Scuttlebutt Europe #2465 - 8 November
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Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, 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 Seeking the Trade Winds
For much of today, the fleet has been on opposite tacks, although heading in the same general direction. Telefónica with Spanish skipper Iker Martinez and PUMA's Mar Mostro with Ken Read/USA in charge have opted for a more offshore track, anticipating the wind filling in from the north, while new leader tonight, Franck Cammas/FRA (Groupama 4) and Chris Nicholson/AUS (CAMPER) have chosen to keep closer to the African coast. Progress is painfully slow, although in the last three hours Groupama 4 has averaged the best speed of 6.7 knots; while the rest of the fleet has only managed three and a half to four knots. Changes to the leader board this evening have seen Groupama 4 take the lead for the first time with Telefónica moving into second position. But the fleet remains tight and is only split by a fraction over nine nautical miles from first place to fourth and each team is waiting anxiously to see what the weather Gods will dish out in the next 12 hours. * Team Sanya, the Volvo Ocean Race's first-ever Chinese entry, have announced their official retirement from Leg 1, after sustaining serious damage to the bow of their boat, soon after leaving Alicante, Spain for Cape Town, South Africa. Mike Sanderson, CEO and skipper of Team Sanya, today elaborated on the events at sea on Sunday November 6 and reiterated the team's intention to get back in the race as quickly as possible. "We were very happy with our progress, managing the big breeze and waves very nicely. We were not pushing 100 per cent and had decided to throttle back a knot or so given the conditions; we felt we were in a comfortable zone. "We suddenly felt a very odd lurch, like dragging the keel through soft mud. We could hear the noise of water coming into the bow. The watertight doors were already shut thankfully. "We got everyone up and into lifejackets. For sure if the watertight doors had not been shut, we would have been sunk. We got the pumps going but they were not really making much difference. After a time, our situation stabilized and we suspended racing and headed to the nearest port." Sanderson says Team Sanya now face a major logistical challenge to get their boat to Cape Town and effect repairs before the in-port racing and the start of Leg 2 to Abu Dhabi. "We need to take the time to do some serious thinking and planning, assessing the logistical options and making the right choices that get us back in the race as soon as possible. We need to repair the hull perfectly; a rush job is not an option. "The repair is no small task. We have to chop out a large section of the boat and replace it - normally a two to three week job, we will have to shoehorn it into seven days. But this is the Volvo Ocean Race and we will do what we have to do to make it happen." "Our worst-case scenario is that we ship to Cape Town but are not able to fix it in time, meaning we are late starting from Cape Town and consequently miss the ship from our stop point during the second leg." Cheminees Poujoulat Duo Lifted To Safety... PRB Diverts To Horta After a tense morning following the news that Stamm and Cuzon had activated their distress beacon because their Cheminees Poujoulat had been taking on water since it was realised at 2300hrs the previous evening, the helicopter evacuation was completed at 1254hrs CET (1154hrs UTC/GMT). An attempt to recover Cheminees Poujoulat is being launched from the island of Horta. When the evacuation was activated the yacht was reported to be some 230 miles the north of Punta Delgada on the Azores island of San Miguel. Cuzon was also rescued during the 2009 Transat Jacques Vabre when the IMOCA Open 60 he was racing with Sebastien Josse suffered damage to their coachroof when they were 210 miles north of the Azores. "It happened early in the night." Stamm reported on land, " In the depression we had expected a lot of wind and were going at about 15kts on a reach. We preparing to take in the second reef and change to the ORC. I went into the boat to get something and that is when I realised that it was full of water... We tried to see if it was possible to get help without triggering the distress beacon, but it didn't work out, as the seas were too nasty for anyone to have got close to us. We even tried to continue to sail, but we quickly abandoned that idea, as the boat started filling again very quickly. After that, given the weather and he circumstances it was not prudent to stay on board. So we set off the beacon." In Class 40 the young Britons on Concise 2, Ned Collier-Wakefield and Sam Goodchild are sailing with a maturity which may belie their years but with an average age of 22 they have already tucked away a considerable amount of ocean racing experience. They remain within 6 miles of the race leaders, Yannick Bestaven and Eric Drouglazet on Aquarelle.com. For the IMOCA fleet there is still another period of stormy winds ahead but the hardest should be behind them. Lead by Virbac-Paprec 3, with Jean-Pierre Dick and Jeremie Beyou, some 13 miles up on Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill on Hugo Boss - who had a couple of hours of minor, small repairs to make good early this morning, there is still just 21 miles between first and third. Their big question will be how to negotiate a ridge of high pressure which will extend SE from the south of Newfoundland before hoping to get to oxygen of the long awaited trade winds. The fleet is aligned on a north-west to south-east axis with the lead stacked from from north to south, Virbac-Paprec 3, Banque Populaire and MACIF. Top three at 1700hrs CET on Monday, November 7th, 2011. IMOCA : Multi50 Class40 Temperatures Falling - Entry List Rising: Quantum Key West 2012
Key West is celebrating its 25th anniversary in January. Don't miss the Quantum Key West 2012 excitement! Join racers from across the country and around the world January 15-20, 2012. Details: www.Premiere-Racing.com Sea San Diego's John Laun John Laun, lifelong sailboat racer and owner of the San Diego Yacht Club-based J/120 Caper, watched the America's Cup making its "victory tour" around San Diego in 2010 and knew the city still had the interest and the ability to run a Cup regatta. He and Chuck Nichols, former SDYC commodore and 1995 AC President, formed Sailing Events Association (SEA) San Diego to make that goal a reality. On the eve of the America's Cup World Series in San Diego, Laun talked to CupInfo about the steps they took to secure the regatta, lessons learned, and what it will take for the event to be a success in his view: "We formed the Sailing Events Association San Diego to pursue America's Cup regattas," explained Laun. "It was clear early on that if we could demonstrate our capabilities and showcase San Diego -- our team, our environment, our stadium sailing concept -- that it would promote ourselves as a viable venue." Cup Info's full interview at: Berserk Tragedy Ends in Fine for Skipper The Berserk sailed in to the Ross Sea and landed near the Scott base in February. Andhoy and a fellow expedition member drove towards the South Pole on ATVs, while the three remaining crew waited in the area for their return. Andhoy were going to do a TV film about the ATV expedition. A violent hurricane in the ice-infested waters ended the expedition, and the Berserk was reported missing. A big search and rescue operation only found the empty life raft after the Berserk. Norwegians Robert Skaane and Tom Gisle Bellika, and South African Leonard J. Banks are presumed dead. The Ross Sea is a very exposed stretch of water where storms and hurricanes are common, and it is very seldom that sailing yachts sails in to the area. The Berserk was in the area very late in the season. Friday Troms police fined Andhoy NOK 25 000 for not reporting to the Norwegian Polar Institute before the expedition, because he failed to prepare a preliminary environmental impact assessment, and for not having provided adequate insurance for search and rescue. -- Jon Amtrup WMRT Unveils ISAF Match Racing World Championship Trophy
Joined by a host of special guests, Eric Deardorff - CEO of Garrard, Patrick Lim - Executive Chairman of the World Match Racing Tour and Peter Gilmour - President of the World Match Racing Tour unveiled the unique silver, nautical inspired trophy which was both designed and created by Garrard. Guests included Olympians Colin Jackson CBE and Mark Foster, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, British designer Ozwald Boateng OBE, and Strictly Come Dancing stars Brendan Cole and Darren Gough. The collaboration continues the jeweller's rich sporting heritage where its famous hallmark can be found on renowned trophies including the America's Cup, the Cricket World Cup and the FA Premier League trophy. The new trophy will be awarded at the season finale, the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia in November, to the 2011 ISAF Match Racing World Champion, a title currently held by Britain's triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie who won the 2010 World Match Racing Tour. Chief Sailing Officer Royal Thames Yacht Club The job is located at the Central London Clubhouse in Knightsbridge, with frequent requirements to travel in support of Club events. Further information about TheRoyal Thames Yacht Club and this role can be obtained via the website: www.royalthames.com Closing date for applications is Friday 16th December. To apply for this vacancy forward your CV to the Club's Recruitment Adviser: Jeff Adcock (020 8505 0544) e-mail: Budel and Van Rijsewijk Take Sixth Place in GOR Leg 1 Further inshore, below Signal Hill, some light breeze was eventually found, the A6 was dropped, the Solent unfurled and with an orange smoke flare burning at the bow, Budel and Van Rijsewijk crossed the finish line at 10:38:30 GMT after 42 days, 22 hours, 38 minutes and 30 seconds, taking sixth place in the first stage of the nine-month, 33,000-mile circumnavigation. Sec. Hayai completed the 7,900-mile course just under 21 hours behind the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire in fifth with Phesheya-Racing. Budel and Van Rijsewijk and the five other GOR Class40 teams now have 20 days to prepare for Leg 2 from Cape Town to Wellington, New Zealand,starting off Cape Town on Sunday 27 November. Global Ocean Race 2011-12 Leg 1 (Palma - Cape Town) results: 18ft Skiffs: Beko 3-Buoys Challenge, Race 4
The Appliancesonline team of Micah Lane, Paul Montague and Tom Anderson were brilliant in very difficult conditions and virtually had the race won with one lap of the course still to be sailed. Second over the line today was last week's winner Rag & Famish Hotel with Jack Macartney back on board as skipper and his team of Peter Harris and Mark Kennedy, while Mojo Wine (Archie Massey, Dan Wilsdon and Mike McKensey) finished a further 1m10s back in third place. The series pointscore was turned upside down when the two leaders going into today's race both recorded maximum points. Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon) had to retire before the start with gear failure, while Fisher & Paykel was forced out with gear failure after being in second place at the first set of windward marks. Going into next week's last race of the series, Rag & Famish Hotel leads with a total of 19 points (and collects $500), ahead of Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin) on 22 points, TBA (sponsor to be announced soon) Brett Van Munster on 25, Mojo Wine on 26, Yandoo (John Winning) 28 and Appliancesonline.com.au on 29. The last race of the Beko Challenge series, for the Yandoo Trophy, will be sailed next Sunday when the top four finishers in the series will split another $3,000. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League www.18footers.com.au Public Invited to Vote for Yacht Racing Image of the Year 2011 The shortlist was chosen from over forty images submitted by professional yacht racing photographers from around the world. Viewers are invited to vote for their favourite image either on Facebook or online via the World Yacht Racing Forum website. Please view the images and place your vote via: The images will be also be printed and displayed at the World Yacht Racing Forum from 13-14 December in Estoril, Portugal. Delegates to the Forum will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite image and the winning image will be announced on the second day of the Forum, 14 December. Featured Brokerage An excellent cruiser/ racer with a great sail-wardrobe and a competitive IRC rating of 0.900. Substantial improvements were carried out in 2006/ 2007 and she is currently looking particularly smart. A recent survey is available to view on request. Brokerage through Blue Flag Boats: www.yachtworld.com/blueflagboats/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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