olympic Games. The Para athletes will have those same images in just a few weeks time.

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will take place between 7-18 September in Rio de Janeiro and the sailing is scheduled to be raced between 12-17 September in Guanabara Bay.

www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016

A Personal Tribute To The Australian Sailing Team
Dear Australian Sailing Team,
Bloody well done!
Four years ago, basking in the reflected glow from all that gold, I wrote a tribute and a big thank you to all involved in the Australian Sailing Team. After yet another sleepless night I feel compelled to do it again, to try and express what your efforts in Rio mean to me and countless other yachties downunder.

Ok, there wasn't as much gold this time around, but the conditions were ever so much tougher and the competition has really stepped it up a notch in a couple of classes in particular. Just look at what you achieved though... equal top scoring country in number of medals and a team performance that came on strong at the end when the chips were down. Six of you out of the seven classes made the medal race and every one of you moved up the overall standings in that race. Bloody well done!

Collectively you have kept me wide awake for many nights, and I know that lights were twinkling, TV's were on and the coffee machines were running in many sailing households, as well as big gatherings being held at places like Manly, Middle Harbour and Wangi, where some people just need an early drink....

...bloody well done for bringing so much joy to your friends and families. Seeing the proud parents being interviewed on the beach should move parents everywhere to sign their kids up for sailing. Now pay those family members back by spending some relaxing and special time with them! They've earned it!

Finally, I can't finish without talking about the overall impact of the sailing at the Rio Olympics, the greatest show on earth for small boat sailing. The venue was breathtaking, the sailing athletic and spectacular, the sportsmanship and enjoyment always evident, the race management flawless and the technology bringing it in to our homes in the most effective and compelling way. World Sailing (it was great to see Mal Page leading the way!) and Australian Sailing have a hell of a product here and everybody in Australia who follows the Olympics is talking about it. Let's capitalise!

Bloody well done everyone, and good luck to our Para Olympians!

Alistair Murray's full letter:
blog.ronstan.com

Irish National Sailing School Launch New 'After School' Sailing Courses
The Irish National Sailing School is offering new after schools learn to sail programmes for children of all ages. There are two new programmes available, an after schools club for children of all ages and our all new Wednesday afternoon's transition year programme to allow children to tackle new challenges during transition year.

The after school club is specifically aimed for primary school children in the South Dublin locality as a facility to cater for supervised homework with the added bonus of a number of land and water activities. These activities include launch trips to feed the seals, some sailing if time allows or some on the water fun in our new water park. The INSS are also able to offer a collection service from local schools.

The Transition Year/Second Level programme is designed to help students make the transition from dinghy sailing to be competent on both racing and cruising yachts. With LYNX its highly successful racing yacht and Beaufort Venture, its dedicated cruising yacht the INSS says it is perfectly suited to both ends of the yachting spectrum. The programme will cover navigation, practical sailing skills on both yachts, use of VHF radio and can also include the National Powerboat Certificate course.

afloat.ie/sail/

Olympic Gold Medalist Saskia Clark Confirms Her Retirement
The 37-year-old former Dabchicks Sailing Club member and West Mersea Yacht Club member joined sailing partner Hannah Mills in picking up the gold in Rio after coming out on top in the women's 470 class.

But this morning she publicly confirmed she has decided to retire.

Speaking on ITV's Lorraine show, she said: "I really am retiring. It's time.

"This is what I have dreamed of forever and I got it.

"We have had such a ride and it has been amazing.

"Stopping on this high is the best and only way to do it."

www.gazette-news.co.uk

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See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. -- Marcus Aurelius

Editorial and letter submissions to

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html

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